sign of a right Christian Mind and Spirit Again they say pag. 3. Either he believes his Answer is full to the Question or he believes and knows it is not If he believes and knows it is not full then must he not only not have asserted the Truth as above but also be conscious wherefore he did it not and we conceive there 's another of their Conceptions that must either be because he wanted ability or because he wanted Truth in his way Here are a pair of inconclusive Conclusions together pieced out with a shallow Conceit of their own which I should not have thought worth taking notice of but to shew the well-meaning Reader what false ways of Reasoning they work by to beguile the simple Amongst whom though such sort of Reasoning may pass for currant and perhaps be thought of some force by such as through yeilding to the Enemies suggestions against the Truth are become vailed and clouded in their understandings yet to the opened Eye the single Eye the inlightned mind it appears as indeed it is empty shallow trivial weak and false Now as to the Answer it self after all their vilifying of it it will appear to the honest-minded to be pertinent proper and full enough to the Question to which it was given The Adversaries I perceive expected an Answer to consist only in a Yea or Nay and they account the Answer not direct because as they think it does not directly affirm or deny But it is their want of skill if without offence they may be told so that makes them think an Answer not direct unless it be exprest by Yea or Nay As the Answer relates to the Question so the Question related to as being grounded on the Definition of spiritual Liberty which the Author had given before That therefore the Answer they except so much against may appear to be both proper full and direct enough to the Question I desire both the Question it self and the Definition of that Liberty propounded in it and on which it is grounded may be seriously and impartially weighed together The true spiritual Liberty on which the Question was grounded was defined to be Deliverance from Sin by the Perfect Law in the Heart the perfect Law of Liberty c. as is before set down at large And this Definition the Adversaries have subscribed to The Question that follows and is grounded upon this Definition of spiritual Liberty or freedom is this Since God hath given me a Manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal and that I have the Gift of God in my self should I not be left to act according as I am free and perswaded in my own mind in the things that relate to God c. Now consider since it is certain that this Gift of God is universal that the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal and yet no less certain that All who have this Gift in themselves are not subject to it that All to whom the Manifestation of the Spirit is given to profit withal have not received the Gift nay that of them who do profess to have received it All have not so received it as to profit therewithal to be redeemed thereby into the true Spiritual Liberty These things I say considered such a positive absolute undistinguishing Answer as the Adversaries expected and call for of a simple granting or denying the Question by a positive Yea or Nay without distinction or explanation could not in Truth have been given For that had been to say that none ought to be left to their freedom no not They who by receiving the divine Gift in themselves subjecting to it and growing up in it are truly thereby brought to the true Freedom indeed the Freedom that stands in Truth the true Spiritual Liberty Or that All ought to be left to their freedom in the things relating to Goâ—â— even they who through their alienation from God know nothing of either this true Libety or the Gift that leads to it or They that professing to know it and to have received it live not in subjection to it and so are not brought to the true Spiritual Liberty by it but have a freedom out of the Truth a freedom to do such things as the Truth condemns The Author therefore rightly distinguishing these different states answered aptly to the Terms of his Question granting the Question in a right sense but not in a wrong sense For the Question not opening the particular state of the Party demanding this freedom but being grounded only upon the Gift or Manifestation given which is applicable not only to all in the Profession of Truth how disorderly and scandalous so ever but even to all mankind and not mentioning the Parties having received the Gift in the love of it closed with it to an improvement of it to a profiting therewith and dwelt in a subjection thereunto which alone brings into the true Spiritual Liberty therefore the Author that he might divide his Answer aright said If thou art such an one that canst do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth as much as to say If thou art indeed come by thy subjection to the Heavenly Gift given thee into the true Spiritual Liberty and thy freedom stand in that then mayst thou safely be left to thy freedom in the things of God and the Reason said He is plain Because thy freedom the freedom thou wouldst be left to stands in the perfect Law of Liberty c. As much as to say thy freedom if this be thy state is the true spiritual Liberty before defined and therefore thou mayst safely be left to that both with respect to thy self and to the Church of Christ which thou art a Member of since that freedom will not lead thee to do any thing against the Truth but all for the Truth And herein it is evident the Author had direct Relation to that