and lead them out of Error and Blindness Don't Charge them and do worse for verily that will undo you in the End O that God would rend the Heavens and come down in Showers of Love and Quench the Flames that every-where devour his Creation That it would please him to still the furious Winds and calm the raging Seas and remove that Enmity which is the Ground of all and bring the Nations under his own heavenly Government where there is no need to Learn War against one another any more that they that have erred in Spirit Isa. 2.4 Isa. 29 29. Matt. 5.43 47. Ch. 18.21 22. Rom. 12.18 may come to Vnderstanding and those that have Murmured may learn Doctrine even the Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ which is a Doctrine of Love Meekness Mercy Forbearance a Doctrine of Self-denial Humility and Holiness a Doctrine that Reconciles us to God and one to another And no Man can have the Benefit of the first that Hates his Brother and less that Kills him for the Love of this World O it is a Crying Sin with God a strong Judgment upon us and a sure Token both of more and nearer Calamities that we are so Hard-hearted and Vnsensible of it Nay it looks as if we were not to be moved unless God himself would appear in the Air and send Fire down to Consume all before our Eyes and our selves in the Conclusion of the Tragedy Is not the Wrath of God do we think Revealed sufficiently against us in the Faction Strife War Rom. 1.18 Gal. 5.19 23. Blood and Poverty that we see almost all over Europe this Day God Almighty make People sensible and weary of it and the Cause of it their Sins Sins against Light against Conscience and Knowledge their Vnfaithfulness to God and Man their Scandalous Immorality and most Inordinate Love of the World the Ground of all Contention and Mischief That so the Peace of God which passeth worldly Men's Understanding may fill all our Hearts through Repentance and Conversion Amen I have been the longer in my Notes upon this Occasion than I Expected but our present Condition in Europe drew it from me that needs an Olive-branch the Doctrine of Peace as much as ever Our Author's next Treatise was published 1679. being a Vindication of his Notable Apology for the Christian Divinity profest by the People called Quakers in Reply to the Exceptions made against it by one John Brown in his Book called Quakerism the Path-way to Paganism In which Vindication the Reader will find the Truth sifted from all the Durt and Rubbish with which her Malitious or Ignorant Adversaries have endeavoured to sully her Beauty and disfigure and bury her out of the Sight and Knowledg of the People The Defence being like the Apology performed with much Labour and Exactness and so fully and plainly that it leaves one would think no room for Objection with the Serious and Moderate Inquirer I do justly Esteem his Apology and this Vindication in the Front of his Polemical Works Though I cannot but every-where prefer those Labours in him and others that have least to do with Controversy and whose main and immediate Scope is the Engaging of the Soul into the Love of Holiness the End of True Religion for it leads into the Blessed Communion of the Father and of the Son and gives the Possession of those Comforts and Refreshments that no Tongue can Express nor Soul by any other means Enjoy For without Holiness it is determined no Man shall ever see the Lord that is with Peace Heb. 12.14 Yet Controversy handled in the Fear of God and in the Openings of his Light and Spirit that is ever present and sufficient to the Help of his People in all their Services has also its Edification especially where an Earnest and Tender Desire to Inform the Mistaken prevails above Private Interest or any Party or Personal Consideration for God will witness to such Labours and follow them with his Blessing With which I beseech him to Crown our Beloved Friend's Services in this and all other Respects that tend to the Exaltation of his Glorious Truth The last Tract our Author left us and which is the Conclusion of this Volume and Preface was writ and published 1686. and is Intituled The Possibility and Necessity of the Inward and Immediate Revelation of the Spirit of God towards the Foundation and Ground of true Faith proved in a Letter writ in Latin to a Person of Quality in Holland and now also put into English The Person to whom it was writ was a Learned Man especially in the New Philosophy very Free and Friendly but not Fool enough to Resign to this Doctrine as entirely as he ought yet I believe better Reconciled to it before he died As the Revelation of Sin Righteousness and Judgment of Mercy and Consolation what to Avoid what to Repent of what to Desire what to Do and where to wait for Power to Avoid and Do as we are thereby directed is the Revelation chiefly Insisted upon by us so those that come to Answer the Love and Mercy of God in the first part of this Revelation viz. the Sight of Sin shall know the Aboundings of it from Day to Day and from the Evidence and Authority of their own Experience shall be enabled nay constrained to pronounce this Testimony of the Revelation maintained by the People called Quakers 'T is true and according to Scripture I might Advance divers Arguments from the Nature of God and the Soul of Man and from what may be as well as what has been the Truth of this Revelation but that being done by our Author in this small Treatise in an Abstract and proper manner I chose rather to speak Scripturally and Experimentally And whoever is Lowly and Poor enough in Spirit to Try the Truth of what I say Shall Comprehend with all Saints the Height and Depth and Length and Breadth of the Love of God in Christ to the Souls of Men by the Revelation of that true Light and Spirit and Grace I have testified of in this Preface and which the Wisest of the Men of this World can at best have but a Shadow and Idea of Remember Life is more than Food and the Body than Raiment so is Bread better than Husks Substance than Shadow Realities than Imaginations of them which is the best of their Case that come not through the Obedience of the Truth and Discipline of Christ's Cross to enjoy them Reader It is a most Important Point of the first Consideration to Men without it no Knowledge of God nor of Christ that Reveals God and without that Knowledge no Salvation for the Souls of Men. Matt. 11.27 Joh. 17.3 So that this Volume ends with that which all Men must begin with if they will ever truly know God and possess Eternal Life viz. Revelation Now some will say Revelation why we have it Have we not the Scriptures Do you pretend to another Revelation No
first may deceive over again that makes nothing against the Insufficiency of the Spirit to discover the delusion but if a man be deceived either first or again he is to blame himself for his defect in not being duly watchful and faithful in what is discovered to him of God truly and certainly Consider the tendency of thy Argument which strikes not only at the certainty of the Saints faith now from the Spirit within and the assurance of Knowledge therefrom but also strikes at the very certainty and assurance of all the Faith and Knowledge the holy Prophets and Men of God had from the Spirit within when Scripture was not We are in no greater hazard to be deceived now than they were then You that set up the Scripture as your only Rule the many Sects of you what jangling and contesting is among you while one pleads for his sence and another for his Which all proceeds from their wandring from the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures And as to satisfying of others we refer and recommend them to the same Spirit in them to receive their satisfaction from that which only can and will satisfy them who wait for it in singleness Page 18. And whereas thou sayst The Saints are led and guided by the Spirit but it is according to the Scriptures So say we too but it doth not therefore follow that the Spirit hath so tyed and limited himself to the use of the Scriptures as always to use them in every particular step of his guiding the Saints the Spirit is free to use or not use the Scriptures at his pleasure and guideth the Saints in many particular steps of their life for which there is no particular Scripture either to approve or disprove them in The more sure Word of Prophecy As for the more sure Word of Prophecy we grant it is the Rule but deny that that more sure Word is the Scriptures but it is that Word in the heart from which the Scriptures came and in and by which the Scriptures are to be interpreted And is it not gross blindness and darkness to say The Scripture is more sure than that Word Light Life and Spirit from which they came Had not the Scriptures all their sureness from the inward Testimony of the Spirit How then can they be more sure Thy example of the Schoolmaster and the Copy serves not thy turn for the Spirit is unto the Saints both their Teacher and their Copy and they need not go forth for a Copy and if they walk according to this by looking upon it and eying it they shall be good Scholars and Proficients He writes them a living Copy in their hearts engraves it on fleshly Tables whereas they who look upon no other Copy but the Words without them are those who are ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth Page 19. Thou askest Why we disjoin the Spirit and the Scriptures citing Isaiah 50.21 Answ. We are not to disjoin what the Lord putteth together sometimes the Spirit joineth or concurreth with the Scripture-Words and sometimes not how many preach and pray and read the Scriptures and talk of them without the joint concurrence of the Spirit Which we say they ought not to do the Scriptures should never be used to preach and pray c. but in the concurrence and assistance of the Spirit for they are not of true use to any without the Spirit but ye disjoin them who would have praying in the letter and using of it without the Motion of the Spirit to such the Scripture is indeed but a dead letter and it is no ways a reproach unto them to be so called Yea what are the best of men without the Spirit but dead men And this is not a reproach to them but their Glory so nor is it to Scripture Thou sayst They are said to be a killing letter and this shews that they are not dead Answ. A poor Argument indeed Can not dead things kill if men feed upon them If thou seedest upon sand gravel stones The Letter killeth shells will not these things kill thee though they be dead And if thou feedest upon the Letter without thee and not upon the Life thou canst not live yea if one that lived did depart from feeding upon the Life to feed upon the Letter it would kill him And as for that Scripture cited by thee it makes very much against thee to wit Isaiah 59.21 For it is one thing for God to put Words into mens Mouths and far another for men to gather these Words from that without Isaiah 59.21 and put them into their own Mouths nor doth it say that the Words God shall put into their Mouths shall be no other Words more or less but the express Scripture Words Why art thou not ashamed to cite this Scripture Do ye not say To speak as the infallible Spirit gives utterance is ceased and consequently God's putting Words into the Mouth God's furnishing them with Words suggested from his own Spirit and Life which the holy Prophets and Apostles witnessed to speak as moved by the Holy Ghost do ye not say this is ceased Why then citest thou a Scripture which is so plain and clear for it but that thou art in Blindness and Confusion Page 19. In thy procedure upon the point of Justification thou makest a large step in that crooked path of deceit wherein thou hadst too much traced from the beginning but now more abundantly than ever thou displayest the Banner of thy Dis-ingenuity and gatherest all thy Forces together it should seem resolving to give the Quakers a final Overthrow And to make the matter misty in the very entry of it thou raisest Dust to thy self venting thy own filthy Imaginations under the notion of coming from them applauding thy endeavours as if thou wert studying to preserve pure the principle of Justification in a point where none is jumbling it among us As thou advancest a little further Page 20 21. having given a very scant Account of their Doctrine in this Matter couching it in most disadvantagious terms thou takest great liberty to extend thy self in a foolish and vain Excursion as if having fathomed the Quakers thou hadst discovered them to be either turned or turning rank Papists therefore to trace thee throughly in this matter that if it be possible thou may'st come to have a discovery of thy Vanity and Malice or though thou shouldst prove irrecoverable yet others may have a view of both I shall first in honesty and plainness declare the Principle of Truth in this matter thereby observing thy Mis-representations Secondly shew what Vast Difference is betwixt us and the Papists therein And Thirdly make manifest how much nearer of kin ye are to the Papists even as to this particular and the things relating thereunto than we which may serve as a seasonable shower to allay that windy Triumph which thou endeavourest to establish unto thy self
themseves when-as the Cause and Ground for which they were commanded is removed As there is no need now for the Decision about Circumcision seeing there are none Contend for it neither as to the Orders concerning Things Offered to Idols seeing there is now no such Occasion yet who will say that the Command enjoin'd in the same place Acts 15.20 To abstain from Fornication is now made void seeing there is daily need for its standing in force because it yet remains as a Temptation man is incident to We confess indeed we are against such as from the bare Letter of the Scripture though if it were seasonable now to debate it we find but few to deal with whose Practices are so exactly squared seek to uphold Customs Forms or Shadows when the Vse for which they were appointed is removed or the Substance it self known and witnessed as we have sufficiently elsewhere answered our Opposers in the Case of Water-Baptism and Bread and Wine c. so that the Objection as to that doth not hold and the Difference is very wide in respect of such Things the very Nature and Substance of which can never be dispensed with by the People of God so long as they are in this World yea without which they could not be his People For the Doctrines and Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith we own and believe originally and principally because they are the Truths of God whereunto the Spirit of God in our Hearts hath constrained our Understandings to obey and submit In the second place we are greatly Confirmed The Joint-Testimony of the Apostles c. to the Truths of God in our Hearts Strengthned and Comforted in the Joint-Testimony of our Brethren the Apostles and Disciples of Christ who by the Revelation of the same Spirit in the Days of old believed and have left upon Record the same Truths so we having the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore we speak And we deny not but some that from the Letter have had the Notion of these Things have thereby in the Mercy of God received Occasion to have them Revealed in the Life for we freely acknowledge though often calumniated to the contrary that Whatsoever Things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have Hope So then I hope if the Spirit of God lead me now unto that which is good profitable yea and absolutely needful in order to the keeping my Conscience clear and void of Offence towards God and Man none will be so unreasonable as to say I ought not to do it because it is according to the Scriptures Nor do I think it will savour ill among any serious solid Christians for me to be the more confirmed and perswaded that I am led to this Thing by the Spirit that I find it in it self good and useful and that upon the like Occasions Christ Commanded it and the Apostles and Primitive Christians practised and recommended it Now seeing it is so that we can boldly say with a good Conscience in the Sight of God that the same Spirit which leads us to believe the Doctrines and Principles of the Truth and to hold and maintain them again after the Apostacy in their primitive and ancient Purity as they were delivered by the Apostles of Christ in the Holy Scriptures I say that the same Spirit doth now lead us into the like holy Order and Government to be exercised among us as it was among them being now the like Occasion and Opportunity ministred to us therefore what can any Christianly or Rationally object against it For that there is a Real Cause for it the thing it self speaketh A Real Cause for the same Order and that it was the Practice of the Saints and Church of old is undeniable what kind of Ground then can any such Opposers have being such as scrupling at this do notwithstanding acknowledge our Principle that this were done by Imposition or Imitation more than the Belief of the Doctrines and Principles seeing as it is needful to use all Diligence to Convince and Perswade People of the Truth and bring them to the Belief of it which yet we cannot do but as Truth moves and draws in their Hearts it is also no less needful when a People is gathered to keep and preserve them in Vnity and Love as becomes the Church of Christ and to be careful as saith the Apostle That all things be done decently and in Order and that all that is wrong be removed according to the Method of the Gospel and the good cherished and encouraged So that we conclude and that upon very good Grounds That there ought now as well as heretofore to be Order and Government in the Church of Christ. Head III. That which now cometh to be examined in the Third place is First What is the Order and Government we plead for Secondly In what Cases and how far it may extend and in whom the Power Decisive is Thirdly How it differeth and is wholly another than the oppressive and persecuting Principality of the Church of Rome and other Antichristian Assemblies SECTION IV. Of the Order and Government which we plead for IT will be needful then before I proceed to describe the Order and Government of the Church to consider what is or may be properly understood by the Church for some as I touched before seem to be offended or at least afraid of the very Word because The Power of the CHVRCH The Order of the Church The Judgment of the Church and such like Pretences have been the great Weapons wherewith Antichrist and the Apostate Christians have been these many Generations persecuting the Woman and warring against the Man-child And indeed great Disputes have been among the Learned Rabbies in the Apostacy concerning this CHVRCH what it is or what may be so accounted Which I find not my place at present to dive much in but shall only give the true Sense of it according to Truth and the Scriptures plain Testimony What the word Church signifies properly The word CHVRCH in it self and as used in the Scriptures is no other but a Gathering Company or Assembly of certain People called or gathered together for so the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies which is that the Translators render Church which word is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Evoco I call out of from the Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voco I Call Now though the English word CHVRCH be only taken in such a Sense as People are gathered together upon a Religious Account yet the Greek word that is so rendered is taken in general for every Gathering or Meeting together of People and therefore where it is said The Town-Clark of the Ephesians dismissed the Tumult that was gathered there together the same Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
as is hoped solidly Refuted THESES THEOLOGICAE year 1675 To the CLERGY of what Sort soever unto whose hands these may come but more particularly to the Doctors Professors and Students of Divinity in the Vniversities and Schools of Great Britain whether Prelatical Presbyterian or any other Robert Barclay a Servant of the Lord God and one of those who in Derision are called Quakers Wisheth Vnfeigned Repentance unto the Acknowledgment of the Truth FRIENDS UNto You these following PROPOSITIONS are Offered in which they being Read and Considered in the Fear of the Lord you may perceive that Simple Naked Truth which Man by his Wisdom hath rendred so Obscure and Mysterious that the World is even Burthened with the great and Voluminous Tractates which are made about it and by their Vain Jangling and Commentaries by which it is rendred a hundred fold more Dark and Intricate than of it self it is which Great Learning so accounted of to wit your School Divinity which taketh up almost a Man's whole Life-time to learn brings not a-whit nearer to God neither makes any Man less Wicked or more Righteous than he was Therefore hath God laid aside the Wise and Learned and the Disputers of this World and hath chosen a few despicable and Unlearned Instruments as to Letter-learning as he did Fisher-men of old to publish his pure and naked Truth and to free it of these Mists and Fogs wherewith the Clergy hath Clouded it that the People might Admire and Maintain them And among several others whom God hath Chosen to make known these things seeing also have Received in Measure Grace to be a Dispenser of the same Gospel it seemed good unto me according to my Duty to Offer unto You these Propositions which though short yet are Weighty Comprehending much and declaring what the true Ground of Knowledge is even of that Knowledge which leads to Life Eternal which is here witnessed of and the Testimony thereof left unto the Light of Christ in all your Consciences Farewel R. B. The First Proposition Concerning the true Foundation of Knowledge SEeing the Height of all Happiness is placed in the true Knowledge of God This is Life Eternal to know the true God and Jesus Christ John 17.3 whom thou hast sent the true and right Understanding of this Foundation and Ground of Knowledge is that which is most necessary to be known and believed in the first place The Second Proposition Concerning Immediate Revelation Seeing no Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son Revealeth him Matth. 11.27 and seeing the Revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit therefore the Testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true Knowledge of God hath been is and can be only Revealed Who as by the moving of his own Spirit Converted the Chaos of this World into that Wonderful Order wherein it was in the beginning and Created Man a living Soul to Rule and Govern it so by the Revelation of the same Spirit he hath Manifested himself all along unto the Sons of Men both Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Which Revelations of God by the Spirit whether by outward Voices and Appearances Dreams or inward Objective Manifestations in the Heart were of old the formal Object of their Faith and remaineth yet so to be since the Object of the Saints Faith is the same in all Ages though set forth under divers Administrations Moreover these Divine Inward Revelations which we make absolutely Necessary for the building up of true Faith neither do nor can ever Contradict the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or right and sound Reason Yet from hence it will not follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the Examination either of the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or of the Natural Reason of Man as to a more noble or certain Rule and Touch-stone For this Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident and clear of it self forcing by its own Evidence and Clearness the well-disposed Understanding to Assent irresistibly moving the same thereunto even as the Common Principles of Natural Truths move and incline the mind to a Natural Assent such as are these That the Whole is greater than the Part That two Contradictory Sayings cannot be both true or false Which is also manifest according to our Adversaries Principle who supposing the possibility of inward Divine Revelations will nevertheless Confess with us that neither Scripture nor sound Reason will Contradict it and yet it will not follow according to them that the Scripture or sound Reason should be subjected to the Examination of the Divine Revelations in the heart The Third Proposition Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth which contain 1. A faithful Historical Account of the Actings of God's People in divers Ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them 2. A Prophetical Account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come 3. A full and ample Account of all the chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers pretious Declarations Exhortations and Sentences which by the moving of God's Spirit were at several times and upon sundry occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal Ground of all Truth and Knowledge nor yet the Adequate Primary Rule of Faith and Manners Nevertheless as that which giveth a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a secondary Rule subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their Excellency and Certainty For as by the Inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testify that the Spirit is that Guide John 16.13 Rom. 8.14 by which the Saints are led into all Truth Therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the first and principal Leader And seeing we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the Rule according to that received Maxim in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum est magis tale Englished thus That for which a thing is such that thing it self is more such The Fourth Proposition Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall All Adam's Posterity or Mankind both Jews and Gentiles Rom. 5.12 15. as to the first Adam or Earthly Man is fallen degenerated and dead deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward Testimony or Seed of God and is subject unto the Power Nature and Seed of the Serpent which he sows in mens hearts while they abide in this Natural and Corrupted State from whence it comes that not their words and deeds only but all their
and Leading of this Spirit to be Ceased must also suppose Christianity to be Ceased which cannot subsist without it Query III Thirdly What the Work of this Spirit is is partly before shewn which Christ compriseth in two or three things What is the Work of the Spirit He will Guide you into all Truth he will Teach you all things and bring all things to your Remembrance Since Christ hath provided for us so good an Instructor what need we then lean so much to those Traditions and Commandments of men John 16.13 and 14.26 wherewith so many Christians have burthened themselves What need we set up our own Carnal and Corrupt Reason for a Guide to us in matters Spiritual The Spirit the Guide as some will needs do May it not be Complained of all such as the Lord did of old concerning Israel by the Prophets Jer. 2.13 For my People have committed two Evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that hold no water Have not many Forsaken Do not many Deride and Reject this Inward and Immediate Guide this Spirit that leads into all Truth and cast up to themselves other ways broken Ways indeed which have not all this while brought them out of the Flesh nor out of the World nor from under the Dominion of their own Lusts and sinful Affections whereby Truth which is only rightly learned by this Spirit is so much a Stranger in the Earth A perpetual Ordinance to Gods Church and People From all then that hath been mentioned concerning this Promise and these Words of Christ it will follow That Christians are always to be led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit of God dwelling in them and that the same is a standing and perpetual Ordinance as well to the Church in general in all Ages as to every Individual Member in particular as appears from this Argument The Promises of Christ to his Children are Yea and Amen and cannot fail but must of Necessity be fulfilled But Christ hath promised That the Comforter the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth shall abide with his Children for ever shall dwell with them shall be in them shall lead them into all Truth shall teach them all things and bring all things to their Remembrance Therefore The Comforter the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth his Abiding with his Children c. is Yea and Amen c. Again No Man is Redeemed from the Carnal Mind which is at Enmity with God which is not subject to the Law of God neither can be No man is yet in the Spirit but in the Flesh and cannot please God except he in whom the Spirit of God dwells But Every true Christian is in measure Redeemed from the Carnal Mind is gathered out of the Enmity and can be subject to the Law of God is out of the Flesh and in the Spirit the Spirit of God dwelling in him Therefore Every true Christian hath the Spirit of God dwelling in him Again Whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his that is no Child no Friend no Disciple of Christ. But Every true Christian is a Child a Friend a Disciple of Christ Therefore Every true Christian hath the Spirit of Christ. Moreover Whosoever is the Temple of the Holy Ghost in him the Spirit of God dwelleth and abideth But Every true Christian is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Therefore Every true Christian hath the Spirit of God dwelling and abiding in him But to Conclude He in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth it is not in him a lazy dumb useless thing but it moveth actuateth governeth instructeth and teacheth him all things whatsoever is needful for him to know yea bringeth all things to his Remembrance But The Spirit of God dwelleth in Every true Christian Therefore The Spirit of God leadeth instructeth and teacheth Every true Christian whatsoever is needful for him to know c. § XI But there are some that will Confess Object That the Spirit doth now lead and influence the Saints but that he doth it only Subjectively or in a blind manner by inlightning their understandings to understand and believe the Truth delivered in the Scriptures but not at all by presenting those Truths to the mind by way of Object and this they call Medium incognitum Assentiendi as that of whose Working a man is not sensible This Opinion though somewhat more tolerable than the former Answ. is nevertheless not altogether according to Truth neither doth it reach the fulness of it First Because there be many Truths which as they are Applicable to Arg. I Particulars and Individuals and most needful to be known by them are no wise to be found in the Scripture as in the following Proposition shall be shewn Besides the Arguments already adduced do prove that the Spirit doth not only subjectively help us to discern Truths elsewhere delivered but also Objectively present those Truths to our minds For that which teacheth me all things and is given me for that end without doubt presents those things to my mind which it teacheth me It is not said It shall teach you how to understand those things that are written but It shall teach you all things Again That which brings all things to my Remembrance must needs present them by way of Object else it were improper to say It brought them to my Remembrance but only that it helpeth to Remember the Objects brought from elsewhere My second Argument shall be drawn from the Nature of the New Covenant by which and those that follow I shall prove That we are led by the Spirit both immediately and objectively The Nature of the Arg. II New Covenant is Expressed in divers places and Proof 1 First Isa. 59 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seed 's Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever The Leadings of the Spirit By the latter part of this is sufficiently expressed the Perpetuity and Continuance of this Promise It shall not depart saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever In the former part is the Promise it self which is The Spirit of God being upon them and the Words of God being put into their mouths 1. Immediate First This was Immediate for there is no mention made of any Medium he saith not I shall by the means of such and such Writings or Books convey such and such words into your mouths but my words I even I saith the Lord shall put into your mouths 2. Objective Secondly This must be Objectively for the Words put into the mouth are the Object presented by him He saith not The words which ye shall see written my Spirit shall only Inlighten your
Seditious Multitude of the Lutheran Citizens being stirred up by the daily Clamours of their Preachers did not only violently take up the Houses of the Reformed Teachers overturn their Libraries and spoil their Furniture but also with reproachful words yea and with stones Assaulted the Marquess of Brandenburgh the Elector's Brother while he sought by smooth words to quiet the Fury of the Multitude they killed ten of his Guards scarcely sparing himself who at last by Flight Escaped out of their hands All which sufficiently declares that the Concurrence of the Magistrate doth not alter their Principles but only their Method of Procedure So that for my own part I see no Difference betwixt the Actings of those of Munster and these others whereof the one pretended to be led by the Spirit the other by Tradition Scripture and Reason save this that the former were rash heady and foolish in their proceedings and therefore were the sooner brought to nothing and so into Contempt and Derision but the other being more politick and wise in their generation held it out longer and so have Authorized their Wickedness more with seeming Authority of Law and Reason But both their Actings being equally Evil the Difference appears to me to be only like that which is betwixt a simple silly Thief that is easily Catched and hanged without any more ado and a Company of Resolute bold Robbers who being better guarded though their Offence be nothing less yet by violence do to evite the danger force their Masters to give them good Terms From all which then it evidently follows that they Argue very ill that despise and reject any Principle because men pretending to be led by it do evil in case it be not the natural and consequential Tendency of that Principle to lead unto those things that are evil Again It doth follow from what is above asserted that if the Spirit be to be Rejected upon this account all those other Principles ought on the same account to be Rejected And for my part as I have never a whit the lower Esteem of the blessed Testimony of the Holy Scriptures nor do the less respect any solid Tradition that is answerable and according to Truth neither at all despise Reason that noble and excellent Faculty of the mind Let none reject the Certainty of the Vnerring Spirit because of false Pretenders to it because wicked men have abused the name of them to cover their wickedness and deceive the simple so would I not have any reject or diffide the Certainty of that Vnerring Spirit which God hath given his Children as that which can alone guide them into all Truth because some have falsly pretended to it § XV. And because the Spirit of God is the Fountain of all Truth and sound Reason therefore we have well said That it cannot Contradict neither the Testimony of the Scripture nor right Reason yet as the Proposition it self Concludeth to whose last part I now come it will not from thence follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the Examination either of the outward Testimony of Scripture or of the humane or natural Reason of man as to a more noble and certain Rule and Touch-stone for the Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident by it self forcing the well-disposed understanding and irresistibly moving it to Assent by its own Evidence and Clearness even as the Common Principles of Natural Truths do bow the mind to a Natural Assent He that denies this part of the Proposition must needs Affirm That the Spirit of God neither can nor ever hath manifested it self to man without the Scripture or a distinct discussion of Reason or That the Efficacy of this Supernatural Principle working upon the Souls of men is less Evident than natural Principles in their common Operations Both which are false For First through all the Scriptures we may observe that the Manifestation and Revelation of God by his Spirit to the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles was Immediate and Objective as is above proved which they did not examin by any other Principle but their own Evidence and Clearness Secondly To say The Self Evidence of the Spirit that the Spirit of God has less Evidence upon the mind of man than natural Principles have is to have too mean and low thoughts of it How comes David to invite us to Taste and see that God is good if this cannot be felt and tasted This were enough to overturn the Faith and Assurance of all the Saints both now and of old How came Paul to be perswaded That nothing could separate him from the love of God but by that Evidence and Clearness which the Spirit of God gave him The Apostle John who knew well wherein the Certainty of Faith Consisted judged it no ways Absurd without further Argument to Ascribe his Knowledge and Assurance and that of all the Saints hereunto in these words Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 and again John 5.6 It 's the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth Observe the Reason brought by him Because the Spirit is Truth Of whose Certainty and Infallibility I have heretofore spoken We then Trust to and Confide in this Spirit because we know and certainly believe that it can only Lead us a-right and never Mis-lead us and from this Certain Confidence it is that we Affirm The Spirit contradicts not Scripture nor Right Reason That no Revelation coming from it can ever Contradict the Scriptures-Testimony nor right Reason not as making this a more Certain Rule to our selves but as Condescending to such who not discerning the Revelations of the Spirit as they proceed purely from God will Try them by these Mediums yet those that have the Spiritual Senses and can savour the things of the Spirit as it were in primâ Instantiâ i. e. at the first blush can discern them without Natural Demonstrations from Astronomy and Geometry or before they Apply them either to Scripture or Reason Just as a good Astronomer can Calculate an Eclipse Infallibly by which he can Conclude if the Order of Nature Continue and some strange and Vnnatural Revolution Intervene not there will be an Eclipse of the Sun or Moon such a day and such an hour yet can he not perswade an Ignorant Rustick of this until he Visibly see it So also a Mathematician can Infallibly know by the Rules of Art that the Three Angles of a Right-angled Triangle are Equal to Two Right-Angles yea can know them more certainly than any man by measure And some Geometrical Demonstrations are by all acknowledged to be Infallible which can be scarcely discerned or proved by the Senses Yet if a Geometer be at the pains to Certify some Ignorant Man concerning the Certainty of this Art by condescending to measure it and make it obvious to his Senses it will not thence
follow that that Measuring is so Certain as the Demonstration it self or that the Demonstration would be Vncertain without it § XVI But to make an end I shall add one Argument to prove That this Inward Immediate Objective Revelation which we have pleaded for all along is the only sure certain and unmoveable Foundation of all Christian Faith which Argument when well weighed I hope will have weight with all sorts of Christians and it is this That which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto Immediate Revelation of all Christian Faith the Immoveable Foundation when pressed to the last That for and because of which all other Foundations are Recommended and Accounted worthy to be believed and without which they are granted to be of no weight at all must needs be the only most true certain and unmoveable Foundation of all Christian Faith But Inward Immediate Objective Revelation by the Spirit is that which all Professors of Christianity of whatsoever kind are forced ultimately to recur unto c. Therefore c. The Proposition is so Evident that it will not be denied The Assumption shall be proved by parts Papists Foundation their Church and Tradition Why And first As to the Papists They place their Foundation in the Judgment of the Church and Tradition If we press them to say Why they believe as the Church doth Their Answer is Because the Church is always led by the Infallible Spirit So here the Leading of the Spirit is the utmost Foundation Again If we ask them Why we ought to trust Tradition They Answer Because those Traditions were delivered us by the Doctors and Fathers of the Church which Doctors and Fathers by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost Commanded the Church to observe them Here again all lands in the Revelation of the Spirit And for the Protestants and Socinians both which acknowledge the Scriptures to be the Foundation and Rule of their Faith Protestants and Socinians make the Scriptures their Ground and Foundation Why the one as subjectively influenced by the Spirit of God to use them the other as managing them with and by their own Reason Ask both or either of them Why they trust the Scriptures and take them to be their Rule Their Answer is Because we have in them the Mind of God delivered unto us by those to whom these things were inwardly immediately and objectively Revealed by the Spirit of God And not because this or that man wrote them but because the Spirit of God dictated them Christians by Name and not by Nature hold Revelations ceased contrary to Scripture It is strange then that men should render that so Vncertain and Dangerous to follow upon which alone the Certain Ground and Foundation of their own Faith is built Or that they should shut themselves out from that holy fellowship with God which only is enjoyed in the Spirit in which we are commanded both to walk and live If any reading these things find themselves moved by the strength of these Scripture-Arguments to Assent and Believe such Revelations necessary and yet find themselves Strangers to them which as I observed in the beginning is the Cause that this is so much gainsaid and contradicted Let them know that it is not because it is Ceased to become the Priviledge of every Christian that they do not feel it but rather because they are not so much Christians by Nature as by Name And let such know that the Secret Light which shines in the heart and reproves Vnrighteousness is the small beginnings of the Revelations of God's Spirit which was first sent into the World to Reprove it of sin Joh 16.8 And as by forsaking Iniquity thou com'st to be acquainted with that Heavenly Voice in thy heart thou shalt feel as the Old Man the Natural Man that savoureth not the things of God's Kingdom is put off with his evil and corrupt Affections and Lusts I say thou shalt feel the New Man the Spiritual Birth and Babe Raised which hath its Spiritual Senses and can Prop. 3 see feel taste handle and smell the things of the Spirit but till then the Knowledge of things Spiritual is but as an Historical Faith Who wants his Sight sees not the Light But as the Description of the Light of the Sun or of curious Colours to a blind Man who though of the largest Capacity cannot so well understand it by the most acute and lively Description as a Child can by Seeing them So neither can the Natural man of the largest Capacity by the best words even Scripture words so well understand the Mysteries of God's Kingdom as the least and weakest Child who tasteth them by having them Revealed inwardly and objectively by the Spirit Wait then for this in the small Revelation of that pure Light which first Reveals things more known and as thou becom'st fitted for it thou shalt Receive more and more and by a living Experience easily Refute their Ignorance who ask How dost thou know that thou art acted by the Spirit of God which will appear to thee a Question no less Riculous than to ask one whose Eyes are open How he knows the Sun shines at Noon-day And though this be the surest and certainest way to answer all Objections yet by what is above-written it may appear that the mouths of all such Opposers as deny this Doctrine may be shut by Vnquestionable and Vnanswerable Reasons PROPOSITION III. Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the SCRIPTURES of TRUTH which contain I. A faithful Historical Account of the Actings of God's People in divers Ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them II. A Prophetical Account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come III. A full and Ample Account of all the Chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers pretious Declarations Exhortations and Sentences which by the Moving of God's Spirit were at several Times and upon sundry Occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be Esteemed the Principal Ground of all Truth and Knowledge nor yet the Adequate Primary Rule of Faith and Manners Yet because they give a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a Secondary Rule Subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their Excellency and Certainty For as by the Inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they Testify that the Spirit is that Guide John 16.13 Rom. 8.14 by which the Saints are led into all Truth Therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the First and Principal Leader Seeing then that we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit for the very
same Reason is the Spirit more originally and principally the Rule according to that received Maxim in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum magis est tale That for which a thing is such the thing it self is more such § I. THe former part of this Proposition though it needs no Apology for it The Holy Scriptures the most Excellent Writings in the World yet is a good Apology for us and will help to Sweep away that among many other Calumnies wherewith we are often loaded as if we were Vilifiers and Deniers of the Scriptures For in that which we Affirm of them it doth appear at what high Rate we Value them accounting them without all Deceit or Equivocation the Most Excellent Writings in the World to which not only no other Writings are to be preferr'd but even in divers respects not Comparable thereunto For as we freely acknowledge that their Authority doth not depend upon the Approbation or Canons of any Church or Assembly so neither can we subject them to the fall'n corrupt and defiled Reason of man and therein as we do freely Agree with the Protestants against the Error of the Romanists so on the other hand we cannot go the length of such Protestants as make their Authority to depend upon any Vertue or Power that is in the Writings themselves but we desire to ascribe all to that Spirit from which they proceeded We Confess indeed there wants not a Majesty in the Style a Coherence in the parts a good Scope in the whole but seeing these things are nor discerned by the Natural but only by the Spiritual man it is the Spirit of God that must give us that Belief of the Scriptures which may satisfy our Consciences Therefore the Chiefest among Protestants both in their particular Writings and publick Confessions are forced to acknowledge this Hence Calvin though he saith He is able to prove that if there be a God in Heaven Calvin's Testimony That the Scriptures Certainty is from the Spirit these Writings have proceeded from him yet he concludes Another Knowledge to be necessary Inst. lib. 1. cap. 7 sect 4. But if saith he we respect the Consciences that they be not daily molested with Doubts and they stick not at every Scruple it is Requisite that this Perswasion which we speak of be taken higher than Humane Reason Judgment or Conjectures to wit from the secret Testimony of the Holy Spirit And again To those that ask That we prove unto them by Reason that Moses and the Prophets were Inspired of God to speak I answer that the Testimony of the Holy Spirit is more Excellent than all Reason And again Let this remain a firm Truth that he only whom the Holy Ghost hath perswaded can Repose himself on the Scripture with a true Certainty And lastly This then is a Judgment which cannot be begotten but by a Heavenly Revelation c. The same is also Affirmed in the first Publick Confession of the French Churches published in the year 1559. Art 4. We know these Books to be Canonick and the most â—ertain Rule of our Faith The Confession of the French Churches not so much by the Common Accord and Consent of the Church as by the Testimony and Inward Perswasion of the Holy Spirit Thus also in the fifth Article of the Confession of Faith of the Churches of Holland Confirmed by the Synod of Dort Churches of Holland Assert the same We receive these Books only for Holy and Canonick not so much because the Church receives and approves them as because the Spirit of God renders Witness in our Hearts that they are of God And lastly The Divines so called at Westminster Westminster Confession the same who began to be affraid of and guard against the Testimony of the Spirit because they perceived a Dispensation beyond that which they were under beginning to Dawn and to Eclipse them yet could they not get by this though they have laid it down neither so clearly distinctly nor honestly as they that went before It is in these words Chap. 1. Sect. 5. Nevertheless our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth thereof is from the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit bearing Witness by and with the Word in our heart By all which it appeareth how Necessary it is to seek the Certainty of the Scriptures from the Spirit and no where else The Infinite Janglings and Endless Contests of those that seek their Authority elsewhere do witness to the Truth hereof For the Ancients themselves Apocrypha even of the First Centuries were not at one among themselves concerning them while some of them Rejected Books which we Approve and others of them Approved those Concil Laod. Can. 59 in Cod Ecc. 163. Concil Laod. held in the Year 364. Excluded from the Canon Eccl the Wisdom of Solomon Judith Tobias the Maccabees which the Council of Carthage held in the Year 399. Received which some of us Reject It is not unknown to such as are in the least acquainted with Antiquity what Great Contests are concerning the Second Epistle of Peter that of James the Second and Third of John and the Revelations which many even very Ancient deny to have been Written by the Beloved Disciple and Brother of James but by another of that name What should then become of Christians if they had not received that Spirit and those Spiritual senses by which they know how to discern the True from the False It 's the Priviledge of Christ's Sheep indeed that they hear his Voice and refuse that of a Stranger which Priviledge being taken away we are left a Prey to all manner of Wolves § II. Though then we do acknowledge the Scriptures to be a very Heavenly and Divine Writing the Vse of them to be very Comfortable and Necessary to the Church of Christ and that we also admire and give Praise to the Lord for his wonderful Providence in preserving these Writings so Pure and Vncorrupted as we have them through so long a Night of Apostasy to be a Testimony for his Truth against the Wickedness and Abominations even of those whom he made Instrumental in preserving them so that they have kept them to be a Witness against themselves yet we may not call them the Principal Fountain of all Truth and Knowledge nor yet the first Adequate Rule of Faith and Manners because the Principal Fountain of Truth must be the Truth it self i. e. that whose Certainty and Authority depends not upon another The Scriptures are not the Principal Ground of Truth When we doubt of the Streams of any River or Flood we recur to the Fountain it self and having found it there we Sist we can go no further because there it springs out of the Bowels of the Earth which are Inscrutable Even so the Writings and Sayings of all men we must bring to the Word of God I mean the Eternal Word and if they Agree
early lost and man's Wisdom and Will hath so quickly and throughly mixed it self herein that both the Apostasy in this respect hath been greatest and the Reformation here-from as to the evil Root most difficult Therefore let not the Reader suddenly stumble at the account of our Proposition in this matter but hear us patiently in this respect Explain our selves and I hope by the Assistance of God to make it appear that though our manner of Speaking and Doctrine seem most singular and different from all other sorts of Christians yet it is most according to the purest Christian Religion and indeed most needful to be observed and followed And that there be no ground of Mistake for that I was necessitate to speak in few words and therefore more obscurely and dubiously in the Proposition it self it is fit in the first place to Explain and hold forth our Sense and Clear the State of the Controversie § II. And first let it be considered that what is here affirmed I. What Worship here is spoken to is spoken of the Worship of God in Gospel-times and not of the Worship that was under or before the Law For the particular Commands of God to men then are not sufficient to Authorize us now to do the same things else we might be supposed at present acceptably to offer Sacrifice as they did which all acknowledge to be Ceased So that what might have been both commendable and acceptable under the Law may justly now be charged with Superstition yea and Idolatry So that impertinently in this respect doth Arnoldus rage against this Proposition Exercit. Theolog. Sect. 44. saying That I deny all publick Worship and that according to me such as in Enoch 's time publickly began to call upon the Name of the Lord and such as at the Command of God went twice up to Jerusalem to Worship and that Anna Simeon Mary c. were Idolaters because they used the publick Worship of these times Such a Consequence is most Impertinent and no less foolish and absurd than if I should infer from Paul's Expostulating with the Galatians for their returning to the Jewish Ceremonies that he therefore Condemned Moses and all the Prophets as foolish and ignorant Ceremonies under the Law were not Essential to true Worship because they used those things the forward man not heeding the different Dispensations of times ran into this Impertinency Though a Spiritual Worship might have been and no doubt was practised by many under the Law in great simplicity yet will it not follow that it were no Superstition to use all those Ceremonies that they used which were by God dispensed to the Jews not as being Essential to true Worship or Necessary as of themselves for transmitting and entertaining an holy Fellowship betwixt him and his people but in Condescension to them who were inclinable to Idolatry Albeit then in this as in most other things the Substance was enjoyed under the Law by such as were Spiritual indeed yet was it Vailed and surrounded with many Rites and Ceremonies which is no ways lawful for us to use now under the Gospel II. True Worship is not limited to time to place or persons § III. Secondly Albeit I say that this Worship is neither limited to times places nor persons yet I would not be understood as if I intended the putting away of all set Times and Places to Worship God forbid I should think of such an Opinion Nay we are none of those that forsake the Assembling of our selves together but have even certain Times and Places in which we carefully Meet together nor can we be driven there-from by the Threats or Persecutions of men to Wait upon God Necessity of Meetings and Worship him To meet together we think necessary for the people of God because so long as we are cloathed with this outward Tabernacle there is a necessity to the entertaining of a Joint and Visible Fellowship and bearing of an outward Testimony for God and seeing of the faces one of another that we concur with our persons as well as spirits To be accompanied with that inward love and unity of spirit doth greatly tend to encourage and refresh the Saints But the Limitation we condemn is that whereas the Spirit of God should be the immediate Actor 1. Will-Worship doth limit the Spirit of God Mover Perswader and Influencer of man in the particular Acts of Worship when the Saints are met together this Spirit is limited in its Operations by setting up a particular man or men to preach and Pray in man's Will and all the rest are excluded from so much as believing that they are to Wait for God's Spirit to move them in such things and so they neglecting that which should quicken them in themselves and not Waiting to feel the pure breathings of God's Spirit so as to obey them are led meerly to depend upon the Preacher and hear what he will say Secondly In that these peculiar men come not thither to Meet with the Lord 2 True Teaching of the Word of God and to Wait for the inward Motions and Operations of his Spirit and so to pray as they feel the Spirit to breath through them and in them and to preach as they find themselves acted and moved by God's Spirit and as he gives utterance so as to speak a word in season to refresh weary Souls and as the present Condition and State of the peoples hearts requires suffering God by his Spirit both to prepare peoples hearts and also give the Preacher to speak what may be fit and seasonable for them But he hath hammered together in his Closet according to his own Will Priests Preach by hap-hazzard their studied Sermons by his humane Wisdom and Literature and by stealing the words of Truth from the letter of the Scriptures and patching together other mens writings and observations so much as will hold him speaking an Hour while the glass runs and without Waiting or feeling the inward Influence of the Spirit of God he declaimes that by hap-hazzard whether it be fit or seasonable for the peoples Condition or no and when he has ended his Sermon he saith his Prayer also in his own Will and so there is an end of the business Which Customary Worship as it is no ways acceptable to God so how unfruitful it is and unprofitable to those that are found in it the present Condition of the Nations doth sufficiently declare It appears then that we are not against set Times for Worship as Arnoldus against this Proposition sect 45. no less impertinently alledgeth offering needlesly to prove that which is not denied only these Times being Appointed for outward Conveniency we may not therefore think with the Papists that these Days are Holy and lead people into a superstitious Observation of them being perswaded Whether Days are Holy that all days are alike holy in the sight of God And albeit it be not my present
no such thing nor yet are often-times sensible of it must needs stand in the Enticing Words of man's Wisdom since it is by the meer Wisdom of man it is sought after and the meer Strength of man's Eloquence and Enticing words it is uttered and therefore no wonder if the Faith of such as hear and depend upon such preachers and preachings stand in the Wisdom of Men and not in the Power of God The Apostles declared that they spake not in the words which man's Wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth 1 Cor. 2.13 But these Preachers confess that they are Strangers to the Holy Ghost his Motions and Operations neither do they Wait to feel them and therefore they speak in the words which their own natural Wisdom and Learning teacheth them mixing them in and adding them to such words as they steal of the Scripture and other Books and therefore speak not what the Holy Ghost teacheth Thirdly This is contrary to the Method and Order of the primitive Church mentioned by the Apostle 3. True Church's method was to speak by Revelation 1 Cor. 14.30 c. where in Preaching every one is to Wait for his Revelation and to give place one unto another according as things are Revealed But here there is no waiting for a Revelation but the Preacher must speak and not that which is Reveald unto him but what he hath prepared and premeditated before-hand Lastly By this kind of Preaching the Spirit of God which should be the Chief Instructor and Teacher of God's People 4. The Spirit is shut out by Priests to be the Teacher and whose influence is that only which makes all Preaching effectual and beneficial for the edifying of Souls is Shut out and man's natural Wisdom Learning and Parts set up and Exalted which no doubt is a great and chief reason why the Preaching among the generality of Christians is so Vnfruitful and Vnsuccessful yea according to this doctrine the Devil may preach and ought to be Heard also seeing he both knoweth the Truth and hath as much Eloquence as any But what availes Excellency of speech if the Demonstration and Power of the Spirit be wanting which toucheth the Conscience We see that when the Devil confessed to the Truth yet Christ would have none of his Testimony And as these pregnant Testimonies of the Scripture to prove this part of Preaching to be contrary to the Doctrine of Christ so do they also prove that of ours before affirmed to be Conform thereunto Object § XX. But if any Object after this manner Have not many been Benefitted yea and both Converted and Edified by the Ministry of such as have Premeditated their Preachings yea and hath not the Spirit often concurred by its Divine Influence with preachings thus premeditated so as they have been powerfully born in upon the Souls of the Hearers to their Advantage I answer Though that be granted which I shall not deny it will not infer that the thing was good in it self more than because Paul was met with by Christ to the Converting of his Soul riding to Damascus to persecute the Saints that he did well in so doing Neither particular Actions Answ. nor yet whole Congregations as we above observed are to be measured by the Acts of God's Condescension in times of Ignorance But besides Paul Persecuting was Converted is therefore Persecuting good it hath often-times fall'n out that God having a regard to the Simplicity and Integrity either of the Preacher or Hearers hath faln in upon the heart of a Preacher by his Power and holy Influence and thereby hath led them to speak things which were not in his premeditated Discourse and which perhaps he never thought of before and those passing Ejaculations and unpremeditated but living Exhortations have proved more beneficial and refreshful both to Preacher and Hearers than all their premeditated Sermons But all that will not allow them to Continue in these things which in themselves are not approved but contrary to the practice of the Apostles when God is raising up a people to serve him according to the primitive purity and spirituality yea such acts of God's Condescension in times of Darkness and Ignorance should ingage all more and more to follow him according as he Reveals his most perfect and Spiritual Way § XXI Having hitherto spoken of Preaching II. Of Prayer how the Outward is distinguisht from the Inward now it is fit to speak of Praying concerning which the like Controversy ariseth Our Adversaries whose Religion is all for the most part Outside and such whose Acts are the meer products of man's natural Will and Abilities as they can Preach so can they Pray when they please and therefore have their set particular Prayers I meddle not with the Controversies among themselves concerning this some of them being for set Prayers as a Liturgy others for such as are ex tempore Conceived it suffices me that all of them agree in this that the Motions and Influence of the Spirit of God are not Necessary to be previous thereunto and therefore they have Set Times in their publick Worship as before and after preaching The Priests set times to Preach and Pray deny's the Spirit and in their private Devotion as Morning and Evening and before and after meat and other such occasions at which they precisely set about the performing of their Prayers by speaking words to God whether they feel any Motions or Influence of the Spirit or not so that some of the Chiefest have confessed that they have thus Prayed without the Motions or Assistance of the Spirit acknowledging that they sinned in so doing yet they said they look upon it as their Duty to do so though to Pray without the Spirit be Sin We freely Confess that Prayer is both very profitable and a necessary Duty commanded and fit to be practised frequently by all Christians but as we can Do nothing without Christ so neither can we Pray without the concurrence and assistance of his Spirit But that the State of the Controversy may be the better understood let it be considered First That Prayer is twofold Inward and Outward Inward Prayer is that Secret turning of the mind towards God whereby What Inward Prayer is being secretly touched and awakened by the Light of Christ in the Conscience and so bowed down under the sense of its Iniquities Vnworthiness and Misery it looks up to God and joining issue with the secret Shinings of the Seed of God it breaths towards him and is constantly breathing forth some secret Desires and Aspirations towards him It is in this sense that we are so frequently in Scripture commanded to Pray continually Luke 18.1 1 Thess. 5.17 Eph. 6.18 Luke 21.36 which cannot be understood of Outward Prayer because it were impossible that men should be always upon their Knees expressing words of Prayer and this would hinder them from the Exercise of those Duties no less positively Commanded
necessary which as Protestants we affirm and have proved is false else we must confess that Water is not here understood of outward Water For to say that when Water and the Spirit are placed here just together and in the same manner thô there be not any difference or ground for it visible in the Text or deduceable from it That the necessity of Water is here Praecepti but not Medii but the necessity of the Spirit is both Medii and Praecepti is indeed confidently to affirm but not to prove * Obj. VI. Sixthly and lastly they Object That the Baptism of Water is a visible Sign or Badge to distinguish Christians from Infidels even as Circumcision did the Jews †Answ. I Answer This saith nothing at all unless it be proved to be a necessary Precept or part of the New Covenant-Dispensation it not being lawful to us to impose outward Ceremonies and Rites and say they will distinguish us from Infidels Circumcision was positively commanded and said to be a Seal of the first Covenant Circumcision a Seal of the first Covenant Water-baptism falsly called a Badge of Christianity Which is the Badge of Christianity but as we have already proved that there is no such Command for Baptism so there is not any Word in all the New Testament calling it a Badge of Christianity or Seal of the New Covenant and therefore to conclude it is so because Circumcision was so unless some better Proof be alledged for it is miserably to beg the Question The professing of Faith in Christ and a holy Life answering thereunto is a far better Badge of Christianity than any outward Washing which yet answers not to that of Circumcision since that affixed a Character in the flesh which this doth not so that a Christian is not known to be a Christian by his being baptized especially when he was a Child unless he tell them so much And may not the Professing Faith in Christ signify that as well I know there are divers of those called Fathers that speak much of Water-baptism What the Fathers say of Water-baptism and of the Sign of the Cross. calling it Character Christianitatis But so did they also of the Sign of the Cross and other such things justly rejected by Protestants For the Mystery of Iniquity which began to work even in the Apostles days soon spoiled the Simplicity and Purity of the Christian Worship so that not only many Jewish Rites were retained but many Heathenish Customs and Ceremonies introduced into the Christian Worship Heathenish Ceremonies introduc'd into the Christian Worship as particularly that word Sacrament So that it is great folly especially for Protestants to plead any thing of this from Tradition or Antiquity for we find that neither Papists nor Protestants use these Rites exactly as the Ancients did who in such things not walking by the most certain Rule of God's Spirit but doting too much upon Outwards were very Vncertain For most of them all in the Primitive Time did wholly plunge and dip those they Baptized which neither Papists nor Protestants do yea several of the Fathers accused some as Hereticks in their Days for holding some Principles common with Protestants concerning it as particularly Augustin doth the Pelagians for saying That Infants dying Vnbaptized may be saved And the Manichees were Condemned for denying that Grace is universally given by Baptism and Julian the Pelagian by Augustin for denying Exorcism and Insufflation in the use of Baptism All which things Protestants deny also Exorcism or Adjuration So that Protestants do but foolishly to upbraid us as if we could not shew any among the Ancients that denied Water-baptism seeing they cannot shew any whom they acknowledge not to have been Heretical in several things to have used it nor yet who using it did not use also the Sign of the Cross and other things with it which they deny There were some nevertheless in the darkest Times of Popery The Sign of the Cross. who testified against Water-baptism For one Alanus pag. 103 104 107. speaks of some in his Time Many in former Ages testified against Water-baptism that were burnt for the denying of it for they said that Baptism had no Efficacy either in Children or Adult Persons and therefore Men were not obliged to take Baptism Particularly Ten Canonicks so called were burnt for that Crime by the Order of King Robert of France as P. Pithaeus tells in his Fragments of the History of Guienne Which is also confirmed by one Johannes Floracensis a Monk who was famous at that Time in his Epistle to Oliva Abbot of the Ausonian Church I will saith he give you to understand concerning the Heresy that was in the City of Orleans on Childer-mass-day for it was true if ye have heard any thing that King Robert caused to be burnt alive nigh Fourteen of that City of the Chief of their Clergy and the more Noble of their Laicks who were hateful to God and abominable to Heaven and Earth Ten Canonicks burnt at Orleans and why for they did stiffly deny the Grace of Holy Baptism and also the Consecration of our Lord's Body and Blood The time of this Deed is noted in these words by Papir Masson in his Annals of France lib. 3. in Hugh and Robert Actum Aureliae public◠Anno Incarnationis Domini 1022. Regni Roberti Regis 28. Indictione 5. quando Stephanus Haeresiarcha Complices ejus damnati sunt exusti Aureliae Now for their calling them Hereticks and Manichees we have nothing but the Testimony of their Accusers which will no more invalidate their Testimony for this Truth against the use of Water-baptism or give more ground to charge us as being one with Manichees than because some called by them Manichees do agree with Protestants in some things that therefore Protestants are Manichees or Hereticks which Protestants can no ways shun For the Question is Whether in what they did they walked according to the Truth testified of by the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures So that the Controversy is brought back again to the Scriptures according to which I suppose I have formerly discussed it As for the latter part of the Thesis The Baptism of Infants an Humane Tradition denying the Vse of Infant-Baptism it necessarily follows from what is above-said For if Water-Baptism be Ceased then surely Baptising of Infants is not warrantable But those that take upon them to Oppose us in this matter will have more to do as to this latter part for after they have done what they can to prove Water-Baptism it remains for them to prove that Infants ought to be Baptized For he that proves Water-Baptism Ceased proves that Infant-Baptism is vain But he that should prove that Water-Baptism continues has not thence proved that Infant-Baptism is necessary That needs something further And therefore it was a pitiful Subterfuge of Nic. Arnoldus against this to say That the denying of
Testimony of Moses and the Prophets even than John who was the greatest But when we produce the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets and Apostles as an Evidence to the Truth of what we affirm I say it should be received by our Adversaries who own the Scriptures as their Chief and Only Rule For either they should Receive it or not Receive it if they should Receive it then they are faulty who in the late Dispute at Aberdeen did refuse to Receive the Evidence of the Scriptures as from us only because we say We have a greater to wit that of the Spirit within us although we own the Scripture as the greatest Visible and outward Evidence that we can give to our Adversaries If they should not Receive the Scripture-Evidence and Testimony as from us because we say we have a Greater to wit that of Christ himself immediately in us by his Spirit then they must needs also say for the same Reason That the Jews ought not to receive the Testimony of the Scriptures as an Evidence for Christ because he said He had a Greater And certainly he had a greater though they would not receive it nor could not as they stood in their Prejudice and Malice wherewith they were filled against him who did not receive him Now this I say with Freedom and Boldness of Spirit to all those whether Papists Anabaptists Prelatical or Presbyterian Professors who with one Mouth require of us an Evidence that we are Inspired or have a Measure of the Inspiration of the Spirit of God and Christ in us I offer unto all of you the Scriptures for an Evidence of this Truth viz. That the Quakers so called have a Measure of the Inspiration of the Spirit of God and Christ in them For according to the Scriptures-Testimony Christ the true Light enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World and his Illumination is his Inspiration I profess sincerely in God's Fear That the Scriptures-Testimony is to me as full and plain and Convincing to prove this Truth viz. That an Illumination Manifestation and Inspiration of the Spirit of God is given to every Man is in every Man as to prove this Truth That Christ who according to the Flesh was born of the Virgin Mary was the promised Messiah Now if we can prove from Scripture That all Men have in them a Measure of this Divine Illumination and Inspiration by the Spirit of Christ we have gained our Point which is That we have also a Measure of the same in us for ALL MEN doth comprehend Vs called Quakers as well as other Men I see not what our Adversaries can with any Colour Object against this Evidence from Scripture but this That they will deny that the Scripture bears Testimony to this Vniversal Illumination or Inspiration of the Spirit of God in Men. But this brings the Matter of the Debate from being Personal to be Doctrinal and so puts us upon equal Terms at least with all our Adversaries especially Prelatical Anabaptist and Presbyterian and Independent Opposers whatsoever who say The Scriptures are their chief and only Rule And though our Adversaries say The Scripture doth not testifie to that Universal Inspiration of the Spirit of Christ in Men that moveth us not more than when the Jews denied That the Scriptures bore Testimony to him that was born of the Virgin Mary to be the Christ. We are able by the help of God to prove from Scripture the Truth of this Doctrine of Divine Illumination and Inspiration in all Men and consequently in the Quakers as much as they or any professing Christianity upon Earth can prove any Principle or Doctrine of their Faith Secondly We are able and do offer by the Grace of God against all our Opposers whatsoever to prove from the Scriptures-Testimony That this Universal Inspiration and Illumination of Christ by his Spirit in Men is a sufficient Evidence of Truth and Rule of Faith and Life in all Men and consequently in us called Quakers Thirdly that this Divine Inspiration and Illumination where it is not wilfully resisted and rejected but regarded and attended is a Greater Evidence than the Scripture is and witnessed by the Scriptures Fourthly and yet the Scripture is the Greatest Visible and Outward Evidence that either we or they can give of their Rule I shall conclude with a reasonable Demand to these Young-Men Masters of Arts their Masters and Teachers which is this Whether they own these Assertions Affirmations and Arguments of their Scholars in the late Dispute as followeth viz. That whatever is of God is God That the Scriptures according to the Quakers are Fallacious and can beguile us That the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is ceased And the rest of their Discourse inserted in this foregoing Treatise If Yea Let them declare so much to the People who are greatly stumbled at these their Expressions even divers of their own Church If Nay then let them publickly Reprove and Disown those Words otherwise not only we but many others will say Ye have both taught and allowed them so to Affirm G. K. Quakerism Confirmed OR A VINDICATION Of the Chief DOCTRINES and PRINCIPLES Of the PEOPLE called QUAKERS FROM THE Arguments and Objections of the Students of Divinity so called of Aberdeen in their Book entituled QVAKERISM CANVASED BY ROBERT BARCLAY AND GEORGE KEITH 2 Tim. 3.9 But they shall proceed no further for their Folly shall be manifest to all Men c. London Printed for Tho. Northcott 1691. Friendly Reader 1676. HAD we not more Regarded the Interest of the Truth for whose sake we can shun no Abasement than the Significancy of those with whom we have this Rencountre we should have rather chused to be silent than Answer them they being of so small Reputation among their own that neither Teachers nor People will hold themselves Accomptable for any of their Positions and seem zealous to have it believed they would not bestow Time to Read it nor yet hold themselves obliged to Approve it However since we certainly know That in the Second Part of their Book to which this Reply is they have scraped together most of the Chief Arguments used against us and borrowed not a little from G. M's Manuscripts with whose Work that yet appears not we have been these seven Years menaced Which like the Materials of a Building managed by Unskilful Workmen though they be by them very confusedly put together yet being the chief Things can be said against us we have throughly handled for the Reader 's Satisfaction which may be Serviceable to the Truth without Respect to the Insignificancy of those against whom it is written As for the first Part of their Book we have also Answered it but distinct from this it consisting of many Particularities of Matters of Fact which perhaps might have proved tedious to many Readers that may by This be Edified and think it of no great Consequence that the Students are proved Liars which even many
Sense And before he has answered this Challenge and free'd himself from the just Censure of a Calumniator albeit he take the help of his Author Hicks he will find his Folly in accusing Men at second-hand-Proofs and upon the Testimony of their Adversaries What follows in this Paragraph and p. 60. is meer Railing and Perversions Comparing us with Papists as is before observed and indeed all of it is overturned by that one Assertion of mine that What Revelations are contrary to the Scripture are to be Rejected ¶ 5. Pag. 57. n. 10. He saith I come nearer to the Core of my Design which is to set up Enthusiasmes in affirming That the Scriptures are not the Fountain but a Declaration of the Fountain And yet the Man within three or four Lines Confesseth it himself ascribing it to my Folly to Dream any Man thinks so thus he goes backward and forward Which he illustrates by the Example of Laws But if it be so are not they to be blam'd that account them the Principal Original of all Truth and Knowledge Whether the other branch of my Deduction follow from this That they are not to be accounted the primary Rule of Faith and Manners will appear when the Arguments and Objections relating to that come particularly to be mentioned And whereas he thinks this is Absurd and not making for my Design because God himself is the Fountain and yet not the Rule he mistakes the matter as urged by me For I Argue That the Scriptures are not the Original Ground of Knowledge The Scriptures are not the Original Ground of Truth but God but GOD not simply Considered but as manifesting himself in Divine Immediate Revelations in the hearts of his Children which being the New Covenant's Dispensation as in the last Section is proved is the Primary and Adequate Rule of Christians For I was never so Absurd as to call God simply considered or the Spirit of God in Abstracto not as Imprinting Truths to be believed and obeyed in Mens hearts not contrary but according to Scripture for he cannot Contradict himself the Rule of Christians And this may serve to Answer all his Cavils upon this Theam And whereas he wondereth in the following page 58. Why any Revelations even from the Spirit should be more Primary than the Scriptures since they are Confessed to come from the Inspiration of the Spirit for why he useth the Latine word Afflatus and doth not Interpret it I know not unless to fright Ignorant Folk that they may think it 's a piece of the Witch-craft of the Quakers whom he accuseth it is strange he should have so little sense as to make it a matter of Admiration as if that were not more Primary to a Man which cometh Immediately from the Spirit of God in his heart than that which albeit it come from the Spirit yet is thro' another and so must needs be but Secondary albeit it be confessed they writ them not for themselves but for others which I deny not Of the same Nature is and the same way is answered what he saith p. 65. n. 19. to wit That I Confound the Principal Leader with the Original Rule because I say The Spirit is the Prime and Principal Leader But I deny his Consequence neither doth his Example of the Wind and Compass prove it The Spirit is the Principal Leader as Imprinting upon Man's Soul the Rules he should walk by But indeed he would prove a very Vncertain Pilot that had no Compass but only a Description of it and a Journal how other Men had steered that Course and such Pilots is he and his Brethren according to their own Confession But he thinks I drive at something more Intolerable to wit That the Revelations the Quakers pretend to or the Light within is to be preferred as the more primary and principal Rule to the Scriptures If the Quakers did affirm any Revelations they speak of as coming from that Light either were or could be Contrary to the Scriptures he would say something otherwise it will amount to no more but that Commands as they are Imprinted upon the Soul that is The Law written in the Heart by the Spirit is more primarily and principally the Rule than the same things written and received only from another As to which I will only ask him Whether those things which the Apostles received immediately from the Spirit commanding them to go here or there to preach the Gospel or the like were as to these Ends more primarily and principally the Rule to them than any thing that was Recorded in the Scripture where they could not learn their Duty as to those particulars And that I make not the Scriptures and the Spirit all one I have above shewen and therefore his Malicious Insinuations of Socinianism falls to the Ground But he thinks he has found out a mighty Dilemma in the End of this Paragraph p. 66. Or will I say The Light within the Increated Spirit that the Light within me is really the Increated Spirit This saith he must be Blasphemy with a Witness to be heard with Horror and therefore needing no other Confutation Poor Man how apt is he to make a Noise about nothing If there be any Blasphemy it is his own For what if I Should say Is not GOD a LIGHT and is not he in every Man and is not this Light within the Increated Spirit The Reader may judge how easily these windy Boasts of his are blown away How the Spirit Ruleth us and yet is not confounded with the Rule I have above shewn so that what he saith to that in the rest of this Page where he Vapours and Rails is but superfluous Next after he has a little plaid the Pedant upon the Words magis Originaliter he concludes his 22. Paragraph with asking me Why the Revelations I pretend to should be accounted more One with the Spirit himself than these Revelations by which the Scriptures were dictated But this is his Allegiance none of my Affirmation Next I never said that the Revelations by which the Scriptures were dictated were less Primary than any other whatsoever albeit no Revelation which is written and transmitted to a Man only by the Report of another can be so Primary and Immediate to him as that which he Receives in himself He Confesseth here with me p. 67. That the Spirit is the Prime and Principal Leader whether that makes for my Cause as also what follows will after in its Place be Examined ¶ 6. But because he foundeth his Assertion of my detracting from the Perfection of the Scriptures J. B's Proofs for the Scriptures to be the Primary Rule because I deny them to be the primary and original Rule for he acknowledgeth that I Confess them to be a secondary one I will Examin the Ground by which he goes about to prove it as also his Answers to my Arguments proving the Contrary I. Moses and the Prophets to be heard
