Spirit which also may be confirmed by the Testimony of the Scriture of Truth As to those which thou sets down as our Tenents I shall answer on the Lords behalf for Truthes sake and for the rest thou may take them home to thy self First concerning the Trinity thou saith they confesse the Father Son and Holy Ghost and yet they deny the Trinity and those to bet hree distinct Persons for confutation of this thou brings Heb. First and third He is the expresse Image of his Fathers Person Thy Trinity is an old Popish term and we love to keep to sound words but by Trinity I suppose thou means three and thy own words shall confute thee thou confesseth we say there is Father Son and Holy Ghost and yet but one God or one Eternal being or substance in which they all subsist but thy word distinct is thy own and not the Spirits yet to distinguish betwixt Father Son and Spirit we deny not and as for the first of Heb it is in another Translation rendred the expresse Image of his substance for Person is too grosse a word as to expresse an Eternal and Divine being in and if thou do hold three distinct substances thou errs in thy Judgement for that were to make three Gods Secondly They deny Christ to be God and man in one Person and Christ to be a distinct Person from the Father and they acknowledge such a Christ as unchrists Christ and when they say Christ manifest in the flesh they mean not as the Scripture but falaciously Answ. We say according to the Scripture of Truth and not according to thy falacy that in the man Christ did the fulness of the Godhead dwell and God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and he saith I and my Father are one and the Father the Son and the Spirit subsist in one Eternal Power Life and Glory which thou with all thy stupid generation are Ignorant of and Christ that we acknowledge is such a Christ as is able to save to the utmost them that come unto him and receive him and believe in him and is such a Christ is as able to raise them that have been dead and such a Christ giveth Eternal life to them that believe And so that Christ that we own doth not un-christ Christ but by your Doctrine who pleads imperfection and the continuation thereof and a continuation in sin for term of life as one of thy own said sin will dwell in the house till the house be pulled down speaking of the natural body which some other of thy own Generation have called the body of sin and so it is you that hold such a Christ as unchrists the true Christ in thy own words and when didst thou enter into our thoughts and into our heart or with what dost thou search that thou sits as Judge over the heart who knowes not judgement in thy self nor of what spirit thou art of and so thy lies and deceit is turned upon thee when we say Christ manifest in the flesh we say that holy thing which was brought forth and born of a Virgin and conceived of the Holy Ghost in whom the fulness of the God-head dwells in whom the Eternal Power of the Father was manifested that he was the Christ which was manifested in the flesh and Justified in the Spirit Preached among the Gentiles seen of Angels and received up into Glory and this is according to Scripture of Truth and thy judgement must be judged Thirdly Concerning the Scripture considered as the rule of Life They deny the Scripture or written word to be the rule of life and they make the Spirit without the Scripture to be their guide they account Chyrch instituted worship and waiting upon God for the Efficacious presânce and operation of the Spirit of Grace in the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament for conversion and edification to be Iââlatry and the Political order of Church Officers and members they affirm to be an Image Answ. Concerning the Scripture we say they are Scriptures of Truth and words of Truth spoken from the Spirit or Truth that which gave them a being is greater then they as he that Creates is greater then they that arâ Created which is preferred above and before and yet no Deminishing or Detracting from the Creature so the Spirit is greater above and before the words and yet this doth not Deminish neither Derogate from the Scripture these and the like sound words we have spoken to thy deaf Generation yet a spirit of slumber being upon them all they could not hear that which giveth Life and bringeth to Life and preserves in the Life is a rule and a guide to them that are enlivened the Sons of God who were quickned by the Eternal Spirit of their Father of Christ and raised from death to Life this was their rule as it is written as many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and we say it is a sufficient rule of it self and thou may as well count the rule of the Sons of God Hetrodox and Heretical and the Apostles position who said as many as are the Sons of God are led by it and Christ promised unto believers the Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth and to bring things to their remembrance and to guide them in the path of Righteousness what has Envy and madness eaten all the good out of your hearts Yet the Scripture is not so excluded by us as thou Judgest though we say the Spirit may lead and direct with it or without it yet not contrary to it for the Spirit doth will and may take up what thing it pleaseth to manifest it self and its mind unto the Creature and who art thou and what art thou any thing but an Egyptian who would limit it and tie it to Paper and Ink to words and Syllables sounded and written in diverse Tongues Languages and Caracters they that appointed thee for a Minister never knew Gods Work and we know that there are several Ministrations and several operations yet the same God and the same Spirit who manifested it self and formeth and Ordaineth things according to its Heavenly will to represent its Heavenly mind to the Creature and that which Christ hath Ordained and Instituted to be worshipped in waited in and his presence seen in and the operation of the Spirit of Grace in the work of the Ministry which is for Conversion and Edification is dearly owned by us as that whereby we have found the Lord and his pure presence through this or that thing and without and beyond all Creatures or visible appearances and this is not accounted Idolatry by us as thou falsly saith which God will Judge thee for in the day when he appears to take vengeance upon his Enemies in flames of fire and thou that talkes of trying the Spirit by the Letter knowes no more of God then a Horse but what thou knowes naturally the
