Eternity who calls thy own Work Push-Pin but thou hadst better been at that Child's Play then to have been blaspheming God and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven And how thou vaunts in page 82. to prove the Light within to be a Natural Light c. VV.H. thou canst not nor any man upon Earth prove it to be any other then of a Divine Nature do what ye can forasmuch as it manifesteth Sin and convinceth reproveth and condemneth man for Sin and is of the true Light that lighteth every man coming into the world John 1.9 which the Evil-doers hate John 3.20 as thou dost scoffing and vilifying of it but it will prove a Stone too heavy for thee at last then shalt thou remember me Thy seeming to honour Christ's Person with thy Lips will not excuse thee for thy abusing his pure Light in the Consciences of People when he comes to reckon with thee which time is at hand then it will be known who divides Christ you or the Quakers for we deny no part of him but are well assured he is altogether lovely though envious blind men have belied us long about these things whose Innocency the Lord will clear in his due time and then your Mouthes will be stopt which now cry Gross and Damnable Errors of the Quakers and that they deny the Resurrection as thou in thy 3d page sayest and in thy 4th page that we despise the Scripture which are all false Accusations and Slanders And page 10. thou sayest J. C. is got a Degree above the Apostles and page 13. that J. C. said the Apostle was out in his Chronology and that the Spirit and Letter are one and in thy 19th page sayest That the Quakers believe there is no Manhood of Christ now which are all Slanders and false Accusations for we own all according to the Scriptures of Truth the Lord is our Witness and dare not divide him as I have said and in page 25. sayest They never do confess Sin and in page 29. sayest J. C. stumbles at the Cross counts the Blood of Christ no more worth then any other common Blood and then among other Lyes and reproachful Terms sayest He hath discovered himself to be a Papist what a Contradiction is here do not the Papists confess Sins W. H what People more but it is thy Envy that blinds thee and will more and more as thou goest on in it And in page 48. sayest J.C. concludes that Righteousness of Christ but a Fancy and in page 51. That thou hast seen some Title pages of their Books filled with such Blasphemies viz. given forth by the Spirit through the Trunk of the Body of Fox or such a one and that they account their Writings beyond the Writings of the Apostles These are all thy made Lies which the Lord will judge thee for and for such a Title Through the Trunk c. I never heard of nor I believe no Body else but thy Envy is so great it is hard for thee to leave thy Lying and Slandering And as for the Scriptures of Christ and his Apostles and Prophets we own and esteem above all other Writings in the World And in page 54. how dost thou revile and belye J. Crook as in the page before to render him and the Quakers odious and sayest Thou beginnest to be weary of playing at Push-Pin with him who never plaid so with thee but wrote to thee in tender Love to thy Immortal Soul which is of more concern then Push-pin-Play as thy Scorner's Eye shall one Day see but I leave him to answer for himself only touch a little on these things to manifest thy VVickedness that thou mightst be weary of that which will be thy Load in the End And in page 55. sayest How many turn Quakers whose hearts are not turned to God! a Change in their Carriage and Garb but not in their Souls How knowst thou W. H. what Change is wrought in their Souls and how darest thou say their hearts are not turned to God VVere not they who were turned from Darkness to Light turned to God Acts 26.18 Beware of Blasphemy among thy plentiful Lying and Slandering thy Unrighteous Judgement shall turn upon thy own head And in page 56. tells of some going three Miles on their Knees Surely William thou wilt tell such Lyes ere long that few but such as thy self given up will believe thee I never heard of such a thing but this sounds like that through the Trunk c. hadst thou said upon their Feet we might have believed thee but thou canst not stoop so low as to speak Truth of the Quakers of whom thou sayest They have got the Popish Knack to tell their People that Concupiscence is no Sin which is false Evil Motions not consented to is no Sin whenas thou thy self grants page 59. that in Case we yield not to Satan we are not guilty his Temptations not consented to are our Afflictions not our Sins These are thy very VVords and yet in the same page cryest out again VVe say you plead for Sin in saying the Evil Motions in the heart not consented to are not Sin we see by this now your Perfection boasted of is no other then that which every Babe in Christ hath viz. not to consent to those Evil Motions c. Now let the Reader see this blind man's Confusion and what People he is most grosly abusing reproaching and slandering who confesseth our Perfection is the same which every Babe in Christ hath what will Christ say to such a one who said It were better a Mill. Stone were hanged about his Neck and he drowned in the Depth of the Sea then to offend one such little one that believes in him Shouldst not thou be more tender toward us as unto Babes in Christ now who are the same in Growth with every such Babe as thou hast granted But let us see what pity thou hast to these Babes and let the true Mother judge as in p. 60. where thou sayest again viz. No wonder you your selves and your Followers prize not Christ's Sufferings and Attonement but are proud and Pharisaical Christ's Blood is despised by you and after several more false Accusations cryest O poor deceived People And so goes on in his old rode of Railing Lying and Slandering as the Reader of his Book might see What! our Perfection the same which every Babe in Christ hath and yet proud Pharisaical despising Christ's Blood not prizing his Sufferings and Attonement and a deceived People how can this be W. H surely thou hast greatly belied and abused the Babes in Christ as thou wilt remember one Day for we do highly prize the Blood Sufferings and Attonement of Christ Jesus beyond expression though such as thou speak all manner of Evil against us falsly as God is our Witness who shall surely judge and condemn thee for thy slanderous Tongue who calls the Light of his dear Son A Robber's Light that goes down to