them hungry and hardly bestead for many years feeling after Life and Immortality but could not find that somewhat was raised in me that Words and Reports could not feed Names and Notions I minded little but Christ to dwell in me was that and is that more and more I press after And now I must for the Truth 's sake say somewhat which I humbly mention with a fresh Remembrance of the Love L. S. his first Convincement Power and tender Mercy of God who enabled me I know the Lord will not impute it to be boasting in that season wherein the Lord Revealed the true way to Life and Immortality to me by his Inward Appearance in my Soul it was a time wherein he had mercifully turned me from all that ever his Light inwardly and Law outwardly had Condemned me for my heart also did bear witness for me that whatsoever I had known would please him I was chusing to do that not that thereby I was seeking Justification in my own Righteousness but a sure Evidence of my Interest in him who was made unto us Righteousness Justification c This blessed Glimps of my begun Freedom was given me in a seasonable time that I might thereby be enabled to speak with mine Enemy in the Gate and be encouraged to believe in the Light and wait upon the Lord to feel his vertue perfectly to Cleanse me from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit Neither was I an Vnder-valuer of the Scriptures they were my Rule then and I hope for ever my Life shall answer them I think To whom and how the Scriptures are a Rule they honour the Scriptures most who live most according to them and not they who call them the Only Rule yet do not make them their Pattern The Scriptures of Truth were precious to me and by them was I taught not to walk nor worship in the Way of the People the Spirit shewing me his mind in them and then I saw in his Light that it is not the Scriptures many Adore so much as their own Corrupt Glosses upon them Neither can my Experience go along with what thou affirmest of the hazzard of Converse with that People It is very well known to all that lived in the place where I sojourned I was none who Conversed with them I was never at one of their Meetings I never read one of their Books unless accidentally I had found them where I came and lookt to them and laid them by again So now it remains with me to tell thee what was the Occasion I joined with them The occasion of L. S. 〈◊〉 joining with the Quakers since it was none of those thou mention'st which I will very singly and can very comfortably do It was that thing ye School-men call Immediate Objective Revelation which my desire is ye were more particularly and feelingly acquainted with whereby the Lord raising in my Soul his feeling Life I could not sit down satisfied with hearing of what the Son of God had done outwardly though I believe thereby he purchased all that Grace and Mercy which is inwardly wrought in the hearts of his Children until I should be a partaker of the Vertue and Efficacy thereof whereby I might possess the Substance of things hoped for I saw an Historical Faith would neither Cleanse me nor Save me if that could save any the Devils were not without a Door of Hope I felt I needed the Revelation of the Son of God in me all that ever I read or heard without this could not give me the Saving Knowledge of God None knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son Revealeth him through the Vertue whereof mine Eyes were more and more by degrees opened For the tender-hearted Samaritan had pity upon my wounded Soul when both Priest and Levite passed by and the Watch-men rent my Vail and when there was no Eye to pity nor Hand to help me he drew near and poured in Wine and Oil as he saw needful and fulfilled the Promise in measure wherein he had long caused me to hope He that follows me The Scriptures made Comfortable by the Spirit of Truth shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life and that sweet saying whereby I am confirmed and comforted If evil Parents know how to give their Children good things how much more will the Lord give his holy Spirit to those who ask him When your Children ask bread will ye give them a stone or when they ask a fish will ye give them a serpent These precious Scriptures and many such like being opened up and applied by the Spirit of Truth powerfully and seasonably in saying Be not faithless but believing times above number before and since hath made me set to my seal to these words of Christ The words that I speak are Spirit and Life and as I walk with him and abide in him watching at the posts of Wisdom's gates travelling in Spirit more and more to bring forth Fruit unto him and walk worthy of him unto all well-pleasing daily to die unto self that Christ may live in me I becoming a passive Creature and he an active Christ in the Increase of his Government I feel the Increase of my Peace And so My Friend thou hast here by some Touches at things occasion to see how far thou art mistaken concerning us and how far contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus thou represent'st many things to the world speaking evil of things which thou knowest not and if thou dost the greater is thy sin Two Particulars indeed I cannot strain Charity so far as to believe Christ owned and the Scriptures thou thinkest Do we deny Jesus Christ and Justification through his Righteousness because we make the Sufficiency thereof of a more universal Extent than ye or because we love whole Christ so much and his seamless Coat that we will not have it divided Nay we dare not divide Justification and Sanctification neither confound them we have felt the Blood and the Spirit distinct things yet inseparable Neither canst thou think We make void the Scriptures because we honour the Spirit that was before the Scriptures were written and bear Testimony against all who deny the Spirit 's Immediate Teachings to be the Vniversal Priviledge of his People whereby ye take away the key of Knowledge and neither enter the Kingdom nor suffer others who would but monopolize Knowledge to your selves Monopolized Knowledge by Professors and intrude your Meanings upon the Consciences of men as the Rule which Meanings indeed I do not own either as the only or any Rule but as the Spirit of Christ in my Conscience answers it The Testimony of the Spirit of Truth in Thousands with me will stand and rise up against thee in the presence of the Lord when all thy Vnjust Reproaches and Malitious Accusations shall melt away before the presence of the Glory of the heart-searching God before whose
he ought not But as to these which are indeed owned by us thou wilt find them at large vindicated by Scripture and Reason either in my Apology or in this Treatise I could have made a further Remark in this his Index to shew thee how many of them he sets down as our Assertions are not nor ever were Asserted by any of us nor by him Affirmed to be so where he has them in his Book but only his own meer Conjectures and Consequences but I am loth to detain thee any longer in this by looking the Pages to which he referreth thou mayest easily observe it year 1686 THE POSSIBILITY NECESSITY Of the Inward and Immediate REVELATION OF The Spirit of God Towards the Foundation and Ground of True FAITH proved in a Letter writ in Latine to a Person of Quality in Holland and now also put into English by R. B. Advertisement to the Reader THIS serves to Inform thee That it is above seven Years since this Epistle was Printed in Latine The Person to whom it was writ the Heer Paets is a Man of no mean Accompt both in the Learned and Politick World The Conference I had with him was lately after his Return from Spain where he had been Ambassadour from the United Netherlands I discoursed with him on the same Subject last Year at London where he was one of the Commissioners for the Dutch East-Indian Company but could not find him propose any thing New nor what I could Conceive had any Weight towards a Reply What his Reasons were not to prosecute this Matter further I shall not determine But thus far he readily yielded That he had been mistaken in his Notion of the Quakers for he found they could make a Reasonable Plea for the Foundation of their Religion Vpon my reading it over again I found an Inclination in my self and was perswaded by some Friends to publish it in a Language more obvious to all my Country Men. It is a Question now frequently tossed The Ground of Faith and its Foundation Revelation What is the Ground and Foundation of Faith And when the Matter is sifted to the bottom it resolves in Tradition or Revelation For those who lay claim to the Scripture and would make it the Foundation of their Faith do resolve it but in a Tradition when the Motives of Credibility are Inquired into since the subjective Revelation which they yield comes but in the last place and is by themselves termed Medium Incognitum Assentiendi And such a Revelation those of Rome will not refuse to influence them to Assent to the determination of the Church So those Protestants who say The subjective Operation of the Spirit influences them though they know not how to believe the Scripture presented and conveyed to them by Tradition as the Dictates of GOD's Spirit and so understand them as their Preachers interpret them differ not much or at least have not Reason to differ from the Church of Rome who say The Church of Rome 's Belief concerning Scriptures The Spirit Influences them to believe the Scriptures as proposed by the Church and according as her Doctors and Councils Interpret them And neither has any better Foundation than Tradition And to speak the Truth plainly the Faith of both resolves in the Veneration they have for their Doctors but whereas the one affirms they do it by an Intire Submission they think it decent to say they judge them Infallible And certainly it is most reasonable that such as affirm the first believe the last The other because they pretend they believe the Church but conditionally have denied to her Infallibility though generally they be as Credulous as the other And I find the Doctors of their Church as angry to be Contradicted as the other that is an Ingredient goes to the Composition of all Clergy-men since it became a Trade and went to make a part of the outward Policy of the World from whence has flowed that Monster PERSECUTION In short the matter is easily driven into this narrow Compass We believe either because of an outward or inward Testimony that is because it is outwardly delivered to us or inwardly Revealed to us For my part I think the Papists do wisely in pleading for Infallibility for certainly the true Church never was nor can be without it And the Protestants do honestly in not claiming it because they are sensible they want it I should therefore desire the one to prove That they are Infallible and advise the other to believe They may and seek after it But I am sure neither the one is nor the other cannot without Immediate Divine Revelation Therefore as to deny Revelation is a bad way to prove Infallibility so to deny Infallibility is a bad way to make a Reformation Since they who do Reform had need to be certain they are doing so The asserting of Infallibility in the Church of Christ is not the Errour of the Church of Rome but the pretending to it when they have it not and placing it where they should not But since those who oppose Immediate Revelation do it on the accompt that they reckon it either Impossible or Unnecessary I hope there will be as much found in this Epistle as will evince the Contrary I have now Exceeded the Limits of an Advertisement but being known not to be a Man of Form I hope my Reader will Excuse me to whom I wish true Certainty of Faith and so bid him heartily Farewel The 9. of Octob. 1686. Robert Barclay My Friend ALBEIT I Judge I did fully Answer to all thy Arguments in that Conference we had concerning the Necessity and Possibility of Inward Immediate Revelation and of the Certainty of True Faith from thence proceeding nevertheless because after we had made an end and were parting thou would'st needs Remit to my further Consideration the strength of thy Argument as that in which thou supposedst the very Hing of the Question to lye That I might satisfy thy Desire and that the Truth might more appear I did further Consider of it but the more I weighed it I found it the Weaker And therefore that thou thy self may'st make the truer Judgment of it I thought meet to send thee my Further Considerations thereon which I had done ere now had not I both at London and elsewhere been diverted by other necessary Occasions wherein I doubt not but thou wilt perceive a full and distinct Answer to thy Argument But if thou canst not as yet yield to the Truth or thinkest mine Answer in any part to be defective so that there yet remains with thee any Matter of Doubt or Scruple I do earnestly desire thee that as I for thy sake and out of Love to the Truth have not been wanting to Examine thy Argument and to Transmit to thee my Considerations thereon so thou mayst give thy self the Trouble to Write and Send me what thou haft further to say Which my Friend N. N. who delivers
No this is Reserved a Secret to be unfolded to the Children of Obedience O Reader Great is the Mystery of Godliness And if the Apostle said it of the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 if that be a Mystery and if a Mystery it is not to be spelt out but by the Revelation of the Spirit how much more is the Work of Regeneration a Mystery that is wholly Inward and Spiritual in its Operation who is sufficient for these things what Doctor what Philosopher what sort of Divine surely none but one of God's making alone that has past through the Degrees of Regeneration which is the Experimental Operative Revelation of the Spirit of God in Man And this Revelation is a Fruit of his Omnipresence He is ever Present his Eye beholds the Evil and the Good Prov. 15.3 Psal. 33.18 1 Chr. 28.9 Psal. 7.9.139.1 9. Pro. 17.10 Ch. 20.12 Psal. 139.7 but in a particular manner is over them that fear him and trust in his Mercy Yea his Eyes are upon the Righteous he searches the Heart and Tryes the Reins and sets Man's Thoughts in Order before him This David knew when he Cried out Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence And why but because he is present as a Reprover an Helper a Comforter and Saviour Which also made the same Royal Penitent and Prophet in his Fifty first Psalm pray Cast me not away from thy Presence Psal. 51.11 12 13. and take not thy Holy Spirit from me This also made him a Preacher to others For if God would but hear his Prayer and Restore to him the Joy of his Salvation and uphold him by his Free Spirit he would teach Transgressors his Ways and Sinners should be Converted unto God Which comes up to all I have said upon this Head that the way to be a Child of God and Minister of his Truth is the Inward Experience of the Revelation of the Spirit and Power of God in the Soul without which David could not open his Mouth for God He else-where tells us how Near God is to his People The Meek will he Guide The Secrets of the Lord are with them that Fear him The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as are of a Contrite Spirit Psal. 25.9 14. Ps. 34.9 18 Ps. 34.8 Ps. 27.10 11. He calls them to Taste and See how good the Lord is to them that fear him This was Revelation with a Witness no less than Two of the Spiritual Senses of the Soul at once And though Father and Mother forsake him God would take him up whom he prayed to Teach him and Lead him in a plain Path And in the Sense of God's Inward Goodness to his Soul in this way of Revelation and Omnipresency he Triumphs thus Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me Ps. 23.4 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Indeed his whole Book of Psalms is a continued Evidence of that Revelation we plead for and he cried he waited for and he Enjoyed who grew so well Acquainted with the Presence of God that he could tell us that in his Presence was Life Ps. 16.11 and at his right hand were pleasures for ever Nor is this to be wondered at by the Professors of Christianity since it is the Covenant God made of Old To which the Prophet Jeremiah gives Testimony That he would put his Law in their Inward Parts Jer. 31.31 34. and write it in their Hearts and he would be their God and they should be his People and know him from the least to the greatest To which the Apostle refers in his Epistle to the Hebrews as fulfilled in the Christian Dispensation then on foot Heb. 8.9 10 Joel 2.28 29. Act. 2.16 18. 2 Cor. 6.16 17. So Joel of the pouring out of the Spirit on all Flesh applied by Peter on the Day of Pentecost And Paul to the Corinthians goes yet further and tells them That God in these latter Days will dwell in them and walk in them and therefore Commands them not to touch the Unclean Thing Now if all this can be without Revelation Inspiration Divine Vision and Sensation in the Soul we may Conclude we do not hear see feel taste and smell what we do hear see feel taste and smell every Day I forbear many Scriptures as I in them and they in me He that is with you shall be in you I am with you to the end of the World and that notable Saying of the Apostle When it pleased God to Reveal his son in me Gal. 1.16 I consulted not with Flesh and Blood He grounds his Call Conversion and Ministry upon it and can we now hope for a True and Saving Knowledge or Ministry without it By no means But our Author in this as much as in any of his Tracts acts the Scholar and has not Chosen this Way of Arguing having to do with a Learned Man that he Esteemed and would be Entertained in a more Abstract Way of Arguing Which made me the Freer to express my self in this manner for their sakes that easily submit their Arguments to Scripture-Authority and that Hunger and Thirst after an Inward Enjoyment of that of which so many glorious things are said by the Holy Men of God in Scripture that they may be freed of Objections and savour the Clear and Divine Truth of this Doctrine That they may know Jo. 7.37 39. the Wells are opened now as well as formerly and that Rivers of living Water flow out of the Bellies of true Believers now as well as then which Christ spake of meaning the Spirit that should flow in and out of those that believed in him And Reader if thou wilt be a Witness hereof despise not the Day of small things Embrace the Talent that is given thee Zach. 4.10 follow the Reproofs and Teachings of it Wait upon it for Power to Enable thee to Overcome what it Condemns And if thou wilt Abstract thy self from the World and the Distracting Impressions and Idea's of it into a true Silence or Inactivity and Quietness of Mind believe me thou wilt find the Heavenly Potter will Mould and Form his Clay and work in thee mightily to Will and to Do For before Life is Death and before an Active a Passive Life Remember these things and Almighty God give thee an Experimental Understanding of them to his Glory and thy Comfort here and for Ever Thus Reader am I come to the End of this Preface and thou to the Begining of this Author's Volume Read with Consideration be not hasty to Judge what at first may not please thee but be Ready to Practise what thou likest That Knowledge through Obedience may Increase and GOD the great Author of all Good through his poor Instruments may have his Glory who is Worthy for ever Amen ACCORDING to that True and
this present Dispensation and Day of God's living Visitation towards them with an Answer to some Queries Annexed 1672 105 107 V. A Catechism and Confession of Faith approved of and agreed unto by the general Assembly of the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Christ himself Chief Speaker in and among them c. 1673 109 VI. The Anarchy of the Ranters and other Libertines the Hierarchy of the Romanists and other pretended Churches equally Refused and Refuted in a twofold Apology for the Churches and People of God called Quakers c. 1674 181 VII A Vindication of the preceeding Tract viz. the Anarchy of the Ranters c. serving as an Explanatory Postscript thereof 1679 237 VIII An Apology for the True Christian Divinity as the same is held forth and Preached by the People called in scorn Quakers c 〈◊〉 to K. Charles the Second 1675 251 IX A Dispute between some Students of Divinity so called of Aberdeen and the People called Quakers held in Aberdeen Opponents or Students John Lesly Al. Sheriff P. Gellie Defendents R. Barclay and G. Keith c. 569 With the Author's Offer to Jo. Menzies Professor of Divinity so called G. Meldrum Minister at Aberdeen and W. Mitchell Catechist at Foot of Dee c. And G. K. his Postscript 1675. 589 592 X. Quakerism Confirmed A Vindication of the chief Doctrines and Principles of the Quakers from the Objections of the Students aforesaid in their Book called Quakerism Convased 1676. 597 XI Universal Love Considered and Established upon its Right Foundation c. 1676. 675 XII An Epistle of Love and Friendly Advice to the Ambassadors of the several Princes of Europe met at Nimmegen to Consult the Peace of Christendom c. 1677. 706 882 XIII R. B ' s. Apology for the True Christian Divinity Vindicated from John Brown's pretended Confutation c. with L. S's Letter to R. M. C. 1679. 717 XIV The Possibility and Necessity of the Inward and Immediate Revelation of the Spirit of God towards the Foundation and Ground of true Faith proved in a Letter writ in Latine to a Person of Quality in Holland and now also put into English 1686. 892 Whereunto is added The Author 's Testimony concerning his Father 1686. 907 Also an Alphabetical Table at the End of the Chief Matters and Things Contained in this Volume 908 Truth Clear'd of Calumnies Where-in a BOOK Intituled A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A QUAKER AND A Stable Christian Printed at ABERDEEN And upon good ground judged to be writ by WILLIAM MITCHELL a Preacher near by it or at least that he had the chief Hand in it is Examined and the Dis-ingenuity of the Author in his Representing the QVAKERS is Discovered HERE IS ALSO Their CASE truly Stated Cleared Demonstrated and the OBJECTIONS of their Opposers Answered according to Truth Scripture and Right Reason By ROBERT BARCLAY ISA. 53.1 Who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed JOHN 5.39 40. Ye search the Scriptures because in them ye think to have Eternal Life and they are they which Testify of me and ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life MATTH 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake ACTS 24.14 After the way which they call Heresy so worship I the God of my Fathers 1 THESS 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER FOR thy better understanding the Matters handled in this Treatise I thought fit to premise somewhat by way of Preface and indeed the nature of the thing calleth for it that thou mayst receive a true Information concerning the People here pleaded for and so generally opposed but more particularly in the City of Aberdeen that thou mayst understand how the Case stands betwixt them and their Adversaries in it Know then that after the Lord had raised up the Witnesses of this Day and had opened in them and unto them the Light and Glory thereof divers of them at sundry times were moved of the Lord to come into these Parts and unto the Town of Aberdeen in love to the Seed which there was to be gathered but their Acceptance for divers years together was very unsutable For the Enemy that had wrought and was exalted in the Mystery of Iniquity to darken the appearance of this day had prepared and stirred up his Ministers to resist them and their Testimony by aspersing them with many gross Calumnies Lies and Reproaches as demented distracted bodily possessed of the Devil practising Abominations under colour of being led to them by the Spirit and as to their Principles blasphemous deniers of the true Christ of Heaven Hell Angels the Resurrection of the Body and Day of Judgment Inconsistent with Magistracy nothing better then John of Leyden and his Complices This was the vulgar and familiar Language of the Pulpits which was for a time received for unquestionable Truth till about the Year 1663. some sober and serious Professors in and about the said Town did begin to weigh these things more narrowly and find the savour of that Life in the Testimony of that so much reproached People which some years before had stirred in others who were now come to a great loss and decay and this gave them occasion to examine the Principles and Ways of that People more exactly which proving upon inquiry to be far otherways then they had been represented gave them a further occasion to see the Integrity and soundness of that despised People and of their Principles on the one hand and on the other to see the prejudic'd Disingenuity and Enmity of their Accusers In these the Lord caused his Word to prosper who were few in number yet noted as to their sobriety in their former way of Profession and raised them up to own that People and their Testimony and to become One with them Now their Adversaries finding nothing in these whom the Lord had raised up in these Parts whereof to Accuse them as to their Conversation these Calumnies must be cast upon Strangers living some hundred Miles distant where these Untruths cannot be so easily disproved but as to these at home the Tune must be turned Therefore George Meldrum who hath more particularly espoused the Quarrel against Truth and its Followers than any of his Brethren begins to say That it is no wonder to see Quakers forbear gross Out-breakings for that Hereticks have formerly come as great a length but surely Abstinence from gross Out-breakings and a clean outward Conversation is no good Argument against the Quakers so now the Clamour is though they have been Professors and that noted Ones too and though they be honest in their Conversation yet they are deluded and deceived and are Deceivers And thus as of old the Truth and the Witnesses of it have always been reproached by those of the Pharisaical Spirit
he hath wholly omitted and mentioned another in the stead of it which makes nothing to the purpose I deny not but the Miracles were a greater witness than that of John but then will it therefore follow that the inward Testimony of the Father is not greater also This was the matter in question After the like manner he concludeth the Voice spoken of Joh. 5.37 Is not inward but outward citing for Proof Matth. 3.27 2 Pet. 1.17 18. the one is the Voice heard at Christ's being Baptized the other at his being Transfigured But what way he seeks to Infer from thence that the Voice of the Father here spoken of by Christ to the Jews was not inward but outward he hath left unmentioned Likewise the Exposition he adds unto this place as if Christ were only here reproving the Ignorance of the Jews whose Predecessors had heard so much of God It would be the better received that it had some other bottom than his own meer Assertion Page 14. He confesseth That where we are desired to try the Spirits there is no mention of trying them by the Scripture And to my Question asking If there be any surer way of trying of Spirits and by the Spirit of God he returneth no Reply but another Question Viz. Whether there be any surer way than that for which the Bereans were commended I Answer Yes by the Spirit Ananias and Sapphira were discerned by the Spirit Peter could never have discerned Ananias and Sapphira by the Scripture and yet did it by the Spirit To say as he does That this was a matter of Fact and not of Doctrine and that it was extraordinary is a meer silly shift for it was only by the Spirit of God which is so ordinary to Christians that none can be truly one without it Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And if this Spirit can discern the secret hypocrisy of the Heart in matters of Fact far more the Errors and Mistake of the Understanding in matters of Judgment which all grant to be more Obvious And though I never averr'd that John excluded all external Rules by pointing to the Anointing so his Assertion to say That the Anointing directeth us to the Law and to the Testimony as supposing it to be outward is but to beg the thing in question â—lready refuted Page 43. As he affirmeth That man 's being deluded proceeds not from the Scripture but their own blindness so he acknowledges That falling in Delusion proceeds not from the Spirit but from the tricks and deceits of Satan and thereby he hath clearly confessed what is asserted by me page 30. and not answered And whereas he adds That leaning to the Spirit and forsaking the Scripture provokes God to give men up to strong Delusions which he Illustrateth by the Example of one J. Gilpin once a Quaker who by harkening to a voice within was put upon Mischievous and Detestable Practices I Answer He hath not proved that we forsake the Scripture nor will one man's being deceived by harkening to a voice within prove the Spirit not to be a certain Rule more than as himself acknowledges The Pharisees having the Scripture in such high esteem and accounting them their Rule will prove their Delusion proceeded from them That Story of Gilpin's was largely answered about five years ago by E. B. and C. A. who have laid open his Deceit and Wickedness J. Gilpin's Story Answer'd neither can any of these Ridiculous Pranks granting the matter to be true which he pretended to do by a voice within while appearing to be among us prove the Insufficiency of that Light we Preach or the hazzard of following it more than his beastly Drunkenness and open Prophanity naturally known in the Garrison of Carlisle where he was a Souldier proves he was led by the Scripture which it is like he then pretended was his Rule unto these wicked practices which were the best fruits of that Repentance W.M. seems so much to congratulate in him Such filthy Dross whom God purgeth out from among us are fittest persons to be Proselited by him and his Brethren and truly we are well rid of them and can heartily spare such unto them They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 Joh. 2.16 Page 43. He says That though the Scripture be sufficient for discovering of Delusions and ending of Differences in genere Objecti yet the Spirit is necessary in genere Causae Effectivae Now this necessity of the Spirit he saith himself is That we may be right Discerners for removing our natural depravedness and now granting the Scripture were sufficient in this manner will it therefore follow that the Spirit within is not the Rule which was the thing to prove in this Section In so far as he acknowledges this necessity of the Spirit 's work he hath yielded to the Truth yet it is observable how in contradiction to the Truth he overturns it all again Pag. 47 48. Where he expresly pleads For preaching upon and using the Scriptures without the joint Concurrence of the Spirit alledging I have no ground to say they ought not so to do Then consider First he said The Spirit was necessary to remove the depravedness of our Nature that we might be discerners but now he says We ought to use the Scripture without the Spirit though our Nature be depraved yea though we be in no capacity to make a right discerning And here he hath notably manifested his Affinity with the Jesuits Jesuits c. Doctrine of the Scriptures Arminians Socinians Pelagians and Semipelagians in saying How many cold Hearts have been Rubbed and Chafed unto spiritual Heat by reading and talking of the Scripture For is not this to set Nature a work and to grant a Capacity in man to beget Spiritual heat without the joint Concurrence of the Spirit And this is altogether agreeable to that known Maxim of the Semipelagians Facienti quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam i. e. God will not deny him Grace that doth what in him lies And hereby the Intelligent Reader may perceive how much nearer a kin our Adversaries are to these Errors than we notwithstanding they so falsly and frequently brand us with them in their Pulpits and elsewhere as also that it is meerly constraint when they are hardly put to it that they now and then and that in Contradiction to themselves let a word or two drop concerning a necessary Work of the Spirit Sect. 4. Page 45. He alledgeth There is no convincing People by this Rule of the Spirit within because each way may pretend to the guidance of his Spirit and so both remain obstinate adding That according to them the Scripture is the Rule which lieth patent to both
parties and though it do not actually convince the stubborn yet there is enough in it to satisfy any Inquisitive Adversary Answ. And is not that Spirit sufficient to satisfie any Inquisitive Adversary that 's willing to be undeceived which searcheth all things even the deep things of God There is no inconvenience can be pressed from making the Spirit a Rule or Guide but the same recurs by making the Scripture one Men of different Judgments claiming the Scriptures without the Spirit falsly For is it not laid claim unto by Persons quite different in Judgment yea both some times to one verse and will have it speak opposite to the other If it be said That Scripture being compared explains it self Has not such as have so compared been found incessantly to jangle even in their comparing of it And this W. M. cannot deny but this hath been because one or both Parties have been estranged from the true Testimony of the Spirit What is then the Vltimate Recourse that can only resolve all Doubts even concerning the meaning of the Scripture but the certain Testimony of the Spirit For if the Scriptures be only certain because they came from the Spirit of God then the Testimony of the Spirit must be more certain than they The certainty of the Testimony of the Spirit according to the received Maxim of the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale id ipsum magis est tale That which makes a thing certain must be more certain than it And this arguing against the Certainty of the Spirit checks not only at the certainty of the Saints Faith now from the Light within and the assurance of Knowledge but at the Faith and Knowledge which all the Saints and holy Prophets had not only before the Scripture was writ but even in their writing of them We are in no greater hazzard to be deceived now than they were then therefore the Apostle notably reproves such Pratlers against this Certainty 1 Joh. 4.6 We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error Page 48. He asks Why I complain for his improving Isai. 59.21 but mentions not one word of that part of page 32. of mine wherein I shew him how this Scripture made against him as holding forth God's putting words in mens mouths which they deny as a thing ceased This the Reader by looking to the place may observe that the Lord there Promises his Spirit and Word shall continue to direct his People is not denied In his Dialogue page 16. he says That the Scriptures cannot be said to be a dead Letter because they are called killing and whereas I told him page 31. of my Answer That as dead things do kill if fed upon so if men feed upon the Letter of the Scripture without the Spirit which is the Life How the Letter killeth they will kill He shifts a Reply to this telling me The Scripture is called killing as being the Ministration of the Law which threatens Death against the sinner What then doth it therefore follow that they are not dead and deadly to such as feed upon them without the Spirit which giveth Life It is an apparent Malitious Passion to add That the drinking in of the Lifeless Poisonous Opinions of the Quakers will prove hurtful to the Soul seeing he bringeth not the least shadow of proof for it I observe that he â—ntitleth this Section The Quakers way Ineffectual to Convince an Opposer And yet how is it that he and his Brethren are so afraid that it spread and are daily so much crying out and clamouring against it as dangerous Priests call for the Magistrates Sword to defend their Doctrine against the Quakers intreating and beseeching People to beware of us and comparing our Words and Writings to Poison as that which is so ready to gain ground I say how comes it that they are so pressing in their importunate and often reiterate Pulpit-Exhortations to the Magistrates to Suppress Imprison us and break up our Meetings as such against whom their Labours will prove altogether fruitless and ineffectual if not assisted by the external Sword Sect. 5. Page 49. He undertakes to compare us with Papists as having learned our Language about Scripture from them But herein he hath notably manifested both his Self-contradiction and Ignorance He alledgeth We agree with Papists in that we say If the delusion be strong in the Heart it will twine the Scriptures to make them seem for it and in that we say They are dead and occasion Sects and Janglings whereunto we always add because the Spirit is wanting And yet in this sense he fully grants it himself page 43. saying It is granted that deluded Souls do wrest the Scriptures c. He concludes us one with Papists for saying There was a Rule before the Scriptures And yet grants it himself page 46. in confessing The Scripture was not a Rule to such Saints as lived The Saints had a Rule before the Scriptures was writ before it was writ Such then had some Rule before the Scriptures Thus far as to his Self-contradictions As to his Ignorance Can there be any thing more sottish to compare us with Papists for our preferring and calling the Light within as that which only makes the outward dispensation of the Gospel profitable and for our saying that the Spirit is both our Teacher and our Copy according to which if we walk we may profit without going forth for a Copy seeing it is known none to be more Enemies to these Doctrines than Papists And if we deny the Scripture to be the principal and compleat Rule of Faith that proves us no ways to agree with Papists except we all agreed with them concerning what is the Rule of Faith wherein we differ wider from Papists than our Opposers Therefore that sentence of Tertullian viz. That Christ is always Crucified betwixt two Thieves is impertinently objected by W M. against us and if the Lord will it may in due time be made appear to publick view that it far better suits our Adversaries He looks upon it as a great Absurdity page 51. To deny the more sure Word of Prophecy The more sure Word of Prophecy is not the Scripture but the Spirit mentioned 2 Pet. 1.19 to be the Scripture alledging I should have confuted the Apostle who expounds it so vers 20. But before he had been so peremptory in his Conclusion he should have first proved that the Apostle mentions these words by way of Exposition to the former Seeing he thinks himself so secure here why did he omit to answer that part of page 31. of mine where I told him That seeing the Scriptures have all their Sureness from the Spirit they cannot be more sure than it For to say that Scripture is more sure as to us being a standing Record than a Transient Voice from Heaven which
the true Faith that they might learn not to Blaspheme In short if we must as our Opposers herein acknowledge preserve and keep those that are come to own the Truth by the same means they were gathered and brought into it we must not cease to be plain with them and tell them when they are wrong and by sound Doctrine both Exhort and Convince Gainsayers If the Apostles of Christ of old and the Preachers of the Everlasting Gospel in this day had told all People however wrong they found them in their Faith and Principles Our Charity and Love is such We dare not judge you A wrong Charity and false Love to Cherish in Error is nor separate from you but let us all live in Love together and every one injoy his own Opinion and all will be well how should the Nations have been or what way now can they be brought to Truth and Righteousness Would not the Devil love this Doctrine well by which Darkness and Ignorance Error and Confusion might still continue in the Earth unreproved and uncondemned If it was needful then for the Apostles of Christ in the days of old to Reprove without sparing to tell the High-Priests and great Professors among the Jews That they were stubborn and stiff-necked and always resisted the Holy Ghost without being guilty of Imposition and Oppression or want of true Love and Charity and also for those Messengers the Lord raised up in this day to Reprove and Cry out against the Hireling Priests and to tell the World openly both Professors and Profane That they were in Darkness and Ignorance out of the Truth Strangers and Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel if God has gathered a People by this means into the Belief of one and the same Truth must not they they turn and depart from it be Admonished Reproved and Condemned yea rather than those that are not yet come to the Truth because they Crucifie afresh unto themselves the Lord of Glory and put him to open Shame It seems the Apostle judged it very needful they should be so dealt with Tit. 1.10 when he says There are many unruly and vain Talkers and Deceivers especially they of the Circumcision WHOSE MOVTHS MVST BE STOPPED c. Were such a Principle to be received or believed That in the Church of Christ no man should be Separated from no man Condemned or Excluded the Fellowship and Communion of the Body for his Judgment or Opinion in Matter of Faith The Inlet to all manner of Abominations then what Blasphemies so horrid what Heresies so damnable what Doctrines of Devils but might harbour it self in the Church of Christ What need then of sound Doctrine if no Doctrine make unsound what need of Convincing and Exhorting Gainsayers if to Gainsay be no Crime where should the Vnity of the Faith be Were not this an Inlet to all manner of Abominations and to make void the whole tendency of Christ and his Apostles Doctrine and render the Gospel of none Effect and give a Liberty to the unconstant and giddy Will of Man to innovate alter and overturn it at his Pleasure So that from all that is above-mentioned we do safely Conclude That where a People are gathered together into the Belief of the Principles and Doctrines of the Gospel of Christ if any of that People shall go from their Principles and assert things false and contrary to what they have already received such as stand and abide firm in the Faith have Power by the Spirit of God after they have used Christian Endeavours to Convince and Reclaim them upon their Obstinacy to Separate from such and to Exclude them from their spiritual Fellowship and Communion for otherways if this be denied farewel to all Christianity or to the maintaining of any sound Doctrine in the Church of Christ. But secondly Taking it for granted that the Church of Christ or Assembly of Believers may in some Cases that are Matter of Conscience Quest. II pronounce a positive Sentence and Judgment without hazzard of Imposition upon the Members it comes to be inquired In what Cases and how far this Power reacheth I answer First As that which is most clear and undeniable In the fundamental Principles and Doctrines of Faith Answer in Case any should offer to teach otherways as is above declared and proved But some may perhaps acknowledge that indeed if any should Contradict the known and owned Principles of Truth and teach otherways it were fit to cast out and exclude such but what judgest thou as to lesser matters as in Principles of less Consequence or in outward Ceremonies or Gestures whether it be fit to press Vniformity in these things Consideration For Answer to this it is fit to Consider First The Nature of things themselves Secondly The Spirit and Ground they proceed from And Thirdly The Consequence and Tendency of them But before I proceed upon these I affirm and that according to Truth That as the Church and Assembly of God's People may and hath Power to Decide by the Spirit of God in Matters fundamental and weighty without which no Decision nor Decree in whatever Matters is available so the same Church and Assembly also in other Matters of less Moment The Decision of Matters of less Moment in the Church Obligatory as to themselves yet being needful and expedient with a Respect to the Circumstance of Time Place and other things that may fall in may and hath Power by the same Spirit and not otherways being acted moved and assisted and led by it thereto to pronounce a positive Judgment which no doubt will be found Obligatory upon all such who have a Sense and Feeling of the Mind of the Spirit though rejected by such as are not watchful and so are out of the Feeling and Vnity of the Life And this is that which none that own Immediate Revelation or a being inwardly led by the Spirit to be now a thing expected or dispensed to the Saints can without contradicting their own Principle deny far less such with whom I have to do in this Matter who claiming this Priviledge to Particulars saying That they being moved to do such and such things though contrary to the Mind and Sense of their Brethren are not to be judged for it adding Why may it not be so that God hath moved them to it Now if this be a sufficient Reason for them to suppose as to one or two I may without absurdity suppose it as well to the whole Body And therefore as to the first to wit Cons. 1 The Nature of the things themselves If it be such a thing the doing or not doing whereof that is either any Act or the Forbearance of any may bring a real Reproach or Ground of Accusation against the Truth professed and owned and in and through which there may a visible Schism and Dissension arise in the Church Against the Reproach of Truth by which Truth 's Enemies may be
preaching to the Gentiles and what Weight his and James's Words had in the Contest about Circumcision towards the bringing the Matter to a Conclusion Acts 15. Yet that we may see Infallibility was not inseparably annexed to him he was found blamable in a certain Matter Gal. 2.11 notwithstanding his Sentence was positively received in many particulars So also the Apostle Paul argues from his Gathering of the Churches of Corinth and Galatia that they ought to be Followers of him and positively Concludes in divers Things and upon this Supposition exhorts the Churches both he and Peter in many Passages heretofore mentioned which I will not to avoid Repetition again rehearse To obey the Elders that watch for them to hold such in Reputation and to submit themselves to them that have addicted themselves to the Ministry of the Saints 1 Cor. 16.15 16. Also we see how the Lord makes use of John his beloved Disciple to Inform and Reprove the seven Churches of Asia and no doubt John the Rest by the usual Computation being at that Time all Removed was then the most-noted and famous Elder alive And indeed I mind not where under the Gospel Christ hath used any other Method but that he always in Revealing his Will hath made use of such as he himself had before appointed Elders and Officers in his Church Though it be far from us to limit the Lord so as to Exclude any from this Priviledge nor yet on the other hand will the Possibility hereof be a sufficient Warrant to allow every obscure Member to stand up and offer to Rule Judge and Condemn the whole Body nor yet is it without Cause that such an one's Message is Jealoused and called in Question unless it have very great Evidence and be bottomed upon some very weighty and solid Cause and Foundation And God doth so furnish those whom he raises up in a singular Manner of which as I said I mind no Instance in the New Testament and in the Old we see though it was strange that little David should Oppose himself to the great Goliah yet he had before that killed both the Lion and the Bear which was no less improbable and which of all is most observable was before that Time by the Appointment of God and the Hand of the Prophet Anointed King of Israel Compare the 16th and 17th Chap. of the 1 st of Samuel Now as to the Third That any particular Persons de facto or effectually Assert 3 giving out a positive Judgment Proved is no Incroaching nor Imposing upon their Brethren's Conscience is necessarily included in what is said before upon which for further Probation there will only need this short Reflection That for any Member or Members in Obedience to the Lord to give forth a positive Judgment in the Church of Christ is their proper Place and Office they being called to it and so for them to exercise that Place in the Body which the Head moves them to is not to Vsurp Authority over their Fellow-Members As on the other Hand to submit and obey it being the Place of some so to do is not a Renouncing a being led by the Spirit seeing the Spirit leads them so to do And not to Obey in Case the Judgment be according to Truth and the Spirit lead to it is no doubt both Offensive and Sinfull And that all this may be supposed in the Church of Christ without Absurdity and so establish the above-mentioned Propositions will appear by a short Review of the former Passages If that Peter and James their giving a positive Judgment in the Case of Difference in divers particulars did not infer them to be Imposers so neither will any so doing now being led to it by the same Authority Every one may easily make the Application And on the Contrary if for any to have stood up and Resisted their Judgment pretending an Vnclearness or so and thereby held up the Difference after their Sentence breaking the Peace and Vnity of the Church Things being concluded with an It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us I say if such would have given just Cause of Offence Acts 15.21 and have been Cut off as Despisers of Dignities of old will not the like Case now occurring hold the same Conclusion Now whether those Propositions do not hold upon the Principles before laid down and proved I leave to every Judicious and Impartial Reader to judge Moreover we see how positive the Apostle Paul is in many particulars throughout all his Epistles insomuch as he saith 2 Thess. ult v. 14. If any Man obey not our Word by this Epistle note that Man and have no Company with him that he may be ashamed And in many more Places before-mentioned where he Commands them both to Obey him and several others Submission and Obedience to the Judgment of Truth the Spirit of God leads into who were Appointed no doubt by the Spirit of God to be Rulers among them and yet who will say that either the Apostle did more than he ought in Commanding or they less than they were obliged to in Submitting and yet neither were to do any thing Contrary or more than the Spirit of God in themselves led them to or allowed them in And if the Church of God bear any Parity or Proportion now in these Days with what it did of Old as I know no Reason why it should not the same things may now be supposed to take Effect that did then and also be lawfully done upon the like Occasion proceeding from the same Spirit and established upon the same Basis and Foundation And thus much as to that Part to shew In whom the Power of Decision is Which being seriously and impartially considered is sufficient to clear us from the Tyranny either of Popery or any other of that Nature with those that are not either wilfully Blind or very Ignorant of Popish Principles as the Judicious Reader may observe But seeing To manifest that Difference was one of those things propsoed to be Considered of I shall now come to say something of it in its proper Place Section VIII How this Government altogether differeth from the Oppressing and Persecuting Principality of the Church of Rome and other Anti-Christian Assemblies Head III. WHatever Way we understand the Popish Principles in this Matter Prop. 3 whether of those that are Most devoted to the See of Rome as the King of Spain's Dominions Proved and the Princes of Italy the Jesuites and Generality of all those called Religious Orders who hold that Papa in Cathedrâ non potest errare licet absque Concilio that is That the Pope in his Chair cannot Err though without a Council or of those that are Less devoted who plead this Infallibility in the Pope and Council lawfully Convened who yet by the more zealous are reckoned Petty Schismaticks I say whatever Way we take them all those that do profess themselves Members of the Romish Church Principles
of the Romish Church and are so far such as to understand their own Principles do unquestionably acknowledge First That no General Council can be lawfully called without the Bishop of Rome as Christ's Vicar and Peter 's Successor call it Secondly That either he himself or some for him as his Legates must be there present and always preceed Thirdly That the Members having Vote are made up of Bishops or Presbyters or Commissioners from the several Orders being of the Clergy Fourthly That what is Concluded on by Plurality of Votes and Agreed to by the Pope and his Legates must necessarily be supposed to be the Judgment of the Infallible Spirit Fifthly That all the Members of the Church are bound Implicitly to Receive and Believe it because it proceeds from a Council to be accounted Lawful in the Respects above-mentioned without Regard to the Intrinsick or Real Truths of the Things prescribed or bringing them in any Respect to the Test or Examination of the Spirit of God in themselves or the Scriptures Testimony or their Agreement or Disagreement with Truths formerly believed and received for so much as to Prove or Try them by Way of Doubt they reckon a Breach of the first Command as on the other Hand a matter of Merit Implicitly to receive and believe them however inconsistent with the Testimony of the Spirit in ones own Heart Scripture Truth and Reason Sixthly That no Man as a Member of the Church of Christ in that simple Capacity unless a Clergy-man or the Ambassadour of some King c. can be admitted to Sit Vote or give his Judgment Seventhly That it is in no Respect to be supposed that any Members especially Laicks whether in a particular City Country or Nation may meet concerning any Things relating to the Faith and Worship of the Church and give by the Spirit of God any Judgment but that all such Meetings are to be accounted Schismatical and Unlawful And Lastly That the Promise of Infallibility and the Gates of Hell not prevailing is necessarily annexed to the Pope and Council called and authorized in the Manner above-expressed Now if to deny every one of these Propositions wherein all Understanding Men know the Errors and Abuses of the Romish Church consist be to be Popish then indeed may we be supposed to be one with the Papists in this Matter but no otherwise So that the very mentioning of these things is sufficient to shew the Difference betwixt us and them But if any will needs plead our Agreement with them thus The Papists affirm an Infallibility of Judgment in the Church of Christ Objection and so do you therefore you are one with Papists I Answer That proves no more our Oneness in this Matter than if Answ. 1 it should be said The Papists plead that God ought to be Worshipped and so do you Therefore ye Agree Notwithstanding of the Vast Differences as to that which is known not only betwixt us and them but betwixt them and all Protestants who Agree more with them in the matter of Worship than we do Next again Infallibility in the Church according as we hold it Answ. 2 and I have above Defined it no man upon our Supposition or Hypothesis can deny it For since we first Assert as a Principle That no Gathering no Church nor Assembly of People The true Church is Led by the Infallible Spirit however True their Principles or Exact their Form be are to be accounted the Church of Christ except the Infallible Spirit lead and guide what can be the Hazzard to say that in such a Church there is still an Infallible Judgment Indeed this is so far from Popery that it resolves in a Proposition quite Contradictory to them The Romanists say That the Infallible Spirit always accompanies the Outward Visible Professors and is annexed to the External Succession of Bishops and Pastors though ever so Vitious as to their Lives yea though perfect * For some Popes have been known to deny or at least to doubt the Truth of the Scriptures as to the History of Christ and to call in question the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection Atheists and Infidels in their private Judgments yet if outwardly professing the Catholick Faith and Subjection to the Church they must be partakers of the Infallible Spirit We say the quite Contrary That where there is either Vitiousness of Persons or Vnsoundness of Judgment in the particular Members these cannot by Virtue of any outward Call or Succession they have or any Profession they make or Authority they may pretend to so much as claim an Interest in any part of the Church of Christ or the Infallible Spirit So then if we admit none to be Members of the Church but such as are led and guided by the Spirit The Infallible Judgment where it is it will be no Popery in the Second Place to affirm That were there is a Company of People so gathered who are not any longer to retain justly the Name of the Church of Christ than they are led and guided by his Spirit or a Church so qualified and designed there is still an Infallible Judgment So that this Infallibility is not annexed to the Persons to the Succession to the bare Visible Profession though true which the Church of Rome is denied to be or to any Society because of its Profession but singly and alone to the True Real and Effectual Work of Sanctification and Regeneration the New Creature brought forth in the Heart And this is the Spiritual Man which the Apostle saith Judgeth all Things 1 Cor. 2.15 To affirm there is an Infallibility here cannot well be Condemned by any or whoso doth must needs say the Spirit of God is fallible For we place the Infallibility in the Spirit and in the Power not in the Persons And so these are the Degrees we Ascend by Because such and such Men are led by the Spirit of God and are obedient to the Grace in their Hearts therefore are they Members and Officers in the Church of Christ. And because they are Members of the Church of Christ in the Respect before declared therefore there is an Infallible Judgment among them We do not say Because such men profess the Christian Faith and have received an outward Ordination and so are by a lawful Succession formally established Officers in the Church when they Meet together according to certain Rules above-declared there is an Infallibility annexed to their Conclusions and they cannot but Decide what is Right or rather what they Decide must needs be supposed to be Right Who seeth not here a vast Disproportion Now we differ herein fundamentally that is as to the very Basis and Foundation upon which we build and that not only from the Church of Rome but also from the Generality of Protestants in this matter All Protestants do acknowledge a General Council to be useful The Constitution of a Synod or General Council among yea necessary
in the Case of Division or Debate let us consider the Basis upon which they proceed and the Stress they lay upon it First All jointly both the Prelatical and Presbyterial will have this Synod or Council to Consist of a Convocation of the Clergy 1. Protestants Chosen and sent from the Particular Congregations with some few Laick Elders called together by the Civil Magistrate in case he be one in Judgment with them They decide by Plurality of Votes And though they assume not an Absolute Infallibility in that they reckon it possible for them to Err yet do they reckon their Decisions Obligatory upon their supposed Consonancy to the Scripture and however do Affirm that the Civil Magistrate hath Power to Constrain all to Submit and Obey or else to punish them either by Death Banishment Imprisonment Confiscation of Goods or some other Corporal Pain even though such be perswaded and offer to make appear that the Decisions they Refuse are Contrary to the Scriptures And Lastly Among the Papists None 2. Papists though otherwise Confessed to be a Member of the Church both Knowing and Sober except Commissionate in some of the Respects above-declared can be Admitted to Sit Vote and give his Judgment Any that will be at the Pains to apply this to the Foundation I before laid of the Infallibility of Judgment in that we may account only to be truly called the Church of Christ 3. We Differ from them Both. will easily fee the great Difference betwixt us which I shall sum up in these particulars First Do we Exclude any Member of the Church of Christ that may be truly accounted so to tell his Judgment Secondly Do we say man ought to be persecuted in his Outwards for his Dis-assent in Spirituals Thirdly Do we plead that Decision is to pass Conclusive because of the plurality of Votes And much more which the Reader may observe from what is already mentioned which that it may be all more Obvious at One View will appear somewhat clearly by this following Figure which will give the Reader an Opportunity to Recollect what lay heretofore more scattered I. The ROMANISTS say 1. That there is an Infallibility in the Church which Infallibility is when the Pope calls a General Council of Bishops c. that whatsoever they Conclude and Agree upon must needs be the Infallible Judgment of the Spirit of God because of the Promise of Christ That he would never suffer the Gates of Hell to prevail against his Church 2. And that the Pope and Council made up of certain of the Clergy having one Outward Succession and being lawfully Ordained according to the Canons are that Church to which that Promise is made however wicked or depraved without any necessary Respect to the Inward Holiness or Regeneration of the Persons if so be they be Outwardly Called Ordained and Invested in such a Place and Capacity as gives them an Authority to be Members of such an Assembly 3. What they thus Decide as they judge according to the Scripture ought to be received with Reverence and Submitted to and those that do not to be punished by the Civil Magistrate by Death Banishment or Imprisonment though they declare and be ready to evidence that it is because they are not Agreeable to the Scripture they refuse such Decrees II. The Generality of PROTESTANTS say 1. That though all Synods and Councils may Err yet such Assemblies are needful for the Edification of the Church That such do Consist of a Convocation of the Clergy West Conf. of Faith Chap. with some few Laicks particularly Chosen That all others except those so Elected have not any Right to Vote or give Judgment 2. That such an Assembly so Constitute may Ministerially determine Controversies of Faith Cases of Conscience Matters of Worship and authoritatively determine the same The Decision is to be by Plurality of Votes praved they be yet this Infallible Judgment follows them as being necessarily annexed to their Office in which the Authority still stands in its full Strength and Vigour 3. So that there lies an Obligation upon the whole Body of the Church to Obey their Decrees And such as do not are not only certainly damned for their Disobedience but that it is the Duty of the Civil Magistrate to punish such by Death Banishment or Imprisonment c. in Case they Refuse III. The QUAKERS say The Sanctified Members 1. That whereas none truly ought nor can be accounted the Church of Christ but such as are in a measure Sanctified or Sanctifying by the Grace of God and led by his Spirit nor yet any made Officers in the Church but by the Grace of God and Inward Revelation of his Spirit not by Outward Ordination or Succession from which none is to be Excluded if so Called whether Married or a Tradesman or a Servant 2. If so be in such a Church there should arise any Difference there will be an Infallible Judgment from the Spirit of God Their Infallible Judgment which may be in a General Assembly yet not limited to it as excluding others And may prove the Judgment of the Plurality yet not to be decided thereby as if the Infallibility were placed there excluding the fewer In which Meeting or Assembly upon such an Account there is no Limitation to be of Persons particularly Chosen but that all that in a true Sense may be reckoned of the Church as being Sober and Weighty may be present and give their Judgment To be Submitted unto 3. And that the Infallible Judgment of Truth which cannot be wanting in such a Church whether it be given through one or more ought to be Submitted to not because such Persons give it but because the Spirit leads so to do which every one coming to in themselves will willingly and naturally Assent to And if any through Disobedience or Vnclearness do not all that the Church ought to do She is to deny them her spiritual Fellowship in case the nature of their Disobedience be of that Consequence as may deserve such a Censure But by no means for Matter of Conscience to Molest Trouble or Persecute any in their Outwards Who will be at the Pains to Compare these Three seriously together I am hopeful will need no further Argument to prove the Difference But if any will further Object What if it fall out de facto year 1679 that the Teachers Elders or Plurality do Decide and from thence will say This is like the Church of Rome and other false Churches It will be hard to prove that to be an Infallible Mark of a Wrong Judgment as we have not said it is of a Right And indeed Objection Answ. to Conclude it were so would necessarily Condemn the Church in the Apostles days where we see the Teachers and Elders and so far as we can observe the greater Number did agree to the Decision Acts 1.15 For if the thing be Right and according to Truth it
is so much the better that the Elders and greater Number do agree to it and if Wrong their Affirming of it will not make it Right And truly a Gathering where the Elders and greater Number are always or most frequently Wrong and the Younger and lesser Number Right is such as we cannot suppose the True Church of Christ to be And if any will plead that there is now no Infallible Judgment to be expected from the Spirit of God in the Church it no doubt will leave the Dissenters as much in the Mist and at as great a loss as those they Dissent from both being no better than blind men hitting at random which will turn Christianity into Scepticism And though we may acknowledge that this Vncertainty prevails in the generality of those called Churches yet we do firmly believe for the Reasons above declared and many more that might be given That the True Church of Christ has a more solid stable Foundation and being never separated from Christ her Head walks in a more certain steady and unerring Path. The CONCLUSION THE Substance then of what is Asserted and Proved in this Treatise resolves in these following Particulars A Summary Recollection of the whole First That in the Church of Christ when it Consists of a visible People for I speak not here of the Church in the dark Night of Apostacy that consisted not of any Society visibly united gathered into the Belief of certain Principles and united in the joint Performance of the Worship of God as Meeting together praying preaching c. there is and still must be a Certain Order and Government Secondly That this Government as to the Outward Form of it Consists of Certain Meetings Appointed principally for that End yet not so as to exclude Acts of Worship if the Spirit move thereunto Thirdly The Object of this Government is twofold Outwards and Inwards The Outwards relate mainly to the Care of the Poor of Widows and Fatherless where may be also included Marriages and the Removing of all Scandals in things undeniably wrong The Inwards respect an Apostacy either in Principles or Practices that have a Pretence of Conscience and that either in Denying some Truths already Received and Believed or Asserting New Doctrines that ought not to be Received Which again to subdivide may either be in Things Fundamental 1674 and of great moment or in things of less Weight in themselves yet proceeding from a Wrong Spirit and which in the natural and certain Consequence of them tend to make Schisms Divisions Animosities and in sum to break that Bond of Love and Vnity that is so needful to be upheld and established in the Church of Christ. And here come also under this Consideration all Emulations Strifes Backbitings and evil Surmisings Fourthly That in the True Church of Christ according to the Definition above given of it there will in such Cases of Differences and Controversies still be an Infallible Judgment from the Spirit of God either in one or other few or more Fifthly That this Infallible Judgment is only and unalterably annexed and seated in the Spirit and Power of God not to any particular Person or Persons Meeting or Assembly by vertue of any setled Ordination Office Place or Station that such may have or have had in the Church no Man Men nor Meeting standing or being Invested in any Authority in the Church of Christ upon other Terms than so long as he or they abide in the living Sense and Vnity of the Life in their own particulars which whosoever one or more inwardly departs from ipso facto loses all Authority Office or certain Discerning he or they formerly have had though retaining the true Principles and sound Form and may be not fall'n into any gross Practices as may declare them generally to be thus withered and decayed Sixthly That Jesus Christ under the Gospel hath ordinarily Revealed his Will in such Cases through the Elders and Ministers of the Church or a General Meeting whose Testimony is neither to be despised or rejected without good Cause Neither is their taking upon them Really to Decide any just Ground to charge them with Imposition or to quarrel their Judgment unless it can be proved that they are decayed and have lost their Discerning as above Seventhly That to Submit and Obey in such Cases is no detracting from the Common Priviledge of Christians to be Inwardly led by the Spirit seeing the Spirit has led some heretofore so to do and yet may And that every Pretence of Vnclearness is not a Sufficient Excuse for Disobedience seeing that may proceed from Obstinacy or a Mind prepossessed with Prejudice Yet say I not any ought to do it before they be Clear and who are every Right will not want Clearness in what They ought to do And Lastly That these Principles are no ways tainted with Imposition or contrary to true Liberty of Conscience And that they fundamentally differ from the Vsurpations both of Popery Prelacy and Presbytery or any other of that Nature Robert Barclay Robert Barclay HIS VINDICATION year 1679 WHEREIN The Scruples and Mistakes some have had touching his Book called The Anarchy of the Ranters are Cleared and the Ground upon which W. R's Papers against it are Built Removed the Substance of the Papers being briefly Answered by way of EPISTLE to FRIENDS who therein have or may be Concern'd Which may serve as an EXPLANATORY P0ST-SCRIPT to Robert Barclay's Book of GOVERNMENT Aberdeen-Prison the Sixth of the First Month 1679. Dear Friends and Brethren UNTO all my Dear Friends and Brethren unto whose Hands this Paper may come or who may be any ways more particularly Concerned in the Contents hereof The Salutation of my unfeigned Love in that Vnchangable Truth whereunto it hath pleased the Lord to Call me according to his great Mercy so as to be a Partaker in some measure of the Peace and Glory which in this Day is Revealed wherewith my heart hath been often filled as I have Waited in Faithfulness according to the Dispensation of Light Manifested in me and to me And since it hath pleased God to make me a Living Witness of the pretious Truth and to Commit unto me any Share of the Ministry thereof my Conscience bears me Witness in the sight of God that I have Laboured according to my Knowledge to follow Love and Peace with all my Brethren R. B's Ministry and to do those things which might tend to advance strengthen and confirm Vnity and Brotherly Love as also to Avoid what had a tendency to beget Strife Jealousies or Evil Surmises Likewise I have studied as well in my Publick Testimony His Writings as in my Writings to beware of any thing that to my Understanding might minister just Occasion of Stumbling or Offcence to the least of my Brethren or the youngest and weakest Babe in the Truth as such as are Conversant with me iâ— my own Country as well as those elsewhere where I have
Inspires power against Death and shews himself unto every one 6. Gregory the Great upon these words He shall teach you all things saith That unless the same Spirit sit upon the heart of the Hearer Greg. Mag. Hom. 30. upon the Gospel in vain is the Discourse of the Doctor Let no man then ascribe unto the man that teacheth what he understands from the mouth of him that speaketh for unless he that teacheth be within the Tongue of the Doctor that 's without laboureth in vain 7. Cyrillus Alexandrinus plainly Affirmeth That men know Cyril Alex. In Thesauro Lib. 13. Cap. 3 that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost no otherwise than they who taste Honey know that it is sweet even by its proper Quality 8. Therefore saith Bernard we daily exhort you Brethren by speech Bernard in Psal. 84. that ye walk the ways of the heart and that your Soul be always in your hands that ye may hear what the Lord saith in you And again upon these words of the Apostle Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord with which Threefold Vice saith he all sorts of Religious men are less or more dangerously affected because they do not so diligently Attend with the Ears of the Heart to what the Spirit of Truth which flatters none inwardly speaks This was the very Basis and main Foundation upon which the Primitive Reformers walked Luther in his Book to the Nobility of Germany saith This is certain Lutherus that no man can make himself a Doctor of the holy Scripture but the holy Spirit alone And upon the Magnificat he saith No man can rightly understand God or the Word of God unless he immediately receive it from the Holy Spirit neither can any one Receive it from the Holy Spirit except he find it by Experience in himself and in this Experience the Holy Ghost teacheth as in his proper School out of which School nothing is taught but meer Talk Philip Melanchthon in his Annotations upon John 6. Who hear only an outward and bodily Voice Phil. Melanchthon hear the Creature but God is a Spirit and is neither discerned By the Spirit alone God is known nor known nor heard but by the Spirit and therefore to hear the Voice of God to see God is to know and hear the Spirit By the Spirit alone God is known and perceived Which also the more Serious to this day do acknowledge even all such who satisfy themselves not with the Superfice of Religion and use it not as a Cover or Art Yea all those who apply themselves effectually to Christianity and are not satisfied until they have found its Effectual Work upon their hearts redeeming them from sin do feel that no knowledge effectually prevails to the producing of this but that which proceeds from the warm Influence of God's Spirit upon the heart and from the comfortable shinings of his Light upon their Vnderstanding And therefore to this purpose a late Modern Author saith well videlicet Dr. Smith of Cambridge concerning Book-Divinity Dr. Smith of Cambridge in his Select Discourses To seek our Divinity meerly in Books and Writings is to seek the Living among the Dead We do but in vain many times seek God in these where his Truth is too often not so much Enshrined as Entombed Intra te quaere Deum Seek God within thine own Soul he is best discerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plotinus phraseth it by an Intellectual Touch of him We must see with our Eyes and hear with our Eears and our hands must handle the Word of Life to express it in S. John 's words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Soul it self hath its Sense as well as the Body And therefore David when he would teach us to know what the Divine Goodness is calls not for Speculation but Sensation Taste and see how good the Lord is That is not the best and truest Knowledge of God which is wrought out by the labour and sweat of the brain but that which is kindled within us by an heavenly Warmth in our hearts And again There is a knowing of the Truth as it is in Jesus as it is in a Christ-like nature as it is in that sweet mild humble and loving Spirit of Jesus which spreads it self like a Morning-star upon the Spirits of good men full of Light and Life It profits little to know Christ himself after the flesh but he gives his Spirit to good men that searcheth the deep things of God And again It is but thin airy Knowledge that is got by meer Speculation which is usher'd in by Syllogisms and Demonstrations but that which springs forth from true Goodness is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Origen speaketh It brings such a Divine Light to the Soul as is more clear and convincing than any Demonstration § III. That this certain and undoubted Method of the true Knowledge of God hath been brought out of Use hath been none of the least Devices of the Devil to secure Mankind to his Kingdom Apostacy and a false Knowledge Introduced For after the Light and Glory of the Christian Religion had prevailed over a good part of the World and dispelled the thick Mists of the Heathenish Doctrine of the plurality of Gods he that knew there was no probability of deluding the World any longer that way did then puff man up with a false Knowledge of the true God setting him on work to seek God the wrong Way and perswading him to be content with such a Knowledge as was of his own Acquiring and not of God's Teaching And this Device hath proved the more successful because accommodated to the Natural and Corrupt spirit and temper of man who above all things affects to Exalt himself In which Self-Exaltation as God is most greatly dishonoured so therein the Devil hath his end who is not anxious how much God be acknowledged in Words provided himself be but always served he matters not how great and high Speculations the Natural man Entertains of God so long as he serves his Lusts and Passions and is obedient to his Evil Suggestions and Temptations â—â—ristianity is become an Art acquired by human Science and Industry Thus Christianity is become an Art Acquired by Human Science and Industry as any other Art or Science is and men have not only assumed unto themselves the Name of Christians but even have procured to be esteemed as Masters of Christianity by certain Artificial Tricks though altogether Strangers to the Spirit and Life of Jesus But if we shall make a right Definition of a Christian according to the Scripture videlicet That he is one that hath the Spirit of Christ and is led by it How many Christians yea and of these great Masters and Doctors of Christianity so accounted shall we justly Divest of that Noble Title If then such as have all the other Means of Knowledge and are sufficiently Learned therein whether it be
the Letter of the Scripture the Traditions of Churches the Works of Creation and Providence whence they are able to Deduce strong and undeniable Arguments which may be true in themselves are yet not to be Esteemed Christians according to the certain and infallible Definition above-mentioned And if the Inward and Immediate Revelation of God's Spirit in the heart in such as have been altogether Ignorant of some and but very little skill'd in others of these Means of attaining Knowledge hath brought them to Salvation Then it will necessarily and evidently follow By Revelation is the true Knowledge of God that Inward and Immediate Revelation is the only sure and certain Way to attain the true and saving Knowledge of God But the First is true Therefore the Last Now as this Argument doth very strongly Conclude for this way of Knowledge and against such as deny it so herein it is the more considerable because the Propositions from which it is Deduced are so Clear that our very Adversaries cannot deny them For as to the first it is acknowledged that many Learned men may be and have been damned And as to the second who will deny but many Illiterate men may be and are saved Nor dare any Affirm that none come to the Knowledge of God and Salvation by the Inward Revelation of the Spirit without these other outward Means unless they be also so bold as to exclude Abel Seth Noah Abraham Job Abel Seth Noah c. Instanced and all the holy Patriarchs from true Knowledge and Salvation § IV. I would however not be understood as if hereby I excluded those other means of Knowledge from any use or service to man it is far from me so to Judge as in the Next Proposition concerning the Scriptures shall more plainly appear The Question is not What may be profitable or helpful but What is absolute Necessary Many things may contribute to further a Work which yet are not that main thing that makes the Work go on The sum then of what is said amounts to this that where the true inward Knowledge of God is through the Revelation of his Spirit there is all neither is there any absolute necessity of any other But where the best highest and most profound Knowledge is without this there is nothing as to the obtaining of the great End of Salvation This Truth is very effectually Confirmed by the first part of the Proposition it self which in few words comprehendeth divers unquestionable Arguments which I shall in brief Subsume First That there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son Secondly That there is no Knowledge of the Son but by the Spirit Thirdly That by the Spirit God hath always Revealed himself to his Children Fourthly That these Revelations were the formal Object of the Saints Faith And lastly That the same continueth to be the Object of the Saints Faith to this day Of each of these I shall speak a little particularly and then proceed to the latter part § V. As to the first viz. That there is no knowledg of the Father but Assert I by the Son It will not need much probation being founded upon the plain words of Scripture Proved and is therefore a fit Medium to draw the rest of our Assertions from For the Infinite and most Wise God who is the Foundation Root and Spring of all Operation hath wrought all things by his Eternal Word and Son This is that WORD that was in the beginning with God and was God John 1.1 2 3. by whom all things were made and without whom was not any thing made that was made Eph. 3.9 This is that Jesus Christ by whom God created all things by whom and for whom all things were created that are in heaven and in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalitys or powers Col. 1.16 Who therefore is called The First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 As then that Infinite and Incomprehensible Fountain of Life and Motion operateth in the Creatures by his own Eternal Word and Power so no Creature has Access again unto him but in and by the Son according to his own express words No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will Reveal him Matth. 11.27 Luk. 10.22 And again he himself saith I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 Hence he is fitly called The Mediator betwixt God and Man For having been with God from all Eternity being himself God and also in Time partaking of the Nature of man through him is the goodness and love of God conveyed to mankind and by him again man receiveth and partaketh of these Mercies Hence is easily deduced the Probation of this first Assertion thus If no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will Reveal him then there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son But No man knoweth the Father but the Son Therefore There is no knowledge of the Father but by the Son The first part of the Antecedent are the plain words of Scripture The Consequence thereof is undeniable except one would say that he hath the knowledge of the Father while yet he knows him not which were an Absurd Repugnance Again If the Son be the Way the Truth and the Life and that no man cometh unto the Father but by him then there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son But the First is true Therefore the Last The Antecedent are the very Scripture-words The Consequence is very Evident For how can any know a thing who useth not the Way without which it is not Knowable But it is already proved that there is no other Way but by the Son so that whoso uses not that Way cannot Know him neither Come unto him § VI. Having then laid down this First Principle I come to the Second viz. That there is no Knowledge of the Son but by the Spirit or Assert II that the Revelation of the Son of God is by the Spirit Where it is to be noted that I always speak of the saving Proved certain and necessary Knowledge of God which that it cannot be acquired otherways than by the Spirit doth also appear from many clear Scriptures For Jesus Christ in and by whom the Father is Revealed doth also Reveal himself to his Disciples and Friends in and by his Spirit as his Manifestation was sometimes outward when he testified and witnessed for the Truth in this World and approved himself Faithful throughout So being now withdrawn as to the outward man he doth teach and instruct mankind inwardly by his own Spirit He standeth at the door and knocketh and whoso heareth his Voice and openeth he comes in to such Rev. 3.20 Of this Revelation of Christ in him Paul speaketh Gal. 1.16 in which he placeth the Excellency of his Ministry and the Certainty of his Calling And
