settle them in which is opposite to Gods Free Grace which brings Salvation James Barry also with some of his Hearers did account it an Errour in the Quakers to own immediate Revelation and said they did disown it Now seeing it is so that the immediate Spirit of Christ and its immediate Revelation is denyed by him we demand of him how he came to be a Minister and whence he hath his Ability and that Knowledge of God he pretendeth to have and from whom he hath received his Gospel that he Preacheth its evident enough not from Christ for indeed it is not like his nor him who would have gathered the Children of Jerusalem as a Hen her Chickens but they would not therefore were they rejected because they would not be gathered the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3.6 they were made able Ministers of the new Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and verse 5. saith their sufficiency was of God and Gal. 1.11 12. the Gospel which Paul preached it was not after Man for he neither received it of Man neither was taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Eph. 3. he declares that he was made a Minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power and Peter saith 1 Pet. 4.11 If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man Minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. Now how is this ability received from God if not by his Spirit and therefore he gave different Gifts of the Spirit for the work of the Ministry and by that they were opened and inlarged and made able But James Barry denying this from whom hath he his Call and whence hath he his Gospel and Ability If he saith from God We desire to know how he received it being not by the Spirit he having denyed that and if it be not by the Spirit it cannot be from God For what a Man receives of Spiritual benefit it must be by the Spirit either immediately or mediately by its working through an Instrument Therefore let him make out how he comes by his Call Ability and that necessity he pretends to be upon him for the Divine Spirit being denyed it must be from Man or else from his own corrupt Heart for Self-interest Which is most probable that he might get Gain and live upon the People For it is evident his necessity is not the same that was upon the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.16 he owns not his way of receiving it nor doth follow his Example in preaching it And to his Hearers this advice we give Consider well your State and whether you profit under his Ministry or no For of old they that ran and the Lord did not send them did not profit the People for he denying Revelation by which the Father and the Son is savingly known No other Knowledge is come to without it but by Hear-say which is not that Knowledge Christ speaks of which is Life Eternal and for your satisfaction read the following Scriptures Mat. 11.27 Christ saith Neither knoweth any Man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him So Christ is positive that no Man knows God but by his Revelation Matt. 16.17 Christ saith it was the Father that revealed him unto Peter and Gall. 1.15.16 There you may see the Father revealed his Son in Paul 1 Cor. 2.10 The Apostle speaking of the great things God had prepared for them that love him saith God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit and in Eph. 1.17 you may see how the Apostle prayed for the Saints that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of the Son and 1 Cor. 14.30 he saith if any thing be revealed to another that sits by let the first hold his Peace Here you may see that from the Testimony of the Holy Scripture which your Minister said should be the Standard to try every thing by that in the true Church Revelation was expected and to be given way to in the Church and by the Apostle was prayed for that God would give the Spirit and Revelation unto the Church for he knew they could not Worship Pray Preach nor Sing aright without it And what Is this accounted an Error now by your Minister or you Where is your Standard Will you not come to the Scriptures nor to the Spirit neither Where is your bottom and Foundation that you Build upon What 's your Root that bears you You have got a foolish Builder he will not follow the example of Paul a wise Master-Builder 1 Cor. 14.15 Paul said he would pray with the spirit c. and sing with the spirit c. Eph. 5.18 there the Apostle exhorts them to be filled with the spirit and Rom. 8.26 he saith they knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their Infirmities c. and Christ in the 4th of John saith that God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth and such doth the Father seek to Worship him Now let your Minister clear these things up to you How in your Church or Families either He and you denying Revelation can Worship aright Preach Pray or Sing aright and by what you have Ability and know what to pray for without the Spirits help What are you so strong of your selves in your Self Ability that you do not need that which the Apostles and all true Christians sought the help of and could not do without Nay it was that by which they knew what to Pray for and therefore they waited for its assistance and Paul said he would pray with it You may make long Prayers like the Pharisees but what will it avail it being done without that in which the Saints had access to God. So here your Praying and Worship and Seperation or Gathering being without the Spirit What can it be but from self and in self and so like them spoken of in Jude 19. These be they who seperate themselves sensual not having the Spirit And we desire you to read the 8th Chapter to the Romans and consider what you are to walk after as Christians and to be led by and to live after and with what you are to mortifie the Flesh or the deeds of the Flesh if you own a Mortification needful to Salvation and whether you can be Christs and not have his Spirit and whether you can be the Sons of God and not be led by his Spirit and whether you are Children but by Adoption and if by Adoption whether this Adoption is not by the Spirit And whether it was not the Spirit it self that bore witness with the Saints Spirits that they were the Children of God as verse the 16. And then consider what