Wisdom stands and life Eternal And what is this Hetrodox to profess perfection of degrees in this life is not this Orthodox used not you and do not you generally hold perfection in part or parts and is not that which is perfect in parts perfect in degrees He that feels victory over one sin by Christ the Power of God hath not he some part in that which is perfect and of that which is perfect And if he witness victory over more is he not come to a greater degree or degrees of the life which is perfect And he that knows the blood that cleanseth from all sin is not he perfect and compleat in him who hath made him so But art thou so offended at perfection that thou dost not admit of any part or parts degree or degrees thereof that thou sets this down as a Blasphemy And its time indeed to reprove you sharply who are puffed up in pride and knows nothing who teaches contrary to the perfect life of Christ or any degree or degrees thereof to be attained unto thou art perfect in wickednesse and a perfect Minister of Antichrist and a perfect Heathen and its time to bear Testimony against you and lay you open and your deceit in the sight of the Sun that them that have but the least glimring of the Light may behold you a pitiful Church is that like to be which thou art Pastor of by appointment of the General Court who cryes out against any degree of the perfect life of Christ in this life to be obtained or enjoyed a Minister of sin a Minister of Sathan and unrighteousness that is thy name own it In the ninth page thou art going about to prove thy Trinity as thou calls it and thou saist The Father is a distinct subsistance and the Son a distinct subsistance and the Holy Ghost is a distinct subsistance and thou brings John 5. there is another bears witness likewise speaking of the Holy Ghost he calls him another and this another thou sayes Is Intel ãâã ãâã of the Essence and then saith What is more manifest then another subsistance and another subsistance speaks distinct subsistances and thou saith The Spirit is called the hand of Trinity Answ. Another is not understood of another being of another life or another substance but is understood of another Manifestation or Operation of the same God who subsists in the same Power in which the Father the Son and the Spirit subsisteth as I said unto thee before another as to distinguish of the Operation and Work of the Spirit and of the Son we do not refuse but to make three distinct essences and beings is ignorance and errour as thou saith Another is intelâgible of the Essence and so thou hast made three Essences three Subsistances three Persons and three Gods but we say there is but one God and there is three that bears record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one Now as for Subsistance and Essence they are unsound words coyned of your selves from your dark imaginations in which there is no truth at all but to cast a mist Now where the Holy Ghost is called a Person in the Scripture I have never read and where it is called the hand of Trinity I have never heard of before thee and so thy blind ignorant conclusions and Sophistical arguing will have little place with them that are come to know the Teachings with the Spirit and also keep to a form of sound words which thou cannot And thou saith He that sendeth and he that is sent are distinct and so the Father sending the Son and the Son sent of the Father and the Father and the Son sending the Spirit and the Spirit sent by the Father and the Son are distinct subsistances and not the same He that sends and he that is sent may be distinguished but he that sendeth and him that is sent is not so distinct afar off one another but that him that sendeth is with him that is sent and so God was in Christ reconciling the world and then how were they distinct one from the other and by him was all things made and Christ was not so distinct or afar off at a distance when the Heavens and the Earth was made so that it is truly said without him nothing was made that was made and the Spirit of God which may be distinguished in regard of its Operation yet it was not absent or distinct from the Father and the Son in the Creation neither is absent from the Son in the Regeneration or work of Redemption And then in thy Answer to an Objection which thou makest thy self How the Doctrine of life was Communicated vocally by the Patriarchs but it is not so now and in thy Answer thou saith The Scripture is not necessary absolutely but it being Gods Will to Communicate life through the Scripture hence the Scripture is necessary and then thou sayes Not the letter without the mind of the Authour nor the Spirit without the Scripture and that the words in the 17th of John 22. That they may be one as we are one these words give an uncertain sound thou saist and further thou saist Surely they are under a Rule of live who hare not the Spirit since the Canon of the Scripture is closed so far is the Spirit from being a Rule of life that to us it is not the Spirit except it move in the written word Answ. Gross darkness is thy dwelling-place and out of thick darkness all this pitiful confusion cometh the Doctrine of life was Communicated according to the will and mind of God sometime by Dream sometime by Vision sometime by Revelation to the Patriarchs and Believers from Abel till Moses and by Faith they were followers of Christ and doubtless they did Communicate in their Generation those things that were manifest unto them by the Spirit which was the then Rule and Guide to the feet of the upright in the way of Peace before any Scripture was written and if the Scripture be not necessary absolutely thou hast said as much as we say therefore we ' speak of a Rule and a Way which is absolute necessary without which no man can know the Father or the Son nor the way of Peace but by the Spirit of truth which gave forth the Words of truth which may manifest and doth manifest it self as it will when it will where it will and how it will for it is unlimitted and it will not be limitted by its own words as to sound but may speak words which it never spoke before as for instance Paul by the Spirit said The second Adam the Lord from Heaven is a quickning Spirit which none of the Scriptures before written speaks in these very words and if the Spirit be not Spirit without the Letter then where the Letter is wanting the Spirit is wanting and consequently them that have the Scripture have the Spirit which were no less then
