Letter whose Praise is therefore not of Men but of God And this Baptism Christ Preferred and Recommended at his Farewel to his Disciples in Reverence and Duty to whom to say nothing of the abuse of Water-Baptism we decline the use thereof Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. John 1. 17. Acts 1. 5. Rom. 14. 17. Rom. 2. 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 12. 9. VI. Concerning Breaking Bread c. BEcause we also disuse the Outward Ceremony of Breaking Bread and Drinking Wine which is commonly called the Lord's Supper we are therefore render'd Deniers and Contemners of the Lord's-Supper whereas the Inward and Spiritual Grace thereby signified viz. that Bread which came down from Heaven which Christ prefers to the Bread the Fathers eat in the Wilderness which did not keep them from Death and that Cup which he promised to drink a-new with his Disciples in his Father's Kingdom we not only Believe but Reverently Partake of to our unspeakable Comfort which is rightly and truly the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who said Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you have no Life in you John 6. 53 63. For 't is the Spirit that quickens the Flesh profits nothing It was also his Promise to all those that would open at his Knocks viz. That he would come in and Sup with them which Inward and Spiritual Coming we have both known and testified to feeling the blessed Effects thereof in our Souls and knowing the outward Breaking of Bread and Drinking of Wine in the way commonly Practised is no more than it is declared to be viz. An Outward and Visible Sign Why then should any contend about it and render us Unchristian for disusing what themselves allow to be but an Outward and Visible Sign And that none can reasonably believe to be an Essential Part of Religion as is the Bread from Heaven of which the Outward is at best but a Signification But the Wine that Christ promised to Drink with his Disciples anew is such an Essential that without it none have nor can have Eternal Life Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 25. John 6. 41 50 51 58 63. Rev. 3. 20. VII Concerning the Light of Christ BEcause we Assert the Sufficiency of the Light within it being the Light of Christ viz. That if Men live up to the Teaching thereof in all manner of Faithfulness and Obedience they shall not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and Salvation and the Blood of Christ shall cleanse them from all Sin Our Adversaries from thence conceive that we undervalue the Rule of Holy Scriptures and all outward Means as having no need thereof since we have such a Means and Rule within us and that this leaves us without any certain Rule and exposeth us to many Blasphemies c. Whereas the Light within or Christ by his Light inwardly Teaching was never taught by us in Opposition to or Contempt of any outward Means that God in his Wisdom and Providence affords us for our Edification and Comfort no more than did that blessed Apostle who said You need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no Lye John 12. 46. 1 John 1. 6 7. 1 John 1. 2 27. VIII Concerning the Father the Word and the Spirit BEcause we have been very cautious in expressing our Faith concerning that great Mystery especially in such School Terms and Philosophical Distinctions as are Unscriptural if not Unsound the tendency whereof hath been to raise Frivolous Controversies and Animosities amongst Men we have by those that desire to lessen our Christian Reputation been represented as Deniers of the Trinity at large Whereas we ever believed and as constantly maintained the Truth of that blessed Holy Scripture Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that these Three are One the which we both sincerely and reverently believe according to 1 John 5. 7. And this is sufficient for us to believe and know and hath a Tendency to Edification and Holiness when the contrary centers only in Imaginations and Strife and Persecution where it runs high and to Parties as may be Read in Bloody Characters in the Ecclesiastical Histories IX Concerning Works BEcause we make Evangelical Obedience a Condition to Salvation and Works by the Spirit wrought in us to be an Evidence of Faith and Holiness of Life to be both Necessary and Rewardable it hath been Insinuated against us as if we hoped to be saved by our own Works and so make them the Meritorious Cause of our Salvation and consequently Popish Whereas we know that it is not by Works of Righteousness that we can do but by his own free Grace is he pleased to accept of us through Faith in and Obedience to his Blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 5. 9. and 12. 14. X. Of Christ's being our Example BEcause in some Cases we have said the Lord Jesus was our great Example and that his Obedience to his Father doth not excuse ours but as by keeping his Commandments he abode in his Father's Love so must we follow his Example of Obedience to abide in his Love Some have been so ignorant or that which is worse as to venture to say for us or in our Name that we believe our Lord Jesus Christ was in all things but an Example Whereas we confess him to be so much more than an Example that we believe him to be our most acceptable Sacrifice to God his Father who for his Sake will look upon fallen Man that hath justly merited the Wrath of God upon his Return by Repentance Faith and Obedience as if he had never sinned at all 1 John 2. 