not sufficient neither were ever appointed to be the adequate and only Rule nor yet can guide or direct a Christian in all those things that are needful for him to know We shall leave that to the next Proposition to be Examined What is proper in this place to be proved is That Christians now are to be led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit of God even in the same manner though it befall not to many to be led in the same measure as the Saints were of old § X. I shall prove this by divers Arguments and first from the Promise of Christ in these words Joh. 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Vers. 17 Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him Christians are now to be led by the Spirit in the same manner as the Saints of old for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Again vers 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance And 16.13 But when that Spirit of Truth shall come he shall lead you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak and shall declare unto you things to come We have here first Who this is and that is divers ways expressed to wit The Comforter the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost the Sent of the Father in the Name of Christ. And hereby is sufficiently proved the Sottishness of those Socinians and other Carnal Christians who neither know nor acknowledge any internal Spirit or Power but that which is meerly Natural by which they sufficiently declare themselves to be of the World who cannot receive the Spirit because they neither see him nor know him Secondly Where this Spirit is to be He dwelleth with you and shall be in you And Thirdly What his Work is He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance and guide you into all Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to the first Most do acknowledge that there is nothing else understood than what the plain words signify Who is this Comforter Which is also Evident by many Query I other places of Scripture that will hereafter occur neither do I see how such as Affirm otherways can avoid Blasphemy For if the Comforter the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Truth be all one with the Scriptures then it would follow that the Scriptures is God seeing it is true that the Holy Ghost is God If these mens Reasoning might take place wherever the Spirit is mentioned in relation to the Saints thereby might be truly and properly understood the Scriptures Nonsensical Consequences from the Socinians belief of the Scriptures being the Spirit Which what a Non-sensical Monster it would make of the Christian Religion will easily appear to all men As where it is said A manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal it might be rendred thus A manifestation of the Scriptures is given to every man to profit withal What notable Sense this would make and what a Curious Interpretation let us consider by the Sequel of the same Chapter 1 Cor. 12.9 10 11. To another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles c. but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will What would now these great Masters of Reason the Socinians Judge if we should place the Scriptures here instead of the Spirit Would it answer their Reason which is the great guide of their Faith Would it be good and sound Reason in their Logical Schools to affirm That the Scripture divideth severally as it will and giveth to some the gift of healing to others the working of miracles If then this Spirit a Manifestation whereof is given to every man to profit withal be no other than that Spirit of Truth before-mentioned which guideth into all Truth this Spirit of Truth cannot be the Scripture I could infer an hundred more Absurdities of this kind upon this sottish Opinion but what is said may suffice For even some of themselves being at times forgetful or ashamed of their own Doctrine do acknowledge That the Spirit of God is another thing and distinct from the Scriptures to guide and influence the Saints Secondly That this Spirit is inward in my opinion needs no Interpretation nor Commentary He dwelleth with you and shall be in you This indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints as it is a thing most needful to be known and believed so it is as positively asserted in the Scripture as any thing else can be If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you saith the Apostle Query II to the Romans 8.9 and again Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost Where is his place and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 without this the Apostle reckoneth no man a Christian. If any man saith he have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his These words immediately follow those above-mentioned out of the Epistle to the Romans But ye are not in the flesh if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you The Context of which sheweth The Spirit within the main Token of a Christian. that the Apostle reckoneth it the main Token of a Christian both positively and negatively For in the former verses he sheweth how the Carnal mind is enmity against God and that such as are in the flesh cannot please him Where subsuming he adds concerning the Romans That they are not in the flesh if the Spirit of God dwell in them What is this but to Affirm that they in whom the Spirit dwells are no longer in the flesh nor of those who please not God but are become Christians indeed Again in the next verse he Concludes Negatively That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that is he is no Christian. He then that acknowledges himself Ignorant and a Stranger to the Inward In-being of the Spirit of Christ in his heart doth thereby acknowledge himself to be yet in the Carnal mind which is Enmity to God to be yet in the flesh where God cannot be pleased and in short whatever he may otherways know or believe of Christ or however much skill'd or acquainted with the letter of the Holy Scripture not yet to be notwithstanding all that Attained to the least desire of a Christian yea not once to have embraced the Christian Religion For take but away the Spirit and Christianity remains no more Christianity than the dead Carcase of a man when the Soul and Spirit is departed remains a Man which the living can no more abide but do
hereunto we stand there for this Word always proceedeth and doth Eternally proceed from God in and by which the Vnsearchable Wisdom of God and Vnsearchable Counsel and Will Conceived in the Heart of God is Revealed unto us That then the Scripture is not the Principal Ground of Faith and Knowledge as it appears by what is above spoken so it is provided in the latter part of the Proposition which being Reduced to an Argument runs thus That the Certainty and Authority whereof depends upon another and which is received as Truth because of its proceeding from another is not to be accounted the Principal Ground and Origin of all Truth and Knowledge But The Scriptures Authority and Certainty depends upon the Spirit by which they were dictated and the Reason why they were received as Truth is because they proceeded from the Spirit Therefore They are not the Principal Ground of Truth To Confirm this Argument I added the School-Maxime Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum est magis tale Which Maxime though I Confess it doth not hold Vniversally in all things yet in this it both doth and will very well hold as by Applying it as we have above Intimated will appear Neither are they the Primary Rule of Faith and Manners The same Argument will hold as to the other Branch of the Proposition That it is not the Primary Adequate Rule of Faith and Manners thus That which is not the Rule of my Faith in believing the Scriptures themselves is not the Primary Adequate Rule of Faith and Manners But The Scripture is not nor can it be the Rule of that Faith by which I believe them c. Therefore c. But as to this part we shall produce divers Arguments hereafter As to what is Affirmed That the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the Rule it is largely handled in the former Proposition the Sum whereof I shall Subsume in one Argument thus That the Spirit is the Rule If by the Spirit we can only come to the True Knowledge of God If by the Spirit we be to be led into all Truth and so be Taught of all things Then the Spirit and not the Scriptures is the Foundation and Ground of all Truth and Knowledge and the Primary Rule of Faith and Manners But the First is True Therefore also the Last Next The very Nature of the Gospel it self declareth that the Scriptures cannot be the Only and Chief Rule of Christians else there should be no Difference betwixt the Law and the Gospel As from the Nature of the New Covenant by divers Scriptures described in the former Proposition is proved Wherein the Law and Gospel differ But besides these which are before-mentioned herein doth the Law and the Gospel differ In that the Law being outwardly written brings under Condemnation but hath not Life in it to save whereas the Gospel as it declares and makes manifest the Evil so it being an Inward Powerful thing also gives Power to Obey and delivers from the Evil Hence it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Glad Tidings The Law or Letter which is without us kills but the Gospel which is the Inward Spiritual Law gives Life for it consists not so much in Words as in Vertue Wherefore such as come to know it and be acquainted with it come to feel greater Power over their Iniquities than all Outward Laws or Rules can give them Hence the Apostle concludes Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace This Grace then that is inward and not an outward Law is to be the Rule of Christians Hereunto the Apostle Commends the Elders of the Church saying Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all those that are sanctified He doth not commend them here to Outward Laws or Writings but to the Word of Grace which is Inward even the Spiritual Law which makes free as he elsewhere Affirms Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death This Spiritual Law is that which the Apostle declares he preached and directed People unto which was not Outward as Rom. 10.8 is manifest where distinguishing it from the Law he saith The Word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth and this is the Word of Faith which we preach From what is above said I argue thus The Principal Rule of Christians under the Gospel is not an Outward Letter nor Law outwardly written and delivered but an Inward Spiritual Law ingraven in the heart the Law of the Spirit of Life the Word that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth But The Letter of the Scripture is Outward of it self a dead thing a meer Declaration of good things but not the Things themselves Therefore it nor is nor can be the Chief or Principal Rule of Christians § III. Thirdly That which is given to Christians for a Rule and Guide The Scripture not the Rule must needs be so full as it may clearly and distinctly Guide and Order them in all things and occurrences that may fall out But in that there are many hundred of things with a regard to their Circumstances particular Christians may be concerned in for which there can be no particular Rule had in the Scriptures Therefore the Scriptures cannot be a Rule to them I shall give an Instance in two or three Particulars for to prove this Proposition It is not to be doubted but some men are particularly called to some particular services their being not found in which though the Act be no general positive Duty yet in so far as it may be Required of them is a great Sin to Omit forasmuch as God is zealous of his Glory and every Act of Disobedience to his Will Manifested is enough not only to hinder one greatly from that Comfort and Inward Grace which otherwise they might have but also bringeth Condemnation As for Instance Some are Called to the Ministry of the Word Paul saith There was a Necessity upon him to preach the Gospel Wo unto me if I preach not If it be Necessary that there be now Ministers of the Church as well as then then there is the same Necessity upon some more than upon others to occupy this place which Necessity as it may be Incumbent upon particular persons the Scripture neither doth nor can declare If it be said Object That the Qualifications of a Minister are found in the Scripture and by applying these Qualifications to my self I may know whether I be fit for such a place or no. I Answer The Qualifications of a Bishop or Minister Answ. as they are mentioned both in the Epistle to Timothy and Titus are such as may be found in a private Christian yea which ought in
of God to his Children in these latter days For I have known some of my Friends who profess the same Faith with me faithful Servants of the most-High God and full of the Divine Knowledge of his Truth as it was immediately and inwardly Revealed to them by the Spirit from a true and living Experience who not only were ignorant of the Greek and Hebrew Wrong Translations of Scriptures discerned in the Spirit by the Unlearned in Letters but even some of them could not Read their own Vulgar Language who being pressed by the Adversaries with some Citations out of the English Translation and finding them to disagree with the Manifestation of Truth in their hearts have boldly Affirmed The Spirit of God never said so and that it was certainly wrong for they did not believe that any of the Holy Prophets or Apostles had ever written so Which when I on this Account seriously Examined I really found to be Errors and Corruptions of the Translators who as in most Translations do not so much give us the genuine Significations of the words as strain them to express that which comes nearest with that Opinion and Notion they have of Truth And this seemed to me to sute very well with that saying of Augustine Epist. 19. ad Hen. Tom. 2. fol. 14. after he has said that he gives only that honour to those Books which are called Canonical as to believe that the Authors thereof did in writing not Err. He adds And if I shall meet with any thing in these Writings that seemeth Repugnant to Truth I shall not doubt to say that either the Volume is Faulty or Erroneous that the Expounder hath not reached what was said or that I have in no wise Vnderstood it So that he supposes that in the Transcription and Translation there may be Errors § V. If it be then asked me Whether I think hereby to render the Scripture altogether uncertain Object or useless I Answer Not at all The Proposition it self declares what Esteem Answ. 1 I have for them And provided that to the Spirit from which they came be but granted that place the Scriptures themselves give it I do freely Concede to the Scripture the Second Place even whatsoever they say of themselves Which the Apostle Paul chiefly mentions in Two places Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were Written aforetime were Written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture given by Inspiration from God is profitable for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good Work For though God do principally and chiefly lead us by his Spirit yet he sometimes conveys his Comfort and Consolation to us through his Children whom he raises up and Inspires to Speak or Write a Word in Season whereby the Saints are made Instruments in the hand of the Lord to strengthen and encourage one another which do also tend to perfect and make them wise unto Salvation And such as are led by the Spirit cannot neglect The Saints Mutual Comfort is the same Spirit in all but do naturally love and are wonderfully cherished by that which proceedeth from the same Spirit in another because such mutual Emanations of the heavenly Life tend to quicken the mind when at any time it is overtaken with Heaviness Peter himself declares this to have been the End of his Writing 2 Pet. 1.12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in Remembrance of those things though ye know them and be Established in the present Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in Remembrance God is Teacher of his People himself and there is nothing more Express than that such as are under the New Covenant They need no man to Teach them yet it was a Fruit of Christ's Ascension to send Teachers and Pastors for perfecting of the Saints So that the same Work is ascribed to the Scriptures as to Teachers the one to make the Man of God perfect the other for the perfection of the Saints As then Teachers are not to go before the Teaching of God himself under the New Covenant but to follow after it neither are they to Rob us of that great Priviledge which Christ hath purchased unto us by his Blood so neither is the Scripture to go before the Teaching of the Spirit or to Rob us of it Answ. 2 Secondly God hath seen meet that herein we should as in a Looking-glass see the Conditions and Experiences of the Saints of old that finding our Experience Answer to theirs The Scriptures a Looking-glass we might thereby be the more Confirmed and Comforted and our Hope Strengthened of obtaining the same End that observing the Providences attending them seeing the Snares they were liable to and beholding their Deliverances we may thereby be made Wise unto Salvation and seasonably Reproved and Instructed in Righteousness This is the Great Work of the Scriptures and their Service to us that we may witness them fulfilled in us and so discern the Stamp of God's Spirit and Ways upon them by the inward Acquaintance we have with the same Spirit and Work in our hearts The Scriptures Work and Service The Prophecies of the Scripture are also very comfortable and profitable unto us as the same Spirit Inlightens us to observe them fulfilled and to be fulfilled For in all this it is to be observed that it is only the Spiritual man that can make a right use of them they are able to make the Man of God perfect so it is not the Natural Man and whatsoever was written aforetime was written for Our Comfort Our that are the Believers our that are the Saints concerning such the Apostle speaks For as for the other the Apostle Peter plainly declares that the Vnstable and Vnlearned wrest them to their own destruction These were they that were Vnlearned in the Divine and Heavenly Learning of the Spirit not in Humane and School-literature of which we may safely presume that Peter himself being a Fisher-man had no great skill for it may be with great probability yea certainly be affirmed that he had no knowledge of Aristotle's Logick Logick which both Papists and Protestants now degenerating from the Simplicity of Truth make Hand-maid of Divinity as they call it and a necessary Introduction to their Carnal Natural and Humane Ministry By the infinite obscure Labours of which kind of men mixing-in their heathenish stuff the Scripture is rendered at this day of so little service to the simple people whereof if Jerom complained in his time now twelve hundred years ago saying Hierom. Ep. 134. ad Cypr. Tom. 3. It is wont to befall the most part of Learned men that it is
true Faith This Objection is very weak and apparently Contrary to the Text 1 Tim. 1.19 Answ. Where the Apostle addeth to Faith a good Conscience by way of Complaint A good and evil Conscience whereas if their Faith had been only seeming and hypocritical the men had been better without it than with it neither had they been worthy of blame for losing that which in it self was Evil. But the Apostle expresly adds and of a good Conscience which shews it was Real neither can it be supposed that men could truly attain a good Conscience without the operation of God's Saving Grace far less that a good Conscience doth consist with a seeming false and hypocritical Faith Again these places of the Apostle being spoken by way of Regret clearly Import that these Attainments they had fall'n from were good and real not false and deceitful else he would not have Regretted their falling from them And so he saith positively They tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost c. not that they seem'd to be so Which sheweth this Objection is very frivolous Secondly they Alledge Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that Object 2 he which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ c. and 1 Pet. 1.5 who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation Answ. These Scriptures as they do not affirm any thing positively Contrary to us so they cannot be understood otherwise than as the Condition is performed upon our part seeing Salvation is no otherways proposed there but upon certain Salvation is proposed upon certain Conditions by us to be performed necessary Conditions to be performed by us as hath been above proved and as our Adversaries also acknowledge as Rom. 8.13 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live And Hebr. 3.14 We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedfast unto the end For if these places of the Scripture upon which they build their Objection were to be admitted without these Conditions it would manifestly overturn the whole Tenor of their Exhortations throughout all their Writings Some other Objections there are of the same nature which are solved by the same Answers which also because largely treated of by others I omit to come to that Testimony of the Truth which is more especically ours in this matter and is contained in the latter part of the Proposition in these words Yet such an Increase and Stability in the Truth may in this life be attained from which there cannot be a total Apostasy § IV. As in the Explanation of the fifth and sixth Propositions I observed that some that had denied the Errors of others concerning Reprobation and affirmed the Vniversality of Christ's Death did notwithstanding fall short in sufficiently holding forth the Truth and so gave the contrary party an occasion by their defects to be strengthened in their Errors so may it be said in this Case * The two Extreams some run into by Asserting a final falling or not falling from Grace Impossible As upon the one hand they Err that affirm That the least degree of true and Saving Grace cannot be fall'n from so do they Err upon the other hand that deny any such Stability to be attained from which there cannot be a total and final Apostasy And betwixt these Two Extreams lieth the Truth apparent in the Scriptures which God hath Revealed unto us by the Testimony of his Spirit and which also we are made sensible of by our own sensible Experience And even as in that former Controversy was observed so also in this the defence of Truth will readily appear to such as seriously weigh the matter for the Arguments upon both hands rightly applied will as to this hold good and the Objections which are strong as they are respectively urged against the two opposite false Opinions are hereby easily solved by the establishing of this Truth For as the Arguments which these alledge that affirm There can be no falling away may well be received upon the one part as of those who have attained to this Stability and Establishment and their Objections solved by this Concession so upon the other hand the Arguments alledged from Scripture-Testimonies by those that affirm the possibility of falling away may well be received of such as are not come to this Establishment though having attained a measure of true Grace Thus then the contrary Batterings of our Adversaries who miss the Truth do Concur the more strongly to Establish it while they are destroying each other But lest this may not seem to suffice to satisfy such as judge it always possible for the best of men before they die to fall away I shall add for the proof of it some Brief Considerations from some few Testimonies of the Scripture § V. And first I freely acknowledge that it is good for all to be Humble and in this respect not over-Confident so as to lean to this Watchfulness and Diligence is of Indispensible necessity to all to foster themselves in Iniquity or lie down in Security as if they had attained this Condition seeing Watchfulness and Diligence is of indispensible necessity to all mortal men so long as they breath in this World for God will have this to be the Constant Practice of a Christian that thereby he may be the more fit to serve him and the better armed against all the daily Temptations of the Enemy For since the Wages of sin is death there is no man while he sinneth and is subject thereunto but may lawfully suppose himself capable of perishing Hence the Apostle Paul himself saith 1 Cor. 9.27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection least that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a Cast-away Here the Apostle supposeth it possible for him to be a Cast-away and yet it may be judged he was far more advanced in the Inward Work of Regeneration when he wrote that Epistle than many who now a-days too presumptuously suppose they cannot fall away because they feel themselves to have attained some small degree of true Grace But the Apostle makes use of this Supposition or possibility of his being a Cast-away as I before observed as an Inducement to him to be Watchful I keep under my body lest c. Nevertheless the same Apostle at another time in the sense and feeling of God's Holy Power and in the Dominion thereof finding himself a Conqueror there-through over sin and his Soul's Enemies maketh no difficulty to affirm Rom. 8.38 For I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. which clearly sheweth that he had Attained a Condition from which he knew he could not fall away But secondly It appears such a * A Condition attainable in this life
from which there is no falling away Condition is Attainable because we are Exhorted to it and as hath been proved before the Scripture never proposeth to us things Impossible Such an Exhortation we have from the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure And though there be a Condition here proposed yet since we have already proved that it is possible to fulfil this Condition then also the Promise annexed thereunto may be attained And since where Assurance is wanting there is still a place left for Doubtings and Despairs if we should affirm it never attainable then should there never be a place known by the Saints in this World wherein they might be free of Doubting and Despair Which as it is most Absurd in it self so it 's Contrary to the manifest Experience of Thousands Thirdly God hath given to many of his Saints and Children and is ready to give unto all a full and certain Assurance A Certain Assurance and Establishment given of God to many of his Saints and Children that they are his and that no power shall be able to pluck them out of his hand But this Assurance would be no Assurance if those who are so Assured were not Established and Confirmed beyond all Doubt and Hesitation If so then surely there is no possibility for such to miss of that which God hath Assured them of And that there is such Assurance attainable in this life the Scripture abundantly declareth both in general and as to particular persons As first Rev. 3.12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out c. which containeth a general Promise unto all Hence the Apostle speaks of some that are sealed 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the Earnest of his Spirit in our hearts wherefore the Spirit so sealing is called the Earnest or Pledge of our Inheritance Eph. 1.13 In whom ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise And therefore the Apostle Paul not only in that of the Romans above-noted declareth himself to have Attained that Condition but 2 Tim. 4.7 he affirmeth in these words I have fought a good fight c. which also many good men have and do witness And therefore as there can be nothing more manifest than that which the manifest Experience of this time sheweth and therein is found agreeable to the Experience of former times so we see there have been both of old and of late that have turned the Grace of God into Wantonness and have fall'n from their Faith and Integrity thence we may safely conclude such a falling away possible We also see that some of old and of late have Attained a certain Assurance some time before they departed that they should Inherit Eternal Life and have accordingly died in that good hope Of and concerning whom the Spirit of God Testified that they are saved Wherefore we also see that such a State is Attainable in this life from which there is not a Falling away For seeing the Spirit of God did so Testify it was not possible that they should perish concerning whom he who cannot lie thus bare Witness PROPOSITION X. Concerning the Ministry Prop. 10 As by this Light or Gift of God all true Knowledge in things Spiritual is received and revealed so by the same as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof every true Minister of the Gospel is ordained prepared and supplied in the Work of the Ministry and by the leading moving and drawing hereof ought every Evangelist and Christian Pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel both as to the place Where as to the persons to whom and as to the time wherein he is to Minister Moreover who have this Authority may and ought to preach the Gospel though without Humane Commission or Literature as on the other hand who want the Authority of this Divine Gift however Learned or Athorized by the Commission of Men and Churches are to be esteemed but as Deceivers and not true Ministers of the Gospel The Gospel to be preach'd freely Matth. 10.8 Also who have received this holy and unspotted Gift as they have freely received it so are they freely to give it without hire or bargaining far less to use it as a Trade to get money by yet if God hath called any one from their Emploiments or Trades by which they acquire their Livelihood it may be lawful for such according to the liberty which they feel given them in the Lord to receive such Temporals to wit what may be needful for them for Meat and Cloathing as are given them freely and cordially by those to whom they have Communicated Spirituals § I. HItherto I have treated of those things which relate to the Christian Faith and Christians as they stand each in his private and particular Condition and how and what way every man may be a Christian indeed and so abide Now I come in order to speak of those things that relate to Christians as they are stated in a Joint-Fellowship and Communion and come under a Visible and Outward Society which Society is called the Church of God The Church of God is the Spiritual Body of Christ. and in Scripture compared to a Body and therefore named the Body of Christ. As then in the Natural Body there be divers Members all concurring to the common end of preserving and confirming the whole Body so in this Spiritual and Mystical Body there are also divers Members according to the different measures of Grace and of the Spirit diversly administred unto each Member and from this Diversity ariseth that distinction of persons in the visible Society of Christians as of Apostles Pastors Evangelists Ministers c. That which in this Proposition is proposed is What makes or constitutes any a Minister of the Church what his Qualifications ought to be and how he ought to behave himself But because it may seem somewhat preposterous to speak of the distinct Offices of the Church until something be said concerning the Church in general though nothing positively be said of it in the Proposition yet as here implied I shall briefly premise something thereof and then proceed to the particular Members of it § II. It is not in the least my design to meddle with those tedious and many Controversies wherewith the Papists and Protestants do Tear one another concerning this thing but only according to the Truth manifested to me and Revealed in me by the Testimony of the Spirit according to that proportion of Wisdom given me briefly to hold forth as a necessary Introduction both to this matter of the Ministry and of Worship which followeth those things which I together with my Brethren do believe concerning the Church The Church then according to the Grammatical signification of the word as it is used in
the Holy Scripture signifies An Assembly or Gathering of many into one place The Etymology of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church and signification of it for the Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I call out of and originally from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I call and indeed as this is the Grammatical sense of the word so also it is the real and proper signification of the thing the Church being no other thing but the Society Gathering or Company of such as God hath called out of the World and worldly spirit to walk in his LIGHT and LIFE The Church then so defined is to be considered as it comprehends all that are thus called and gathered truly by God both such as are yet in this Inferior World and such as having already laid down the Earthly Tabernacle are passed into their heavenly Mansions which together do make up the One Catholick Church concerning which there is so much Controversy Out of which Church we freely acknowledge No Salvation without the Church there can be no Salvation because under this Church and its Denomination are comprehended all and as many of whatsoever nation kindred tongue or people they be though outwardly strangers and remote from those who profess Christ and Christianity in words and have the benefit of the Scriptures as become obedient to the Holy Light and Testimony of God in their hearts so as to become sanctified by it What the Church is and cleansed from the evils of their ways For this is the Vniversal or Catholick Spirit by which many are called from all the four Corners of the Earth and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob By this the secret Life and Vertue of Jesus is conveyed into many that are afar off even as by the Blood that runs into the Veins and Arteries of the natural Body the Life is conveyed from the head and heart unto the extreamest parts There may be Members therefore of this Catholick Church both among Heathens Turks and Jews may become Members of this Church Turks Jews and all the several sorts of Christians men and women of Integrity and Simplicity of heart who though blinded in something in their Vnderstanding and perhaps burthened with the Superstitions and Formality of the several Sects in which they are Ingrossed yet being upright in their hearts before the Lord chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from Iniquity and loving to follow Righteousness are by the secret Touches of this Holy Light in their Souls inlivened and quickned thereby secretly united to God and there-through become true Members of this Catholick Church Now the Church in this respect hath been in being in all Generations For God never wanted some such Witnesses for him though many times slighted and not much observed by this World And therefore this Church though still in being hath been oftentimes as it were Invisible in that it hath not come under the Observation of the men of this World being as saith the Scripture Jer. 3.14 One of a City and two of a Family And yet though the Church thus considered may be as it were hid from wicked men as not then gathered into a visible Fellowship yea and not observed even by some that are Members of it yet may there notwithstanding many belong to it as when Elias complained he was left alone 1 Kings 19.18 God answered unto him I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees to the Image of Baal whence the Apostle argues Rom. 11. the being of a Remnant in his day § III. Secondly The Church is to be considered as it signifies a Certain Number of persons gathered by God's Spirit and by the Testimony of some of his Servants raised up for that end unto the belief of the true Principles and Doctrines of the Christian Faith who through their hearts being united by the same Love and their understanding informed in the same Truths gather The Definition of the Church of God as Gathered into a Visible Fellowship meet and assemble together to Wait upon God to worship him and to bear a joint-Testimony for the Truth against Error suffering for the same and so becoming through this fellowship as one family and houshold in certain respects do each of them watch over teach instruct and care for one another according to their several measures and attainments Such were the Churches of the primitive Times gathered by the Apostles whereof we have divers mentioned in the Holy Scriptures And as to the Visibility of the Church in this respect there hath been a great Interruption since the Apostles days by reason of the Apostasy as shall hereafter appear § IV. To be a Member then of the Catholick Church How to become a Member of that Church there is need of the Inward Calling of God by his Light in the heart and a being leavened into the Nature and Spirit of it so as to forsake Vnrighteousness and be turned to Righteousness and in the Inwardness of the mind to be cut out of the wild Olive-tree of our own first fall'n Nature and ingrafted into Christ by his Word and Spirit in the heart And this may be done in those who are strangers to the History God not having pleased to make them partakers thereof as in the fifth and sixth Proposition hath already been proved To be a Member of a particular Church of Christ The Outward Profession of the Members of the True Church as this inward Work is indispensibly necessary so is also the outward Profession of and Belief in Jesus Christ and those holy Truths delivered by his Spirit in the Scriptures seeing the Testimony of the Spirit recorded in the Scriptures doth answer the Testimony of the same Spirit in the heart even as face answereth face in a glass Hence it follows that the Inward work of Holiness and forsaking Iniquity is necessary in every respect to the being a Member in the Church of Christ and that the outward Profession is necessary to be a Member of a particular gathered Church but not to the being a Member of the Catholick Church yet it is absolutely necessary where God affords the opportunity of knowing it And the outward Testimony is to be believed where it is presented and revealed the sum whereof hath upon other occasions been already proved § V. But contrary hereunto the Devil The Members of the Anti-Christian Church in the Apostasy their Empty Profession that worketh and hath wrought in the Mystery of Iniquity hath taught his followers to affirm That no man however holy is a Member of the Church of Christ without the outward Profession and that he be Initiated thereunto by some outward Ceremonies And again That men who have this outward Profession though inwardly unholy may be Members of the true Church of Christ yea and ought to be so esteemed This is plainly to put Light for
and Converted to the Christian Faith And being Inquired how he came to yield to that Ignorant Old Man and not to the Bishops he said That they contended with him in his own way and he could still give words for words but there came from the Old Man that vertue which he was not able to Resist This secret Virtue and Power ought to be the Logick and Philosophy wherewith a true Christian Minister ought to be furnished and for which they need not be beholden to Aristotle As to Natural Logick ‖ Natural Logick useful by which Rational men without that Art and Rules or Sophistical Learning deduce a certain Conclusion out of true Propositions which scarce any man of Reason wants we deny not the Vse of it and I have sometimes used it in this Treatise which also may serve without that Dialectical Art As for the other part of Philosophy which is called Moral 3. Ethicks or the Manner-Rules to Christians not needful or Ethicks it is not so necessary to Christians who have the Rules of the Holy Scriptures and the Gift of the Holy Spirit by which they can be much better Instructed The * 4. Physicks and the Metaphysicks make no Preachers of the Truth Physical and Metaphysical part may be reduced to the Arts of Medicine and the Mathematicks which have nothing to do with the Essence of a Christian Minister And therefore the Apostle Paul who well understood what was good for Christian Ministers and what hurtful thus exhorted the Colossians Col. 2.8 Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit And to his beloved Disciple Timothy he writes also thus 1 Tim. 6.20 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of Science falsly so called III. The Learned School-Divinity obnoxious a Monster A Letter-Knowledge Heatheniz'd § XXI The Third and main part of their Literature is School-Divinity a Monster made up betwixt some Scriptural Notions of Truth and the Heathenish Terms and Maxims being as it were the Heathenish Philosophy Christianized or rather the Literal External Knowledge of Christ Heathenized It is man in his first fall'n natural State with his Devilish Wisdom pleasing himself with some Notions of Truth and adorning them with his own Serpentine and Worldly Wisdom because he thinks the simplicity of the Truth too low and mean a thing for him and so despiseth that simplicity wheresoever it is found that he may set up and Exalt himself puffed up with this his monstrous Birth It is the Devil darkning obscureing and vailing the Knowledge of God with his sensual and carnal Wisdom that so he may the more securely deceive the hearts of the simple and make the Truth as it is in it self despicable and hard to be known and understood by multiplying a Thousand hard and needless Questions and Endless Contentions and Debates All which whoso perfectly knoweth he is not a whit less the Servant of Sin than he was but ten times more in that he is Exalted and Proud of Iniquity and so much the further from Receiving understanding or learning the Truth as it is in its own naked Simplicity because he is full learned rich and wise in his own Conceit And so those that are most skill'd in it wear out their Day and spend their precious Time about the Infinite and Innumerable Questions they have feigned and invented concerning it A certain Learned Man called it a Two-fold Discipline as of the Race of the Centaurs partly proceeding from Divine Sayings partly from Philosophical Reasons A Thousand of their Questions they confess themselves to be no ways necessary to Salvation and yet many more of them they could never Agree upon It s needless Questions and endless Janglings but are and still will be in endless Janglings about them The Volumes that have been written about it a man in his whole Age though he lived very Old could scarce Read and when he has Read them all he has but wrought himself a great deal more Vexation and Trouble of Spirit than he had before These certainly are the Words multiplied without knowledge by which Counsel hath been darkned Job 38.2 They make the Scripture the Text of all this Mass and it 's concerning the Sense of it that their Voluminous Debates arise But a man of a good upright heart may learn more in half an hour and be more certain of it by Waiting upon God and his Spirit in the heart than by reading a Thousand of their Volumes which by filling his Head with many needless Imaginations may well stagger his Faith but never Confirm it and indeed those that give themselves most to it are most capable to fall into Error as appeareth by the Example of Origen who by his Learning was one of the first that falling into this way of Interpreting the Scriptures wrote so many Volumes and in them so many Errors as very much troubled the Church Whereby Arrius fell into Error and Schism Also Arrius led by this Curiosity and Humane Scrutiny despising the Simplicity of the Gospel fell into his Error which was the Cause of that horrible Heresy which so much troubled the Church Methinks the Simplicity Plainness and Brevity of the Scriptures themselves should be a sufficient Reproof for such a Science and the Apostles being honest plain illiterate men may be better understood by such kind of men now than with all that Mass of Scholastick Stuff which neither Peter nor Paul nor John ever thought of § XXII But this Invention of Satan wherewith he began the Apostasy The Apostasy and its dangerous Consequence hath been of dangerous Consequence For thereby he at first spoiled the simplicity of Truth by keeping up the Heathenish Learning which occasioned such Vncertainty even among those called Fathers Many of the Fathers not only Contradict each other but themselves also and why and such Debate that there are few of them to be found who by reason of this Mixture do not only frequently Contradict one another but themselves also And therefore when the Apostasy grew greater he as it were buried the Truth with this Vail of Darkness wholly shutting out people from true Knowledge and making the Learned so accounted busie themselves with idle and needless Questions while the weighty Truths of God were neglected and as it were went into desuetude Now though the grossest of these Abuses be swept away by Protestants yet the evil Root still remains and is nourished and upheld and upon the growing hand that this Science is still kept up and deemed Necessary for a Minister for while the pure Learning of the Spirit of Truth is despised and neglected and made Ineffectual man 's fall'n Earthly Wisdom is upheld and so in that he labours and works with the Scriptures being out of the Life and Spirit those that wrote them were in by which they are only rightly understood and made use of And so
times are as full of the various Tragedies acted upon the account of this Spiritual and Ecclesiastick Monarchy and Common-wealth as the Histories of Old times that gave account of the Wars and Contests that fell out both in the Assyrian Persian Greek and Roman Empires These last upon this account though among those that are called Christians have been no less Bloody and Monstrous than the former among Heathens concerning their outward Empires and Governments The Ground and Cause thereof Now all this both among Rapists and Protestants proceedeth in that they seek in Imitation to uphold a Form and Shadow of things though they want the Power Vertue and Substance though for many of their Orders and Forms they have not so much as the Name in the Scripture But in Opposition to all this Mass of Formality and heap of Orders Rules and Governments we say the Substance is chiefly to be sought after and the Power Virtue and Spirit is to be known and waited for which is One in all the different Names and Offices the Scripture makes use of as appears by 1 Cor. 12.4 often before-mentioned There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit And after the Apostle throughout the whole Chapt. hath shewn how one and the self same Spirit worketh in and quickneth each Member then in vers 28. he sheweth how thereby God hath set in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets Teachers c. And likewise to the same purpose Eph. 4.11 he sheweth how by these Gifts he hath given some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers c. Now it was never Christ's purpose nor the Apostles that Christians should without this Spirit and Heavenly Gift set up a shadow and form of these Orders and so make several Ranks and Degrees to establish a Carnal Ministry of mens making without the Life Power and Spirit of Christ this is that Work of Anti-Christ and Mystery of Iniquity The Work of Antichrist and Mystery of Iniquity that hath got up in the dark night of Apostasy But in a true Church of Christ gathered together by God not only unto the belief of the Principles of Truth but also into the Power Life and Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God is the Orderer Ruler and Governour as in each particular so in the general And when they Assemble together to wait upon God and Worship and Adore him then such as the Spirit sets apart to the Ministry Such as the Spirit sets apart to the Ministry their brethren hear them by its Divine Power and Influence opening their mouths and giving them to Exhort Reprove and Instruct with virtue and power these are thus of God Ordained and Admitted into the Ministry and their Brethren cannot but hear them receive them and also honour them for their works sake And so this is not Monopolized to a certain kind of men as the Clergy who are to that purpose Educated and brought up The Clergy and Laicks as other Carnal Artists and the rest to be despised as Laicks but it is left to the free Gift of God to chuse any whom he seeth meet thereunto whether Rich or Poor Servant or Master Young or Old yea Male or * Women may preach Female And such as have this Call verifie the Gospel by preaching not in speech only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much fulness 1 Thess. 1.5 and cannot but be received and heard by the sheep of Christ. Object § XXV But if it be objected here That I seem hereby to make no distinction at all betwixt Ministers and others which is contrary to the Apostle saying 1 Cor. 12.29 Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers c. from thence they insinuate That I also Contradict his Comparison in that Chapter of the Church of Christ with a Humane Body as where he saith vers 17. If the whole Body were an Eye where were the Hearing If the whole were Hearing where were the Smelling c. Also the Apostle not only thus distinguisheth the Ministers of the Church in general from the rest of the Members but also among themselves as naming them distinctly and separately Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers c. Answ. 1 As to the last part of this Objection to which I shall first Answer it is apparent that this Diversity of Names is not for to distinguish separate Offices Diversity of Names makes no distinct Offices but which may Coincide or be together in one person but to denote the different and various Operations of the Spirit a manner of speech frequent with the Apostle Paul wherein he sometimes exspatiates to the illustrating of the glory and praise of God's Grace as in particular Rom. 12.6 Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us whether Prophecy let us prophesie according to the proportion of faith Or Ministry let us wait on our Ministring or he that Teacheth on Teaching Or he that exhorteth on Exhortation Now none will say from all this that these are distinct Offices or do not or may not coincide in one person as may all these other things mentioned by him in the subsequent verses viz. of loving being kindly affectioned fervency of spirit hospitality diligence blessing rejoycing c. Which yet he numbers forth as different Gifts of the Spirit and according to this Objection might be placed as distinct and separate Offices which were most Absurd Secondly In these very places mentioned it is clear that it is no Real Distinction of separate Offices because all acknowledge that Pastors and Teachers which the Apostle there no less separateth and distinguisheth than Pastors and Prophets or Apostles are one and the same and Coincide in the same office and person and therefore so may be said of the rest For Prophecy as it signifieth the foretelling of things to come is indeed a distinct Gift but no distinct Office and therefore our Adversaries do not place it among their several Orders neither will they deny but that both may be and have been given of God to some Prophecy and Prophesying its twofold signification that not only have been Pastors and Teachers and that there it hath Coincided in one person with these other Offices but also to some of the Laicks and so it hath been found according to their own Concession without the Limits of their Clergy Prophecy in the other sense to wit as it signifieth a Speaking from the Spirit of Truth is not only peculiar to Pastors and Teachers To Prophesy a Priviledge of Teachers and of all the Saints who ought so to Prophesy but even a Common Priviledge to the Saints For though to Instruct Teach and Exhort be proper to such as are more particularly called to the Work of the Ministry yet it is not so Proper to them as not to be when the Saints are met together as any of them are moved by the Spirit Common to
Reformation and displeased many as the Author of the History of the Council of Trent in his first book well observes But now I hasten to the Objections of our Adversaries against this Method of Praying § XXV First They Object That if such particular Influences were Object I needful to outward Acts of Worship then they should also be needful to inward Acts as to wait desire and love God But this is absurd Therefore also that from whence it follows I answer That which was said in the State of the Controversy Answ. cleareth this because as to those general Duties there never wants an Influence so long as the Day of a man's Visitation lasteth during which time God is alwaies near to him and wrestling with him by his Spirit to turn him to himself so that if he do but stand still and cease from his evil thoughts the Lord is near to help him c. But as to the outward Acts of Prayer they need a more special Motion and Influence as hath been proved Secondly they Object That it might be also alledged that men ought not Object II to do Moral Duties as Children to honour their Parents men to do right to their Neighbours except the Spirit moved them to it I Answer Answ. there is a great difference betwixt these general Dutys betwixt man and man and the particular express Acts of Worship towards God these are meerly Spiritual and commanded by God to be performed by his Spirit the other answer their End as to them whom they are immediately directed to and concern though done from a meer natural Principle of Self-love even as Beasts have natural Affections one to another and therefore may be thus performed Though I shall not deny but that they are not Works accepted of God or beneficial to the Soul but as they are done in the fear of God and in his blessing in which his Children do all things and therefore are Accepted and Blessed in whatsoever they do Object III Thirdly they Object That if a wicked man ought not to pray without a Motion of the Spirit because his prayer would be sinful neither ought he to plough by the same reason Prov. 21.4 because the ploughing of the wicked as well as his praying is sin Answ. This Objection is of the same nature with the former and therefore may be answered the same way seeing there is a great difference betwixt Natural Acts How Acts of Nature differ from the Spirit 's such as eating drinking sleeping and seeking for sustenance for the body which things man hath common with beasts and Spiritual Acts. And it doth not follow because man ought not to go about Spiritual acts without the Spirit that therefore he may not go about Natural acts without it The Analogy holds better thus and that for the proof of our Affirmation That as man for the going about Natural acts needs his Natural Spirit so to perform Spiritual acts he needs the Spirit of God That the Natural acts of the wicked and unregenerate are Sinful is not denied though not as in themselves but in so far as man in that State is in all things Reprobated in the sight of God Object IV Fourthly they Object That wicked men may according to this doctrine forbear to Pray for years together alledging they want a Motion to it Answ. I Answer The false pretences of Wicked men do nothing invalidate the Truth of this Doctrine for at that rate there is no Doctrine of Christ which men might not turn by That they ought not to Pray without the Spirit is granted but then they ought to come to that place of Watching That wicked Men neglect the Motions of the Spirit to Pray where they may be capable to feel the Spirit 's Motion They Sin indeed in not Praying but the Cause of this Sin is their not Watching So their neglect proceeds not from this doctrine but from their disobedience to it seeing if they did Pray without this it would be a double sin and no fulfilling of the Command to Pray nor yet would their Prayer without this Spirit be useful unto them And this our Adversaries are forced to acknowledge in another case for they say It is a duty incumbent on Christians to frequent the Sacrament of the Lord's supper as they call it Yet they say No man ought to take it unworthily yea they plead that such as find themselves unprepared must abstain and therefore do usually Excommunicate them from the Table Now though according to them it be necessary to partake of this Sacrament yet it is also necessary that those that do it do first Examine themselves lest they Eat and Drink their own Condemnation and though they reckon it sinful for them to forbear yet they account it more sinful for them to do it without this Excommunication Object V Fifthly they Object Acts 8.22 where Peter commanded Simon Magus that wicked Sorcerer to Pray from thence inferring That wicked men may and ought to Pray Answ. I Answer That in the citing of this place as I have often observed they Omit the first and chiefest part of the verse which is thus Acts 8. v. 22. The Sorcerer may Pray but not without Repentance Repent therefore of this thy Wickedness and Pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee So here he bids him first Repent now the least measure of true Repentance cannot be without somewhat of that inward Retirement of the Mind which we speak of and indeed where true Repentance goeth first we do not doubt but the Spirit of God will be near to Concur with and Influence such to Pray to and Call upon God And Lastly they Object That many Prayers begun without the Spirit have proved effectual and that the Prayers of wicked men have been heard and Object IV found acceptable as Achab's This Objection was before solved Answ. for the Acts of God's Compassion and Indulgence at some times and to some persons upon singular extraordinary occasions are not to be a Rule of our Actions For if we should make that the Measure of our Obedience great Inconveniencies would follow as is evident and will be acknowledged by all Next we do not deny but Wicked men are sensible of the Motions and Operations of God's Spirit often-times before their Day be expired from which they may at times Pray acceptably not as remaining altogether Wicked but as entring into piety from whence they afterwards fall away § XXVI As to the singing of Psalms there will not be need of any long Discourse for that the Case is just the same as in the Two former of Preaching and Prayer We confess this to be a part of God's Worship Of Singing Psalms and very sweet and refreshful when it proceeds from a true sense of God's love in the heart and arises from the Divine Influence of the Spirit which leads Souls to breath forth either a sweet Harmony A Sweet
Christ's own Practice or Command as to obey all the Commandments which comprehend both our Duty towards God and Man c. and where the Gospel requires more than the Law which is abundantly signified in the 5 th and 6 th Chapters of Matthew and elsewhere Besides as to the Duties of Worship he exhorts us to Meet promising his Presence commands to Pray Preach Watch c. and gives Precepts concerning some Temporary things as the Washing of one anothers Feet the breaking of Bread hereafter to be discussed only for this one thing of baptising with Water though so earnestly contended for we find not any Precept of Christ. § VI. But to make Water-baptism a necessary Institution of the Christian Religion which is pure and Spiritual and not carnal and ceremonial is to derogate from the New Covenant-Dispensation and set up the Legal Rites and Ceremonies of which this of Baptism or Washing with Water was one III. The Gospel puts an end to Carnal Ordinances as appears from Heb. 9.10 where the Apostle speaking thereof saith that it stood only in meats and drinks and divers Baptisms and Carnal Ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation If then the Time of Reformation or the Dispensation of the Gospel which puts an end to the Shadows be come then such Baptisms and Carnal Ordinances are no more to be imposed For how Baptism with Water comes now to be a Spiritual Ordinance more than before in the time of the Law doth not appear seeing it is but Water still and a Washing of the Outward Man and a putting away of the filth of the flesh still and as before those that are so Washed were not thereby made perfect as pertaining to the Conscience neither are they at this day as our Adversaries must needs acknowledge and Experience abundantly sheweth So that the matter of it which is a Washing with Water and the Effects of it which is only an Outward Cleansing being still the same how comes Water-baptism to be less a Carnal Ordinance now than before If it be said That God confers inward Grace upon some that are now Object 1 baptized So no doubt he did also upon some Answ. that used those Baptisms among the Jews Or if it be said Because 't is commanded by Christ now under the New Object 2 Covenant I Answer First That 's to beg the Question of which hereafter Answ. But Secondly We find That where the Matter of Ordinances is the same and the End the same they are never accounted more or less Spiritual because of their different times Now was not God the Author of the Purifications and Baptisms under the Law Was not Water the Matter of them which is so now Was not the End of them to signify an Inward Purifying by an Outward Washing And is not that alledged to be the End still And are the necessary Effects or Consequences of it any better now Men are no more now than before by Water-baptism inwardly cleansed than before since men are now by vertue of Water-baptism as a necessary Consequence of it no more than before made Inwardly Clean And if some by God's Grace that are baptized with Water are inwardly purified so were some also under the Law so that this is not any Necessary Consequence nor Effect neither of this nor that Baptism It is then plainly Repugnant to Right Reason as well as to the Scripture-Testimony to affirm that to be a Spiritual Ordinance now which was a Carnal Ordinance before if it be still the same both as to its Author Matter and End however made to vary in some small Circumstances The Spirituality of the New Covenant and of its Worship established by Christ consisted not in such superficial Alterations of Circumstances but after another manner Therefore let our Adversaries shew us if they can without begging the Question and building upon some one or other of their own Principles denied by us wherever Christ appointed or ordained any Institution or Observation under the New Covenant as belonging to the Nature of it or such a necessary part of its Worship as is perpetually to Continue which being one in Substance and Effects I speak of necessary not accidental Effects yet because of some small difference in Form or Circumstance was before Carnal notwithstanding it was commanded by God under the Law but now is become Spiritual became commanded by Christ under the Gospel And if they cannot do this then if Water-baptism was once a Carnal Ordinance as the Apostle positively affirms it to have been it remains a Carnal Ordinance still and if a Carnal Ordinance then no necessary part of the Gospel or New Covenant-Dispensation and if no necessary part of it then not needful to Continue nor to be Practised by such as live and walk under this Dispensation But in this as in most other things according as we have often observed our Adversaries Judaize and renouncing the Glorious and Spiritual Priviledges of the New Covenant are sticking in and cleaving to the Rudiments of the Old both in Doctrine and Worship as being more suited and agreeable to their Carnal Apprehensions and Natural Senses But we on the contrary travel above all to lay hold upon and cleave unto the Light of the Glorious Gospel Revealed unto us And the Harmony of the Truth we profess in this The Law distinguisht from the Gospel may appear by briefly observing how in all things we follow the Spiritual Gospel of Christ as contradistinguished from the Carnality of the Legal Dispensation while our Adversaries through rejecting this Gospel are still labouring under the burthen of the Law which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear For the Law and Rule of the Old Covenant and Jews was Outward written in Tables of Stone and Parchments The Outward Baptism Worship Law distinguisht from the Inward So also is that of our Adversaries But the Law of the New Covenant is Inward and Perpetual written in the heart So is ours The Worship of the Jews was Outward and Carnal limited to set Times Places and Persons and Performed according to Set Prescribed Forms and Observations so is that of our Adversaries But the Worship of the New Covenant is neither limited to Time Place nor Person but is performed in the Spirit and in Truth and is not acted according to set Forms and Prescriptions but as the Spirit of God immediately acts moves and leads whether it be to Preach Pray or Sing and such is also our Worship So likewise the Baptism among the Jews under the Law was an outward Washing with outward Water only to Typifie an inward Purification of the Soul which did not necessarily follow upon those that were thus baptized But the Baptism of Christ under the Gospel is the Baptism of the Spirit and of Fire not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God and such is the Baptism that we labour to be baptized
Students tell us whether in their esteem they deserve a better Designation Now that to use Proverbs in things written even from the Spirit of Truth is no Inconsistency let them read Tit. 1.12 To use Proverbs is not Inconsistent with Truth Evil beasts slow bellies 2 Pet. 2.22 The dog is returned c. and the sow to the puddle But to proceed they offer to prove the Spirit in the Quakers not to be the Spirit of God because it teaches Doctrines contrary to the Scriptures The first Instance of this is The Quakers denying the necessity of the Continuance of the use of Bread and Wine as an Ordinance in the Church which they alledge pag. 67. is Commanded Matth. 26.26 Mark 14.21 Luke 22.19 But the Students may look over these places and find if they can any thing in the first two of Matth. and Mark like a Command The Use of Bread and Wine discontinued but only a meer Narrative of the Matter of Fact In that of Luke these Words are added Do this in remembrance of me They proceed to prove that this is not Ceased of its own nature carping at these Words of R. B. in his first Answer to W. M. pag. 54 55. where he saith The very Institution intimates the Abolishing thereof at Christ's Coming Insinuating as if he had mistaken himself for his Words say they allude to Paul 's 1 Cor. 11. and not to Christ's But while they take a Liberty to judge of his Thoughts they do but shew their own forwardness to Mistake For either these Words of Christ's in Luke above-mentioned do import They should do that in Remembrance of him until he came or they do not If they do not the Students give away their own Cause If they do then he might allude to that as being there included though not expressed As often c. implies no Continuance They urge The Coming of Christ mentioned must be his Coming to Judgment because these to whom Christ was come in Spirit do use it But this proves not That they then practised it by way of Necesary Duty more than their practising other things which our Adversaries themselves do acknowledge do not Continue nor are not Binding But they proceed pag. 69. to prove it Commanded since from the Apostle's words 1 Cor. 11. And to prove that this was not a meer Narrative of a Matter of Fact as we truly affirm but a Command they Affirm first That he often gives the Title of the Lord's Supper to it even as received by those Corinthians For Answer the Students must needs be like themselves and as they often belied us so they use the Apostle the same way For not only in this Chapter or Epistle but in all Paul's Epistles these Words the Lord's Supper are only once mentioned so not often Secondly verse 20. where he useth these Words thus When ye come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper It is so far from making for them that it makes clearly against them And the Syriack Copy hath not in that 20. ver nor elswhere these Words The Lord's Supper at all but in lieu of it when then ye meet together not as ye ought to do in the day of the Lord. For the Apostle clearly here asserts that the Corinthians in their using of Bread and Wine did not eat the Lord's Supper He says not they did not eat it as they ought Secondly they urge That the Apostle received of the Lord a Command to take eat do this This is strongly alledged but we deny it and let them prove it For Proof they give none unless we may take an Example for a Proof in which they beg the Question For unless that alledged Minion of the King should tell these Citizens he came to that he had received Order to Command them to obey the Decree repeated by him the Example says nothing But that the Apostle has signified any such thing to us we deny and it remains for them to prove Thirdly They alledge That since the Apostle reproves them for Abuses in the use of this and to rectifie those brings them back to the Institution the duty of Receiving it may be much more concluded from the same Institution Answer this is their bare Affirmation The Abuses committed in practising a Ceremony may be regulated by telling the proper Rise Vse and End of it and yet the using it may not be an Absolute Duty The Apostle says how those that observe Days ought to do it to the Lord it will not therefore follow that the Observation of Days is a Duty Incumbent upon all Yea the Apostle in that Place expresly asserts the Contrary Their fourth Reason is yet more Ridiculous The Apostle insinuates that it is a Duty because of the first Word FOR that which I have c. Who but the Students would Argue at this rate such kind of Reasons serve to shew their Folly not to confirm their Opinions As do these that follow with their old Example of the King's Minion In all which they miserably beg the Question taking for granted That it is a standing Statute Which is the thing remains to them yet to prove In the end of this page they desire to join the Word OFTEN which say they evidenceth it was a practice to be Continued in And here they insult because that R. B. in answer to W. M. arguing thus from this Word Often did Reply That thence it would not follow That As often as a man sins he offends God did import we should sin often Here they say R. B. egregiously shews his Folly and Impiety because they never did argue from the Word OFTEN precisely But their Brother W. M. to whom he then Answered did precisely Argue from it whose express Words in his pretended Sober Answer are pag. 92. It may be observed That the Corinthians were to be often in the use of it because it is said as often as ye eat c. So since he argued from the Word Often his answer was proper nor have they brought any thing to weaken it And whereas they add Who will say that ever sin was instituted by God R. B. never said so but yet that weakens not his Retortion nor strengthens their Argument from the Word Often As may appear in a thing truly Instituted by God and yet unlawful else as Often as a Man Marrieth he is bound to his Wife might be said to Import that it were a Duty Incumbent upon Men to Marry often or unlawful to forbear Their Fifth Reason is A Regulating Prescription is no Commanding Injunction because the Apostle prescribes the right Method of using it For they alledge If it had been indifferent he would have rather forbidden it as useless c. This is no Argument but their bare Conjecture in which they would be wiser than the Apostle and we have answered it before shewing the Apostle gives Rules to rectifie the Observation of Days
painted Bread or a Discourse of Bread cannot satisfie the Natural Tast and Appetite A Discourse of Bread satisfies not the Hungry no more can the Scripture-Words satisfie the Tast and Appetite of the Soul They cite 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. to prove That the Scriptures of Old and New Testmament are the Principal Compleat and Infallible Rule of Faith and Manners But this place doth not say that they are so The Scripture we grant but deny their Consequence Which is meerly begged without a Proof They Confess pag. 90. That the Scriptures are not sufficient every way so as to exclude the Inward Efficiency of the Spirit and the Concurrence of other Causes Very well Enough to overthrow their whole Argument Inward Revelation both Effective and Objective For among other Causes Divine Inspiration is a Main For indeed the inward Efficiency of the Spirit is that Objective Revelation which we plead for only they deny it to be Objective whereas we say it is both Effective and Objective As if a Man should grant that the Light and Heat of the Fire doth both enlighten us and warm us but deny that either that Light or Heat of the Fire is Objective to our discerning or perceptible by themselves which were ridiculous And as Ridiculous is their Conceit of an Influence of the Spirit that is meerly Effective and not Objective That the Books of the Old and New Testament are called the Scripture by way of Eminency we deny not although the Name is given at Times to other Writings nor doth this refute G. K. his Translation of that Scripture 2 Tim. 3.16 which is confirmed by the Syriack which hath it thus In Scriptura enim quae per Spiritum scripta est utilitas est ad doctrinam c. i. e. For in the Scripture which is written by the Spirit there is profit All Scripture given by Inspiration c. Controverted But their Reason from the Conjunction and is both Foolish and Blasphemous For if the Words be rendered thus All Scripture given by Inspiration is and profitable is no more Non-sense than divers other Places in the Scripture where the Conjunction and seemeth to be Redundant As in that Place Joh. 8.25 where the Greek hath it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The beginning or from the beginning the same which and * Or also I speak unto you Now if the Conjunction and render not this Place Non-sense no more doth it render that in Timothy But the Students Ignorance renders them rather Blasphemers and their Arguments Blasphemous against the Words of Christ. Moreover the Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie a strong Affirmation as to say even truly indeed as both our English Translation hath it Joh. 8.25 and Schrevelius in his Greek Lexicon doth render it And thus the Words have good Sense All Scripture or Writing given by Inspiration is even or indeed profitable And whereas they say None but a Quaker or Jesuit would so interpret the Place They declare their Malice and Ignorance For William Tindall that famous Protestant Martyr in his Translation of the Bible for which the Papists burnt him did Translate it as G. K. doth whom we think the Students dare not Accuse as a Jesuit That he was a Quaker in so far as he held divers of our Principles Condemned by the Students we shall not deny As for us we bless the Lord Unprofitable Nicities of the Letter-Mongers reprehended our Faith stands not on such a small Nicity as the want of an is or the redundancy of an and let them look to that whose Faith knoweth no other Foundation but the Letter It doth nothing hurt our Faith nor lessen the due Esteem of the Scripture to us if peradventure an is hath been lost or an and hath crept into the Text since the Original Copies were lost This we know and can prove That the Scripture cannot profit any Man to Salvation without the Illumination or Inspiration of the Spirit which is both Effective and Objective and which our Adversaries grant at least to be Effective And if they make one Exception why may not we make another Or if they say the Spirit is necessary one Way why may not we say It is necessary another Way But then the Scriptures say they would not be profitable at all in any Manner or Kind We deny the Consequence For it is profitable yea The Scripture is profitable and necessary in genere objecti materialis i. e as the material Object in Relation to all Historical Truths and divers other Dogmatical and Doctrinal Points which perhaps we would not have known without the Scripture although we had had the Spirit in as large a Measure as Men now have it Again The Scripture is profitable in genere Objecti remoti secundarii i. e. by way of a Remote and Secondary Object and Rule even as in relation to Testimonies of Life and Experience which may be known without the Scripture yet the Scripture is a Secondary Confirmation and Help even in that Case as a Card or Map of a Land is unto a Traveller that travels through the Land it self and seeth the High Ways who will not throw away his Card The Map compared with the Land in Possession because he sees the Land it self but will both delight and profit himself to Compare them both together Other great and weighty Uses we could give but these suffice to serve as Instances against their Weak and Sorry Argumentation Their last Argument is from Joh. 12.48 The Word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day But how prove they That this is the Letter of the Scripture much of which was not then writ And although this Word were not Christ himself yet it may be an Inward Testimony spoken by Christ in Men's Hearts Here they meerly beg and prove not But 2. Suppose it were the Scripture or Written Law as that cited by them Rom. 2.12 it will only follow That the Scripture is a Secondary Law or Rule which we willingly grant and that by it Men who have the Scriptures shall be judged but not by them only For if the Gentiles who have not the written Law shall be judged by the Law in the Conscience so shall these also who have both Inward and Outward be judged by both and consequently their Damnation shall be greater SECTION V. Of Worship being an Answer unto their Third Section concerning Inspirations to Duty IN their stating the Controversy in this particular they grosly prevaricate in divers things As where they say N. 2. The Question is not only about Duty on the Matter videlicet The Act of Prayers Prayer without the Spirit not acceptable c. as separated from the right manner viz. Sincerity and Truth whereas indeed the Question betwixt them and us is about Prayer as separated from the Right Manner viz. Sincerity and Truth For they say God requires Men to
to that Scripture cited by them The Plowing of the Wicked is Sin The plowing of the wicked is sin Prov. 21.4 they do not prove that it is meant of outward Plowing The Margin of our English hath it The light of the wicked and Arius Montanus rendereth it on the Margin Cogitatio the Thought That the Plowing of the Wicked is Sin in respect of the Manner and last End we grant but that the Action materially considered is Sin we altogether deny even in a Wicked Man For the outward Mechanick and Bodily Act is good in its Nature and profitable as also in so far as it may be for the Maintenance of his Family it is good So that in respect of the Matter and subordinate End there is no Difference betwixt the Plowing of a Good Man and a Wicked whereas the Prayer of a Good Man by the Spirit and the Prayer of a Wicked Man without the Spirit differ materially in their very Nature and Substance The Good Man's Prayer by the Spirit is true and real Prayer but the Wicked Man's Prayer The true Worshipper distinguished from the False is no true Prayer at all but a dead Image of it Nor is the Wicked Man a true Worshipper for he only is True Worshipper according unto the express Doctrine of Christ Who worships the Father in Spirit and in Truth whereas a Wicked Man's Plowing is as Real and true and good as to the Matter and Nature of the Outward Action as that of the Good It doth not therefore follow That according to the Quakers Principle because a Man is not to pray without the Spirit that therefore he is not to Plow without the Spirit in respect of the Matter although in respect of the Defect in the Manner and last End which should be the Glory of God he sins when he Plows as when he Prays but yet not so much in the one as in the other for in the one both Matter and Manner are wrong in the other not the Matter but Manner But if a Man be faithful to God he may as certainly expect the Divine Assistance of the Spirit to help him to Plow as to Pray although that Assistance to pray is greater and of another manner than that to Plow As is obvious to any that hath Spiritual Experience And whereas A. Sk. inferreth upon them Their going about the Spiritual Duties in a Carnal Manner c. This they call an Impudent Calumny But in this the Impudent Calumny is their own not his For dare they deny but they are for going about Prayer and Praise which are Spiritual Duties without the Motion of the Spirit which is as much as to say in a Carnal manner for what is not done by the Spirit is done but in a Carnal manner And whereas they call his Second Answer A Clear Confession c. yet they tell us nothing of it pag. 96. They are no less disingenuous in alledging That G. K. dissenteth from R. B. and A. Sk. whom in their airy and frothy Minds they call his pretended Infallible Brethren for as G. K. requireth Inspirations to the Acceptable Performance of other Actions so doth A. Sk. and R. B. Yet we all say Wicked Men may very lawfully go about Natural and Civil Performances as to Plow to Eat to pay Debts as they are materially considered without Inspiration and in so doing although they fall short of Acceptable Performance for Defect of the right manner and the End they sin less than to omit those Actions and indeed sin not at all as to the Nature and Substance of them as they do who pray without Inspiration As for G. K. his Distinction of Mandatory and Permissory Inspirations it holds good notwithstanding all their Idle Inspirations mandatory and permissory Foolish and Impertinent Cavilling at it From the Words of Paul that he essayed to go to Bithynia but the Spirit permitted him not G. K. inferred by the Rule of Contraries That the Spirit sometimes permitted him To evade this they are sorely pinched In their Account of the Dispute pag. 30. they grant his Consequence That Paul at sometimes had a Permission but they deny it to be an Inspiration But here in this new Assault they deny That any Permission followeth by the Rule of Contraries from Paul 's Words alledging That he permitted him and he permitted him not are not Contraries But G. K. did not alledge these to be Contraries for they are flat Contradictory Propositions Contrary and Contradictory distinguished But these we say are Contraries The Spirit permitted not Paul to go to Bithynia therefore he permitted him to go sometimes to some Places This is a plain Inference from the Rule of Contraries by Contraries We mean not Contraries in the strict Logical Sense as when the Contrariety is betwixt two Vniversals but Opposites which in the common way of Speech are called Contraries and in the Logical Sense may be called Sub-Contraries Which do infer one another not to be true always simul semel at one Time and Place but at divers Times and Places c. As for Example If there be a South there must be a North if a Time to come there is a Time to be past If some things be Hot and not Cold other things must be Cold and not Hot. And to use a more near Example to the Matter in Hand If when a River is not permitted to Run by reason of an excessive Freezing that bindeth it up at one Time it followeth That it is permitted to Run at another Time when there cometh a Thaw Or yet to come nearer If the Wind do not permit a Ship to sail Southward at one Time it doth permit her at another Time to sail Southward We would not have insisted on such Rudiments had not the great Ignorance of the Students occasioned it Pag. 97. They close their § 9. most pitifully After having failed to refute G. K's Distinction of Permissory and Mandatory Inspirations they say They leave it to be proved by G. K. That the simple permitting of him meaning Permission not joined with a Command hath been by Inspiration The Students Evasions and preposterous Demands Here they shamefully desert their Undertaking which was to Refute permissive Inspirations but when they fail to do this they put G. K. to prove them Whereas they ought to remember that G. K. is not bound by the Law of Dispute to prove any thing being a meer Defendent yea when he offered ex abundanti to prove something in the Dispute they blamed him for so doing being but a Defendent And now they would have him leave Defendent and become Opponent This is a pitiful Confutation of the Quakers Principles that when they fall short in their Proofs against us put us to prove our own Principles But seeing they are so beggarly as to beg from G. K. a Proof of this he shall give it unto them and it is this Admit then that according to the