THE HEART OF New-England HARDNED THROUGH WICKEDNES In Answer to a Book Entituled the Heart of New-England Rent Published by John Norton appointed thereunto by the General Court The Doctrine of the Quakers Uindicated his Arguments made void his Ignorance manifested and his lying doctrines brought to light and Judged with the Word of Truth and Truth cleared from his Aspersions and slanders By him that waits to see the Throne of Righteousness Exalted above all Deceit FRANCIS HOWGILL And the rest of the men which were not kil'd by the plagues repented not of the works of their hands neither repented they of their Murders nor sorceries nor worshippings of Devils Revel. 9. 20 21. LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1659. NOw when the Lord of life and glory is appearing in his Power as in the days of old and his goodness mercy and truth as in the years past and the riches of his Grace Salvation which he maketh to flow forth and spring forth from the great deep now when he is manifesting his light from his holy habitation his saving health from his dwelling place that the sons of men might be partakers thereof and praise him who liveth for ever and ever who is the Author of Eternal Salvation unto them that believe the pit of darkness hath also opened its mouth and out of it many unclean spirits doth arise and foggs and mists of darkness Ignorance and Error is also arisen out of it to hinder the light from shining and to darken the Air that the Son of Righteousness might not be beheld and would dam up the way that the springs of life might not refresh the City of God and his tender plants that so the Prince of darkness and the King of the bottomless pit might not lose his Dominion for this end hath he mustred up and is mustring up all his men of War with their several weapons and all the Engines of wickedness to resist the Lamb of God who is risen to make War in Righteousness that so the Kingdom of darkness might still be established and the Subjects thereof live at ease and peace in Egypt and Sodom where Christ and the witnesses are flain I say for this end hath he sent out his men of War to resist the work of the Lord which is to destroy the Devils work one of his Champions more stout then his fellows is come out with his weapons of War which are most of them borrowed and not his own and the City in which he hath encompassed himself is a refuge of lies but however he appears with the face of Authority and subscribes himself John Norton Teacher of the Church of Christ at Boston in New England who was appointed thereunto by the order of the General Court his Book he calls The heart of New England Rent at the blasphemies of the present Generation or a brief tract concerning the Doctrine of the Quakers shewing the destructive nature thereof to Religion Churches and State Now whether John Norton was appointed of the General Court to be Minister of Boston or he was appointed by the General Court to tell lies how the heart of New England is Rent whether he intends should be believed the Reader may judge for his words may be understood of both however John Norton hath manifested his Master that it was not Christ who appointed him to be Minister at Boston but the General Court that appointed him neither was it Christ nor his Spirit that set him to work to publish lies to the World that the heart of New England was Rent but the General Court neither was it Christ nor the General Assembly that ordered him to write this Book which he calls a Tract concerning the Doctrine of the Quakers but the General Court they have ordered thee to tell lies and thou hast received thy Commission and acts it and shewes it to the World and the sign thereof is by the appointment of the General Court before we go any further men of understanding will Judge whose Minister whose Souldier whose Warrier John Norton is and at whose appointment and Commandment he Ministers and Wars and hath cleared himself to be no Souldier of Christ no Minister of Christ but appointed to Minister and to War at the appointment of the General Court and so what will be brought forth by him in his Tract as he calls it afterwards as to Minister Grace to the hearers and Readers the Reader may Judge seeing that he is a Minister by the will of Man and his work is appointed by the General Court and doth John Norton believe that People will receive his Testimony as that the heart of New England is broken and Rent when as the blood-thirsty cruelty and Barbarous actions and inhumane acts of cruelty and the noisome smell and a bad example have you given to the World and the Laws and appointments and orders of that General Court of Boston and New England stinkes in the Nostrils of all sober People which is sounded through the World and your State is as it was with Israel when blindness hapened unto them through their unbelief the effect of it manifested their Apostacy the Judges then judged for rewards the Priests Preached for hire and Prophets devived for mony and the People loved to have it so in their unbelief and then âid the Rulers grind the faces of the Poor and chop them in pieces as flesh for the Caldron even as you have done banished some from their Habitations some from their Wives and Children and some you have seized upon their Lands taken away their goods by the Appointment and Order of your Courts by which thou art made a Minister and appointed to tell these lyes and to utter forth deceit to cover your wickedness and to strengthen the Devils Kingdom and the subjects thereof against Christ and his Kingdom who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them who came not to lay burdens but to take off burdens who came not to destroy the Poor and Needy but to relieve the Oppressed And have not your General Courts done all this and much more which they may see and behold with confusion of face And when they have whipt them and scourged them fined them and imprisoned them ceized upon their Lands taken away their goods wasted their Estates banished them upon pain of death and when nothing hath remained of all their Estates have ordered their Children to be sold for Bond-slaves and this by the appointment of your General Court and for no other cause but because they would not put off their Hats to their Equals or come to your publick Assemblies Oh! un-heard-of and unparallel'd wickedness the name of your General Court and the Appointments and Ordinances thereof will be crowned with infamy and reproach from Generation to Generation but this is com'd to pass that your hypocrisie might be made manifest and your skirts uncovered that your shame might appear