heavenly things themselves is this thy Fixedness and Consistency that they must be something but what thou dost not know and yet sayest I must understand what they are but surely it must not be by thy doubtful Teaching But tell me what purisying needed either Christ himself or Heaven it self and by what better Sacrifices Heb. 9.23 we read Ver. 9. 14. that the Conscience was to be purged by the Blood of Christ and this must needs be known in the Church and People of God whom thou confesseth are the heavenly Jerusalem which is the City of the living God where both God and Jesus the Mediator and the Blood of Sprinkling c. are come to by the Saints viz. Heb. 12.22,23,24 Haworth I ask now whether the Scriptures or our Imaginations and Thoughts be the Rule whereby we are to measure God and true Righteousness p. 21. c. Crook Is thy Memory so bad or thy Ignorance so great to ask such a Question which thy self resolvest in the same Page or art thou still in thy skiptical Mind as thou speakest of thy self seeing thou sayd'st but just before that it must be by the same Spirit that gave forth the Scripture that we can understand them and not without have thy Thoughts and Imaginations so great and the Spirit of God so little a Share in what thou dost which makes thee so soon forget its Usefulness to measure divine Things but I even tremble at thy ignorant Confidence to talk at this rate of measuring the unmeasurable God and that by the Scriptures or our own Thoughts without naming his Spirit Haworth The Scripture no where condemns Man's Conceivings of God by the Scripture and according to them p. 22. c. Crook Thou art condemned here out of thy own Mouth who sayest it must be Man enlightned by the same Spirit that gave them forth and not otherwise Haworth If John Crook consents to the Truth of this Principle viz. That such is the Purity of God that nothing is accepted by him but what is every Way or entirely compleat and perfect if so p. 23. c. Crook I grant this as also himself hath done in p. 26. Haworth Then he believes that the Righteousness within which consists in the Vertues and Gifts of the Spirit in every Quaker is every way perfect and compleat c. Crook Let the Reader judge if the latter be a necessary Consequence from the former but because some whole pages following in his Book are stuffed with Arguments and Consequents of the like nature about the same Subject to prevent his Boasting if possible I shall here once for all return a sober Answer viz. I believe that the Holiness and Righteousness in the Hearts of God's people which purely consists in the Virtues and Gifts of the Spirit which is one with the Father and the Son it is intirely compleat and perfect as to Nature and Kind which is sufficiently demonstrated by those worthy men Dr. Preston and Dr. Sibbs See Preston's Title Man's Vprightness pag. 214. Because the New Adam otherwise should not be so effectual as the old the new Adam should not be so powerful to communicate Grace and Life as the old Adam is to instill Corruption and Sin for this Sin that hath been conveyed to us by the first Adam hath an Integrity in it it hath gone over the whole Soul there is a whole Body of Death that hath possessed us now should there not be in those redeeming Actions by Christ a contrary Integrity and Perfection a throughout Holiness as I may call it the Plaister then should be narrower then the Sore the Remedy should be inferiour to the Disease Beloved you know a Leprosie is gone all over except the Holiness went all over too from top to toe I say there would not be an Answerableness in the second Adam he should not be able to do as much Good as the first was able to do Hurt 2 dly The Work of Redemption should be done but by halves if the Lord should dispense with imperfect Holiness The Works of Creation you know were perfect God looked upon all his Works and saw that they were very Good Beloved Do you think the Works of Redemption should come short of the Works of Creation Are not they likewise Perfect When the Lord shall look on that Work shall he not say likewise It is very good Pag. 216. If the Heart of Man be not intire if the Work of Grace be not throughout if there be a Defect in the Principle and Constitution of it there should be a defect in the Work of Redemption that cannot be c. Pag. 219. Blessed are the Pure in Heart Now what is it to be pure That is pure which is full of it self and hath no other heteregenial thing mingled with it so that heart is pure which hath no Sin in it which is holy which hath a renewed quality of Grace which hath an inward regenerate Man that will mingle with no Sin that is full of it self and admits not the mixture of any Sin c. Pag 221. When thou hadst the Prophet that would have separated the Precious from the Vile in thy heart as well as to do it in the Companies of men c. Pag. 222. So my Beloved it is not the having of Impurities in the Heart that makes the Heart imperfect but it is the suffering of them to be mingled even with the inward Frame of the Heart The Doctor also affirms That without this Holiness and Righteousness none can be saved c. See Dr. Preston ibid. p. 243. I say Let any Man's Heart be of this Constitution that he