words will suffice to express it but the Papists and School-men having missed of the thing which the Scripture drives at and apprehended somewhat else in the wise imagining part have brought forth many phrases of their own invention to express their apprehensions by which we confess we have no unity with but are content with feeling the thing which the Scripture speaks of and with the words whereby the Scriptures express it Now whereas they call this a fundamental we do not find it so called in Scripture nor do we find the Disciples themselves understanding therein but knew not the Father John 14.8 9. and Christ going about to inform them does not tell them of another distinct being or person but hast thou not seen me and believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me vers 10. And so the believers at Ephesus had not so much as heard that there was an holy Ghost Acts 19.2 So that if ye will make this a fundamental truth yet it is such a fundamental as true faith did stand without both in believers afore Christs death and in believers after This is the great fundamental that God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 John 1.5 and the great work of the Ministry is to shew men where this light is and to turn men from the darkness wherein is the power of Satan unto this light wherein is the power of God Acts 26.18 And he that comes into this light and into this power is owned in the light and in the power wherein is the life of all the Saints and the true fellowship both with the Father the Son one with another 1 John 1.3 and 7. And the true trial of Spirits is not by an assent to Doctrines which the hypocrite may assent to on the one hand and the true believer may startle at on the other hand but by feeling of them in the inward vertue of the light in the Spirit and in the power This was the Apostles way of trial 1 Cor. 4.19 20. I will know not the speech of them which are puffed up but the power for the kingdome of God is not in word but in power A man may speak high words concerning the kingdome and get all the Doctrines about it and yet be a stranger to it and quite ignorant of the power and another may want divers Doctrines concerning it perhaps some of those which men call fundamentals and yet be a Citizen of it and in the power But now under the Antichristian Apostacy men wanting the feeling of the life and power wherein the true judgment is they own or disown one another upon an assent or dissent to such and such Doctrines and so fall into this great error of owning many whom Christ disowns and of disowning many whom Christ owns and if they find persons not assenting to or dissenting from any of those things which they call fundamentals then they think they may lawfully excommunicate and persecute them So by this mistake they cut off that which is green they persecute that wherein is the living sap and cherish the dry and withered That which is most tender towards God and most growing in the inward sensibleness which causeth it to startle at that which others can easily swallow lies most open to suffering by this kind of trial 2. Concerning the Person of Christ They believe that Christ is the eternal light life wisdome and power of God which was manifested in that body of flesh which he took of the virgin that he is the King Priest and Prophet of his people and saveth them from their sins by laying down his life for them and imputing his righteousness to them yet not without revealing and bringing forth the same righteousness in them which he wrought for them And by experience they know that there is no being saved by a belief of his death for them and of his resurrection ascention intercession c. without being brought unto a true fellowship with him in his death and without feeling his immortal seed of life raised and living in them And so they disown that faith in Christs death which is only received and entertained from the relation of the letter of the Scriptures and stands not in the living power and sensible experience of the begotten of God in the heart Now they distinguish according to the Scriptures between that which is called the Christ and the bodily garment which he took The one was flesh the other Spirit The flesh profiteth nothing saith he the Spirit quickneth and he that eateth me shall live by me even as I live by the Father John 6.57 and 63. This is the Manna it self the true treasure the other but the visible or earthen vessel which held it The body of flesh was but the vail Heb. 10.20 The eternal life was the substance vailed The one he did partake of as the rest of the Children did the other was he which did partake thereof Heb. 2.14 The one was the body which was prepared for the life for it to appear in and be made manifest Heb. 10.5 The other was the life or light it self for whom the body was prepared who took it up appeared in it to do the will Psal 40.7 8. and was made manifest to those eyes which were able to see through the vail wherewith it was covered John 1.14 Now is not this sound according to the Scriptures and is it not a good way to know this by unity with it by feeling a measure of the same life made manifest in our mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4.11 This we confess is our way of understanding these things and likewise of understanding the Scriptures which speak of these things And we have found it a far surer kind of knowledg namely to understand the Scriptures by experience of that whereof the Scripture speaks than to guess at the things the Scripture speak of by considering and scanning in the earthly part what the Scriptures speak of them Such a kind of knowledge as this a wise man may attain to a great measure of but the other is peculiar to him who is begotten of God whose knowledge is true and certain though it seem never so different from his who hath attained what he hath by the search of his wisdome 3. Concerning the holy Scriptures being a perfect rule of faith and life The new covenant is the covenant of the Gospel which is a living covenant a spiritual covenant an inward covenant and the law or rule of it cannot be written outwardly Read the tenour of the new covenant Heb. 8.10 I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts If God himself should take the same laws and write them outwardly yet so written they are not the new covenant at most they would be but an outward draught of laws written in the new covenant And mark this is one difference given between the new covenant and the old