ignorance and darkness to say and what Rule are they under who have not the Spirit or no measure of it there is but the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of errour and they that are not ruled by the Spirit of Truth they are ruled by the spirit of errour though they may have the words to fight with and quarrel about without the life But last of all thou hast in plain words set the dead letter before the living Spirit and saith That the Spirit is no Spirit except it speak by the Scripture and if the words of Christ in the 17th of John give an uncertain sound it is but to thy deaf ear and to thy blind understanding for he spoke soundly and certainly and prayed to the Father that as the Father and he was one so they also might be one being guided by the one Spirit of the Father in the Son and that they might live in the Unity of it and have Unity one with another in it and with the Father and the Son In thy 15th page though thou hast set up the Letter for a perfect Rule of life yet here thou throws it down again and saith It is to be understood as including consequences for the greatest part of Scripture is consequences and the Scripture cannot be true without consequences for Thomas and Mary are neither commanded obedience or forbidden disobedience for we no where read thou Thomas or thou Mary are therein commanded obedience or forbidden disobedience such a one by name do this or that Answ. I told thee the Spirit of God is unlimitted and whether it speaks of degrees or measures of a greater or less thing or whether it speaks the greater first and the lesser after whether it speaks from Major to Minor or from Minor to Major or what may truly follow either from the greater to the less or from the less to the greater it is all truth but thy Consequences is no part of this the Spirit still demonstrates its own mind by what words and terms and expressions it pleaseth and will not be limitted or confined to this or that form of words and thou errs grosly neither knowing the Scripture nor the Power of God and thy Consequences are false for there are the individual persons or names of Thomas and Mary both commanded obedience and forbidden disobedience and if thou have never read this in Scripture I inform thee and instruct thee thou may read the 20th of John 16 17. where Jesus saith unto Mary she turned herself and said unto him Rabboni which is to say Master Jesus said unto her Touch me not for I am not yet ascended here is a Prohibition and forbidding that she should not touch him secondly here is a command of obedience But go unto my Brethren and say unto them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God and in the same Chapter thou may read in the 27th where Christ spoke unto Thomas by name after his Resurrection then said he to Thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side here was a Command to be obeyed and be not faithless there is a prohibition or a forbidding of unbelief and so thy foolishness is manifest and ignorance of the Scripture some of it thou sayes is an uncertain sound and the Scriptures fore-mentioned thou hast denied or else never hast read it and so art unacquainted with thy Rule which thou quarrels and fights so much about And then thou comes and sayes Thou wilt vindicate some Scriptures and cites 1 John 9. That this was the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the world hence they affirm that there is a light in every man which being followed is an Infallible guide and that this light which lighteth every man is the Rule of life and not the written word thy Answer is The sence of the Text is notoriously false and thy reason is if Christ the true light that lighteth every man be the Rule then righteousnesse should be by the Law for the light which is in every man is not Gospel light but there is a natural light or the light of Nature which is to be construed in opposition to spiritual and the light of Nature and the light of the Spirit are contradistinct and by this light of Nature there is a difference put betwixt that which is good and bad and it will teach us not to lye nor steal and it will lead to the Knowledge of one God and yet it is in opposition to one spirit and it will lead to know Eternity omnipotency and it will lead to know the Creator yet it is contradistinct to the spirit Answ. The Scripture needs none of thy Vindication for thou hast defamed it and sayes Christs words is an uncertain sound and thou hast said that neither Mary nor Thomas was commanded obedience thou may look back of thy lyes and repent of them and why is the sence of the Text utterly false that Christ was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world without exception and why is this utterly false if he be followed that he who is the true light is an Infallible guide and the Rule of life hath he not enlighted every man that comes into the world if thou make exceptions where the Spirit makes none then thou perverts the Scripture doth not he say I am the light of the world the world in the Scriptures account is set in opposition to believers for believers are not of this world but are redeemed out of it as for example God so loved the world that he sent his Son into the world that whosoever did believe in him might not perish but have Everlasting life for it is manifest that the Saints and Believers had life given already that followed Christ and were his sheep and saith Christ I put them forth and go before them and give unto them Eternal life and he said to them who had not Eternal life While you have the light believe in it that you may be the Children of it and is not Christ Gods Righteousness who is given for a Covenant of light to the blind and dead and lame to the dumb to open their eyes to quicken them to make them leap as a Hart and their tongue to sing and utter forth praise we say Righteousness is not by the Law but by Christ that lighteth every man who is the end of the Law and why is not the light which lighteth every man Gospel light seeing it is said Go Preach the Gospel in every Creature under Heaven go learn what that means and if natural light must be construed in opposition to spiritual and the light of Nature contradistinct to the light of the Spirit then it must needs be sinful for that which opposeth spiritual light is set in opposition against its leading must needs be sinful and that which is contra