neglects the smallest Commandment that he hath not a special Eye to the Observance of them a special Care to keep them he is unsound and rotten at the Heart he shall never be saved continuing such Prov. 19.16 He that keeps the Commandments keeps his own Soul but he that despiseth his Way shall dye for it Thus far Dr. Preston Now Dr. Sibbs's Soul-Conflicts pag. 224. The Happiness of Man consists chiefly in a gracious Frame of Spirit and Actions sutable sweetly ssuing therefrom Ibid. pag. 156. Christ will never give over till by his Spirit he hath made our Nature Holy and Pure as his own till he hath taken away not only the Reign but the very Life and Being of Sin out of our Hearts that to this End he leaves his Spirit and Truth in the Church to the End of the World that the Seed of the Spirit may subdue the seed of the Serpent in us and that the Spirit may be a never failing Spring of all Holy Thoughts Desires and Endeavours in us and dry up the contrary Issue and Spring of Corrupt Nature Grace is nothing else but that blessed Power whereby as spiritual we gain upon our selves as carnal pag. ibid. It is a good Tryal of a Man's Condition to know what he esteems to be himself A godly Man counts the inward man the
thou hast set up a few Prophets at Devon-shire House c. G. F. said the Man in the Male and the Man in the Female may speak and so interpret Scriptures in your Meetings c. Thou playest the Hypocrite John if thou wouldst not juggle and play Legerdemanin c. Crook These are invented Forgeries Falshood Perversion and Reviling c. Haworth p. 24. Are not the Scriptures and Christ mightily obliged to you Infallible Doctors that will condigne to own such Fragments and a Book patch'd up of so many Scraps to help a little when the Church had lost the Life of the Spirit c. John Crook replyed to one that charged him with it at Hartford that if these were his Words it was not his Judgment Crook These are light scoffing Words for which thou must come to Judgment notwithstanding thou wouldst father them upon me but I deny thy Slanders c. Thou hast heard me several times with many Professors in Hartford besides Friends is it probable I should ever speak such Unsavoury Words and they should escape the Press 14 or 15 Years and that W. H. and his Followers should after this go to hear such a man as I. Crook that as thou sayest speaks so scornfully of the Scriptures as to call them Scraps that it should never be printed till W. H. falling out with the Quakers undertook it I remember about 14 or 15 Yearssince or there abouts that I spake something of Eusebius's History touching the Dispersion Gathering together of the Scriptures possibly I might say to the man he speaks of repeating my Words wrong and yet justifying his own Repetition to put an End to his Contention that these were not my Words for it is not my Judgment and this is to say no more then thy self implies by the Word If they were my Words which argues my questioning whether they were so or no. Now what Fault is this that it must be proclaimed in print The worst that can be made of it supposing it true as it is not amounts but to this viz. Iohn Crook's Meaning was better then his Words then with the Younger Brother in the Gospel Iohn Crook is to be justified rather then those Hypocrites who like the Elder Brother say I go Sir but went not and then such now that exhort their Hearers to follow Christ fully and obey the Scriptures constantly but withal tell them it is impossible to do either in this World Therefore I would advise every well-meaning Abimelech to take heed that at any time his Meaning be not better then his Words for if W. H. hear of it as Doeg to Saul he will tell it to the World if possible to do thee a Mischief although it be 14 or 15 Years after But William how much Esteem soever thou pretendst to have of the Scriptures methinks thou shouldst not have so little for Christ as to name and prefer them before him this is no Sign that thou art an Infallible Doctor as thou scoffingly speakst of the Quakers Haworth p. 25. The Quakers never do confess Sin there is no more worth in the Blood of Christ in the Quakers Account then in other common Blood c. I find W. Bayly and J. Crook Brethren in Iniquity more Ignorant then School-Boyes Jesuit-like c. O horrid Blasphemy c. Crook The Cause of all this is from his own Words viz. The Heathen saw in the Deity a Vengeance ready to punish he saith W. B. applies this Sight in the Deity to the Light that was in their Consciences believing the Light to be God c Consider Reader 1 st Whether the Heathen could see what was in the Deity without some Light coming from the Deity to discover it 2 dly It 's called something of God in them Rom. 1.19 or that which may be known of God in them 3 dly That of God is called the Truth ver 18. 4 thly The Scripture calls the Knowledge of This the Knowledge of God ver 21. These things rightly considered what cause hath this man for all his Slanderous Terms Haworth p. 28. Thou dost make the Faith of Pharisees as good as the Faith of any of the Godly in the Nation c. Ah John what meanst thou to turn the Scoffer like Julian c. Ah Joh. Crook thou art levened in thy Mind with Hellish Socinianism c. And whatever thou pretendest it 's but to blind the People c. p. 29. Thou discoverst thy self to be a Papist c. How sad is is that every Truth must be struck at by a new Sort of Papists c Crook Besides his Falshoods and Slanders take Notice it 's W. H's Faith I have now to deal withal who thinks himself to be as Godly a man as any in the Nation as himself saith c. Haworth p. 30. Enough if thou wast but real in thy Expressions c. What a Knave is he c. There is no End of thy Dissembling it is a professed Trade thou drivest as the Mountebancks up and down the Country c. Crook When enough is said by me then my Reality is questioned