can do nothing they cannot convert any man to God but the power that speaketh by them the same power worketh in other mens consciences at its pleasure And here is the beginning of the government of Christ in the heart when his truth carries conviction with it to the conscience and the conscience is drawn to yeild it self up to him then he layes his yoak upon it and takes upon him the guiding of it he cherisheth it he cleanseth it he comforteth it he ordereth it at his pleasure and he alone preserveth it pure chast gentle meek and plyable to the impressions of his Spirit And as the conscience is kept single and tender to Christ so his government increases therein but as it becomes hard or subject to mens wills so another spirit gets dominion over it Therefore the great work of the Minister of Christ is to keep the conscience open to Christ and to preserve men from receiving any truths of Christ as from them further than the spirit opens or to imitate any of their practises further than the spirit leads guides and perswades them For persons are exceeding prone to receive things as truths from those whom they have an high opinion of and to imitate their practises and so hurt their own growth and indanger their souls For if I receive a truth before the Lord by his spirit make it manifest to me I loose my guide and follow but the counsel of the flesh which is exceeding greedy of receiving truths and running into Religious practises without the spirit Therefore the main thing in religion is to keep the conscience pure to the Lord to know the guide to follow the guide to receive from him that light whereby I am to walk and not to take things for truths because others see them to be truths but to wait till the spirit make them manifest to me nor to run into worships duties performances or practises because others are led thither but to wait till the spirit lead me thither He that makes hast to be rich even in religion running into knowledge and into worships and performances before he feel a true and clear guidance shall not be innocent nor the Lord will not hold him guiltless when he comes to visit for spiritual adultery and idolatry The Apostles were exceeding tender in this point for though they certainly and infallibly knew what was to be believed yet they were not Lords over mens faith but waited till he who is Lord of the faith would open the way into mens consciences They did not take upon them to be able to turn the key to let in truth and conviction into mens spirits as men in these dayes have been too apt to undertake but directed them to him who had the key there to wait for the conviction and illumination of their minds and so to receive in as they found him give forth to them Let every man saith the Apostle be fully perswaded in his own mind take heed of receiving things tâ—â— soon take heed of running into practises too soon take heed of doing what ye see others do but wait for your own particular guidance and for a full perswasion from God what is his will concerning you Though I know this to be a truth yet do not ye receive it till God make it manifest to you receive truth from his hand stay till he give it you Indeed the main matter in religion is to keep out the wrong part the forward part the bastardly birth from running into duties catching of openings and laying hold of promises and to feel the heir born of the immortal seed to whom all belongs and that the other birth never afterwards get up above him but be subdued and brought into subjection Again saith the Apostle take heed of doing any thing doubtingly be not forward be not hasty wait for the leading wait for the manifestation of the Spirit Be sure thou receive what thou receives in the faith and practise what thou practises in the faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin being an error from the principle of life which is to guide and thereby thou loosest ground and dishonourest Christ and comest under condemnation And so the Apostle warns believers to take heed of drawing one another on too fast or of judging one another in such things as some of them might have light in others not He that eateth not to judge him that did not eat and he that did not eat not to judge him that did eat Yea in matters of worship he that observed a day and kept a Sabbath not to judge him that observed not a day or kept not a Sabbath for the Jews which were truly converted yet were hard to be drawn off from the observation of their Sabbath and could hardly bear with the believing Gentiles who were never taught to keep their Sabbath with them but were taught to esteem every day and sanctifie it to the Lord Rom. 14.5 And these who esteemed every day and dedicated it to the Lord ceasing from sin and resting to him for under the Gospel we are not to set up a new type but to enter by faith into the true rest which is the substance of what the other signified could hardly bear with them who observed a day Even in the Apostles dayes Christians were too apt to strive after a wrong unity and uniformity in outward practises and observations and to judge one another unrighteously in these things And mark it is not the different practise from one another that breaks the peace and the unity but the judging of one another because of different practises He that keeps not a day may unite in the same spirit in the same life in the same love with him that keeps a day and he who keeps a day may unite in heart and soul with the same spirit and life in him who keeps not a day but he that judgeth the other because of either of these errs from the spirit from the love from the life and so breaks the bond of unity And he that draws another to any practise before the life in his own particular lead him doth as much as in him lies to destroy the soul of that person vers 15. This was the Apostles rule for every one to perform singly to the Lord what he did and not for one to meddle with the light or conscience of another undervaluing his brother or judging him because his light and practises differed from his vers 10. of that 14. chap. but every one to keep close to their own measure of light even to that proportion of faith and knowledge which God of his mercy hath bestowed on them And here is the true unity in the Spirit in the inward life and not in an outward uniformity That was not necessary in the Apostles dayes nor is it necessary now and that eye which so dotes upon it overlooks the one thing which is necessary Men keeping close to God the Lord will