12. Rom. 3. 26. and 10. 9 10. Heb. 5. 9. XI Concerning Freedom from Sin BEcause we have urged the Necessity of a perfect Freedom from Sin and a thorough Sanctification in Body Soul and Spirit whilst on this side the Grave by the Operation of the Holy and Perfect Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of Holy Scripture we are made so Presumptious as to assert the fulness of all Perfection and Happiness to be attainable in this Life Whereas we are not only sensible of those humane Infirmities that attend us whilst clogged with Flesh and Blood but know that here we can only know in part and see in part The Perfection of Wisdom Glory and Happiness being reserved for another and better World John 8. 24 25. Heb. 13. 20 21. Heb. 6. XII Concerning Worship to God BEcause we say with the Apostle that Men ought to Pray Preach Sing c. with the Spirit and that without the Preparation and Assistance of it no Man can Rightly Worship God all Worship without it being Formal and Carnal From hence Ignorance or Envy suggests against us that if God will not compel us by his Spirit he must go without
may be bound and his Goods spoiled his Works destroyed and Sin ended according to 1 John 3. 7. For which end says that Beloved Disciple Christ was manifested that all things may become New New Heavens and New Earth in which Righteousness dwells Thus thou wilt come to glorifie God in thy Body and in thy Spirit which are his and live to him and not to thy self Thy Love Joy Worship and Obedience thy Life Conversation and Practice thy Study Mediation and Devotion will be Spiritual For the Father and the Son will make their abode with thee and Christ will manifest himself to thee for the Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him And an Holy Unction or Anointing have all those which leads them into all Truth and they need not the Teachings of Men They are better Taught being Instructed by the Divine Oracle no bare Hear-say or Traditional Christians but fresh and living Witnesses Those that have seen with their own Eyes and heard with their own Ears and have handled with their own Hands the Word of Life in the divers Operations of it to their Souls Salvation In this they Meet in this they Preach and in this they Pray and Praise Behold the New Covenant fulfilled the Church and Worship of Christ the Great Anointed of God and the Great Anointing of God in his Holy High Priesthood and Offices in his Church XVI Concerning the Resurrection BEcause from the Authority of Holy Scripture as well as right Reason we deny the Resurrection of the same gross and corruptible Body and are neither over Inquisitive nor Critical about what Bodies we shall have at the Resurrection leaving it to the Lord to give us such Bodies as he pleases and with that we are well pleased and satisfied and wish all others were so too From hence we are made not only Deniers of the Resurrection of any Body at all however Spiritual or Glorified but Eternal Rewards too Whereas if it were true as it is notoriously false we were indeed of all Men most Miserable But blessed be God it is so far from being true that we most stedfastly believe that as our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the Dead by the Power of the Father and was the first Fruits of the Resurrection so every Man in his own Order shall arise they that have done well to the Resurrection of Eternal Life but they that have done Evil to Everlasting Condemnation And because we are a People whose Education hath not afforded us an Accuracy of Language some Passages may perhaps have been mis-express'd or improperly worded as for Instance One of us hath denied in his Book the Soul to be Finite by which he plainly meant Mortal or Final to die or have an end which Finis signifies from whence Finite comes our uncharitable Opposers have concluded we hold the Soul to be Infinite and consequently God Whereas the Words before and after as well as the Nature of the things shews plainly he only meant that it is Eternal and so not Finite that is not Terminable or that which shall come to an end And also because we have not declared our selves about Matters of Faith in the many and Critical Words that Man's Wisdom teacheth but in the Words which the Holy Ghost teacheth we have been esteemed either Ignorant or Equivocal and Unsound Whereas it is really Matter of Conscience to us to deliver our Belief in such Words as the Holy Spirit in Scripture teacheth and if we add more for Illustration it is from an Experience of the Work of the same Spirit in our selves which seems to us the truest way of Expounding Scripture in what concerns Saving Knowledge XVII Concerning Separation c. BEcause we are separated from the publick Communion and Worship it is too generally concluded that we deny the Doctrines received by the Church and consequently introduce a new Religion Whereas we differ least where we are thought to differ most For setting aside some School Terms we hold the Substance of those Doctrines believed by the Church of England as to God Christ Spirit Scripture Repentance Sanctification Remission of Sin Holy Living and the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to Eternal Rewards and Punishments But that wherein we differ most is about