and the Slander of a Knave fixed upon me and when I speak more then he would have me then he brands me with Papism and Hellish Socinianism Mountebank c. But let our Hearers judge who can best tell our Trade and yours what Sallery and other yearly Charges they are at to maintain such Physicians as keep them alwayes in Cure and put their Texts as Medicines to Sale yet tell their Patients it is impossible to make them whole c. Haworth p 30. Thou mistrusts God John c. and hear the Old Fox bark Christ being within there is Iustification c. Crook Contradiction is the Companion of Falshood for in the same page he himself saith that by Faith Christ dwelt in our Hearts and now scoffs at these Words viz. Christ being within there is Justification c. Haworth p. 32. This is John Crook 's Application of the Spirit deny Penington 's Divinity if thou darest c. When John Crook prayeth or preacheth it is Christ prayeth and preacheth not John Crook and that Christ and he are both one Person such Monsters have been amongst the Quakers c. p. 33. Crook When he can gather nothing out of my Books to asperse me withal then he perverteth others words and fathers that Perversion upon me but let I. Penington interpret his own words who best knows his own Meaning and then they will speak as plain as mine which W. H. cofesseth to be true See I. Penington's late Book entituled The Flesh and Blood of Christ This man acknowledgeth that such Doctrine is not now nor never was preached among Right Quakers but by such as have been Monsters amongst the Quakers but let him hear Dr. Sibbs Soul Conflict p. 219. It is Sacriligious Liberty that will acknowledge no Dependence upon God we are wise in his Wisdom and strong in his Strength who
Hell with him as in page 63. and page 64. cryest What a sore heavy hand is against them comparing us to Sorcerers and VVitches and in page 65. To a Spirit of Hell and Satan and so runst on till thou comest to thy Parallel of the Quakers and Papists in which thou sayest The Quakers own Works done in the Light are of value c. and that they are against taking an Oath O W. H are the Works done in the Light of no value with thee so it seems by thy Unfruitful Works of Darkness and undervaluing the true Light and reproaching the Babes in Christ who value all VVorks done in the Light as the Children of Light have done in all Ages and is that a crime for Christ's Babes to obey his Commands who saith Swear not at all art thou one of them that break his Commands and teach men so then read thy Portion Mat. 5.19 who sayest page 19. The Person of Christ was the Alpha and Omega and page 85. That the Person of Christ is the Tree of Life and page 137. And his Person is the Rock of Eternity Is this then thy real Description of the Person of Christ thou so much talkest of Surely as the Alpha and Omega the Tree of Lise the Rock of Eternity he was before his coming in the Flesh or the Virgin Mary was born of whom Christ according to the Flesh came what is then become of the Glorious Manhood and Body of Christ Is not that his Person Or dost thou believe Jesus Christ consists of two Persons one from Eternity and another in Time If thou dost speak it out In page 84. thou callest the Scripture-Language A Stone out of the Rubbish of this Babel where I vindicate the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World in Opposition to thy dark Imaginations who art not worth answering but I mention a little of thy work which thou callest push pin that People may see how thou pushest against the Babes in Christ as thou hast confessed our Perfection is no other c. I believe the young man dare not speak altogether so badly as thou hast done of that same Light which reproved him about going to steal the Herring see that remarkable passage of his in page 27. of my Answer in the Book entituled Rebellion Rebuked which stands true against you both to this Day And in page 86 and 87. how dost thou manifest thy Ignorance and Perversion of the Scriptures as if it were another thing then the Spirit of Truth the Saints Comforter that convinceth the World of Sin John 16.7,8 Thou dost contradict the plain Scripture and indeed I do not intend to bestow much Labour about thee thou art so bad and frothy a man as I have not met with the like of late Years but I shall observe one of Solomon's Proverbs not to answer thee according to thy Folly lest thou shouldst be more wiser in thy own Conceit if possible thou canst for should we multiply Words as thou hast to our Answer to thine it would amount to near 100 Sheets of Paper though that Scripture Job 11.2,3 thou mentions against me p. 73. I cannot but take a little Notice of and return it back to thee again viz. Should thy Lyes make men hold their Peace c. O no W. H. for J.C. and I do intend to lay some of them open as thou mayest perceive and that thou mightst take a view of them and repent and do so no more lest a worse thing come upon thee which else will surely be as I told thee not long since which some will remember Again in page 87. thou sayest The Light of the Sun and the Wind is of Christ c. But O vain man doth that convince the World of Sin as the Spirit of Truth doth of which I was speaking See more of thy frothy windy Comparisons art thou a man fit to be answered but with sharp Rebuke let the Sober Reader judge or art thou fit to preach the Gospel to People who thy self confessedst to my Face thou didst not know God to be Light The Apostles of Christ knew God to be Light and preached him so and their Fellowship with him one with another was in the Light 1 John 1. and yet thou confessest that Christ is the Author of all Lights that the Quakers Light will manifest some Sin p. 88. but not shew the Dust and Atoms of Sin and Lust in our Souls p. 89. But William I think thy Dust and Dirt too hath pretty well appeared to