Definition of true Spiritual Liberty which he had given before and which the Adversary now agree to But on the other hand If thou who demandest to be left to thy freedom in the things of God art not come to this true spiritual Liberty but notwithstanding God hath given thee a manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal and that thou professest in words to have received this Gift yet thou hast not so closed with and subjected to this divine Gift as to have profited therewithal and so art not come into this true Spiritual Liberty but by rebelling against the perfect Law of Liberty in thy Heart thou art gotten into a false Liberty a false freedom a freedom to do such things as are out of Truth then it is not safe either for thy self or for the Church of Christ which thou seemest to joyn with for thee to be left to this freedom of thine since that will lead thee to act not for the Truth but against the Truth to bring dishonour to the Truth disturbance to the Church
and destruction to thy self The Author therefore having granted that such as are come to the true Spiritual Liberty in and by the Truth should be left to their Freedom in that added But if thou pleadest thy freedom against such things as are Holy Iust Lovely Honest Comely and of good Report yea obstructest and slightest such good wholsome and requisit things thy freedom is naught dark perverse out of the Truth and against the perfect Law of Love and Liberty And thus to the Spiritually-minded who consider the Definition above given of Spiritual Liberty take the Question as it was stated by the Author himself I make no doubt but it will appear that the Answer given by him thereto was plain proper direct and full enough But the Adversaries shew what they would be at for they say p. 4. The Question affirmed as above is certainly not only true in a part or in a sense as he is pleased to say but it is true in every part true in the whole and every sense that a Position can be true in Nay it is so far true that if it can be wrong at all 't is only in a sense and that is only when misapplied Reply These few Lines yield much matter to be considered 1 st When they say the Question affirmed as above they must mean the Question as it lies in the Author 's own Terms and Book or as they have new modelled it formed transformed and deformed it perverted and wrested it to their own sense in their Book If they mean the latter they prevaricate foully If they intend the former viz. That the Question as stated and laid down or to answer their conceit affirmed in the Author 's own Terms is true that is is to be granted or held in the affirmative in every part in the whole and in every sense that a Position can be true in then since the Question assigns no other Qualification to the Party demanding to be left to act according to his freedom but that which is common to the most scandalous Professor to the vilest Apostate yea to all mankind namely that God hath given him a manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal and that he hath the Gift of God in himself which many that have it rebel against and are so far from profiting with it that they do despight unto it it will follow according to the Adversaries sense that All such as God hath given a manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal All such as have the Gift of God in themselves how disobedienâ— soever they are to it how Heady and High-minded soever how unruly and turbulent soever how factious and quarrelsom soever in the Church must notwithstanding be left to act as they are free though they are free to act what is out of Truth and the Church be obliged to own and receive them as Brethren and fellow-Members in their so acting But though this be the Consequence of the Adversaries Arguing yet it is directly contrary to the Apostle's counsel Rom. 16.17 2 Tim. 3.5 Secondly when They say The Question is true in every part true in the whole and every sense that a Position can be true in And then add It is so far true that If it can be wrong at all 't is only in a sense They seem to me to run at once into an Uncertainty and a Contradiction A contradiction in admitting it capable of being wrong in any sense after they have so positively affirmed it to be true in every sense An Uncertainty in saying If it can be wrong at all which shews They haesitate They doubt They are not well assured They are but in the Uncertainty And themselves say in the same page but a few lines lower An Vncertainty admitted for the Truth in this case stands in the nature of a Lye To this they add another Paradox for having said If the Question be wrong at all 't is only in a sense and that is only when misapplied They add But the misapplication of this weighty Question when affirmed doth neither destroy it in its self nor in the least take away the true use This in a Parenthesis They bid us Observe And truly they must be observant Readers indeed that can observe any Congruity of Sense or Reason in this Passage or understand how that can be misapplied to any one which according to their sense is applicable to every one But it is very probable that what They here say of this weighty Question as they so often call it is intended rather of the Question or Position they have made for they have turn'd it from one to to'ther than of the Question propounded by that Author for they here immediately subjoyn their Creed as if they deduced it from the Question but in such Terms as are only in their own Question not in his Thus they word it Therefore we believe where the Gift of God is received to profit