or against the light of the Spirit must needs be sinful and then if it be as thou hast said and if this must be the true sence of that Scripture that it must be understood of natural light and that natural light thou construes in opposition to spiritual and saith it is contradistinct to the light of the Spirit and in opposition unto it that which is against the Spirits light or the light of the Spirit must needs be darkness sinful and evil and yet thou hast confessed it will teach that none ought to lye or steal and to know one God and the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency and yet it must be taken in opposition to the Spirit and contradistinct from the Spirit that which leads to know the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency is that Spirit of God through which God and the things of God are revealed and that that teaches that a man should not lye that is truth and that that leads from sin and accuses for evil-doing and convicts that is the Spirits light as it is written he shall convince the world of sin and so thou like a man who hath lost all aim rambles up and down in every by-path and like a blind man gropes but cannot enter into the Treasure-house of Wisdom thou hast called the light that every one is lighted with the Righteousness of the Law and no Gospel light and in opposition to spiritual and contradistinct to the Spirit and in a word hath made at it at the best construction but bad and evil and then when thou hast done thou confesseth that it will put a difference between good evil and shew that God is to be worshipped and Eternity is known and Omnipotency And are not these the deep things of God And so Bâbylon is the Land of thy nativity and thou reels and staggers up and down like a drunken man and would be a Teacher and knows not whereof thou affirms nor of what thou speaks Further thou saith That this little light there is is much miscarried and thy Reason is because it is managed by the reigning power of darkness and the judgement of man is corrupt and then thou goes on the light of nature since the fall is not to be compared saist thou with the light of the Image of God before the fall and it hath no proportion with Gospel light but is gross darkness nay is worse then gross darkness Answ. And how did the light miscarry thou blind-man and when did the Reigning power of darkness manage it seeing that there is no fellowship betwixt light and darkness and the light which every man is lighted with hath born witness against darkness and the Reigning power of it and though the judgment of man be corrupt his miscarriage is because he hath not minded the light and because he hath turned his back on it and then sin entred and then came to Reign in the power of darkness and corrupted the heart and this hath made man miscarry and though thou say that the light which lighteth every man is not compared with the light of the Image of God before the fall and hath no proportion I 'le tell thee a riddle go learn what it means the light of the Image of God before the fall is the same in it self after the fall and holds its proportion and is no whit lessned or deminished in its purity in its self although fallen man do not see it neither can behold it because sin hath entred and death by sin and that is it which obscureth the Image of God from man and its light yet the light shined in darkness but thou concludes it is darkness yea worse then grosse darkness and thou brings a proof to prove it ye were darkness the Apostle doth not say that the light which shined in darkness was darkness or worse then grosse darknesse as thou ignorantly saith but he said the Ephesians or the men of Ephesus were darkness and not the light in them which shined in darkness though the darkness comprehended it not but how now John Norton what will the General Court of Boston say when they see thy confusion laid open and the deceit made manifest to thine and their shame and ignorance thou confest in the 16. page that it would lead to know God and the worship of God and Teach not to lie and steal and so forth and to discover some of Gods Attributes as Eternity omnipotency and the like here was some good in it in thy own account but now it s become grosse darkness in the 18. page and worse then grosse darkness and so hath made as bad if not worse then any Principle that is in a Beast and it may truely be said of thee even in thy own phrase Quanta sub nocte Jacebat Nostra dies But now thou comes to a further interpretation of 1 Job 9. and thou saith the light which we are enlightned with it is either the light of nature the light of reason or the light of saving Grace and the light enlightning is either the Word considered as the second Person or Christ the Son considered as Incarnate Answ. It seems that thou knowes not which it is but gueses like a blind man and like a wild Archer shootes at random and why dost thou make such distinction betwixt the Word the Son of God and Christ the Son of God thou made but three Persons in the Trinity before but it seems by thy arguing thou would now make four And as for thy Collective and distributive light the distinctions is that which would cast a mist before People eyes and thou brings the Judgement of Calvin Besar and Piscator and others that as concerning man endued onely with the light remaining since the fall they conclude him to be darkness and unable to comprehend the light or to improve it to salvation their judgements is more sound then thine though thou would bring them to strengthen thee that the Son of God hath not enlightned every man they confesse the man in the fall is in darkness and darkness is over him and in that he is not able to comprehend the light which is in him and as to the improvement of it in the darkness man hath not power to improve it to salvation but what doth this invalidate the light which is in darkness the power of improving is in the light being turned to again and received and what if I say it is the light of Life in its self though thou deny it I know what I speak for in him was life and is life and that life is the light of men and the light of the world and so that light which every man is lighted with is of the life and from the life and so may truely be said to be the light of life in it self though man in the transgression doth not feel it so as to him but may truely say it is the light of condemnation because he feels it so