the view of Quakers and others who see what thou art filled withal against the Babes in Christ whom thou scoffs at and sayest Ye be jealous for your God the Light We do acknowledge that we desire no other God to be jealous for nor to worship reverence serve then the same God who is Light 1 Joh. 1. the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. but we know the Scoffer Lyar Slanderer Proud Ambitious Man hath another God he is jealous of and afraid to loose and such the Prophet saith Will curse their God when they shall behold nothing but Darkness and Trouble Take heed W. H. thou art warned again in Love to thy Soul In page 92. Thou counts the Quakers honest civil Heathens Well then William for Honesty and Civility Sake as we are Babes in Christ too as thousay'st do not slander us nor revile us so any more nor call us such Blasphemers as thou hast done saying This is the fifth time of Bayly's Blasphemy c. calling to thy Reader to know If his Ears do not tingle at these Rampant Blasphemies p. 94. And in page 95. thou hast so confounded my Words that the Reader indeed might think I began to tell of the Devil playing at Cards when they were the young man's Words and used by me in way of Reply to your confused and false Doctrine as the Reader may see in p. 35. of the Book before-mentioned And in p. 98. thou cryest O that thou hadst but understood this one great Place of Scripture after thou hadst perverted it thou wouldst never have turned Quaker W. H. I must tell thee for all thy great Out-cry against the Quakers that Moses who was a Quaker understood more great Scriptures and the things of God more then ever thou art like to do while in thy dark envious Mind art opposing and undervaluing reproaching and vilifying the Light in man which is the true Light John 1.9 And how dost thou rush into Lies and Perversions of my Words and the Scriptures also in thy 99th and 100th pages of thy Book as if thou hadst learnt of thy Brother T. H's forged Dialogues but this Kind of Work ye shall all find too heavy for you in the End and then you will remember you were warned in Love by the despised Quakers And again in page 101. sayest W. B. saith He will answer God in his Perfection and let God plunge him if he
the Sentence of Eternal Judgment and Condemnation and this is spoken to thee in Love to thy Soul if thou canst receive it but however I am clear of thy Blood if thou perish as sure thou wilt except thou Repent speedily Written the 24th of the 4th Moneth 1676. by a Lover of Truth C. Taylor A Postscript Reader BY this time thou mayest be sensible not only of the dirty Puddle of abusive Language and ilfavoured Names which my Adversary hath cast upon me through his whole Book but also of his own Confusions and Contradictions to himself so that thou need not ask the Reason why I answered his Book no sooner the Proverb being at hand to inform thee viz. That no man makes haste to that Market where nothing is to be bought but Blows It hath been said He that will make a good Souldier of Jesus Christ against Errors c. must first conscientiously study the Christian Art and Method of this Warfare otherwise they may easily build up what they go about to throw down and make Balaam 's haste who was sent to curse and yet in Conclusion blessed altogether Numb 24.10 Like Effects have still attended such malicious and unexperienced Undertakers being too much of Jehu's Temper to be good Souldiers under Christ's Conduct for that Spirit cannot endure to march against his Enemy with a Sober Pace but had rather be tossing Fire-Balls and Granadoes then gently perswading from Sound Judgment and Good Experience in the Spirit of Meekness For Few men's Errors or Mistakes saith one find Access to their Judgments but by the Way of their Affections nor will it be easie for men to come at Errors c. to disthrone them but by making their Approaches the same Way I mean by making Friends of their Affections that they may not side with their Judgments against them There is an Art saith the same Author as well of Composing Differences of Judgments as far as Composure in this Kind may with the Honour of Truth be admitted as of Opposing that which is not meet to be admitted to Composition But my Antagonist is not like to attain this Art while he goes about to convince men by False Accusations and Bad Language I know no Reason why he should so account me his Enemy and such a one as he can scarce invent Names odious enough to call me by but also represents me not fit to be conversed or eat and drunk withal except it is because I have told him the Truth without Flattery and then it may be true according to the Latine Proverb Obsequium amicos veritas odiu on parit i.e. Flattery gains Friends Truth makes Foes I have not knowingly wronged him in any thing and if it be thought I have dealt too sharply I desire the Reader to consider my Provocation My Inclination Temper is as much as may be to live in Peace and Love with all men and therefore had not my Adversary's often boasting and daring Invocations for my Answer as I hinted to the Reader before necessitated me to the Publication thereof I should have born all his Abuses if God had given leave and in Silence have buried his whole Book notwithstanding the Answer had lain so long by me And whereas the man's Confidence in his own Abilities hath imboldned him to promise an Answer to whatever Questions I should propound unto him therefore Lest either he should think himself so perfectly instructed in all Points of Divinity that nothing can be added to him or all others so much below him that he is able to resolve all their Questions whatever may be proposed to him I have instead of his thirty Queries to me that I have answered propounded half the Number to him if he think them either worth his Answer or Consideration they are as followeth