Worship and Conversation and the Inward Qualification of the Soul by the Work of God's Spirit thereon in Pursuance of these good and generally Received Doctrines For 't is the Spirit of God only Convinces and Converts the Soul and makes those that were Dead in Trespasses and Sins and in the Lusts Pleasures and Fashions of this World alive to God that is Sensible of his Mind and Will and of their Duty to do them and brings to know God and his Attributes by the Power of them upon their own Souls and leads to Worship God rightly which is in his Spirit and in Truth with Hearts Sanctified by the Truth which is a living and acceptable Worship and stands in Power not Formality nor in the Traditions and Prescriptions of Men in Synods and Convocations but in the Holy Spirit First in shewing us our real Wants and then in helping our Infirmities with Sighs and Groans and sometimes Words to pray for a suitable supply for which we in our Meetings wait upon God to quicken and prepare us that we may worship him Acceptably and Profitably for they go together Now because we are satisfied that all Worship to God and Exhortations to Men as Praying Praising and Preaching and every other Religious Duty ought to be Spiritually Performed and finding so little of it among Professors of Christianity the Spirit of God having not that Rule and Guidance of them in their Lives and Worship as It ought to have and seeing them too generally satisfied with a Ministry and Worship of Man's making being not qualified nor led by God's Spirit thereunto we cannot find that Comfort and Edification our Souls crave and want under so cold a Ministry and Worship And for this cause and no presumptious Contempt or selfish Separation or worldly Interests are we and stand we at this day a separate People from the Publick Communion and in this we can comfortably Appeal and Recommend our selves to God the great and last Judge of the Acts and Deeds of the Sons of Men. Lastly BEcause at the time of our Friends first appearing in this Age there were a Sect of People newly sprang up and truly called Ranters that were the Reverss to the Quakers for they feared and quaked at nothing but made a mock at Fearing of God and at Sin and at Hell who pretended that Love made Fear needless and that nothing was Sin but to them that thought it so and that none should be Damned at last whose extravagant Practices exactly corresponded with their Evil Principles From hence some ignorantly and too many maliciously involved us and ours with them and many of their Exorbitances were thereby placed to our account tho' without the least Reason
Grace and Light for Light and that no Man can know God and Christ whom to know is Life Eternal and themselves in order to true Conviction and Conversion without Receiving and Obeying this Holy Light and being taught by the Divine Grace and that without it no Remission no Justification no Salvation as the Scripture plentifully testifies can be obtained And because we therefore press the Necessity of Peoples receiving the Inward and Spiritual Appearance of this Divine Word in order to a Right and beneficial Application of whatsoever he did for Man with respect to his Life Miracles Death Sufferings Resurrection Ascension and Mediation our Adversaries would have us to deny any Christ without us First As to his Divinity because they make us to confine him too within us Secondly As to his Humanity or Manhood because as he was the Son of Abraham David and Mary according to the Flesh he can't be in us and therefore we are Hereticks and Blasphemers Whereas we believe him according to Scripture to be the Son of Abraham David and Mary after the Flesh and also God over all blessed for ever So that he that is within us is also without us even the same that laid down his precious Life for us rise again from the Dead and ever liveth to make Intercession for us being the Blessed and alone Mediator betwixt God and Man and him by whom God will finally Judge the World both Quick and Dead All which we as sincerely and stedfastly believe as any other Society of People whatever may be Ignorantly or Maliciously Insinuated to the contrary either by our declared Enemies or mistaken Neighbours Deut. 15. 18. Mi◠5. 2. John 1. 1 2 3. Rev. 22. 16. III. Concerning the Holy Scriptures BEcause we Assert the Holy Spirit to be the first great and general Rule and Guide of true Christians as that by which God is Worshipped Sin Detected Conscience Convicted Duty Manifested Scripture Unfolded and Explained and consequently the Rule for Understanding the Scriptures themselves since by It they were at first given forth from hence our Adversaries are pleased to make us Blasphemers of the Holy Scriptures undervaluing their Authority preferring our own Books before them with more to that purpose Whereas we in Truth and Sincerity believe them to be of Divine Authority given by the Inspiration of God thro' Holy Men they speaking or writing them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost That they are a Declaration of those things most surely believed by the Primitive Christians and that as they contain the Mind and Will of God and are his Commands to us so they in that respect are his Declaratory Words and therefore are Obligatory on us and are Profitable for Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished to every good Work