in the operation thereof being in the transgression it convicteth reproveth accuseth and condemneth for evil and therefore it cannot be the light of life to him till it be received closed with obeyed and followed and then the back is turned upon the transgression and man is come out of the darkness and therefore the Apostle spoke well and understandingly according to knowledge that which was ordained for life wrought death in him that was because the Law was against him and he in the contrary nature to it the ignorance of many wise men so accounted in this generation is such that when they see or feel contrary effects they judge there must needs be contrary subjects or objects because there are different effects for now the same light which shewes evil and accuses for it and judges for it there is one operation and excuses him that loves it and obeyes it here is another operation that which convinceth the world of sin of Righteousness of Judgement and that which consolates and gives peace to the believer is the self same spirit so here is not two spirits or two lights so that he which kindles a fire in the Earth and appears in flames of fire and rendreth vengeance upon all them that obey not the Gospel which is the Power of God here is one work or operation of Christ the same bringeth Peace Joy and gladness and refreshment and makes the springs of life to buble up in them that believe here is another operation yet the same Christ these things I write to inform thee and all where this may come that that is truely an appearance of Christ which sheweth sin and condemns it in any measure and he alone is the Judge of the quick and the dead and if all Judgement be committed to the Son then to be Judged for lying for stealing and for wronging any man it is the work of Christ and the work of the Son Oh man thou hast much to repent of and thy ignorance is great which hath called Christ the light or the light of Christ or the light of life darkness and contradistinct to the Spirit and worse then grosse darkness so this is thy conclusion against the first of John and the 9. that Christ hath not enlightned every man or all men that come into the world but all men so qualified of every sort so then by thy conclusion the first of John and the 9. verse gives an uncertain sound like the 17. of John and 22 so then its qualifications of men that procures light from Christ and so it s not of Grace but of debt but if it be of debt which is owing unto a Person so qualified then it is not of gift but thou errs in thy Judgement for it is by the gift of righteousness that Justification comes upon all that believes it is not this or that qualification before their conversion which is any cause of Gods enlightning them but it is the free love of God unto man without exceptions or respect of Persons that he hath lighted every man to the intent that all and every man might see his Error and depart from it and turn to him that shewes him it who would have all men saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth and such is the large love of God unto whole man-kind which thou wouldst restrict and bind up to such and such Persons so qualified as though qualifications of Persons were a Meritorious cause wherefore Christ was bound to give them light this is rank Popery and not according to the Doctrine of godliness And thou citest the 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have a more sure word of prophesie where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawn and the day Star arise in your hearts hence it is inferred thou saith that after the reception of the Spirit there is no need to attend to the Scripture and so thou goes on and sayes the word of prophesie is the Scripture of the Old Testament that thou art to take heed unto untill the day dawned and the day Star arised in their hearts and that untill signifies for ever Asw. And here thou art in confusion I know none that makes any such inference but thy self for the Scripture is seen most clearly who know the day dawn and the day-star arisen in their hearts and first thou sayes we are to understand the Word of Prophecy the whole Scripture and then in the same page saith that Peter expounds the word prophesie of the Old Testament onely so then Peters Exposition by thy account and thine is different thou sayes he spoke of the Old Testament and thy interpretation is of the whole Scripture but thou hast mist it both of Peter and thy self for Peter wrote unto People in that Epistle in several States yet they all might be said to be believers according to a proportion of faith given unto them and in that which thou hast cited 2 Pât. 1. 19. we have also a more sure word of Prophesie Here is to be understood first a sure word Secondly a more sure word for the Apostle in that Chapter speaking of their diligence towards them that did believe and declared unto them that they had not followed devised fables when we made known unto you the Power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but are eye witnesses of his Majesty verse 16. and heard the voice from this excellent glory this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased when we were with him in the Mount this was as sure a word to the Apostles as any that ever the Prophets had spoken before was to them and so the Old Testament could not be more sure then this which they had from the excellent glory but this was not so sure unto them to whom Peter wrote and this was only the Apostles Declaration but the word of prophesie unto which he exhorted them unto was nearer them then any of the Prophets words or the Apostles Testimony of what they had heard in the Mount the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesie to wit that which bears witness against sin and to righteousness from this the Prophets spoke and this was that publike thing or Spirit and they that speak not from it speak from a private spirit of their own and this word of Prophesie or that wherein they could see or foresee things to come they were to take heed unto as unto a light which shined in a dark place and this was the more sure word which he directed to which in all thy Book thou quarels against and through this they saw the appearance and knew the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in Power and great Glory and did see the day dawn and the day Star arise in their hearts and they were to attend to this not onely before but also after for by the Word of his Testimony the Saints did overcome and
