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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	know_v	scripture_n	6,716	5	6.3200	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85393	A fresh discovery of the high-Presbyterian spirit. Or The quenching of the second beacon fired. Declaring I. The un-Christian dealings of the authors of a pamphlet, entituled, A second beacon fired, &c. In presenting unto the Lord Protector and Parlament, a falsified passage out of one of Mr John Goodwins books, as containing, either blasphemie, or error, or both. II. The evil of their petition for subjecting the libertie of the press to the arbitrariness and will of a few men. III. The Christian equity, that satisfaction be given to the person so notoriously and publickly wronged. Together with the responsatory epistle of the said beacon firers, to the said Mr Goodwin, fraught with further revilings, falsifications, scurrilous language, &c. insteed of a Christian acknowledgment of their errour. Upon which epistle some animadversions are made, / by John Goodwin, a servant of God in the Gospel of his dear Son. Also two letters written some years since, the one by the said John Goodwin to Mr. J. Caryl; the other, by Mr Caryl in answer hereunto; both relating to the passage above hinted.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing G1167; Thomason E821_18; ESTC R202307	68,987	94

and thy Fathers house so may I with evidence enough of truth answer you that it is not I but you and your Prophets that are excellent at that kind of Forgery you speak of if you will needs place an excellency in it you or they or both of you together in the inditing of this very Epistle have begotten I know not how many of those Bastard and hard-favoured Monsters you talk of and have layd them at my door But I shall remand them to those who have polluted their consciences with the malicious pleasure of their generation and cause them to bear the shame of them d The shame of staining paper with slanderous cavils is a covering fit for your faces it suiteth not with mine further then by a Christian Sympathy I bear the burthen and shame of your folly in this kind I wish that slanderous cavils were as much beneath you and your Prophets as they are beneath me e Truly you need not put this question to me For I freely confess that I do not know any of those learned men against whom I write who ever asserted the unchangeableness of Gods Love to Apostates or to persons of that Character which you further describe The opinions of those learned men whom I oppose or write against so far as I oppose them are obnoxious more then enough as expressed by themselves so that I have no temptation lying upon me to falsifie or corrupt them yet some of the learned men you speak of and particularly your Prophets about the City do assert the unchangeableness of Gods Love towards all true Beleevers many of which I have evinced both from the Scriptures by pregnant argument and demonstration by a full consort and harmony of Orthodox and learned men both ancient and modern yea by many Testimonies of those persons themselves who are counted pillars of the contrary Faith yea and lastly by experience it self may and do turn Apostates afterwards Book-sellers or Beacon-firers §. III. We have heard of some Arminians who never did read Calvin himself but were wont to read Calvins opinion in a Jesuite and take it for granted that their brother Jesuite was to be trusted We fear that you may be baptized into the same spirit of giddinesse a You put the poor Protestant in a Bear-skin and then set the dogs upon him that you may disport your self and your Confederates with that Tragick Comedy Give us leave to tell all your friends who beleeve as your Church beleeves That they who are false accusers of the brethren are sons of Belial b It is not Calvin but Mr. Goodwin who doth maintain the Apostacy of the Saints in his blasphemous Libels c It is no wonder if Such we shall remember the word Such Apostate Saints are inslaved in Journey-work to Apostate Angels d Be pleased to arm your selfe with patience whilest we tell you a story which runs thus in brief when your Brother Bertius gave his booke De Apostasia Sanctorum to King James the King passed this censure upon him This Heretick saith he deserves to be commended for his wit but hanged for his knavery e Mr. Goodwins Animadversion III. a I can deliver you or if you please you may I conceive with some pains deliver your selves from this fear concerning me For in my reading I never met with any of those citations from Calvin on which I insist in any of my writings in any Jesuit whatsoever and I beleeve that you may travel a long journey in reading these Authors before you meet with any of them You speak so many untruths and these fully known unto me for such in this letter that I know not how to beleeve you when you say We have heard of some Arminians who c. I much doubt whether ever you heard of any such or no especially from any Informer worthy credit I fear you pin your Faith upon the sleeves of many who after the manner of the false Prophets of old make you glad with lies You make the Arminian brother to the Jesuite but the kindred is much neerer between the Jesuite and the Black-Friars b Here again you only vary the phrase but pour out your High-Presbeterian spirits in the same shameless untruths with which you stained both your credits and consciences at once in the former Section You and your Rabbies to use a word of your own are they who put not Protestants only but many the dear children of God themselves into the Bears-skins you speak of and then do as you say As for me I do not remember that I anywhere make use of any Bears Skin but what I have pluck'd off from the backs of those whom I put into them Nor do I set the dogs upon any poor Protestant unless it be upon my self and those few friends by you termed Confederates which God hath given me against these I have exasperated and enraged you know who and how But neither I nor any of my Confederates as far as they are known to me are wont to disport our selves with any mans weakness or shame The truth in this point as in twenty others in your Letter is not at all beholding to you for your courtesie in sparing her You need neither crave leave nor take leave to tell my Friends that they who are false accusers of the Brethren are Sons of Belial they are instructed in this truth to your hand and by the light of it they are able fully to discern who and what manner of persons you are If your meaning be to reflect upon me as a false accuser of the Brethren you act like him who compasseth the Earth to and fro to draw men into the same condemnation with himself You will never be able