to a Dispute as if a man for removing of Mistakes and Mis-representations could not give an Account of his Faith without it be Esteemed a Provocation to Dispute If he really believes I intended so I must tell him he is greatly Mistaken and I Apprehend I should know my own Intentions large as well as he He is offended that our Doctrines should be thought as different from Papists as Protestants but with how little ground will after appear And he also refers it to a fitter Probation Then after he has knocked as hard as he can upon me for my Confidence he tells me That there is little said by me but what was Refuted ere I was Born by the Orthodox Writing against Pelagians Socinians Arminians Enthusiasts Anabaptists and Papists But methinks then there was the less need of troubling the World with his Volume Yet he has for that a ready Salvo He must Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own Conceit Some other Reasons he adds for Ingaging in this his Work which the Reader may judge of whether they be of any Weight ¶ 3. As he goes on he is greatly Offended I should Style my self a Servant of the Lord and will have it to be upon no better ground than Thomas Muncer and the Annabaptists of Munster But because all this is founded upon the Supposition of my being a false Prophet and Preaching another Gospel than the true we must leave it to the Reader 's Judgment after he has taken time to Consider of the Whole Debate But because he speaks here of the producing Credentials Which are the Priest's Credentials for his Ministry pretended I would willingly have him producing his Credentials for being a Minister of the Gospel and it may be then seen if I cannot produce as valid for any thing I Style my self only he must remember That as his must have something more than his own Affirmation or those of his party so he must overturn mine with some stronger Arguments than meer Railing ¶ 4. He needs not Apprehend as he would Insinuate That the Omission of any words in the Theses perfixed to the Apology proceeds from my being Ashamed of the name QVAKER since himself bears witness in the very same page that I fully Acknowledg it in the Explanation of the Eleventh Thesis Here he has a Descant upon Trembling and seems to strange that any Quaker should bring the Example of Moses and Habbakkuk to shew that such a thing was not so much to be wondred at in the Saints but why this should be Esteemed Impertinent by him he doth not tell us As for the foaming at the mouth he talks of both here and elsewhere it is Returned upon him as a Calumny and he is desired to prove it but it must be by some more Credible and Impartial Testimony than his Mr. Stalham for Parties use not to be Admitted as Witnesses For his denominating us by that Name of Distinction I shall not quarrel But as for his Insinuation in the beginning of page 5. where he saith It is like J. B.'s malitious Insinuation against our owning the H. Scriptures and Schools of Learning we would gladly have them casting away their Bibles as no more to be regarded than the Turks Alcoran it bespeaketh the Height of Malice as to which I shall only say The Lord forgive him for so gross a Calumny which he that is the Searcher of Hearts knows to be a most horrible Lie He goes on after his usual manner saying I inveigh against all Humane Learning that hath been any ways made use of in Theology but where he finds this Asserted by me I know not Whether the Words he would deduce it from to wit That Man has rendred the plain and naked Truth obscure and mysterious by his Wisdom will bear such a Consequence is left to the Reader 's Judgment But he thinks he has found out our Secret Design of being against Learning and Schools of Learning which is neither our Affirmation nor Principle but his own false Supposition We would saith he have all those Banished that we might the more easily prevail with our Errors But methinks the Man should be more wary in venting his own false Imaginations unless he could bring some ground for them For his Assertion is so far Vntrue that if he had been rightly Informed he might have known that we have set up Schools of Learning for Teaching of the Languages and other needful Arts and Sciences and that we never denied its Vsefulness Only we denied it to be a Qualification absolutely necessary for a Minister in which Case alone we have Opposed its Necessity ¶ 5. He Confesseth I speak not amiss in saying The World is overburthened with Books but thinks that my Apology of Fifty Sheets adds some Considerable Weight But methinks he of all Men should have here been Silent who has troubled the World with an Examination of it a great deal Larger albeit he Confesseth All that is in it hath been Refuted by the Orthodox long ago And not only so but since that he has Written a Book near Twice as Large upon one Point to prove the First Day of the Week to be the Christian Sabbath and yet is but the First Time and seems but to be the Porch of what he intends upon that Subject With his Vsual Candor he saith I am against Disputes and Debates or Books written of that Nature Solid Controversy for clearing the Truth useful But to infer simply That I am against all such because I Reprove the vain Jangling that hath been and is among the School-Men is an ill Consequence He shall not find me any where speaking against useful and solid Controversies for clearing and maintaining of Truth He seemeth not to disapprove what I speak against School-Divinity Confessing the Abuse of it albeit he thinks it hath been of Vse And as for this Imagination of my being Acquainted with it we will place it among his other Mistakes He proceedeth page 8. to say I am against the Labours of those that have writ Commentaries but his Conclusion here is like others of this Nature When I mention Commentaries it is with Relation to what goes before He will not deny but Many Books are written under the Notion of Commentaries on the Scripture by which the Truth has been more Darkened than Cleared will it therefore follow that he Condemns Commentaries indefinitly As for such Writings tending to the Opening of the Scripture in which the Authors are Acted and Influenced by the same Spirit from which the Scriptures came and which alone can give the True Meaning of them I am so far from Condemning them that I highly Approve them as very Beneficial to the Church of Christ. As for his Talk here of our Disrespect to the Scriptures I shall have occasion to take Notice of it where they are particularly treated of But he is Apt to think that the real ground of my
to be written by the Spirit both which I deny and he has not so much as offer'd to prove and therefore his Argument if I should go no further can Conclude nothing Next his Minor to wit That all pretending to Immediate Revelation have been led by a Spirit of Error is not at all proved by him For albeit it might be said of all those Old Sects named by him and of the German Enthusiasts yet that is not sufficient Proof unless he can make it appear that there was never any other but were so also which yet remains for him to Prove and will trouble him to Effect For to Affirm there were never any because he has never heard nor read of them were an Argument a great deal more Ridiculous than Rational And for his Challenging me to shew them albeit the Instance of the Quakers be enough to spoil all his Argument as will after appear yet by his good Leave I am not bound Affirmanti incumbit probatio And that this Answer is sufficient I have the Testimony of his Learned Brother John Menzies Professor of Divinity at Aberdeen in his Book Intituled Papismus Lucifugus where he Answers the Jesuit's Minor the same way and proveth it to be Sufficient And surely he has not taken notice that by this he has Condemned as led by a Spirit of Error all the Primitive Protestant-Martyrs that Prophesied at any time such as John Huss and George Wishart our Country-Man and many others by reason of whose Prophesying J. B. and his Brethren have valued their Cause J. B's condemning the Primitive Martyrs as led by a Spirit of Error since these Prophecies were said by them to proceed from Inward and Immediate Revelation and so they pretended to it albeit not as the ground of their Faith and Obedience in all matters of Doctrine and Worship yet as the ground of that Faith by which they believed these Revelations to proceed from God and not from the Devil and of that Obedience by which they published and declared these things Moreover he Overturns all by the last Instance which he gives to prove it to wit That the Quakers who pretend to Immediate Revelations are led by a Spirit of Error For Proof of which we have only his bare Affirmation and yet till this be proved his Objection is naught For indeed this is a rare way of debating with an Adversary to make use of an Argument by which he must be Concluded already as Erroneous in order to Convince him that he is such If this be not as they say To put the Plough before the Oxen I know not what can be said to be so For J. B's Argument to make it plain amounts to this J. B's Argument against Immediate Revelation If the Quakers be led by a Spirit of Error Then the Quakers Err in affirming Inward and Immediate Revelation to be the Ground and Foundation of true Faith But The Quakers are led by a Spirit of Error Therefore c. Which is just as if I should Argue thus If J. B. be a Knave a manifest Lyar and Calumniator Then he is not a true Minister of Christ nor fit to write in Religious matters But J. B. is such Therefore c. Is not this a notable way of Arguing and a quick Way to dispatch Controversies What saith Robert Macquair Doth not this well become his singularly Acute solidly Learned and truly gracious Author Postscript pag. 559. The next thing to be considered is His Stating the Controversy Where according to his Custom he all along beggs the Question For having writ down his Opinion and taken it for granted without offering to prove it he goes on and builds thereon without more difficulty as if it were not to be further questioned This appears in pag. 20.28.29.30.34.35.36.37.40.43.44 in which places he states his Opinion of the Immediate Revelation of the Spirit What J. B. will have Revelation by the Spirit to be as not being such as presents any Truths to be believed objectively but only in removing the Vail of the Eye of the Vnderstanding and spiritually Illuminating the Mind and Working effectually upon the Heart to embrace and receive the Truth already Revealed and Proposed in the Scriptures Now for not using this Distinction and holding Revelation in this his sense he greatly blames me as jumbling things together and darkning and pre-judging the Reader and bestows upon me ever and anon many Railing Words with the Repetition of which I will not trouble the Reader And yet notwithstanding this Accusation in Contradiction of himself he cites me pag. 42. and 28. taking notice of this very Distinction as used by some and also Refuting it Surely the Man must have miserably forgot himself and will verify the Proverb Lyars should have good Memories Next Since he judges I Err in not holding this manner of Revelation and that he builds all his Superstructure upon it as the Truth he should have offer'd to prove it to be such For since he saith They willingly grant to these Scriptures noted by me As many as are led by the Spirit of God c. Rom. 8.9 14. together with 1 Joh. 2.27 Joh. 6.45 Joh. 14.16 17. By which Scriptures he cannot deny but the manner of the Apostles being led as well as of all Christians is Included since some of them were directed to the Apostles particularly In all which there is no ground for his Distinction and Assertion It is not said The Comforter that I will send shall lead you the Apostles immediately by proposing Truth to be believed objectively to you and this shall be accounted Extraordinary but after you it shall only lead other Christians by Illuminating their Understandings and that shall be the Ordinary Leading And since then it is a Rule granted by all that we must hold to the plain Words of Scripture unless an Vrgent Necessity force us to the Contrary he should shew us where this Necessity lies and prove his Assertion to be the true and genuine Meaning of the Words and that we ought not to take them as we do according to their plain and naked Signification and Import For I would willingly hear any ground from Scripture of this Nature of Extraordinary and Ordinary Revelations as pertinent to this Debate For albeit Things Extraordinary may be Reveal'd to some and not to others that only respects the Things Revealed not the manner of Revelation For a Man telling me Extraordinary things and Ordinary albeit the things may differ in their Nature yet neither my manner of Hearing nor his of Speaking do thence necessarilly differ ¶ But perhaps the Man doth Apprehend that what he saith pag. 20.30.31.40.44.45 is some Proof of his Assertion which if he do the Reader may easily observe his Mistake where he would Insinuate As if the manner of Immediate Revelation by the Spirit asserted by me rendred all other Means Mediate Instruction not Inconsistent with Immediate Revelation even those of Teaching
easie Compend of our Active Duty to God and Man yea to ourselves Soberly That is with Moderation Temper Government of our Passions and Affections Let your Moderation be known unto all Men Phil. 4.5 said the same Apostle His Reason was pressing and unanswerable For the Lord is at hand So be Sober for the Lord 's at hand and let Men see that we are so Though the Exhortation chiefly regards Ourselves that we may not Abuse or Disorder our selves Overdo or Act in reference to our own Persons and Affairs As if he had said be sober and moderate in thy Giving Getting Conversing in thy Pains and Pleasures in Thoughts VVords and Deeds in thy whole Man and Life Righteously Refers to our Neighbour to do as we would be done to To defraud none oppress none 1 Cor. 6.7 8 9. Eph. 6.1 10. Col. 3.20 25. Prov. 20.10 Ch. 22.28 but Discharge all Relations and Conditions uprightly to Parents Magistrates Husband VVife Children Servants Neighbours Strangers Enemies Just VVeights and Measures Old Land-marks and an Even Ballance These are well-pleasing to God in all Ranks and Relations Godly in this present VVorld relates chiefly to God the Faith VVorship and Obedience we owe to him Obedience by a pious Life For this is the will of God even our Sanctification without Holiness none shall see him 1 Thess. 4.3 So that to be Godly is to Live after God not the World and after his Spirit not our Flesh but to Crucify the flesh with the lusts thereof Rom. 13.12 14. Gal. 5.22 25. and put on the Lord Jesus Christ his Meekness his Patience Humility Mercy Forgiveness Love Temperance and Righteousness and make no more provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof No more be in pain Matt. 6.31 33. what we should eat or drink or put on or how we may make our selves Wealthy or Mighty in the Earth after the way of the Old Gentiles that knew not God as is the Custom of almost the whole Christian World so called at this very day which General Declension shews that a General Judgment and an Over-flowing Scourge of God is at hand but to seek the Kingdom of God first and deny our selves Job 14.14 and watch and pray waiting all the Days of our appointed Time until our Great and Last Change shall come So that Godliness is God-likeness Translation Renewing yea the First Resurrection that those who Attain to it the Second Death shall have no Power over them This Godliness with Contentment is the greatest Gain 1 Tim. 4.8 Ch. 6.6 1 Joh. 3.5 8. and profitable in all things the Sum and Substance of Religion and of all God's Dispensations in the World yea the very End of Christ's coming and the blessed Fruit of his Victory over Hell Death and the Grave that Sin might have an end the Devil's Works in Man and Woman be destroyed and Man made an holy Temple and Tabernacle for God to dwell in This is Godliness and this Godliness is the way to please God 2 Cor. 6.16 Matt. 6.20 1 Tim. 6.18 19. to lay up Treasure in Heaven to be fruitful in Grace rich in Faith and good VVorks and to lay hold on Eternal Life and become Heirs of an Inheritance Incorruptible Which brings me to the Fifth and Last thing observable from this Comprehensive Passage viz. The Comfortable Reward and End of this Life and Grace in vers 13. Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ That is Looking for the Fulfilling of that blessed Hope to Have what they Hoped for An Hope that does not make Ashamed those that have it but is an Anchor to the Soul in the greatest Storms that Attend Men on thair Way to Blessedness It is for the Accomplishment of this Hope the gracious Livers have a Title to Expect and Wait. They that have been Taught by the Grace what to deny and what to do and to look and live above the VVorld and by an Eye of Faith to pierce through the dark Clouds of Time and stedfastly to look into the things that are Eternal they are but Travellers and Pilgrims as were all the Godly Fathers of old Time and expect with them a City Heb. 11.10 whose Builder and Maker is God These wait for the Glorious Appearing of the great God and their Saviour Jesus Christ as the Blessed End of their Hope and to them he will certainly come as the Glorious and Faithful Rewarder of the Faith Obedience and Perseverance of his poor Disciples and Servants They shall Reign with him a Thousand Years and for ever Their Obedience and Sufferings are but Temporal but the Recompence Everlasting Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard Isa. 64.4 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Psal. 84.1 10. nor has the Heart of man been able to perceive the good things that God has laid up in store for those that love him But in the Heavens that do not wax Old and which will never pass away those holy Courts of God the true Followers of Jesus the Children of Light and Disciples of the Cross that come through the many Tribulations from Conviction to Conversion from Conversion to Consummation the End of all shall Understand Tast and Enjoy those Hidden and Divine Pleasures that are as Ineffable as they are Eternal This Reader is the Old Divinity that of Christ and his blessed Apostles Time and Teaching renewed in our Days by the fresh Breaking-forth of the same Light Spirit and Grace that brought this Doctrine of Immortality to Light in those Primitive and Happy Ages yea Immortality it self a Divine Never-dying Life into the Soul that which quickens it out of the sleepy and dead Estate Sin brings it into by which it looseth all Savour or Relish of Spiritual Things I say this is the Divinity God has Renewed among us an Experimental Work or Operation of his Light Spirit and Grace in our Souls This Light is the great Luminary of the Intellectual World that expels the Darkness and scatters the Mists of Sin and Death that the Souls of Men labour under where it is Received and Obeyed This is the Day of God in which the whole World has a Visitation that by which we are to see our Way to God and Duty to him and all Men as the outward Sun is the Means by which we see our outward Ways and the Difference of outward Things This was the Principle that divinely endued the Author of the ensuing Volume and has enabled him to Write of God and his Attributes by the Power and Truth of them upon his own Soul He felt his Justice in himself for his Disobedience His Mercy by the Forgiveness of his Sins through Faith and Repentance His Holiness by the Sanctification of his Grace through Obedience to the Teachings of it That God is a Spirit by the Spiritual Operations upon his own Soul the Spiritual Part of himself And Omnipresent because he felt his Presence or him present as a
Reprover or a Comforter where-ever he was or went Omniscient for the same Reason because he could not think amiss but he was sensible in himself that God knew and saw it by the Reproof that followed it Omnipotent because he Experienced that Power by which the Soul is Redeemed from Death and Sinners are made Saints the most excellent and self-evident Proof of God's Omnipotency or All-sufficiency For nothing can Regenerate but that which Made nor Renew but that which Created And as the Heavens are nobler than the Earth so is the Soul than the Body Renovation and Redemption than Creation And Resurrection than our former Life This Reader thou shalt come to know to be true as any Demonstration that can be made to thy outward Senses if thou wilt but Turn in thy Mind to this Teacher and wilt become the humble Scholar of this Divine Master and Learn of him in true Silence and with Diligence Ponder what I say Wouldst thou know God and be fitted for his Heavenly Mansions seek him in his Image and thou wilt know the Original by it Be thou but as Clay is in the Hands of the Potter Pliable and he will Form and Fashion thee aright He will make thee a Vessel of Honour for his own House and Use and by the Self-denial Love Purity Patience Righteousness c. that he will work in thee or work thee into thou shalt be able to pronounce truly and knowingly God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that fear him Surely there is a God in all the Earth Then wilt thou be able to say with holy David and Mary Ps. 103.1 O my Soul bless the Lord and all that is within me Luk. 1.46 47. praise his Holy Name My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever Amen Lord Jesus Amen I am now come to the Labours of our Author and shall mention them according to their respective Times with the Nature of their Subjects in brief to Inform and Excite the Reader to their Perusal The First of them in Order of Place was so in Order of Time it is called Truth Cleared of Calumnies He writ it at least published it 1670. The Occasion of it was a Book Intituled A Dialogue between a Quaker and a stable Christian the Invention it is supposed of one W. Mitchel a Preacher near Aberdeen the Disingenuous Fruit of a long Controversy between him and some other bitter Sticklers and the People called Quakers who as well by that Discourse as in the Pulpits of those Times were Represented as was our Lord Jesus and his Followers the Worst of Men possest of the Devil and Blasphemers under Pretence of being Led by the Spirit And for their Principles that they denied the True Christ Angels Heaven and Hell That they held no sort of Resurrection of the Body nor Final Judgment were Enemies to Magistrates and Ministry Comparing them with the worst of Hereticks to Inflame the People against them A Field large enough for this Zealous Young Soldier to Engage his Adversary in and where one of a less Capacity than God had blessed him with might without any Praesumption have comforted himself with an Assured Success which with much Ease and Plainness he hath obtained against the Goliah-like Vanity and Praesumption of the Author of the said Dialogue And in which he has Detected the Power and Evil Effects both of Ignorance and Malice and shewen and defended the Innocency of his Friends and above all the Soundness and Scripture-Verity of their Principles It is written with Strength and Moderation His next Publick Service of this kind was published in the same Year called Queries to the Inhabitants of Aberdeen It is the most eminent Place in the North of Scotland and near his Father's Seat then alive and many Years after They contain the Principles and Practices of the Children of Error and Truth wherein the Inhabitants of that Place especially might see themselves What they were and what they should be and remember some of them what they once pretended to Seek for and Enjoyed and were fallen from writ as an Appendix to the former Discourse His Third Book was writ in the Year following 1671. upon the same Controversy and against the same Opposer namely W. Mitchel Intituled William Mitchel Vnmasked Being a Rejoinder to that Persons Reply to his Truth Cleared from Calumnies In which the Dispute rises High and the Contest seems Sharp and Close but to every Impartial Reader the Advantage evidently runs upon our Author's side Who appears rather Zealous than Heated and sharp on his Enemy's Matter than Person For he rather pities his Enemy than Triumphs over his Weakness and Envy Here as in an Exact Draught the Reader has an Account of the fabulous Principles given under our Names and those that we really profess and the Pleasure even Men pretending to Religion take to render a poor self-denying People that which they are not As if they feared we should be in the right or hold Principles nearer to what they profess themselves to believe than is convenient for their Interest with the People to allow lest that together with the Sobriety their worst Enemies confess to be so Conspicuous among them should give them too great a Credit with their Hearers The next Year 1672. he writ A Seasonable Warning and Exhortation to and Expostulation with the Inhabitants of Aberdeen concerning this present Dispensation and Day of God's Living Visitation towards them A serious Title and Dedication and a serious Discourse they are deeply indebted to his Love Labour and Memory I pray God it may be as Bread cast upon the Waters to the Inhabitants of that Northern City of this Famous Isle of Britain and that they and theirs after these many Days that have past may find it to their Spiritual Edification that they may know there was a Servant and Prophet of God among them with the Testimony of the Everlasting Gospel which is the Power of God revealed in Man to Regenerate him May it never rise up in Judgment against that People His Fifth Book was his Catechism writ in 1673. the Title A Catechism and Confession of Faith Approved of and Agreed unto by the General Assembly of the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Christ himself Chief Speaker in and among them Which containeth a True and Faithful Account of the Principles and Doctrines which are most surely believed by the Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland who are reproachfully called by the Name of Quakers yet are found in the one Faith with the Primitive Church and Saints as is most Clearly Demonstrated by some plain Scripture-Testimonies without Consequences or Commentaries which are here Collected and Inserted by way of Answer to a few Weighty yet Easie and Familiar Questions fitted as well for the Wisest and Largest as for the Weakest and Lowest Capacities And Expostulation with and Appeal to all
as a Foundation of which Christ the VVord was the Corner-stone succeeding Believers were to be built And I challenge all the Disaffected Societies and Forms without Distinction or these Vniversalists I am upon to shew any other manner of God's Appearing to Men in any Age or that in the same Age or by the Primitive or first Instruments of such Appearance there was a Change of Dispensation or a Justifiable Declension from what they testified of and were the Instruments to gather and settle People in so that to Conclude Vniversal Love is a blessed Truth but with the Degrees Limitations and Distinctions that the Spirit of God sets and gives us whose Fruit it is and unto which we shall do well to take heed Gal. 5.22 that we at all times Love truly and rightly not too little nor too much but Consider the Object and Motive of our Love and we cannot fail in that great Duty of Love to all This Treatise of Vniversal Love is followed by another styled An Epistle of Love published at the End of the same Year Writ and sent by our Author as A Friendly Advice to the Ambassadours of the Several Princes of Europe met at Nimmegen to Consult of the Peace of Christendom shewing the True Cause of War and proposing the best Means of Peace To each of whom also was given one of his Apologies which were all received with Respect This Epistle has Edification in it to our present Times The Original Cause of VVar is not hard to Assign the Apostle James has told it us long ago He asks and Answers the Question thus From whence come Wars and Fightings among you Jam. 1.1 Come they not hence even from your Lusts that War in your Members It is what every one feels in himself that has not Overcome those Lusts or whose Consciences are not seared with an hot Iron though it is also what very few make their due Reflections upon else we should hear of less Blood and Misery But if Lust be the Ground of War what is become of the Doctrine of Christianity among those supposed Christians and what are they that shew a Pleasure in the Accounts of the bloodiest Battles Can a Christian of Christ's making look upon the Blood of Men or hear of it without horror and distress of Spirit Less surely can they shed it or encourage those that have a Delight or Part in that Man-slaying Work But how low and grosly are some Professed Christians fallen from the Nature of true Religion and the purity and Power of the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints through Sufferings by them to us Jud. 3. that hang their Religion and Gospel upon their Swords and Guns and pin it upon an Arm of Flesh as if the Gospel could be Overcome of that which cannot Touch it But how I pray did the Primitive Christians maintain their Ground yea grew upon their Adversaries Poor Naked Men and not of the greatest Quality or Capacity and finally Vanquish Cruelty it self but by Faith and Patience Hebr. 11.33 42. Thus they Converted Executioners Overcame Emperours and Armies and by a Successive Course of Meek and Suffering Integrity turned the Edge of the Sword quenched the Flames of Fire with their own Blood not the Blood of their Enemies and finally this Holy Constancy translated them from the Theatre of Slaughter to the Palaces and Diadems of Princes This brings to my Remembrance a Passage our Author has in this Book to this Effect That there is nothing a Greater Tarnish and Withering to the Protestant Cause than the Professors of it betaking themselves and that early to Earthly Powers and Weapons to preserve and promote it which are not the Weapons of the Apostolical Warfare and Inconsistant with the Nature Power and Glory of Christ's Kingdom For the Preservation of the Protestant Religion stands in a Spirit of true Reformation as well in Life as Doctrine as plainly decayed if not lost and it is to be feared for that Reason that God will blow upon all other Ways of supporting it especially such as we thought a Fault in our Enemies in Wordly Arts and Force If we would be Zealous to purpose for the Protestant Cause let us look to God and not Man Examine our selves Try our selves 2 Cor. 13.5 Luke 15.8 9. see what is wanting in us both to God and Man Let us Return Home Light our own Candle and sweep our own House and we shall find the Silver we have lost the Zeal Power and Purity of Soul that make our Worship acceptable our Prayers prevalent our Lives Blameless and an Ornament to Religion This Faith this Holiness this Reformation is the Cause of God and the rest is our own though we Gild the Pill flatter our selves and deceive others This Spirit of Reformation knows no Man no People no Church after the Flesh This goes on Overturning Overturning all Will-worship Man-made Faiths Humane Inventions and Traditions of Men about Religion till he Reigns in the Soul whose Right it is to Rule It is an Holy Leaven O Reader that leavens the whole Lump into its own Nature and makes fallen Matt. 13.33 2 Pet. 1.4 degenerate earthly-minded Man that receives it a Partaker of the Divine Nature This the earliest and purest Protestants aimed at Heb. 11. that had their Eye to an Eternal Country the City whose Builder and Maker is God Free of Humane Considerations and the Mixture of Worldly Interests and Advantages And to Evidence the Truth of what I say Read the Accounts that the Faithfullest Writers of those Times have obliged us with and you shall Taste the same thing even among the Martyrs themselves where the Country and Mechanical People those of least Account out-do those of Title Learning and Preferment among Church-men themselves as to the Life and Purity of Reformation and Zeal and Courage for it as occasion offered to shew both Wherefore O ye Protestants of all sorts Return Return Return to your First Love and Works before it be too late Hos. 12.6 Rev. 2.5 Joel 2. Zach. 1.3 Rend your Hearts and not your Garments and turn to the Lord your God you have but a little Time and a great Account to give Think not to be long safe from your Enemies without while you Entertain your greatest Enemy within in despight of God his Spirit and Scripture and your own Pretensions to Reformation While you have so many Sins on your Enemy's Side to fight against you they will ever have Power to Vex you if not to Destroy you And if in some Evils your Enemies Exceed yet in Moral Ones you are not a Jot behind them And Remember they have their Beads but you have your Bibles in your Hands when you Transgress God Almighty make you sensible with True and Godly Sorrow a Repentance never to be repented of that you may Overcome your Enemies by your Faith 2 Cor. 7.9 10. Prayers and Love and by the Power of your Example Recommend your Religion
not another Truth than is therein Mentioned But this Reader will not do I must ask Questions too What is Revealed to thee by them Thou Readest of God of Christ of the Spirit and hast framed an Image or Idea of them in thy mind but is that Revelation Revelation in Religion is Knowledge Experience thy own Sight and Sense that of which thou art a true Witness Mind me I beseech thee Regeneration is the great Work of Religion yea Religion true Christian Religion is Regeneration as I before hinted for it is the very End of Christ's Coming we cannot be Saved without it Nay it is called that very Salvation Hear the Apostle But after the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour appeared Tit. 3.4 5 6. not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he Saved us by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Now so far is God Revealed to thee and art thou truly Religious as thou art Born again Washed and Renewed by the Regenerating Spirit of God and no further If the Scripture were all the Revelation needful the Wicked Jews must have known it as well as the Believing Jews because they could read them and had as good or better Natural Capacities to take the Grammatical and Literal Sense of what they Deliver But they were so far from understanding Christ and his Doctrine though he did Wonders and spake as we Read among them that Christ both tells us they were Blind and Solemnly Thanks his Father that he had hid those Secrets from the Wise and Prudent of that Day and Revealed them unto Babes Mat. 11.25 And to this Christ himself beareth Testimony when he saith That No Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son Revealeth him Luk. 10.22 And as the Son Reveals the Father so the Father must bear Witness Reveal and Draw to the Son Joh. 5.37 or Men cannot come to him that Opens and Reveals the Father Thus in that notable Saying of Christ to Peter when asking him But who sayest thou that I am and he Answering Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God he replyed upon him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona Matt. 16.17 Flesh and Blood hath not Revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven So that though Peter both heard and saw abundance of what Christ said and did it was needful to such a Confession that God should give a further Revelation of his Son And if Peter wanted under all the Advantages he had above us this Revelation can we hope to know him without it O no Reader As he knew him thou must know him For none cometh to the Son but whom the Father draweth O mind these Drawings in thy own Soul Joh. 6.44 And how does the Father draw Few Alass trouble themselves to weigh these Matters and yet they must be Christians for all that But what say the Schools the Criticks and Learned upon these things Why they search their Books study and beat their Brains and Imagine the Meaning Some say it is by the Scripture but that won't do for that says no such thing On the Contrary that the Father Reveals the Son and Draws to him and the Son Reveals the Father and not the Scripture that tells us so which is neither the Father nor the Son Nor indeed is it Comprehensible how the Father should Reveal the Son by Scripture and the Son the Father for so the Scripture would Reveal both which is the Reciprocal Work of the Father and Son And were it so Caiphas would have known Christ as well as Peter and the Wicked would know both the Father and the Son as well as the Good because the Scriptures are as much in their Power Which is Absurd and Impossible But others more Refined say It is by the Spirit opening the Scripture As indeed the First Reformers and all those that have been pushing on a further Reformation ever since have spoken and have founded their Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scripture upon the Testimony and Revelation of the Spirit in them These come near But then what is this Spirit how dost thou know it its Manifestations Revelations and Operations and by what Tokens is it to be Known and Discerned This is a Question not to be Answered but by an Experienced Man for the Spirit of God Reveals not the deep things of God to the Carnal and Disobedient Man Many are the Degrees Steps and Lessons of this Holy Spirit of God in and to Man as Man receives it and obeys it and daily inclines to Learn the Lesson it teaches I may tell thee Reader and I am not far from the Matter that this great Work is as Mechanicks and Chymists speak a Manual Operation a spiritual Labour and Travel Work out your own Salvation Phil. 2.12 13. saith the Apostle with Fear and Trembling by whom by him by whom all things were made of old and that maketh all things new Jo. 1.3 4. even Christ the Word in whom is Life and that Life is the Light of Men. It is this Sort of Revelation we Contend for not that of particular Persons or things past or to come which refer not Immediately to the Knowledge and Work of God in Man by which God makes himself savingly known to Men. That Private or Particular sort of Revelation is however called a Revelation also as the Visions of the Prophets Peter's Sense of the Hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira and Agabus's Foresight by the Holy Ghost of Paul's Sufferings at Jerusalem This Sort of Extraordinary Knowledge is truly called Revelation But this is not the Revelation we insist upon though neither is this Ceased Nor yet is it those Doctrines as of the Incarnation of the Son of God his Death Resurrection and Ascension c. Confirmed and Enforced upon the Belief of Men by the Authority of Miracles which is also another sort of Revelation which being once done need not to be Repeated and of which the Wicked are as much Possessors as the Good the Matter of Fact I mean of the visible Transaction of the Son of God being Recorded in the Scriptures of Truth which they also have in their Hands But the Inward sight sense and knowledge of the Will of God by the Operation of his Light and Spirit shining and working in our Hearts and the Spiritual Sense of that blessed Appearance of the Son of God in the Flesh and the Moral End of it to our Benefit and Advantage is no more Conceivable by Carnal Men than is Regeneration without which no Man can enter into the Kingdom of God Christ tells us John 3.5 there is such a thing and the two Principles of it Water and Spirit but he do's not tell us what they are how to be Obtained what way they Operate or we are to Apply them or our selves to them for that New Birth
Ability of the large Vnderstanding given him to set forth the Beauty and Infallibility of the Grounds and Excellent Principles of Truth and to open and prove the same over all Opposition of Gainsayers to the reaching of the Understanding of many of the Great and Learned of the World both at home and abroad and to the begetting a better Opinion and Judgment concerning both the Principles and Practices of God's People called in Derision Quakers than had been held forth by the Craft and Malice of the Priests and others to be in the beginning as Fools Madmen c. and holding non-sensical and unreasonable as well as Vnscriptural Whimsies and so forth But God who is Light is wipeing away the Reproaches and Slanders off his Blessed Truth and People and will more and more exalt the Standard and Ensign thereof to gather the Nations unto it out of their Cruelties Lusts and Roarings against one another and of the overflowing of all Abominations among them to the great provoâ—ing of God's Wrath. Reformation from all which will never be known nor Deliverance from the Bondage and Miseries thereby occasioned by all the Might Power and Fightings of the Carnal Sword nor Politick Devices of Men but only by the blessed Power Spirit and Grace of God which hath appeared to all to that very end to teach to deny Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World if Men would turn to believe in and obey it Which is our Testimony and Holy Principle we direct all unto and which this Blessed Servant of the Church laid out himself in his many Excellent Writings especially his Apology to promulgate through the World with blessed Success not only in Printing but in Travelling having gone through a great part of Germany Holland and other Countries in the Service of the Truth And the Lord blessed him every way therein He was an Exemplary Husband Parent and Master in his Family so that the Beauty good Order Holiness Gravity and Lowliness of the Truth shined therein I can say to my Refreshment and many others as in a Quiet Habitation He was a Man of great Meekness Sweetness and Lowliness of Spirit and of such a bearing contented Mind that though a Man of such Parts and great Authority over Evil in his Servants and others yet kept in such a Dominion over any thing that would have disordered his own Syirit that I can truly say I never saw him in any peevish angry brittle or disordered Temper since ever I knew him though I had as much Intimacy and Frequency of Concerns with him as most here-away He was so far from being lifted up or Exalted by the great Gifts he had received from his Maker both in the Truth and as a Man that I can say I have often desired to grow in the plain down-right humble and lowly Spirit wherein he became as weak with the weakest and poor with the poorest and low with the lowest as well as he could be deep with them that were deep So that in a good Measure he had learned to become all things to all Men with a true and upright Endeavour to Gain some I can say I have parted with a most Entire Friend and Counsellor But glory to him who lives for ever through great Mercy I know him who is the Fountain of all Wisdom Righteousness Love and Pity who I trust will make up this great Loss not only to me but to his blessed People and Church especially in this his Native Country of Scotland in and to which he had made him an Ornament and as a Star and shining Light And Oh! that he may make me and all whom he hath Convinced of his pretious Truth in our Native Country whether living therein or abroad to shine forth in the Glory Beauty and Virtue thereof and as the first Fruits thereof and Witnesses of the great Glory that shall livingly arise therein though perhaps ushered in by great Tribulations when our God shall wipe away the Reproaches thereof and change its name from Barren or Forsaken because our God hath a true though a small Seed therein in which he delighteth and is Married thereunto and many shall be the Children of the Lamb's Marriage therein in due time when the Leaven of the Pharisees is purged out and the Bastard-Births of the Adulteresses and Whoredoms of a false Profession therein comes to be seen and turned from As concerning this our Dear Friend R. B. The Lord soon began his Work with him shortly after he was brought home from France wherein in his Young and Tender Years he was brought up at Paris under his Vncle And though at his Return thence but about sixteen Years yet it having pleased the Lord to bring his Dear and Worthy Father into his most-precious Truth he having thereby occasion to be in the Meetings of God's Chosen People who Worship him in his own Name Spirit and Power and not in the Words of Man's Wisdom and Preparation he was by the Virtue and Efficacious Life of this Blessed Power shortly after reached and that in the Time of Silence a Mystery to the World and came so fast to grow therein through his great Love and Watchfulness to the Inward Appearance thereof that not long after he was called out to the Publick Ministry and declaring abroad what his Eyes had seen and his Hands had handled of this pure Word of Life Yea the Lord who loved him counted him worthy so Early to Call him to some Weighty and Hard Services for his Truth in our Nation that a little after his coming out of the Age of Minority as it is called he was made willing in the Day of God's Power to give up his Body as a Sign and Wonder to this Generation and to deny himself and all in him as a Man so far as to become a Fool for his sake whom he loved in going in Obedience to his Will in Sack-cloath and Ashes through Three of the Chief Streets of the City of Aberdeen As his Testimony printed concerning it holds forth his Service therein besides some weighty Services at several Steeple-houses and Sufferings in Prison for the Truth 's Sake And I cannot forbear to touch at his great Care and Zeal that Vnity Love and Sweetness might be preserved among God's Children over all the Cunning Endeavours of the Enemy to the contrary What shall I more say concerning this Servant of the Lord but that Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit from henceforth they rest from their labours and their works follow them He laid down the Body in the Holy and Honourable Truth wherein he had served it about Twenty Three Years upon the Third Day of the Eighth Month 1690. near the Forty Second Year of his Age at his own House of Vrie in Scotland and it was laid in his own Burial-Ground there upon the sixth Day of the same Month before many Friends and other
so now for sometimes they said Christ had a Devil sometimes the Apostles are drunk and other times mad Since these things have thus occurred there hath been no little Industry used to suppress this People by Threatnings and Persecution on which account divers of our Friends have been cast into Prison and some detained long in of the said Town and also by Preaching and Writing of which for thy Information receive this Account There were Thirty Queries sent by the Bishop of Aberdeen so called to Alexander Jaffray Also about the same time a Paper of three or four sheets subscribed by G. M. Intituled The State of the Controversie betwixt the Protestants and the Quakers The Thirty Queries were not long after answered by G. K. in respect of A. J. his sickness at that time and returned to him from A. J. And some time afterwards George Meldrum his Paper called The State of the Controversie c. was answered by G. K. to which Papers of G. K. somewhat was premised by A. J. which Papers being several times called for but particularly in a Letter from G. M. his own hand to A. J. wherein he intreats for an Answer that he might know as he said in what things we did differ or in what things we only seemed to differ were sent to him within nine Months after the receipt of G. M. his Papers Before all which a Sermon on purpose was preached by G. M. against the Quakers in the ninth Month 1666. wherein the sum of both his Papers was asserted only that it was digested in a Pulpit-way and introduced with an insinuating Discourse of his pretended kindness for the persons of some Quakers and his unwillingness to meddle with them were it not his Office and Zeal for the Truth did ingage him to it but if it had been so indeed he would have said no more of them then the truth whereas it is stuffed with Lies which are positively asserted to be the Quakers Principles by this pretended Preacher of the Gospel from his Chair of Verity so called or rather of Falshood whereas yet G. M. his Papers afore-mentioned were not so much as sent far less answered by which according to the words of his own Letter above-mentioned he was to receive an Understanding of the Differences and yet before he received this Vnderstanding whilst he was ignorant of the Differences according to his own Confession he is not ashamed to forge numbers of Lies upon the Lord's People and as if they had been Truths consisting in his Knowledge to vent them before a Publick Auditory which Sermon is largely answered by G. K. together with some Animadversions upon it from A. J. Also several Papers past betwixt W. M. and G. K. which had their rise from some Queries sent by P. L. to W. M. answered by W. M. to which was returned a Reply by P. L. the same was Replied to by G. K. which having received a Reply from W. M. was again Replied to at length by G. K. It is now Two years and upwards since the last Papers from our Friends hands were returned to the respective Priests unto which as yet there is no Answer nor any of them published but instead of all at last comes out a Dialogue of which the Proverb is verified Parturiunt Montes nascitur Mus subscribed by no Hand but generally understood to be W. M. and by him not denied which whether it be to deal fairly or ingenuously the Ingenuous may judge Ingenuous Dealing would have stated things as related from our own Friends Hands and given an Account of the many Scripture-Proofs and Arguments made use of in our Friends Papers which this Author in his Dialogue hath done nothing less but deceitfully hath represented us considering what had past before to which he himself whoever he is could not but be privy and disingenuously hath dissembled and waved almost all the Scripture-Proofs and Arguments used by our Friends in their aforesaid Papers as any may see who are willing to look into the said Papers Copies of which are in several Hands and any who desire to read them may have them readily from our Friends Therefore however this Work of his may satisfy and deceive a benighted Multitude whose Faith is pinned upon other Mens sleeves nevertheless I hope it shall be an occasion to discover these Men to any who are ingenuous and love not to be hood-winked but are willing to know the Truth So Reader having given thee this Account I leave thee to the perusing of the following Papers omitting these needless Apologies and flattering Insinuations usual in Epistles of this Kind my end being To answer the Good in all and to starve and not to feed the Evil in any And I refer my self to that innocent and pure Principle the Light of Christ Jesus in thee which bears Testimony against all Evil that thereby thou mayst try and examine what is here written and who are the Owners of Scripture and who are the Wresters of it which thou canst only truly discover and discern by the Spirit from which the Scriptures came even that inward Light and Word of Grace that is able to build thee up and establish thee in the Truth unto which I Recommend thee Vry the 19th of the 2d Month 1670. R. B. TRUTH CLEAR'D OF CALUMNIES To the AVTHOR HAVING taken a serious view of the Dialogue lately published by thee and having weighed and considered it in the fear of the Lord I found it incumbent upon me to Reply unto it both upon the account of Truth at which it strikes and for thy Soul's sake as also for others that any simple hearts who have received hurt by it may be undeceived and thy unfair dealing may be manifested In order whereunto before I enter upon the Examination thereof particularly I have some things to lay before thee And first as to the manner and method of thy Book by way of Dialogue it is no ways allowable from thee being but a meer shift to shuffle by those other Papers aforesaid from being noticed or regarded where all these Controversies are spoken to at large Secondly The nature of this kind of writing ought to have engaged thee to set down as largely what could be said on the one hand as on the other and to have brought-in all the Proofs and Arguments alledged by the Quakers or at least the most considerable but in that thou hast done nothing so much as becomes a Man far less a Christian as any who have conversed with that people cannot but be sensible of Thou hast made a bare Representation of the Quaker's Principles and that so scantly and mincingly that thou frequently givest thy self occasion to fight against a Man of straw But that wherein thou hast manifested the badness of thy Cause and thy weakness in pleading for it is that the substance of what thou hast said is nothing else but that which was writ in the Papers before mentioned and so largely answered
know that then your Juglings about them would be made manifest But indeed we are far from desiring People to heed your false Glosses and Commentaries upon them whereby ye darken them rather than interpret them Thirdly thou sayst When you want an inward Command to a Duty I trow the outward Command of the Scripture is not regarded Answ. Here thou writest as one unacquainted with the Law and New Covenant writ in the heart the inward Command is never wanting in the due season to any Duty as it is waited for and the outward Testimony or Signification of the Command we regard in its place Is it not a regarding the outward to mind the inward Vnction and Spirit to which it directs which inward teacheth all things and leadeth into all Truth 1 John 2.27 1 Cor. 14.15 John 16.13 yea do not such more regard the outward than they who under a pretence of an outward Command do run about these things in their own natural Will and Spirit neglecting to wait upon the Lord for the leading and help of his Spirit Thy comparing us to Servants who will not be moved to work by their Master's Letter c. is vain and ridiculous nor doth it reach us for our Master's Letter is writ in our Hearts and there we are to find it Neither is our Master separated from us as those Masters are who use to write Letters to Servants to set them on work while they are absent and cannot help them by their presence for our Master is always with us and he requires us to do all our works by his immediate Counsel Direction and Assistance as present with us and in us And that Nature we witness brought forth in us which does not shift his Will but delight in it to do it and know it whether told us by a lively Voice or by any other inward signification of his Spirit Fourthly And because thou art ignorant of that great Duty of waiting upon the Lord in silence out of all thy own Thoughts and Words and art trampling it under foot thou lookest upon it as mis-spent time or a meer looking upon the ground whereas if ever thou comest to know the Scriptures aright or to confer aright concerning them so as to profit thou must first come to that silence thou now so much despisest So that these things very well consist though the World may judge otherways whom thou wilt have to be Judges in the Case but in the Judgment of those who are redeemed out of the World we shall be found to put the Scriptures in their true place Thou canst not but smile thou sayst that a man of understanding should grant the Scriptures to be a declaration of God's Mind and yet deny them to be God's Word for what is a Word but a declaration of ones Mind Answ. Here thy lightness appears which darkens thy Understanding If thou must needs smile do it at thy impertinent Reason For though a man's Word be the declaration of his Mind yet every declaration of his Mind is not his Word for Signs may be a declaration of a man's Mind without his Word and People usually distinguish betwixt a man's Word and his Writ And so though the Scripture be a declaration of God's Mind yet it is not his Word properly nor can those Properties which are declared of the Word belong to the Scriptures as hath oft been demonstrated but to that inward and living Word as it doth declare it self whether in the Heart or in the Mouth The Word of God is like unto himself Spiritual yea Spirit and Life and therefore cannot be heard or read with the Natural External Senses as the Scriptures can nor does the Scriptures cited by thee as Hosea 1.1 Joel 1.1 Isaiah 38.4 Jeremiah 14.1 prove thy intent For that Word which came unto the Prophetâ—s was that from which the Scriptures were given forth which Word you confess was immediate from God but you say It is ceased to come now And did not all the Prophets prophesy from Christ the Word Thou mightest as well reason thus That when it is said the Spirit of the Lord came upon such a one or to such a one that therefore the Scripture is the Spirit and so deny all Spirit but that which is the Scripture as some do in other Sects calling the Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists the Spirit and denying the necessity of any other thing which is abominable deceit and wresting of Scripture And that the Prophets declaring their Message said Thus saith the Lord proves that what God spake in them and through them as the living Word declared it self was the Word of God but not the Letter or Writing And whereas thou sayst It is all one to say the Scripture saith and God saith Answ. By way of Inference and Collection it may be said they are one because of their Agreement yet the living Word and Speech of God is not the Scripture more than the Sun-beam is the shadow though the one agrees with the other Every one that reads or hears the Scriptures read hears not God immediately now that which God speaks to any or in any immediately that is only his Word properly unto them As they who only read my Letter cannot be said properly to hear me by Word of Mouth Christ said to the Jews Ye have not heard his Voice though they heard the Scriptures and though the Apostle useth some Scriptures out of the Old Testament it proves not he had not the Word of the Lord speaking then immediately in him and to him That Scripture thou biddest remark 1 Thess. 2.13 proves not thy intent neither for the Word which they heard of the Apostles was that living Word declaring it self through the Apostles which was answered by the same in them who heard they heard Christ of in and through the Apostles does it therefore follow that Christ is the Scripture And lastly Mark 7.13 serves thy purpose no more than the rest for the Pharisees in striking at the fifth Commandment did consequently strike at the living inward Word which gave it forth as those who struck at any of the Apostles struck at Christ yet none of the Apostles was Christ as neither is the Scripture as it is outwardly writ to speak properly the Word of God And truly the reason why we may not call the Scriptures the Word of God to speak properly is that People may be directed to that inward living Word for by their being so much called the Word of God they have been put in Christ's stead and have been set up as an Idol instead of that from whence they came so that to avoid this hazard we have put them in their due place Page 14. To prove that it is the Mind and Will of God that the Scriptures should be the Rule thou citest Isa. 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony c. But it rests to be proved that the Law and Testimony was not the inward Law and
self-fained Righteousness which has no better Root to bring them forth then Man 's own Will and Spirit and by such Works we deny to be justified yea we deny all such Works and the justification by them and desire to stand in a continual denial unto them and forbearance from them But again there are such Works which are so ours that they are Christ's also who works them in us and by us and are ours by his Free Grace and by such Works we affirm men are justified Page 23. Thou pleadest That men cannot be justified by any Works of Christ's working in them because they are Imperfect And for their Imperfection thou instancest 1. Faith because it is said O ye of little Faith why doubt ye Answ. True Faith By this thou may'st as well exclude Faith from Justification every way as Works if it were granted that their Faith was Imperfect but that Scripture nor no other speaks not of imperfect Faith but of little Faith Now little Faith is perfect in the measure of it as a little Gold is perfect Gold And though the Disciples had doubting yet the Faith was not the doubting nor was it made impure by it for the least measure of true Faith can never be defiled otherwise it could not purify the heart it is like the fire which cannot be defiled with the impurities of those things it works upon And as for the Disciples at that time as they were in part justified or approved by the Lord in relation to their Faith so were they reproved and not justified of him in relation unto or because of their doubting But this Scripture nor none other proves not that Faith was or is always accompanied with doubting Abraham believed God's promise without doubting and was strong in the Faith giving glory to God and it was imputed unto him for Righteousness Rom. 4.20 21 22. And said James His Faith was perfected by Works Chap. 2.22 For that which is perfect in a less measure can be further perfected in a greater Secondly Thou pleadest that Knowledge is Imperfect because the Apostle saith We know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 But the Apostle does not say our Knowledge is imperfect or impure We may know a thing in part and yet that which we know of it we may know perfectly Thirdly Thou pleadest for the Imperfection and Vncleanness of the Saints Obedience from Eccles. 7. But that place is not to be understood concerning all men in all states and times There is an earthly unrenewed state and while men are here there is not a just man among them as Rom. 3. verse 10. There is none righteous no not one And there is an heavenly renewed state wherein a Man is born of God and sinneth not John 3. verse 9. And said the Apostle Let no Man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous which imports that there are righteous Men who do good And said the Lord to the Servants that used their Talents Well done good and faithful Servant Matth. 25. vers 21 23. And that other Scripture thou citest Isai 64.6 serves nothing thy turn Self-righteousness as filthy Rags For the Prophet saith not All our Righteousness which is of thy working in us who are Saints is as filthy rags but All our Righteousness which we even the best of the Saints can perform of and from themselves are as filthy rags man's best Works his best Righteousness which is of and from himself is filthiness and unrighteousness before God and he is to cease from all his own Works Hebr. 4. vers 10. And it is plain that when the Prophet in that place saith We are all as unclean and there is none that calleth upon thy Name He does understand the multitude of the Jews who generally were a carnal People and relied upon their outward Observations and did not Worship God in Spirit and in Truth but did not understand it of all and every one among them For he himself did call upon his Name And that the Saints were washed and cleansed see 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed are sanctified are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And John 15.3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you And Ezekiel 37.33 At which time I shall cleanse you from all your Iniquities I shall also cause the Cities to be inhabited Which imports a time upon Earth wherein they should be made clean from all their Iniquities And how art not thou and you ashamed to affirm That the best Works of the Spirit of Christ in his Saints are as a filthy rag Does not the Apostle say That a meek and quiet Spirit is an Ornament which is of a great price even in the sight of God How then can it be a filthy or menstruous rag A filthy and menstruous rag is good for nothing but must be thrown away upon all Accounts and if that Holiness and Righteousness and Meekness which is of Christ his working in men be as filthy rags then according to your Doctrine men should throw them away as being not only unprofitable to Justification but to any other use Yea a filthy and menstruous Rag men do hide from the sight of another and do never wear it as an Ornament whereas the Saints put on the meek and quiet and sober and righteous Spirit as an Ornament of great price not only in the sight of the Saints but even in the sight of God Page 24. Thou pleadest That the Good Works of Christ in the Saints are defiled and imperfect because the Saints who are subservient and instrumental in them are unclean and who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14.4 Answ. It is granted that the Saints are subordinate Co-workers with Christ but yet it follows not that his Works in them and by them are defiled And though it is said Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean This hinders not but that the Lord can and doth make Clean those The Lord makes clean the unclean who have been unclean and so out of them who are made clean bring forth clean things And though every one in whom the work of Sanctification is begun be not wholly cleansed but that there may be an unclean part in them for a time yet there is also a clean part in them who are in the least measure sanctified and so these who work with the Spirit of Christ work with him according to this clean part and it is the clean part in them which he maketh use of as his Instrument And as for the unclean part it is not to work with Christ but to be chained down and fettered and bound up from working to the end it may be wrought upon that it may be cleansed and thus by degrees the clean part encreaseth and the unclean is diminished till all the uncleanness be wrought out And where the unclean part is let loose to work the
Word is an Ordinance of Jesus Christ because first Christ appointed Ministers and Pastors to be in his Church But this cannot be asserted in opposition to the Quakers who grant the same And why citest thou Eph. 5.11 and 1. for 12.8 which if they prove the Continuance of Pastors and Teachers prove also the Continuance of Prophets Evangelists and Apostles which ye deny As to the second Reason That the Ministry is not common to all but that there be some Pastors and Teachers is also owned by us Yet that hinders not but that any at a time may speak when the Saints are met together as the Lord moves by his Spirit according to 1 Cor. 14.31 For it is one thing to be particularly called to the Ministry and another to be moved to speak at a particular time which distinction that it was usual among the Apostles in the Primitive times is easily observed in the fore-named Chapter For a Third Reason thou say'st True Minister's Call is not of Man Whom God calleth to the Ministry he doth it either immediately without the intervention of Men or mediately by Men authorised for that purpose But for this thou bring'st no proof neither art thou able to make out that ever God called any under the New Covenant mediately to their Ministry by Men as they were not to have an Immediate Call in themselves Though the Approbation of Good and Experienced Men in its place is not denied by us but dearly owned Fourthly thou say'st Who ever pretends to an immediate Call they ought for the satisfaction of others to shew signs and tokens of their Apostleship To which I answer That those who come preaching the Gospel not in speech only The proof of the same Call but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in the evidence and demonstration thereof as it is 1 Thess. 15. and 1 Cor. 2.4 give sufficient proof that they are Called of God though they come not with outward Miracles And though Paul came to some with Miracles where he preached the Gospel yet many believed who saw no outward Miracle Also many of the Prophets wrought no Miracle nor John the Baptist And though some miraculous things came to pass about his Conception and Birth those do not of themselves prove him to be a Prophet Outward Miracles for Miraculous things and Miracles were wrought upon many who were no Prophets If Miracles be necessary to evince a Man sent of God he must come with these Miracles before the People which John did not Nor did Jonas come with any Miracle to convince the Ninivites but simply declared his Message And John Calvin asserteth Calv. l. 4. c. 3. Inst. That there is no need of Miracles and yet he maintaineth that in his day God raised up Apostles or Evangelists saying That it was needful such should be to bring back the poor People that had gone astray after Antichrist Neither did any Protestants pretend to any Miracles they pleading against the Papists That there was no absolute need of any in respect they preached not a New Gospel but that which was already confirmed with Miracles by Christ and his Apostles And so thy Plea against us here is the same that was urged by the Papists against the Primitive Protestants An evil and adulterous Generation said Christ seeketh after Miracles and though Miracles should be given they who will not believe the Testimony of the Spirit of God in their Consciences bearing witness to the Truth will not also believe because of Miracles as we see plainly in the Jews And whereas thou say'st John's Immediate Call is evident by the special Predictions both of Malachy and Isaias concerning him So are there many special Predictions concerning the Lord his pouring forth of his Spirit upon many in these latter days to Prophecy or Minister as the Spirit should put words into their Mouths And as for these Scriptures Tit. 1.5 Acts 14.23 which thou bring'st in the Fifth place they prove not that those Elders had not the Authority and Call of the Spirit of God in themselves And whereas in the Sixth place thou say'st Though Ministers be set a-part and ordained by Men yet their Ministry is not from Men but from God I Answer Where the Inward Call and Authority of the Spirit of God is not witnessed it cannot be said to be of God And though Moses be said to Consesecrate Aaron yet it doth not follow that Aaron had no immediate Call from God Seventhly thou say'st The Ministry is so necessary that it is the Will of Jesus Christ that it should continue unto the end of the World Eph. 5.12 13. Ministry perfecting the Saints But thy proof from that Scripture is altogether impertinent as to you who believe not that the Saints can be perfected in this Life seeing the Ministry is given for the perfecting of them And that this perfection is on Earth is clear from the following Verse That hence-forth we be no more as Children tossed to and fro for in the other Life there is no hazzard of being so tossed And if the Ministry perfected not Men in this life it nowhere perfecteth them for in the other Life it hath no operation upon them The Law and Priesthood thereof was abolished because it made nothing perfect and if the Gospel-Ministry should not make perfect it should also be abolished And seeing your Ministry perfecteth not it is not the true Ministry of the Gospel as indeed it is not for it standeth not in the Power of God nor is it excercised in the Will and Motion of God your Ministry being such that the whole ESSE or BEING of it may be without Saving Grace or true Holiness you expresly affirming That Holiness is not necessary to the Being of a Minister but that a Man may be a Minister of the Gospel who ought to be received and heard though he have not the least Grain of Holiness Eighthly thou say'st They who cast off the Ministry of the Word wrong their own Souls c. Answ. If it be understood of the Ministry of Christ it is granted but of yours it is denied In the Fifth place Page 44. thou would'st prove That the Lord's People are under a tye and engagement to keep the first day of the Week for a Sabbath For a First Reason thou say'st The Fourth Commandment requires the keeping holy of one day of seven But as it requires the observation of one day of seven so it expresly instanceth that day to be the seventh which day â—â—e keep not Wherefore as to the Second Reason If the Command be Moral and Perpetual as thou callest it it ought to be kept in every Point of it which ye not doing therein condemn your selves The outward Sabbath not perpetual But the outward Sabbath or the keeping one day of the Week for a Sabbath is not perpetual but abolished together with the New-Moons and other Feasts of the Jews See Coloss. 2.16 17. Let
which is to deny God a part of that Worship which is due to him 1 Tim. 4.4 5. Answ. To receive the Gifts and Benefits of God with Thanksgiving and to witnese it blessed and sanctified to us by the Word and Prayer is owned by us and to know this so without taking off the Hat or using of formal speaking of words though it be a thing frequently used by us also tends to no Irreligiousness For it is a thing usual amongst us when we sit down to Eat to wait upon the Lord for some time that we may feel his presence and know our selves stated in his fear to which the blessing is and as we there stand if any outward Expressions be required of any then in God's fear they may utter them and this is to know the blessing indeed and to be in the place that is blessed But for People that are conversing out of God's fear stated in a light airy Spirit not only many times laughing and scoffing but some times even blaspheming presently so soon as the Meat cometh to clap off their Hats and speak a few words in a custom and so soon as they have done fall to their former work again is not this Atheism and Irreligiousness For if such did think of God aright and knew what it were to fear him they would be far from addressing themselves in such Postures unto him neither could they be so impudent as to expect a blessing from him while they stand in that condition to which the Curse is annexed In the second place Page 51. thou say'st Doth not the taking men off from Prayer tend to Irreligiousness and Atheism Now you teach we must not pray in private nor in families without an impulse Therefore Answ. This is no sound Argument To take men off from prayer tends to irreligiousness is granted but to say That a man cannot or ought not to pray without the Spirit 's drawing and motion which you commonly name by Impulse a word which common People do not understand hath no such tendency Hypocritical Prayers an Abomination or that it takes any off from prayer truly so called is denied For hath that a bad tendency which takes men off from such Prayers as are abomination and are not true Prayers but hypocritical and deceitful As all such Prayers are that are performed without the help of the Spirit We say whosoever can pray to the Lord indeed let them pray we are not to forbid them but that any can pray without the Spirit that we deny according to 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit c. And Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought Now if we know not what to pray for without the Spirit how can we pray without it Paul durst not adventure upon this duty without the assistance of the Spirit yea he said no man could say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost but here an arrogant Generation will needs be praying without it which yet is not Prayer and such Families where this only is used cannot be truly said to call upon God while such truly may be said so to do that wait upon the Lord and stand in his fear and bring forth the fruits of Righteousness though they be not so much in the external signification of words which also at times is found in our Families as the Lord requireth it and giveth utterance And whereas thou say'st That thou believest it will be found that some of us for the space of a whole Year have not so much as once bowed a Knee to call upon God in their Families What ground hast thou for this thy belief May they not bow their knees in their Families though it be hid from the observation of malicious eyes who may so asperse them May they not pray in secret Prayers in secret with out words and be seen of the Father to pray according to Matth. 6.6 Though they cannot be seen by the eyes of malicious Spies And where a publick Testimony in words is required it is also given nor do we know any Friends of Truth who have any whom they can joyn with in Prayer in the Family but do meet together in the Family and wait together breath together and pray together and that much oftener than thou insinuates sometimes without and sometimes with the outward signification of words so that we return this thy Charge as false and malicious Thou say'st If this Impulse be denied for years men all that while according to us must not pray But here thou speakest as one wholly unacquainted with the ways and motions of the Spirit to suppose such a case which cannot be Breathings of the Spirit frequent for the breathings and motions of the Spirit and especially unto Prayer are very frequent unto those who wait for them and are as necessary unto the Children of God as their daily bread yea and more which the Father with-holdeth not but giveth in due season But many times the Spirit of Prayer is felt to move and is answered when there is no liberty given to speak words in the hearing of others Nor is thy other Supposition less vain and foolish That if a man were at the Gates of Death and in danger of present drowning yet without an Impulse as thou callest it he must not adventure to cry to God for Mercy and Help For suppose he did Cry without all help of the Spirit Prayer without the Spirit avails not what would it avail him would it have any acceptance with God Shew us where-ever a spiritless Prayer was accepted of God or required Nay it is a vain Oblation which is expresly forbidden and it is expresly commanded that praying be always in the Spirit Eph. 6.18 And as for the Saints when they are dying or in any difficulty we know the Spirit of Prayer will never be wanting to breath through them at such Occasions and to give words as there is a service for them But further thou alledgest That this Principle of ours leadeth to woful security for what need you be disquieted for refraining Prayer before God thou say'st or any other piece of Service seeing you have salve at hand to heal this sore and that is the want of an Impulse Answ. If any fall into security and refrain Prayer it is not that our Principle leadeth into it for our Principle leadeth out of all security into continual watching unto Prayer and waiting upon the motions of the Spirit of God now if any feel not these motions they are nothing the less guilty because by their neglect they provoke the Lord to with-hold them and render themselves out of frame to feel or entertain them and thus who neglect the Worship of God are justly under Condemnation and if they have Peace it is but a false Peace which will fail them And as for our Peace we have found it to
Integrity of the Quakers Doctrine is the Second time Justified and Cleared from the Reiterate Clamorous but Causless Calumnies of this Cavilling Catechist By ROBERT BARCLAY JOHN 16.2 They will put you out of their Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think he doth God good service 1 JOHN 4.4 Ye are of God little Children because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World 3 JOHN 10. Wherefore if I come I will remember his Deeds which he doth prating against us with malitious words LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER HAving seriously perused W. M. his late Animadversions upon my Book I find my Judgment of it though a Party concerned to jump with that which is the sense of several Judicious Persons who neither own nor walk in that Profession I am in and therefore can the less be suspected of Partiality viz. That they contain nothing of a solid or satisfactory Reply For though he seems to take notice of all the Particulars mentioned yet he omits in many more than the half of what is said by me concerning them and against that which he doth mention in my name his most frequent Arguments are without any Proof having no other bottom but his own Judgment Thoughts and Conjectures whereby it seems forgetting or mistaking his Work he plays the Catechist rather than the Disputant This put me to some stand Whether it was fit to give him any Reply though truly such as will be at the pains to compare his with my last will need little further Yet knowing how many are apt to take things upon Trust and to receive Misrepresentations concerning us who are a People so generally Reproached I found it expedient to write this succinct Reply which may lead the Reader to a narrow Observation of the Invalidity of W. M. his Work against us and may present in short his most Obvious Omissions his most manifest Contradictions unvail his Dis-ingenuity lay open his Weakness and shew his Unstability especially so far as he has deserved in most of these Arguments he used in his Dialogue as not being able further to maintain them and discover how faintly such new ones as he doth now bring forth militate against us Let it not startle thee that so small a bulk as this is should Answer his for thou may'st perceive several Pages of his taken up in the Capital Letters of the Contents of his many Heads and subdivided Sections which makes it not unlike the City Mindus whereof the Antients spoke whose Gates were so disproportionable in greatness to the quantity of the Town that a certain Philosopher is said to have advised the Citizens To shut them least the City should flee out of them We may very well so far extend the parallel as to aver That the Contained in no ways answers to the Contents there is a deal of more Heads than either Heart or Horns several Sections but small Substance and a great shew of Method but very little Matter I confess I might have far more enlarged this Duply had I taken notice of all the Impertinencies which herein come under my Observation but that the more Judicious and Intelligent would ascribe these things not so much to the Cause as his Weakness who managed it I desire to contend for Truth and not for Victory knowing though I were so minded the Triumph should be but Small that I could gain from so Inconsiderable an Antagonist Therefore Reader I shall wish thee for the Truth 's sake that thou may be found truly owning it and not something else in stead of it seriously to Read and peruse these Papers with such as relate unto them and may that Spirit of Truth which teacheth all things so direct thy Understanding as thou may'st discern what Doctrine is truly and really most according to the Holy Scriptures Which thou art heartily invited in this matter to search and peruse Urie the 24th of the 10th Month commonly called December 1671. By a Well-wisher of thy Soul and of all Men R. B. William Mitchell UNMASK'D year 1672 OR The Staggering Instability of the pretended Stable Christian Discovered his Omissions observed and Weakness Unvailed c. THAT which first presents it self to my View is W. M. his Epistle directed to me and the Quakers in and about Aberdeen which he prefixes as his Considerations upon my Preface but that which is the substantial part of it he hath left Vnanswered For my Preface was to shew the Method of the Priests of Aberdeen's Procedure against the Quakers giving account of most if not all the Papers had past betwixt them and also how by their Instigation some of us had been Imprisoned particularly the falsness of G. Meldrum his way with us first in Pulpit to accuse us as Hereticks and then in private to desire to know of us our Principles but all this he hath wholly waved it seems he either could not or would not defend his own nor his Brethrens double dealing with us As to what he mentions I take notice First Of his denying That any in or about Aberdeen hath reproached the Quakers as Demented Distracted or bodily possessed Checking me for taking things upon Trust. Well it sufficeth me that they are ashamed of such falshoods though if need be I can instance that I had ground to say so Secondly I take notice how that not being willing wholly to clear us he saith Some of us in England have given ground to be so charged by their extraordinarily Trembling c. But it is strange W. M. should so far forget himself as to accompt this a ground to charge People as Demented c. seeing there was a season wherein himself acknowledged He seldom or never went to the Pulpit without sensible Trembling Which if he dare to deny I offer to prove by undeniable Testimonies As to what he adds of Women going naked in the Streets and some offering to raise the Dead alledging for proof Samuel Clark the Newcastle Ministers Paget's Heresiography I Answer As these Calumnies have been particularly answered by our Friends in England so they signifie no more against us being writ by our declared Enemies than Cochlaeus lyes against Luther particularly that he assayed to Cast out Devils or what the Popish Authors write of Calvin That he made a Living Man counterfeit himself Dead that so he might Raise him and that Beza was stigmatized for Sodomy and much more of this kind Thirdly The thing I observe is his Comparing us to John of Leyden and Ignatius Loyola and that because they Preached in the Streets cried down wearing of Rings and other Superfluities as we do were against needless Salutations spoke much of Mortification and pretended to or expected Immediate Revelation John of Leyden But our resembling them in these things which the Apostles of Christ commanded and practised will not prove the Jesuites our Grandfathers as W.
visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him and for him God hath in these last Days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Hebr. 1.2 by whom also he made the Worlds Q. These are very clear that even the World was Created by Christ But what Scriptures prove the Divinity of Christ against such as falsly deny the same A. And the Word was God John 1 1. Rom. 9.5 Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen Who being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be Equal with God Phil 2.6 And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an Understanding 1 John 5.20 that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and Eternal Life Q. What are the Glorious Names the Scripture gives unto Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God A And his Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor The Mighty God Isai. 9.5 The Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace Who is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the Express Image of his Person or more properly Hebr. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Greek of his Substance Rev. 19.13 And he was cloathed with a Vesture dipt in Blood and his Name is called The Word of God Q. After what manner was the Birth of Christ Matth. 1.18 A. Now the Birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise When as his Mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost And the Angel said unto her Fear not Mary for thou hast found Favour with God And behold thou shalt conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his Name Jesus He shall be Great and shall be called The Son of the Highest The Birth of Christ. and the Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David Then said Mary unto the Angel How shall this be seeing I know not a Man Luke 1.30 31 32 34 35. And the Angel answered and said unto her The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Q. Was Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary and supposed to be the Son of Joseph a True and Real Man A. Forasmuch as the Children are Partakers of Flesh and Blood Hebr. 2.14 he also himself took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil For verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels Hebr. 2.16 17. but He took on him the Seed of Abraham wherefore in all things it behoved him To be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a Merciful and Faithful High-Priest c. For we have not an High-Priest Hebr. 4.15 which cannot be Touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted as we are yet without Sin And the Gift by Grace which is by one Man Jesus Christ Hebr. 5.15 hath abounded unto many But now is Christ risen from the Dead 1 Cor. 15.20 21. and become the First-Fruits of them that slept for since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead Q. After what manner doth the Scripture assert the Conjunction and Unity of the Eternal Son of God in and with the Man Christ Jesus A. And the Word was made Flesh John 1.14 and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth For he whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God John 3.34 for God giveth not the Spirit by Measure unto him Now God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost Acts 10 38. and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 For in him dwelleth all the Fulness of the God-head bodily Col. 2.9 In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 Q. For what End did Christ appear in the World A. For what the Law could not do Rom. 8.3 in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh. For this Purpose the Son of God was manifested 1 John 3.8 9. That he might destroy the Works of the Devil And ye know that he was manifested To take away our Sins Q. Was Jesus Christ really Crucified and Raised again A. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received 1 Cor. 15.3 4. how that Christ died for our Sins according to the Scriptures And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Q. What End do the Scriptures ascribe unto the Coming Death and Sufferings of Christ. Luke 2.30 31 32. A. For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation which thou hast prepared before the Face of all People A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of thy People Israel Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God And walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering Ephes. 5.2 and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savour And having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross by him To Reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven And you that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your minds by wicked Works yet now hath he reconciled in the Body of his Flesh through Death Col. 1.20 21 22. to present you Holy Vnblamable and Vnreprovable in his Sight Hebr. 9.12 14. Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entered-in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for Sins the Just for the Unjust that he might bring us to God being put to Death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit 1 John 3 16. Hereby perceive we
the Love of God because He laid down his Life for us Hebr. 9.15 And for this Cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of the Redemption of Transgressions that were under the first Testament They which are called might receive the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance Q. Is Christ then the Mediator 1 Tim. 2.5 A For there is One God and One Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Q. Was not Christ the Mediator until he appeared and was Crucified in the Flesh Rev. 5.12 and 13.8 A He is the Lamb that was slain from the Foundation of the World Q. Is it then needful to believe that the Saints of old did partake of Christ as then present with and nourishing them 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4. A. Moreover Brethren I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. Q. But whereas most of these Scriptures before-mentioned do hold forth that the Death and Sufferings of Christ were appointed for the destroying removing and remitting of Sin Did he so do it while he was outwardly upon Earth as not to leave any thing for himself to do in us nor for us to do in and by his Strength A. For even hereunto were ye called 1 Pet. 2.21 because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that ye should follow his Steps Whereof I Paul am made a Minister Col. 1.23 24. who now rejoice in my Sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Christ in my Flesh for his Body's sake which is the Church Always bearing about in the Body the Dying of the Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 11. that the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Body For we which live are alway delivered unto Death for Jesus 's sake that the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Mortal Flesh. And that he died for all that they which live 2 Cor. 5.15 should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and also rose again That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death CHAP. IV. Of the New Birth the Inward Appearance of Christ in Spirit and the Vnity of the Saints with him Question DOth Christ promise then to Come again to his Disciples Answer I will not leave you Comfortless I Come unto you John 14.18 Q. Was this only a Special Promise to these Disciples Or is it not the Common Priviledge of the Saints A. For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabits Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy Place Isa. 57.15 with him also that is of a Contrite and Humble Spirit c. For ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said 2 Cor. 6.16 I will dwell in them and walk in them Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any man hear my voice Rev. 3.20 and open the Door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Q Doth the Apostle Paul speak of the Son of God's being Revealed in him A. But when it pleased God Gal. 1.15 16. who separated me from my Mother's Womb and called me by his Grace To Reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Heathen Q. Is it needful then to know Christ within A. Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith 2 Cor. 13.5 prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Q. Was the Apostle Earnest that this Inward Birth of Christ should be brought forth in any A. * Gal. 41.9 My little Children of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Q What saith the same Apostle of the Necessity of this Inward Knowledge of Christ and of the New Creature beyond the Outward A. Wherefore henceforth know we no Man after the Flesh yea though we have known Christ after the Flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 17 Therefore if any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature Old things are passed away behold all things are become New But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him Ephes. 4.21 22 23 24. and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and to be Renewed in the Spirit of your Mind and that ye Put on the New Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness Q. Is this Christ-within the Mystery of God and Hope of Glory which the Apostle Preached Col. 1.27 28. A. To whom God would make known what are the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory whom ye preach Q. Doth the Apostle any where else press the putting on of this New Birth A. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 Q. Doth he write to any of the Saints as having put off the Old and on the New Man A. For as many of you as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal. 3 27. Seeing that ye have put off the Old Man with his Deeds and have put on the New Man Col. 3.9 10. which is renew'd in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him Q. What speaketh Christ himself of the Necessity of this New Birth John 3.3 A. Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Q Of what Seed cometh this Birth 1 Pet. 1.23 A. Being born again not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Q. What doth the Apostle Paul witness of himself concerning this New Life A. I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 Q. What is the Preaching of the Cross of Christ 1 Cor. 1.18 A. For the Preaching of the Cross is to them that perish Foolishness but unto us that are saved it is the Power of God Q. What Effect had this Cross in the Apostle and how much preferreth he the New Creature to all outward and visible Ordinances
Justified by Grace is to be Justified or Saved by Regeneration which cannot exclude the Works wrought by Grace and by the Spirit How doth the Apostle add in the next verse for the maintaining this against those that Cavil about the Law A. This is a Faithful Saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly Tit. 3.8 9. that they which believe in God might be Careful to maintain good Works these things are good and profitable unto Men But avoid foolish Questions and Genealogies and Contentions and Strivings about the Law for they are unprofitable and vain Q. Doth the Apostle Paul that is so much against Justification by the Works of the Law speak any where else of being justified by the Spirit A. But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 6.11 and by the Spirit of our God Q. But since the Law gives not Power nor Ability to obey and so falls short of Justification Is there no Power under the Gospel by which the Righteousness of the Law comes to be fulfilled inwardly A. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh Rom. 8.3 4. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Q. Seeing then there is Power in the Spirit is not Works through it a Condition upon which Life is proposed under the New Covenant Rom. 8.13 A. For if ye live after the Flesh ye shall Dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall Live Q. Do not the Apostles then frequently propose Life to People upon Condition of Repentance and other Works Acts 3.19 A. Repent ye therefore and be Converted that your Sins may be blotted out And if Children then Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ if so be Rom. 8.17 that we may suffer with him that we also may be glorified together * 2 Tim. 2.11 12 21. It is a faithful Saying For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we Suffer we shall also Reign with him If a Man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto Honour sanctified and meet for the Master's Use and prepared unto every good Work Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen Rev. 2.5 and Repent and do the first Works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou Repent Q. It appears clearly by these Passages that the Apostle excludes only our Righteousness which he elsewhere explains Reward of Works as being the Righteousness of the Law from being necessary to Justification and not such Works as the Law of the Spirit of Life leads to and are not so much ours as Christ in us are not such good Works Rewarded though they require no absolute Merit as being the Fruits of free Grace yet doth not God judge according to them and may they not be said to have a Reward A. But if a Man be just and do that which is lawful and right Ezek. 18.5 6 7 8 9. and hath not eaten upon the Mountains neither hath lift up his Eyes to the Idols of the House of Israel neither has defiled his Neighbour's Wife neither hath come near to a Menstruous Woman and hath not oppressed any but hath restored to the Debtor his Pledge hath spoiled none by Violence hath given his Bread to the Hungry and hath covered the Naked with a Garment he that hath not given forth upon Usury neither hath taken any Increase that hath withdrawn his Hand from Iniquity hath executed true Judgment between Man and Man hath walked in my Statutes and hath kept my Judgments to deal Truth he is Just he shall surely Live saith the Lord God For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels Matth. 16.27 and then he shall Reward every Man according to his Works Then Peter opened his Mouth and said Of a Truth I perceive that God is no Respecter of Persons Acts 10.34 35. but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him The Righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2.6 7 10 who will render to every Man according to his Deeds To them who by Patient Continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality Eternal Life But Glory Honour and Peace to every Man that worketh Good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Which is a manifest Token of the Righteous Judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God 2 Thess. 1.5 for which ye also suffer But who so looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty James 1.25 and continueth therein being not a forgetful Hearer but a Doer of the Work this Man shall be blessed in his Deed. * Hebr. 10.35 Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward †1 Pet. 1.17 And if ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Rev. 22.12 14 And behold I come quickly and behold my Reward is with me to give every Man according as his Works shall be Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have a Right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City Christ saves from Sin Q. It should seem that the Purpose of God in sending his Son the Lord Jesus Christ was not simply to save Man by an Imputative Righteousness altogether without them but also by the washing of Regeneration or an inward Righteousness What saith the Scripture further of this Matth. 1.21 A. And thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their Sins Tit. 2.13 14. Looking for that blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works CHAP. VII Concerning Perfection or Freedom from SIN Question I Perceive then by all these Scriptures afore-mentioned that Christ as well as he hath purchased Pardon for our Sins hath also obtained Power by which we may even here be cleansed from the Filth of them may we expect then in this Life to be freed from the Dominion of Sin Rom. 6.14 A. For Sin shall not have Dominion over you Q. For what Reason Rom. 6.14 A. For ye are
in the Church concerning Preachers Is it fit that only one or two speak or many more if moved thereto 1 Cor. 14.30 31 32 33. A. If any thing be Revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace For ye may all prophesie one by one that all may learn and that all may be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets for God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints Q. Is there any Promise that Daughters as well as Sons shall Prophesie under the Gospel Joel 2.28 A. And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie your old Men shall dream Dreams your young Men shall see Visions Q. Is that Promise fulfilled and to be fulfilled Acts â—â— 17. A. But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie and your Young men shall see Visions and your Old Men shall dream Dreams Q. Is there any such Instance of Old in the Scripture Acts 21.9 A. And the same Man had four Daughters Virgins which did prophesie Q. But may All Women speak or are any commanded to keep Silence in the Church 1 Cor. 14.34 35. A. Let your Women keep Silence in the Church for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under Obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them ask their Husbands at Home for it is a Shame for Women to speak in the Church 1 Tim. 2.11 12. Let the Woman learn in Silence with all Subjection But I suffer not a Woman to teach or usurp Authority over the Man but to be in Silence Q. The first of these seems only to relate to Women that have Husbands What comes of them that have none The second speaks nothing of the Church but only that she ought not to usurp Authority over the Man hath this no Limitation Doth not the same Apostle give Directions how Women that speak should behave themselves in the Church 1 Cor. 11.4 5. A. Every man Praying or Prophesying having his Head covered dishonoureth his Head But every Woman that Prayeth or Prophesieth with her Head uncovered dishonoureth her Head for that is even all one as if she were shaven CHAP. X. Concerning Worship Question WHat is the Worship that is Acceptable to God Answer But the Hour cometh and now is John 4.23 24. when the True Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Q. Seeing Prayer is a part of Worship when ought we to Pray A. And he spake a Parable unto them to this End Luke 18.1 That men ought Always to Pray and not to faint Pray without ceasing 1 Thes. 5.17 Q. Hath God no respect to the Manner of Calling upon him For there is no Difference between the Jew and the Greek Rom. 10.12 for the same Lord over all is Rich unto all that call upon him Q. Doth God hear the Prayers of all that call upon him A. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him Psal. 145.18 to all that call upon him in Truth The Lord is far from the Wicked Prov. 15.29 but he hears the Prayer of the Righteous Now we know that God heareth not Sinners John 9.38 but if any man be a Worshipper of God and doth his Will him he heareth And this is the Confidence that we have in him 1 John 5.14 that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us Q After what Mannner doth the Apostle then declare he will Pray A. What is it then I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Vnderstanding also I will sing with the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also Q. Must we then pray always in the Spirit A. Praying always Ephes. 6.18 with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and Watching thereunto with all Preseverance and Supplication for all Saints Q. Since we are commanded to pray always in it can we do it of our selves without the Help thereof A. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8.26 27. but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be utter'd And he that searcheth the Hearts knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Q. I perceive that without the Leadings and Help of the Spirit prayers are altogether unprofitable may not a man truly utter these things that are Spiritual without the Spirit 's Assistance A. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 18.3 Q. That is strange It seems the Spirit is much more necessary than many called Christians suppose it to be some of which can scarce give a good Account whether they have it or want it But if a man speak things true upon the Matter are they not true as from him if spoken without the Spirit Jer. 5.2 A. And though they say The Lord liveth surely they swear falsly Q. It is apparent from all these Scriptures that the True Worship of God is in Spirit and as it is not limited to a certain place neither to any certain time what shall we think of them that plead for the Observation of certain Days A. But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God Gal. 4 9 10 11. how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in Bondage Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain Col. 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or Drink or in respect of an Holy Day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath Day which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ. Q. Seeing it is so may not some Christians as lawfully esteem all Days alike as others may esteem some Days above another What Rule giveth the Apostle in this Case A. One man esteemeth one Day above another another esteemeth every Day alike Rom. 14.5 6. let every man be fully perswaded in his own Mind He that regardeth a Day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not
Flesh is not the same Flesh but there is one kind of Flesh of Men another Flesh of Beasts another of Fishes and another of Birds there are also Celestial Bodies and Bodies Terrestrial but the Glory of the Celestial is one and the Glory of the Terrestrial is another There is one Glory of the Sun and another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differs from another Star in Glory so also is the Resurrection of the Dead it is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption it is sown in Dishonour it is raised in Glory it is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power it is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body Q. The Apostle seems to be very positive that it is not that Natural Body which we now have that shall rise but a Spiritual Body A. * 1 Cor. 15.50 51 52 53 54 55. Now this I say Brethren That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption inherit Incorruption Behold I shew you a Mystery We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a Moment in the Twinkling of an Eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed For this Corruptible must put on Incorruption and this Mortal must put on Immortality So when this Corruptible shall have put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall have put on Immortality then shall be brought to pass the Saying that is written Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory CHAP. XV. A Short Introduction to the CONFESSION of FAITH HAving thus largely and evidently performed the chief Part of that which I promised in this Treatise in giving a full account of our Principles in plain Scripture-words and also answering by the Scriptures the chief and main Objections made against us I come to a Confession of Faith in which I shall not be so large for that I judge it not Convenient to make an Interpretation of all the Scriptures before-mentioned which if needful the Reader may easily observe were not very difficult to do But whereas a Confession of Faith called rather for an Affirmative Account of ones own Faith than for the Solution of Objections or any thing of Debate in a Discursive Way which is both more properly and pertinently performed in a Catechism therefore I have here only done so I am necessitated sometimes to intermix some words for Coherence of the Matter as sometimes And and sometimes Therefore and the like but not such as any Ingenuous Person can affirm do add to the Matter or that may any wise justly be reckoned a Comment or Meaning and therefore to avoid the Censure of the most Curious Carping Criticks these are marked with a different Character Likewise unless I should have ridiculously offered to publish incongruous Grammar there was a true need sometimes to change the Mood and Person of a Verb in all which places whosoever will look to the words shall find it is done upon no Design to alter any whit the naked Import of them As for Instance where Christ says I am the Light of the World were it proper for me to write thus I am the Light c. Or can it be reckoned any whit Contradicting of my Purpose and Promise to write Christ is the Light where the first Person is changed to the third Also sometimes I express things which are necessarily understood as when any of the Apostles say We there instead of We I write Apostles and where they say You speaking of the Saints there I mention Saints instead of it for the Connexion of the Sentence sometimes requires it As in the first Article in mentioning that of 1 John 1.5 concerning God's being Light and in such like Cases which I know no impartial Reader would have quarrelled though wanting this Apology which I judged meet to premise knowing there is a Generation who when they cannot find any real or substantial Ground against Truth and its Followers will be Cavilling at such little Niceties therefore such may see this Objection is obviated CHAP. XVI A CONFESSION of FAITH concerning Twenty Three Articles ARTICLE I. Concerning God and the True and Saving Knowledge of him THere is one God a Eph. 4.6 1 Cor. 8.4 6. who is a Spirit b John 4.24 And This is the Message which the Apostles heard of him and declared unto the Saints That he is Light and in him is no Darkness at all c 1 John 1.5 There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One d 1 John 1.7 The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father e John 10.38 and 14.10 11. and 5.26 No Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will Reveal him f Matth. 11.27 Luke 10.22 The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God g 1 Cor. 2.10 For the Things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now the Saints have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that they might know the things which are freely given them of God h 1 Cor. 2.11 12. For the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father sends in Christ's Name he teacheth them all things and bringeth all things to their Remembrance i John 14.26 ARTICLE II. Concerning the Guide and Rule of Christians CHrist prayed to the Father and he gave the Saints another Comforter that was to abide with them for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not nor knoweth him But the Saints know him for he dwelleth with them and is to be in them k John 14.16 17. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God l Rom. 8.9 14. For this is the Covenant that God hath made with the House of Israel He hath put his Laws in their Mind and writ them in their Hearts and they are all taught of God m Hebr. 8.10 11. And the Anointing which they have received of him abideth in them and they need not that any man teach them but as the same Anointing teacheth them of all things and is Truth and is no Lie n 1 John 2.27 ARTICLE III. Concerning the Scriptures WHatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have Hope o Rom. 15.4 which are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture being given by Inspiration of God and
Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World q 1 Joh 2.1 2. For by the Grace of God he hath tasted Death for every Man r Hebr 2.9 And gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due Time s 1 Tim. 2.6 Willing all Men to be saved and to come to the Knowledge of the Truth t 1 Tim. 2.4 Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance u 2 Pet. 3.9 For God sent not his Son into the World to Condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved x John 3 17. And Christ came a Light into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not abide in Darkness y John 12.46 Therefore as by the Offence of One Judgment came upon All Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of One the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life z Rom. 5.18 ARTICLE XI Concerning the Light that enlightneth every Man THe Gospel was preached to every Creature under Heaven a Col. 1.23 which Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to them that believe b Rom. 1.16 And if it be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into them c 2 Cor. 4.3 4. And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are Evil d John 3.19 And this was the true Light which lightneth every Man that cometh into the World e John 1.9 By which all things that are reproveable are made manifest for whatsoever maketh manifest is Light f Ephes. 5.11 Every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved but he that doth Truth cometh to to the Light that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God g Joh. 3 20 21. And they that walk in the Light as Christ is in the Light have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth them from all Sin h 1 John 1. Therefore ought we to believe in the Light while we have the Light that we may be the Children of the Light i John 12.36 Therefore to Day if we will hear his Voice let us not harden our Hearts k Hebr. 4 7. For Christ wept over Jerusalem saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the Things which belong unto thy Peace But now they are hid from thine Eyes l Luke 19.42 And he would often have gathered her Children as a Hen gathereth her Chickens but they would not m Matth. 23.37 for the stiff-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears do always Resist the Holy Ghost n Acts 7.51 And are of those that Rebel against the Light o Job 24.13 Therefore God's Spirit will not always strive with Man p Gen. 7.3 For the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness q Rom. 1.18 Because what is to be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them r Rom. 1.19 And a Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal s 1 Cor. 12.7 For the Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World t Tit. 2.11 12. And this Word of this Grace is able to build up and give an Inheritance among all those that are Sanctified u Acts 20.32 For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and of the Joints and Marrow and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart x Hebr. 4.12 Is that more sure Word of Prophesy whereunto we do well that we take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in the Heart y 2 Pet. 1. â—9 And this is the Word of Faith which the Apostles Preached which is nigh in the Mouth and in the Heart z Rom. 10.8 For God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ a 2 Cor. 4.6 But we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God b 2 Cor. 4.7 and not of us for the Kingdom of God cometh not by Observation but is within us ARTICLE XII Concerning Faith and Justification FAith is the Substance of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen d Hebr. 11.1 Without which it is impossible to please God e Hebr. 11.6 Therefore we are justified by Faith which worketh by Love f Gal. 5.6 For Faith without Works being dead is by Works made perfect g Jam. 2.23 26. By the Deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified h Rom. 3.20 Nor yet by the Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy we are saved by the Washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost i 1 Tit. 3.5 For we are both washed sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God k 1 Cor. 6.11 ARTICLE XIII Concerning Good Works IF we live after the Flesh we shall die but if we through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body we shall live l Rom. 8.13 For they which believe in God must be careful to maintain good Works m T it 3.8 For God will render to every Man according to his Deeds according to his Righteous Judgment to them who by patient Continuance in well-doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life n Rom. 2.6 7. For such are counted worthy of the Kingdom of God o 2 Thess. 1.5 and cast not away their Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward p Hebr. 10.35 Blessed then are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City q Rev. 22.14 ARTICLE XIV Concerning Perfection SIn shall not have Dominion over such as are not under the Law but under Grace r Rom. 6.14 For there is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit for the Law of the
preparing War against all such as put not in their Mouths teaching for Hire and divining for Money p Mich. 3.5 11. Nor yet of those which teach things which they ought not for filthy Lucre's sake q Tit. 1.11 That run greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward loving the Wages of Vnrighteousness r 2 Pet. 2.15 And through Covetousness with feigned Words making Merchandise of Souls s 2 Pet. 2.3 Men of corrupt Minds destitute of the Truth supposing that Gain is Godliness t 1 Tim. 6.5 but they know that Godliness with Contentment is great Gain u 1 Tim 6 6. and having Food and Raiment they are therewith content x 1 Tim. 6.8 ARTICLE XVII Concerning Worship THe Hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him y John 4.23 God is a Spirit and they which worship must worship him in Spirit and in Truth z John 4 24. For the Lord is nigh to all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in Truth a Psal. 145.18 He is far from the wicked but he heareth the Prayer of the Righteous b Prov. 15.29 And this is the Confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us c 1 John 5.14 What is it then We must pray with the Spirit and with the Vnderstanding also d 1 Cor. 14.15 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the Heart knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God e Rom. 8.26 27. ARTICLE XVIII Concerning Baptism AS there is One Lord One Faith so there is One Baptism f Ephes. 4.5 which doth also now save us not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a Good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ g 1 Pet. 3.21 22. For John indeed baptized with Water but Christ with the Holy Ghost and with Fire h Matth. 3.1 Therefore as many as are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his Death and are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so they also should walk in Newness of Life i Rom. 6.34 having put on Christ k Gal. 3.27 ARTICLE XIX Concerning Eating of Bread and Wine Washing of one anothers Feet Abstaining from things Strangled and from Blood and Anointing of the Sick with Oil. THe Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took Bread and when he had given Thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this do in Remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood this do ye as oft as ye drink it in Remembrance of me For as oft as ye do eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lord's Death till he come l Cor. 11.23 24 25. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his Hands and that he was come from God and went to God he raiseth from Supper and laid aside his Garments and took a Towel and girded himself after that he poured Water into a Bason and began to wash the Disciples Feet and to wipe them with the Towel wherewith he was girded So after he had washed their Feet and had taken his Garments and set down again he said unto them Know ye what I have done unto you Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your Feet ye also ought to wash one anothers Feet For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done unto you m John 13 2 3 4 12 13 14 15. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater Burden than these Necessary Things That ye abstain from Meats offered to Idols from Blood and from things Strangled and from Fornication from which if ye keep your selves ye do well n Acts 15.28 29. Is any man sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them Pray over him Anointing him with Oil o James 5.14 ARTICLE XX. Concerning the Liberty of such Christians as are come to know the Substance as to the Vsing or not Vsing of these Rites and of the Observation of Days THe Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost p Rom. 14 17. Let no man therefore judge us in Meat or Drink or in Respect of an Holy-Day or of the New-Moon or the Sabbath-Days q Col. 2.16 For if we be dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the World why as though living in the World are We subject to Ordinances Let us not touch or taste or handle which all are to perish with the Using after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men r Col. 2.20 21 22. For now after we have known God or rather are known of him why should we turn again unto the Weak and Beggarly Elements or desire again to be in Bondage to observe Dayes and Months and Times and Years lest Labour have been bestowed on us in vain s Gal. 4.9 10 11. If one man esteem a Day above another another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully perswaded in his own Mind He that regardeth a Day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not regard it t Rom. 14.5 6. ARTICLE XXI Concerning Swearing Fighting and Persecution IT hath been said by them of Old Thou shalt not Forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths But Christ says unto us Swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Foot-stool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King neither shalt thou swear by thy Head because thou canst not make one Hair white or black But let your Communication be Yea Yea Nay Nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of Evil u Mat. 5 33 34 35 36 37. And James chargeth us Above all things not to swear neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay Nay lest ye fall into Condemnation x Jam. 5.12 Though we walk in the Flesh we are not to War after the Flesh for the Weapons of our Warfare are not to be
also appear to the Unbiassed Reader Advertisement to the Reader NOTE Reader That I have here throughout made use of the last Common Translation of the Bible And if I would have made use of the Hebrew and Greek I could have produced divers other very clear Scriptures which in the Common Translation are corrupted and perverted But I choosed rather to do thus that our Opposers might see I took no Advantage that way and also that all that can but read may find the places Cited in their own Bibles THE ANARCHY OF THE RANTERS AND OTHER LIBERTINES THE HIERARCHY OF THE ROMANISTS AND OTHER Pretended CHURCHES equally Refused and Refuted in a Two-fold APOLOGY for the Church and People of God called in Derision QUAKERS WHEREIN They are Vindicated from those that Accuse them of Disorder and Confusion on the one hand and from such as Calumniate them with Tyranny and IMPOSITION on the other shewing that as the True and Pure Principles of the Gospel are Restored by their Testimony so is also the Ancient Apostolick ORDER of the Church of Christ Re-established among them and setled upon its Right Basis and Foundation By ROBERT BARCLAY PHIL. 2.3 Let nothing be done through Strife or Vain-glory but in Lowliness of Mind let each esteem another Better than themselves HEBR. 13.7 Remember them that have the Rule over you who spoke unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER SVCH is the Malignity of Man's Nature in his fallen State and so averse is he from walking in the Straight and Even Path of TRVTH that at every turn he is inclinable to lean either to the Right Hand or to the Left yea such as by the Work of God's Grace in their Hearts and powerful Operation of his Spirit have obtained an Entrance in this Way are daily Molested and set upon on all Hands some striving to draw them the one way some the other And if through the Power of God they be kept faithful and stable then are they Calumniated on both sides each Likening or Comparing them to the Worst of their Enemies Those that are acquainted with the Holy Scriptures may observe this to have been the Lot of the Saints in all Ages but especially those whose place it hath been to Reform and Restore the Ruins of the House of God when decayed or any considerable time have been liable to such Censures hence those that set about Repairing of the Walls of Jerusalem were necessitated to Work with the one Hand and Defend with the other Christ is accused of the Jews as a Samaritan and by the Samaritans quarrelled for being a Jew The Apostle Paul is whipped and imprisoned by the Gentiles and upbraided with being a Jew and teaching their Customs the same Paul is haled and ready to be killed by the Jews for breaking the Law and defiling the Temple with the Gentiles The like hath also befallen these faithful Witnesses and Messengers whom God has raised up in this day to witness for his Truth which hath long been in a great Measure Hid but now is again Revealed and many brought to be Witnesses of it who thereby are come to Walk in the Light of the Lord. This People thus gathered have not wanted those Trials that usually accompany the Church of Christ both on the right hand and on the left each Characterizing them in such Terms as they have judged would prove most to their Disadvantage From whence as the Testimony of the false Witnesses against their Lord did not agree neither do these against us some will have us to be Foolish Mad Creatures others to be deep subtil Polititians * John Owen charges us with so much Ignorance that though he writes against us in Latin he fears we will not understand it And Thomas Danson about the same time accuses us of being Jesuites sent from abroad under this Vizzard some to be Illiterate Ignorant Fellows others to be Learned Cunning Jesuites under a meer Vizzard divers Professors will have us to be only Pensioners of the Pope undoubtedly Papists but the Papists abhor us as Hereticks Sometimes we are a Disorderly Confused Rabble leaving every one to do as they list against all Good Order and Government at other times we are so much for Order as we admit not men to exercise the Liberty of their own Judgments Thus are our Reputations tossed by the Envy of our Adversaries which yet cannot but have this Effect upon sober-minded People as to see what MALICE works against us and how these men by their Contradictory Assertions concerning us save us the Pains while they Refute one another True it is we have laboured to Walk amidst these Extremities and upon our appearing for the Truth we have found things good in themselves abused upon both hands for such hath always been the Work of an Apostacy to keep up the Shadow of certain Truths that there-through they might shelter other Evils Thus the Jews made use of the Law and the Prophets to vindicate their Abuses yea and to Crucifie Christ And how much many Christians abuse the Scriptures and the Traditions of the Apostles to uphold Things quite Contrary to it will in the general be readily acknowledged by most But to descend more particularly There be Two Things especially both of which in their Primitive Use were appointed and did very much contribute towards the Edification of the Church The one is The Power and Authority which the Apostles had given them of Christ for the Gathering Building up and Governing of his Church by Vertue of which Power and Authority they also wrote the Holy Scriptures The other is That Priviledge given to every Christian under the Gospel to be led and guided by the Spirit of Christ and to be taught thereof in all things Now both these in the Primitive Church wrought effectually towards the same End of Edification and did as in their Nature they may and in their Use they ought to do in a good Harmony very well Consist together but by the Workings of Satan and Perversness of Men they are made to fight against and destroy one another For on the one hand the Authority and Power that resided in the Apostles while it is annexed and entailed to an Outward Ordination and Succession of Teachers is made use of to cloak and cover all manner of Abuses even the height of Idolatry and Superstition For by Virtue of this Succession these Men claiming the like Infallibility that was in the Apostles though they be Strangers to any inward Work or Manifestation of the Spirit in their Hearts will needs oblige all others to acquiesce and agree to their Conclusions however different from or contrary to the Truths of the Gospel and yet for any to call such Conclusions in Question or Examine them is no less than a Hainous Heresy deserving Death c. Or while the Revelation of God's Mind is
needful for the good Ordering and Disposing all things in their proper Place and for preserving and keeping all things in their right Station did in the Dispensation and Communication of his holy Spirit Minister unto every Member a Measure of the same Spirit yet divers according to Operation for the Edification of the Body some Apostles some Teachers some Pastors some Elders there are Old Men there are Young Men there are Babes For all are not Apostles neither are all Elders neither are all Babes yet are all Members And as such all have a Sense and Feeling of the Life of the Body which from the Head flows unto all the Body as the Ointment of Aaron 's Beard unto the Skirts of his Garment and every Member has its place and Station in the Body so long as it keeps in the Life of the Body and all have need one of another yet is no Member to assume another Place in the Body than God has given it nor yet to grudg or repine its Fellow-member's Place but to be content with its own For the Vncomely Parts are no less needful than the Comely and the less-Honourable than the more-Honourable which the Apostle Paul holds forth in 1 Cor. 12. from Verse 13 to 30. Now the Ground of all Schisms Divisions or Rents in the Body is The Ground of Rents and Divisions when-as any Member assumes another Place than is allotted it or being gone from the Life and Vnity of the Body and loosing the Sense of it le ts in the Murmurer the Eye that watches for Evil and not in holy Care over its Fellow-members And then instead of coming down to Judgment in it self will stand up and judge its Fellow-members yea the whole Body or those whom God has set in a more Honourable and Eminent Place in the Body than it self Such suffer not the Word of Exhortation and term the Reproofs of Instruction which is the Way of Life Imposition and Oppression and are not aware how far they are in the things they Condemn others for while they spare not to reprove and revile all their Fellow-members Yet if they be but admonished themselves they cry out as if their Great Charter of Gospel-Liberty were broken Now though such and the Spirit by which they are acted The Subtilty of that Spirit be sufficiently seen and felt by Thousands whose Hearts God has so established as they are out of Danger of being intangled in that Snare and who have Power and Strength in themselves to judge that Spirit even in its most subtil Appearances yet there are who cannot so well withstand the Subtilty and seeming Sincerity some such pretend to though in measure they have a sight of them and others that cannot so rightly distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile and some there are that through Weakness and want of true Discerning may be deceived and the Simplicity in them betrayed for a season as it is written With Fair Speeches and Smooth Words they deceive the Hearts of the Simple Therefore having according to my measure received an Opening in my Understanding as to these things from the Light of the Lord and having been for some time under the weighty sense of them I find at this instant a Freedom to commit them to Writing for the more Universal Benefit and Edification of the Church of CHRIST Now The Heads treated of viz. for the more plain and clear opening and understanding of these things it is fit to sum up this Treatise in these following general Heads to be considered of First From whence the Ground and Cause of this Controversy is the Rise and Root of it Secondly Whether there be now any Order and Government in the Church of Christ Thirdly What is the Order and Government which we plead for in what Cases and how far it may extend in whom the Power decisive is and how it differeth and is wholly another than the Oppressing and Persecuting Principality of the Church of Rome and other Anti-christian Assemblies SECTION II. Concerning the Ground and Cause of this CONTROVERSIE WHenas the Lord God by his mighty Power began to visit the Nations with the Dawning of his Heavenly Day for thus I write unto those The first Dawning of the Heavenly Day of the Lord described that have received and believed the Truth and that he sent forth his Instruments whom he had fitted and prepared for his Work having fashioned them not according to the Wisdom and Will of Man but to his own heavenly Wisdom and Counsel they went forth and preached the Gospel in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit not in the Enticing Words of Man's Wisdom but in Appearance as Fools and Mad And breaking forth to those that judged according to Man But their Words and Testimony pierced through into the Inner Man in the Heart and reached to that of God in the Conscience whereby as many as were simple-hearted and waited for the Redemption of their Souls received them as the Messengers of the Most High God and their Words were unto them not as the Words of Men but as the Words of God for in the receiving and embracing the Testimony of Truth through them they felt their Souls eased and the Acceptable Day began to dawn in and upon them Now what Evidence brought these Men to make their Testimony to be received did they Entice did they flatter did they daub up did they preach Liberty to the Flesh or Will of Man Nay verily they used no such Method their Words were as Thunder-Bolts knocking down all that stood in their Way and pouring down the Judgment of God upon the Head of the Transgressor every where Did they spare the Zealous Professor more than the open Profane Nay verily they condemned equally the Hypocrisy of the one as well as the Profanity of the other yet wanted they not Regard to the tender Seed and Plant of God in either Did they give way Did they yield to the Wisdom of Man To the Deceitfulness of the Serpent that would reason Truth for themselves saying I must stay until I be Convinced of this and that and the other thing I see not yet this to be wrong or the other thing to be my Duty How did they knock down this manner of Reasoning by the Spirit of God which wrought mightily in them shewing and holding forth that this is the Day of the Lord that is dawned that all are invited to come that none ought to tarry behind that that which so pleadeth is the same Spirit which of old time said in those that were invited I cannot come yet I must first marry a Wife I must go prove my Yoke of Oxen I must go visit my Possessions let me first bury my dead Father Did not the Lord through them testify and declare against these things and is there not a Cloud of Witnesses who felt the Enemy thus reasoning to keep us in the Forms Fellowships false Worships and
Foolish Fashions of this World But we felt as we were obedient all these things to be for Condemnation and that as we obeyed the pure Manifestation of the Light of Jesus in our Hearts there was no Hesitation We might and should have parted with all those things at the first and what occasioned such Scruples was but that which drew back through being unwilling to give pure Obedience to the Cross of Christ for as many as gave Obedience and believed in the Light found no Occasion of stumbling but such as believed not were Condemned already because they believed not in him that Appeared Now the Boldness and Courage and Efficacy of these Messengers Testimony wrought such Astonishment The Courage of the Messengers Fear and Amazement in the Hearts of such as were Ingenuous that many began to be inwardly pricked as in the Days of old and the Foundations of many began to be shaken and some that were asleep were awakened and many that were dead and buried in the Graves of Sin and Formality and Superstition and Idolatry of all Sorts were Alarmed and many were brought in from the Hedges and the High-Ways and the Truth was received by Thousands with great Cheerfulness and a Readiness of Mind and the Feet of those were beheld to be beautiful upon the Mountains that brought the Glad Tidings of these good things And great Lowliness and Simplicity of Heart was upon such that were newly Convinced of the Truth and Deep Humiliation of Spirit and Subjection to the Power both in themselves and in those who were over them in the Lord and had gathered them into the Truth But as it was in the Gatherings of Old so it also fell out in this Day all kept not their first Love As among those Thousands which Moses led out of Egypt and carried through the Red Sea who had sung Praises to God upon the Banks of Salvation many Carcases fell in the Wilderness some who Murmured and longed to return again to the Flesh-pots of Egypt Opposition and and some for Opposing and Contradicting the Servant and Servants of the Lord whom the Lord had made Use of to lead them out of Bondage in saying Ye take too much upon you hath the Lord indeed only spoken by Moses hath he not spoken also by us And as among these Multitudes which were gathered by the Apostles there were many who continued not faithful to the End some returned back again with the Sow to the Puddle after they were washed some embraced the present World some again separated themselves Separation entring being sensual and without the Spirit despising Dominion and speaking Evil of Dignities their Mouths speaking great swelling Words being puffed up and not abiding in these things which they were taught of the Apostles So it is to be lamented that among these many Thousands whom the Apostles and Evangelists whom God raised up in this Day for the gathering of his Seed and People out of spiritual Egypt and Babylon into his pure Light and Life did bring forth and gather there are that have fallen upon the right Hand and the left Some are turned back again into Egypt running into the same Excess of Lust and Riot from whence they were once purified and Redeemed some could not bear the Reproach of the Cross of Christ and were by and anon offended in him some could not bear the Tribulations Sufferings and Persecutions which came for the Truth 's sake and the Seed in them was soon scorched with the Heat of the Day And some not abiding in Subjection to the Truth in themselves were not contented with that Place and Station in the Body which God had placed them in but became vainly puft up in their Fleshly Minds intruding into those things which they have not seen and would needs be Innovators given to Change Innovators causing Divisions and introducing new Doctrines and Practices not only differing but contrary to what was already delivered in the Beginning making Parties causing Divisions and Rents stumbling the weak and denying despising and reviling the Apostles and Messengers of Christ the Elders of the Church who loved not their Lives unto Death but through much Care and Travel and Watchings and Whippings and Bonds and Beatings in daily Jeopardy gathered us by the mighty Power of God in the most pretious Truth Yet in all this there hath nothing befallen us but that which hath been the Antient Lot of the Church of Christ in the Primitive Times Now He that was careful for his Church and People in old times hath not been wanting to us in our Day The good Shepherd of Israel his Care over his Church and People but as he has again Restored the Truth unto its primitive Integrity and Simplicity and as he has delivered our Understandings from these false Doctrines and Principles which prevailed in the Apostacy so he hath not gathered us to be As Sheep scattered without a Shepherd that every one may run his own Way and every one follow his own Will and so to be as a Confused Mass or Chaos without any Order but He even the LORD hath also gathered and is gathering us into the Good Order Discipline and Government of his own Son the Lord Jesus Christ therefore he hath laid Care upon some beyond others who watch for the Souls of their Brethren as they that must give account The several Stations in the Church 1 Cor. 4.15 16 17. There are then Fathers that have begotten us unto Christ Jesus through the Gospel of whom We ought to be Followers and to remember their Ways which be in Christ. There are then Fathers and Children Instructors and Instructed Elders and Young Men yea and Babes there are that cannot cease but must Exhort Instruct Reprove Condemn Judge or else for what End gave Christ the Gifts mentioned Ephes. 4.11 12 And how are the Saints perfected and the Body of Christ Edified of those who come under the Cognizance and as it were the Test of this Order and Government I may chiefly sum them up in three sorts though there be divers others little subdivided Species of them 1. Profane Backsliding Apostates The First is Those that turn openly back to the World again through finding the Way of Truth too narrow These have not been capable to do us any considerable Hurt for being as Salt that has lost its Savour they mostly prove a Stink among those to whom they go And I never knew any of them that proved any ways steadable to those to whom they go I find other Professors make but small Boast of any Proselytes they got out from among us I hear little of their proving Champions for the Principles of others against us And indeed for the most part they lose all Religion with the Truth for I have heard some of them say That if ever they took on them to be Religious they would come back again to the Quakers c. 2. Unwary Repenting Sinners
Secondly Those who through Vnwatchfulness the secret Corruption of their own Hearts and the mysterious or hidden Temptations of the Enemy have fallen into his Snares and so have come under the Power of some Temptation or other either of Fleshly Lusts or of Spiritual Wickedness who being seasonably warned by those that keep their Habitation and faithful Overseers in the Church have been again Restored by unfeigned Repentance not kicking against the Pricks but have rejoiced that others watched over them for their good and are become Monuments of God's Mercy unto this Day 3. Self-separating troublesome Opposers Thirdly Such who being departed from their first Love and Antient Zeal for the Truth become Cold and Lukewarm and yet are ashamed to make open Apostacy and to turn back again so as to deny all the Principles of Truth they having had already such Evidence of Clearness upon their Understanding yet not keeping low in their own Habitations but being puffed up and giving Way to the restless Imaginations of their Exalted and Wandering Minds fall out with their Brethren cause Divisions begin to find Fault with every thing and to look at others more than at themselves with swelling Words to talk of and preach up a higher Dispensation while they are far from living up to the Life and Perfection of this present like unto such who said we will not have this Man to rule over us cry out of Formality and Apostacy because they are not followed in all Things and if they be reproved for their Vnruliness according to the good Order of the Church of Christ then they cry out Breach of Liberty Oppression Persecution we will have none of your Order and Government we were taught to follow the Light in our Consciences and not the Orders of Men. Well of this hereafter but this gave the Rise of this Controversy Which leads me to that which I proposed in the second Place SECTION III. Whether there be now to be any Order or Government in the Church of Christ. IN Answer to this Proposition I meddle not at this Time with those that deny any such Thing as a Church of Christ I have reserved their Plea to another Place Neither need I to be at much Pains to prove the Affirmative to wit That there ought to be Government and Order in the Church of Christ Church-Order and Government granted unto the Generality of our Opposers both Papists and Protestants who readily confess and acknowledge it and have heretofore blamed us for want of it Though now some of them and that of the highest Pretenders are become so unreasonable as to accuse us for the Use of it improving it so far as they can to our Disadvantage For such is the Blindness of partial Envy that whereas the supposed Want of it was once reckoned Heretical now the present Performance of it is counted Criminal These then to whom I come to prove this Thing are such who having cast off the Yoke of the Cross of Christ in themselves refuse all Subjection or Government denying that any such thing ought to be as disagreeing with the Testimony of Truth or those who not being so wilful and obstinate in their Minds yet are fearful or scrupulous in the Matter in respect of the dangerous Consequences they may apprehend such a Thing may draw after it For the clearing then as well the Mistakes of the one as answering the Cavils of the other I judge the Truth of these following Assertions will sufficiently prove the Matter which I shall make no great Difficulty to Evidence First That Jesus Christ the King and Head of the Church Reason I did appoint and ordain that there should be Order and Government in it Secondly That the Apostles and Primitive Christians when they were filled with the Holy Ghost and immediately led by the Spirit of God did Practise and Commend it Thirdly That the same Occasion and Necessity now occurring which gave them Opportunity to exercise that Authority the Church of Christ hath the same Power now as ever and are led by the same Spirit into the same Practices The Abuse makes not void the true Vse As to the First I know there are some that the very Name of a Church and the very Words Order and Government they are affraid of Now this I suppose hath proceeded because of the great Hypocrisy Deceit and Oppression that hath been cloaked with the Pretence of these Things but why should the Truth be neglected because Hypocrites have pretended to it The right Institution of these Things which have been appointed and ordained by God must not nor ought not to be dispised because corrupt Men have abused and perverted them I know not any thing that hath been more abused and perverted in the whole World than the Name of a Christian shall we then renounce that Honourable Title because so many Thousands of Wicked Men yea Antichrists have falsly assumed it to themselves The Man of Sin hath taken upon him to sit in the Temple of God as God yet we must not therefore deny that God is in this Temple If the Synagogue of Satan hath assumed the Name of the Church of Christ and hath termed her Oppression and Violence the Power and Authority thereof therefore must not the Church of Christ and its Authority be exercised where it truly is according to his Mind This I prefix to warn all to beware of stumbling at things which are innocent in themselves and that we may labour to hold the steady even Path of Truth without running in either of the Extreams For that Jesus Christ did appoint Order and Government to be in the Church Church-Order appointed by Christ and the Form thereof is very clear from his plain Words Matth. 18.15 16 17 18. Ver. 15. Moreover if thy Brother shall trespass against thee go tell him his Fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother Ver. 16. But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every Word may be established Ver. 17. 〈…〉 he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but 〈…〉 neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathenâ—â—â— and a Publican Ver. 18. Verily I say unto you whatsoever 〈◊〉 shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever 〈…〉 loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven From which â—cripture it doth manifestly and evidently follow First that Jesus Christ intended there should be a certain Order and Method in his Church in the Procedure towards such as Transgress Secondly That he that refuseth to hear two is become more guilty as hardned than in refusing to hear him that first reproved alone Thirdly That refusing to hear the Judgment of the Church or whole Assembly he doth thereby Exclude himself and shut out himself from being a Member and is justly judged by his Brethren
you Timotheus who is my beloved Son and faithful in the Lord who shall bring you into Remembrance of my Ways which be in Christ as I teach every where in every Church Here the Apostle Paul is very absolute First In that he desires them to be Followers of him Secondly In that he sends a Teacher yea a Minister and Eminent Bishop or Overseer of the Church for to put them in Mind of his Ways which be in Christ as he taught in every Church No doubt there were Apostates and Dissenting Spirits in the Church of Corinth that gave Paul Occasion thus to write as he testifies in the Beginning of the Chapter How he was Judged by some of them he shews how they were grown high verse 8. Now ye are full now ye are rich ye have reigned as Kings without us c. Might not these Dissenters of the Church of Corinth have reasoned thus against Paul Dissenting Reasonings against Church-Government Did not this Paul teach us at first to mind the Measure of Grace in our selves and follow that for no doubt that was Paul's Doctrine but now he begins to Lord it over us and tells us we must be Followers of him Might not they have judged the Beloved Timothy to be far out of his Place Might they not have said It seems it is not God that moved thee and sent thee here by his Spirit but Lordly Paul that seeks Dominion over our Faith It seems thou comest not here to preach Christ and wish us to be Followers of him and of his Grace in our Hearts but to mind us to follow Paul's Ways and take notice how he teaches in every Church We are not concerned with him nor with his Messenger nor with none of your Orders and so forth Doth not this run very plausible I question not but there was such a Reasoning among the Apostate Corinthians let such as are of the same kind among us examine seriously and measure their Spirits truly hereby Yea he goes yet further in the following Chapter vers 3 4. Vers. 3. As absent in Body 1 Cor. 5.3 13. The Power of giving Judgment in the Church but present in Spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this Deed. Verse 4. In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Would not one think this to have been a very presumptuous Word and yet who dare offer to Condemn it From all which I shall shortly observe that it seems it was judged no Inconsistency nor Contradiction to be Followers of the Grace in themselves to be perswaded in their own Hearts and also to be Followers of the Apostle Paul and of his Ways because his Ways and Example was no other than the Spirit of God in themselves would have led them to if they had been obedient Therefore he found it needful to charge them positively to follow him without adding this Reason Next the great Argument the Apostle uses to perswade them hereunto upon which he mainly insists because he had begotten them into the Truth Ye have not many Fathers As of Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel wherefore I beseech you be ye Followers of me So he makes that as the Cause which the same Apostle also in his Expostulation with the Galatians putting them in mind how he preached the Gospel to them at first and Chap. 4. Vers. 15. Where is then the Blessedness ye spake of for I bear you Record if possible ye would have plucked out your own Eyes and given them unto me We see then that the Lord hath and doth give such whom he hath furnished and sent forth to gather a People unto himself And Overseers Care and Oversight over that People yea and a certain Authority in the Power over them to bring them back to their Duty when they stray at any Time and to Appoint yea and Command such Things as are needful for Peace and Order and Vnity's sake and that there lies an Obligation upon such as are so gathered to Reverence Honour yea and Obey such as are set over them in the Lord. To be Obeyed For saith the same Apostle 2 Cor. 2.9 For to this End also did I write that I might know the Proof of you whether you be Obedient in all Things and Chap. 7. Vers. 13 15. Yea and exceedingly the more joyed we for the Joy of Titus because his Spirit was refreshed by you all Verse 15. And his inward Affection is more abundant toward you whil'st he remembreth the Obedience of you all how with Fear and Trembling you received him Betrayings of the Enemy Now this will not at all Infer as if they had been Implicitly led of Old or that such as having the same Authority to exercise it now sought Dominion over their Brethrens FAITH or to force them to do any thing beyond far less contrary to what the Lord leads us to by his Spirit but we know as they did of Old that the Enemy lies near to BETRAY under such Pretences And seeing in case of Difference the Lord hath and doth and will Reveal his Will to his People and hath and doth raise up Members of his Body to whom he gives a Discerning and Power and Authority to Instruct Reprove yea and Command in some Cases those that are faithful and low in their Minds keeping their own places and minding the Lord and the Interest and Good of his TRVTH in the general over all The Murmurer shut out shut out the Murmurer and the Spirit of God leads them to have Vnity and concur with their Brethren But such as are heady and high-minded are inwardly Vexed that any should Lead or Rule but themselves And so it is the high Thing in themselves that makes them quarrel with others for taking so much upon them pretending a Liberty not sinking down in the Seed to be willing to be of no Reputation for its sake The Honour of Truth prostrated by Divisions Such rather than give up their own Wills will study to make Rents and Divisions not sparing the Flock but prostrating the Reputation and Honour of the Truth even to the World minister to them an Occasion of Scorn and Laughter to the hardning them in their Wickedness and Atheism Besides these Scriptures mentioned I shall set down a few of many more that might be Instanced to the same Purpose Scriptures for Submission and Lowliness of Mind and Esteem of the Brethren Ephes. 5.21 Submitting your selves one to another in the Fear of God Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through Strife or Vain glory but in Lowliness of Mind let each esteem other better than themselves Verse 29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all Gladness and hold such in Reputation And 3.17 Brethren be Followers together of me and mark them which walk
Things which is no other but the giving of a general Intimation what the needs are that every one as God moves their Hearts and hath prospered them without Imposition Force or Limitation may give towards these needful Vses In which Case these Murmurers at our good Order in such matters may well think strange at the Apostle How pressingly how earnestly doth he reiterate his Desires and Provocations so to speak in this Respect to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 16.2 and the 8 th and 9 th Chapters of the 2 d Epistle throughout Now though he testifies to them elsewhere That they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwells in them yet ceaseth he not to intreat and exhort yea and to give them certain Orders in this Matter Besides all these Reasons which are sufficient to Convince any unprejudicate Man The Secret Approbation of God's Spirit accompanying us in this Thing together with the Fruits and Effects of it which hundreds can witness to whose Needs have been supplied and themselves helped through divers Difficulties and the Testimonies of some already and of many more Orphans and Fatherless Children Fatherless Children put Apprentices who have found no want neither of Father nor Mother or other Relations through the tender Love and Care of God's People in putting them in Trades and Imployments and giving them all needful Education which will make it appear e're this Age pass away to those that have an Eye to see that these are not the meer Doings and Orders of Men but the Work of him who is appearing in ten Thousands of his Saints to establish not only Truth but Mercy and Righteousness in the Earth And for that End therefore in the second Place this Order reacheth the taking up and composing of Differences as to outward things 2. To Compose Differences in the Church in outward Matters which may fall out betwixt Friend and Friend for such things may fall out through the Intricacies of divers Affairs where neither hath any positive Intention to Injure and Defraud his Neighbour as in many Cases might be instanced Or if through the Workings and Temptations of him whose Work is to beset the Faithful and People of the Lord and to engender so far as he can Strife and Division among them any should step aside as to offer to wrong or prejudice his Neighbour we do boldly aver as a People gathered together by the Lord unto the same Faith and distinguished from all others by our Joint-Testimony and Sufferings that we have Power and Authority to Decide and Remove these things among our selves without going to others to seek Redress and this in it self hath so much Reason that I cannot tell if any that are not wholly prejudicate or obstinate can blame it For if we be of one Mind concerning Faith and Religion and that it be our Joint-Interest to bring all others unto the same Truth with us as supposing them to be wrong what Confidence can we have to think of Reclaiming them if the Truth we profess have not Efficacy as to Reconcile us among our selves in the Matters of this World If we be forced to go out to others for Equity and Justice because we cannot find it among our selves how can we expect to invite them to come among us when such Virtues as which still accompany the Truth are necessarily supposed to be wanting should we affirm otherwise it were to destroy the Truth and Faith we have been and are in the Lord's Hand building up and indeed the Spirit and Practice of such as Oppose us herein hath no less Tendency Moreover besides the Enforcing and Intrinsick Reason of this Thing we have the Concurrence Approbation and Comfort of the Apostle's Testimony 1 Cor. 6. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law before the Unjust and not before the Saints If it be objected Objection Do you reckon all Unjust that are not of you Think ye all other People void of Justice Believers not to go to Law before the Vâ—just c. I answer Though the Apostle useth this Expression I am perswaded he did not reckon all others Vnjust that had not received then the Christian Faith there were no doubt Moral and Just Men among the Heathen and therefore the same Paul commends the Nobility of Festus He reckons them there Vnjust in Respect of the Saints or Camparatively with them as such as are not come to the just principle of God in themselves to obey it and follow it and therefore though he accounts them who are least Esteemed in the Church capable to decide such Matters yet he supposeth it safer to submit to their Judgment in such Cases though it were by taking wrong or suffering wrong than to go before others to the greater Reproach of the Truth We hope though many Occasions of this kind have fallen in among us since we have been a People none have had just occasion to decline our Judgment And though some should suppose themselves to be wronged yet if they should go bring their matter before others we might say as the Apostle saith in the fore-mentioned Chapter vers 7. This were thereby a Fault in them and would evidence a greater Care of some outward Concern than of the Honour and Interest of Truth and therefore such as have a tender Regard that Way would rather suffer The Case of Meum Tuum what to their Apprehensions may seem wrong For in matters wherein two Parties are opposite in the Case of Meum and Tuum it is somewhat hard to please both except where the Power of Truth and the Righteous Judgment thereof reaching to that of God in the Conscience hath brought to a true Acknowledgment him that hath been mistaken or in the wrong which hath frequently fallen out among us to the often refreshing and confirming our Souls in the certain Belief that Christ was fulfilling his Promises among us In restoring Judges as at the first and Counsellors as in the Beginning Now suppose any should be so pettish or humorous as not to agree in such Matters to the Judgment of his Brethren Going before Vnbelievers from the Judgment of the Brethren is a dishonour to the Truth and to go before the Vnbelievers for though I reckon them not such Vnbelievers as the Heathen of Old because they profess a Faith in God and Christ yet I may safely say they are Vnbelievers as to these Principles and Doctrines which we know are the Truth of God and in that Sense must be Vnbelievers as to him that so Appealeth to them from his Brethren I say such as so do first commit a certain Hurt and Evil in staining the Honour and Reputation of the Truth they profess which ought to be dearer to us than our Lives And even in that outward Matter for which they thus do they run a Hazzard not knowing whether things shall carry as they expect if they loose they have
being Matter of Principles received and believed it is not my Work here to debate them only since they are received and owned as such for which we can and have given our sufficient Reasons elsewhere as for our other Principles we ought to care how any by walking otherwise bring Reproach upon us Yet not to pass them wholly by as to the First Besides the Testimony of the Spirit of God in our Hearts which is the Original Ground of our Faith in all things we have the Testimony of the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoked together c. Now if any should think it were much from this Scripture to plead it absolutely unlawful in any Case to join in Marriage with any however otherwise Sober because of their not being one with us in all Things I shall speak my Judgment To me it appears so and to many more who have obtained Mercy and we think we have the Spirit of God But whether it be lawful or not I can say positively It is not Expedient neither doth it Edify and as that which is of dangerous Consequence doth give justly Offence to the Church of Christ and therefore no true tender Heart will prefer his private Love to the Good and Interest of the whole Body As for the Second Test. 2. Against the Priests Vsurpations In that we deny the Priests their Assumed Authority and Power to Marry it is that which in no wise we can Refile from nor can we own any in the doing of it it being a part of our Testimony against the Vsurpations of that Generation who never yet that I ever heard of could produce any Scripture-proof or Example for it And seeing none can pretend Conscience in the Matter for they themselves confess that it is no part of the Essence of Marriage if any pretending to be among us should through Fear Interest or Prejudice to the Truth come under and bow to that Image have we not Reason to deny such Slavish and Ignoble Spirits as mind not Truth and its Testimony Lastly Seeing if any walking with us Test. 3. Against forbidden Degrees of Consanguinity and Pre-engagements c. or going under the same Name should hastily or disorderly go together either being within the Degrees of Consanguinity which the Law of God forbids or that either Party should have been formerly under any Tye or Obligation to others or any other vast Disproportion which might bring a just Reflection upon us from our Opposers Can any blame us for taking Care to prevent these Evils by appointing that such as so design make known their Intentions to these Churches or Assemblies where they are most known that if any know just Cause of Hinderance it may be mentioned and a Timous Let put to the Hurt either by stopping it if they can be brought to Condescend or by refusing to be Witnesses and Concurrers with them in it if they will not For we take not upon us to hinder any to Marry otherwise than by Advice or Disconcerning our selves neither do we judge that such as do Marry contrary to our Mind that therefore their Marriage is null and void in it self or may be Dissolved afterwards Nay All our medling is in a holy Care for the Truth For if the Thing be Right all that we do is to be Witnesses and if otherwise that we may say for our Vindication to such as may upbraid us therewith that we Advised otherwise and did no ways Concur in the Matter that so they may bear their own Burden and the Truth and People of God be cleared Now I am confident What kind of Persons cannot bear the good Order of Truth that our Way herein is so answerable to Reason and Christianity that none will blame us therefore except either such whose Irregular and Impatient Lusts cannot suffer a Serious and Christian Examination and an advised and moderate Procedure or such who watching for Evil against us are sorry we should proceed so Orderly and would rather we should suffer all manner of Irregularities and Abominations that they might have the more to say against us But the Solid and Real Reasons we have for our Way herein will sufficiently plead for us in the Hearts of all Sober Men and moreover the Testimony of God's Spirit in our Hearts doth abundantly Confirm us both against the Folly of the one and the Envy of the other Fourthly There being nothing more needful than to preserve Men and Women in Righteousness after they are brought into it and also nothing more certain 4. Our Care for Restoring or Separating Offenders than that the great Enemy of Man's Soul seeks daily how he may draw back again and catch those who have in some measure escaped his Snares and known Deliverance from them therefore do we also Meet together that we may receive an Opportunity to understand if any have fallen under his Temptations that we may Restore them again if possible or otherwise Separate them from us Surely if we did not so we might be justly blamed as such among whom it were lawful to Commit any Evil unreproved indeed this were to be guilty of that Libertinism which some have falsly accused us of and which hath been our Care all along as became the People of God to avoid therefore we have sought always to keep the House clean by faithfully Reproving and Removing according to the Nature of the Offence and the Scandal following thereupon private things privately and publick things publickly We desire not to propagate Hurt and defile Peoples Minds with telling them such things as tend not to Edifie yet do we not so Cover over or Smooth over any Wickedness as not to deal roundly with the Persons guilty and causing them to take away the Scandal in their Acknowledgment before all to whose Knowledge it hath come Yet judge we not our selves obliged to tell that in Gath or publish that in the Streets of Askelon which makes the Daughters of the Vncircumcised Rejoice or strengthen Atheists and Ranters in their Obduredness who feed more upon the Failings of the Saints than to Imitate their true Repentance And therefore where we find an Vnfeigning Returning to the Lord we desire not to Remember that which the Lord hath forgotten nor yet to throw Offences in the Way of the Weak that they may stumble upon them And therefore I conclude that our Care as to these Things also is most needful and a part of that Order and Government which the Church of Christ never was nor can be without as doth abundantly appear by divers Scriptures heretofore mentioned SECTION VI. How far this Government doth extend in Matters Spiritual and purely Conscientious THus far I have considered the Order and Government of the Church as it respects Outward things and its Authority in Condemning or Removing such things which in themselves are Evil as being those which none will readily justifie the Necessity of which things is such that