Query 1. WHether thy own Author Doctor Stillingfleet saith true in his 172d page if I mistake not of his Discourse of the Sufferings of Christ viz. But above all things it is impossible to reconcile the Freeness of Remission with the full Payment Qu. 2. Whether notwithstanding Nature and Will be two things really distinct the one from the other in the Creature yet in God by Reason of the Infinite Simplicity of his Essence or Being they are not so but one and the same Qu. 3. Whether thou dost not believe that all Contingencies and Things done or that come to pass in this World were not necessitated thereunto by an unavoidable Decree or Destiny so that no man could do more Good or less Evil then he doth If yea then why did not Saul come down to Keilah and the men of Keilah deliver David as the Lord had told him viz. 1 Sam. 23.11,12,13 and then Qu. 4. Whether Christ when he wept over Jerusalem was not either ignorant of this Decree or delusive in his Wishes when he said O that thou hadst known in this thy Day the things that belong to thy Peace c Qu. 5. Whether thou dost not believe that God hath elected and decreed such a determined Number of Persons meerly out of his own Prerogative that those and neither more nor less but those shall be saved If yea then Qu. 6. To what End is all preaching with those general and frequent Exhortations to Holiness and Conditional Promises of Reward to the Righteous and Conditional Threatnings of Eternal Damnation to the Disobedient and Rebellious Qu. 7. Whether thou dost not believe that God loved David as well or as much and that his Salvation was as sure when he was in the Act of Adultery with the Wife of Uriah as at any other time either before or after the Fact Qu. 8. Whether thou dost believe that those Sentences and Phrases in Holy Scripture viz. Christ tasting Death for every man and Dying for all and his being a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World c. intend any more or otherwise then the determined Number expressed in the fifth Query If so then Qu. 9. Whether thereby thou dost not only make those Phrases and Sayings delusive but makest the dear Son of God to suffer and dye to secure those that his Father had secured before by an eternal and unchangeable Decree Qu. 10. Whether thou dost not believe that there are some Reprobates and those not a few towards whom God sheweth no Patience or Long suffering at all imagining that many Infants of dayes yea many immediately from the Womb are sent to the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone for evermore Qu. 11. Whether according to thy Belief of Personal-Election and Final-Reprobation God doth any more in the Procuring of Conversion and Salvation then in the Reprobates Impenitency Damnation Qu. 12. Whether in the Conversion and Salvation of the Elect according to thy Faith God hath not absolutely and antecedently without the Fore-sight of any Good Deeds of theirs resolved upon and by irresistable means in their several Generations draweth them to believe repent and endure to the End that so they might be saved and his absolute Decree accomplished Qu. 13. Whether on the other side it is not thy Faith that the Damnation the Sins and the Final Impenitency of Reprobates God hath of his own Will and Pleasure peremptorily decreed this his Decree he executeth in time drawing them on by his unconquerable Power and Providence from sin to sin till they have made up their Measure and in the end have inflicted on them that eternal vengeance which he had provided for them If so Qu. 14. What Difference is here in the Course which God taketh for the Conversion and Salvation of the Elect and the Abduration and Damnation of Reprobates Therefore Qu. 15. What hindereth but God according to such Principles and Grounds may as truly be stiled the prime Cause and Author of the sins of the one as of the Conversion of the other John Crook THE END ERRATA Ingenions Reader THere are a few Faults escaped the Press which thou art desired to correct some whereof are as followeth Page 10. line 35. blot out no. p. 12. l. 25. read had been p 18. l. 17. read Faldo and Hicks c. p. 44. l. 6. read Habit p 67. l. 27. for Glorified read Glorifieth p. 69. l. 23. for them any read the many p. 73. l. 24. read goings forth p. 76. l. 17. for Comforting read Converting The rest may be easily discerned and corrected from the Sense of the Matter
PAssing by the Multitude of Lyes and False Doctrines Perversions and Slanders for Brevity's sake I insert a few of your plain Contradictions and Absurdities that the Reader may see how you are confounded about the Light through your Envy and dark Imaginations Pag. 113. All the Light that every man has as he cometh into the World is but Flesh Pag. 150. Contra. But the Common Light worketh a Change in Life and Conversation c. Pag. 149. I scarce know one Gospel-truth but this common Light contradicteth Pag. 111. Christ as a Creator is the Root and Fountain of this that every one hath c. Pag. 161. I do now say it is a Rotten Corrupt and Unsound Thing or Principle as to the leading or guiding into the Knowledge of the Gospel Pag. 109. This Light is greatly helped and increased by the Consideration of the Works of Creation more by the reading of the Scriptures hearing the Word preached and Converse with Christians and let it be noted that the Quakers had the Improvement of the Light this way though they will not acknowledge it in India we hear but of little Improvement of it Many that live not up to this Light will be very inexcusably condemned And those that walk according to it doing some things contained in the Law do shame judge and condemn those that pretend to Christianity and yet live not in Righteousness and Sobriety Answ I think now the Reader may see thee W. H. sufficiently judged and condemned out of thy own