then they are of whips prisons cruel usage in prisons and cutting off of ears Surely it had been a sweeter a more christian and safer course to have weighed the thing in Gods fear and dread before ye had begun any of your punishments But your own late relation confesseth that ye began with them upon reports from Barbadoes and England from good hands ye say and so they of Damascus might have said if they had received the letters from the High-Priest or relations from zealous and devout Jews and I have heard related from many hands which having drunk in prejudices from reports and begun with imprisoning of them might easily follow that they were never afforded a fair hearing but at your Courts questions put to entrap them and they not suffered to plead the righteousness and innocency of their cause but endeavours used to draw them to that and a watching to catch that from them which would bring them within the compass of some of your laws Your consciences know how true these things are will one day give in a clear and true testimony although ye should be able to bribe them at present 3. That their coming thither was upon no other grounds or occasion for ought that could appear then to scatter their corrupt opinions and to draw others to their way and so to make disturbance Ans Christ saith to his disciples ye are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and they are not to lie still and keep their light under a bushel but to lighten and season the world as the Lord calleth and guideth them And if the Lord doth see that New-England notwithstanding all its profession and talk of the things of God hath need of his salt to savour it with and of his light to inlighten them and so sendeth his messengers and servants among them they have no reason to be offended with the Lord for this or with his people or with the truths they bring They have long had a form up and it may have eaten out the power and they may not be so savoury now in their ease and authority in New-England as they were under their troubles and persecutions in Old England and God may in kindnesse to them send among them a foolish people to stir them up and provoke them to jealousie Now the coming thus is not to scatter corrupt opinions but by the power of truth to scatter that which scatters from the Lord nor is it to draw to their way but to the Lord to Christ his living way which they are exhorted to try and feel and certainly to know before they receive nor doth it make any disturbance but onely to that which is at ease in the flesh and fleshly forms of worship And Israel of old was often thus disturbed by the Prophets of God though they still could not bear it but were enemies to the Prophets for it notwithstanding they had received their way of worship certainly from Gods hand how much more may the Lord take liberty by his servants and messengers to disturb these who never so received it but have formed up a way out of the Scriptures whereof many that are truly conscientious doubt whether it be the way or no even as they themselves doubt and are ready to contend against the waies that others have formed Now those that pick a quarrel with truth and seek matter against it to persecute it do not call it truth but errour corrupt opinions the way of a Sect the making of disturbance or such like And persecutors for the most part do not only say this but bring forth their strong arguments insomuch as the persecutors is commonly just in his own eyes and the persecuted is blamed as the evill doer and cause of his own sufferings Were the Bishops without their plea nay did not he that was called Dr. Burgess in his book seem to carry the cause clear against the Non-conformists And why the Bishops might not establish their way by authority or the Presbyters their way as well as these accounted Independants their way not regarding the dissenters or tender-conscienced I confesse I see not but that they have justified the Bishops by their practising the same thing and so unjustly condemned them in words But how can ye say for ought that could appear when ye were so unfit through receiving of prejudices and reports and beginning so roughly with them to consider what might be made appear also so far from giving way to them to make what they could appear as is before expressed And doth not this also imply that there may be a just righteous and warrantable cause of their coming in relation to God and his service though it doth not yet appear to you and in a meeker and cooler temper when another eye is opened in you ye may see and acknowledge that cause who are the Lords servants whether they come in his name or no whether they are his truths or no which they bring with them these are things God opens to the humble to the meek to such as fear before him and wait for his counsel therein but those that can determine things by intelligence before hand from other parts and imprison persons so soon as they come and so proceed on with a stiff resolution against them how are these in any capacity to seek or receive counsel from God in a case of so great concernment So that at last even when they have drunk their blood they must be forced to say for ought that could appear this was their only end work and intent but whether it was so or no they do not certainly know Thus far is in answer to the account they give by way of preface to what led them to the making of this law of banishment and death Now the grounds and considerations themselves which they hold forth to clear this to be warrantable and just follow to be scanned which are in number six 1. The doctrine of this Sect of people say they is destructive to fundamental truths of Religion Ans For the making of this argument forcible two things are necessary if either of which fails it fals to the ground 1. It is necessary to make manifest that persons for holding or propagating doctrines contrary to fundamental truths of religion are by Christs institution punishable with dismembring banishment or death For Christ is the head King and Law-giver to his Church it is he that is the foundation of religion and the giver forth of fundamental truths of religion and he is the proper Judge of what punishent is fit for such as either will not receive his fundamental truths of Religion or afterwards start back from them and broach doctrines contrary thereto Now it is required in his name and authority of such Powers as will take upon them to inflict these kinds of punishments upon such kind of offenders Christs institution for this thing Christ was as faithful in his
ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled 1 Pet 3.14 and the Apostle Paul bids the Philippians stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God And the same Apostle who commended the Hebrews as having done well in bearing the great sight of afflictons encourages them to go on still and not be weary or faint in their minds but resist even to blood eyeing Christ who endured the contradiction of sinners to the very last Heb. 12.3 4. And he practised as he taught for he was not terrified with bonds or afflictions nor accounted his life dear unto him but that which was dear unto him was the serving of his Lord and Master in preaching and witnessing to his truths as his spirit led him Acts 20.23 24. trusting on the Lord to uphold him in enduring of them or to deliver him out of them as he pleased 2 Tim. 3.11 but that which he and the rest of the Apostles and Saints of Christ applyed themselves to in case of persecution was to suffer 1 Cor. 4.12 And whoever they are that will be Christs faithful Disciples now must look to meet with the same cross as they did not only from the prophane World but from the worldly professors also for there were not only zealous worldly professors in that age but the same spirit hath remained in every age since which still gets into the best form it can when need requires to oppose the power thereby And they that are in the Spirit and in the power must expect to be persecuted by such and they are to bear it and not to flie from it unless by a particular call and dispensation from the Lord for a particular service which is not the rule as it is here made but rather an exception from the rule So Christ sending his Disciples in hast to preach the Gospel bids them not salute in the way Luke 10.4 nor be stopped by persecution but hasten to publish the sound of Christs coming in the Cities of Israel for the harvest was great but the laborers few Mat. 9.37 and yet notwithstanding all the hast they could make they should not have gone over the Cities of Israel before the Son of man come Mat. 10.23 There is a time to suffer persecution and a time to flee from persecution and both these are to be known in the Lord and to be obeyed in the leadings of his Spirit but to lay it down as a general rule for Christians to observe that when they are persecuted they should flee this is expresly contrary to the Scriptures afore mentioned which shew that Christians are not generally to flee but to stand in the service and work to which they are called bearing witness not only by believing and publishing but also by suffering for the testimony of the truth They are Christs Souldiers and their duty is to stand in the battel and bear all the shot and persecutions of the enemy if God call them off to any other service that is a sufficient warrant for them but flying upon other termes may prove a great dishonour to their Master and to his cause and truth and may be the occasion of a great loss to their Spirits who are so tempted to flee Neither is this bearing the brunt of persecutions and standing in Gods work and service notwithstanding them all even unto death any tempting of God but an obedient taking up of the cross according to his will and command And whereas you plead that reason requires it what kind of reason is it which bids avoid the cross of Christ and flee for safety And what kind of Spirit is that which preacheth this Doctrine laying it down as a general rule for Christians to flee when they are persecuted Is it not that Spirit which fain would be at ease in the flesh in so much as it self will rather persecute than be disturbed of its fleshly liberty though its very unwilling to bear the reproach of being accounted a persecutor Ah how did the Jews cry out against their Fathers for killing the Prophets and verily thought if they had lived in their dayes they should by no means have done it and yet the same Spirit was in them though they saw it not but thought themselves far from it That which blinded them was a wrong knowledge of the Scriptures and a great zeal and devotion about their Temple worship and Ordinances without a sensible feeling of the guidance of Gods Spirit The same Spirit that deceived them layeth the same snare in these dayes and men swallow it as greedily with as great confidence as they did the zealous professors of religion for the generality still becoming persecutors of the present appearance of truth not knowing what they do Thus in the fear of the Lord God and in love to your souls with a meek and gentle spirit not being offended at what ye have done but looking over it to the Lord who bringeth glory to his name and advantage to his truth by the sufferings and death of his Saints have I answered your grounds and considerations and in the same fear love and meekness have I some things further to propose to your considerations which are of great concernment to you and deserve to be weighed by an equal hand in the equal ballance without prejudice or partiality 1. Consider meekly and humbly whether the Scriptures be the rule of the Children of the new covenant for if the Scripture was not intended by God for the rule and ye take it to be the rule then ye may easily mistake the way to eternal life and also err in your understanding and use of the Scriptures making such an use of them as they were never intended for and so missing of the true use and intent of them Now that the Scripture was not intended nor given forth by God to be the rule of the Children of the New Covenant besides our faithful Testimony from the sight of the thing in the true eternal light weigh our arguments from the Scripture many are mentioned in our writings consider at present of these three 1. The Scripture is an outward rule or law but the Scripture saith the law of the new covenant shall be an inward law It is written in the Prophets that all the Children of the new covenant or new Jerusalem shall be taught of the Lord Isa 54.13 who teacheth them inwardly by his Spirit and writeth his law in their hearts Jer. 31.33 34. and after this manner did the Lord take his people into covenant with himself and teach them in the Apostles dayes 1 John 2.27 The covenant is inward the teacher inward the writing inward the law inward and there it is to be read learned and known where the Spirit teacheth and writeth it 2. Scripture or the writings