few but will acknowledge the Care and Order in these Cases to be Commendable and Expedient Now I come to consider the things of another kind which either verily are or are supposed to be Matters of CONSCIENCE or at least wherein People may lay claim to Conscience in the acting or forbearing of them In which the great Question is How far in such Cases the Church may give positive Orders or Rules How far her Authority reacheth or may be supposed to be binding and ought to be submitted to For the better clearing and Examination of which it will be fit to Consider First Whether the Church of Christ have Power in any Cases that Quest. I are Matters of Conscience to give a positive Sentence and Decision which may be Obligatory upon Believers Secondly If so in what Cases and Respects she may so do Quest. II Thirdly Wherein consisteth the Freedom and Liberty of Conscience Quest. III which may be exercised by the Members of the true Church diversly without judging one another And Lastly In whom the Power decisive is in Case of Controversy Quest. IV or Contention in such Matters Which will also lead us To observe the vast Difference betwixt us and the Papists and others in this particular As to the First Whether the Church of Christ have Power in any Quest. I Cases that are Matters of Conscience to give a positive Sentence and Decision which may be Obligatory upon Believers I Answer Affirmatively she hath Answ. and shall prove it from divers Instances both from Scripture and Reason For First All Principles and Articles of Faith which are held doctrinally Articles of Faith are Matters of Conscience are in Respect to those that believe them Matters of Conscience We know the Papists do out of Conscience such as are zealous among them adore worship and pray to Angels Saints and Images yea and to the Eucharist as judging it to be really Christ Jesus and so do others place Conscience in things that are absolutely wrong Now I say 1. Proof from Right-Reason We being gathered together into the Belief of certain Principles and Doctrines without any Constraint or worldly Respect but by the meer Force of Truth upon our Understanding and its Power and Influence upon our Hearts these Principles and Doctrines and the Practices necessarily depending upon them are as it were the Terms that have drawn us together and the * Yet this is not so the Bond but that we have also a more inward and invisible to wit the Life of Righteousness whereby we also have Vnity with the upright Seed in all even in those whose Vnderstandings are not yet so enlightned But those who are once enlightned this is as an outward Bond and if they suffer themselves to be darkned through Disobedience which as it does in the outward Bond so it doth in the inward Bond by which we became centered into one Body and Fellowship and distinguished from others Now if any one or more so engaged with us should arise to teach any other Doctrine or Doctrines contrary to these which were Ground of our being One who can deny but the Body hath Power in such a Case to declare This is not according to the Truth we profess and therefore we pronounce such and such Doctrines to be wrong with which we cannot have Unity nor yet any more Spiritual Fellowship with those as hold them And so such Cut themselves off from being Members by dissolving the very Bond by which they were linked to the Body Now this cannot be accounted Tyranny and Oppression no more than in a Civil Society if one of the Society shall contradict one or more of the fundamental Articles upon which the Society was contracted it can be reckon'd a breach or iniquity in the whole Society to declare that such Contradictors have done wrong and forfeited their Right in that Society in case by the Original Constitution the Nature of the Contradiction implys such a Forfeiture as usually it is and will no doubt hold in Religious Matters As if a Body be gathered into one Fellowship by the Belief of certain Principles The Disbeliever of the Principles of a Fellowship excludes himself therefrom and scatters he that comes to believe otherways naturally scattereth himself for that the Cause that gathered him is taken away and so those that abide Constant in declaring the thing to be so as it is and in looking upon him and witnessing of him to others if need be to be such as he has made himself do him no Injury I shall make the Supposition in the general and let every People make the Application to themselves abstracting from us and then let Conscience and Reason in every Impartial Reader declare whether or not it doth not hold Suppose a People really gathered unto the Belief of the true and certain Principles of the Gospel if any of these people shall arise and Contradict any of those fundamental Truths whether has not such as stand good right to Cast such a one out from among them and to pronounce positively This is contrary to the Truth we profess and own and therefore ought to be rejected and not received nor yet he that Asserts it as one of us And is not this Obligatory upon all the Members seeing all are concerned in the like Care as to themselves to hold the right and shut out the wrong I cannot tell if any man of Reason can well deny this however I shall prove it next from the Testimony of the Scripture Gal. 1.8 But though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you 2 Proof from Scripture than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed 1 Tim. 1.19 20. Holding Faith and a Good Conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme 2 John 10. If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him Rejoyce for so the Greek hath it These Scriptures are so plain and clear in themselves as to this Purpose that they need no great Exposition to the Unbyassed and Unprejudicate Reader Fore-seeing it is so that in the True Church there may men arise and speak perverse things contrary to the Doctrine and Gospel already received what is to be the place of those that hold the pure and ancient Truth Must they look upon these perverse men still as their Brethren Must they cherish them as Fellow-Members or must they judge condemn and deny them We must not think the Apostle wanted Charity who will have them Accursed and that gave Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan Hymenaeus and Alexander Instanced after that they had departed from
be turned away from because in so far as I observed before as Sanctification to wit those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus make the Church and give the right Definition to it where that is wholly wanting the Church of Christ ceaseth to be and there remains nothing but a Shadow without Substance Such Assemblies then are like the dead Body when the Soul is departed which is no more fit to be Conversed with because it corrupts and proves noisom to the living But by the Church of Christ I understand all those that truly and really have received and hold the Truth as it is in Jesus and are in measure sanctified or sanctifying in and by the Power and Virtue thereof working in their inward Parts The true Church and this may be made up of divers distinct Gatherings or Churches in several Countries or Nations I say so long as these or any of them do retain that which justly entitles them the Church or Churches of Christ which they may be truly called though there may fall out some Differences Divisions or Schisms among them as we may see there was no small Dissension in the Church of Antioch and yet it ceased not to be a Church Acts 15.2 and 1 Cor. 1.11 For it hath been declared unto me of you my Brethren that there are Contentious among you and yet Vers. 2. he entitles them the Church of God them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus So long I say as they truly retain this Title of the Church of Christ as being really such there will never be wanting the certain Judgment of Truth For which The certain Judgment of Truth is never wanting in the Church of Christ. besides the positive Promise of Christ before-mentioned which is not without Blasphemy to be called in question or doubted of I shall add these Reasons That seeing the Church of Christ is his Body of which he is the Head it were to make Christ negligent of his Body who stiles himself the good Shepheard and hath said He will never leave nor forsake his own or else which is worse it would infer a possibility of Error or Mistake in Christ in whom as the Head are the Eyes of the Body by which it is to be Ruled in all things Next we never find in all the Scripture since the Gospel that ever this was wanting but that God still gave Infallible Judgment by his Spirit in some of the Respects above-mentioned If the Transactions and Controversies of the after-Centuries be alledged I will boldly affirm and prove that there was never a true Judgment wanting so long as the Nature and Essence of the true Church was retained If any will needs affirm otherwise let them shew me where and I shall answer it Though I deny not that after the Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work or had so wrought first by intermixing and afterward by altogether forsaking the Nature of Truth retaining only the bare Name of the Church but that there might be some scattered ones here and there one in a Nation and now and then one in an Age who by the Power and Virtue of the Spirit of Life working in them might be truly sanctified yet these were but as Witnesses in Sack-cloth Witnesses in Sack-cloth no ways sufficient to give these Assemblies in which they were engrossed the Appellation of the Church of Christ coming no more under Observation by the Generality nor having as to them any more Influence than some Tittle or scarcely discernable Sparks of Fire in many great Heaps and Mountains of Ashes And thus much to prove that where there is any Gathering or Assembly which truly and properly may be called the Church of Christ the Infallible Judgment will never be wanting in Matters of Controversy Secondly That ordinarily God hath in the Communicating of his Will Assert 2 under his Gospel imployed such Proved whom he had made use of in Gathering of his Church and in feeding and watching over them though not excluding others For as in a Natural Body to which the Church of Christ is compared the more-substantial and powerful Members do work most effectually and their Help is most necessary to supply any Defect or Trouble in the Body so also if there be Diversities of Gifts in the Church as is above proved and some have a greater Measure and some a lesser those that have the greater are more capable to do good and to help the Body in its need than others that are weaker and less powerful since there are strong and weak Babes and Young Men who have overcome the Evil One and in whom the Word of God abideth such are more able when the Enemy besets to Resist having already Overcome than others who are but yet Wrestling and not Conquerors Now From the Besetments of the Enemy Dissensions arise every Controversy and Dissension in the Church comes from the Besetments of the Enemy yet if any of these Strong or Young Men or Powerful Members go from their Station it is not denied but that they are as Weak as any and it is presupposing their Faithfulness in their Place that I thus Affirm and no otherwise Nor yet do I limit the Lord to this Method for in him are all the Treasures both of our Wisdom and Strength and the weakest in his Hand are as strong as the strongest who may now as well as heretofore kill a Goliah by the Hand of little David yet we see the Lord doth ordinarily make use of the Strong to support the Weak and indeed when such as may be termed Weak are so made use of it alters the Nature of their Place and constitutes them in a higher and more eminent Degree For though it was little David it was also he that was to be King of Israel Though the Apostles were mean Men among the Jews yet they were such as were to be the Apostles of the Lord of Glory Instruments to gather the lost Sheep of the House of Israel and to proclaim the Acceptable Day of the Lord. And though Paul was once accounted the Least of all the Saints a Child born out of due Time yet was he him who was to be the greatest Apostle of the Gentiles Now then let us Consider whom the Lord makes use of in the Affairs of the Primitive Church and through whom he gave forth his Infallible Judgment Did he not begin first by Peter he wes the first that spake in the first Meeting they had Acts 1. and who first stood up after the pouring forth of the Spirit and who first appeared before the Council of the Jews and spake in behalf of the Gospel of Christ Though I am far from calling him as some do the Prince of the Apostles yet I may safely say he was one of the most Ancient and Eminent and to whom Christ in a Manner somewhat more than ordinary had recommended the Feeding of his Flock We see also he was first made use of in
and each of them void of the true Grace of God Votes and whom even supposing them to be gratious they affirm not at all to be led by the Immediate Spirit of Christ which they say is now Ceased Now can there be a greater Difference than is betwixt these Two to wit To Affirm That the power of Decision is in an Assembly of men being Members of which Assembly the Grace of God is no necessary qualification The false Decision and who deny any such thing as to be Immediately led by the Spirit of Christ as a thing not attainable in these days and yet that all Christians must be subject to what the Plurality of such an Assembly so Constituted do determine And to Affirm That the power of Decision is only and alone in the Spirit not necessarily Tied to a General Assembly but if it please God to make use of such an Assembly yet neither to the Plurality of them but in and through such of his Servants The true Decision as he sees meet And that none are Capable or can be supposed to be Members of such an Assembly or esteemed such from whom such a Judgment can be expected or ought to be received unless they be men in whom the Grace of God not only is but hath truly wrought to Mortifie and Regenerate them in a good measure In whom the Judgment of Truth really proceeding from the Spirit will be manifest to all who are truly Faithful who will accordingly Submit thereunto not with respect to the Men but the Authority of God manifested in and thorow them So that such as see not this Judgment aright will be justly Condemnable of God for their not submitting not as if they should be accepted of God if they did Obey before Conviction but because they brought this Blindness upon themselves through their Unfaithfulness and Unwatchfulness which renders them both Guilty of the Blindness and of the Disobedience occasioned by it Now the Vastness of the Difference that is here Manifest cannot but be Obvious to any that will Read and Consider this Impartially and without Prejudice Thus I have passed through all the things that I understood any did Scruple at there being nought else that I remember which is not either Relative to some of the particulars before-mentioned or Included in them But if any Wonder why I have Chosen this Method and not rather made a formal Reply to W. R's Papers I hope these following Reasons will satisfy all sober and truly peaceable-minded Friends who love Truth 's Prosperity more than Jangling as a Sufficient Reason for my so doing Reason I First Forasmuch as the greater part of what W.R. has Writ is wholly built upon the Particulars heretofore mentioned which Particulars being Cleared and his Mistakes therein Removed as his own Letter signifies the Superstructure falls of it self as not touching my Intentions nor yet reaching me but only that Apprehension he supposed to be my Meaning and to follow from my Words for which end he oftentimes is so Wary as to Affirm in his Papers That to his Vnderstanding my Words seemed to Import and my Meaning seems to be so In which things since himself saw and I have manifested his Mistake I am not so great a Lover of Contention as to busie either my self or the Minds of others with the men of straw of his making But yet he was not so Modest nor Kind to his Old Friend but that sometimes he did seek to render my Words Odious albeit the Mistake be his own by a Reiterate Repetition in Repeating that of the Tolerable Supposition of a Church at every Turn above twenty times But also he very obviously Wrests my Words and seeks to Impose upon me a disadvantagious Meaning that he may furnish himself an Occasion thereafter the more Liberally to Smite at me As where from the Apostle's Words saying And we have Confidence ye will do the things we Command you c. and in another place where he desires those to whom he writes to submit themselves to such as rule over them I Infer That some did Appoint and Ordain some things and that there lay an Obligation in point of Duty on others to Obey c. Upon which W. R. very unfairly Observes It is to be doubted his meaning is Others ought to Obey whether they see it their Duty Yea or Nay I leave such dealing to the Reader 's Judgment surely it is not answerable to that Candor and Justice that W. R. lays claim to Secondly Because W. R. in these Papers has taken occasion to extend Reason II himself in long Digressions upon other Matters not treated upon in that Book and takes oft Occasion to Insinuate his Jealousies of Persons and things that I medled not with As where he makes a large Digression which takes up several pages concerning the Constitution of the Second-Days-Meeting at London endeavouring what he can to Represent the Hurt and Abuse of it W. R's Reflections and where he divers times insinuates that some are Vsurpers or seeking to Vsurp a Jurisdiction over the Consciences of the Brethren And that some do believe that God hath raised up some outward Person to be among the Children of Light at this Day as Moses was of old among the Children of Israel c. And that some do lead many into a Temptation to run beyond their Line by procuring a Multitude of Hands to Confirm what is given forth by one or at least by a very few With divers other things of this kind which takes up no small part of his Papers Now these things are not pertinently brought in against me nor would I judge my self less Impertinent to enlarge in a Contest concerning those things which do not Immediately concern the things under Debate since the Person or Persons aimed at by him in these Reflections may take Occasion as they find it their place to Answer and perhaps may have had Opportunity to have discoursed with him divers of those things e're this time upon other Occasions Thirdly Since a Considerable part of W. R's Papers is taken up to Reason III Evidence as he pretends the Impertinent Application I make of the several passages of the Apostles which he thinks I have been too Curious to Collect that make mention of these words Order Rule Command and Government how he Evinces that I leave to the Serious Reader being the more willing to bear his Reflections in that respect that he is so bold when he cannot Compass his Matter otherwise not only to Censure me but the Apostle Paul 's Saying of 1 Tim. 1.19.20 mentioned by me That it is not only not to the purpose Intended by me but that it is not plain to the Purpose Paul himself intended at least to ordinary Capacities Adding That the Method there proposed by the Apostle Answers not that which the Light within tells us Since then the Light he follows is such as finds Fault with the Apostle's
the Decision of the Church and in case of Refractoriness that such Persons ought to be Disowned That though R. B. in one place Affirms to this purpose That there never will nor can be wanting in Case of Controversy the Spirit of God to give Judgment through some or other in the Church of Christ as long as any Assembly can properly or in any tolerable supposition be so termed he declares that the Words are sound and further saith that thereby he Intends no other but such Assemblies as in reality and truth may be termed the Church of Christ. And whereas he saith to this purpose Submission That it's Disobedience to God not to Submit to the Sentence of such Assemblies though the Persons refusing to Submit pretend they see it not yet he declares that his Meaning thereby is not That if they Submit before Conviction of Conscience they therein find Acceptance with the Lord but rather to shew that their Want of Sight is through Disobedience or Unwatchfulness to the Grace of God in themselves which if they did take heed thereunto would shew it their Duty to Obey Principles as Terms We also had Discourse touching his Assertion That Principles and Doctrines c. believed through the force of Truth on the Understanding are as it were the Terms and in another place of the Book produced it appeared that he Asserted There was a more Inward Bond viz. the Life of Righteousness and that the Book declares that we are gathered into the belief of the Principles and Doctrines by the Truth it 's Power and Influence upon our hearts and that very Bond by which we became centred into one Body and Fellowship c. And on a Debate thereof he acknowledged That his meaning was not they were the Original Bond but rather as Fruits and Branches of that Bond and so in that respect might be as an outward Bond whereby we are united in an heavenly Society The Order of the Gospel We also had some Discourse touching his Title-Page wherein he Asserts That the Ancient Apostolick Order of the Church of Christ is re-established on its right Basis and Foundation touching which he declares that his meaning is Not only with respect to all the outward Orders or Forms of Discipline in Government amongst us but with respect to the Power of God which in the Primitive Days was and now is the great Order of the Gospel And though R. Barclay hath given these Explications of his Meanings yet the very Explications as he saith are to be found in his Book if duly weighed Having given you an Account in short of what Discoursed this day amongst Friends this further lies upon me to signify unto you on the Behalf of R. Barklay I am satisfied that he is not Principled as I and many by some Passages in his Book took him to be And since it is so that many have taken an Offence against him for that Cause R. B. Cleared and as may be doubted even so far as to Reject his Testimony and Service for the Truth it lies upon me as my Duty even for his and the Truth 's sake to Warn all that they take heed not to entertain a Prejudice against his Testimony on Jealousy that may enter on the score of any Apprehensions or Mistakes of his Book and that Answer that I have given thereto but rather in an Unprejudiced Spirit to Wait on the Lord to feel and savour his Testimony even as if the Occasion taken had never been And I do freely Confess that in as much as I publish't my Book before I gave R. B. Notice of my Objections and Intentions therein W.R. blame-worthy I acted in that respect not according to Gospel-Order but am Justly worthy of Blame therein It is with me also to signify unto you that l am abundantly satisfied that R. B ' s. Book of Government was written at or before the Time of it's date for that he solemnly affirms it was so W. Rogers FOrasmuch as William Rogers of Bristol hath lately written a Book in Manuscript The Judgment of the Meeting against a Book of Robert Barclay's Intituled The Anarchy of the Ranters and Approved at the Second-Days-Meeting in London and hath dispersed his Manuscript in several parts of this Nation without so much as first giving either to the said R. Barclay in particular or the Second-Days-Meeting in general an Account of his Scruples or Dissatisfaction concerning the said Book of R. B's Contrary to all Rules of Brotherly Love Christian Fellowship Gospel-Order and Exemplary Practice of the Church of Christ to the Defamation of the said R.B. the great Derogation from the Christian Authority of the said Meeting and the general Disservice of Truth especially being sent unto persons who at present are Disaffected to the Vnity of the Body of Friends And whereas on the Seventh day of the Third Month 1677. we whose Names are under-written were Met together in the City of London in the pure Fear and holy Dread of the Lord God Almighty to hear what the said W. R. had Objected against the said Book of R. Barclay's It Appeared to us upon Deliberate serious and Impartial Hearing of the matter in Controversy that the Objections of the said W. R. lay not so much against the Matter and Substance of the said R. B's Book as against his way of Expressing some passages therein and that upon R. B's Defence and Explanation the said W. R. did declare that he was satisfied with R. B. as to his principles but that he thought some Passages in his book might have been better Worded Confessing that he did not Brotherly to publish his Book before he had Communicated his Exception to the said R. B. and the Brethren of the Second-days-Morning-Meeting in London It is therefore the Inward Sense Advice and Judgment of this Meeting that the said W. R. ought forthwith to deliver up into the hands of James Claypoole that Copy of his said Book which he hath here with him and as speedily as may be Recall all such other Copies of his said Book as he knows to be Dispersed in the Nation or elsewhere And that he also ought speedily to write a Letter to Friends in all those places where he doth or shall know the said Book to be dispersed and therein to Clear both the said R B. and the Friends of the Second-Days-Meeting in London from all such Aspersions as by means of his said Book may be Cast upon him or them And though it doth not appear to this Meeting by any thing that the said W. R. hath Objected or Offered that there is any Errour or Vnsoundness of Doctrine in the said R. B's Book yet forasmuch as there are some Terms or Expressions therein which some conceive might be made yet more Plain Easie and Familiar It is the desire of this Meeting that the said R B. as he feels in himself the Opening of Life thereunto will in Christian
Righteous in their own Eyes though often Cruelly Entreated therefore and they faithfully prophesied and foretold them of their Judgment and Downfal which came upon them as by several Warnings and Epistles delivered to Oliver and Richard Cromwel the Parliament and other then Powers yet upon Record doth appear And after it pleased God to Restore Thee what Oppressions what Banishments and Evil Entreatings they have met with by Men pretending Thy Authority and Cloaking their Mischief with thy Name is known to most Men in this Island especially in England where there is scarce a prison that hath not been filled with them not a Judge before whom they have not been haled Though they could never yet be found Guilty of any thing that might deserve that Usage Therefore the Sense of their Innocency did no doubt greatly Contribute to Move Thee Three Years ago to cause some Hundreds of them to be set at Liberty for indeed their Sufferings are singular and obviously distinguishable from all the Rest of such as live under Thee in these Two Respects First In that among all Plots Contrived by others against Thee since thy Return into Britain there was never any owned of that People found or known to be Guilty though many of them have been taken and Imprisoned upon such kind of Jealousies but were always found Innocent and Harmless as became the followers of Christ not Coveting after nor Contending for the Kingdoms of this World but subject to every Ordinance of Man for Conscience sake Secondly In that in the hottest Times of Prsecution and the most violent Prosecution of those Laws made against Meetings being cloathed with Innocency they have boldly stood to their Testimony to God without Creeping into Holes or Corners or once Hiding themselves as all other Dissenters have done but daily Met according to their Custom in the Publick Places Appointed for that End so that none of thy Officers can say of them That they have surprized them in a Corner overtaken them in a Private Conventicle or Catched them lurking in their Secret Chambers nor needed they to send out Spies to get them whom they were sure daily to find in their Open Assemblies Testifying for God and his Truth By which those that have an Eye to see may observe their Christian Patience and Courage Constancy and Suffering joined in one more than in any other people that Differ from them or Oppose them And yet in the midst of those Troubles Thou canst bear Witness that as on the one part they never sought to Detract from Thee or to render Thee and thy Government Odious to the People by Nameless and Scandalous Pamphlets and Libels so on the other hand they have not spared to Admonish Exhort and Reprove Thee and have faithfully Discharged their Consciences towards thee without flattering words as ever the True Prophets in antient times used to do to those Kings and Princes under whose Power Violence and Oppression was acted And albeit it be Evident by Experience to be most agreeable both to Divine Truth and Human Policy To allow every one to serve God according to their Consciences nevertheless those other Sects who for the most part durst not peep out in the times of Persecution while these Innocent People stood bold and faithful do now Combine in a Joint-Confederacy notwithstanding all the former Janglings and Contention among themselves to render us Odious seeking unjustly to Wrest our Doctrine and Words as if they were Inconsistent both with Christianity and Civil Society so that to Effectuate this their Work of Malice against us they have not been ashamed to take the Help and Commend the Labors of some Invidious Socinians against us So do Herod and Pontius Pilate agree to Crucify Christ. But our Practice known to thee by good Experience to be more Consistent with Christianity and Civil Society and the Peace and Welfare of this Island than that of those that thus Accuse us doth sufficiently guard us against this Calumny that we may indeed Appeal to the Testimony of thy Conscience as a Witness for us in the face of the Nation These things Moved me to present the World with a Brief but True Account of this Peoples Principles in some short Theological Propositions which according to the will of God proving Successful beyond my Expectation to the Satisfaction of several and to the Moving in many a Desire of being further Informed concerning us as being every-where Evil spoken of and likewise meeting with Publick Opposition by some as such will always do so long as the Devil rules in the Children of Disobedience I was thereby further engaged in the Liberty of the Lord to present to the World this APOLOGY of the Truth held by those People which because of thy Interest in them and theirs in thee as having first Appeared and mostly Increased in these Nations under thy Rule I make bold to present unto Thee Thou know'st and hast Experienced their Faithfulness towards their God their patience in suffering their peaceableness towards the King their honesty plainness and integrity in their faithful Warnings and Testimonies to Thee and if thou wilt allow thy self so much time as to Read this thou may'st find how Consonant their Principles are both to Scripture Truth and right Reason The Simplicity of their Behaviour the generality of their Condition as being poor men and Illiterate the manner of their procedures being without the Wisdom and Policy of this World hath made many Conclude them Fools and Mad-Men and neglect them as not being Capable of Reason But though it be to them as their Crown thus to be Esteemed of the Wise and Great and Learned of this World and though they Rejoice to be accounted Fools for Christ's sake yet of late some even such who in the World's Account are esteemed both Wise and Learned begin to Judge otherwise of them and find that they hold forth things very Agreeable both to Scripture Reason and true Learning As it is Inconsistent with the Truth I bear so it is far from me to use this Epistle as an Engine to flatter thee the usual Design of such Works and therefore I can neither Dedicate it to thee nor Crave thy Patronage as if thereby I might have more Confidence to present it to the World or be more hopeful of its Success To God alone I owe what I have and that more Immediately in matters Spiritual and therefore to Him alone and to the Service of his Truth I Dedicate whatever Work he brings forth in me to whom onely the praise and honour appertains whose Truth needs not the Patronage of Worldly Princes his Arm and Power being that alone by which it is propagated established and confirmed But I found it upon my Spirit to take occasion to present this Book unto Thee that as thou hast been often Warned by several of that people who are Inhabitants of England so thou may'st not want a Seasonable Advertisement from a Member of thy Ancient
the Promise of Christ to his Disciples Lo I am with you to the end of the World Confirmeth this same thing for this is an Inward Presence and Spiritual as all acknowledge But what relates hereto will again occur I shall deduce the Proof of this Proposition from Two manifest places of Scripture The first is 1 Cor. 2.11 12. What man knoweth the Proof I things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given us of God The Things of God are known by the Spirit of God The Apostle in the verses before speaking of the wonderful things which are prepar'd for the Saints after he hath declared that the Natural man cannot reach them adds That they are Revealed by the Spirit of God vers 9 10. giving this Reason For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And then he bringeth in the Comparison in the verses above-mention'd very apt and answerable to our purpose and Doctrine That as the things of a man are only known by the spirit of man so the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God that is that as nothing below the Spirit of man as the spirit of Brutes or any other Creatures can properly reach unto nor comprehend the Things of a man as being of a more noble and higher nature so neither can the spirit of man or the natural man as the Apostle in v. 14. subsumes receive nor discern the things of God or the things that are spiritual as being also of a higher nature which the Apostle himself gives for the Reason saying Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned So that the Apostle's words being reduced to an Argument do very well prove the matter under Debate thus If that which appertaineth properly to man cannot be discerned by any lower or baser Principle than the spirit of man then cannot these things that properly relate unto God and Christ be known or discern'd by any lower or baser thing than the Spirit of God and Christ But The First is true therefore also the Second The whole strength of the Argument is contained in the Apostle's words before-mentioned which therefore being Granted I shall proceed to Deduce a Second Argument thus That which is Spiritual can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God But The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving Knowledge of him is Spiritual Therefore The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the true and saving Knowledge of him can only be known and discerned by the Spirit of God Proof II The other Scripture is also a saying of the same Apostle 1 Cor. 12.3 No man can say No man can call Jesus Lord c. that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The Scripture which is full of Truth and answereth full well to the Inlightened Understanding of the Spiritual and Real Christian may perhaps prove very strange to the Carnal and pretended follower of Christ by whom perhaps it hath not been so diligently remarked Here the Apostle doth so much require the holy Spirit in the things that relate to a Christian that he positively avers we cannot so much as affirm Jesus to be the Lord without it Spiritual Truths are Lies spoken by Carnal men which insinuates no less than that the Spiritual Truths of the Gospel are as Lies in the mouths of Carnal and Vnspiritual men For though in themselves they be True yet are they not True as to them because not known nor uttered forth in and by that Principle and Spirit that ought to direct the Mind and actuate it in such things they are no better than the Counterfeit Representations of things in a Comedy neither can it be more truly and properly called a Real and True Knowledge of God and Christ than the Actings of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar c. if now Transacted upon a Stage might be called truly and really Their Doings or the Persons Representing them might be said truly and really to have Conquered Asia and overcome Pompey c. This Knowledge then of Christ which is not by the Revelation of his own Spirit in the heart is no more properly the Knowledge of Christ than the pratling of a Parret Like the pratling of a Parret which has been taught a few words may be said to be the Voice of a man for as that or some other Bird may be taught to sound and utter forth a rational Sentence as it hath Learned it by the outward ear and not from any living Principle of Reason actuating it so just such is that Knowledge of the things of God which the natural and carnal man hath gathered from the words or writings of Spiritual men which are not true to him because conceived in the natural spirit and so brought forth by the wrong Organ and not proceeding from the Spiritual Principle no more than the words of a man acquired by Art and brought forth by the mouth of a Bird not proceeding from a rational principle are True with respect to the Bird that utters them Wherefore from this Scripture I shall further add this Argument If no man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But The First is true Therefore the Second From this Argument there may be another Deduced Concluding in the very Terms of this Assertion thus If no man can know Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost then can there be no Certain Knowledge or Revelation of him but by the Spirit But The First is true Therefore the Second Assert III § VII The Third thing Affirmed is That by the Spirit God always Revealed himself to his Children Proved For the making appear the Truth of this Assertion it will be but needful to consider God's Manifesting himself towards and in relation to his Creatures from the Beginning which Resolves it self always herein The First Step of all is Ascribed hereunto by Moses Gen. 1.2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters I think it will not be denied that God's Converse with man all along from Adam to Moses was by the Immediate Manifestation of his Spirit and afterwards through the whole Tract of the Law he spake to his Children no otherways which as it naturally followeth from the Principles above proved That Revelation is by the Spirit of God so it cannot be denied by such as acknowledge the Scriptures of Truth to have been written by the Inspiration of the holy Ghost For these Writings from Moses to Malachy do declare that during all that time God Revealed himself to his Children by his Spirit But if any will Object
Guidance proved Seeing then we have already proved that Christ hath promised his Spirit to lead his Children and that every one of them both ought and may be Led by it If any depart from this certain Guide in deeds and yet in words pretend to be Led by it into things that are not good it will not from thence follow that the true Guidance of the Spirit is Vncertain or ought not to be followed no more than it will follow that the Sun sheweth not Light because a blind man or one who wilfully shuts his Eyes falls into a Ditch at noon day for want of Light or that no words are spoken because a deaf man hears them not or that a Garden full of fragrant flowers has no sweet smell because he that has lost his Smelling doth not smell it The Fault then is in the Organ and not in the Object All these Mistakes therefore are to be ascribed to the weakness or wickedness of men and not to that Holy Spirit Such as bend themselves most against this certain and infallible Testimony of the Spirit use commonly to alledge the Example of the Old Gnosticks and the late Monstrous and Mischievous Actings of the Anabaptists of Munster all which toucheth us nothing at all neither weakens a whit our most True Doctrine Wherefore as a most sure Bulwark against such kind of Assaults was subjoined that other part of our Proposition thus Moreover these Divine and Inward Revelations which we Establish as absolutely Necessary for the founding of the true Faith as they do not so neither can they at any time Contradict the Scriptures-Testimony or sound Reason By Experience Besides the intrinsick and undoubted Truth of this Assertion We can boldly Affirm it from our certain and blessed Experience For this Spirit never deceived us never acted nor moved us to any thing that was amiss but is clear and manifest in its Revelations which are evidently discerned of us as we wait in that pure and undefiled Light of God that proper and fit Organ in which they are Received Therefore if any Reason after this manner That Because some Wicked Vngodly Devilish Men have committed Wicked Actions and have yet more wickedly Asserted that they were led into those things by the Spirit of God Therefore The Absurdity of the Consequence No man ought to lean to the Spirit of God or seek to be led by it I utterly deny the Consequence of this Proposition which were it to be received as True then would all Faith in God and Hope of Salvation become Vncertain and the Christian Religion be turned into meer Scepticism For after the same manner I might Reason thus Because Eve was deceived by the Lying of the Serpent Therefore she ought not to have trusted to the Promise of God Because the Old World was deluded by Evil Spirits Therefore ought neither Noah nor Abraham nor Moses to have trusted the Spirit of the Lord. Because a lying Spirit spake through the four hundred Prophets that perswaded Achab to go up and fight at Ramoth Gilead Therefore the Testimony of the true Spirit in Micaiah was uncertain and dangerous to be followed Because there were seducing Spirits crept into the Church of old Therefore it was not good or Vncertain to follow the Anointing which taught all things and is Truth and no Lie Who dare say that this is a necessary Consequence Moreover not only the Faith of the Saints and Church of God of old is hereby rendered Vncertain but also the Faith of all sorts of Christians now is liable to the like hazzard even of those who seek a Foundation for their Faith elsewhere than from the Spirit For I shall prove by an Inevitable Argument Ab Incommodo i. e. from the Inconveniency of it That if the Spirit be not to be followed upon that account and that men may not depend upon it as their Guide because some while pretending thereunto commit great Evils that then nor Tradition nor the Scriptures nor Reason which the Papists Protestants and Socinians do respectively make the Rule of their Faith are any whit more Certain 1. Instances of Tradition The Romanists reckon it an Error to Celebrate Easter any other ways than that Church doth This can only be decided by Tradition And yet the Greek Church which equally layeth claim to Tradition with her self doth it otherwise Yea so little effectual is Tradition to decide the Case that Polycarpus Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 26. the Disciple of John and Anicetus the Bishop of Rome who immediately succeeded them according to whose Example both sides Concluded the Question ought to be Decided could not Agree Here of necessity one behoved to Err and that following Tradition Would the Papists now judge we dealt fairly by them if we should thence Aver That Tradition is not to be Regarded Besides in a matter of far greater Importance the same Difficulty will occur to wit in the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome for many do Affirm and that by Tradition That in the first six hundred years the Roman Prelates never assumed the Title of Vniversal Shepherd nor were acknowledged as such And as that which altogether overturneth this Presidency there are that Alledge and that from Tradition also That Peter never saw Rome and that therefore the Bishop of Rome cannot be his Successor Would ye Romanists think this Sound Reasoning to say as ye do Many have been Deceived and Erred grievously in trusting to Tradition Therefore we ought to reject all Traditions yea even those by which we Affirm the Contrary and as we think prove the Truth Lastly In the * Conc. Flor. Sess. 5. Docreto quodam Concil Eph. Act. 6. Sess. 11. 12. Concil Flor. Sess. 18 20. Concil Flor. Sess. 21. p. 480. seqq Council of Florence the Chief Doctors of the Romish and Greek Churches did debate whole Sessions long concerning the Interpretation of one Sentence of the Council of Ephesus and of Epiphanius and Basilius neither could they ever Agree about it Secondly As to the Scripture the same difficulty occurreth the Lutherans Affirm they believe Consubstantiation by the Scripture which the Calvinists deny as that which they say according to the same Scripture is a Gross Error The Calvinists again Affirm Absolute Reprobation 2. Of Scripture which the Arminians deny Affirming the Contrary wherein both Affirm themselves to be Ruled by the Scripture and Reason in the matter Should I Argue thus then to the Calvinists Here the Lutherans and Arminians grosly Err by following the Scriture Therefore the Scripture is not a good nor certain Rule and è contrà Would either of them accept of this Reasoning as good and sound What shall I lay of the Episcopalians Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists of Great Britain who are continually buffeting one another with the Scripture To whom the same Argument might be alledged though they do all unanimously acknowledge it to be the Rule 3.
some measure to be in every True Christian so that that giveth a man no Certainty Every Capacity to an Office giveth me not a Sufficient Call to it Next again By what Rule shall I judge if I be so Qualified How do I know that I am sober meek holy harmless Is not the Testimony of the Spirit in my Conscience that which must Assure me hereof And suppose that I was Qualified and Called yet what Scripture-Rule shall Inform me whether it be my Duty to Preach in this or that place in France or England Holland or Germany Whether I shall take up my time in Confirming the Faithful Reclaiming Hereticks or Converting Infidels as also in Writing Epistles to this or that Church The general Rules of the Scripture viz. To be diligent in my Duty To do all to the Glory of God and for the good of his Church Can give me no Light in this thing Seeing Two different things may both have a respect to that way yet may I commit a great Error and Offence in doing the one when I am called to the other If Paul when his face was turned by the Lord toward Jerusalem had gone back to Achaia or Macedonia he might have supposed he could have done God more acceptable Service in Preaching and Confirming the Churches than in being shut up in Prison in Judea but would God have been pleased herewith Nay certainly Obedience is better than Sacrifice and it is not our doing that which is good simply that pleaseth God but that good which he willeth us to do Every Member hath its particular place in the Body as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 12. If then I being the Foot should offer to exercise the Office of the Hand or being the Hand that of the Tongue my Service would be Troublesome and not Acceptable and instead of helping the Body I should make a Schism in it So that that which is good for another to do That which is good for one to do may be sinful to another may be sinful to me For as Masters will have their Servants to Obey them according to their good pleasure not only in blindly doing that which may seem to them to tend to their Master's Profit whereby it may chance the Master having business both in the Field and in the House that the Servant that knows not his Master's Will may go to the Field when it is the Mind of the Master he should stay and do the business of the House Would not this Servant then deserve a Reproof for not answering his Master's Mind And what Master is so Sottish and Careless as having many Servants leaves them in such Disorder as not to Assign each his particular Station and not only the general term of doing that which is profitable which would leave them in various doubts and no doubt land in Confusion Shall we then dare to ascribe unto Christ in the Ordering of his Churches and Servants that which in Man might justly be accounted Disorder and Confusion The Apostle sheweth this Distinction well Rom. 12.6 8. Diversities of Gifts Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given us whether Prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of Faith or Ministry let us wait on our Ministrings or he that Teacheth on Teaching or he that Exhorteth on Exhortation Now what Scripture-Rule sheweth me that I ought to Exhort rather than Prophesy or Minister rather than Teach Surely none at all Many more Difficulties of this kind occur in the Life of a Christian. Of Faith and Salvation can the Scripture assure thee Moreover that which of all things is most Needful for him to know to wit Whether he really be in the Faith and an heir of Salvation or no the Scripture can give him no Certainty in neither can it be a Rule to him That this Knowledge is exceeding Desirable and Comfortable all do unanimously acknowledge besides that it is specially Commanded 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates And 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Now I say what Scripture-Rule can Assure me that I have True Faith That my Calling and Election is sure If it be said By Comparing the Scripture-marks of true Faith with mine I demand wherewith shall I make this Observation What shall ascertain me that I am not Mistaken It cannot be the Scripture That 's the Matter under Debate If it be said My own heart How Vnfit a Judge is it in its own Case and how like to be partial especially if it be yet Vnrenewed Doth not the Scripture say The Heart of Man is deceitful that it is Deceitful above all things I find the Promises I find the Threatnings in the Scripture but who telleth me that the one belongs to me more than the other The Scripture gives me a meer Declaration of these things but makes no Application so that the Assumption must be of my own making thus as for Example I find this Proposition in the Scripture He that believes shall be saved Thence I draw this Assumption But I Robert Believe Therefore I shall be saved The Minor is of mine own making not Expressed in the Scripture and so a humane Conclusion not a Divine Position so that my Faith and Assurance here is not built upon a Scripture-Proposition but upon an humane Principle which unless I be sure of elsewhere the Scripture gives me no Certainty in the matter Again If I should pursue the Argument further and seek a New Medium out of the Scripture the same difficulty will occur thus He that hath the true and certain Marks of True Faith hath True Faith But I have those Marks Therefore I have True Faith For the Assumption is still here of my own making and is not found in the Scriptures and by consequence the Conclusion can be no better since it still followeth the Weaker Proposition This is indeed so pungent that the best of Protestants who plead for this Assurance The Inward Testimony of the Spirit the Seal of Scripture Promises ascribe it to the Inward Testimony of the Spirit as Calvin in that large Citation cited in the former Proposition so that not to seek further into the Writings of the Primitive Protestants which are full of such Expressions even the Westminster Confession of Faith affirmeth Chap. 18. § 12. This Certainty is not a bare Conjecture and probable Perswasion grounded upon fallible Hope but an infallible Assurance of Faith founded upon the Divine Truth of the promise of Salvation the inward Evidences of these Graces unto which these Promises are made the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing to our Spirits that we are the Children of God which Spirit is the Earnest of our Inheritance whereby we are sealed to the day of Redemption
Moreover the Scripture it self wherein we are so earnestly pressed to seek after this Assurance doth not at all affirm it self a Rule sufficient to give it but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit as Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby do we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit and Ch. 5.6 And it is the Spirit that beareth Witness because the Spirit is Truth § IV. Lastly That cannot be the only Principle nor Chief Rule which doth not Vniversally reach every Individual that needeth it to produce the Necessary Effect and from the Vse of which either by some innocent and sinless Defect or natural yet harmless and blameless Imperfection many who are within the Compass of the Visible Church That the Scriptures are not the Chief Rule and may without Absurdity yea with great Probability be accounted of the Elect are necessarily Excluded and that either wholly or at least from the Immediate Vse thereof But it so falls out frequently concerning the Scriptures in the Case of Deaf People 1. Deaf People Children and Idiots Instanced Children and Idiots who can by no means have the Benefit of the Scriptures shall we then affirm that they are without any Rule to God-ward or that they are all Damned As such an Opinion is in it self very Absurd and Inconsistent both with the Justice and Mercy of God so I know no sound Reason can be alledged for it Now if we may suppose any such to be under the New Covenant-Dispensation as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any Absurdity we cannot suppose them without some Rule and Means of Knowledge seeing it is expresly Affirmed They shall all be taught of God Joh. 6.45 And they shall all know me from the least to the greatest Hebr. 8.11 But secondly though we were rid of this Difficulty how many Illiterate and yet Good men are there in the Church of God who cannot Read a letter in their own Mother's Tongue which Imperfection though it be Inconvenient I cannot tell whether we may safely affirm it to be Sinful These can have no Immediate Knowledge of the Rule of their Faith so their Faith must needs depend upon the Credit of other mens Reading or Relating it unto them where either the altering adding or omitting of a little word may be a foundation in the poor Hearer of a very dangerous Mistake whereby he may either continue in an Iniquity ignorantly or believe a Lie confidently As for Example 2. Papists conceal the Second Commandment from the People the Papists in all their Catechisms and publick Exercises of Examination towards the People have boldly Cut away the Second Command because it seems so expresly to hit against their Adoration and Vse of Images whereas many of these People in whom by this Omission this false Opinion is fostered are under a simple Impossibility or at least a very great Difficulty to be outwardly Informed of this Abuse But further suppose all could Read the Scriptures in their own language where is there One of a Thousand that hath that Through-Knowledge of the Original Languages in which they were written so as in that respect Immediately to receive the Benefit of them Must not all these here depend upon the honesty and faithfulness of the Interpreters 3. The Uncertainty of the Interpreters of the Scriptures and their Adulterating it Which how Vncertain it is for a man to build his Faith upon the many Corrections Amendments and various Essays which even among Protestants have been used whereof the latter hath constantly Blamed and Corrected the former as guilty of Defects and Errors do sufficiently declare And that even the last Translations in the Vulgar Languages need to be Corrected as I could prove at large were it proper in this place Learned men do Confess But last of all there is no less Difficulty even occurs to these Skilled in the Original Languages who cannot so immediately receive the Mind of the Authors in these Writings as that their Faith doth not at least obliquely depend upon the Honesty and Credit of the Transcribers since the Original Copies are granted by all not to be now Extant Hieron Epist. 28. ad Lucin. pag. 247. Of which Transcribers Jerom in his time Complained saying That they wrote not what they Found but what they Vnderstood And Epiphanius saith That in the Good and Correct Copies of Luke it was written That Christ wept and that Irenaeus doth cite it but that the Catholiks blotted it out fearing lest Hereticks should have abused it Other Fathers also declare that whole Verses were taken out of Mark because of the Manichees But further Epiph. in Anachor Tom. 3. Oper. the Various Lections of the Hebrew Character by reason of the Points which some plead for as Cooevous with the first Writings which others with no less probability alledge to be a latter Invention The various Lections of the Hebrew Character c. the disagreement of divers Citations of Christ and the Apostles with those passages in the Old Testament the Appeal to the great Controversy among the Fathers whereof some most highly Approve the Greek Septuagint decrying and rendring very doubtful the Hebrew Copy as in many places vitiated and altered by the Jews other some and particularly Jerom Exalting the Certainty of the Hebrew and rejecting yea even deriding the History of the Septuagint which the Primitive Church chiefly made use of and some Fathers that lived Centuries before him affirmed to be a most Certain thing And the many Various Lections in divers Copies of the Greek and the great Alterations among the Fathers of the first three Centuries who had greater opportunity to be better informed than we can now lay claim to concerning the Books to be admitted or rejected as above is observed I say all these and much more which might be alledged puts the Minds even of the Learned into Infinite Doubts Scruples and inextricable Difficulties Whence we may very safely Conclude that Jesus Christ who promised to be always with his Children to lead them into all Truth to guard them against the devices of the Enemy and to establish their Faith upon an unmoveable Rock left them not to be principally ruled by that which was subject in it self to many Vncertainties and therefore he gave them his Spirit as their Principal Guide which neither Moths nor Time can wear out nor Transcribers nor Translators Corrupt which none are so Young none so Illiterate none in so Remote a place but they may come to be Reached and rightly Informed by it Through and by the Clearness which that Spirit gives us it is that we are only best rid of those Difficulties that occur to us concerning the Scriptures The real and undoubted Experience whereof I my self have been a Witness of with great Admiration of the love
Authentick that it ought to be Received First If he should say Because it Contradicts not the Rest besides that there is no mention made of it in any of the Rest perhaps these men think it doth Contradict Paul in relation to Faith and Works Whether the Epistle of James be Authentick and how to know it But if that should be granted it would as well follow that Every Writer that Contradicts not the Scripture should be put into the Canon and by this means these men fall into a greater Absurdity than they fix upon us For thus they would Equal every one the Writings of their own Sect with the Scriptures for I suppose they judge their own Confession of Faith doth not Contradict the Scriptures Will it therefore follow that it should be bound up with the Bible And yet it seems impossible according to their Principles to bring any better Aagument to prove the Epistle of James to be Authentick There is then this Vnavoidable Necessity to say We know it by the same Spirit from which it was written or otherwise to step back to Rome and say We know by Tradition that the Church hath declared it to be Canonical and the Church is Infallible Let them find a Mids if they can So that out of this Objection we shall draw an Vnanswerable Argument ad hominem to our purpose That which cannot Assure me concerning an Article of Faith necessary to be believed is not the Primary Adequate Only Rule of Faith But The Scripture cannot thus Assure me Therefore c. I prove the Assumption thus That which cannot Assure me concerning the Canon of the Scripture to wit that such Books are only to be Admitted and the Apocrypha to be Excluded Cannot Assure me of this Therefore c And lastly As to these words Rev. 22.18 that If any man shall add Object 3 unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book I desire they will shew me Answ. how it relates to any thing else than to that Particular Prophecy It saith not Now the Canon of the Scripture is filled up no man is to write more from that Spirit Yea do not all Confess What it means to Add to the Scriptures that there have been Prophecies and true Prophets since The Papists deny it not And do not the Protestants affirm that John Huss prophesied of the Reformation Was he therefore Cursed or did he therein Evil I could give many other Examples Confessed by themselves But moreover the same was in Effect Commanded long before Prov. 30.6 Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar Yet how many Books of the Prophets were written after And the same was said by Moses Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not Add unto the Word which I command you neither shall ye Diminish ought from it So that though we should extend that of the Revelations beyond the particular Prophecy of that Book it cannot be understood but of a New Gospel or New Doctrines or of Restraining Prop. 4 man's Spirit that he mix not his Humane Words with the Divine and not of a New Revelation of the Old as we have said before PROPOSITION IV. Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall All Adam's Posterity or Mankind both Jews and Gentiles as to the first Adam or Earthly Man is fallen degenerated and dead deprived of the sensation or feeling of this Inward Testimony Rom. 5.12 15. or Seed of God and is subject unto the Power Nature and Seed of the Serpent which he soweth in mens hearts while they abide in this Natural and Corrupted Estate from whence it comes that not only their Words and Deeds but all their Imaginations are Evil perpetually in the sight of God as proceeding from this depraved and wicked Seed Man therefore as he is in this State can know nothing aright yea his Thoughts and Conceptions concerning God and things Spiritual until he be dis-joined from this Evil Seed and united to the Divine Light are Unprofitable both to himself and others Hence are Rejected the Socinian and Pelagian Errors in the Exalting a Natural Light as also the Papists and most of Protestants who Affirm That man without the true Grace of God may be a True Minister of the Gospel Nevertheless this Seed is not imputed to Infants until by Transgression they actually join themselves therewith for they are by Nature the Children of Wrath who walk according to the Power of the Prince of the Air Ephes. 2. and the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience having their Conversation in the Lusts of the Flesh fulfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind § I. HItherto we have Discoursed how the True Knowledge of God is Attained and Preserved also of what Vse and Service the Holy Scripture is to the Saints We come now to Examine The State and Condition of Man as he stands in the Fall what his Capacity and Power is and how far he is able as of himself to Advance in relation to the things of God Of this we touch'd a little in the beginning of the Second Proposition but the full right and through Understanding of it is of great Vse and Service because from the Ignorance and Altercations that have been about it there have arisen great and dangerous Errors both on the one hand and the other While some do so far Exalt the Light of Nature or the Faculty of the Natural man as Capable of himself by vertue of the Inward Will Faculty Light or Power that pertains to his Nature to follow that which is good and make real progress towards Heaven And of these are the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians of old and of late the Socinians and divers others among the Papists Others again will needs run into another Extream to whom Augustine among the Ancients first made way in his Declining Age Augustine 's Zeal against Pelagius through the heat of his zeal against Pelagius not only Confessing men Vncapable of themselves to do good and prone to evil but that in his very Mother's Womb and before he Commits any Actual Transgression he is Contaminate with a Real Guilt whereby he deserves Eternal Death in which respect they are not afraid to Affirm That many poor Infants are Eternally Damned and for ever endure the Torments of Hell Therefore the God of Truth having now again Revealed his Truth that good and even Way by his own Spirit hath taught us to avoid both these Extreams That then which our Proposition leads to Treat of is Part I First What the Condition of Man is in the Fall and how far Vncapable to meddle in the Things of God And Secondly That God doth not impute this Evil to Infants until Part II they Actually join with it That so by Establishing the Truth we may overturn the Errors on both parts And as for that Third thing Included in the Proposition it self concerning Part III
such and such Prayers so that the person that so doth is presently Cleared from the guilt of his sin and justified and accepted in the sight of God As for Example He that in the great Jubilee will go to Rome and present himself before the Gate of Peter and Paul and there receive the Pope's Blessing or he that will go a Pilgrimage to James's Sepulchre in Spain or to Mary of Loretta is upon the Performance of those things promised forgiveness of Sins Now if we ask them the Reason how such things as are not morally good in themselves come to have Virtue they have no other Answer but because of the Church and Pope's Authority who being the great Treasurer of the Magazine of Christ's Merits lets them out upon such and such Conditions Thus also the Invention of Saying Mass is made a Chief Instrument of Justification Papists Mass what it is for in it they pretend to Offer Christ daily to the Father a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead so that a man for Money can procure Christ thus to be Offered for him when he pleases by which Offering he is said to obtain Remission of Sins and to stand Justified in the sight of God From all which and much more of this Nature which might be mentioned it doth appear that the Papists place their Justification not so much in any Work of Holiness really brought forth in them and real forsaking of Iniquity as in the meer Performance of some Ceremonies and a blind Belief which their Teachers have begotten in them that the Church and the Pope having the Absolute Dispensation of the Merits of Christ have power to make these Merits Effectual for the Remission of sins and Justification of such as will perform those Ceremonies This is the true and real Method of Justification taken by the generality of the Church of Rome and highly Commended by their publick Preachers especially the Monks in their Sermons to the People of which I my self have been an Ear and an Eye-witness However some of their Modern Writers have laboured to qualify it in their Controversies Luther and the Protestants opposing the Pope's Doctrine of Works fell into th' other Extream of No good Works necessary to Justification This Doctrine Luther and the Protestants then had good Reason to deny and oppose though many of them ran into another Extream so as to deny good Works to be necessary to Justification and to preach up not only Remission of sins but Justification by Faith alone without all Works however good So that men do not obtain their Justification according as they are inwardly sanctified and renewed but are justified meerly by believing that Christ died for them and so some may perfectly be Justified though they be lying in gross Wickedness as appears by the Example of David whom they say was fully and perfectly Justified while he was lying in the gross sins of Murder and Adultery As then the Protestants have sufficient ground to quarrel and confute the Papists concerning those many Abuses in the matter of Justification shewing how the Doctrine of Christ is thereby vitiated and overturned and the Word of God made void by many and useless Traditions the Law of God neglected while foolish and needless Ceremonies are prized and followed through a false Opinion of being Justified by the Performance of them and the Merits and Sufferings of Christ which is the Only Sacrifice appointed by God for Remission of sins derogated from by the setting up of a Daily Sacrifice never appointed by God Papists Device to get Money and chiefly devised out of Covetousness to get money by so the Protestants on the other hand by not rightly establishing and holding forth the Doctrine of Justification according as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures have opened a door for the Papists to accuse them as if they were Neglecters of good Works Enemies to Mortification and Holiness such as esteem themselves Justified while lying in great sins by which kind of Accusations for which too great ground hath been given out of the Writings of some Rigid Protestants the Reformation hath been greatly defamed and hindered and the Souls of many Insnared Whereas who will narrowly look into the matter may observe these Debates to be more in specie than in genere seeing both do upon the matter land in one and like two men in a Circle who though they go sundry ways yet meet at the last in the same Centre For the Papists they say They obtain Remission of Sins and are justified by the Merits of Christ as the same are Applied unto them in the use of the Sacraments of the Church Papists Belief of Justification meets in the same Centre with the and are dispensed in the Performance of such and such Ceremonies Pilgrimages Prayers and Performances though there be not an inward Renewing of the mind nor knowing of Christ inwardly formed yet they are remitted and made Righteous ex opere operato because of the Power and Authority accompanying the Sacraments and the Dispensators of them The Protestants say That they obtain Remission of Sins Protestants Belief So saith the Westminster-Conf of Faith Chap. 11. Sect. 1. and stand Justified in the sight of God by Virtue of the Merits and Sufferings of Christ not by Infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous they resting on him and his righteousness by Faith which Faith the Act of believing is not imputed unto them for Righteousness So the Justification of neither here is placed in any Inward Renewing of the Mind or by virtue of any Siritual Birth or Formation of Christ in them but only by a bare Application of the Death and Sufferings of Christ outwardly performed for them whereof the one lays hold on a Faith resting upon them and hoping to be Justified by them alone the other by the saying of some outward Prayers and Ceremonies which they judge makes the Death of Christ Effectual unto them I Except here being unwilling to wrong any what things have been said as to the necessity of inward Holiness either by some Modern Papists or some Modern Protestants who in so far as they have laboured after a Midst betwixt these two Extreams have come near to the Truth as by some Citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will Appear Though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostasy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures-Testimony as it hath pleased God to Reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the Witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and Comprehended in the Thesis it self English state of Controversie yet I shall a little more fully Explain the State of the Controversy as it stands betwixt us and those that now Oppose
touching those who according to the common Opinion of Protestants have been Converted whom albeit they confess they persist always in some Misdeeds and sometimes in hainous Sins as is manifest in David's Adultery and Murder yet they assert to be perfectly and wholly Justified How comes he then so often to Complain to Expostulate so much throughout the whole Scripture with such as our Adversaries Confess to be Justified telling them That their sins separate betwixt him and them Isa. 59.2 For where there is a perfect and full Reconciliation there is no Separation Yea from this Doctrine it necessarily follows either that such for whom Christ died and whom he hath thus Reconciled never Sin or that when they do so they are still Reconciled and their Sins make not the least Separation from God yea that they are Justified in their Sins From whence also would follow this Abominable Consequence That the good Works and greatest Sins of such are alike in the sight of God seeing neither the one serves to Justify them nor the other to break their Reconciliation which occasions great Security and opens a door to every lewd Practice †Proof III. Thirdly This would make void the whole practical Doctrine of the Gospel and make Faith it self Needless For if Faith and Repentance and the other Conditions called for throughout the Gospel be a Qualification upon our part necessary to be performed then before this be performed by us we are either fully reconciled to God or but in a Capacity of being Reconciled to God he being ready to Reconcile and Justify us as these Conditions are performed Which latter if granted is according to the Truth we profess And if we are already perfectly Reconciled and Justified before these Conditions are performed which Conditions are of that Nature that they cannot be performed at one time but are to be done all one's life time then can they not be said to be absolutely Needful Which is contrary to the very express Testimony of Scripture which is acknowledged by all Christians For * Hebr. 11.6 John 3.18 Luke 13.3 Apoc. 2.5 Rom. 8.13 without Faith it is Impossible to please God They that believe not are Condemn'd already because they believe not in the Only begotten Son of God Except ye Repent ye cannot be Saved For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die And of those that were Converted I will Remove your Candlestick from you unless ye Repent Should I mention all the Scriptures that positively and evidently prove this I might transcribe much of all the Doctrinal Part of the Bible For since Christ said It is finished and did finish his Work sixteen hundred years ago and upwards if he so fully perfected Redemption then and did then actually Reconcile every one that is to be Saved not simply opening a Door of Mercy for them A Door of Mercy opened by Christ upon Repentance offering the Sacrifice of his Body by which they may obtain Remission of their Sins when they Repent and Communicating unto them a measure of his Grace by which they may see their sins and be able to Repent but really make them to be Reputed as Just The Antinomians Opinion of Reconciliation and Justification either before they believe as say the Antinomians or after they have Assented to the Truth of the History of Christ or are sprinkled with the Baptism of Water while nevertheless they are actually Vnjust so that no part of their Redemption is to be wrought by him now as to their Reconciliation and Justification then the whole doctrinal Part of the Bible is useless and of no profit in vain were the Apostles sent forth to preach Repentance and Remission of Sins and in vain do all the Preachers bestow their labour spend their lungs and give forth Writings yea much more in vain do the people spend their money which they give them for preaching seeing it is all but Actum agere but a vain and uneffectual Essay to do that which is already perfectly done without them Proof IV But lastly To pretermit their humane Labours as not worth the disputing whether they be needful or not since as we shall hereafter shew themselves Confess the Best of them is Sinful this also makes void the present Intercession of Christ for men What shall become of that great Article of Faith Christ's daily making Intercession for us by which we Affirm That he sits at the right hand of God daily making Intercession for us and for which end the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered For Christ maketh not Intercession for those that are not in a possibility of Salvation that is absurd Our Adversaries will not admit that he prayed for the World at all and to pray for those that are already Reconciled and perfectly Justified is to no purpose To pray for Remission of Sins is yet more Needless if all be Remitted past present and to come Indeed there is not any solid Solving of this but by acknowledging according to the Truth that Christ by his Death removed the Wrath of God so far as to obtain Remission of sins for as many as Receive that Grace and Light that he communicates unto them and hath purchased for them by his Blood which as they believe in they come to know Remission of sins past and power to save them from sin and to wipe it away so often as they may fall into it by unwatchfulness or weakness if applying themselves to this Grace they truly Repent For to as many as receive him he gives power to become the sons of God So none are sons none are justified none reconciled until they thus receive him in that little Seed in their hearts and life Eternal is offered to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek glory honour and immortality For if the righteous man depart from his righteousness his righteousness shall be remembred no more And therefore on the other part none are longer Sons of God and justified than they patiently continue in righteousness and well-doing And therefore Christ lives always making Intercession during the day of every man's Visitation that they may be Converted and when men are in some measure Converted he makes Intercession that they may Continue and go-on and not faint nor go back again Much more might be said to Confirm this Truth but I go on to take notice of the Common Objections against it which are the Arguments made use of to propagate the Errors Contrary to it § VI. The First and Chief is drawn from that saying of the Apostle before-mentioned 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not Imputing their Trespasses unto them Object 1 From hence they seek to Infer That Christ fully perfected the Work of Reconciliation while he was on Earth I Answer If by Reconciliation be understood the Removing of Wrath
Legal Acceptation As first in that of 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified as I before have proved which also many Protestants are forced to acknowledge Neither diffide we saith Thysius because of the most great and strict Connexion Thysius Disp. de Just. Thes. 3. that Justification doth sometimes seem also to Comprehend Sanctification as a Consequence as in Rom. 8.30 Tit. 3.7 1 Cor. 6.11 And such sometimes were ye Zanchius in cap. 2. ad Eph. ver 4. loc de Just. but ye are washed c. Zanchius having spoken concerning this sense of Justification adds saying There is another signification of the word viz. for a man from Unjust to be made Just even as sanctified signifies from unholy to be made holy In which signification the Apostle said in the place above-cited And such were some of you c. that is of unclean ye are made holy and of unjust ye are made just by the Holy Spirit for Christ's sake in whom ye have believed Of this signification is that Rev. 22.11 Let him that is just be just still that is really from just become more just even as from unjust he became just And according to this signification the Fathers and especially Augustine have Interpreted this word H. Bullinger Thus far he H. Bullinger on the same place 1 Cor. 6. speaketh thus By divers words saith he the Apostle signifies the same thing when he saith ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are justified Proof II Secondly In that Excellent Saying of the Apostle so much observed Rom. 8.30 Whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified This is commonly called the Golden Chain as being acknowledged to Comprehend the Method and Order of Salvation And therefore if Justified were not understood here in its proper signification of being made just Sanctification would be excluded out of this Chain Righteousness the only Medium by which from our Calling we pass to Glorification And truly it is very worthy of observation that the Apostle in this succinct and compendious Account makes the word Justified to comprehend all betwixt Calling and Glorifying thereby clearly insinuating that the being really Righteous is that only Medium by which from our Calling we pass to Glorification All for the most part do acknowledge the word to be so taken in this place and not only so but most of those who oppose are forced to acknowledge that as this is the most proper so the most common Signification of it thus divers famous Protestants do acknowledge We are not saith D. Chamierus such Impertinent Esteemers of words as to be ignorant nor yet such importunate Sophists as to deny that the words of Justification and Sanctification do infer one another yea we know that the Saints are chiefly for this Reason so called D. Chamier Tom. 3. de Sanct. l. 10. c. 1. because that in Christ they have received Remission of Sins and we read in the Revelation Let him that is just be just still which cannot be understood except of the fruit of Inherent Righteousness Nor do we deny but perhaps in other places they may be promiscuously taken especially by the Father I take saith Beza the name of Justification largely Beza in cap. 3. ad Tit. vers 7. so as it comprehends whatsoever we acquire from Christ as well by Imputation as by the Efficacy of the Spirit in sanctifying us So likewise is the word of Justification taken Rom. 8.30 Melanchthon saith Melancht in Apol. Confes. Aug. that to be justified by Faith signifies in Scripture not only to be pronounced Just but also of Unrighteous to be made Righteous Also some Chief Protestants though not so clearly yet in part hinted at our Doctrine whereby we ascribe unto the Death of Christ Remission of Sins and the work of Justification unto the Grace of the Spirit acquired by his Death Boraeus in Gen. c. 15. ad verb Credidit Abraham Deo pag. 161. Martinus Boraeus explaining that place of the Apostle Rom. 4.25 Who was given for our sins and rose again for our Justification saith There are two things beheld in Christ which are necessary to our Justification the one is his Death the other is his Arising from the dead By his Death the sins of this World behoved to be Expiated By his Rising from the dead it pleased the same goodness of God to give the Holy Spirit whereby both the Gospel is believed and the Righteousness lost by the fault of the first Adam is restored And afterwards he saith The Apostle expresseth both parts in these words Who was given for our sins c. In his Death is beheld the Satisfaction for sin in his Resurrection the Gift of the Holy Spirit by which our Justification is perfected And again the same man saith elsewhere Idem lib. 3. Reg. cap. 9. v. 4. pag. 681. Both these kinds of Righteousness are therefore contained in Justification neither can the one be separate from the other So that in the Definition of Justification the Merit of the Blood of Christ is included both with the Remission of sins and with the gift of the Holy Spirit of Justification and Regeneration Martinus Bucerus saith Seeing by one sin of Adam the world was lost Bucerus in Rom. 4. ad ver 16. the Grace of Christ hath not only abolished that one sin and death which came by it but hath together taken away those infinite sins and also led into full Justification as many as are of Christ so that God now not only Remits unto them Adam 's sin and their own but also gives them therewith the Spirit of a solid and perfect Righteousness Righteousness a Conformity to the Image of the First-begotten which renders us Conform unto the Image of the First-Begotten And upon these words by Jesus Christ he saith We always judge that the whole benefit of Christ tends to this that we might be strong through the Gift of Righteousness being rightly and orderly adorned with all virtue that is restored to the Image of God And lastly William Forbes our Country-man W. Forbes in Considerat Modest. de Just. lib. 2. Sect 8. Bishop of Edinburgh saith Whensoever the Scripture makes mention of the Justification before God as speaketh Paul and from him besides others Augustin it appears that the word Justify necessarily signifies not only to pronounce Just in a Law sense but also really and inherently to make Just because that God doth otherways justify a wicked man than Earthly Judges For he when he Justifies a wicked or unjust man How God justifies the Wicked doth indeed pronounce him as these also do but by pronouncing him Just because his Judgment is according to Truth he also makes him really of Unjust to become Just. And again the same man upon the same occasion answering the more rigid Protestants who say That God first justifies and