find fault with that which he himself seems to advise unto In his first Paper he calls us persons who delight in brangling and stirring up the spirit of Animosity and Prejudice and men of as little Charity and Religion as those we receive our idle Stories from whether this be not more his guilt than ours we shall leave to the Lord to judge and also to men of understanding who have the knowledge of both our Practices In his second Paper he charges our Principles to be dark and uncertain but lays down no Arguments against them In his last before recited you see how he charges Quakerism as he terms it to be made up and constituted of Subtlety and judges us to be in serpentine acts and our Cause dark and rotten and likewise you may see what an Imputation of being Gods Enemies he endeavours to fasten upon us in his Application of those two Scriptures viz. Psal 17.14 and 73.12 and in the conclusion of the same Paper giving his Reason why he sent all his without date tells us he did it willingly having seriously consider'd that a dateless Answer was at any time good enough for foolish and impertinent Stories and nonsensical Whimsies So that though he lays down no Arguments to confute our Principles yet you may see who are unbyassed and without prejudice what confidence he hath to pass sentence upon us and our Blessings to be that kind of Blessedness which is the portion of Gods Enemies and that is a sad portion Let him be as full of Envy as he can to answer it he need desire no worse for us the Lord forgive the thoughts of his heart and the words of his mouth and bring him to Repentance if he see good for from these doings of his it appears he is in the gaul of bitterness and wants Charity which is the perfecting Vertue he spares not to judge both us and our Principles as the worst of men and Principles which if he speaks truth of us then we are so indeed but he hath that yet to prove and therefore he had been wiser if he had first proved us such and then given his Judgment upon us but alas his Malice and Envy would not suffer him to stay for that lest he should be prevented for want of proof You see how he judges us to delight in brangling and stirring up the spirit of Animosity and Prejudice which is the work of evil men and our Principles dark and uncertain and therefore not of God who is Light and unchangeable and that our Religion is made up and constituted of Subtlety then not of Simplicity and our Acts Serpentine that proceeds from the wicked one and not from Christ that bruiseth the Serpents head and our Cause dark and rotten then it is not in the everlasting Light all this being once proved by him then he makes good his Application we are Enemies indeed to God and Christ But all this we do deny and leave at his door to prove if he can and until then we lay it upon him as a wicked Sentence and Judgment but this is not all though this were enough if true to make the Quakers and their Principles hated of God and good men But in his Preaching and other Discourse as well as in his said Papers he hath not spared to rail abuse and pass Judgment upon us as appears by several Witnesses one whereof * John Smith affirmed that he heard him in his publick preaching declare that the Quakers were the Spawn of the Jesuites and that the Jesuites were the Spawn of the Devil which he himself hath since owned to two of our Friends who spoke to him about it Now this false and wicked Accusation we utterly deny and therefore turn it upon himself to prove the same we having born our Testimony against them as we do against him and all others who stand up against the glorious appearance of Truth as it hath pleased God to manifest it in this day and therefore do utterly deny to be of their Off-spring Yet do desire that in his next he would make out how they are the Spawn of the Devil and we their Off-spring in that Line So let all people consider the desperate boldness harshness and hardness of this mans heart and spirit you see how in his unwholsome words he places us in the Devils Line and Off-spring and so near as his Grand-children what worse can he make of us or in what state that 's more dreadful can he place us Sure in his Judgment we are far separated from God. Doubtless he accounts us of the reprobate number that God never had Mercy for since he believes there are such It is also evidenced unto us that he joyned the Quakers and Muggletonians together and said Witness Thomas Smith that we did take upon us to know the Dimensions of God viz. to know his length bredth bigness form and likeness which is altogether false for we utterly deny such erroneous Principles and have born our Testimony against Muggleton It is also evidenced unto us by two Witnesses that James Barry in his preaching did affirm John Kelson Thomas Cole that the Quakers were a bewitching and blaspheming erroneous people cheating God of his Right and that they did compass Sea and Land to make one Proselite and when they had done made him twofold a child of the Devil more then before Thus it appears that he still endeavours to insense people against us as that we are from the Devil and are working for him to turn and beget to him and not to God. Those with many more such like unchristian reflections and abuses against us and our Principles are brought to us and testified to have proceeded from his mouth and therefore we offered as before that we desired a publick Meeting before the people that the Witnesses and he might come face to face and that the people might hear both sides with their Witnesses and when all was heard that we would leave it as before proposed And this we thought might be a good opportunity for him to cleer himself if innocent but it 's like he knowing in his Conscience his guilt made him fly from so reasonable an offer and shuffle as he hath done that he might escape coming to the tryal lest he should be further manifested Now as to those three Principles James Barry promised to send forth his Arguments in Print to prove the Quakers grand Hereticks in they were in our Answer to one of his said Papers sent him laid down and express'd according to the following words viz. To the first we affirm That we own the Resurrection and do believe that the Righteous shall rise and ascend into Glory and be glorified in Heaven with an eternal Reward and that the Wicked also shall rise and come to Judgment and be turned into Hell to receive an eternal Punishment But that the same fleshly Body which must undergo Death and Corruption shall rise