calls a Political Church which must all be scattered with the breath of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming whom thou yet Judges to be gross darkness In thy 18th page in the 44th page thou speaks That visible Political Church Church-Officers and Church-Ordinances are Gospel Institutions appointed by Christ to continue to the end of the world and that Command which Paul gave to Timothy is to be kept and that visible Political Church Estate is to continue to the end of the world Answ. I see thou art ignorant of God Christ Heaven Church Church-Officers Ordinances and Institutions the Churches of Christ were established by and in the Power of God and the Ministers thereof ministred walked and ruled in the Power of God and the Ordinances and Institutions of the true Church of God are pure and spiritual but the Church that thou art pleading for the continuation thereof is a Political Church Political Ordinances Political Officers Political Institutions Political Pastors and Teachers the Lords Supper a Political Ordinance Baptism a Political Ordinance the spiritual Councel which Paul gave to Timothy about the Elders of the Church and about the Holy Practise which they were to walk in and the godly conversation this thou calls Political nay furthermore thou saist Heaven stands in Policy and in thy fourth Chap. saith To Christ belongs the prerogative of being the onely Politician these and the like damnable doctrines and heresies thou hast uttered forth and these must be proved from the first of Tim. 3. 1â and Chap. 3. did Paul when he wrote to Timothy when he gave him direction about Elders and such as took care of the Church of God did he say a Bishop is a Political Officer and must be blameless or did he say a Deacon is a Polical Officer and must be grave And therefore Reader thou may read these Scriptures 1 Tim. 6. 14. 1 Cor. 14. 33. and thou maist see this Sophister and this man that is void of understanding who cryeth up the Scripture for a Rule of life and yet holds such a Church such Pastors such Officers such Ordinances such Institutions which the Scripture makes no mention of and therefore this man having made a Monstrous body a Politick Church he imagines a head like it and therefore blasphemously saith Christ is the greatest Politician much I need not say unto this black dark stuff which is to be confounded which is imaginary and deceit which the wrath of God must scatter but this I say to thee there was no Officers in the Church of Christ but they were Ministers made so by the Spirit and were made so by the Holy Ghost and were Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter and some were Elders and Ruled in the Church and Churches which was sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and these were spiritual and not Political but thou hast cleared and quitted your selves from being any such Church and that which you call the Sacrament which thou calls visible and Political and brings 1 Cor. 12. for thy proof did Paul say as often as ye eat this Political bread and drink this visible Political Cup you shew forth the Lords death till he come and did Christ when he sent forth his Disciples to preach and to Baptize in the 28th of Matth. 19. which thou pleads must continue until the end of the world did he send them and say go and Teach and Preach the visible Politick Word of the kingdom and Baptize them with visible Political water and that this should continue to the end of the world And little marvel if the Throne of Sathan be exalted among you and such Ministers as thou who Ministers deceit and unrighteousness and ungodliness art set to be a Teacher and appointed so by the General Court who cannot speak a form of sound words but like a Phylosopher a Star-gaâer an Astrologian or a Stage-player which them that reads thy book will see thy tract frothed with such black dark sentences which are like Enchantments As for Beckold and Knipperdolling and Quintinius and Poquius thou might have taken up thy Pen ere now and not have brought all this rambling stuff out of the History of the Germans which thou wouldst cast upon our backs the Bishops used to cast it upon your backs and you upon the Baptists backs but now we must bear all and ââou in envy unto us that thereby thou might represent us odious to the world hath made them all Quakers and saith they are our Predecessours take them to thy self and joyn them to your Political Church and your Political Ordinances and your Politick Doctrines which is of the same nature with theirs which you maintain and uphold with carnal weapons as they did theirs And last of all thou art coming to the Magistrates power in matters of Religion under the Gospel and thou saith Notwithstanding manifold evils prevails and the wiles of the Devil are great and malignant and heresie which is a horrid aspect yet thou saith There is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there and the Balm and the Physician is that thou saith God hath armed the Magistrate with Civil power for the defence of Religion through the Concurrences of Devine Benediction and the Magiâtrate is to vindicate the truth of God and also exercise his Power for curing the Offenders and for his proof he brings 1 Tim. 1. 2â of whom is Hymenius and Alexander whom I have delivered up unto Sathan Ans It seems your Gospel that you preach hath not power in it to prevail against Heresie neither your weapons are able to prevail which are but carnal and so the Power to suppress Heresie and Convince Gain-sayers is wholly without you and though you Censure and Excommunicate and deliver up to Sathan as you say yet you being in Sathans power that which is against you hath Power over you and therefore you are fain to cry up the Beasts power which alwayes made War with the Saints under the name of Hereticks and you say that in exercising of his Power is but defensive I say yes it is offensive and distructive to the Government of Christ and his Prerogative unto whom all Power belongs both in Heaven and Earth and the Government lies upon his shoulders who is a wonderful Councellor of whose Government there is no end and he is able to defend his Church and further more to take away thy objection is willing and furthermore hath promised to keep his Church that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and therefore thou who would have the civil Magistrate to intrude into those things which belongs not to him would have them Usurpers and Traytors unto Christ the Prince of Peace and the King of his People and head of the Church his body unto whom absolute Power and Soveraignity belongeth and Glory which he will not give to another And as for all the proofs which thou brings of