II § IV. Secondly It is Inconsistent with the Justice of God For since he requires Purity from his Children It s Inconsistency with the Justice of God and Commands them to abstain from every Iniquity so frequently and precisely as shall hereafter appear and since his Wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men it must needs follow that he hath Capacitated man to answer his Will or else that he Requires more than he has given power to perform which is to declare him openly Vnjust and with the slothful servant to be a Hard Master We have elsewhere spoken of the Injustice these men ascribe to God in making him to damn the Wicked to whom they alledge he never afforded any means of being good But this is yet an Aggravation more Irrational and Inconsistent to say That God will not afford to those whom he has Chosen to be his own whom they confess he loveth the Means to please him What can follow then from so strange a Doctrine This Imperfection in the Saints either proceeds from God or from themselves If it proceed from them it must be because they are short in Improving or making use of the Power given them whereby they are Capable to Obey and so it is a thing possible to them as indeed it is by the help of that Power but this our Adversaries deny They are then not to be blamed for their Imperfection and Continuing in sin since it is not possible to them to do otherwise If it be not of themselves it must be of God who hath not seen meet to allow them Grace in that degree to produce that Effect And what is this but to attribute to God the Heighth of Injustice to make him require his Children to forsake sin and yet not to afford them sufficient means for so doing Surely this makes God more Vnrighteous than Wicked men Who will give their Children a Stone instead of Bread Who if as Christ saith Their Children require bread of them will not give them a stone or instead of a fish a serpent but these men confess We ought to seek of God power to Redeem us from Sin and yet believe They are never to Receive such a power such Prayers then cannot be in Faith but are all vain Is not this to make God as Vnjust to his Children as Pharaoh was to the Israelites in requiring brick and not giving them straw But blessed be God he deals not so with those that truly Trust in him and Wait upon him as these men vainly imagine for such Faithful ones find of a truth that his Grace is sufficient for them and know how by his power and Spirit to overcome the Evil one Proof III § V. Thirdly This Evil Doctrine is highly Injurious to Jesus Christ and greatly derogates from the Power and Vertue of his Sacrifice and renders his Coming and Ministry The great and principal End of Christ's Coming and Appearance was for the removing of Sin and to redeem us from all Iniquity as to the great End of it Ineffectual For Christ as for other Ends so principally he appeared for the Removing of Sin for gathering a righteous Generation that might serve the Lord in purity of mind and walk before him in fear and bring-in Everlasting Righteousness and that Evangelical Perfection which the Law could not do Hence he is said Tit. 2.14 to have Given himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works This is certainly spoken of the Saints while upon Earth But contrary thereunto these men Affirm That we are never Redeemed from all Iniquity and so make Christ's giving of himself for us void and ineffectual and give the Apostle Paul the Lie plainly by denying That Christ purifieth to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works How are they Zealous of Good works who are ever committing Evil ones How are they a Purified people that are still in Impurity as are they that daily sin unless sin be accounted no Impurity Moreover it is said expresly 1 Joh. 3.5 8. That for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins But these men make this purpose of none Effect for they will not have the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil in his Children in this World Neither will they at all believe that he was manifest to take away our sins seeing they plead a necessity of always living in them And lest any should wrest this place of the Apostle as if it were spoken only of Taking away the guilt of sin as if it related not to this life the Apostle as of purpose to obviate such an Objection adds in the two following verses Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not c. I hope then they sin not daily in thought word and deed Let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil But he that sinneth daily in thought word and deed committeth sin how comes such a one then to be the Child of God And if Christ was manifest to take away sin how strangely do they overturn the Doctrine of Christ that deny that it is ever taken away here And how Injurious are they to the Efficacy and Power of Christ's Appearance Came not Christ to gather a people out of Sin into Righteousness out from the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of the Dear Son of God and are not they that are thus gathered by him his Servants his Children his Brethren his Friends Who as he was so are they to be in this World holy pure and undefiled And doth not Christ still Watch over them Stand by them Pray for them Preserve them by his Power and Spirit Walk in them and Dwell among them The Devil dwells among the Reprobates even as the Devil on the other hand doth among the Reprobate ones How comes it then that the Servants of Christ are less his Servants than the Devil 's are his or is Christ unwilling to have his Servants throughly pure which were gross Blasphemy to assert contrary to many Scriptures Or is he not able by his Power to preserve and enable his Children to serve him which were no less blasphemous to affirm of him concerning whom the Scriptures declare that he has Overcome sin death hell and the grave and Triumphed over them openly and that all power in heaven and earth is given to him But certainly if the Saints sin daily in thought word and deed as these men Assert they serve the Devil daily and are subject to his power and so he prevails more than Christ doth and holds the Servants of Christ in bondage whether Christ will or not But how greatly then doth it Contradict the End of Christ's Coming as it is
and is one great reason why a dry dead barren lifeless spiritless Ministry which leavens the people into the same death doth so much abound and is so much over-spreading even the Protestant Nations that their Preachings and Worships as well as whole Conversation is not to be discerned from Popish by any fresh living zeal or lively Power of the Spirit accompanying it but meerly by the difference of some Notions and Opinions Object § XII Some unwise and unwary Protestants do sometimes Object to us That if we have such an immediate Call as we lay claim to we ought to Confirm it by Miracles Answ. But this being an Objection once and again objected to the primitive Protestants by the Papists we need but in short return the Answer to it that they did to the Papists Whether Miracles be now necessary to Confirm the Gospel John Baptist and divers Prophets did none to wit That we need not Miracles because we preach no new Gospel but that which is already Confirmed by all the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles and that we offer nothing but that which we are ready and able to Confirm by the Testimony of the Scriptures which both already acknowledge to be true And that John the Baptist and divers of the Prophets did none that we hear of and yet were both immediately and extraordinarily sent This is the Common Protestant Answer therefore may suffice in this place though if need were I could say more to this purpose but that I study Brevity § XIII There is also another sort of Protestants to wit The English Independents The Constitution of the Independent Church who differing from the Calvinistical Presbyterians and denying the Necessity of this Succession or the Authority of any National Church take another way affirming That such as have the benefit of the Scriptures any Company of People agreeing in the Principles of Truth as they find them there declared may Constitute among themselves a Church without the Authority of any other and may Chuse to themselves a Pastor who by the Church thus Constitute and Consenting is Authorized requiring only the Assistance and Concurrence of the Pastors of the Neighbouring Churches if any be not so much as absolutely Necessary to Authorize as Decent for Order's sake Also they go so far as to affirm That in a Church so Constitute Gifted Brethren any gifted Brother as they call them if he find himself qualified thereto may Instruct Exhort and Preach in the Church though as not having the Pastoral Office he cannot Administer that they Call their Sacraments To this I Answer That this was a good step out of the Babylonish Darkness and no doubt did proceed from a Real Discovery of the Truth and from the sense of a great Abuse of the promiscuous National gatherings Also this Preaching of the Gifted Brethren as they called them did proceed at first from certain Their Loss and Decay lively Touches and Movings of the Spirit of God upon many But alas because they went not forward that is much decayed among them and the Motions of God's Spirit begin to be denied and rejected among them now as much as by others The Scripture gives no Call to persons Individual But as to their pretended Call from the Scripture I Answer The Scripture gives a meer declaration of true things but no Call to particular Persons so that though I believe the things there written to be true and deny the Errors which I find there Testified against yet as to these things which may be my particular duty I am still to seek And therefore I can never be Resolved in the Scripture whether I such a one by name ought to be a Minister And for the Resolving this doubt I must needs recur to the Inward and Immediate Testimony of the Spirit as in the Proposition concerning the Scriptures more at large is shewen § XIV From all this then we do firmly Conclude that not only in a general Apostasy it is needful men be extraordinarily Called and Raised up by the Spirit of God but that even when several Assemblies or Churches are gathered by the Power of God not only into the belief of the Principles of Truth so as to deny Errors and Heresies but also into the Life Spirit and Power of Christianity so as to be the Body and House of Christ indeed and a fit Spouse for him that he who gathers them doth also for the preserving them in a lively fresh and powerful Condition raise up and move among them by the inward immediate Operation of his own Spirit Ministers and Teachers to Instruct and Teach and Watch over them True Ministers Qualifications Call and Title who being thus Called are Manifest in the hearts of their Brethren and their Call is thus verified in them who by the feeling of that life and power that passeth through them being inwardly built up by them daily in the most holy Faith become the Seals of their Apostleship And this is answerable to another saying of the same Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 13.3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me which to you wards is not weak but is mighty in you So this is that which gives a true substantial Call and Title to a Minister whereby he is a Real Successor of the Virtue Life and Power that was in the Apostles and not of the bare Name Their Laying on of hands a Mock of God and Man a Keeping up the Shadow whilst Substance is a-wanting and to such Ministers we think the outward Ceremony or Ordination or laying on of hands not necessary neither can we see the Vse of it seeing our Adversaries who use it acknowledge that the Virtue and Power of Communicating the Holy Ghost by it is Ceased among them And is it not then foolish and ridiculous for them by an Apish Imitation to keep up the Shadow where the Substance is wanting And may not they by the same Rule where they see blind and lame men in Imitation of Christ and his Apostles bid them see and walk yea is it not in them a mocking of God and Men to put-on their hands and bid men Receive the Holy Ghost while they believe the thing Impossible and Confess that that Ceremony hath no real Effect Having thus far spoken of the Call I shall proceed next to treat of the Qualifications and Work of a true Minister § XV. As I have placed the True Call of a Minister in the Motion of Quest. II this Holy Spirit so is the power life and virtue thereof The Quâ—lifications of a Minister and the pure Grace of God that comes therefrom the Chief and most Necessary Qualification without which he can no ways perform his Duty neither acceptably to God nor beneficially to men Our Adversaries in this case affirm that three things go to the making up of a Minister viz. 1. Natural Parts § I. Philosophy and School-Divinity will never
he hath not Can ungodly men that are not gracious themselves be good stewards of the manifold Grace of God Good stewardship of what of God's abounding Grace which is the Ability and Stewardship received And therefore in the following verses he makes an Exclusive limitation of such as are not thus furnished saying If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God and if any man Minister let him do it as of the Ability that God giveth which is as much as if he had said They that cannot thus speak and thus Minister ought not to do it for this If denotes a necessary Condition Now what this Ability is is manifest by the former words to wit the Gift received and the Grace whereof they are Stewards as by the immediate Context and dependency of the words doth appear neither can it be understood of a meer Natural Ability because man in this condition is said not to know the things of God and so he cannot Minister them to others And the following words shew this also in that he immediately subjoineth That God in all things may be glorified but surely God is not glorified but greatly dishonoured when Natural Men from their meer natural Ability meddle in Spiritual things which they neither know nor understand Fourthly That Grace is a most Necessary Qualification for a Minister Proof IV appears by these Qualifications which the Apostle expresly requires 1 Tim 3.2 Tit. 1. c. where he saith A Bishop must be blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour apt to teach patient a lover of good men just holy temperate as the steward of God holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught Upon the other hand He must neither be given to wine nor a striker nor covetous nor proud nor self-willed nor soon angry Now I ask If it be not Impossible that a man can have all these above-named Vertues How can a Bishop have these Vertues without the Grace of God and be free of all these Evils without the Grace of God If then these Vertues for the producing of which in a man Grace is absolutely necessary be necessary to make a true Minister of the Church of Christ according to the Apostles judgment surely Grace must be necessary also Concerning this thing a Learned Man and well-skilled in Antiquity about the time of the Reformation writeth thus * Whatsoever is done in the Church without the Ministry of God's Spirit is vain and wicked Whatsoever is done in the Church either for Ornament or Edification of Religion whether in chusing Magistrates or instituting Ministers of the Church except it be done by the Ministry of God's Spirit which is as it were the Soul of the Church it is vain and wicked For whoever hath not been called by the Spirit of God to the great Office of God and Dignity of Apostleship as Aaron was and hath not entred in by the door which is Christ but hath otherways risen in the Church by the Window by the favours of men c. truly such a one is not the Vicar of Christ and the Apostles but a Thief and a Robber and the Vicar of Judas Iscariot †Who is Judas Iscariot's Vicar and Simon the Samaritan Hence it was so strictly appointed concerning the Election of Prelates which holy Dionysius calls the Sacrament of Nomination that the Bishops and Apostles who should Oversee the service of the Church should be men of most intire manners and life powerful in sound doctrine to give a reason for all things So also * Franciscus Lambertus Avenionensis in his Book concerning Prophecy Learning Tongues and the Spirit of Prophecy Argentorat excus anno 1516 de prov cap 24. another about the same time writeth thus Therefore it can never be that by the Tongues or Learning any can give a sound Judgment concerning the Holy Scriptures and the Truth of God Lastly saith he the sheep of Christ seek nothing but the voice of Christ which he knoweth by the holy Spirit wherewith he is filled he regards not Learning Tongues or any outward thing so as therefore to believe this or that to be the Voice of Christ his true shepherd he knoweth that there is need of no other thing but the Testimony of the Spirit of God Object 1 § XVII Against this Absolute Necessity of Grace they Object That if all Ministers had the Saving Grace of God then all Ministers should be Saved seeing none can fall away from or lose Saving Grace Answ. But this Objection is built upon a false Hypothesis purely denied by us and we have in the former Proposition concerning Perseverance already Refuted it Object 2 Secondly It may be objected to us That since we affirm that every man hath a measure of True and Saving Grace there needs no singular Qualification neither to a Christian nor Minister for seeing every man hath this Grace then no man needs forbear to be a Minister for want of Grace Answ. I answer We have above shewn that there is Necessary to the making a Minister a special and particular Call from the Spirit of God which is something besides the Vniversal Dispensation of Grace to all according to that of the Apostle Hebr. 5.4 No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is Called of God as was Aaron Moreover we understand by Grace as a Qualification to a Minister All have God's Grace which calls to Righteousness but all are not so leaven'd in its Nature to bring forth fruits a blameless holy life not the meer measure of Light as it is given to Reprove and Call him to Righteousness but we understand Grace as it hath Converted the Soul and Operateth powerfully in it as hereafter concerning the Work of Ministers will further appear So we understand not men simply as having Grace in them as a Seed which we indeed affirm all have in a measure but we understand men that are gracious leavened by it into the Nature thereof so as thereby to bring forth these good fruits of a blameless Conversation and of Justice holiness patience and temperance which the Apostle requires as Necessary in a true Christian Bishop and Minister Object 3 Secondly They ‖ So Nic. Arnoldus sect 32. upon These 4. object the Example of the false Prophets of the Pharisees and of Judas But first As to the false Prophets there can nothing be more foolish and ridiculous as if because there were false Prophets truly false without the Grace of God therefore Grace is not necessary to a true Christian Minister Answ. Indeed if they had proved that true Prophets wanted this Grace The false not the true Prophets want the Grace of God they had said something but what have false Prophets common with true Ministers but that they pretend falsly that which they have not And because false Prophets want true Grace will it therefore follow that true Prophets ought not to have it that they may be true
and not false The Example of the Pharisees and Priests under the Law will not answer to the Gospel-times because God set apart a particular Tribe for that Service and particular Families to whom it belonged by a Lineal Succession and also their Service and Work was not purely Spiritual but only the performance of some outward and carnal Observations and Ceremonies which were but a shadow of the Substance that was to come The Service under the Law was not purely Spiritual but Figurative for the performance of which as they behoved to be purified from their outward Pollutions so the Ministers of the Gospel must be inwardly without blemish and therefore their Work made not the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience seeing they were appointed only according to the Law of a carnal Commandment and not according to the Power of an endless Life Notwithstanding as in the Figure they behoved to be without blemish as to their outward man and in the performance of their Work they behoved to be Washed and Purified from their outward pollutions so now under the Gospel-times the Ministers in the Anti-type must be inwardly without blemish in their Souls and Spirits being as the Apostle requires blameless and in their work and service must be pure and undefiled from their inward pollutions and so clean and holy that they may offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 As to Judas the Season of his Ministry was not wholly Evangelical as being before the Work was finished and while Christ himself The Ministry of the Disciples of Christ before the Work was finished was more Legal than Evangelical and his Disciples were yet subject to the Jewish Observances and Constitutions and therefore his Commission as well as that which the Rest received with him at that time was only to the house of Israel Matth. 10.5 6. which made that by virtue of that Commission the Rest of the Apostles were not Impowered to go forth and preach after the Resurrection until they had waited at Jerusalem for the pouring-forth of the Spirit So that it appears Judas's Ministry was more Legal than Evangelical Secondly Judas's Case as all will acknowledge was singular and extraordinary Judas was Immediately Called of Christ and preached freely which our Adversaries will not do although they make of him a Pattern of their Graceless Ministry saying he had not the least Measure of God's Grace at that time he being Immediately Called by Christ himself and accordingly furnished and impowered by him to Preach and do Miracles which Immediate Commission our Adversaries do not so much as pretend to and so fall short of Judas who trusted in Christ's Words and therefore went forth and preached without Gold or Silver or Scrip for his Journey Giving freely as he had freely received which our Adversaries will not do as hereafter shall be observed Also that Judas at that time had not the least measure of God's Grace I have not as yet heard proved But is it not sad that even Protestants should lay aside the Eleven good and faithful Apostles and all the Rest of the holy Disciples and Ministers of Christ and betake them to that one of whom it was testified that he was a Devil for a Pattern and Example to their Ministry Alas it is to be Regretted that too many of them resemble this Pattern over much Another Objection is usually made against the Necessity of Grace Object * Ibid. Nic. Arnoldus That in case it were necessary then such as wanted it could not truly administer the Sacrament and consequently the people would be left in doubts and infinite scruples as not knowing certainly whether they had truly received them because not knowing infallibly whether the Administrators were truly gracious men But this Objection hitteth us not at all Answ. because the Nature of that Spiritual and Christian Worship which we according to the Truth plead for is such as is not necessarily attended with these carnal and outward Institutions from the administring of which the Objection ariseth and so hath not any such Absurdity following upon it as will afterwards more Clearly appear § XVIII Though then we make not Humane Learning necessary § II. What True Learning is yet we are far from Excluding true Learning to wit that Learning which proceedeth from the Inward Teachings and Instructions of the Spirit whereby the Soul learneth the secret Ways of the Lord becomes acquainted with many inward Travels and Exercises of the Mind and learneth by a living Experience how to overcome Evil and the Temptations of it by following the Lord and walking in his Light and waiting daily for Wisdom and Knowledge immediately from the Revelation thereof and so layeth up these Heavenly and Divine Lessons in the good Treasure of the heart as honest Mary did the sayings which she heard and things which she observed and also out of this Treasure of the Soul as the good Scribe brings forth things new and old according as the same Spirit moves and gives a true Liberty and as need is for the Lord's Glory whose the Soul is and for whom and with an Eye to whose Glory she which is the Temple of God The good Learning which is necessary to a true Minister learneth to do all things This is that Good Learning which we think necessary to a true Minister by and through which Learning a man can well Instruct Teach and Admonish in due season and Testify for God from a certain Experience as did David Solomon and the holy Prophets of old and the blessed Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ who testified of what they had seen heard felt and handled of the Word of Life 1 Joh. 1.1 ministring the Gift according as they had received the same as good stewards of the manifold Grace of God and preached not the uncertain Rumors of others by hear-say which they had gathered meerly in the Comprehension while they were strangers to the thing in their own Experience in themselves as to Teach people how to believe while themselves were unbelieving or how to overcome sin while themselves are slaves to it as all Vngracious men are or to believe and hope for an Eternal Reward which themselves have not as yet Arrived at c. Literature is first the Knowledge of Latine Greek and Hebrew to the Scriptures § XIX But let us Examin this Literature which they make so necessary to the being of a Minister as in the first place the Knowledge of the Tongues at least of the Latine Greek and Hebrew The reason for this is that they may Read the Scriptures which is their Only Rule in the Original Languages and thereby be the more capable to Comment upon it and Interpret it c. That also which made this Knowledge be the more prized by the primitive Protestants was indeed that dark Barbarity that was over the World in the Centuries immediately
preceeding the Reformation Before the Reformation the Prayers of the people were performed in the Latine Tongue the Knowledge of the Tongues being about that time until it was even then Restored by Erasmus and some others almost lost and Extinct And this Barbarity was so much the more Abominable that the whole Worship and Prayers of the people was in the Latine Tongue and among that vast Number of Priests Monks and Friars scarce one of a Thousand understood his Breviary or that Mass that he daily read and repeated the Scriptures being not only to the people but to the greater part of the Clergy even as to the Literal Knowledge of it as a Sealed Book I shall not at all discommend the Zeal that the first Reformers had against this Babylonish Darkness The Zeal and Endeavours of the first Reformers commended nor their pious Endeavours to Translate the Holy Scriptures but I do truly believe according to their Knowledge that they did it Candidly and therefore to answer the just desires of those that desire to Read them and for other very good Reasons as maintaining a Commerce and Vnderstanding among divers Nations by these Common Languages and other of that kind The Knowledge of Languages Commendable and Schools necessary we judge it Necessary and Commendable there be Publick Schools for the Teaching and Instructing Youth as are inclinable thereunto in the Languages All although that Papal Ignorance deserved justly to be abhorred and abominated we see nevertheless that the True Reformation consists not in that Knowledge because although since that time the Papists stirred up through Emulation of the Protestants have more applied themselves unto Literature and it now more flourisheth in their Vniversities and Cloysters than before especially in the Ignatian or Jesuitick Sect they are as far now as ever from a True Reformation and more obdured in their pernicious Doctrines The Papists Literature and Knowledge especially the Jesuites But all this will not make this a Necessary Qualification to a Minister far less a more necessary Qualification than the Grace of God and his Spirit because the Spirit and Grace of God can make up this Want in the most-Rustick and Ignorant but this Knowledge can no ways make up the Want of the Spirit in the most-Learned and Eloquent For all that The Spirit is the truest Interpreter of the Scriptures whether from the Original Languages or without them which man by his own Industry Learning and Knowledge in the Languages can Interpret of the Scriptures or find out is nothing without the Spirit he cannot be certain of it and may still miss of the sense of it but a poor man that knoweth not a Letter when he heareth the Scriptures read by the same Spirit he can say this is true and by the same Spirit he can understand open and interpret it if need be yea he finding his Condition to answer the Condition and Experience of the Saints of old knoweth and possesseth the Truths there delivered because they are sealed and witnessed in his own heart by the same Spirit And this we have plentiful Experience of in many of those Illiterate Men whom God hath raised up to be Ministers in his Church in this day so that some such by his Spirit have Corrected some of the Errors of the Translators as in the Third Proposition concerning the Scriptures I before observed Yea I know my self a poor Shoo-maker that cannot Read a word A poor Shoo-maker that could not read refutes a Professor of Divinity 's false Assertions from Scripture who being Assaulted with a false Citation of Scripture from a publick Professor of Divinity before the Magistrate of a City when he had been taken preaching to some few that came to hear him I say I know such a one and he yet liveth who though the Professor who also is esteemed a Learned Man constantly Asserted his saying to be a Scripture-Sentence yet affirmed not through any certain Letter-Knowledge he had of it but from the most certain Evidence of the Spirit in himself that the Professor lied and that the Spirit of God never said any such thing as the other affirmed and the Bible being brought it was found as the poor Shoo-maker had said § XX. The second part of their Literature is Logick and Philosophy 2. The Logick and Philosophy not needful to a Preacher an Art so little needful to a true Minister that if one that comes to be a true Minister hath had it it is safest for him to forget and lose it for it is the Root and Ground of all Contention and Debate and the way to make a thing a great deal Darker than Clearer For under the pretence of Regulating man's Reason into a certain Order and Rules that he may find out as they pretend the Truth it leads into such a Labyrinth of Contention as is far more fit to make a Sceptick than a Christian far less a Minister of Christ yea it often hinders man from a clear Vnderstanding of things that his own Reason would give him and therefore through its manifold Rules and divers Inventions it often gives occasion for a man that hath little Reason foolishly to speak much to no purpose Seeing a man that is not very Wise may notwithstanding be a perfect Logician and then if ye would make a man a fool to purpose that is not very Wise do but teach him Logick and Philosophy and whereas before he might have been fit for something he shall then be good for nothing but to speak Non-sense for these Notions will so swim in his head that they will make him extreamly Busie about nothing The Vse The Use of Logick is to see its Emptiness that Wise men and solid make of it is To see the EMPTINESS thereof therefore saith one It is an Art of Contention and Darkness by which all other Sciences are rendered more obscure and harder to be understood * Inst. If it be urged That thereby the Truth may be Maintained and Confirmed and Hereticks Confuted I answer The Truth in men truly Rational needeth not the Help thereof and such as are obstinate this will not Convince for by this they may learn twenty Tricks and Distinctions how to shut out the Truth and the Truth proceeding from an honest heart Answ. and spoken forth from the Vertue and Spirit of God will have more Influence and take sooner and more effectually than by a Thousand Demonstrations of Logick As that * Lucae Osiandri Epit. Hâ—st Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 5. Cent. 4. Heathen Philosopher acknowledged who disputing with the Christian †An Heathen-Philosopher disputing with the Bishops in the Council of Nice was Converted to the Christian Faith by an Ignorant Old Man whom they could not Bishops in the Council of Nice was so subtile that he could not be overcome by them but yet by a few words spoken by a simple old Rustick was presently Convinced by him
he that is to be a Minister Merchandizing with the Scriptures What it is must learn this Art or Trade of Merchandizing with the Scriptures and be that which the Apostle would not be to wit a Trader with them 2 Cor. 2.17 * See also 2 Pet. 2.3 That he may acquire a Trick from a Verse of Scripture by adding his own barren Notions and Conceptions to it and his uncertain Conjectures and what he hath stoll'n out of Books for which end he must have of necessity a good many by him and may each Sabbath-day as they call it or oftner make a Discourse for an Hour long And this is called the Preaching of the Word whereas the Gift Grace and Spirit of God to teach And this they call the Preaching of the Word open and instruct and to preach a word in season is neglected and so man's Arts and Parts and Knowledge and Wisdom which is from below set up * Thus Anti-Christ is Established above the Seed of the Kingdom and established in the Temple of God yea and above the little Seed which in effect is Anti-Christ working in the Mystery And so the Devil †How the Devil may be a Minister of the Priest's Gospel may be as good and able a Minister as the best of them for he has better skill of Languages and more Logick Philosophy and School-Divinity than any of them and knows the Truth in the Notion better than they all and can talk more Eloquently than all those Preachers But what availeth all this Is it not all but as Death as a Painted Sepulchre and dead Carcase without the Power Life and Spirit of Christianity which is the marrow and substance of a Christian Ministry And he that hath this and can speak from it though he be a poor Shepherd or a Fisher-man and Ignorant of all that Learning and of all those Questions and Notions yet speaking from the Spirit his Ministry will have more Influence towards the Converting of a Sinner unto God than all of them Learned after the flesh as in that Example of the Old Man at the Council of Nice did appear The Power of God by weak Instruments restoring the Simplicity of Truth § XXIII And if in any Age since the Apostles days God hath purposed to shew his Power by Weak Instruments for the battering down of that Carnal and Heathenish Wisdom and restoring again the Ancient Simplicity of Truth this is it For in our Day God hath raised up Witnesses for himself as he did Fisher-men of Old many yea most of whom are Labouring and Mechanick men who altogether without that Learning have by the Power and Spirit of God struck at the very Root and Ground of Babylon and in the Strength and Might of this Power have gathered Thousands by reaching their Consciences into the same Power and Life who as to the outward part have been far more knowing than they yet not able to Resist the Vertue that proceeded from them Of which I my self am a true Witness and can declare from a certain Experience because my heart hath been often greatly broken and tendered by that vertuous Life that hath proceeded from the powerful Ministry of those Illiterate men The Powerful Ministry of Illiterate Men. so that by their very Countenance as well as Words I have felt the Evil in me often Chained down and the good Reached to and Raised What shall I then say to you who are Lovers of Learning and Admirers of Knowledge Was not I also a Lover and Admirer of it who also sought after it according to my Age and Capacity But it pleased God in his unutterable Love early to withstand my vain Endeavours while I was yet but Eighteen years of Age The Time of the Author's first Convincement and made me seriously to consider which I wish also may befall others That without Holiness * Job 28.28 and Regeneration no man can see God and that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and to depart from Iniquity a good Vnderstanding and how much Knowledge puffeth up and leadeth away from that Inward Quietness Stilness and Humility of Mind where the Lord appears and his heavenly Wisdom is Revealed If ye consider these things then will ye say with me that all this Learning Wisdom and Knowledge gathered in this fall'n Nature is but as Dross and Dung in comparison of the Cross of Christ especially being destitute of that Power Life and Vertue which I perceived these Excellent though despised because Illiterate Witnesses of God to be filled with and therefore seeing that in and among them I with many others have found the heavenly Food that gives Contentment let my Soul seek after this Learning and Wait for it for ever § XXIV Having thus spoken of the Call and Qualifications of a Gospel Minister that which comes next to be considered is What his proper Work is How and by what Rule he is to be Ordered Our Adversaries Quest. III do all along go upon Outwards The Work of a Minister and therefore have Certain prescribed Rules and Methods contrived according to their humane and earthly Wisdom We on the contrary walk still upon the same Foundation and lean always upon the Immediate Assistance and Influence of that * The Holy Spirit a Spirit of Order and not of Confusion Holy Spirit which God hath given his Children to teach them all things and lead them in all things which Spirit being the Spirit of Order and not of Confusion leads us and as many as follow it into such a Comely and Decent Order as becometh the Church of God But our Adversaries having shut themselves out from this Immediate Counsel and Influence of the Spirit have run themselves into many Confusions and Disorders seeking to establish an Order in this matter For some will have first a Chief Bishop or Pope to Rule and be Prince over all and under him by degrees Cardinals Patriarchs Arch-Bishops Priests Deacons Sub-deacons Popish Orders and Offices c. and besides these Acoluthi Tonsorati Ostiarii c. And in their Theology as they call it Professors Batchelors Doctors c. And others are to have every Nation Independent of another having its own Metropolitan or Patriarch and the rest in order Subject to him as before Others again are against all Precedency among Pastors and constitute their Subordination not of persons but of powers as first the Consistory or Session then the Class or Presbytery then the Provincial and then the National Synod or Assembly Thus do they Tear one another and Contend among themselves concerning the Ordering Distinguishing and making their several Orders and Offices concerning which there hath been no less Contest not only by way of Verbal Dispute but even by Fighting Tumults Wars Wars and Bloodshed about Church Government Vastations and Blood-shed than about the Conquering Overturning and Establishing of Kingdoms And the Histories of late
to Rejoice therefore even that we are sensible of this Power that hath often-times laid hold upon our Adversaries and made them yield unto us and join with us and confess to the Truth before they had any distinct or discursive Knowledge of our Doctrines So that sometimes many at one Meeting have been thus Convinced and this Power would sometimes also reach to and wonderfully Work even in little Children to the Admiration and Astonishment of many § IX Many are the blessed Experiences which I could relate of this Silence and manner of Worship Yet silence is no Law but words may follow yet do I not so much commend and speak of Silence as if he had a Law in it to shut out praying or preaching or tied ourselves thereunto not at all for as our Worship consisteth not in the words so neither in silence as silence but in an holy dependence of the mind upon God from which dependance Silence necessarily follows in the first place until words can be brought forth which are from God's Spirit And God is not wanting to move in his Children to bring forth Words of Exhortation or Prayer when it is needful so that of the many Gatherings and Meetings of such as are Convinced of the Truth there is scarce any in whom God raiseth not up some or other to Minister to his Brethren that there are few Meetings that are altogether silent For when many are Met together in this one Life and Name it doth most naturally and frequently excite them to pray to and praise God and stir up one another by mutual Exhortation and Instructions yet we judge it needful there be in the first place some times of Silence during which every one may be gathered inward to the Word and Gift of Grace from which he that Ministreth may receive Strength to bring forth what he Ministreth and that they that hear may have a sense to discern betwixt the precious and the vile and not to hurry into the Exercise of these things so soon as the Bell rings as other Christians do Yea and we doubt not but assuredly know that the Meeting may be good and refreshful though from the sitting down to the rising up thereof there hath not been a word as outwardly spoken and yet Life may have been known to abound in each Particular and an inward growing up therein No absolute Necessity for words thô from the life at times and thereby yea so as words might have been spoken acceptably and from the life yet there being no absolute Necessity laid upon any so to do all might have chosen rather quietly and silently to possess and enjoy the Lord in themselves Which is very sweet and comfortable to the Soul that hath thus learned to be gathered out of all its own thoughts and workings to feel the Lord to bring forth the Will and the Deed which many can declare by a blessed Experience Though indeed it cannot but be hard for the Natural man to receive or believe this doctrine and therefore it must be rather by a sensible Experience and by coming to make proof of it than by Arguments that such can be Convinced of this thing seeing it is not enough to believe it if they come not also to enjoy and possess it Yet in Condescension to and for the sake of such as may be the more willing to Apply themselves to the practice and experience hereof that they found their understandings Convinced of it and that it is founded upon Scripture and Reason I find a freedom of mind to add some few Considerations of this kind for the Confirmation hereof besides what is before mentioned of our Experience § X. That to wait upon God and to watch before him To Wait and Watch Commanded in the Scriptures is a Duty incumbent upon all I suppose none will deny and that this also is a Part of Worship will not be called in question since there is scarce any other so frequently commanded in the Holy Scriptures as may appear from Psal. 27.14 37. v. 7. 34. Prov. 20.22 Isai. 30.18 Hosea 12.6 Zach. 3.8 Matth. 24.42 25.13 26.41 Mark 13.33 35. 37. Luke 21.36 Acts 1.4 20.31 1 Cor. 16.13 Col. 4.2 1 Thess. 5.6 2 Tim. 4.5 1 Pet. 4.7 Also this Duty is often recommended with very great and precious Promises as Psal. 25.3 37.9 69.6 Isai. 40.31.42 23. Lam. 3.25 26. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength c. Now how is this Waiting upon God or Watching before him but by his Silence of which we have spoken Which as it is in it self a great and principal Duty so it necessarily in Order both of Nature and Time preceedeth all other But that it may be the better and more perfectly understood as it is not only an outward Silence of the Body but an inward Silence of the Mind from all its own Imaginations and self-Cogitations let it be considered according to Truth and to the Principles and Doctrines heretofore affirmed and proved that Man is to be considered in a twofold respect to wit in his Natural unregenerate and fal'n State and in his Spiritual and Renewed Condition from whence ariseth that distinction of the Natural and Spiritual man so much used by the Apostle and heretofore spoken of Also these two Births of the mind proceed from the two Seeds in man respectively to wit the Good Seed and the Evil And from the Evil Seed doth not only proceed all manner of Gross and abominable Wickedness and Profanity but also Hypocrisy and these Wickednesses which the Scripture calls spiritual Whence wickednesses rise that are spirituals because it is the Serpent working in and by the natural man in things that are spiritual which having a shew appearance of good are so much the more hurtful dangerous as it is Satan transformed transforming himself into an Angel of Light And therefore doth the Scripture so pressingly and frequently as we have heretofore had occasion to observe shut out and exclude the Natural man from meddling with the things of God denying his Endeavours therein though acted and performed by the most eminent of his parts as of Wisdom and Vtterance Also this spiritual Wickedness is of two sorts though both one in kind as proceeding from one Root yet different in their Degrees and in the Subjects also sometimes The one is From whence all Heresies did spring when as the Natural man is meddling in and working in the things of Religion doth from his own Conceptions and Divinations affirm or propose Wrong and Erroneous Notions and Opinions of God and things spiritual and invent superstitions ceremonies observations and rites in Worship from whence have sprung all the Heresies and Superstitions that are among Christians The other is when as the Natural Man from a meer Conviction of his understanding doth in the forwardness of his own Will and by his own natural strength without the influence and leading of
themselves with the Arm of Flesh but we at the same time exercise Worship towards God and also patiently bear the Reproaches and Ignominies which Christ prophesied should be so incident and frequent to Christians For how can the Papists say their Mass if there be any there to disturb and interrupt them Do but take away the Mass-book The Worship of the Papists soon Interrupted the Calice the Host or the Priest's Garments yea do but spill the Water or the Wine or blow out the Candles a thing quickly done and the whole Business is marred and no Sacrifice can be offered The Protestants the like and Anabaptists Take from the Lutherans or Episcopalians their Liturgy or Common prayer-book and no service can be said Remove from the Calvinists Arminians Socinians Independents or Anabaptists the Pulpit the Bible and the Hour-glass or make but such a Noise as the Voice of the Preacher cannot be heard or disturb him but so before he come or strip him of his Bible and his Books and he must be dumb for they all think it an Heresy to Wait to speak as the Spirit of God giveth utterance and thus easily their Whole Worship may be marred But when people Meet together and their Worship consisteth not in such outward Acts and they depend not upon any one's speaking but meerly sit down to Wait upon God and to be gathered out of all Visibles and to feel the Lord in Spirit none of these things can hinder them of which we may say of a truth we are sensible Witnesses For when the Magistrates stirred up by the Malice and Envy of our Opposers have used all means possible and yet in vain to deter us from Meeting together and that openly and publickly in our own hired Houses for that purpose both Death Banishments Imprisonments Finings Beatings Whippings The Sufferings of the Quakers for their Religious Meetings and other such Devilish Inventions have proved ineffectual to Terrify us from our holy Assemblies I say And we having thus oftentimes purchased our liberty to Meet by deep Sufferings our Opposers have then taken another way by turning in upon us the worst and wickedest People yea the very Off-scowrings of men who by all manner of inhumane beastly and brutish behaviour have sought to provoke us weary us and molest us but in vain It would be almost incredible to declare and indeed a Shame that among men pretending to be Christians it should be mentioned what things of this kind mens Eyes have seen and I my self with others have shared of in suffering There they have often beaten us and cast water and dirt upon us there they have danced leaped sung and spoken all manner of profane and ungodly Words offered Violence and shameful Behaviour to grave Women and Virgins jeered mocked and scoffed asking us If the Spirit was not yet come And much more which were tedious here to relate and all this while we have been seriously and silently sitting together and waiting upon the Lord. So that by these things our Inward and Spiritual Fellowship with God and one with another in the pure life of Righteousness hath not been hindered But on the contrary the Lord knowing our Sufferings and Reproaches for his Testimony 's sake hath caused his Power and Glory more to abound among us and hath mightily Refreshed us by the sense of his love which hath filled our Souls and so much the rather as we found our selves gathered into the Name of the Lord which is the strong Tower of the Righteous Prov. 18.10 whereby we felt our selves sheltered from receiving any inward Hurt through their malice and also that he had delivered us from that Vain Name and profession of Christianity under which our Opposers were not ashamed to bring forth these bitter and cursed Fruits Yea sometimes in the midst of this Tumult and Opposition God would powerfully move some or other of us by his Spirit both to Testify of that Joy which notwithstanding their Malice we enjoyed and powerfully to declare in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit against their Folly and Wickedness so as the Power of Truth hath brought them to some measure of Quietness and Stilness and stopped the impetuous Streams of their Fury and Madness The Rod of Moses did Divide the Sea through Raging waves the Spirit maketh way that as ever of old Moses by his Rod divided the Waves of the Red Sea that the Israelites might pass so God hath thus by his Spirit made a way for us in the midst of this Raging Wickedness peaceably to enjoy and possess him and accomplish our Worship to him So that sometimes upon such occasions several of our Opposers and Interrupters have hereby been Convinced of the Truth and gathered from being Persecutors to be Sufferers with us And let it not be forgotten but let it be inscribed and abide for a constant Remembrance of the thing What Brutish Pranks did not commit that young Fry of the Clergy that in these beastly and brutish pranks used to molest us in our Spiritual Meetings none have been more Busie than the Young Students of the Vniversities who were learning Philosophy and Divinity so called and many of them preparing themselves for the Ministry Should we commit to Writing all the Abominations committed in this respect by the young Fry of the Clergy it would make no small Volume as the Churches of Christ gathered into his Pure Worship in Oxford and Cambridge in England and Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland where the Vniversities are can well bear witness How the Old Covenant-worship doth differ from the New § XIV Moreover in this we know that we are partakers of the New Covenant's Dispensation and Disciples of Christ indeed sharing with him of that Spiritual Worship which is performed in the Spirit and in Truth because as he was so are we in this World For the Old Covenant-Worship had an outward Glory Temple and Ceremonies and was full of outward Splendor and Majesty having an outward Tabernacle and Altar beautified with gold silver and precious Stones and their Sacrifices were tied to an outward particular place even the outward Mount Zion and those that prayed behoved to pray with their Faces towards that outward Temple And therefore all this be hoved to be protected by an outward Arm. Nor could the Jews peaceably have enjoyed it but when they were secured from the Violence of their outward Enemies and therefore when at any time their Enemies prevailed over them their Glory was darkened and their Sacrifices stopped and the Face of their Worship marred Hence they complain lament and bewail the destroying of the Temple as a Loss Irreparable But Jesus Christ the Author and Institutor of the New Covenant-Worship testifies The New Covenant-Worship is Inward John 18.36 that God is neither to be Worshipped in this nor that place but in the Spirit and in Truth and forasmuch as his Kingdom is not of this world
neither doth his Worship consist in it or need either the Wisdom Glory Riches or Splendor of this World to beautify or adorn it nor yet the outward Power or Arm of flesh to maintain uphold or protect it but it is and may be performed by those that are spiritually minded notwithstanding all Opposition Violence and Malice of men because it being purely Spiritual it is out of the reach of Natural men to interrupt or molest it Even as Jesus Christ the Author thereof did enjoy and possess his Spiritual Kingdom while oppressed persecuted and rejected of men and as in despite of the Malice and Rage of the Devil he spoiled principalities and powers Triumphing over them and through death destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil so also all his Followers both can and do Worship him Col. 2.15 not only without the Arm of flesh to protect them but even when oppressed For their Worship being Spiritual is by the Power of the Spirit defended and maintained but such Worships as are carnal and consist in carnal and outward Ceremonies and Observations Carnal Worships cannot stand without the Arm of Flesh. need a Carnal and outward Arm to protect them and defend them else they cannot stand and subsist And therefore it appears that the several Worships of our Opposers both Papists and Protestants are of this kind and not the true Spiritual and New Covenant-worship of Christ because as hath been observed they cannot stand without the Protection or Countenance of the outward Magistrate neither can be performed if there be the least Opposition For they are not in the Patience of Jesus to serve and worship him with sufferings ignominies calumnies and reproaches And from hence have sprung all those Wars Fightings and Blood-shed among Christians while each by the Arm of flesh endeavoured to defend and protect their own Way and Worship and from this also sprung up that Monstrous Opinion of Persecution of which we shall speak more at length hereafter § XV. But Fourthly The Nature of this Worship IV. True Worship in Spirit Establisht by Christ. which is performed by the Operation of the Spirit the Natural man being silent doth appear from these words of Christ Joh. 4.23 24. But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to Worship him God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth This Testimony is the more specially to be observed for that it is both the first chiefest and most ample Testimony which Christ gives us of his Christian Worship as different and contradistinguished from that under the Law For first he sheweth that the Season is now come wherein the Worship must be in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to Worship him so then it is no more a Worship consisting in outward Observations to be performed by man at set Times or Opportunities which he can do in his own will and by his own natural strength for else it would not differ in Matter but only in some Circumstances from that under the Law Next as for a Reason of this Worship we need not to give any other and indeed none can give a better than that which Christ giveth The Reason Christ gives for a Worship in Spirit which I think should be sufficient to satisfy every Christian to wit GOD is a SPIRIT and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth As this ought to be received because it is the words of Christ so also it is founded upon so clear a Demonstration of Reason as sufficiently evidenceth its Verity For Christ excellently argues from the Analogy that ought to be betwixt the Object and the Worship directed thereunto God is a Spirit Arg. Therefore he must be worshipped in Spirit This is so certain that it can suffer no Contradiction yea and this Analogy is so necessary to be minded that under the Law when God instituted and appointed that Ceremonial Worship to the Jews because that Worship was Outward that there might be an Analogy he saw it necessary to Condescend to them as in a special manner to dwell betwixt the Cherubims within the Tabernacle and afterwards to make the Temple of Jerusalem in a sort his habitation and cause something of an outward Glory and Majesty to appear by causing Fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifices The Glory of the Outward Temple and filling the Temple with a Cloud Through and by which Mediums Visible to the outward Eye he manifested himself proportionably to that outward Worship which he had Commanded them to perform So now under the New Covenant he seeing meet in his heavenly Wisdom to lead his Children in a path more Heavenly and Spiritual and in a Way both more easie and familiar and also purposing to disappoint Carnal and Outward Observations that his may have an Eye more to an Inward Glory and Kingdom than to an Outward he hath given us for an Example hereof the Appearance of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ who instead that Moses delivered the Israelites out of their outward Bondage Like Moses did from Outward so Christ delivers his from Inward Slavery and by outwardly destroying their Enemies hath delivered and doth deliver us by suffering and dying by the hands of his Enemies thereby Triumphing over the Devil and his and our inward Enemies and delivering us therefrom He hath also instituted an Inward and Spiritual Worship so that God now tieth not his people to the Temple of Jerusalem nor yet unto outward Ceremonies and Observations but taketh the Heart of every Christian for a Temple to dwell-in and there immediately appeareth and giveth him directions how to serve him in any outward Acts Since as Christ argueth God is a Spirit he will now be Worshipped in the Spirit where he reveals himself and dwelleth with the Contrite in heart Now since it is the Heart of Man that now is become the Temple of God in which he will be Worshipped and no more in particular Outward Temples since as blessed Stephen said out of the Prophet to the professing Jews of old The Most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as before the Glory of the Lord descended to fill the outward Temple it behoved to be purified and cleansed and all polluted stuff removed out of it yea and the place for the Tabernacle was overlaid with Gold the most precious clean and clearest of Metals so also before God be Worshipped in the Inward Temple of the Heart it must also be purged of its own filth and all its own Thoughts and Imaginations that so it may be fit to receive the Spirit of God and to be acted by it and doth not this directly lead us to that Inward Silence of which we have spoken and exactly pointed out And further This Worship must be in
legions of Angels so to do did notwithstanding not exert that power but left his Church to the mercy of the wicked without so necessary a bulwark Secondly Seeing every Magistrate is to exercise his power according to the best understanding he hath being obliged so to do for the promoting of what he in Conscience is perswaded to be Truth Will not this justifie all the Heathen-Emperors in their Persecutions against Christians Will not this justifie the Spanish Inquisition which yet is odious not only to Protestants but to many moderate Papists How can Protestants in reason condemn the Papists for persecuting them seeing they do but exercise a lawful Power according to their Conscience and best understanding and do no more to them than the Sufferers profess they would do to them if they were in the like capacity Which takes away all ground of Commiseration from the Sufferers whereas that was the ground that gained of old reputation to the Christians that they being Innocent suffered who neither had nor by principle could hurt any But there is little reason to pity one that is but dealt by according as he would deal with others For to say They have not reason to persecute us because they are in the wrong and we in the right is but miserably to beg the question Doth not this doctrin strengthen the hands of Persecutors every where and that rationally from a principle of self-preservation For who can blame me for destroying him that I know waits but for an occasion to destroy me if he could Yea this makes all suffering for Religion which of old was the glory of Christians to be but of pure necessity whereby they are not led as Lambs to the slaughter as was the Captain of their Salvation but rather as Wolves catched in the snare who only bite not again because they are not able but could they get force would be as ready to lead those the same way that led them Where is here the faith and patience of the Saints For indeed it is but a small glory to make a vertue of Necessity and suffer because I cannot help it Every Thief and Murderer is a Martyr at that rate experience hath abundantly proved this in these last Centuries For however each Party talk of passively obeying the Magistrate in such cases and that the power resides in him yet it is apparent that from this principle it naturally follows that any Party supposing themselves right should so soon as they are able endeavour at any rate to get uppermost that they might bring under those of another opinion and force the Magistrate to uphold their way to the ruin of all others What engine the Pope of Rome used to make of his pretended power in this thing upon any pretence of dislike to any Prince or State even for very small Heresies in their own account to depose Princes and set up their Subjects against them and give their dominions to other Princes to serve his interest they cannot be ignorant that have read the life of Hildebrand and how Protestants have vindicated the Liberty of their Consciences after this same manner is apparent They suffered much in France to the great Increase and Advantage of their Party but how soon they found themselves considerable and had gotten some Princes upon their side they began to let the King know that they must either have the Liberty of their Consciences or else they would purchase it not by Suffering but by Fighting And the Experience of other Protestant States shews that if Henry the Fourth to please the Papists had not quitted his Religion to get the Crown the more peaceably and so the Protestants had prevailed with the Sword they would as well have taught the Papists with the Faggot and led them to the Stake So that this Principle of Persecution on all hands is the Ground of all those Miseries and Contentions For so long as any Party is perswaded that it is both lawful for them and their Duty if in Power to destroy those that differ from them it naturally follows they ought to use all Means possible to get that Power whereby they may secure themselves in the Ruine of their Adversaries And that neither Papists nor Protestants judge it unlawful to compel the Magistrate if they be strong enough to do it to effect this Experience shews it to be a known Popish Principle That the Pope may depose an Heretick Prince and absolve the People from the Oath of Fidelity And the Pope as is abovesaid hath done so to divers Princes and this Doctrine is defended by Bellarmin against Barclay The French refused Henry the fourth till he quitted his Religion And as for Protestants many of them scruple not to affirm That wicked Kings and Magistrates may be deposed and killed yea our Scotch Presbyters are as positive in it as any Jesuites who would not admit this present Charles the Second though otherwise a Protestant Prince unless he would swear to renounce Episcopacy a Matter of no great Difference though contrary to his Conscience Now how little Proportion these things bear with the Primitive Christians and the Religion propagated by Christ and his Apostles needs no great Demonstration and it is observable That notwithstanding many other Superstitions crept into the Church very early yet this of Persecution was so inconsistent with the Nature of the Gospel and Liberty of Conscience as we have asserted it such an innate and natural part of the Christian Religion that almost all the Christian Writers for the first three hundred Years earnestly contend for it condemning the contrary Opinion Athan. in epist. ad solit vit ag ibid. § V. Thus Athanasius It is the Property of Piety not to force but to perswade in imitation of our Lord who forced no body but left it to the Will of every one to follow him c. But the Devil because he hath nothing of Truth uses Knocks and Axes to break up the Doors of such as receive him But our Saviour is meek teaching the Truth Whosoever will come after me and whosoever will be my Disciple c. but constraining none coming to us and knocking rather and saying My Sister my Spouse open to me c. and entreth when he is opened to and retires if they delay and will not open unto him because it is not with Swords nor Darts nor Soldiers nor Armour that Truth is to be declared but with Perswasion and Counsel And it is observable that it was the Impious Arrians who first of all brought in this Doctrine to persecute others among Christians whose Successors both Papists and Protestants are in this Matter whom Athanasius thus reproveth further Where saith he have they learned to persecute Certainly they cannot say Athan. Apol. 1. de fuga sua tom 1. they have learned it from the Saints but this has been given them and taught them of the Devil The Lord commanded indeed sometimes to flee and the Saints
As by Circumcision the Purifications and other things the Holiness of God was typified and that the Isralites ought to be Holy as their God was Holy In the like manner Oaths under the Shadows and Ceremonies signified the Verity of God his faithfulness and certainty and therefore that we ought in all things to speak and witness the Truth Truth was before all Oaths But the Witness of Truth was before all Oaths and remains when all Oaths are abolished and this is the morality of all Oaths and so long as men abide therein there is no necessity of nor place for Oaths as Polybius witnessed who said The use of Oaths in Judgment was Rare among the Antients but by the growing of perfidiousness so grew also the use of Oaths To which agreeth Grotius saying An Oath is only to be used as a Medicine in case of necessity A solemn Oath is not used Oaths supply presupposed Defects of Mens inconstancy but to supply defect The lightness of men and their inconstancy begot diffidence for which swearing was sought out as a remedy Basil the Great saith That Swearing is the effect of sin And Ambrose That Oaths are only a condescendency for defect Chrysostom saith That an Oath entred when evil grew when men exercised their frauds when all foundations were overturned That Oaths took their beginning from the want of Truth These and the like are witnessed by many others with the fore-mentioned Authors But what need of Testimonies where the Evidence of things speaks it self For who will force another to Swear of whom he is certainly perswaded that he abhors to Lie in his words And again as Chrysostom and others say For what end wilt thou force him to swear whom thou believest not that he will speak the Truth § XII That then which was not from the beginning which was of no use in the beginning which had not its beginning first from the Will of God but from the work of the Devil occasioned from evil to wit from Vnfaithfulness Lying Deceit and which was at first only evindent by man as a mutual Remedy of this evil in which they called upon the names of their Idols yea that which as Hierom Chrysostom and others testifie was given to the Israelites by God as unto Children that they might abstain from the Idolatrous Oaths of the Heathens Jer. 12.16 Whatsoever is so is far from being a moral and eternal Precept And lastly Whatsoever by its profanation and abuse is polluted with sin such as are abundantly the Oaths of these times by so often swearing and forswearing far differs from any necessary and perpetual Duty of a Christian But Oaths are so Therefore c. Sixthly They object That God swore Therefore to swear is good I answer with †Athan. in pass cruc Domin Athanasius Seeing it is certain it is proper in swearing to swear by another thence it appears that God Object to speak properly did never swear but only improperly Answ. Whence speaking to men he is said to swear because these things which he speaks because of the certainty and immutability of his Will are to be esteemed for Oaths Compare Psal. 110.4 where it is said The Lord did swear and it did not repent him c. And I swore saith he by my self And this is not an Oath For he did not swear by another which is the property of an Oath but by himself Therefore God swears not according to the manner of men God swears not by another but by himself neither can we be induced from thence to swear but let us so do and say and shew our selves such by speaking and acting that we need not with our Hearers an Oath and let our words of themselves have the testimony of Truth For so we shall plainly imitate God Seventhly They object ◠Christ did swear Object and we ought to imitate him I answer that Christ did not swear and albeit he had sworn Answ. being yet under the Law this would no ways oblige us under the Gospel as neither Circumcision or the celebration of the Paschal Lamb. Concerning which Hierom saith Hier. lib. Ep. part 3. tract 1. Ep. 2. All things agree not to us who are Servants that agreed to our Lord c. The Lord swore as Lord whom no man did forbid to swear but unto us that are Servants it is not lawful to swear because we are forbidden by the Law of our Lord. Yet lest we should not suffer scandal by his Example he hath not sworn since he commanded us not to swear Eighthly they object That Paul swore and that often Object Rom. 1.9 Phil. 1.8 saying For God is my Witness 2 Cor. 11.10 As the Truth of Christ in me 2 Cor. 1.23 I call God for a Record upon my Soul I speak the Truth in Christ I lie not Rom. 9.1 Behold before God I lie not Gal. 1.20 And so requires Oaths of others I Obtest you saith he before God and our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 5.27 I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Brethren But Paul would not have done so if all manner of Oaths had been forbidden by Christ whose Apostle he was To all which I answer First Answ. That the using of such forms of speaking are neither Oaths nor so esteemed by our Adversaries For when upon occasion in matters of great moment we have said We speak the Truth in the fear of God and before him who is our Witness and the searcher of our hearts The Ceremonies of an Oath adding such kind of serious Attestations which we never refused in matters of Consequence nevertheless an Oath hath moreover been required of us with the ceremony of putting our Hand upon the Book the kissing of it the lifting up of the Hand or Fingers together with this common form of Imprecation So help me God or So truly let the Lord God Almighty help me Secondly This contradicts the opinion of our Adversaries because that Paul was neither before a Magistrate that was requiring an Oath of him nor did he himself administer the office of a Magistrate as offering an Oath to any other Thirdly The question is not what Paul or Peter did but what their and our Master taught to be done and if Paul did swear which we believe not he had sinned against the Command of Christ even according to their opinion because he swore not before a Magistrate but in an Epistle to his Brethren Object Ninthly they object Isa. 65.16 where speaking of the Evangelical times he saith That he who blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of Truth and he that sweareth in the Earth shall swear by the God of Truth because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth Therefore in these times we ought to swear by the Name of the Lord. Answ. I
believed afterwards he disarmed every Soldier in disarming of Peter Idem de Coron Mil. asketh Shall it be lawful to use the Sword the Lord saying that he that useth the Sword shall perish by the Sword Ninthly Because the Apostle admonisheth Christians That they defend not themselves Rom. 12.19 neither revenge by rendring evil for evil but give place unto wrath because Vengeance is the Lord's Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink But War throughout teacheth and injoineth the quite contrary Tenthly Because Christ calls his Children to bear his Cross not to crucify or kill others Mark 8.34 To Patience not to Revenge To Truth and Simplicity not to fraudulent Stratagems of War or to play the Sycophant which John himself forbids To flee the Glory of this World not to acquire it by Warlike Endeavours Therefore War is altogether contrary unto the Law and Spirit of Christ. Object § XV. But they object That it is lawful to War because Abraham did War before the giving of the Law and the Israelites after the giving of the Law Answ. I answer as before 1. That Abraham offered Sacrifices at that time and Circumcised the Males Which nevertheless are not lawful for us under the Gospel 2. That neither defensive nor offensive War was lawful to the Israelites Israelites going to War enquired the Oracle of God of their own Will or by their own Counsel or Conduct but they were obliged at all times if they would be successful first to enquire the Oracle of God 3. That their Wars against the wicked Nations were a figure of the inward War of the true Christians against their Spiritual Enemies in which we overcome the Devil the World and the Flesh. 4. Something is expresly forbidden by Christ Matth. 5.26 which was granted to the Jews in their time because of their hardness and on the contrary we are commanded that singular Patience and Exercise of love which Moses commanded not to his Disciples From whence Tertullian saith well against Marc. Some things permitted in the Old Testament because of hardness of heart Christ truly teacheth a new Patience even forbidding the revenging of an Injury which was permitted by the Creator And lib. de patien The Law finds more than it lost by Christ saying Love your Enemies And in the time of Clem. Alex. Christians were so far from Wars that he testified that they had no marks or signs of violence among them saying Neither are the Faces of Idols to be painted to which so much as to regard is forbidden Neither Sword nor Bow to them that follow Peace nor Cups to them who are moderate and temperate as Sylvius Disc. de Rev. Belg. Secondly They object That Defence is of natural Right Object and that Religion destroys not nature I answer Be it so but to obey God Answ. and commend our selves to him in Faith and Patience is not to destroy nature but to exalt and perfect it to wit to elevate it from the natural to the super-natural life by Christ living therein and comforting it that it may do all things and be rendered more than Conqueror Thirdly they object Object That John did not abrogate or condemn War when Soldiers came unto him I answer What then Answ. The question is not concerning John's doctrine but Christ's whose Disciples we are not John's For Christ and not John is that Prophet whom we ought all to hear and albeit that Christ said Luke 7.28 That a greater than John the Baptist was not among men born of women yet he adds That the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he But what was John's answer that we may see if it can justifie the Soldiers of this time For if it be narrowly minded it will appear that what he proposeth to Soldiers doth manifestly forbid them that Employment for he commands them Not to do violence to any man not to defraud any man but that they be content with their Wages Luke 3 14. Consider then what he dischargeth to Soldiers viz. Not to use Violence or Deceit against any which being removed let any tell how Soldiers can War For are not Craft Violence and Injustice three properties of War and the natural consequences of Battels Fourthly they object That Cornelius and that Centurion Object of whom there is mention made Matth. 8.5 were Soldiers and there is no mention that they laid down their Military Employments I answer Neither read we that they continued in them Answ. But it is most probable that if they continued in the doctrine of Christ and we read not any where of their falling from the Faith that they did not continue in them especially if we consider that two or three Ages afterwards Christians altogether rejected War or at least a long while after their time if the Emperor Marc. Aurel. Anton. be to be credited who writes thus I prayed to my-Country Gods but when I was neglected by them and observed my self pressed by the Enemy considering the fewness of my Forces I called to one and entreated those who with us are called Christians and I found a great number of them And I forced them with Threats Christians instanced that did not War which ought not to have been because afterwards I knew their Strength and Force Therefore they betook themselves neither to the use of Darts nor Trumpets for they use not to do so for the cause and Name of their God which they bear in their Consciences And this was done about an hundred and sixty years after Christ. To this add those words which in Justin Martyr the Christians Answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is We fight not with our Enemies And moreover the answer of Martin to Julian the Apostate related by Sulpitius Severus I am a Soldier of Christ therefore I cannot fight which was three hundred years after Christ. It is not therefore probable that they continued in Warlike Employments How then is Vincentius Lyrinensis and the Papists consistent with their Maxim That which always everywhere and by all was received c. And what becomes of the Priests with their Oath That they neither ought nor will Interpret the Scripture but according to the universal Consent of the Fathers so called For it is as easie to obscure the Sun at Mid day as to deny that the Primitive Christians renounced all Revenge and War And albeit this thing be so much known to all yet it is as well known that all the Modern Sects live in the neglect and contempt of this Law of Christ and likewise oppress others who in this agree not with them for Conscience sake towards God Persecution for not bearing Arms and not fasting and praying for Victory Even as we have suffered much in our Country because We neither could our selves bear Arms nor send others in our place nor give our money for the buying
of their own Party think is not any Spot in their Religion so little are they looked upon among their own Yet those that are Curious may also have that first Part. As for this second Part wherein our Principles are handled we judge we deal with the Clergy in General however they seek to shift it and hide themselves since their Book is Licensed by the Bishop of Edinburgh and he being challenged said He did it not without a Recommendation from Aberdeen So that no Man of Reason can deny but they are accountable for the Errours and Impertinencies which we have herein observed which we leave Reader to thy serious Examination remaining Thy Friends R. B. G. K. THE CONTENTS SECTION I. COncerning Immediate Revelation SECT II. The Students Argument against the Spirit 's being the Rule proved one with the Jesuit Dempster's SECT III. Concerning the Supper Perfection and Womens Speaking SECT IV. Concerning the Necessity of Immediate Revelations to the Building up of True Faith SECT V. Concerning Worship SECT VI. Concerning Baptism SECT VII Concerning the Ministry SECT VIII Concerning Liberty of Conscience The CONCLUSION Wherein their Observations upon R. B. his Offer and their last Section of the Q. Revilings as they term them are Examined Quakerism Confirmed year 1675 SECTION I. Concerning Immediate Revelation Wherein the Second Part of the Students Book from pag. 44. to pag. 66. is Answered IN their first Section they alledge We do wickedly put many Indignities upon the Holy Scriptures and that we monopolize the Spirit to our selves Which are gross Lies But that they are against the Spirit is no malicious Accusation but a Truth as will appear to any true Discerner Their comparing us when we plead for the Spirit to them who cried The Temple The Temple is Unequal and Profane They that cried The Temple The Temple rejected the Spirit of God and relied too much on the Temple and outward Priviledges but dare they blame any for relying too much on the Spirit of God Again in their first Sub-section they commit a gross Deceit in which they follow G. M. their Master who useth the same in his Manuscript to us in alledging They are more for the Spirit than we because they affirm That the Efficacy of the Spirit is Insuperable For we do affirm Operations of the Spirit may be Resisted That the Efficacy of the Spirit is in a true Sense Insuperable as namely where the Mind is well disposed See R. B. his Thesis where he useth the Word Insuperably But that the Spirit doth Insuperably move or irresistibly force the ill-disposed Minds of all in whom it operates is False and contrary to Scripture which saith That Some Resist the Spirit yea and is contrary to the Experience of all who are acquainted with the Spirit 's Workings that know that the Spirit many Times worketh so gently that his Operation may be resisted Therefore said the Apostle Quench not the Spirit Now that Doctrine which is contrary both to Scripture and Experience is not for the Spirit but against it Again how are they more for the Spirit than we seeing they affirm The Spirit 's Influence is but only Effective as having no Evidence in it self sufficiently to demonstrate that it is of God We say it hath as being both Effective and Objective 2. They say The Influence of the Spirit is only given to some We say To all 3. They say It is so weak that it can bring none to a perfect Freedom from Sin in this Life though never so much improved We say it can Yea. 4. They say commonly year 1676 The Influence of the Spirit cannot keep the best Saint one Moment from Sin We say It can keep them for whole Days yea always if they improve it as well as they can 5. They say A Man may and ought to pray without the Spirit Which we deny And so we leave it to the Judicious if here they do not commit a gross Deceit Lastly in their stating the Question they accuse us falsly As if we did hold that all Men ought to judge and examine all the material Objects of Faith and Articles of Religion by Inward Revelations As if all Men were bound to an Impossibility All Men have not all the Material Objects of Faith propounded unto them Accidental Objects of Faith for some of the Material Objects of Faith are meerly Accidental unto all Mens Salvation As to believe that Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac Jacob c. Others although not Accidental yet are but Integral Parts and not Essential of Christian Religion such as the Outward History of Christ c. and so by this Distinction divers of thefe Arguments are answered without more ado especially the first two where they spend much Paper fighting with their own Shadow telling us That the Heathens have no Revelations shewing the Birth Passion Resurrection c. of Jesus Christ Which we do grant For the Belief of such Things is only necessary to them to whom they are propounded and the Scriptures alledged by them at most prove no more It were a needless Labour and not worth the Pains to answer particularly to all their Impertinencies Follies and Blasphemies which they obtrude upon us as Arguments and in the Issue their last Probations resolve into meer Assertions as much denied by us as the things they undertake to Refute Therefore upon each Section or Sub-section we shall but take notice what their Arguments resolve into at last and as there is occasion set down some Propositions that may serve as a Key to open the Reader 's way through all these Heaps of Confusion and Blasphemy wherewith they fill their Pages As for the Scriptures brought by them Arg. 1. as Isa. 9.2 Matth. 4.16 Psal. 147.19 20. These prove not that they had no Light for the Light shineth in Darkness Joh. 1. And Prov. 29.18 doth not import That People have wanted Vision from the beginning but that for some Time they may want it to wit when their Day of Visitation is over which we deny not And whereas they tell us That the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often to be translated among and therefore so to be Col. 1.26 and other Places alledged by us we deny this Consequence And that they say The Apostle is speaking of the outward Preaching of Christ Col. 1.26 is their bare Assertion without any Proof Also in their first Argument they alledge a gross Vntruth upon G. K. as if he did hold in his Book of Immediate Revelation pag. 11. That the Jews generally under the Law had no Immediate Revelation in the Seed Let the Place be read and it will clear G. K. where he distinguisheth a Two-fold sort of Revelation in the Seed according to a Two-fold Condition of the Seed The first sort of Revelation is more hid and obscure Revelation universal and particular the Seed not being compleatly formed but as under Ground The second is more manifest and clear