and enter into Heaven we leave for thee to prove and make good from the Scriptures of Truth being our selves satisfied in believing what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.36 37. when he answers the Fools Question saying that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that Body that shall be c. and further saith vers 44. It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body c. and in the same chap. saith further vers 50. Now this I say Brethren that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption inherit Incorruption Thus we laid it down and looking upon James Barry's asserting that it must be the Fleshly Body which must die and see Corruption for these are his words we did believe he contradicted the Apostle in so saying and also Christ himself who said that the Children of the Resurrection were equal unto the Angels c. Luke 20.36 and therefore did we offer to dispute with him in the vindication of our Faith as to this Principle The second Errour he charged upon us was That the Quakers deny that Men are justified and saved by the alone Righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed without the Concurrence of inherent Righteousness And in another Paper condemns us of Errour for believing that the active and passive Righteousness of Jesus Christ is not the only Righteousness as imputed to us by God without any mixture of Righteousness inherent in us by the which Sinners must be justified and eternally saved We answered That we do own Righteousness to be imputed of God and Gods Imputation thereof to be a Blessing and Happiness unto man but do not believe that Sinners shall be justified and saved by the Imputation only of the active and passive Righteousnes of Christ without us without any Righteousness wrought in us by the Spirit of Grace which comes by Jesus Christ Let all people that are of understanding hearts seriously consider this which he calls an Errour and charges upon the Quakers for such an Errour as that he will prove us grand Hereticks herein c. for allowing any mixture of Righteousness inherent in us that is cleaving to or abiding in One might think he had never read the Scriptures thus to exclude the work of Grace in the heart Did not the Apostle say Eph. 2.5 By Grace ye are saved and vers 8. again By Grace ye are saved through Faith not of your selves it is the Gift of God. And was not this Grace a Spiritual Gift and was it not to be in their hearts did not the Apostle say Let the Word of God dwell richly in you And were they not to sing with Grace in the heart Coll. 3.16 and was not Christ in them the Hope of Glory chap. 1.27 and did not Christ say Joh. 3.3 Except a man be born again or from above he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And vers 5. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God For that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit as v. 6. From all which it is evident that none can enter the Kingdom of God without this Regeneration and being born again And how can this New Birth be without the work of the Spirit of Christ in the heart and how can this work of Regeneration be wrought and no inherent Righteousness or how can it be that a man may be born of the Spirit or from above and have no Righteousness abiding in him and without this work of Regeneration and new Birth you see Christ saith he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven This being rightly understood let James Barry tell us what manner of Justification and Salvation that is which he means that is without any mixture of Righteousness wrought in a man by the Spirit of Grace or abiding in him for he saith By the alone Righteousness active and passive of Christ imputed without any mixture of Righteousness inherent must Sinners be justified and eternally saved But it is evident from Christs Words that by this eternal Salvation of James Barry's a man cannot enter the Kingdom of God for they are not prepared for it Behold Christ saith John â—5 I am the Vine ye are the Branches abide in me and I in you and vers 5. he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit without me ye can do nothing Now can it be possible that any should be in Christ and Christ in them and yet no Righteousness inherent that is â—â—icking to or abiding in them and yet they as branches bearing fruit and if they do not bear Fruit they are to be taken away then not saved and justified if they be taken away and if they bear Fruit Christ is in them and they in him Then if it be so Righteousness is inherent both by sticking to and abiding in So let James Barry make out how any can be in Christ and Christ in them and no Righteousness inherent or otherwise how any can be fruitful and consequently justified and saved and Christ not in them and they in him seeing Christ saith it cannot be and vers 6. you may see the end of all that abides not in Christ as withered branches cut off they are gathered for the fire So that they that abide not in Christ bear no Fruit and are neither justified nor saved agreeing with the very Parable Christ speaks Matth. 9.17 Neither do men put New Wine into Old Bottles else the Bottles break and the Wine runneth out and the Bottles perish c. which plainly demonstrates there must be an inward work of renewing for it is not the Old that must enter therefore the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature and in 1 Cor. 5.7 the Apostle exhorts them to purge out the old Leaven that they might be a new Lump c. and in Gal. 6.15 the Apostle having spoken before of the effects of the Cross of Christ tells them that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature So that we may see the Apostle who believed his Masters Doctrine pressed to have it answered by witnessing the old man put off which was corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and to be renewed in the Spirit of their minds c. Ephes 4.22 23. and in Coll. 3.9.10 There you may see that the Apostle tells them they had put off the old man with his Deeds and had put on the new which was renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him who had created him and was not this new Man Christ or at least the bringings forth of his Power in them for the Apostle saith Rom. 13.14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ c. and Coll. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in