to prove that I ever accused any man falsely much less a Brother Therefore consider in the fear of God whose Sons you make your selves by this charge Those who beleeve as the Church with me beleeveth beleeve as the Scriptures teacheth you and all other men to beleeve and this you may through the long suffering and bountifulness of God come to know in time although the truth is that you desperately obstruct your way to the knowledge of the truth by entreating those so unworthily who desire to make you partakers of this happiness with themselves But me thinks you of all men should not disparage men for beleeving as their Church beleeveth who suffer your Classique and Synodical Pastors to exercise what dominion over your Faith they please c If by my Libels you mean my little Books for other Libels of mine neither you nor I know any you commit the sin of Falsification in adjuncto in calling them blasphemous Nor need I at all be troubled for being charged with Blasphemy by the sons of High Presbitery for was not the Lord Jesus Christ himself Blessed for ever charged with the same crime by men of a sympathizing spirit Then the High Priest rent his clothes saying he hath spoken blasphemy What further need have we

the Promises and Covenant of God a By the seals annexed to the Covenant by the earnest given to assure the bargain by the Witnesses to confirm that last Will and Testament of special and saving grace Which Testament is further ratified by the Oath of God and heart bloud of Christ We are assured of all this not onely by Christs death but by his life for Christ saith to every soul that he hath quickned by special grace as he said to all his disciples but Judas the Son of perdition b Because I live ye shall live also Jo. 14. 19. God saith to all whom he brings under the power of the Covenant of grace I will be your God and ye shall be my people I will and ye shall I will not depart from you and ye shall not depart from me I will not ye shall not c Such an unchangeableness as this true Protestants such as Edward Arthur and William d do maintain Such an unchangeableness as this you do oppose e Such an unchangeableness as this the Scriptures do hold forth and yet you cannot upon this or any other account prove the Scriptures of the old and new Testament not to be the pure word of God though you have a cursed Art in Swan-Alley to undermine the authority of the Scriptures even when you do most pretend to defend them f It is a black Art g leave it for your juggle is discovered your folly manifested and your book about we had almost said against the Scriptures would have been wast paper had not some Anti-Scripturists brought them up h we can purchase some of your works at a good easie rate already but we beleeve the Cooks will help you away with some of them next moneth to defend Geose and Turkeys to lay up spice and underlay their pies i and therefore we think your works need not be called in Mr. Goodwins Animadversion 5. a If you be assured of the unchangeablenesse of Gods counsels by the several means you here enumerate I am glad for your sakes that you are in so Christian a posture God of his Grace keep you in it b But whereas you exempt Judas from amongst the Disciples to whom Christ said Because I live ye shall live also I know no sufficient ground you have from the Scripture or otherwise to do it For certainly Judas was included in another saying from the same lips of grace which imported as high a favour as this And Jesus said unto them verily I say unto you that ye who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. 19. 28. If you please to peruse Chrysostomes exposition of this place which you may find faithfully delivered pag. 360 361. and again 373 374 of my Redemption Redeemed you will find him looking upon Judas as a son of the Kingdome for a time which opinion of his I give notice to be together with the ground and reason of it approved by Peter Martyr who was alwaies untill now judged a Protestant yea and not the least amongst those that are called Orthodox from whose pen likewise we took knowledge upon the occasion of that golden rule That the promises of life and salvation made by God unto particular men are to be understood with reference to the present state and condition of things with them a But if Judas was excepted as you say your cause is neither the whiter nor blacker for it c God indeed speaks as you here say I will be your God and ye shall be my people unto all whom he brings under the power of the Covenant of grace but first this proves not that he speaketh not the same thing unto others also Nor do you nor can you prove that the whole Nation of the Jews to which this promise was jointly and indifferently made Levit. 26. 12. were all in your sence brought under the power of the Covenant of Grace 2. The performance of this promise even where it is made or applied to such persons as you speak of is suspended upon their obedience and perseverance in it 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. Whereas you mention another promise in these words I will not depart from you I find it not at least in your terms in all the Scripture I suppose you look at Jer. 32. 40. But how far the heart of this passage is from your cause is demonstrated at large pag. 219. 220 221 c. of my Redempt Redeemed By the way is it not a rank impertinency in you to think to stop my mouth or satisfie me by a bare citation of such texts of Scripture as if they countenanced the way of your errour which I have upon a diligent and narrow enquiry evinced above all reasonable contradiction to have no Communion therewith at all d e Your Edmund Arthur and William may very probably maintain such an unchangeablenesse as you have described for I think that in many points they maintain they know not well what And the description which you have made of your unchangeablenesse hath neither head nor foot in it And whereas you say that I oppose it you again oppose the truth in so saying For according to the best construction among many that can be made of your words I assert it as well as you The men you speak of may be Protestants at large but this is no character of their Orthodoxisme Besides concerning that unchangableness which I suppose you would describe if you knew how the publick confessions of several Protestant Churches do manifestly contradict it as you may inform your selves if you please by a perusal of pag. 394 of my Redempt Redeemed and by pursuing the directions there given Therefore let us heare no more of this Fable f. g. In this you speak truth though to little purpose that I cannot upon the account you mention nor any other prove the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament not to be the pure Word of God Nor have I lift up either heart or hand to any such proof though you after your manner diabolize me so to have done That which I have anywhere asserted as to this point is onely this or to this effect that we are not bound to own for the Word of God or as any part of it whatsoever every ignorant or heedless person who was employed of old to transcribe the Old and New Testament for the best pen-men are seldom the greatest Clerks did insert in their Transcriptions nor yet what every Printer of later times hath through carelesness or mistake thrust forth in their Printed Copies of the Scriptures into the world Jerome in his latter Prologue upon Job complains that for his labour and faithfulness in correcting the enormous Translations and Transcriptions of the ancient Scriptures he was charged with a double errour one that when he corrected things amiss he was a Falsifier the other that