withal and truly adhered to there must be a Liberty to chuse and refuse things according as such are perswaded even from the Babe in Christ to the Strong Man and so to all states in Christ I suppose they mean This shews how little they understand the Question and the ground of it For the Babe in Christ he that is truly in Christ though but in a Babish state abiding in him can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth though he may not be able to do so much for the Truth as a Strong Man or Father in Christ can do He that hath so received the Gift of God as to profit therewithal and doth truly adhere thereunto be his measure of growth or stature therein what it will yet abiding and growing up therein That will lead him to chuse and with freedom to embrace whatsoever is Holy Just Lovely Honest Comely and of good Report So that such as one in that Capacity wherein according to the Author's Answer to the Question concerning being left to act as he is free c. he may safely be left to his freedom in the things of God Thus after all their Clamour against the Answer to the Question as no way deserving to be reputed a true Answer not worthy of that name of no use or service with respect to the Controversie worth nothing nothing to the purpose c. because not large enough not comprehensive enough as they think to take in All They with all their stretching and wresting have brought it but to the same pass to them only that are in Christ. And they tell us pag. 7. That Man must be made a New Creature and must travel through the whole Mystery of Iniquity before he can come into Christ and that though the Enemy that fallen Angel can go with Man into every Remove while man is fitting and preparing yet into Christ he cannot come So that with them a man being come to be in Christ is out of the Enemies reach Thus though exercising themselves
little Observation that need to be informed How many that have walked for a while some for some years with Friends in the Profession of Truth have turned their backs thereon and gone off some into the Sea again some into Nets What has been the general pretence of these but want of Liberty the way of Truth was too strait for them they wanted a broader way How many even of them that retained the Profession of Truth have slept aside some into one odd thing some into another under pretence that they had Freedom so to do Did not they that ran out in I. Perot's business plead being left to their Freedom to their Liberty They did so and by that Plea were some to my knowledge betrayed into that snare Now since it is evident by the Instances given that in the true Church in all times there have been as to outward Profession Bad as well as Good wrong as well as right what can be more reasonable than that there should be in the true Church such a Power as may enable those that are right to acquit themselves their Principle and Profession from the Disorders of whatsoever kind committed by them that are wrong which they can never do if those that are wrong may exempt themselves from being called to account and reproved for their Disorders by alleadging that what they have done they had Liberty and Freedom in themselves to do Now this hath happened in a great part through a misunderstanding and misapplication of true Spiritual Liberty For though all that have received and are indeed guided by the Grace of God and Spirit of Truth are to be left to it to act for God in the Liberty and Freedom that it gives Yet for any to infer from thence that every one that pretends to the Grace of God and Spirit of Truth though it be too apparent that they are not subject thereunto must be left to that Freedom which they call and in one sense rightly enough their own to that Liberty which they have set up in and for themselves though it leads such to thwart oppose gain-say and disturb the rest of the same Society this is not right but whatever else may be pretended is both wrong it self and an Inlet for that which is wrong For the meaning of that Plea that every one ought to be left to his Freedom c. Is this that none should be accountable or answerable to the Church or Congregation they are reputed to be of for what they do that is not simply Evil or Evil in it self as the Adversaries in their Book distinguish so that although what they do be disorderly and that which either directly or by Consequence tends to bring scandal and trouble upon the whole Society it is enough to stop the Churches Mouth for such an one to say I have Liberty and Freedom in my self to do so or so And thereupon the Church may not judge may not reprove may not blame such an One but must be obliged to own and receive such an one as a Friend a Brother in the Truth though walking out of Truth as a member of the Body though acting against the Body This were to set up a false Liberty to overthrow the true Liberty to give Liberty to Particulars and take it from the General which to do were contrary to Truth and to true Reason For surely how much Liberty soever a Part may claim the whole may claim as much And therefore if each Particular hath Liberty to choose or refuse things according as they are perswaded the things are right or wrong which it is fit they should Why should not the whole have like Liberty to receive or refuse such Persons with respect to Membership according as they are perswaded that such Persons so acting are in or out of that Spirit in which the true Membership stands But this Liberty the Church should be deprived and debarred of if she were bound as the Adversaries would bind her to own and receive for