bring them down to it also For seeing it is a Truth acknowledged both by them and us The Spiriâ— 's working in us as an efficient Cause That all true Christians and Children of God have the Spirit of God working in them at least as an Efficient Cause from this we urge them thus Either they have the Spirit of God working in them as an Efficient Cause or they have not If they say they have not they confess They are not true Christians or Children of God which we suppose they will be loth to say If they say They have the Spirit of God as an Efficient Cause of Faith working in them and subjectively inlightening them let them prove it or give us an Evidence of it Who doth not see that Poor Men they are taken in their own Snare We know all Rational and Sober Men will acknowledge that we are not bound tb receive their Affirmations without Proof more than they are bound to receive ours nor indeed so much we being as the Case stands but Defendents As touching their Answer to R. B. his Retortions about an Evidence it shall be examined in the Next Section In pag. 60. they tell That we assign them at last some Shadows of Evidence namely 1. our own Declaration 2. The Scriptures 3. The immediate Testimony of the Spirit But that these are not Shadows will appear to the Judicious and well-disposed if they consider these two things 1. That by our Declaration we mean not a bare verbal Declaration having no Vertue or Manifestation of Life in it for we confess such might be as good a Ground for an Heretick in way of Evidence A Declaration proceeding from the Spirit no Heretick has it but by our Declaration we mean such a Declaration as doth really proceed from the Spirit of God in us and is therefore a living Declaration having a Manifestation of Life in it and with it and which is not only in Words of Life or Living Words uttered through us from the Spirit of Life but also in Works of Life or Living Works which are the Fruits of the Spirit as said Christ By their fruits shall ye know them Now such a Declaration can no Heretick have however he may pretend to it If our Adversaries say That we only pretend to such a thing We answer them with their own Rule Affirmanti incumbit probatio i. e. The Affirmer ought to prove Let them prove us only to be Pretenders which yet they have not done nor can do And indeed such a Declaration from the Spirit of God in the Apostles as when John said We are of God c. was an Evidence That no Heretick could justly pretend to 2. It is a most Unjust and Unreasonable thing to require of us any other Evidence of our having the Spirit than that which every true Christian may and ought to give seeing we pretend to no other Spirit but that which every true Christian hath nor to any Revelations but these which are the Priviledges of all true Christians nor to any Doctrines which are not conform to the Scriptures of Truth As we are ready to prove and as G. K. hath already shewed in his Book of Immediate Revelation which neither the Students nor their Masters have given us any Refutation of Now have not all Good Christians these three Evidences for them year 1675 And we can prove by the help of the Lord that they are as applicable to us as to any upon Earth And here note that when we say The Scripture is the best outward Evidence that can be given We mean it not as a particular Evidence but as a general Common to all good Christians The Scripture an Evidence For we grant That the Scripture cannot prove that any particular Man hath the Spirit of God in such a way as true Christians have it but it proves in general that all true Christians have it yea and all Men to Convince them at least In pag. 61 62. They reject the Scriptures-Testimony as an Evidence to us Because according to us the Scriptures Testimony hath no Evidence without the Spirit In answer to which we say But it hath an Evidence with the Spirit his Inward Evidence going along with it which Inward Evidence we say doth go along with it sufficiently to Convince every well-disposed Intellect And this we can prove from the Scriptures-Testimony Nor is this to commit an Unlawful Circle as they foolishly alledge which is but an old thread-bare alledgance of Papists against the Protestants as Turnbull alledged on Paraeus That he proved the Spirit by the Scripture and the Scripture by the Spirit Some Protestants in our Days do miserably seek to extricate themselves of that Circle that they know the Spirit by the Scriptures Objectively and they know the Scriptures by the Spirit Effectively and so indeed they get free of the Circle as not being in eodem genere i. e. in the same kind But they affirm a gross Untruth That the Spirit 's Influence is only Effective and ex parte subjecti whereas we know it is Objective and can prove both from Scripture and Primitive Protestants see G. K. his Book of Immediate Revelation and Quakerism no Popery where the same is at length proved But we have a most clear way to extricate our selves of that Circle imposed on us by Papists and these Students The Scriptures Testimony known by the Spirit c. to wit That we know the Scriptures Testimony by the Spirit tanquam a priori as we know the Effect by the Cause and we know the Spirit 's Testimony by the Scriptures tanquam a posteriori as we know the Cause by the Effect and so both are Objective and yet in a divers kind because the Objective Evidence of the Spirit is a self-Evidence and primary the Objective Evidence of the Scripture is but derived and secondary In their answer to G. K. his Retortion from the Practice of Christ who though his own immediate Testimony was to be received referred them unto the Testimony of the Scriptures They most miserably betake themselves to their Old Trade of Affirming Things without any Proof and yet on the Proof of these Things the whole Stress of their Answer lieth As 1. they say The Jews rejected only the outward immediate Testimony of Christ However dare they say but that the Outward Immediate Testimony of Christ was to be believed and yet he referred them unto the Testimony of the Scriptures 2. They say They have no such Testimony themselves as the Inward Objective Testimony of the Spirit 3. They say According to Christ the Scriptures were the Rule meaning the Primary Rule and so they set the Scripture above Christ his own immediate outward Testimony a most gross Disorder year 1676 All which we reject as meer Affirmations without any Proof Their Insinuation That G. K. acted the Part of a cunning Sophist when he spake these Words repeated by them pag. 4. Is no less
without any real Proof For it is a Truth That no scripture-Scripture-Truth can be savingly believed but by the Illumination of the Spirit which is Objective In Paragraph 28. they think to evade G. K. his Argument That we have Inspiration because all Men have it that then Papists Mahumetans Pagans and Men bodily possessed have Inspiration which we do affirm viz. That these have it so far as to Convince them and is sufficient to be a Law of Condemnation and render them without Excuse for their Sin and this all Men have not only within their Day but after their Day of Visitation is expired But as to their imposed Glosses and Senses which they say their Divines have already vindicated on these Scriptures cited by G. K. for Vniversal Grace and Inspiration as they refer us to their Divines so we refer them to our Friends and our Books where their silly and weak Reasons are answered against this Gospel-Truth As for the Word EVERY we acknowledge it is not taken always Vniversally but seeing it is taken so most frequently it lieth on them to prove that it is otherwise taken in the Places cited Before we close the Answer to this Subsection Revelations self-evident we propose further unto the Reader these Two Considerations 1. That when we say Inward Divine Revelations in the Seed are self-evident we do not mean it always in respect of the Material Objects of things Revealed but in respect of the Formal Object or Revelation it self 2. Although we affirm That the Illumination and Influence of the Spirit in Men's Hearts is both Effective and Objective yet we do not affirm That they are two distinct Things but one and the same thing under different Respects so that we do not plead for another Influence than that which in Words they seem to grant But we say it is a more Excellent Thing than they acknowledge it to be as being in it self perceptible and having a self-Evidence whereas they will have it only a Medium incognitum a thing altogether undiscernible and in-evident of it self so as to convince or satisfy the Understanding that it is of God And thus according to our Adversaries Sense and upon their Principle this Inward Illumination of the Spirit may be said to be Fallacious for want of Evidence seeing according to their own Argument That which hath not a sufficient Evidence is fallacious But whereas the Students in their Account grant in Words That the Soul hath Spiritual Sensations and that the Work of Grace may be felt This Confession destroyeth their whole Superstructure For if the Work of Grace can be felt or is perceptible then it is Objective for whatever is perceptible is objective And seeing they grant That the Soul hath Spiritual Sensations we ask them What are the Objects of the Sensations Are they only Words and Letters or Things such as God himself in his heavenly Refreshings Waterings and Bedewings If the first it is most unreasonable for it would make the Spiritual Senses to fall short of the Natural seeing the Natural Senses reach beyond Words to Natural Things themselves If the Second they must needs with us acknowledge inward objective Revelations for by them we understand no other thing but as God and the things of His Kingdom are felt in us by way of Object SECTION II. Where the Students Chief Argument against the Spirit 's being the Rule is proved to be one upon the Matter with that the Jesuit Dempster used against their Master J. M. and the same way answered and their Weak Endeavours to evite it Examined and Refuted THere hath enough been said heretofore to demonstrate the Fallacies in the Form of their Arguments in which also it resembled the Jesuits which to avoid Repetition we shall now omit Their Medium against us is That we cannot give an Evidence of our being led by the Spirit but that which may be as good an Evidence for Hereticks Hereticks Pretences to the Spirit For thus they word it in their Account alledging We wronged them in saying They used the Words which Hereticks may pretend to yet abstracting from this false Charge we shall take it as they now express it being indeed Equivalent To prove that it may be as good an Evidence for Hereticks they make J. L. argue thus Other Hereticks declare and say they have the Spirit of God teaching them as well as you Therefore if your saying you were so taught were a sufficient Evidence c. Then their declaring c. Now let the Reader judge whether this Argument amounts to any thing more then that That is not a sufficient Evidence to the Quakers which other Hereticks may pretend to Thus the Students dispute against the Quakers let us hear how the Jesuit disputes against J. M. their Master Pap. Lucifug pag. 3. after the Jesuit hath repeated his Argument he adds May it please the Answerer of this Syllogism to remember That the Ground or Principle which he shall produce to prove the Truth of his Religion must have this Property that it cannot serve nor be assumed to prove a false Religion as the Grounds and Principles that one produceth to prove that he is an Honest Man must have this Property that it cannot serve nor be assumed to prove a Knave to be an honest Man c. Let the judicious Reader consider whether there be any material difference betwixt these two Argumentations But to proceed and shew that their Arguments are no better than the Jesuits against their Master and our Answers no worse than their Master 's against the Jesuit we shall place them together J. M. Answereth the Jesuit thus pag. 5. of his Pap. Lucifugus The true Religion hath sufficient grounds in it self to manifest it self to be the true Religion if it meet with a well disposed Intellect For to use your own Similitude an honest Man may have ground enough to shew a distinction betwixt him and a Knave albeit a Fool cannot discern it so the true Religion may have ground enough to prove it self True which the false Religion hath not though an Infidel or Heretick whose foolish mind is darkned Rom. 1.21 cannot take it up Our Answer to the Students as themselves acknowledge it pag. 59. is J. M 's Answer to the Jesuit compared with ours That the Evidence of the Spirit cannot be assigned but to the well-disposed Vnderstanding this they call a pitiful Subterfuge alledging that then this Evidence can only be assigned to such as are of the Quaker's mind but not to others and that any Heretick in the World may deny Evidences upon the same account Now let the judicious Reader determine whether if this Answer be a pitiful Subterfuge the Students with the same Breath do not declare their Master 's to the Jesuit to be the same And when they write next let them shew the difference which they have not yet done In answer to this Retortion they alledge pag. 67. That R. B. said their
performed in Spirit and in Truth and all of us have our Share and Testimony therein as God moves thereunto Even those who are outwardly silent as these who speak when as both agree together in one Spirit and with one Heart and Soul join together in the same SECTION VI. Of BAPTISM Wherein their Fourth Section concerning Water-Baptism is Answered IN their stating the Question they say The Question is not Whether Infants ought to be Baptized Or who have the Power of Administring Baptism Whereas indeed these Two are a great part of the Question betwixt our Adversary and us For as touching Infant-Baptism R. B. his Thesis doth expresly say It is a meer Human Tradition Infant Baptism an human Tradition and it is well known that all the Quakers so called are of the same Mind and do not the Students undertake to Confute the Quakers Principles How is it then that they leave out so considerable a part of Quakerism as tâ—ey call it Is this Quakerism Canvased to pick and chuse at some and pass by others Yea Infants-Sprinkling with Water on the Forehead is so considerable a part of the Question betwixt them and us that if that be disproved or if they cannot prove that to be a Gospel-Institution they fall short exceedingly seeing that is the only Baptism in use among them of the National Church Again it is so great a part of the Question Who have the power of Administring Baptism that by this the Controversy stands or falls None have Power now to Administer Water-Baptism For one of our main Arguments against Water-Baptism as remaining a Duty upon all Christians is That none are to be found that have the Power to administer it And the Administration cannot be without a lawful Administrator The Question then really is Whether these who have no Immediate Call to administer Water-Baptism as John had have Power to administer it Again Whether those who have no other mediate Call to Baptize but what they have by the Church of Rome which is no true Church as the best Protestants affirm have power to Administer Baptism And this Question is the more proper in this Place seeing J. M. the Students Master confesseth his and his Brethrens Call and Ordination to be by the Church of Rome and that they have no other but what is conveyed down to them from the Apostles Times by that Apostate Church But let us now Examine their Arguments for Water-Baptism in general The First is Baptism with Water is to continue in the Church The Students Argument for its Continuance as long as Christ's Presence is to continue with his Apostles and them who teach the Doctrine that they taught But Christ's Presence is to continue with his Apostles and them who teach the Doctrine that they taught to the End of the World Therefore c. Where it is to be observed That they think all is Safe as to the Minor and therefore they altogether pass it by Now although it is sufficient to invalidate the Argument if the Major be false yet we have somewhat of great moment to say to the Minor that is enough to overturn any Baptism that they have For we put them to explain who these are That all along since the Apostles have taught the Doctrine which the Apostles taught For the Words are liable to divers Senses If they mean the Church of Rome and her Bishops and Teachers we altogether deny that they have taught the same Doctrine which the Apostles taught And we suppose the Students if they follow their Master J. M. will not affirm it And indeed for the same Reason the best primitive Protestants denied that the Church of Rome in their Day had any lawful Ordination at all seeing she continued not in the Apostles Doctrine and Faith As that famous Protestant Sadeel doth argue at great length lib. de legit voc min. where he affirmeth Sadeel's Testimony concerning a Succession of Faith from the Apostles That the Succession of Faith is as the Soul which gives Life to the Succession of the Bishops as unto a Body but that Succession without this Faith is a dead thing and unprofitable Carcase Now the same Reason doth militate as strongly against Water-Baptism and that also called the Supper upon our present Adversaries Principle That none have Power to administer the one or the other but those who have a mediate outward Call conveyed down from the Apostles by a visible Succession of ordained Bishops and Presbyters For we say There hath been no such Visible Succession nor visibly Ordained Bishops and Presbyters who all a long have had the true Faith and taught the true Doctrine of the Apostles therefore their Ordination and Power to administer the Sacraments is void and null And this is further confirmed by the Authority of Cyprian Cyprian of Baptism who taught with great Earnestness That the Baptism of all Hereticks was void and no Baptism But so it is by our Adversaries Confession That the Church and Bishops and Teachers of Rome have been Hereticks for many hundred Years before the Reformation Therefore We say then the Argument is fallacious as to the Minor supposing what is not to be supposed in their Sense viz. That either the Teachers of the Church of Rome or any other claiming a Visible and Mediate Call from the Apostles Times conveyed through a Visible Church unto them have taught the Doctrine which the Apostles taught a thing we altogether deny And it lieth on them to prove But that Christ hath had some all along who have both believed and taught the Doctrine of the Apostles and that his Presence has been with them we acknowledge but we deny that these have been all a long a Visible Church and Teachers having a Mediate Call and Ordination and in this we agree with the best Protestants For indeed the True Church hath been hid even as a few Grains of Corn among an exceeding great Quantity of Chaff and Stubble The True Church hath been hid and she who hath called herself the Church by reason of her outward Succession was not the True Church though some of the True Church lay hidden in her as Corn is hid in a great Quantity of Chaff And that the Church is properly to be placed in the alone Grains of Corn and not in the Chaff Sadeel doth also shew out of Augustine Ep. 48. Another Fault we find in the Students Argument that supposing Water-Baptism had been commanded to the Apostles by Christ Matth. 28. which yet we altogether deny it insinuateth That it was as long to Continue as Christ's Presence with his Church For if Teaching had Continued though Baptism with Water had Discontinued as our Adversaries grant That Anointing with Oil and miraculous Curing the Sick is discontinued yet the Promise was ground enough to encourage them And if all be still binding that Christ Commanded to his Apostles why go they not forth The Partiality of
As appeared in the Example of the Apostles themselves Now these People who hold forth the Principles and Doctrines hereafter to be mentioned were not gathered together by an Vnity of Opinion or by a tedious and particular Disquisition of Notions and Opinions requiring an Assent to them and binding themselves by Leagues and Covenants thereto but the manner of their Gathering was by a secret Want The Gathering of the True Church its Rise and Foundation which many truly tender and serious Souls in divers and sundry Sects found in themselves which put each Sect upon the Search of something beyond all Opinion which might satisfy their weary Souls even the Revelation of God's righteous Judgment in their Heart to burn up the unrighteous Root and Fruits thereof that the same being destroyed and done away the inward Peace and Joy of the Holy Spirit in the Soul might be felt to abound and thence Power and Life to follow him in all his Commandments And so many came to be joined and united together in Heart and Spirit in this one Life of Righteousness who had long been wandring in the several Sects and by the inward Vnity came to be gathered in one Body From whence by degrees they came to find themselves Agreed in the plain and simple Doctrines of Christ. * Which External Agreement as well in Doctrines as in the Practices necessarily following thereupon became as one External Bond and Tye of their outward and visible Fellowship obvious to the World whereby they are distinguished even to the Observation of Man from the several Sects professing the Name of Christ as the true Christians of Old were by their Adherence to the Orthodox Principles from other Hereticks that laid claim likewise to be Christians And as this inward Power they longed for and felt to give them Victory over Sin and bring the Peace that follows thereon was that whereby they were brought unto that Vnity and Community together so they came first thence to Accord in the Vniversal Preaching of this Power to all and directing all unto it which is their First and Chiefest Principle and most agreeable to this Vniversal Love as I shall hereafter shew And it is very Observable that as those whose Gathering and Fellowship arises from this meer Vnity of Notions and Opinions do usually derive their Name and Designation from the First Authors Inventors and Fomentors of those Opinions as of old the Arians Nestorians Manichaeans c. and of late the Lutherans Calvinists Armenians Socinians Mennonites c. so those People whose Vnity and Fellowship did arise from their Mutual Sense of this Power working in and upon their Souls that Society derives not their Name from any particular Man and therefore are providentially delivered from that great Mark of a Sect. But as the Vngodly will be always throwing some Name or Reproach upon the Children and Servants of God it being observed that through the deep and inward Operation of this Power in them a Dread took hold on them not only to the begetting of God's Fear in their Hearts but even to the reaching and instructing of their outward Man hence the Name of Quakers or Tremblers hath been Cast upon them which serveth to distinguish them from others though not Assumed by them Yet as the Christians of Old albeit the Name of Christian was cast upon them by way of Reproach gloried in it as desiring above all things to be accounted the Followers of Christ so they also are glad that the World Reproacheth them as such who Tremble before the Lord and who work out their Salvation in Fear and Trembling And truly the Lord seems by his Prophets of old to have foretold that his Children should be so Reproached as Isa. 66.5 Hear the Word of the Lord ye that Tremble at his Word your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my Name 's sake said Let the Lord be Glorified and He shall Appear to your Joy and they shall be ashamed where a Joyful Appearance of God is promised to these Hated and Reproached Tremblers or Quakers And Jer. 33.9 does more clearly Prophesy how this Reproachful Name when cast upon his Children shall be Owned and Countenanced by the Lord in these very plain and Comfortable Words And it shall be to me a Name of Ioy The Honour wherewith the Lord will Honour his despised People a Praise and an Honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the Good that I do unto them and they shall Fear and Tremble or Quake for all the Goodness and for all the Prosperity that I procure unto * Alias Them it 2. Mark of a Sect. As the Nature of a Sect ariseth from the Love of Self and its Production so in the last place there can be no more signal or certain Mark of a Sect than When a People seek to advance and propagate their Way in the strength of their own Spirits A Sect arises from the Love of Self reckoning the Preaching and Publishing thereof by their own Natural or Acquired Parts without the Necessity of the Inward Motion of the Holy Spirit both lawful and commendable and not only so but the advancing and establishing of the same by Outward Force and Violence For here is Man working without God or the Guidance of his Spirit in his own meer Strength and Will to set up his own Images and Inventions under a Pretence of Truths and pure Christianity But those that dare not seek to Advance even that But the Truth from the Denial of Self which they are perswaded is Truth in their own Will and Spirit far less by outward Force and Violence but in and by God's Spirit as he leads and moves to it by his Life and Power shew that such are not a Sect nor Followers of Man's Inventions but of Christ alone waiting to follow Him as He acts and moves them by his own Spirit and Power and therefore are no Sectarians but meer Christians The Chief and First Principle then held by those Christians I. That there is somewhat of God his Life Light in all Men able to bring them to Salvation which as I observed before naturally ariseth and was assented to by them from their Inward Sense that Tied them together is That there is somewhat of God some Light some Grace some Power some Measure of the Spirit some Divine Spiritual Heavenly Substantial Life and Vertue in all Men which is a Faithful Witness against all Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness in the Heart of Man and leads draws moves and inclines the Mind of Man to Righteousness and seeks to leaven him as he gives way thereunto into the Nature of it self whereby an inward thorow and real Redemption may be wrought in the Hearts of all Men of whatsoever Nation Country or Kindred they be notwithstanding whatsoever outward Knowledge or Benefit they be by the Providence of God necessarily deprived of Because whatsoever
Worship God according as we Preached And therefore they said that He to wit God had wholly neglected the Salvation of all their Predecessors in permitting that these Miserable Souls should altogether be destitute to their utter Ruin of the Knowledge of Saving Truth This most odious Thought did much draw them back from the Worship of the True God but by the help of God this Error and Scruple was taken from them For we first did demonstrate unto them that the Divine Law was the Oldest of all yea before any Law was made by the Ancients Taught by Nature not to Kill c. The Japans knew by the Teaching of Nature that it was unlawful to Kill Steal Forswear and other things contained in the Ten Divine Laws as was evident in that when any of them Committed these Crimes they were tormented by the Pricks of their Consciences That hence Reason it self doth teach to flee the Evil and follow the Good and therefore was Implanted in the minds of all Men by Nature So that all have the Knowledge of the Divine Law from Nature and of God the Author of Nature before Discipline be added Of which were it doubted Trial might be made in some body altogether Void of Discipline who has been Educated in some Mountain or Wilderness without any Knowledge of the Laws of his Country For if such an one thus altogether Ignorant and Unacquainted with Humane Discipline were asked Whether to Kill a Man to Steal and these other things which the Law of God forbids were Sinful or not Or if it were not right to forbear these things Truly I say such an one utterly Ignorant of Humane Discipline would so answer that it would easily appear that he were not Void of the Law of God From whence then shall we judge he has drawn his Notion unless from God himself the Author of Nature If then this be manifest in Barbarous Men how much more in Men Civiliz'd and well-Educated Which being so it necessarily follows that the Divine Law was Implanted in Man's Heart before all Laws made by Man This Reason was so manifest to them that they were fully satisfied and so being delivered from these Snares did easily subject themselves to the sweet Yoak of Christ. Thus far Xaverius Thus it may seem that to satisfy these Japonians that their Fore-fathers were not all necessarily Damned and to shew that the Vniversal Love of God reached unto them to put them in a Capacity of Salvation This Cunning Jesuite could not find another way than by Asserting this Principle Albeit it be no ways Congruous to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome For these Antient Japonians could not be esteemed Members of the Church of Rome and as not being such according to the Romish Principle who say There is no Salvation without the Church that is without the Church of Rome must needs have been Damned II. That by vertue of that Light Men may be Converted and become Members of the Church without which is no Salvation Secondly That Notion and Definition of a Church which naturally arises from this Principle and is accordingly believed by the Assertors of it doth also both very well Agree to and Establish this Doctrine of Vniversal Love For by vertue of this Seed and Light Extended by Christ unto the Hearts of all it being supposed That Men may thereby be truly Converted and consequentially Vnited to Christ it naturally follows That such may become Members of the Church Else none of Old but the Families of the Patriarchs and of the Jews could have been judged to be Saved nor yet any during all the Time of the Apostacy Which as it is false in it self will be hardly affirmed by any And therefore since such might be Saved they must be esteemed Members of the Church without which in this large Sense there can be no Salvation as including the whole Body of Christ Of which Body who are not are certainly Excluded And therefore it is that the Church Catholick or Vniversal is not so confined to any Sect Form or External Profession as that those that are not Initiated in those Forms are Excluded absolutely from being Members of the Church unless it be upon Refusal or Resistance of the Will of God really manifest to them as drawing them to the Practice of particular Things For it hath pleased God at several Times to Require several things both of particular Churches and Persons which he has not of others As to the Jewish Converts To Abstain from things Strangled and Blood and to the Churches of the Gentiles Not to Circumcise which was permitted to the Christian Jews for a Time And from particular Persons many particular things have been Required Which albeit they were not general Obligations upon all Christians yet in so far as Manifested to and Required of them were sufficiently Obligatory And their Disobedience to them should have been in them a Breach of their General Obligation of Obedience which we owe to God in all things He Requires and consequently pernicious however others to whom they have never been Revealed nor Required might have been Saved without them III. That God by his Spirit Reveals his Will Immediately in the hearts of all true Christians Thirdly As the Asserting of Principles which commend the Love of God and shew the Great Extent of it to Mankind do most agree with Vniversal Love so this People in another Chief Principle of theirs do greatly shew it For as by the Preaching of this Vniversal Principle of the Light they shew the Extension of God's Love to all so by Preaching that God both doth and is willing to Reveal his Will Immediately by his own Spirit in the Hearts of all those that Receive his Light that so they may be guided acted and led thereby and know the Mind of God thus Inwardly Immediately in themselves they hold forth the Intension of God's Love to all those that follow and obey him so that they neither bind up this being led by the Spirit of God only to themselves nor stint it to singular and Extraordinary Occasions but hold it forth as a Common and Vniversal Priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church Now this Doctrine greatly Commends the Love of God and Establisheth the Principle of Vniversal Love in that it shews how Vniversally God hath offered this Blessed Priviledge to all in that He hath given his Light unto all upon the receiving of which this Immediate Guidance of the Spirit followeth as a necessary Concomitant For such as deny this Immediate Revelation of God's Will by his Spirit in the Hearts of his Children to be a Common and Vniversal Priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church must needs suppose the Knowledge of his Will Necessary for them to be Communicated to them by some other External Means as by outward Writings and Precepts insomuch that all such as are robbed of this Benefit are necessarily Excluded from
Prejudice against such Books is because so much is to be found in them against my Old Errors for I cannot but know saith he that whoever reads these must see my Nakedness and Folly without much Study As for this Imagination we must take it with much more upon Trust but this helps to prove the Needlesness of his large Examination ¶ 6. At his usual rate of Perverting he goes on to say That the Account I make of all the Learned Men of the World is that they are Scribes and Disputers of the World c. But for proof of this we have nothing He Confesseth the Words to be those of the Apostle and how he proveth that I have a different Meaning from the Apostle I know not After he hath Commended his Learned Men and loaded the Quakers with Reproaches he concludes this Paragraph page 8. with another Falshood and yet he will have it Remarked to wit That according to my Judgment the Pure and Naked Truth of God was never unfolded nor Declared until the Generation of the Quakers arose But where he finds me saying so he tells not and indeed cannot since such a thing was never Asserted by me For Answer to my saying That God has laid aside the Wise and Learned and made use of Illiterate Men as to Letter-Learning after he saith It is Affirmed without Proof not considering how Improper it was not to Expect any formal Probation upon the Occasion and manner it was delivered he gives us divers Citations out of the Apostle Paul warning against Seducers All which I acknowledge to be True but the Question lieth in the right Application And yet since albeit he believes they very Appositly agree to us he thinks it not his present Business to Demonstrate it it will need no Reply After he has proceeded in his Tenth page according to his usual sort of Railing affirming the great Difference betwixt our Doctrine and that of the Apostles he brings forth a mighty Charge That I usurp the Throne of God and Judge of Men's Hearts and Intentions but how Guilty himself is of that Crime hath been in part already shewn and will hereafter more appear But why do I so because I say The Clergy have Clouded the Truth The Clergy Clouding the Truth that the People might Admire and Maintain them that the Common People might Maintain and Admire them But have not Protestants and that truly Asserted this of the Popish Clergy and is not the Thesis directed to such Will it not then hold True according to his own Judgment of a great yea the greatest Part of those to whom it is directed what then will become of his Clamours Yea if it were needful I could give Instances of very Mean Thoughts he and his Party have of many of the Protestant Clergy yea and Reflections not much if any thing inferiour to this to verify with how little Ground he quarrelleth me here As for his Malitious Aspersion That there are shrewd Presumptions our Stock lies at Rome he should have produced some of them if he could We could never yet Obtain for this Old Calumny from our Adversaries the least Probation and it will be found as hard for him to prove it as he may think it for such who strongly Affirm Their great IDOL the COVENANT was Contrived at Rome and came from thence As for his Reflections upon our Church as being All Eyes and Ears it will be proper to speak of it in its own Place Next to prove the Positions of the Quakers to be such as overturn and destroy the Gospel he bringeth page 11. divers Citations out of Mr. Norton and Mr. Stalham as he terms them adding More may be had out of Mr. Hicks J. B.'s False witnesses contributing to his bulky Book But such Witnesses will have small Credit with Impartial Readers If he himself had dealt Impartially he should have first read our Answers to them ere he had given them such Authority It were Easie for me by way of Reply to Transcribe what our Friends have written particularly by way of Answer to them did I as much Affect to have my Writings bulky as it seems he doth He closeth up this with a Fit of Railing and after he has quarrelled me pag. 12. for having an high Conceit as he imagines of my Theses he falls fresh to that Work again telling They have Weight to sink into the bottomless Pit the poor Soul that embraces them I never sought any should Receive Doctrines as Truth upon my Bare Testimony and therefore he needs not Vpbraid me with so doing And whereas on the Contrary as himself immediately Observes I leave what I say to the LIGHT in every Man's Conscience it shews with how little Reason he made his former Alledgance After he has pleased himself with making an Impertinent Conjecture of the Import of these Words that so he might if he could render them Ridiculous he cometh at last to the True Vnderstanding of them And truly he needed not fear at my being offended that he should make a Judgment of what I writ according to his Conscience but he went the wrong way to Work when his Labour is to pervert and wrest and make them speak what they do not This apparently proceeds from Malice and Prejudice and the Light of his Conscience if he had minded it would never have prompted him so to do Thus I am come to the End of the First Chapter ¶ 7. In the Second Chapter Intituled Of the true Ground of Knowledge I find he cannot Contradict what is Asserted by me only because he must be Carping he makes a Noise that Joh. 17.3 cited by me So much of the Sentence was not set down in the First as Second Edition What a pitiful Cavil this is the Reader may easily judge since the Place was noted it was enough though never a Word had been set down but this with him is a bad Omen Let the Judicious judge of this Man's Judgment in the Matter But because he cannot Quarrel at what is said he will quarrel That so much is not said as he judged meet But he may be pleased to understand that I judged my self under no Necessity to Advise with him what was Needful for me to Write But saith he since I take upon me to Teach the whole World it is strange it should be so Natural for this Man to write Vntruths since I direct my Theses only to the Christian World But if it may render me odious such Peccadillo's pass with him it seems but for Piae Fraudes I intended never to write of those things concerning which we do not differ from others But let us see wherein he accounts me Defective I have Written nothing saith he of the Nature and Attributes of God I write not to Atheists but Christians who already acknowledge and I judge it not my Work to write Books to perswade Men of that they already profess to believe But I write not Expresly and
Arnoldus pag. 18 19. to which I refer For I believe All Men in a Day have by the gracious Visitation of God's Love an Vnderstanding well disposed to some Divine Revelations which becomes Disposed for others as these are Received which will after in its place be discussed And some Divine Revelations which are Prophetick of things to come may so far manifest themselves by their Self-Evidence even to Men not Regenerate as to force an Assent as in the Case of Balaam mentioned by him did apper What he saith further pag. 36 and 37. inquiring How and after what manner these Revelations were the Object of the Saints Faith of Old is easily answered by applying it to what is before mentioned in Answer to his Queries and Conjectures of the Formal Object For those of Old that had these Revelations Immediately the Formal Object of their Faith was God manifesting himself and his Will in them to them by such Revelations And those who received and obeyed the things delivered by the Patriarchs and Prophets those things so delivered as he confesseth were not the Formal The Material and Formal Object of FAITH but Material Object of their Faith but the Formal Object was GOD by the secret and inward Testimony of his Spirit perswading them in their Hearts that these things declared to them were really his Command and thence inclining and bowing their Minds to an Assent and Obedience to them And albeit pag. 38. he terms this a Wild Assertion yet he hath but said and not proved it to be so and till he prove he needs no further Refutation Neither is it Non-sense nor yet a destroying of the Cause as with the like proofless Confidence he affirms p. 37. That where Revelations are made by outward Voices or in a manner objected to the outward Senses the Cause or Motive of Credibility is not so much because of what the outward Senses perceive as because of the Inward Testimony of the Spirit assuring the Soul that it is GOD so manifesting himself Which Testimony to answer his Question is distinguishable from what is objected to the outward Senses albeit it go always along with it simul semel as they use to say since he with me accounts it a Serious Truth to say The Devil may delude the External Senses and he can far more easily deceive them than the True Inward and Spiritual Senses of the Soul by Counterfeiting the Inward Testimony of the Spirit Since by that the Apostle saith We know and partake of that which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard ¶ 9. Pag. 39. He confesseth with me That the Formal Object of the Saints Faith is always the same But yet that he may say something he spendeth the Paragraph in Railing accusing me As writing Non-sense and being an Ignoramus because I bring Instances which relate to the Material Object which himself Confesseth also to be the same in Substance But by his good Leave for all he is so positive in his Judgment I must shew the Reader his Mistake The Formal Object of Abraham's Faith For those Examples of Abraham and others are adduced by me to shew the one-ness of the Formal Object neither has he shewn that they are Impertinent for that End Since as the Formal Object of Abraham's Faith was God's speaking to him by Divine Revelations so is the same the Formal Object of the Saints now and therein stands the Vnity or Oneness of our Faith with him and not in the Material Object which often differs For to offer up his Son was a part of the Material Object of his Faith which is none of ours now And so for as much as he desires to know of me What was the Material Object of Adam 's Faith before the Fall a Question not to the purpose he must first tell me why he so Magisterially and positively denies Christ to have been the Object of his Faith And then he may have an Answer And whereas he flouts at that Reason That Actions are specified from their objects as Non-sensical he should have proved and shewn Wherein And then I might have Answer'd him He might have Wit enough to know that no man of Reason will be moved by his bare Railing Assertions pag. 40. besides a deal of Railing wherein he accuseth me of Confusion and Darkness He accounts my Arguing for Immediate Revelation from the Revelations the Patriarchs and Prophets had Impertinent to which I Answered before The sum of which is that since these Immediate Revelations were so frequent under the Law Revelations frequent under the Law it must be very absurd to say They are Ceased under the Gospel He himself proveth pag. 41. that under the New there is a more clear Discovery according to that of Paul 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord c. which being brought by him albeit against himself I leave him to Answer In this page and the next 42 he alledgeth the sayings of Christ and his Apostles brought by me and my Arguments thence do prove no more than he Confesseth But whether they prove not all I plead for from thence is left to the Reader 's Judgment Here according to his Custom tho I Condemn the Socinians he will be insinuating that I Agree with them to whose Notions of the Spirit albeit I Assent not yet I desire to know of him That the Spirit is a distinct Person of the Trinity no Proof in Scripture for it in what Scripture he finds these words That the Spirit is a distinct Person of the Trinity For I freely acknowledge according to the Scripture That the Spirit of God proceedeth from the Father and the Son and is God And by what Authority he seeks to obtrude upon others Expressions of the Chief Articles of Faith not to be found in Scripture or to accuse such as will not Accept of them and Assent to them or whether any has reason to think he truly makes the Scripture the Rule of his Faith notwithstanding his pretence when he either will not or can not find words in it to Express the Chief Articles of his Creed ¶ 10. Pag. 43. By a strange Mistake he would have me prove since I make use of these promises of Christ relating to the Spirit I would prove that all have Warrant to write Scripture As if no man could have Immediate Revelation without he write Scripture Whereas himself Confesseth that many of the Patriarchr had it before Moses who yet wrote no Scripture yea and Cain whom I suppose he judgeth to have been no Writer of Scripturs And by the like Mistake pag. 55. He Confesseth all I plead for J. B's Self-Contradiction in granting Revelation and Contradicts all he has been fighting for in affirming That Believers now have free Access to Christ the great Teacher of his People always to get his mind known and Written in their Hearts but not to get Prophetick Revelations
I profess I see none He desires also to know from Scripture the Necessity when Men are Met together of Turning their minds Inward A Turning of the Mind inward is an Abstracting from all Worldly Thoughts to mind God in the Soul which he still will express to make it the more frightful by the Latine word Introversio and this he thinks so hard that he often insists upon it as pag. 446 447 448. But is it not needful to Assemble in the Name of Jesus And can that truly be without Turning the mind Inward unless with superstitious Papists he thinks it is enough for meeting in the Name of Jesus to say when they begin In Nomine Domini however their minds be abroad Can there be any true sense of God's Majesty as him to whom we draw near which himself confest before to be needful without a serious Turning of the Mind Inward that is an Abstracting from all worldly and vain Thoughts to mind GOD and the Operations of his Spirit in the Soul Let him read Psalm 46.14 and 62. 1 Eccles. 5.2.3 Zach. 2.3 It were hard for him to forget his Old often-reiterated Calumny and therefore he hath it here oftner than once as pag. 441 442-447 alledging most falsly That all that by which the Quakers preach or require as needful to preach is but the dima and darkned and malignant Light of Nature Neither will he forget here his constant trade of Railing J. B.'s abusive Railing take one Instance pag. 447. where he says That before I want Revelations I will go the Devil to get them as Saul did to the Witch of Endor More of such Railing Stuff the Reader may find and that very plentifully pag. 440-442-448 He wants not here also his malitious Insinuations as pag. 439. That the Quakers use Legerdemaine to make People believe they speak all without a previous Thought in their Preaching and yet have all to a word well studied If he accuse the Quakers of this let him prove it if he can for we deny it as a gross Calumny Another is pag. 441. That we would have all Study all Meditation all Prayer and Wrestling with God in Prayer laid aside which is also false But to proceed he soundeth what he saith in this matter upon two great Mistakes which being removed the Superstructure will fall of it self J. B. pleads Study and Premeditation to Preach from Paul's citing Heathen-Poets c. The first is pag. 438. where to prove the Vsefulness of Study and Premeditation to Preaching he tells How Paul made use of what he had read out of a Heathen-Poet his recommending Reading to Timothy his desiring Titus to hold fast the faithful Word as he had been taught c. and Apollos being instructed by Aquila and Priscilla all which are nothing to his purpose For we never said it was Vnlawful for Men to read Books especially the Scripture or that by such Reading Men may not acquire knowledge which may prove Vseful in Preaching or Defending the Truth but the question is Whether Men may make use of these things in publick Worship otherwise than as led and acted and influenced by the Spirit so to do and Whether any of these places will allow Men to preach in the strength of their Natural or Acquired parts without being acted therein by the Spirit Let him prove this if he can for this is the matter in question and remember Robert Bruce his Censure of Robert Blair his Sermon recorded in The fulfilling of the Scriptures His second Mistake is pag. 443 where he supposeth That to be led by the Spirit To be led by the Spirit doth not exclude the Reading of the Scriptures excludeth or is inconsistent with Reading Scripture and with all the particular Instructions given by Paul to Timothy and Titus who might have said as this Man argues I cannot be stinted unto these Doctrines which you desire me to put the Brethren in remembrance of for I must speak as the Spirit speaketh in me and the like But will he say that Timothy was not to speak as the Spirit spake in him To suppose this as Inconsistent with such Instructions is to beg the question and that these are Consistent I have shewn above in my Third Section of Immediate Revelation or let him tell plainly if Timothy could do those things acceptably without the Spirit since all Worship is commanded by Christ to be done now in the Spirit And yet he seemeth to agree to the Nacessity of the Spirit else why quarreleth he me pag. 448. for insinuating as he saith That their Ministers preach not in the demonstration of the Spirit giving an Enumeration p. 439. of several ways which he saith I know not but their Ministers are led to preach by among which this is one What know I saith he but there may be some that never digest their Preachings so as not to lie open to the Influences of the Spirit and to welcome his seasonable and useful Suggestions and to speak many things which they had not once premeditated But I would ask him Whether it be lawful for any so to digest their Matter as not to lie thus open to the Spirit 's Influences He would seem to say It were since it is but some and a may be some too with him that do so And whereas he tells of some that are constrained to change their Text and what they had purposed to speak upon it This shews the Case is but rare and therefore I am not to be blamed for what I say in general of Preachers among Papists and Protestants whose general way is To prepare aforehand Both Protestants and Papists prepare a forehand what to Preach what they preach and then speak it to the People at a set hour without waiting for the leading of the Spirit or whether they have its Influence or not And for all the Weight that this Man would seem to lay sometimes upon the Spirit 's Influence and Concurrence yet he gives shrewd Presumptions that he doth it but pro forma Else how comes he to urge as an Absurdity pag. 445. That all that Ministers preach by the Spirit must be true And why not If it be from the Spirit it cannot be other ways Yet Men whose Principle it is to speak from the Spirit may through Weakness and Mistake preach false Doctrine yet the Spirit is not to be blamed for it but those who keep not purely to it I suppose he will not deny but all that which Men preach according to the Scripture is Infallibly True it will not thence follow that all that which Men whose Principle it is to preach according to Scripture preach is True because that through Weakness they may mistake the true Meaning of the Scripture Also what he adds If the Matter be thus It is not ye that speak but it is your Father's Spirit which speaketh in you it is all one whether the Preacher be young or old for
it is not he that speaketh but the Spirit in him for this savoureth not of a Christian Spirit to seek to draw an Absurdity or make a Mock of that which is no other than Christ's Express Words Matth. 10.20 Mark 13.3 And indeed what he saith in this page N. 9. in answer to these Scriptures seemeth rather a Mock at Christ and his Apostles than any Answer asking me If I know not that Christ gave them their Preaching with them telling them what they should say And as ye go preach saying The Kingdom of God is at Hand And a little after he saith They had their Sermon taught them before-hand But dare he say That Christ's Words before-mentioned were therefore false This he must say or else prove nothing Or will he say that the Apostles in all that Progress said nothing but these seven Words The Kingdom of God is at Hand For according to him this was all they said which they had learned afore-hand and not as the Holy Ghost taught them in that Hour what to say albeit it be Christ's Express Words Luke 12.12 Pag. 447. to my Argument that according to their Doctrine the Devil himself ought to be heard seeing he knoweth the Notion of Truth and excelleth many of them in Learning and Eloquence he answers Why doth the Man thus speak Vntruth Do we say that every one though he were the Devil if he speak Truth should be heard Do they not say That Men ought to be heard and accounted as Ministers albeit void of the true Grace of God if having the formality of the outward Call And to prove this do not they bring the Example of Judas whom Christ called a Devil And they suppose him to have been such even when sent by Christ and deserved to be heard as his Apostle Let him consider then how he can shun what I have affirmed And albeit the Devil may speak without Study J. B. argues for acquiring the Gift of Preaching by outward Study of the Letter yet he cannot be said to Speak by the Spirit of God which is the thing we affirm needful to Gospel-Preaching And for his last Argument pag. 448. That since extraordinary Gifts Ceased there hath been no ordinary way of Preaching but by ordinary Gifts studied and acquired It is but a bare begging of the Question and the same upon the Matter with his new-enforced Objection which I answered towards the beginning of my Third Section of Immediate Revelation ¶ 4. I come now to his Twenty fourth Chapter of Prayer And as to his first Paragraph there needs no Debate for except some Railing intermixed I own what is asserted in it as to the Necessity of Prayer and its being through Christ as Mediator In the next he alledgeth I speak untruly in saying That the Acts of their Religion are produced by the Strength of the Natural Will for they can pray when they please But how truly this is affirmed concerning them will after appear Albeit in opposition to it after citing a passage out of the Larger Catechism J. B. owns the Spirit necessary to Prayer he saith They own the Influences of the Spirit as alsolutely necessary to this Duty Which if he would hold to there needed no further Debate I should agree to it For he doth untruly state the Question when he saith a little after That the Motions and Inspirations I plead for are extraordinary which is false and never said by me And therefore his building on it is in vain as well here as pag. 452-457-459 461. where he insinuates That I judge not the gracious and ordinary Influences of the Spirit a sufficient Warrant to pray which is false What he saith pag. 451. of the Necessity of Prayer at some times and of the Scriptures mentioning Prayers being made three times a day I deny not nor is it to the purpose The Question is Whether any can pray acceptably without the Spirit We see he hath granted they cannot then the thing to be proved is Whether the general Command authorized any to set about it albeit in a manner which is granted will not avail and is unacceptable So the matter resolves in Examining what he can say from Scripture or other ways to prove this And that there may be no Mistake let it be considered that I deny not the General Obligation to pray upon all so that they Who do not pray do sin who do not pray sin albeit they be not sensible of the Spirit 's Help enabling them to do it But that the way to avoid this Sin is not to Commit another to pray without the Spirit but to Wait for the Spirit that they may pray acceeptably seeing without it though they should use words of Prayer it would be no fulfilling of the Command And first then to what he argueth pag. 452. from the Reiterated Commands of God to pray I answer That God's Command lays upon Man an Obligation to pray I deny not but God commands no Man to pray unacceptably God Commands the right Performance of Prayer and this he has confessed cannot be without the Spirit therefore God commands no Prayer without the Spirit God Commands no Prayer without the Spirit neither is the Command answered or fulfilled by such as pray without it To this he Objecteth pag. 453 and 458. That the same Moral Duties might be shifted until the Spirit lead to them and also Natural Acts of Sleeping Eating c. which are Abomination in the Wicked And yet to go round he accuseth me p. 454 albeit falsly of saying Men may pray without the Grace of God Which by this Objection is his own Faith since he will not deny but Men may Sleep and Eat without the Grace of God But to this Objection I answered in my Apology shewing the difference betwixt these Acts and Acts of Worship which he grants pag. 461. And albeit I confess which he urgeth here that these profit not the Man at all as with respect to God's Favour when done without the Spirit yet they really fulfil the Matter of the thing Commanded in relation to our Neighbours and to our selves in Eating Drinking Sleeping else it would be Self-Murder But in Prayer the matter is not fulfilled without the Spirit which relateth only to God to whom every Prayer without the Spirit is an Evil Savour and not in any true and proper Sense a Prayer for Prayer as to the material Part cannot be performed without the Spirit He confesseth according to their Catechism That the Spirit is needful to know what to pray for which is the material part but the necessity of the Spirit as to these other things is only as to the formal part The formal part of Nature's Acts directed by the Spirit or right manner And this pleading for Praying from these Natural Acts shews how he Contradicts himself in saying It is untrue that they are for Prayer without the Spirit for if they be not this Argument were
IV. King of France 524 Heresies whence they proceeded 449 450. who cannot certainly judge of Heresy ought not to punish for Heresy 663. Christ's Servants must not pull the Tares but leave them with the Wheat 519. Heresy may be mistaken for Truth ibid. 521. the Name of Heresy may be more or less restricted 527. Heretick 519. An Heretick hath no just ground from the Quakers Principle to abstain from Prayer 645. Hereticks pretences to the Spirit 607 610 612 614. Hicks the Grosness of T. Hicks his dealing with the people called Quakers discovered and abhorred in print by others 879. High-Priest see Priest History of Christ see Quakers Redemption â— Knowledge Holy of Holies the High-priest entred into it once a Year 277 278. but now all of us at all times have access unto God 287. Holiness Your Holiness see Titles Honor see Titles Concerning Civil-Honour 873 880. House of God The House of God is no polluted Nest 412 Hypocrisy the worst of Evils in Religious Matters 521 522 Hypocrites 519 522. Under what Profession Hypocrites love to live and what Principles they most affect 47 48. the Hypocrites works have no Savour of Life 656. we cannot join with them in Prayer 470. he that has a Spiritual Discerning can discern them 519. Hypocrites want Titles 536. their Hope shall perish 387. their Danger 522. I. Jacob 447. Jacob and the Jews their Practice of bowing as also Abraham's was by Permission and not to be our Rule 876. Abraham's and Jacob's practice will not warrant our Imitation of it 873. Worm Jacob is a Threshing Instrument 883. James the Apostle There were of old diverse Opinions concerning his Epistle 297. whether his Epistle be Authentick and how to know it 309. Japonians The Japans knew by the teaching of Nature that it is unlawful to kill steal forswear c. as is evident by the Pricks of their Consciences Fra Xaviers 701. Idea There are supernatural Idea's of things supernatural in the Souls of Men 899. Men can have no true Idea of things Supernatural but what is Supernatural ibid. There is a Natural Idea of God in Men common to the Wicked with the Godly 900. the Idea's of all things are divinely planted in the Souls of Men ibid. All Idea's are of a Spiritual Nature 901. the Supernatural Idea's in Men infer Supernatural Senses or perceptive Faculties 902. those Faculties in Wicked Men do as it were sleep ibid. Idolatry 440 450. whence it proceeded 475. how with Idolatry we cannot join in Prayer 469. from whence Idolatries did spring 475 Jerusalem Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem 344 Jesting see Plays Games Jesuits see Sect Ignatian Jesus see Christ what it is to be saved and Assembled in his Name 358 359 367 455. See Name Jews Among them there may be Members of the Church 402 403. their Error c. 410. their Worship is outward 484. Particular Commands given to the Jews whether now obligatory upon us 663. they are no Rule for Christians being Repealed by Christ who gave a new Command 520. Jewish Doctors and Pharisees resisted Christ disdaining to be Esteemed Ignorant c. 268 Jezebel the not suffering the Woman Jezebel in what manner it was to be 521 Ignorance 514 Priests Darkness and Ignorance 215 Illiterate see Mechanicks Image of God whether any Relicts of it remained in Adam 337. see Adam Imposition The Authority of the Church is no Imposition 199. Imposition is what is contrary to true Liberty of Conscience 236. a Testimony against Imposition and Dominion 238 Independency An Independent Preacher embracing Truth and upon what Occasion 879. the Constitution of the Independent Church 416 Indians The Defect of the Scriptures and outward Knowledge of Christ in the Indians is providential 692 see Americans 63. Pagans Indulgences 365 Infants see Sin Infants that die in their Infancy in the Judgment of Charity may be supposed to be saved 42. Infants and Deaf Persons are excepted from the Necessity of outwardly hearing the Gospel 805. some Infants and deaf Persons saved without external Knowledge 10. Infants are not guilty of Adam's Sin 40 41 94. not Guilty before the Act of Sin ibid. Infants are under no Law 868. Whether Childrens Death argues guilt 770. Infants saved without Christ J. B's horrible Lie 771. Infants saved by Christ ibid. Sodom's Children c. Infants perishing in the Flood 772. Circumcision argues not Infants guilty 773. Regeneration of Infants ibid. Infallibility To say that there is no Infallible Judgment now to be expected from the Spirit of God in the Church is to turn Christianity into Scepticism 235. the only proper Judge of Controversies in the Church is the Spirit of God and the Power of deciding solely lies in it as having the only unerring Infallible and certain Judgment belonging to it 225. where there is any gathering or Assembly which truly and properly may be called the Church of Christ the Infallible Judgment will never be wanting in matters of Controversy 227. Influences there are General and Special Influences 582. none can pray truly in Words but by a particular Influence 583 Unfaithfulness wants Influences to Duties 641 Iniquities Spiritual Iniquities or Wickedness 450. Innovators Pretenders and Innovators to be Judged by the Power of God 217. as coming from that which being puft up affects singularity and exaltedness 218. Inquisition 523. Inquisition lays not hold on Folly and Vanity neither at Rome nor in Spain 545 Inspiration where that doth not Teach Words without do make a Noise to no purpose 271 272. some Christians and Gentiles have acknowledged the Evidence and certainty of Divine Inspiration in all Men as the surest Ground of Knowledge 605. Permissive Inspirations disowned and owned again by the Quakers Adversaries 673. Inspirations are necessary to Inward Duties 582. Christ's Illumination is his Inspiration 594. which is a greater Evidence than the Scripture 595. even Heathens have a Knowledge of the self-evidence of Divine Inspiration 605. Inspirations mandatory and permissory 637 639. Inspirations of things either to be done or simply to be believed 640. Inspirations general or particular ibid. the same which was given to the Holy Men of Old 658. Instruction see Teaching Intellect the supream Intellect enjoyed in the Mind of Man 363 Interpreters 784 60 633 794 803 805. John the Apostle Concerning his Second and Third Epistles and the Revelation there were sometime divers Opinions 297. John the Baptist did not Miracles 416 37. John Huss is said to have prophesied 309. John Knox in what respect he was called the Apostle of Scotland 430. Israelites going to War enquired first the Oracle of God 560. Judas fell from his Apostleship 411. who was his Vicar 420 his Ministry was not purely Evangelical 421. he was called Immediately by Christ and who are inferior to him and plead for him as Patron of their Ministry 420 421. Judgment see Church Concerning the Power of Decision 224 230 see Infallibility any Members in Obedience to the Lord giving forth a positive Judgment in
their Worship can easily be stopped 455. the Practice of the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants of Holland doth shew how void they are of Christian Love and Charity 691 Reprobation see also Redemption What absolute Reprobation is described 319. its Doctrine is horrible impious and Blasphemous 319.323 325. it is also so called by Lucas Osiander 328. it is a new Doctrine Augustin laid the first foundation thereof which Dominicus Calvin and the Synod of Doâ—t maintained 320.328.329 also Luther whom not-withstanding the Lutherans afterwards deserted 328 329. It is injurious to God and makes him the Author of sin proved by the Sayings of Calvin Beza Zanchius Paraeus Martin Zuinglius and Piscator 320 321. It makes the Preaching of the Gospel a meer Mock and Illusion 322. It makes the coming of Christ and his propitiatory Sacrifice to have been a Testimony of God's Wrath 322 323. It is injurious to Mankind and makes his Condition worse than the Condition of Devils Beasts Jews under Pharaoh and the same which the Poets applyed to Tantalus 323 324. Who espouse the precise Decree of Reprobation declare themselves Strangers to the Universal Love of God 694 695. the precise Decree of Reprobation is inconsistent with the Universal Love of God 694. the Presbyterian Doctrine of Reprobation makes God the Author of Sin 777. the same Doctrine makes the Gospel a meer mock 778. it is injurious to Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice ibid. it puts Devils in a better condition than Men 779 Resurrection 159 160 172. Revelation God always manifested himself by the Revelations of the Spirit 268 275 376 293. they are made several ways 268. they have been always the formal object of faith and so remain 269 276 284 and that not only Subjectively but also Objectively 284 287. they are simply necessary unto true faith 269 288 294. they are not uncertain 294 296. yea it is horrible Sacriledge to accuse them of uncertainty 283. The Examples of the Anabaptists of Munster do not a whit weaken this Doctrine 288 291 292 294. they can never contradict the Holy Scripture nor sound Reason 269 292 305 306. they are evident and clear of them selves nor need they anothers Testimony 269.293.294 they are the only sure certain and unmoveable foundation of all Christian faith 294 295. Carnal Christians Judge them nothing necessary yea they are hissed out by the most part of Men 269. of old none were esteemed Christians save those that had the Spirit of Christ but now a days he is termed an Heretick who affirms that he is led by it 269 270. The Testimony of some concerning the necessity of these Revelations 270 272 283 284. by whose and what desires they have been brought out of use 330. Divine Revelations the priviledge of all true Christians 607. the inward efficiency of the Spirit is that objective Revelation pleaded for 632. no true Revelation can contradict the Scripture 743. how and after what manner these Revelations were the object of the Saints faith of old 744. of the necessity of immediate Revelation to the building up of true faith 623 632. the distinction of subjective and objective Revelation unnatural 658. it is in the Power of God to Reveal himself when how and so long as he pleaseth 750. what Revelations are contrary to the Scriptures are to be rejected 752. Heer Paets his Argument against immediate Revelations discussed 894. Revelations seem to carnal Christians nothing necessary yea some are apt to flout at them as Ridiculous 269. immediate Revelations and Teaching of the Spirit asserted 28. Revenge see War 555 556 Rogers W. Rogers his Letter shewing his Satisfaction with R. B's Sense and meaning in his Book of Government 247 Rule of Faith and Manners see Scripture Concerning the Rule and Guide of Christians 116 161. whatever Difficulties happen in saying the Spirit is the Christian's Rule whereby to be ordered in Life and Conversation the same will occur in saying The Scripture is the Rule 591 592 Rustick The poor Rustick's Answer given to the proud Prelate 414. he brought a Philosopher to the Christian Faith 423 424. S. Sabbath 443. the outward Sabbath abolished together with the New-moons and other Feasts of the Jews 38. Sabbath or Rest is not an outward Day 38 40 Sacraments of their Number Nature c. how much Contention there hath been and that the Word Sacrament is not found in Scripture but borrowed from the Heathens 476 492. its Definition will agree to many other things 475. whether they confer Grace 513. the most Wicked may both minister and partake of these outward Elementary things called Sacraments as the most holy and sincere 704 855 864 Salvation Without the Church there is no Salvation 404. Salvation not only supposed but concluded possible to all men 700. the Lutherans Calvinists and Arminians hold that there can be no Salvation without the explicit Knowledge of Christ and Benefit of the Scriptures 692. those that hold this Opinion cannot justly pretend to Universal Love 693. Salvation chiefly depends upon the Inward Work of Grace 802. the want of outward Preaching doth not destroy the possibility of Salvation 80 Salutations 531 874. see Titles Samaria The Woman of Samaria 501 Sanctification see Justification Saxony The Elector of Saxony of the Scandal he gave to the Reformation by being present at the Mass 471 Schism 188 222.188 Sceptick 423 471. School Without the School of Christ nothing is learned but meer Talk and Shadow of Knowledg 270 272. Whether publick Schools be necessary 423 Schools and Universities 885. Sciences 834 838 Scriptures of Truth whence they proceeded and what they contain 295. they are a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self 296. they are not to be esteemed the adequate Primary Rule of Faith Manners but a Secondary Subordinate to the Spirit and why 296 309 416. their certainty is only known by the Spirit 296 297 405. they testify that the Spirit is given to the Saints for a Guide 296 303 304 306 308. their Authority depends not upon the Church or Council nor upon their intrinsick Vertue but upon the Spirit nor is it subjected to the corrupt Reason of Men but to the Spirit 296 304. the Testimonies of Calvin the French Churches the Synod of Dort and the Divines of Great Britain at Westminster concerning this thing 296 297. the Contentions of those that seek the certainty of the Scriptures from something else than the Spirit 296 297. divers Opinions of the Fathers so called concerning some Books 296 298. concerning the taking away and the corruption of some places the Translation Transcription and various Lections of the Hebrew Character and of the Greek Books The Interpretation of the Septuagint concerning the Hebrew Books and of admitting or rejecting some Books 302 304. of their difficulty in their Explanation 305. Augustin's Judgment concerning the Authors of the Canonick Books and concerning the Transcription and Interpretation 303. the use of them is very profitable and comfortable
Sincere Love in the Lord which we had to our Dear Brother Robert Barclay and Christian Respect which lives in us to his Blessed Memory and our Real Esteem and Value of his Faithful Testimony great Industry and Labour of Love for promoting the Ever-living Truth as it is in Christ in his Day and Time We whose Names are underwritten do sincerely Own and have Satisfaction and Vnity in Truth with this fore-going Preface and Relation in the behalf of him the said Robert Barclay and his Great and Memorable Service Labours and Travels in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whom be the Glory and Dominion for ever London the 15. of the 7th Month 1691. George Whitehead Patrick Livingston Alexander Seton Benjamin Antrobus Francis Stamper Iohn Vaughton and Iohn Field GEORGE FOX HIS TESTIMONY CONCERNING Robert Barclay A Testimony concerning our Dear Brother in the Lord Robert Barclay who was a Wise and Faithful Minister of Christ and Writ many Precious Books in the Defence of the Truth in English and Latine and after Translated into French and Dutch He was a Scholar and a Man of Great Parts and underwent many Calumnies Slanders and Reproaches and Sufferings for the Name of Christ but the Lord gave him Power over them all He Travelled often up and down Scotland and in England and in Holland and Germany and did good Service for the Lord and was a Man of Repute among Men and Preacht the Everlasting Gospel of Christ Freely turning People from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God And his Father was a Noble Man for the Lord and his Truth and died in the Lord And after when his Son Robert had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Testimony he also died in the Lord and is Blessed and at Rest and Ceased from his Labours and his Works follow him Much more might be Written concerning this Faithful Brother in the Lord and Pillar in the Church of Christ who was a Man I very much loved for his Labour in the Truth but I shall leave the Rest to his Country-men And the Lord Raise up more Faithful Labourers in Christ Jesus to stand in his Place and preserve his Tender Wife and Children in the Truth Amen! The 13th 9th Mo. 1690. G. F. A TESTIMONY to the Memory of ROBERT BARCLAY By his Faithful Friend William Penn. SUrprizing was the News of the Death of Dear Robert Barclay to me particularly from the Share I claimed in him and the Esteem I had for him But that which gave Weight to my Sorrow was the Loss that thereby comes to the Church of God and especially in Scotland For his Many and Excellent Gifts by Nature Acquisition and Grace his Zeal and Integrity his Labour and Love so effectually shewn in the time he lived both in his Ministry Writings and other Services and that he lived no longer who was so well fitted to live for the Service and Honour of the Truth and the good of God's People must render his Death more Afflicting to all those that desire to be reckoned of that Number It was a Complaint of Old that the Righteous were taken away and none layed it to heart I pray God that the Taking away of this Accomplished Minister of Christ in the Prime of his Age with other Precious and Honourable Brethren of late may be laid close to heart by the Friends of God especially where his and their Service lay and he and they have been most Conversant The Overcasting of so many bright Stars almost together and of the First Magnitude in our Horizon from our Bodily View is not the least Simptome or Token to me of an Approaching Storm and perhaps so dreadful that we may have fresh cause to think them Happy that are delivered from the Evils and Miseries that may ensue But this also calls every one home to his own Dwelling and Tent to find and feel him that Repairs all Losses and Supplys all Wants and is All to a Faithful People that they can need or desire This Worthy Young Man of God whose Character I write as well for their Example and Encouragement that have or hereafter may receive the Eternal Truth in which he lived and died and lives forever as for a Testimony to the Power and Goodness of God in raising him up to his Church and to his lasting Memorial in the Churches of Christ which is blessed for ever was the Son of Collonel David Barclay descended of the Barclays of Mathers in the Kingdom of Scotland an Ancient and Honourable Family among Men and of Katherine Gourdon from the Gourdons of the House of the Duke of Gourdon He was born at Edinburgh in the year 1648. Educated in France had the advantage of that Tongue as well as the Latine He returned to Scotland about 1664 being 16 years of Age where by the Example and Instruction of his Honest and Worthy Father that in his Absence had Received the Everlasting Truth and his Converse with other Servants of God he came to See and Tast an Excellency in it and was Convinced about the year 1667. and Publickly owned the Testimony of the true Light enlightning every Man and came Early forth a Zealous and Fervent Witness for it enduring the Cross and despising the Shame that attended his Discipleship and received the Gift of the Ministry as his greatest Honour in which he laboured to bring others to God and his Labour was not in vain in the Lord. He was much exercised in Controversy from the many Contradictions that fell upon the Truth and upon him for its sake in his own Country chiefly in which he ever acquitted himself with Honour to the Truth particularly by his Apology for the Christian Divinity Professed by the People called Quakers which contains a Collection of our Principles our Enemies Objections and our Answers Augmented and Illustrated closely and amply with many Authorities for Confirmation Also his Book of Church-Government distinguishing between Tyranny and Anarchy Imposition and Lawlessness occasioned by the Scruples of some and Partialities of others that had a tendency to a Division among us They are standing Books of sound Judgment and good Service to the Truth and Church of God Nor must his Scripture-Catechism be forgotten in that it opens the Mind of Truth upon points of Doctrine in the words of the Holy Ghost excluding all Humane Glosses or Interpretation which is an easie safe and peaceable Method the tendency of it being to Silence and Commend the Curiosity of Man to the Text which all own and there leave Controversy as the best Method to Vnity and Peace next that of the Spirit it self And indeed it was exactly suitable to his own Disposition that preferred Truth before Victory and Peace and Vnity before Nicities and a good Life before Worldly Learning We sometimes Travelled together both in this Kingdom and in Holland and some parts of Germany and were Inward in divers Services from first to last
pray without any Inspiration or gracious Influence of the Spirit So that such a Prayer is an answering of the Obligation to the Duty upon the Matter although it be separated from the Right Manner And accordingly they do both require and allow Men to Pray when they have no gracious Influence or Motion thereunto telling them That even such Prayers are required and that they do better to give such Prayers as want Sincerity unto God than not to pray at all seeing such lifeless and spiritless Prayers have the Matter of True Prayer although they want the Right Manner Whereas we on the contrary affirm that Lifeless Prayers have neither the Right Matter and Substance nor yet the Right Manner of Prayer and therefore are not at all required in Scripture Yet we deny not but many Times when Men want an Influence of Life to Pray they are still under the Obligation and at such Times it is their Sin not to Pray because they ought to have suitable Influences to Prayer which would not be wanting if they were faithful unto God But when through unfaithfulness they want them it doth not excuse them from being under the Obligation yet still when they want the Help of the Spirit they ought to pray by the Spirit because they ought to have it Even as when one Man oweth unto another Man a just Debt in Money the Debter ought to pay the Money although he have no Money to pay it with for his Want of the Money doth not excuse him from the Obligation to pay it yet he ought to pay the Debt only with Money or the Equivalent of it But if he should offer to pay it with any thing that is not Money nor Mony 's Worth as suppose with a few Counters this is no answering the Obligation either in the Right Matter or Manner And so it is in the Case in Hand Again N. 8. They fall into the like Prevarication in alledging The Question is not about a New Heart and Spiritual Principle of Obedience for they own that as Indispensably necessary for acceptable Performance But do not they say That when Men pray without a New Heart they do in part answer the Obligation And do not they encourage them to pray even the most Wicked This is denied by the People called Quakers and is a great part of the Question We say indeed Is. 1 10 18. c. 55 7. c. 59 2 Ezek. 8 18. Prov. 15 8 29. c. 21 27. Joh. 9 31. c. 4 23. Wicked Men ought to Pray but not remaining Wicked but that they ought to forsake their Wickedness and have a new Heart and therewith to pray Moreover whereas they say The Question is not about every Performance but about acceptable Performance Herein they most palpably contradict themselves N. 9. where they grant That no Act of Worship can be acceptably performed without these Influences and they well know that the Quakers say the same The Question then is not about Acceptable Performance seeing both they and we grant that no Duty can be acceptably performed without the Spirit So that if the Students had understood their Matter they would have said The Question is not about acceptable Performance but about simple Performance whether there be any Obligation to perform Duty that is not acceptable which they affirm and we deny For indeed Vnacceptable Performance Unacceptable performance no performance is as good as no Performance but rather worse As if under the Law the Jews had offered up a Dog's Neck in place of a Sacrifice it had been a greater sin than not to offer at all as it is a greater Offence for a Man to offer to pay his Debt with Counters or Pennies made of Slait-Stone than not to pay at all Another gross Error they commit in alledging The Question is about preparatory Motions previous in Time This is a Lie We challenge them to shew us any such thing in our Books Motions of the Spirit previous in order of Nature We do not require Motions or Influences of the Spirit previous in Time although they are oft given it sufficeth that they are Previous in Order of Nature as the Cause is previous unto the Effect which is not always in Time but in Nature But the Question is indeed about the Necessity of Motions to and in the Performance of Duty so as the Performance is to be in by through and with the Spirit which may well be without a previousness in Time as to inward Duty at least And if the outward can be simultaneous with the Inward it may also be as to the outward but if it cannot be so soon as the Inward in some Cases the Reason is not for want of the Motion but because the bodily Organs cannot so hastily answer the Motion as the mind it self can And it sufficiently answereth the Motion that the Mind answer it first and then the bodily Organs as soon as their Nature can permit There is yet another great Error they commit in alledging Such a lively and Spiritual Disposition as being necessary in our Sense whereas we do not lay it upon such a lively c. as if we required such a Degree of Life for the least Measure of Life that is but able to carry forth the Soul in any living Measure of Performance is sufficient where the Soul keepeth to the Measure and doth not exceed or go beyond it In the Prosecution of their Arguments they are no less unhappy in the stating of the Question as will shortly appear Pag. 95 67. they bring in R. B. and A. Sk. denying their Sequel which they labour to prove but how unsuccessfully we shall se anon because as Angels and Brutes agree in that they are both Substances so Spiritual Duties and other Duties agree in that they are both to be performed in the Spirit Duties Natural and Spiritual differ But what then Yet the Difference is still great betwixt those Duties that as to their Matter are Natural and Civil and those which as to their very Matter are Spiritual As for Example To eat to plow to pay a Debt are not Spiritual as to their Matter but only as to their Manner and End when acceptably performed And therefore the Matter of those Duties and whole Substance of them may be without any gracious Motion of the Spirit And in that Case the Performances themselves are really profitable in the Creation among them and consequently do answer the Obligation in part But Prayer and Thanksgiving c. are Duties wholly Spiritual both as to Matter or Substance and as to Manner and End so that whoso essayeth to do any of them without the gracious Motions of the Spirit he leaveth not only the right Manner but the very Matter and Substance of the Duty behind him and bringeth the meer Accidents along with him Which have no Profit nor use to Men nor are any wise in the least part an Answer to the Obligation And as