Notwithstanding I had in some particular distinct explications of my self immediatly before endeavoured to remove the stumbling-stone such as it was out of his way and had shewed him before this how he might with a very good conscience with more honour to himself have passed by that passage without lifting up his heel against it but that I want such particularity of information about the carriage of the discourse as I desire hope in due time to obtain As for him who Arch-Rabbi-like concluded at once without premises al those without exception that hold the Doctrines of general Attonement by Christ and of a possibility of a final declining in such who ever believed to be men Godlesse Christlesse Spiritlesse Gracelesse I shall at present onely advise him to lay his heart close to those two sayings of a wise man Prov. 26. 12. and Prov. 29. 20. When I shall hear that he is throughly baptized into the Spirit of these Scriptures I shall judge him a person worthy a reproof when he offends In the mean time I judge that He who told it amongst news from Heaven unto the City that Arminius his rotten posts were lately new painted together with him who not long after diurnal-wise told the same story over again to the same Audience only in a more dismal Metaphor informing them that Arminius his Ghost was lately started out of his Grave and walked neither of them medling any further with the controversies I judge I say that these are men wise in their generation and did well consider that the name of Arminius is the most forcible Engine though made of nothing but air and wind to batter the walls of those opinions which they so cordially wish in the dust and that should they have engaged any Scripture or Argument upon the designe they had run an hazard of losing all that ground or more which they had reason to hope they had won by drawing the pedigree of the said opinions though most untruely from Arminius it faring with their credulous hearers according to the Proverb The blind swallow many a fly But Sir Concerning that passage in my late Book upon the horn whereof you were pleased to tye a lock or bunch of hey by way of signal unto your friends and others to take heed of it and to keep at distance from it if my intelligence leadeth me to the right place as I suppose upon competent grounds it doth as far as I am able with the most impartial eye I have to see into it it is so far from meriting the brand of ignominy wherewith you have stigmatized it that rightly understood and considered it is as innocent and offenceless as any saying that ever fell from your own mouth in any of your Sermons The passage I presume is this page 335. of the said Book I shall recite it verbatim Yea that which is yet more I verily believe that in case any such assurance of the unchangeableness of Gods love were to be found in or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent and considering man to question their Authority and whether they were from God or no The reason of this saying I immediately subjoyne in these words For that a God infinitely righteous and holy should irreversibly assure the immortal and undefiled inheritance of his Grace and favour unto any creature whatsoever so that though this Creature should prove never so abominable in his sight never so outragiously and desperately wicked and prophane he should not be at liberty to withhold this inheritance from him is a saying doubtless too hard for any man who rightly understands and considers the Nature of God to hear What there should be in either of these sayings so much as lyable to any suspicion of an incomportance either with reason or with truth cannot enter into my thoughts to imagine or conceive The pile of the discourse is built and I cannot but presume regularly enough upon this foundation that if any thing were found in those writings or books known by the Name of Scriptures whether in the letter of them or in any expresness of consequence from them here justified or approved of any blasphemous importance against God or any his Attributes it were a just ground at least to question whether the said writings were from God or no I suppose I shal not need to argue this principle being so full of light in it self The Holy Ghost himself teacheth us that God cannot deny himselfe a and as certain it is that he cannot blaspheme himself nor yet authorize inspire or teach any person or creature whatsoever to blaspheme him the blaspheming of himselfe being nothing else but a constructive denying of himself as is evident Therefore what book or writing soever contains any thing blasphemous against God I do not mean as simply reported but as asserted and maintained in either is not onely a just ground to question which yet is all I affirm in the point whether such a writing or book be of divine inspiration or from God or no but even positively to conclude against them that they are not So then if there be any thing dangerous or of suspicious consequence in either of the said passages it must be this that in the former of them I suppose and in the latter constructively affirm that such an unchangeablenesse of the Love of God as is mentioned in the former and described in part in the latter is of a blasphemous import and repugnant to those great Attributes of righteousness and holiness in God Though the latter of the said passages recited carrieth a sufficient light in it to satisfie any man impartially considerate concerning the truth of this assertion yet the matter being of an high and sacred importance I am willing and shall endeavour to give both unto your self and others somewhat a more full and distinct account hereof First then evident it is that that unchangeablenesse of the love of God which these passages speak of and without a supposal whereof the common Doctrine of Perseverance against which I here argue cannot be maintained in the formal and proper notion of it supposeth that if ever God once truly loveth a person it is unpossible that upon any occasions or interveniences whatsoever he should hate him afterwards Secondly Every whit as evident it is that such a supposion or notion as this supposeth that in case a person hath once or at any time truly believed suppose in his youth under which condition he must needs be beloved by God though the very next hour or day after such his believing he should fall into wayes of sin wickednesse disobedience rebellion against God and should without repentance or remorse continue in these abominations adding drunkenness to thirst from time to time for 10. 20. it may be 40. 50. years together and to his last breath yet God all this while truly loveth him and remaineth unchanged in