members all such as make any Profession of Truth though walking and acting contrary to Her and as she believes to Truth under pretence that they walk and act according to their own Liberty and Freedom He that would shun the Cross of Christ in any Testimony that Truth leads to hath scope enough under this Plea to do it He that for advantage or fear will break Christ's Command and Swear can say he hath freedom so to do and is not perswaded in his own mind of the unlawfulness thereof He that to shun Sufferings will pay Tythes to the Hireling-Priest He that will Marry by the Priest or take in Marriage one that is not in the Profession of Truth hath the same Plea for his Shelter and so in other Cases of Evil. This the Adversaries saw but saw not how to Answer And therefore in their 5th page having said There 's but one Objection and that is that this leaving all to act according as they are free c. is to give Liberty to Evil they add Which we may speak to in another place And so they shift it off in this place And having thus given it the Go-by here never give any direct Answer to it that I observe throughout their whole Book In their 19th page they touch it but presently start back and slide off of it again There they say What can hinder the putting this in practice but the Devil in the likeness of Truth perswading this was to give Liberty to Evil Then add 'T is a mistake to think this is to give Liberty to Evil while our End we are sure bears witness to the contrary Rep. They are sure What Assurance doth their saying they are sure give to others Their witness-bearing as it is of themselves and for themselves may perhaps reach no further than to themselves But suppose Charity should extend it further and on that foot it should be granted that their End or Intention is not to give Liberty to Evil. Doth it therefore follow that that unlimitted Plea for leaving every one so to act according as they are free and perswaded in their own minds as not to be accountable for their actings may not give Liberty to Evil May not People have a wrong freedom a freedom to do Evil and a false Perswasion in their own minds that that wrong freedom is a right one notwithstanding that God hath given them a manifestation of his Spirit to profit withal if they do not and it is too plain that too many do not obey and follow the leadings of that good Spirit that they may profit thereby But what Answer do the Adversaries now give to that One Objection which they took notice of in their 5th page and then made a shew as if they would speak of it in another place Truly none at all But instead of answering it which was reasonably to be expected from them they excuse themselves but very poorly from Answering for after they
it For here is not only no Coherence between their Premises and Conclusion but a plain departing from the terms of the Proposition which was a Pleading this of being left to the Grace of God in themselves against Vnity Which word they wholly leave out and instead thereof put in to plead this against this or that thing bâ—ought in by this or that man c. This shews their shuffling and idle way of arguing However we deny that any thing believed or practised as a Religious Duty among us was brought in by any man oâ— men as men but by the Spirit of the Lord opening Counsel in the hearts of his Servants and throuâ—h them recommending the use of such things to the Church of Christ and opening the hearts of such as waited singly in the same Spirit of Truth to receive close and joyn with the same from an inward sense Conviction and Perswasion that the things so recommended were of God In which we have been and are abundantly confirmed by the sweet and powerful presence of the Lord with and amongst us in the use thereof evidencing to our Spirits his accepting us therein And if the Adversaries believe those things to be wrong that doth not prove they are wrong though it may prove their belief and themselves wrong In their 21th page They quote another passage out of the said Book in these words I must say unto thee Friend what if thou wilt not be left unto the Grace and Spirit of God in thy self Here they break off with an c. omitting the rest of the Sentence which in the said Book follows thus nor wait for its mind nor be watchful to its Revelations nor humble and quiet till thou hast received such necessary manifestations but pleadest against the Counsel of the Spirit of the Lord in other faithful Persons under the pretence of being left to his Spirit in thy self by which means thou opposest the Spirit to the Spirit and pleadest for disunity under the name of Liberty Their Answer is Then such do the thing that is extreamly Evil. Rep. No doubt of that But when they do so what is to be done in the case Are they to be left to their Liberty and Freedom in doing the thing that is extreamly Evil Is the Church bound to own them receive them acknowledge and admit them not only for Members but Ministers and Preachers while they are doing the thing that is so extreamly Evil Or in case they disturb her godly Care and Practice and grow Contentious and exalt their Judgment against her as the Adversaries have done hath she power from God to exhort admonish and reprove them and if they persevere therein in his Name to refuse any further fellowship with them till they repent of their Evil as in the 10. pag. of the Book they pretend to Answer is laid down but not taken up answered or taken notice of by them that I find Having nimbly answered to the former Quotation Then such do the thing that is extreamly evil they immediately add but