c. saith the Apostle least any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.12 13. and persecution most hardens of any sin How cruel how bloody doth it make it even unmans men Prisons Whips cutting off of ears Banishment Death all is little enough if not too little And what reviling doth it fill mens pens and tongues with making them so hot and passionate that they cannot equally consider the cause but misunderstand it misrepresent it strive to make it appear another thing both to themselves and others than indeed in truth and plainness it is Look over your writings consider the cause again in a more meek and upright Spirit and ye your selves will easily see how in your heat ye have mistaken and dealt more injuriously with others than ye your selves were ever dealt with There is a time of righteous judgment wherein the most inward covers shall be ripped off and the sinner appear what he is and then the persecutor shall bear that shame that burthen that misery which is the portion of that Spirit It is but a small advantage to it to cover its iniquity for a little moment If ye could make all the world believe that ye are not persecutors what would this profit you if in the day of the Lord ye should be found such But having proceeded thus far it is hard for you to consider and retreat That Spirit hath great advantage over you to make you accept of any cover it can now offer you to hide your selves under Oh that ye could see how ye have wrested Scriptures and what strange kind of rguments ye have formed to make that which ye have done pass with your own hearts and to make it appear somewhat plausible to others Yet all this will not do the eye of the Lord sees through you and that light which ye reproach makes you manifest to be at present in subjection under the bloody dark power who will hold you as long as he can and furnish you with such weapons as he has against the Lamb and his followers But ye come forth to the battel in a bad day for the light is arisen to conquer and is not now to be overcome with the darkness And though ye meet the Woman and her seed with a floud of reproaches and persecutions yet that will not stop her from coming forth out of the Wilderness to shew her beauty and innocency again in the earth Consider these things and come out of this hard Spirit into tenderness if it be possible that the still meek gentle Spirit of life may be your leader from under all false covers into the truth it self where there is a gentle lying down with all that is of God and not so much as an offence because of any difference much less heart-burnings and persecutions but a sweet waiting on the Lord for every ones growth in their several ranks and stations Since my waiting on the Lord for the presence and guidance of his Spirit in the examining the foregoing Grounds and Considerations there came forth an Appendix to John Norton's Book wherein are laid down some further Grounds by way of justifying of their proceedings which for their sakes and likewise on the behalf of the truth and people of God I may also say somewhat to 1. FIrst they insinuate an argument concerning the not suffering of evil which they say is common to all that fear God with themselves Answ Evil is to be resisted but in Gods way according to Gods will and not according to the will of the flesh Spiritual evils are to be resisted by and in the faith with spiritual weapons which God hath appointed and sanctified thereto Earthly evils outward evils transgressions of the just law of the Magistrate are to be resisted by the sword of the Magistrate Here are the bounds which God hath set which he that transgresseth sinneth against the Lord and his own soul But the believer is not to step out of Gods way to resist the Magistrates evil nor the Magistrate to step out of Gods way to resist spiritual evil but both are to wait on the Lord for his blessing on the means he hath appointed and it is better for each of them not to resist evil but let it grow upon them till the Lord please to appear against it than to overcome it by an unrighteous weapon Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses and trust in Chariots Isa 31.1 2. A second argument is taken from the sole cause of their transplanting which they say was to enjoy liberty to walk peaceably in the faith of the Gospel according to the order of the Gospel Answ That there was an honest intent in many of them in transplanting into New-England I do not doubt though whether they had a sufficient warrant from God to transplant was doubted and objected against them by many of their conscientious fellow sufferers here in old England who testifie them that they did believe it to be their duty not to fly but stay and bear their testimony for God and his truth by suffering and this had been a better way of resisting that which was manifestly evil than of resisting by the sword that for evil which in due time they themselves may see and acknowledge not to have been so But if they did truly desire liberly did not the enemy tempt them to be selfish to seek it so far as might comprise themselves excluding such as might differ from them upon as just grounds as they themselves differed from others Did not they set bounds to the truth and bounds to the spirit of God that thus far it should appear and no further Whereas God hath degrees of discovering and leading out of the Antichristian darkness and he that opposeth the next discovery of truth the next step out of Babylon is as real an enemy and persecutor as he that opposed the fore going In that they testified against the Bishops they did well but if they will now set up a stand either to themselves or others and not follow the leadings of the Lamb their life may be withered and they may perish in the Wilderness while others are following the guide which they left when they set up their stand towards Canaan And as for walking peaceably That they might be free from the fear of outward powers having liberty to try what ever pretends to be of God and if it appear error be out of danger of having their consciences forced this is a great mercy But if they would live so peaceably as that no discovery of God further should ever start up among them nor the Lord himself be suffered to send any of his servants with any further discovery of light unto them this is not a peace which God allowes to any man nor which his people desire but only the carnal part which loves to be at ease and not to be at the pains of tryal in the fear