borrow your Names to father so hard-favoured a Birth of their own The reasons why I cannot but a little at least demur whether the piece be yours or no are 1. Because I find in it most un-Christian falsification even that which some would call Forgerie 2. Because I find in it likewise such counsels offered Petition-wise to the Lord Protector and Parliament under a pretext of Godliness and zeal for Sion which are obstructive if not destructive to the prosperity and Sovereign interest of both 3. And lastly there is a sent or smell of such a spirit in the said Pamphlet which teacheth men to suppose that gain is Godliness I confess that notwithstanding any personal knowledg I have of you or any of you the Pamphlet may be yours under all the three characters of unworthiness now specified for I know none of you beyond the face and only one of you so far yet report hath so far befriended some of you in my thoughts that I am hardly able to conclude you all under the guilt of the shameful and un Christian enormities which dare look the Parliament and the world in the face out of those Papers For to touch the first in one instance only not having opportunity of making proof of more at the present Page 4. of the said Pamphlet this absurd passage is charged upon me in my Book of Redemption pag. 33 5. That in case any assureance of the unchaugeableness of Gods Love were to be found in or regularly deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent man to question their Authority and whether they were from God or no Surely they who lay this saying to my charge may with as much honesty and conscience yea and with as much appearance of truth impeach David as guilty of saying There is no God Psal. 14. 1. or make the Apostle Paul to say Rom. 10. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved For though these words are to be found in these sacred Authors respectively yet the sence they make otherwise then in consort of the other words relating in their respective periods unto them was as far from their Authors meaning as the Heavens are from the Earth David was far enough from affirming that There is no God and Paul from saying that If a man shall with his mouth confess the Lord Jesus he shall be saved yet the words of which both sayings consist are extant in their writings In like manner the Beacon-Firers whoever they be you or others for I shall not charge you with the folly but upon better evidence commit the foul sin of Forgery in making me say in their pretended Transcription out of my Book that In case any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love were to be found or could regularly be deduced from the Seriptures c. Whereas besides several other words in the sentence they leave out the characteristical word Such any Such assureance of the unchangeableness c. the word that is the Heart Spirit and Soul of the sentence that gives a most rational and Orthodox taste and relish to the whole Period and without which the passage contains no more my sense or judgment then theirs who forged the Transcription For my sence and opinion which I argue and assert in several places upon occasion in my said Book of Redemption as viz. p. 63. 64. and again p. 278. c. cleerly and expresly is that The Love of God as all his Counsels and Decrees is unchangeable and consequently that an assureance of this unchangeableness is regularly enough deduceible from the Scriptures and this without any prejudice to their divine Authority yea rather to the establishment and confirmation hereof So far am I either from thinking or saying that if in case any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love were to be found in or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent man to question their Authority c. Therefore they who have accused me especially unto a Parliament of such a saying have the greater sin That kind of unchangeableness of Gods Love the assureance of which I affirm were it to be found in or regularly to be deduced from the Scriptures would be a just ground to an intelligent and considering man to question their Authority c. I had imediately before described and besides sufficiently explained in the reason of the said assertion which I imediately subjoyn in these words Forthat a God infinitely righteous and Holy should irreversibly assure the immortal and undefiled inheritance of his Grace and savour unto any creature whatsoever so that though this Craeture should prove never so abominable in his sight never so outragiously and desperately wicked and prophance he should not be at liberty to withhold this Inheritance from him is a saying doubtless too hard for any man who rightly understands and considers the Nature of God to bear From these words it plainly enough appears that it is not any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love as the Beacon-firers most un-Christianly and unconscionably suggest to the Parliament and indeed to the world which I conceive to be a just ground to any intelligent and considering man to question the Authority of the Scriptures in case it could either be found in or drawn from them but such an assureance hereof by vertue of which men turning aside from Christ after Satan from ways of righteousness and of truth to walk in ways of all manner of loosness and profaneness may notwithstanding with a secure confidence promise salvation unto themselves and that God will never take away his love from them And whether such an assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love as this were the Scriptures any ways confederate with it which far be it from every Christian Soul to imagine would not be derogatory or prejudicial in the Highest to their Authority let the Beacon-firers themselves or any other persons who make any conscience of putting a difference between God and the Devil judg and determine If I were a person prone to jealousie or desired to make any further breach upon mens reputations then only for the necessary reparations of the truth injured by them I could suggest this Query to the thoughts of men Whether it be not likely that they who thus palpably and notoriously have falsified the writings of one have not committed the same folly in the rest of their Transcriptions from the writings of others considering that it is a saying in the civil Law He that hath injured one hath threatened many and our Saviour himself He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much Luke 16. 10. But no more of this at present 2. That pernicious Counsel against the liberty of Printing and for the subjecting of all the learning gifts parts and abilities of