on the other hand what if they are left with the Grace and Spirit of God which they may or at least some for any thing that he hath said Rep. May they so That 's strange They that will not wait for the mind of God's Spirit not be watchful to its Revelations nor humble and quiet till they have received such necessary Manifestations but plead against the Counsel of the Spirit of the Lord in other faithful Persons under the pretence of being left to his Spirit in themselves and so oppose the Spirit to the Spirit and plead for Disunity under the name of Liberty may they for any thing that he hath said who hath said all this here and more elsewhere be left with that is led by the Grace and Spirit of God in this But say they What care has he taken What remedy has he provided that true Liberty and Freedom of Speech may be maintained Rep. Let them shew if they can when or where true Liberty and Freedom of Speech hath been denied by Friends That it hath been indeed by the Adversaries may be proved if need require But it may well be supposed what sort of Liberty and Freedom of Speech they would maintain by the Licencious Liberty they have taken and used in speaking of and against such Persons and things as they dislike a Liberty to rail at and revile those whom they call their Brethren under the Names of Apostates Innovators Introducers of Popery Setters up of Imâ—ges Idolaters Idol Prophets a treacherous Company c. a Liberty to mock at scoff jear and deride the order and discipline of the Church of Christ under the contemptuous names of Canons Constitutions human-Prescriptions Mens-Inventions Edicts Bulls c. This is the Liberty and Freedom they have hitherto used both in speaking and writing how true and fit to be maintained let all that live in Truth judge To the Author's Question whether he may not exhort to the practice of what he is moved to press to the practice of they Answer We graunt he may c. Adding It 's not our Duty to obey him because he says it but because we know or at least are perswaded that what he says is true page 22. Rep. Neither that Author nor any Friend besides ever exhorted or desired much less pressed as a Duty on any to obey him or to do any thing of a Religious concern because he said it but have alwayes directed to that which would give every one a certain knowledge and Perswasion of the thing so exhorted to There was therefore no need for the Adversaries to fence themselves against that which was never offered them But they delight by such suggestions to insinuate evil surmises into the minds of their beguiled Proselites In their 22. pag. They quibble upon the words Common and Universal for citing these words out of the Book they pretend to Answer viz. But therefore are not the Members of one mind and Iudgement in common and universal matters relating to the Church of God They answer There is not much doubt in this when truly understood but we are to mind say they that we be not deceived and imposed upon as to what is or ought to be accounted common and universal matters Hereupon they give us their notion thereof both affirmatively and negatively thus By common and universal matters we understand and we hope say they according to Truth what has been commonly and universally received and not new and novel things that have not been so received Rep. This is not according to Truth which is free and illimitable whereas this would lay a Limit and Restraint upon God from opening the way of Truth and Righteousness further and further and from adding such helps and means for the Propagation thereof and preservation of his People therein as he in his unsearchable Wisdom shall see need of For every fresh Discovery may on this pretence be slighted
rejected as a Novelty in the same Spirit wherein the World rejects the whole way of Truth as a Novelty Common and Universal matters therefore relating to the Church of God are not to be restrained to such things as have been commonly and universally received For the envious Seeds-Man was not backward to sow his evil Seed betimes and Captious Spirits have risen up early as well as now of late excepting against some one some an other thing in Doctrine or Practice yet pretending to own the Fundamental principle of Truth So that the most approved practice amongst Friends may perhaps fall short of having been in a strict Sense Universally received For Universal admits no Exception But by Common and Universal matters relating to the Church of God are to be understood matters of Common and Universal Vse and Service in the Church of God things not peculiar to this that or to'ther Member only but of common use or benefit to all the Members of the Body And that the Author so meant it his own words plainly shew page 5. Where he says Degree or Measure in the same Life can never contradict or obstruct that which is from the same Life for the common benefit of the Family of God Did Iude call the Salvation he writ of verse 3. Common because it was commonly received or because it was offered intended and tendred as a Common Benifit to all that would receive it And whereas the Adversaries say This of Conviction and Perswasion preceding Conformity hath been a Common and Vniversal matter or thing because commonly and universally received among us as a great Truth I Reply It is indeed a great Truth and hath been and is a common and universal Matter but not for the cause or reason they assign For if it had not been commonly and universally received among us as a great Truth yet it would have been a common and universal Matter relating to the Church of God because