ruined by any appearance of God nay nor by any appearance of the powers of darkness against God for the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the true Church And there is great advantage of errors heresies to the true Church for the life grows and gets ground by a fair tryal overcoming of them and the approved are thereby made manifest 1 Cor. 11.19 Now what kind of Church is yours which is in such danger of being ruined by that whereby the true Church was advantaged So that to plead that either you must suffer your Religion your souls your liberties to be made a prey of or take this course to defend them is very inconsequent and a strong argument against you that yours is not the truth which needs such a defence as the truth hath not been used to have but hath grown up been preserved and thriven not only without it but against the strength and force of it So likewise those considerations of the Shepherds defending the flock from Wolves and of the keeper of the vineyards maintaining the hedg against wild beasts c. are not proper to the thing in hand for the spiritual sheep the soul the liberty of the Church the true Religion the true vineyard are not outward nor to be defended after an outward manner but the defence is according to the nature of the thing which is to be defended To trust or look after an outward power for defending these is to betray the faith which is the sheild Therefore let them consider whether in looking out too much at these they have not lost the true weapon and the sight of the true thing which is to be defended which the arme of the Lord alone gathers and the arme of the Lord alone preserves This argument is yet further pressed from the present state of your own people too many of them being perillously disposed as ye say to receive their doctrine being already too much disaffected if not enemies to order c. Answ Alas alas have you had your order your Church government so long up and are the multitude among you yet so ready to be shaken Behold what a weak unstable settlement ye have attained to all this time by your outward force But search honestly and see who they are that are so ready to be shaken Are they the discontented and unconscionable multitude as ye speak or are they the most simple hearted most conscientious and zealous towards God amongst you for it is experienced here in Old England that the ground they gain is not upon the unconscionable but the conscientious If it be these that are somewhat touched with the sence of their doctrine it may make you fear that there is more of God therein than you are aware of Therefore do not proceed to argue thus violently against a thing before ye have tryed it but come to a deep serious inward consideration of the thing between God and your own souls not in the pride loftiness and self willedness but in the honesty humility and meekness of your Spirits and then perhaps ye may see beauty and the life of your souls in that which ye now so revile and persecute And though ye matter not how ye imagine and speak all manner of evil falsely against us yet do not also wrong the best among your selves by tearming them discontented and unconscionable because their Spirits are not hardened by your form but yet retain some tenderness towards God his truths and people But why do ye charge following the light within so deeply as to be a giving up of mens selves to their own inclinations and that it immediately canonizeth them for Saints dischargeth them from subjection both Civil and Sacred and from the Scriptures as the rule of life and by vertue of this their Saint-ship intitles them to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their minds c. Answ Surely if ye were guided by the light within ye would be preserved from such kind of injuriousness both to persons and principles Are your tongues and pens your own at liberty to speak and write any thing that will make for your advantage how manifestly false soever If it were but a natural light yet being of God it would not deserve this deep blame Have ye ever tryed it as we have done if not why do ye speak so against it before ye have tryed it We can upon much experience testifie that it is against our inclinations that it discovers them calls from them and is a daily cross to them upon following whereof we feel the bitter dying of the earthly part and the inclinations thereof pining away And from true subjection to that which truly is of God it never discharges but leads to obedience to what is lawfully commmanded by authority to patient suffering under what is unlawfully inflicted And as for the Scriptures it opens them in the life which gave them forth it fulfils them in us it makes them our own it makes us able to set our seal to the truth of them in the sight of God and to receive that for the rule which the Scriptures say is the rule the living word Christ the living way the word in the mouth and in the heart Rom. 10. the law in the mind the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is the word ingrafted into their hearts who are created anew in Christ And this is the honour which we give to the Scriptures namely to receive that which they testifie of to live and walk in that spirit which they call to us to live and walk in to take heed of painting the old nature and letting the old spirit live upon its imaginations which it gathers out of the Scriptures reading them in the oldness of the letter and not in the newness of the Spirit And we profess nakedly that we believe the truth of God not meerly because the Scripture hath said it for that which is out of the truth may thus believe but also because in coming to the thing and receiving the truth as it is in Jesus we have found it to be just as the Scriptures speak of it But what do ye speak as if following the light did intitle men to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their mind Nay the light teacheth not to covet not to desire earthly dignities or estates Let it be looked at over Old England which of us so much as mind these things Nay the Lord knows that the love of these things is daily rooted out of our hearts more and more and we are a people whom the World cannot charge with covetousness or love of the World wherewith all sorts of professors hitherto have been too justly chargeable O Rulers of New-England why do ye thus overturn the cause of the innocent if we were a bad people yet to lay things so notoriously false to our charge and to charge that principle in us with it which