Mouth who hast so much abused this Good Light and them that live according to it and therefore pretend no longer to Christianity but let Shame cover thee till thou hast learned Righteousness and Sobriety as thou hast said Pag. 136. Following the Dictates of Nature is not the Yoke of Christ for it leads into the Covenant of Works which is a heavy Yoke to work for Life and ye are under it And in the same Page viz. To the Law in my Conscience I have been faithful in order to drive me to Christ the Mediator Pag. 46. Now the Righteousness of Christ is not in our Minds at all but in his own Person Pag. 66. Dost not thou know that the Independant Presbyterian and Anabaptist Party are both in their Preaching and Writings for an Experimental Spiritual Knowledge of Christ and that they do generally assert that a bare Dogmatical and Historical Knowledge of Jesus of Nizareth is not sufficient for Salvation without the Truths be inwardly taught by the Spirit c Pag. 36. I give the Reason why the Gifts and Virtues that God's Spirit works in us are our Righteousness in Contradistinction to the Righteousness of Christ whereby we are justified c. Pag. 35. So we have Two Righteousnesses by the Second Adam Jesus Christ the one to take away the Guilt of Sin that is the Righteousness I am pleading for and the other to take away the Reigning Power of Sin sanâ—…ifying of us and renewing of us into the Image of Christ in some degree c. Yet pag. 46. Now the Righteousness of Christ is not in our Minds at all but in his own Person Now Reader consider what great Confusion these poor dark men run themselves into through their Opposing the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 didst thou ever read before that the Righteousness that we have by Christ which takes away the reigning Power of Sin sanctifying of us and renewing of us into the Image of Christ in some degree was in Contradistinction to that Righteousness which takes away the Guilt of Sin and that this Righteousness is not in our Minds at all but in his Person which he sayes is the Tree of Life the Rock of Eternity c. But W. H. didst thou witness what thy airy Tongue can sometimes talk of of Sanctifying and renewing into the Image of Christ c. thou wouldst leave off thy Lying Slandering Envying and Evil-speaking know a Bridle to thy Tongue without which thy Religion is vain Jam. 1.26,27 For thou bearest no Degree of the Image of Christ in these Confusions and Works of Darkness but of Cain Nimrod Esau and Ishmael the Envious Hunter and Scoffer and thy Reward from the Lord Jesus Christ will be according to thy Works notwithstanding thy Sheeps-Clothing Cover of thy Lip-Profession which will stand the Worker of Inquity in no stead in that Day And remember ye are Warned once more in Love to your Souls by one that loves the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity and cannot but exalt his pure and true Light and Righteousness and not put it under a Bushel or a Bed of fleshly Ease as many do who are selling a Birth-right and Blessing for a Mess of Pottage he that hath Ears let him hear but I esteem the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches then all the Treasures of Egypt in a Measure of whose Light and Innocent Life I remain a Friend to all People making war in the same only against the common Enemy of Mankind the Prince of Darkness which rules in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience VVilliam Bayly An Answer to that Postscript of William Haworth's at the end of that Wicked Pamphlet entituled An Antidote c. William Haworth IT is pity that men professing to be Christ's Ministers should be so dark and envious as thou art against the Truth as it is in Jesus and also charge Lyes on the Innocent and in affirming that I said The Dictrine of Election was a devilish damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine It is strange men of thy Practice and Profession should be so notoriously wicked that ye care not what you affirm provided you can but possess peoples hearts with Prejudice against the Light and the Children of it Nay thou sayest If I dare come to the Tryal thou offerest at any time two substantial Witnesses to prove that I said in these words That the Doctrine of Election was a Devilish Damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine Oh Wickednes how gross is this that ever thou shouldst dare thus to belye thy own Conscience in this Matter and the Witnesses thou must bring to prove what thou sayest must be Lyars like thy self and also of the Devil even such Witnesses as were brought against Christ Jesus to charge him with Blasphemy such must thy Witnesses in this Matter be if thou bringest any and so they must be such it seems as will deny that any such thing was affirmed by thee viz. That God ordained Men to be Wicked before they were born And these Witnesses must needs for any thing I know be Jeremy Suaft and that other Man both of thy own Profession who were only in the hearing of what was said as I mentioned in mine to thee who I affirm were Ear-witnesses of the Discourse how that I owned the Doctrine of Election according to the Scriptures and also how thou affirmedst That God ordained people to be Wicked before they were born which I say is