it is a Matter of common and universal Service and Benefit to all and every Member in the Church of God But since they here acknowledge that this Doctrine of Conviction and Perswasion preceding Conformity hath been commonly and universally received among us as a great Truth they do ill to insinuate which too frequently they do that Friends would draw any to a Conformity to any thing before or without Conviction or Perswasion In their 23d page They pick another piece of a Sentence out of the Book they pretend to Answer which they set down thus What comes from the Light Life and Spirit in one is the same in Truth and Vnity to the rest as if it rise in themselves This is seen in our Assemblies every day c. Now because they dare not directly gainsay this and yet are disposed to wrangle they pretend to know the Design of the Argument and quarrel with that The Design they say of this Argument is to gain a dependance upon the Teachings of God by Instruments equal at least to the Teaching of God immediately by his Spirit in our own hearts and this they say how plausible soever is not according to the Truth as 't is in Iesus Rep. Their surmise in this Case is wrong and Evil and therefore not according to Truth That which they suggest to be the Design was not the Design of that Argument as they call it But the plain and true Design of it was to obviat an Objection and cut off a false Plea for Disunion and Discord grounded upon variety of Measures and diversity of Gifts and Offices in the Body For the Author having put the Question page 4. Are there not various Measures diversities of Gifts and several Offices in the Body And having granted that there are proves that that variety and diversity of Measures Gifts and Offices in the Body administers no ground for Disunion Discord or Contrariety amongst the members of the Body since it is a false way of Reasoning to conclude Discord from Diversity Contrariety from Variety which having illustrated by an Instance of the various Senses in a natural Body without any Contrariety flowing from that variety he shews page 5. That Diversity of Gifts doth not infer Disagreement in Sense nor variety of Offices contrariety in Judgment concerning those Offices Then having from the concurrent Testimonies of the holy Scriptures set forth the Unity of God he infers that the Light Life and Spirit of God is at unity with it self in all and what comes from the Light Life or Spirit in one it is the same in Truth and Vnity to the rest as if it rise in themselves For this he appealed to the daily experience of Friends in our Meetings where the Living and sensible ones know that what comes from the Light Life or Spirit of God in any Friend that Ministers is felt received closed with and united to as Truth by those that in the same Light Life and Spirit wait as well as if it had arose in themselves this was the Design of the Author's words in that place as is apparent to any that fairly reads them and the Design was good But the Design of the Adversaries was Evil in surmising another Design without ground that they might make an occasion for Cavilling For they are fain to confess that there is no contrariety in the Spirit of God no Contradiction in the Spirit 's Teaching being all for one and the same end the good of Man by the Salvation of his Soul Nay they acknowledge There is so much Truth in what the Author hath said that when fairly stated they are content it should be as a Rule to measure the whole difference by And yet they spend about a couple of Pages in Carping at it They say betwixt God's Teaching by Instruments and Teaching immediately by his Spirit in our own hearts there is this Distinction or Difference that the first is but to prepare the latter to perfect Whereas the Scripture saith expresly When Christ ascended up on high he gave gifts unto Men some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. Eph. 4.8 11 12. So that hence it appears that the Teaching of God through such Instruments as he gives his heavenly Gifts unto for the work of the Ministry hath a further tendency and Service than but or only to prepare for those Gifts were given for the Edifying that is building up or Establishing of the Body of Christ and for the Perfecting of the Saints This shews the Adversaries for all their high Notions and fluttering Pretences are short of a right understanding and to seek in the work of the Ministry being ignorant of the true and full end of Divine Ministerial Gifts So again they say page 23. When the things of God do come from God's holy Spirit immediately they are then as the Oracles of God this shews they do not reckon them as the Oracles of God if they come from
it self in love And Baeza on these words thus noteth Thereof it followeth saith he that neither this Body can live without Christ neither can any Man grow up Spiritually that separateth himself from the other Members A fit Note and worthy to be noted by all those who have separated themselves from that Church which yet they acknowledge to be true They Cavil yet further at the parts of the Metaphor taken from a natural Body which shews they do not well understand the nature of a Metaphor Comparison or Sinicle which as the saying is runs not on all four nor agrees in every particular but it is enough if it square in these parts wherein the Comparison lies When Christ compared his Coming called by the Apostles the coming of the day of the Lord 1 Thes. 5.2 and 2 Pet. 3.10 to the coming of a Theif Matth. 