he did not remove or take away Errours but sowed them a In the same piece he complains likewise of many professors of Christianity who had Bibles full of errors and falsities and these acknowledged for such by themselves and yet to keep their Books fair without blotting and interlineing would not suffer them to be amended And particularly speaking of the Book of Job he saith that amongst the Latines he means in the Latine Translations of this Book Job until his days lay on the dunghil and was spread all over with worms of errors b Yea nothing is more frequent amongst the best and learndest Expositors of the Protestant party themselves then to take and give knowledge of error after Error as yet retained in the ordinary Copies of the Bible which at first crept in thither partly by the ignorance partly by the negligence of those who were employed to Transcribe them Yea very many of the Expositors I speak of ever and anon take upon them to correct and amend those Translations themselves which notwithstanding they follow otherwise in their Expositions Nor is there any of them that attempt this more frequently then Piscator But surely although you would have me in cool blood to consider your own blood was in an high distemper when you talk of a cursed Art and a black Art in Swan-Alley to undermine the Authority of the Scriptures when we most pretend to defend them But whatsoever there is in Swan-Alley there is such an Art as you speak of cursed and black in Black-Friars and perhaps in the Northern quarters of Pauls Church-yard also the Practitioners whereof like the Pharises of old who defamed the Lord Christ as having a Devil and this most confidently and impudently Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Joh. 8. 48. when as he was full of the Holy Ghost and acted and spake accordingly so do these men most shamelesly and with outfaceing the most evident truth traduce such persons as underminers of the Authority of the Scriptures and enemies otherwise to the interest of Christian Religion who have been and so continue most zealous and faithful Assertors of the former against all opposers and are devoted heart and soul to the promoting of the latter Concerning that Book which your Epistling Prophet teacheth you to charge with undermining the Authority of the Scriptures one known to be as learned grave and judicious as any English-born at this day and he no Independent neither nor yet of my judgement at least in several points about Redemption with the controversies relating to it gave a far different testimonie of it though not to me nor in my hearing To a friend of his he gave his sence and judgement of the Book in these words or to this effect That it was as good a Book as any was written since the Apostles days This testimony I confess may be as much too wide on the right hand as your malignant imputation is on the left Nor should the story ever have been told or reported by me for fear of being counted a fool for my labour but onely to balance the most importune malignity of those men whose consciences serve them to spit that poyson of Asps mentioned in the face of it Upon occasion of which strange unworthiness the said person expressed himself further to this effect that we are now fallen into an age in which mens consciences will serve them to say any thing My juggle is discovered and my folly detected in such a sence as the Lord Christs blasphemy was discovered by the high Priests rending of his garment Mat. 26. 65. and the Apostle Paul murther detected by the Barbarians when they said of him No doubt this man is a murtherer Act. 28. 4. h. i. It seems by the latter passages in this Section and the mention of Cooks and good chear that your Prophets Animus when he compiled them was in patinis and moreover that amongst you you intend to be at the cost and charge by the help of Cooks and Geese and other good Chear to preserve the Ceremonious frolique and jollity of Christmas so called from sinking in your days But because such of my Books as are sold offend Foxes therefore those that are not sold must do penance and defend Geese But do not you your selves defend your selves with some of them in this very Epistle You do somewhat very like a defending of your selves with some of them Sect. 7. and Sect. 11. and in several other places Whereas you think you reflect great disparagement upon my Books that some of them might have been wast-paper c. 1. I have no demonstrative ground to beleeve that there were not as many Novice Presbiters sold as Busie-Bishops or Blind Guids If there were not it may signifie nothing else but that the Presbyterian party of the world and their money are sooner parted then those that are wiser and theirs Besides it is the Observation of one of your Orthodox men for so I conceive him to be pardon me if I mistake in this that Learning hath gained most by those Books by which the Printers have lost whereas foolish Pamphlets have been most beneficial to the Printers When a French Printer saith he complained that he was utterly undone by Printing a solid serious book of Rablais concerning Physique Rablais to make him recompence made that his jesting scurrilous work which repaired the Printers loss with advantage Of the former part of this Observation he giues three famous Instances The first of Arias Montanus who wasted himself in Printing the Hebrew Bible commonly called the King of Spains Bible The second of Christopher Plantine who by Printing of his curious Interlineary Bible sunk and almost ruined his Estate The third and last of a worthy English Knight he means Sir Henry Savile who set forth the Golden-Mouth'd Father Chrysostome in a silver Print and was a loser by it Therefore that many books are no quicker of sale may as probably argue the ignorance weaknesse and injudiciousnesse of the world as any defectivenesse or want of worth in the Books Whereas you inform me of some Anti-Scripturists who bought up my books about the Scriptures I am very glad to hear it For the work was in special manner calculated for the use and benefit of such persons who are either in whole or in part Such I mean Anti-Scripturists I trust that thorough the blessing of God upon their labours in reading it it hath reclaimed many But I somewhat marvel at your tendernesse here in saying We had almost said against the Scriptures considering how bold and daring you are in twenty places besides to speak aloud and without regret most palpable and grosse untruths Your thought that my works need not be called in is very grave and considerate should you not do well humbly to present it to the Parliament Book-sellers or Beacon-firers §. VI Sir you might have had more honesty and piety then