powerfully leads us from it this is not right nor justifiable in the sight of God Ah take heed of reviling persecuting and speaking all manner of evil against us falsely for his name sake whom we are called to serve and whom we do serve in following and obeying the light of his Spirit in us which hath led us to the true knowledge of God and to life and peace with him About the close of this argument for the further strengthening of it it is said Duty is not opposite to duty passiveness for the truth and activeness against the enemies of the truth are both duties in their season Answ Every kind of activeness against the enemies of the truth is not duty for some kind is sinful There is a lawful fighting and an unlawful fighting Such a kind of fighting against an enemy as may hurt a friend and cannot hurt the enemy is unlawful Now the Magistrates sword may hurt a friend may affright the tender conscience from its duty towards Christ but it cannot reach the falsehood which lodgeth in the heart nor draw the party from that but rather hardeneth him in it So that it is not a duty to have the Magistrates sword drawn out against that for which it is not proper where it may do hurt and not good The housholder would not permit his own servants to gather up the tares lest they should root up the wheat with them Mat. 13.29 Did Christ deny his Disciples that liberty and doth he grant it to the Magistrates Is the Magistrate out of danger of hurting the wheat while he is smiting at the tares nay is he not in danger of smiting and rooting up the wheat instead of the tares Surely this is the Magistrates duty to keep in his place and not to extend his sword beyond his commission and beyond what it is proper for And let me put this to all the Magistrates of the earth who have been drawing out their sword against tares as they might think are ye sure that ye never touched any green thing Revel 9.4 did ye never pluck up any wheat ye must give an account of this to Christ one day Here in Old England in the Bishops dayes the best were liable to be excommunicated and weeded out of the Church and also to be struck at by the Magistrate how it hath been in New-England I leave it to your consciences to consider of do not slubber it over but make up a just account What Moses did Levit. 24. in case of blasphemy he did by immediate direction from God vers 13. and he was a type of Christ who inwardly and spiritually fulfils all his outward shadows And Christ doth not say that every blasphemer under the Gospel shall be put to death but all blasphemy or speaking against the son of man shall be forgiven but there is a kind of blasphemy which he will not forgive And the Church by his Spirit are to try and deal with blasphemers even to the cutting of them off by the sword of the Spirit that they may repent and learn not to blaspheme 1 Tim. 1.20 but the Magistrace is not now appointed to cut them off in their blasphemy and so to take away that time of repentance from them which Christ hath allowed them Christs Ordinances and institutions do not clash one with another he doth not bid the Church cut off a Person from the unity with the sword of the Spirit that he might feel the loss of life and be made sensible of what a condition his blasphemies have brought him to and so come to mourn and repent I say Christ doth not do this on the one hand and on the other other hand bid the Magistrate banish him or cut him off with the sword and so take away his time of repentance from him Nay this device sprang from the false Church to make her excommunication outwardly terrible and dreadful which hath no inward vertue or cause of terror and dread at all in it So as touching Nehemiah he was both extraordinarily stirred up by God and his time was under the law so that the argument from his example is not valid to them who have not such a warrant as he had for he saith himself that God had put in his heart what he had to do at Jerusalem Nehem 2.12 and where the state and ministration is changed The Priests did that under the law which is not now to be done but typified what Christ the unchangeable Priest was to do So likewise Kings Judges and Governors of that People did that under the law towards them which is not now to be done outwardly towards any by any King Ruler or Magistrate but typified what Christ was inwardly to do in the Spirits of his people and how he would gather preserve and defend his Church and wound and subdue his enemies even by his rod and Scepter which is the sword of his Spirit the word of his mouth And as for Ephesus and Thyatira's not suffering false Apostles and the Woman Jesabel We do not say that any errors or erronious persons are to be suffered by the Church but to be dealt with in Christs power and authority But the delivering up of these to the secular power we know to have been an invention of Antichrists and a great dishonour to Christ as if his Rod and Scepter were not sufficient to defend his subjects and kingdome and to beat down his enemies and also a ground of much affliction persecution and bloodshed of the Saints yea and of suppressing the truth of God for a season For the persecutor having once gotten this cover then he can do that openly and boldly which otherwise he would blush and he ashamed of To persecute Christ to put his people to death and that for professing and publishing his truths God forbid saith the Antichristian Spirit in every form and way of Religion that we should do this but in every age calls the witnesses to the truth of that age blasphemers wicked persons persons that by their tenents overthow the fundamentall truths of the Gospel and their Doctrines destructive c. And now what zealous people or Minister or what Christian Magistrate can suffer such as these By this artifice the sufferings of the Saints come to abound in every age and their blood is made havock of and what is thus done easily passeth as an act of justice against offenders and not as indeed it is persecution of the truths and people of God The after-age can see what it is and cry out against it but still it is the subtilty of the persecuting Spirit to hide the persecutions of the present age under an appearance of zeal for God and of justice against offenders 3. In the next place it is said on the Quakers behalf that they are the Lambs of Christ Indeed this is a considerable thing for if they be Christs Lambs then they are innocent and cannot be the causers of their own sufferings but