24.43 44. it was not with respect to the end or intention of the coming of each for the Thief cometh not but to steal kill and destroy Iohn 10.10 Whereas Christ came to give Life and to Save But it was with respect to the unexpected suddenness of the coming of each The comparing the Members of Christ 's Body to the Members of a natural Body was not to tie the Spiritual Members to a strict and exact proportion and agreement in every respect to the Members of a natural Body in all and singular the Offices Properties Qualifications and Faculties of the Members of a natural Bedy But to shew that as all the Members of a natural Body being influenced animated and acted by one and the same vital Spirit do harmoniously agree and not thwart one another in their various Offices and Actions So the Members of the true Spiritual Body being all influenced animated acted moved led and guided by the one Spirit of Life and Truth do harmoniously agree and sweetly consent together in the performing of their several Offices according to the divers Gifts and various Measures that they have received thereof Which cuts off and wholly excludes that pernicious Plea which the dividing Enemy hath furnished some with for maintaining Disagreement Discord and opposite Senses Judgments and Practices amongst the Members of the same Body in and about the same Religious Performances Had the Adversaries rightly considered this they would not perhaps have thought there had been any inconsistency between the Church of Christ seeing hearing speaking with the same Eye Ear Mouth and particular Members being made by God an Eye Ear or Mouth at such seasons or such occasions and for such Services as he sees meet to use them in For there is no inconsistency in this at all though they labour to make one by a carnal way of Reasoning not suitable to the nature of Spiritual Senses For though they say In the first of these Cases they all seem to hear for themselves in the latter some hear immediately and some secondarily and that the first hear not only for themselves but for others also the second only for themselves by others They err not knowing the Mystery of true Spiritual Hearing For in the true Church All whose Ear the Lord hath truly opened and who attentively listen to his Voice hear for themselves and that immediately by the Spiritual Ear which God hath opened in them at the same time that with the outward Ear they hear the Testimony of Truth sounded forth by the Spirit of Truth through any Instrument unto them But Oh! the darkness that comes over those who give scope and liberty to their minds to rove and range in the way of carnal Reasoning about the things of God which are and only can be Spiritually discerned by them that wait in the Light Let us know say the Adversaries here what Member is this Eye that we must see by and what Member is this Ear that we must hear by and what Member is this Mouth that we must speak by in those things that relate to Christ and his Church that so we may not be imposed upon by such as may pretend to be that Eye that Ear and Mouth and are not Rep. This looks too like that impertinent Curiosity which drew from the Apostle the Rebuke of thou Fool to him that asked How are the Dead raised up and with what Bodies do they come 1 Cor. 15.35 36. The Adversaries here bewray an Imagination that some particular Members are determinately appointed to the constant and continual performance and execution of those Offices of Eye Ear Mouth c. to and for the Body And they seem to expect we should describe those Persons to them by name or other outward Character But how carnally minded must they be that could conceive so strange an Imagination They bid us let them know that which none but God knows For as no Member can be rightly a Mouth to the rest but that which God makes so by speaking through it to the rest and that only at such times as it is so made use of by God So none but God knows what Member he will make use of as a Mouth to speak his mind by But as all the Members wait upon God in their own respective measures of the heavenly Gift in themselves all are in their proper places ready to be ordered and disposed of by the Lord to whatsoever Office in or Service for the Body he shall see meet to use them in And every one thus truly waiting in that which gives a true discerning none such can be imposed upon by any false Pretender Hence it is that when any of these Adversaries that are gone out of the Unity into a separation inwardly in Spirit and outwardly in Meetings also from Friends thrust into our Meetings and take upon them to be a Mouth either from God to the Assembly by Preaching or from the Assembly to God by Prayer they are savoured felt feen and known to be but false Pretenders and as such rejected and denied by Friends But is it not strange blindness in them to Cavil at the Expression of a Member being made a Mouth by God to the rest of the Members when it is plain matter of Fact that divers of themselves pretend to that Office of being a Mouth to or from the Assembly and on that pretence obtrude and impose their Preaching and Praying on Friends Does not this shew they are devoted to Cavilling They say in their 31 page Will he leave us to depend and not certainly tell us what on Rep. By this they would insinuate that the Author of the Book they pretend to Answer would have some of the Members depend upon others Yet they immediately add He doth not intend that sure But if they really believe he doth not intend that why would they suggest that he doth so intend by saying will he have us to depend and not certainly tell us what on when it is certain he had certainly and expresly told what all God's People ought to depend on namely the Guidings of the