Nay after all so Unjust is the Charge and so Remote from our Belief concerning the Holy Scriptures that we both Love Honour and Prefer them before all Books in the World ever choosing to express our Belief of the Christian Faith and Doctrine in the Terms thereof and rejecting all Principles or Doctrines whatsoever that are Repugnant thereunto Nevertheless we are well persuaded that notwithstanding there is such an Excellency in the Holy Scriptures as we have above declared yet the unstable and unlearned in Christ's School too often Wrest them to their own Destruction And upon our Re 〈…〉 r Carnal Constructions of the 〈…〉 made Undervaluers of 〈…〉 But certain it is That as the Lord hath been pleased to give us the Experience of the fulfilling of them in Measure so it is altogether contrary to our Faith and Practice to put any manner of Slight or Contempt upon them much more of being guilty of what maliciously is suggested against us since no Society of Profest Christians in the World can have a more Reverend and Honourable Esteem for them than we have John 4. 24. and 16. 8. Rom. 1. 19. Luke 1. 1 2. Tim. 3. 16 17. 2 Pet. 3. 16. IV. Concerning Magistracy BEcause we have not actively complied with divers Statutes which have been made to force an Uniformity to what we had no Faith in but the Testimony of our Conscience against and because for Conscience sake we could not give those Marks of Honour and Respect which were and are the usual Practice of those that seek Honour one of another and not that Honour which comes from God only but Measure and Weigh Honour and Respect in a false Ballance and deceitful Measure on which neither Magistrate Ruler nor People can depend We say because we could not for Conscience sake give Flattering Titles c. We have been render'd as Despisers and Contemners of Magistracy Whereas our Principles often repeated upon the many Revolutions that have happened do evidently manifest the contrary as well as our Peaceable Behaviour from the beginning under all the various Forms of Government hath been an undeniable Plea in our Favour when those that also have Professed the same Principles of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience have Quitted their Principles and yet Quarrel with us upon a Supposition that we will in time write after their Copy which as nothing is more contrary to our Principles Faith and Doctrine so nothing can be more contrary to our constant Practice For we not only really believe Magistracy to be an Ordinance of God but esteem it an Extraordinary Blessing where it is a Praise to them that do well and a Terror to Evil-doers Which that it may be so in this our Native Land is the fervent Desire of our Souls that the Blessing and Peace of God may be continued thereupon Job 32. 21. John 5. 44. Acts 5. 29. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. V. Concerning Baptism BEcause we do not find in any place in the four Evangelists that Jesus Christ Instituted Baptism by Water to come in the room of Circumcision or to be the Baptism proper to His Kingdom which stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost we are therefore render'd as Contemners of Christ's Baptism Whereas the Baptism of Jesus Christ of which he was Lord and Administrator according to the nature of his Office and Kingdom is even by John the Baptist declared to be that of Fire not Water and of the Holy Ghost of which Water-Baptism was but the Forerunner and is by them that now Practice it called but the Outward and Visible Sign of the Inward and Spiritual Grace and therefore not the Grace it self which Grace as the Apostle saith is sufficient for us and which we Believe Profess and Experience to be come by Jesus Christ who is the Substance of all Signs and Shadows to true Believers he being no more a Jew or Christian that is one outwardly by the cutting or washing of the Flesh But he is a Jew and Christian who is one inwardly and Circumcision and Baptism is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the
Deniers of Christ's Satisfaction at large Whereas we Sincerely Believe our Lord Jesus Christ was that most acceptable Sacrifice to God for the Sin of Mankind that whatsoever sin is forgiven is not forgiven only because of Repentance but for his sake that dyed and offered him self through the Eternal Spirit an Offering once for all The Doctrine of Satisfaction and Justification truly understood are placed in so strict an Union that the one is a necessary Consequence of the other and what we say of them is what agrees with the suffrage of Scripture and for the most part in the terms of it always believing that in Points where there arises any difficulty be it from the Obscurity of Expression Mistranslation or the Dust raised by the Heats of Partial Writers or Nice Criticks it is ever best to keep close to the Text and maintain Charity in the rest We shall therefore first speak Negatively what we do not own which perhaps hath given occasion to those who have been more hasty than wise to judge us defective in our Belief of the Efficacy of the Death and Sufferings of Christ to Justification As First We cannot believe that Christ is the Cause but the Effect of God's Love according to the Testimony of the Beloved Disciple John Chap. 3. God hath so loved the World that he hath given his only Begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life