a Devilish Doctrine and Blasphemy which is no Lye to be contradicted but the real Truth from thine own Mouth and presently after I writ a Paper concerning it and other Stuff of the like nature to the aforesaid J. Suife a Copy of which I have here under written and it shall stand a Witness against thee forever and it was never Answered though writ several years since neither did Jeremy Suift ever come to me to contradict it in words to my Face though at that time and long after I had my Being not far from his Dwelling in the same Town and have met him in the Streets several times And can it be believed that if in any thing I had wronged thee in such a deep Charge I should have received nothing in Answer to this day either in Word or Writing This may breed a very shrewd Suspition even in them who are willing to believe what he saith that he is guilty and indeed it had been better for him if he had honestly confessed his Error and not have added Sin to Sin as he doth by Denying and Belying the Truth A Copy of the aforesaid Paper to Jeremy Suift followeth To you that think VVilliam Haworth to be a Minister of the GOSPEL HOw do you relish this Doctrine he affirmeth That the thorow work of Regeneration which brings a Man into God's Kingdom of Glory is not sufficient for Man's Salvation though this cannot be without True Justifying Faith in the Son of God by virtue whereof this Work is wrought in the heart Yet he saith this is not sufficient for Salvation but call this inward Work of Christ Legal Righteousness therefore he denyes the Perfection of the Work of Christ what he did for us in the Dayes of his Flesh and at his Death and the Efficacy of that One Offering and Blood that was shed for us and was for the perfecting of the Sanctified Ones that so they might be brought into the Everlasting Kingdom of his Glory in which is Peace Compleating and Perfection Union and Communion with God in Christ Jesus and so this man speaks unadvisedly with his Lips and his Ignorance of the Work is the Ground of his Mistake Again what do you say to this Doctrine of his viz. That the Light within that discovers all manner of Sin yea the Secret Sins of the Heart or whatever Sin he committeth he saith This Light is altogether Darkness yea he saith It is Flesh and before a man be convinced he hath nothing in him but Flesh the Light afore mentioned he saith is altogether Darkness and Flesh but some of you are of a better Judgement in this matter and have said to me and before William Haworth that it would bring a man under the Sense of Sin and condemn him for it so that it seems some of you begin to grow wiser then your Teacher and I pray God that you may go on to encrease in that which is good daily and know the Lord God and his Spirit to teach you and not to depend upon such an Unlearned Man as this in the things of God for Paul said the Law was Spiritual but he was Carnal Again he saith That Thousands in the World are this Day condemned by the Lord yet notwithstanding are not condemined for Vnbelief So it seems there are a People in the World whose Unbelief shall not be charged upon them yet must be condemned Now was not Unbelief the very Ground-Sin of the whole World who are in the First Adam and the Inlet into all manner of Vice and Debauchery and being clear from the Sin of Unbelief he is in the Way to obtain Freedom from all manner of Sin whatsoever and it may not touch him at all neither he be condemned at all And I have understood that the Gospel Sound had spread through the Earth and it is an Everlasting Sound this Day sounded in the Ears of all People calling to Repentance Dependance upon the Eternal God in Christ for Salvation and the stopping the Ear from hearing this glorious Gospel-sound not believing in the Light of Christ Jesus the true Light that lighteth every man coming into the world to be the Ground of Condemnation Now I say I had thought this Unbelief had been the same Ground of all mens Condemnation as they are in the first disobedient Adam or Earthly Man but all Sinners are not in that State by William Haworth's Doctrine shut up in Unbelief and therefore there is another way of Condemnation for them then that of not believing in Christ the Light but he is blind indeed that sees not this man's Ignorance and Confusion in the things of God Again Friends this he told me in the hearing of Jeremiah Suift and another man That God ordained People to be wicked before they were born which I called Blasphemy and surely you that are sober will be ashamed of him that is thus full of Confusion and Ignorance but he fell very furiously upon me in the End and thrust me out of his Chamber because I would have endeavoured his Welfare and reclaimed him from his Errors I am sure I had no other End in my Heart but he hath manifested the Spirit of his Master Lucifer and may be numbred among such as are wicked and hypocritical though he profess Liberty of Conscience I believe no such thing from him such of his Spirit but that he would soon I have good Ground to believe follow his Brethren of New-England in a Murderous Spirit I pray God bless you that are sober People and preserve you to himself that you may proceed in your Enquiry after that which is Good and the Lord of Heaven keep you is the Prayer of him that loves you C. T. Much I could write of this Man but I spare him at present only thus much lay on my Conscience to present to you at this time but if Occasion be I could present you with a great deal of his wicked Lying and Baseness full of Confusion and Darkness far unlike a Christian or Minister of Christ but a Feigned Hypocrite a Light Vain Man a Dreamer and Imaginer of the things of God having a patcht-up thing of an Imperfect form of Godliness but ignorant of the Power And if he had not so abused me in his Chamber I had notwithstanding all this held my peace but his Wickedness against Truth hath been great as may be manifest hereafter if occasion be This was writ long since and only one Copy of it given to Jeremaih Suift and his Brethren to peruse c. And my Charge stands good against him that he affirmed as above said That God ordained people to be wicked before they were born and I do solemnly affirm he spoke it let him bring what witnesses he can to the contrary I am sure they may be false ones in this matter it was not gathered up by me against him as a Consequence of his Doctrine or any thing of that Nature but he