true and have the life eternal abiding in the heart But now in the Antichristian darkness the spirit being lost which is the Gospel-administration now they seemingly advance and cry up the letter putting it into the place of the spirit Yet in truth it is not the Scripture heither in its naked simplicity which is thus cryed up but mans wise reasonings about it The fleshly will the fleshly understanding the fleshly strength getting a seat there having formed a building out of it and reared strong holds in that part which can be wise and live without the spirit now its life its interest lies in the Scriptures thus believed thus understood thus practised thus therefore it cries it up not as it came at first out of the hands of the spirit nor as the truth of it is now seen in the simplicity and nakedness of the spirit but as the wisdome from below hath formed meanings and apprehensions concerning it And here every sort of men are wise in their own eyes and strong and prudent in their own conceivings and reasonings but know not the bringing to naught of that understanding which precedeth the opening of the eye of the babe which hath that sight of the things of God given which is out of the reach of all the wise and strong ones It is true under the Law they were to try by the Law and testimony Isa 8.10 but yet not in an uncertain way according to their own guessings imaginations and reasonings but according to a certain interpretation and knowledg thereof and in cases of difficulty the Judg was to have recourse to the Priest Deut. 17.8 c. and the Priests in cases of doubt had an ordinary way of enquiring by Vrim Numb 27.21 besides the way of enquiring by Prophets which was very common with them also 1 Sam. 9.9 and chap. 28.6 But now the Jews having forfeited these filling their minds with a gathered knowledge from the Law and Prophets trying Christ and his truths by this judged amiss both of him and them Now the Law was a shadow of good things to come not a shadow of another outward Law or rule but a shadow of the inward rule of the Law of the new Covenant written in the heart of the spirit put within Heb. 8. by this law is the true believer fully as able to try as they were by the former but without this a Christians tryal of things is not so certain as theirs was under the Law 4. The force of the fourth argument is to this effect that the dictate of conscience is not a sucffiient plea in case of meer and single ignorance much less in wilful and affected ignorance Answ The dictate of conscience is not made a plea by us but the answering and obeying the light of Christ in our consciences is that which keepeth them void of offence both towards God and towards men Now it is one thing for a man to act evil and plead it is his conscience and it is another thing for a man to be guided by the infallible light of the spirit or if he be not come so far yet to be made tender in his heart towards Christ concerning his practises in Religion In this last case we say that in things whose good or evil chiefly depends upon the knowledge and perswasion of the mind which Christ alone can do here Christ is the sole Lord and Judg of the conscience Rom. 14.4 and not either Minister Church or Magistrate Christ giveth knowledge Christ increaseth knowledge and Christ requireth obedience according to the knowledge given or increased That is many times required to be left upon a further degree of knowledge given which was not required to be left before and so also upon the same terms may things be required to be performed which were not required to be done before And this indeed is the very sum of the true Religion since the death of Christ and his finishing of his work here either to worship in the Spirit or to wait for the Spirit He who hath not received the Spirit he is to wait for the Spirit He who hath received the Spirit he is to wait in the Spirit for the movings and outgoings thereof and to be obedient thereto And Christians are to take heed not only of a wrong Spirit but also of quenching the movings of the true Spirit in themselves or others If the erring mind hath mistaken about worship and through its mistake set up a wrong way the Spirit in the tender plants will be moving against it which the wise reasoning fleshly part will be knocking down and so the birth which is after the flesh will be getting advantage of persecuting and keeping under the immortal seed Now suppress evil to the utmost but take heed of quenching the good in any take heed how ye stop that in its course of discovering evil in your worships or otherwise which easily passeth for good until the Spirit begin to make it manifest Ah friends if the carnal wisdome had been crucified in you and the Spirit of God had had more scope in manifesting evil among you what might ye have grown to ere this day but if the Magistrate upon every doubt or difference or startling of the tender conscience step in with his sword how is the way of the breaking forth of truth stopped up and that which is truly of God and most tender towards him is most liable to suffer this way And this is that which makes the Quakers such a suffering people because they have found the benefit of keeping the conscience tender towards God and so prize it above all things and this mercy have they received from the Lord sensibly to distinguish in this tenderness towards God and in the fear of his name between the dictates of conscience and the voyce of his Spirit there Now it is not at all pleaded by us that under a pretence of conscience ye should suffer all manner or any manner of evil but first Punish not good for evil do not punish the good in others to defend the evil in your selves Secondly That which is manifestly evil punish it by such hands and means as God hath appointed the spiritual by spiritual the temporal by temporal and do not make punishing of evil a pretence of persecuting good in others and of upholding the evil in your selves But as touching your distinction of meer and single ignorance or wilful and affected we can bless the Lord who hath delivered us from them both by the day-spring which he hath caused to arise in our hearts and we can with a farther measure of the same Spirit bear this from you with a measure whereof some of the non-conformists bore this from the conformists who would cast this upon them that their ignorance was affected they were refractory but might have been better informed if they would And we wish with all our hearts that there were not too just cause of retorting both