Secondly We cannot say God could not have taken another way to have saved Sinners than by the Death and Sufferings of his Son to satisfie his Justice or that Christ's Death and Sufferings were a strict and rigid Satisfaction for that Eternal Death and Misery due to Man for Sin and Transgression For such a Notion were to make God's Mercy little concerned in Man's Salvation and indeed we are at too great a distance from his Infinite Wisdom and Power to judge of the Liberty or Necessity of his Actings Thirdly We cannot say Jesus Christ was the greatest Sinner in the World because he bore our Sins on the Cross or because he was made Sin for us who never knew any Sin an Expression of great Levity and Unsoundness yet often said by great Preachers and Professors of Religion Fourthly We cannot Believe that Christ's Death and Sufferings so satisfies God or justifies Men as that they are thereby accepted of God They are indeed thereby put into a State capable of being accepted of God and through the Obedience of Faith and Sanctification of the Spirit are in a State of Acceptance For we can never think a Man justified before God while Self-condemned or that any Man can be in Christ who is not a New Creature or that God looks upon Men otherwise than they are We think it a State of Presumption and not of Salvation to call Jesus Lord and not by the Work of the Holy Ghost Master and he not Master of our Affections Saviour and not saved by him from Sin Redeemer and yet not redeemed by him from Passion Pride Covetousness Wantonness Vanity Honours vain Friendships and Glory of this World Which whoever do will deceive themselves for God will not be mocked such as Men sow such must they reap And tho' Christ did Die for us yet we must by the Assistance of his Grace work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling As he died for Sin so we must die to Sin or we cannot be said to be saved by the Death and Sufferings of Christ or throughly Justified and Accepted with God But now possitively what we own as to Justification comes next We do believe that Jesus Christ was our Holy Sacrifice and Attonement and Propitiation that he bore our Iniquities and that by his Stripes we were healed of the Wounds Adam gave us in his Fall and that God is just in forgiving true Penitents upon the Credit of that Holy Offering Christ made of himself to God for us and that what he did and suffer'd satisfied and pleased God it being for the take of fallen Man that had displeased Him And that by the Offering up of himself once for all through the Eternal Spirit he hath for ever perfected those in all times that are sanctified who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Mark that In short Justification consists of two parts or hath a two-fold Consideration viz. Justification from the Guilt of Sin and Justification from the Power and Pollution of Sin and in this sense Justification gives Man a full and clear Acceptance before God For want of this latter part it is that so many Souls Religiously inclin'd are often under Doubts Scruples and Dispondencies notwithstanding all that their Teachers tell them of the Extent and Efficacy of the first part of Justification And it is too general an Unhappiness among the Professors of Christianity that they are apt to cloke their own Active and Passive Disobedience with the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ The first part of Justification we do reverently and humbly Acknowledge is only for the sake of the Death and Sufferings of Christ nothing we can do though by the Operation of the Holy Spirit being able to cancel Old Debts or wipe out Old Scores It is the Power and Efficacy of that Propitiatory Offering upon Faith and Repentance that Justifies us from the Sins that are past and it is the Power of Christ's Spirit in our Hearts that purifies and makes us acceptable before God For till the Heart of Man is turned from Sin God will never accept of it He Reproves Rebukes and Condems those that entertain Sin there and therefore such cannot be said to be in a Justified State Condemnation and Justification being Contraries So that they that hold themselves in a Justified State by the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ while they are not Actively and Passively Obedient to the Spirit of Christ Jesus are under a strong and dangerous Delusion and for crying out against this Sin-pleasing Imagination not to say Doctrine we are Staged and Reproached as Deniers and Despisers of the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ But be it known to such they add to Christ's Sufferings and crucifie to themselves afresh the Son of God and trample the Blood of the Covenant under their Feet that walk unholily under a Profession of Justification for God will not acquit the Guilty nor justifie the Disobedient and Unfaithful Such deceive themselves and at the Great and Final Judgment their Sentence will not be Come ye Blessed because it cannot be said to them Well done Good and Faithful for they cannot be so esteemed that live and die in a Reproveable and Condemnable State but Go ye Cursed c. Wherefore Oh Reader Rest not thy self wholly satisfied with what Christ has done for thee in his Blessed Person without thee but press to know his Power and Kingdom within thee that the strong Man that has too long kept thy House