him And Coll. 3.11 Having spoken of them that had put on the new Man as before saith where there is neither Jew nor Greek c. but Christ is all and in all As the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 1 30. He was made of God unto them Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption So here was the true Imputation or gift of God thus given or made theirs and so imputed and so they did witness his power to work in them as the Apostle saith Ephes 3. and 20. and in the same Chapter you may see how he desired with bowed Knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant them according to the Riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inward Man and likewise in his Epistle to Titus 3.5 Having spoken of the Love of God to Mankind not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost So here still the Apostle hath regard to the Doctrine of Christ and maintains Regeneration through the renewings of the Holy Ghost so they were washed thereby and born thereof To this agrees another Testimony of his 1 Cor. 6.11 Having told them that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God and having reckoned up to them the wickedness that the Gentiles were given to saith And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And what saith James Barry was not Righteousness here wrought in them was there none inherent when this work of Sanctification and washing was wrought by the Spirit or were they saved and justifyed while they were in those gross Evils beforementioned if so let us know what manner of Salvation it was for the Apostle saith None such shall inherit the Kingdom of God and the same Apostle saith Phil. 2.12 13. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Now it is evident that though they preached Remission of Sins past in the name of Jesus to those that did believe and so through Faith their Sins came to be blotted out yet without this washing of Regeneration and work of the Spirit to renew them that they might be born again as Christ had said they could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore you may see how the Christians witnessed the new Birth and how the Apostles laboured for it yet this neither was by them then nor is by us now accounted Man's work alone But was the work of Christ in them by his Spirit and that was the reason why the Apostle came under such a Travel as in Gall. 4 19. where he saith my little Children of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Here the Apostle was concern'd lest they should be lost and he had bestowed upon them Labour in Vain as verse 11. Seeing they were going out into the Observations which was unprofitable and therefore in Chap. 5.16 Saith this I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fullfil the Lusts of the Flesh So you may see it was the Spirit the Saints were to walk in and thereby was the overcoming of the Flesh with its Lusts As the Apostle in Rom. 8 doth at large testifie and tells us plainly vers 9. that if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And verse 14. saith as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God. But James Barry with some of his Hearers denyed Revelation and accounted it an Errour in us to own it and therefore it cannot be expected that they should walk in it who denies it or that they should be adopted by it or Sealed by it And therefore let James Barry in his Answer make out how they came to be Christians or Children of God and whether they are Christs and how they came to be so and whether they own Regeneration necessary to Salvation yea or nay and whether this eternal Salvation he saith Sinners are saved by without any mixture of inherent Righteousness do fit man for the Kingdom of God yea or nay And whether any man can reap benefit by the active and passive Righteousness of Christ without except he have a true Faith and whether any Man can have a true Faith without the word of Faith and whether this word of Faith be not in the Heart c. yea or nay and whether true Faith be not an effect of this word in the Heart yea or nay According to Rom. 10. And this is not the speech of the Law but of the Righteousness of Faith as in verse 6th and 7th thou need not say who shall ascend into Heaven to fetch Christ down or who shall descend into the deep to bring him again from the dead c. verse the 8th the word is nigh in the Heart and Mouth This is the Word of Faith which we Preach and is this word there in the Heart and doth it beget Faith in Christ and concerning his Righteousness and yet no Righteousness within for James Barry will have no mixture it must be a Faith without Righteousness or else a Justification and Salvation without Faith so let him send forth his Arguments to prove us grand Hereticks according to his Promise and then it may be seen what we have further to say in the Vindication of our Principles which if he do not let it rest upon him as such a one and let Errour and Heresie lye at his door The next Error that he chargeth upon us as he lays it down in his own terms is that we do own Perfection in Sanctification as to degrees in this Life Answer We having said so much before tending to prove this no Errour in our so owning of it need now say little more especially seeing we never heard it accounted an Errour before till now by him and do question whether any will be now of his mind the Apostle as is shewed before said to the Saints they were washed and they were sanctified and again he speaks of their being saved by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and Jude vers 1. writes unto such as were sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ Was this Washing and Sanctification which was by God the Father and by his Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ altogether without Perfection that it is by James Barry accounted an Error to hold Perfection of Sanctification in any degree What! is the Works of God and his Spirit in Christ so imperfect that it admits of no degree of Perfection in them then how should the Saints perfect Holiness in the fear of God according to the Exhortation given by the Apostle 2 Cor.