to have talked of impeaching David of Atheisme a One of our Company that understands Latine saith that you are illud quod dicere nolo for saying so b and we fear that if God do not stop you in your Blasphemy Apostasie Heresie c Psal. 14. 1. may be spoken of your own self and be a very suitable Motto to that ill-conditioned book called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which one of our society who understands Greek d saith is a fighting against Peace as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which would have been a fitter title for your book is a fighting against God as we shall prove when you call us to that service e Mr. Goodwins Animadversion VI a Whereas you tell me that I might have had more honesty and piety c. do you think it is impossible for your selves to have more of either then at present you have or at least had when you talked of my talking of impeaching David of Athisme where do I talk either of your or any other mans impeaching David of Athisme I onely shew you the foul face of your transgression in a glass made of such a supposition as I there mention b I know not who that One is of your Company that you say understands Latine it were well that more or all of your Company understood your selves and your duties both towards God and Man better then yet you do though none of you understood either Latine or Greek One language is more then enough to speak untruths in and to revile persons that never did you the least wrong or harm But to me it is a small thing to be called by One of your Company or by your whole company an illud quod dicere nolo onely in this I cannot but glory that the reproach of an illud quod dicere nolo is of so neare affinity with the blessed Apostles {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 1 Cor. 4. 13. the very terms of reproach and abasement by which he expresseth the opinion of the world concerning himself and the rest of his honourable fraternity of Apostles together with their most wile intreaties and usage of them But whereas you make me bear your Latine reproach for saying so I cannot imagine what it is you mean I should have said as meriting the opening of so foul a mouth upon me you mention no saying of mine of such an import c What such words as these Blasphemy Apostasie Heresie c. signifie in your Dialect hath been already declared I think not the worse of any man nor of my self for being arraigned of Blasphemy Apostasie Heresie by you so called But I marvel how any Apostasie should be a crime or matter of offence unto you who deny all possibility of any mans Apostatizing from true Faith and Holinesse Surely to Apostatize with you is but to do as Paul did when he turned his back upon his Pharisaisme and set his face towards Christianity or as he taught the Gentiles to do when he perswaded them to turn from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan unto God Act. 26. 18. I am content to be accounted an Apostate of this denomination For Blasphemy I signified unto you before that my great Lord and Master was accused of this crime and he hath quieted my Spirit as concerning this reproach with these sayings The disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord It is enough for the Disciple if he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord if they have called the Master of the house Belzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold Mat. 10. 24. 25. And concerning my Heresie I confesse unto you as Paul once did to the Governour of Cesarea that after the way which you and some others call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Act. 24. 14. It seems it is but a small thing with you to take the Name of God in vain in that you say we fear lest if God do not stop you in your Blasphemy c. as if to prevent inconvenience God must stop men for going on in such a way unto which they never came near by 600 furlongs Psal. 14. 1. May very well be applied unto those who care not what they say with their lips for these are the men that say in their hearts There is no God Therefore look to your selves d Concerning your suitable Motto in talking at this wild rate you seem to imagine that the Word of God was written to serve the folly and distemper of Presbyterian Spirits The Motto you speak of is as suitable to every book in your shops as to that of which you speak I perceive you have no dexterity of fancy for calculating or contriving Motto's e You may very possibly prove what you boast you shall prove when I shall call you to the service For though you have most provokingly intreated me and spoken all manner of evill of me falsly yet do I not love you so little as ever to call you to any service which you cannot perform without fighting against God and his Truth Nor is a Book ill-conditioned because you call it so your common Dialect is Antiphrastical as hath been more then once already signified Booksellers or Beacon-firers §. VII You say that this sentence of Scripture whosoever beleeves shall be saved is the onely decree of election for substance and yet you say the decree of Election is really and simply God himself a This Sentence of Scripture then yea and another that is not really the same with this is by your agreement for substance really and simply God himself For you say that this sentence of Scripture whosoever beleeves not shall be damned is the onely decree of Reprobation Agr. p. 3. This Sentence then of Scripture also is God himself For in the 3d. particular of your Agreement upon the first head pag. 1. you say that the Decree of Election and also of Reprobation are both as well as all other Decrees attributable unto God really and simply God himself b Now as far as our weaknesse can judge these two sentences of Scripture are not for sence or substance really or simply the same Sentences Tell us then whether you have not set up two Gods really distinct c And why may you not make all the promises of eternal life and all the threatnings of eternal death in Scripture decrees as well as these Nay Gods as well as these seriously we do not as yet understand and if the wise Doctor of Swan-Alley make so many Gods really we are afraid the f●ol hath already said in his heart That there is no God d Nay have you not advanced to a more impudent folly and said as much by clear consequence in some of your books In the 1 chap. of your Redempt Redeemed Sect. last p. 7. you tell us that the