this Take them to thee and thy doctrine for thou art but a stem sprung out of the same Root and acts from the same Principle and yet I tell thee and all the world I am not pleading for any matter of fact or for breakers of the Law which is Righteous for the Law is good if a man use it lawfully it is against murtherers man-stealers and stealers of the Creatures for Idolaters and defrauders and cheaters and every Act or Fact deserves punishment suitable to the transgression Now had it not been more reasonably done of thee to have produced the Fact of the Quakers in New England which hath deserved all these barbarous tortures then to Declare them and Publish them as Offenders in matter of Fact and hath none to lay to their charge and I challenge thee and the rest of thy Adherents to produce some matters of Fact which the Quakers hath done which is contrary to any Righteous Law of God or else own your Condemnation and repent and thou must not think that this poor Tract of thine which is full of deceit and confusion errour blasphemy and madness though thou Publish it by the Appointment of the General Court that it will cover your wickedness or hide you from being discovered to moderate People neither will shelter you in the Day of the Lord And thou saith It concerneth New England awayes to remember that originally they are a Plantation Religious the Profession of purity of Doctrine Worship and Discipline is written upon your fore-heads that after New England hath now shined 20 years should now go out in the snuff of Morallianism Answ. There was something amongst some of you but you fled the Cross as I told you before and so that spirit that persecuted you in the Bishops time got up in your selves and that which once you had while you were under affliction here you have lost not onely the Power of godliness but the Form thereof and also of sound words And now as to matter of Religion its rather become a place of Ostridges and Owles and Satyrs and for purity of Doctrine Worship and Discipline written in your fore-heads if it must be tryed by your Rule and if it be the same 20 years that it is now I have not heard of more unsoundness in Doctrine Worship and Discipline which I have read on in many ages but especially in the Scripture and truly your shining now is turned into blackness and your Sun is set and your day is darkness and your light is gone out as the snuff of a Candle because this man boasts of their Doctrine Worship and Discipline take a few things out of many and behold them in the light of the Lord and compare them with the Scripture and so I leave them to thy Judgement 1 First speaking of the Trinity he saith God is a distinct subsistance from the Son and the Spirit and that the Son is a distinct subsistance from the Father and the Spirit in the 9th page and because it is said the Father shall give you another Comforter this another he saith is Intelligible of the Essence so then the Son is a distinct Subsistance and Essence from the Father and the Spirit is a distinct Subsistance and Essence from the Father and the Son so here is three distinct Essences 2 And that the Spirit of God without the Letter is no Spirit that which obligeth a man to obey a Command of God is one Power and that which strengthens him and enables him to obey is another Power page 12. and that Christs words in the 17th of John 21. gives an uncertain sound which are these That they may be one as we are one 3 That Scripture is a perfect Rule of Life but not without Consequences 4 That Thomas and Mary is no where mentioned in Scripture neither are commanded obedience nor forbidden disobedience contrary to John 20. 16 17 27. 5 That that light which teaches a man there is a God and to Worship God and that Parents are to be honoured and that a man shall not lye nor steal and that which discovers the Creator his Eternity and Omnipotency is to be construed in opposition to spiritual light and contradistinct to the light of the Spirit page 16. 6 That the light which is in every man hath much miscarried whilst that it is managed by the reigning power of darkness page 17. 7. That that which lets a man see that he should not do to others what he would not have others do unto him and shewes a man ought not to steal nor to lye and that which discovers Eternity and Omnipotency this indeed saith he is darkness it is worse then gross darkness page 18. 8 Christ enlightens no man with the light of life but them that are so and so qualified 9 That the Gospel is a Conââicution or Effect tempered of the Grace of God and the blood of Christ 10 That the visible Political Churches Political Officers Political Worship and Administrations are Gospel Institutions or appointed by Christ page 41. 11 That there is Policy in Heaven page 42. 12 Pastors and Teachers are Political Church Officers 13 That the Lords Supper is a visible Political Ordinance page 48. 14 That Baptism is a visible Political Church Ordinance 15 That to Christ belongs the Prerogative of being the onely Politician 16 That there is much darkness in the hearts of all Children of light in this life page 42. Likewise at a Lecture at Boston John Norton taught That the Justice of God is the Armour of the Devil Take a view of thy doctrines again and be ashamed and blush and repent of thy deceit and false doctrines and lying stories and cease to pervert the way of the Lord for all this which thou hast waded through will little advantage your Kingdom neither all this covering which thou hast made will not vindicate your wicked practices nor shelter you from the storms and thunders and plagues and terrour and wrath which is to be poured upon all his enemies and then thy order from the General Court will stand thee but in little stead when the terrour of God comes upon thee and when the witness of God is awakened in thee to bring all thy iniquities to remembrance and thy deceit that hath been hid to the light then shalt thou see that thou hast not set thy self onely against man but also against God and his dear servants whom he hath redeemed by his pretious blood who knows a habitation unto which you cannot reach with your Clubs Whips and Ropes and their Habitation is as the Munition of Rocks their Bread is sure and their Water doth not fail and happy are they who suffer for the truths sake for they shall receive Honour and Glory and Immortality and the Crown of Life which he hath laid up for all them that endure the Cross and dispise the shame which will be given in the day of his glorious appearance to them that keeps the