Lord Protector and the Parliament all this while wherein they have established no such Committee allowed men a liberty to blaspheme Jesus Christ or to corrupt his Gospel Therefore doubtlesse you do not understand your selves Nor can any man make sence and truth of your words with the least pertinency to your cause Nor do I well understand what you mean by Blaspheming Jesus Christ and yet lesse what you mean by corrupting his Gospel You and your Prophets have odd notions and conceits about Blasphemy Scarce any truth can be held forth which thwarteth or falleth foul on any of your tenents or Doctrines but this Antipathy by you is turned into Blasphemy And whether by corrupting the Gospel you mean the mingling of any errour though never so light or small with gospel truths or whether such a corrupting it which wholly destroies the nature and blessing intended unto men by it or whether a corrupting it to such or such a degree between these two extreams who can so much as steadily conjecture The truth is that I know very few who are greater corrupters of the Gospel then your greatest Champions When you say that all things are not free in a free Common-wealth do you speak to any purpose Or doth it follow from hence so much as by a dream of a consequence that therefore the Press ought not to be free because all things are not free Behold the natural face of your arguing in a glasse All things are not lawfull for men to do therefore eating when they are an hungry or drinking when they are thirsty are not lawfull b The three thirteenths you here point me unto I have already read at least thrice over respectively and have drawn conclusions from them to my full satisfaction against yours And if you please to see what conclusions I have drawn from them and what grounds I have laid upon which you also may draw the like I shall direct you to my respective arguings and explications of them The first of your three places you shall find examined by me at large in my treatise intituled Hagiomastix from 34. to the end of 41. Your second in a small discourse written upon that text of Scripture onely intituled a Postscript or Appendix to the former discourse Your third and last in the said discourse from the beginning of 45. to the end of 50. Between these Scriptures taken conjunctim and divisim and between your cause you will find a very cold Communion c Your Answer to my sixt reason is very little and yet to less purpose For 1. What do you mean by The Religion which the State owneth 2. What do you mean by the Christian Religion For this latter first The Religion owned and professed by Anti-Christian States is at least in a sence the Christian Religion Yea they have as much confidence if not more of the truth and soundnesse of their Religion as any Protestant State can have of the Religion owned and professed by them Secondly I would know what you mean by the Religion which the State owneth that so it may be considered not so much whether it be but how and how far and in what sence it may be called the Christian Religion First if by the State you mean either all those onely that have part in the Rule and Government of the Nation or else the great Body it self and Bulk of the Nation who can distinctly and in particular tell what Religion it is that is owned or that ever will be owned by either That Religion or that System of Tenents or confession of Faith which was composed and drawn up by the late Assembly of Divines and others at Westminster is not it seems owned or is not like long to be owned by the State in either acception of the word For the State in the former sence is in Travail with another Religion I mean another Confession or Profession of Faith which when they shall have assented unto and Authorized there is little question but the State in the latter sence will more generally own also If a man should repair to every particular member of the State in the former sence and much more in the latter and desire his sence and judgement distinctly touching his Religion and what he particularly holdeth in such and such points there is little question to be made but that in many things at least he should meet with the exemplification of the Proverb quot capita tot sensus quot homines tot sententiae as many men so many minds Yea in case the respective members of the State in the former sence shall joyntly and unanimously subscribe and Authorize any confession of the Faith which shall be formed either by themselves or by any number of Ministers or others this will amount to no proof that therefore the same Religion especially in all points is owned by them For it is a most true saying that Fides est in sensu non in verbis a mans faith consists in that which he meaneth not in the words which he speaketh And who knows not but the same words may have different interpretations and senses put upon them Therefore in case a State shall publiquely own and Authorize a model of Religion or Confession of Faith that shall be presented unto them I shall be very little the neerer hereby to know of what Religion this State is unless each particular member of this State shall further distinctly and particularly explain his sence touching every Article or head of Doctrine therein The truth is that to a State Religion it may be aptly said Belluae multorum es capitum nam quid sequar aut quem A many-headed Beast thou art for what or who May I with peace and safety for my Guide allow I confess men may be very unhappily and beyond the forecast of their own Genius inspired in the composing and drawing up a Catechism or Confession of Faith But I judg that hardly can either be formed or contrived in such words but that in case I may be allowed my own sence and construction of them I can subscribe them Book-Sellers or Beacon-Firers §. XIIII 7. To the seventh You do but repeat the Blasphemy which you darted against Heaven in your first Argument For we never desired the Parliament to suppress any truth revealed by the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures but to suppress Blasphemies and Heresies a Mr. John Goodwins Animadversion XIIII a What Gentlemen suppose I had charged you with desiring the Parliament to suppress truths revealed by the spirit c. had this been blasphemy darted against Heaven Are you Heaven or any the Inhabitants thereof I cannot but here tell you that such importune and horrid assumings as these on the one hand and such abominable untruths and slanders one following in the neck of another like the waves of the Sea on the other hand are not so much as the way thither but to a far differing place For I know cause to

beleeve that I both am and have been further from charging you with desiring any such thing of the Parliament as that which you here mention then you are from desiring it I onely charge you with desiring that of the Parliament which very possibly may produce the great mischief you speak of viz. the suppression of truth revealed by the Spirit in the Scripture This charge I subscribe and own and have pleaded to it in part and am ready to plead further if you shall require it Book-Sellers or Beacon-Firers §. XV 8. To the Eighth You have been a Tryar these twenty years and you have cause to fear that you will be trying all things so long that you 'l hold fast nothing at last a You are now about sixty years of age and one of us remembring a Verse Dum quid sis dubitas jam potes esse nihil He that cryes all things and holds nothing fast Seems witty at the first prooves at last b Sir we have heard that a Seeker who had run through maemany Forms and Sects when he came to dye cryed out that he had been of all Religions and was now of none Lord saith he I have been seeking thee till I have lost my self O seek and find me now or I am lost for ever Mr. John Goodwins Animadversion §. XV a I confess I have been a Tryar of mens Doctrines and opinions for well nigh twice the number of years which you speak of Therefore here contrary to your wonted manner you undercharge me But my trying of all things as I am commanded by God whom I shall not disobey for your prophane jearings at me because of my obeying him is so far from being any snare or occasion unto me of holding fast nothing that without it I could hold fast nothing like a Christian nor indeed a sober man But you it seems and men of your spirit instead of trying all things as God commandeth you hold fast all things which your Teachers dictate unto you hand over head without trying any thing b You guess somewhat neer the years of my Earthly Pilgrimage I bless the God of Heaven with my whole heart and soul for sparing me so long in life and being on the Earth until I had throughly tryed many the Doctrines and Tenents of your Teachers and found them liars yea and had opportunity to stigmatize them for such publickly and to allarm the world concerning the hatefulnesse and danger of them The story you tell of your Seeker is extreamly insipid and sencelesse yea and irreligious with all For was there ever any man who lost himself by seeking God constantly There is a Letter in print intituled Sal Scyllâ written by one that had been a Seeker for many years out of which you may gather a story worth ten of that reported by you here For your Poetry 1. you see that I hold several things too fast for your stoutest champions to wrest from me Therefore you shoot this arrow at a wrong mark 2. To hold nothing fast and to hold fast nothing that will do a man good are birds much of a feather Booksellers or Beacon-firers §. XVI 9 To the 9th and the full scope of it in its numerous subjunctions We say you are like sin you take occasion by the Commandement to lust after that which is forbidden by the holy Law of God a If your reason be of any force it is of an Antinomian confederacy and spends its strength against the Holy Law of God as well as the good laws of men Vpon this account no law must be made against Theft Murther or Adultery lest all these notorious crimes be promoted by these non-prudential Laws As for spiritual means we joyn with them who say they are most proper to sanctifie all civil helps b and shall ever pray that God would make both effectual for the preventing or suppressing of Errors and Heresies lest the Plague of Egyptian darknesse overspread us We humbly conceive that Magistrates may do much in their places for the preventing of spiritual mischiefs by denying men of corrupt minds and injudicious about matters of Faith any such opportunity as you confesse the Presse affords them for the spreading of their hideous and cursed errors c Mr. Goodwins Animadversion XVI a I know not what you mean when you say that I take occasion by the Commandement to lust after that which is forbidden by the Holy Law of God But if you in no sence at all take the occasion you speak of you are of a better Mold and temper then the great Apostle was For he speaking of himself saith but Sin taking occasion by the Commandement wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law Sin was dead Rom. 7. 6. You reason not at all against my reason when you say if it be of any force it spends its strength against the Holy Law of God as well as the good Laws of men I think in this as you think it doth spend it self alike against both kinds of Laws i. e. against neither I confesse that my reason notwithstanding good Laws may be made by God and ought to be made by men And further when you say upon this account no Law must be made against Theft Murther c. lest these notorious crimes should be promoted by these non-prudential Laws I confesse that if 1. The onely end of making Laws were to restrein the evil prohibited by them And 2. If the generallity or far greater part of men were of the disposition and temper of some I mean of theirs who are apt to be provoked unto evil by means of the opposition or Barr of the Law prohibiting it it were better that no such Laws as you speak of were made But both these suppositions being evidently false your reasoning here falls to the ground And touching such persons against whom you desire your Law viz. those who are apt or likely to publish such things as you call Errors Blasphemies Heresies c. they are generally of that disposition and spirit which we lately described men I mean that are apt to be admonished and the more provoked to do the evil which you desire should be restreined by occasion of a Law made to oppose them One reason hereof among others may probably be because such persons will hardly ever be perswaded that any Law made to oppose them in such a way is just or Christian b It seems then you join with those who think and in effect say that all the means which the Lord Christ hath afforded or prescribed for the due government of his affairs and Kingdome in the world which are all spiritual are ineffectual or unproportionable for such an end and that he was short in his provisions and prescriptions in this kind not remembring to call in the civil Magistrate with his prudentials and arm of flesh to assist him If you be agreed with men of this notion you may walk together c Those whom you call