Grace and Spirit of God in my own Heart had answered Yea That is of all things most desirable since they are well left that are there left for there is no fear of want of Vnity where all are left with the one Spirit of Truth They must be of one mind they cannot be otherwise To this the Adversaries say That those that are truly left with the one Spirit of Truth must and will agree we grant and therefore where difference is carried on to the breach of Charity one side at least must be wrong but which ought in God's fear to be inquired the greater Number cannot determin it Rep. Here they grant that those that are truly left with the one Spirit must and will agree and yet at the same time suppose they will differ and which is more that they may differ and yet neither side be wrong if the difference be not carried on to the breach of Charity How they will reconcile these their different Notions I know not But since they yield that one side at least must be wrong where difference is carried on to the breath of Charity Let the Difference between them and Friends be looked into and inquiry made in God's fear on which side the Breach of Charity began that it may thence appear according to their own Proposition which side is wrong And in this Disquisition we will not expect any advantage from being the greater Number though they may give us leave to put them in mind that when and where an Argument from the greatest Number with respect to particular Places seemed to lie on their side they have not failed to urge it Now in order to a right understanding how Charity came to be broken in the carrying on of this Difference it should be remembred that when some things were recommended to the Churches relating to Christian Discipline in order to prevent such disorderly and scandalous Practices as under an abuse of our Principle of true Christian Liberty a Spirit of Looseness and Libertinism was introducing some shewed themselves dissatisfied therewith and unwilling to admit the use thereof pretending that they did not see the service of the things recommended Though this Plea was seen to proceed from weakness in some and want of a true watchfulness unto and waiting upon the heavenly Gift in themselves which would have given them a true sight and sense as it did their Brethren both of the want and of the usefulness of the things recommended yet while they kept quiet out of Contention and open Opposition Friends tenderly bore with them and carried themselves Brotherly towards them endeavouring in the love of God as occasion offered to open and inform their Minds in the things concerning which they profest to doubt But long it was not ere they abusing the tenderness of Friends towards them grew high and heady contentions and quarrelsome endeavouring publickly and labouring much in private to gather into a Faction and make a Party Which when they had in some measure effected having by evil Surmises and false Reports betrayed and misled many young Convinced Ones and some that were but weak in Judgment as well as picked up others that went discontented whose 〈◊〉 Spirits and disorderly Conversations had â—â—â—â—â—red them of the esteem they coveted amongst Friends they then appeared more openly to oppose revile and vilifie those things which before they pretended to the doubtful of and not to see a need of or service for calling them in Contempt and Derision Men's Orders human Edict Canons Constitutions Prescriptions Papists Impositions Innovations Bulls c. not sparing any reproachful Term which they thought might beget or increase in their Proselited Party a dislike of the things recommended and a dis-esteem of Friends This their unruly and turbulent behaviour gave occasion to Friends to reprove them and exhort them to study to be quiet and have regard to the Churches peace And surely had they indeed had any regard to the love of their Brethren to the peace of the Churches of Christ to the Reputation of Truth in the world or to the honour of that holy Name of the Lord by which we are called they would never have begun much less have carried on a Difference 〈◊〉 so high a Breach of Charity as they have done and that about such things as some of themselves have declared to be in their esteem but trifles small things of little or no 〈◊〉 But notwithstanding the Endeavours the Labours and Travels that were used by Friends to have reduced them to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they grew still higher and higher in their Opposition and 〈◊〉 Carriage till at length they made not only a Breach of Charity but of Meetings also â—ending off from Friends and setting up separate Meetings of their own for themselves and their Party to meet apart in in separation from and opposition to the constant settled Meetings of Friends not only with respect to the outward Affairs and Business of the Church but even with respect to publick Worship too And in several printed Books and Papers written by some and industriously spread by others of them published the difference to the world exposing Friends as much as in them lay to the Contempt and scorn of the Prophane as Apostates Innovators Idolaters setters up of Images Idol-Prophets possessed with the Spirit of Belial and the like and not only to the Government but even to the Rabble also as a treacherous Company Introducers of Popery and but one step from it c. and that in a juncture of time when the then present discovery of the Popish Plot had exasperated the Nation against all that were but suspected to favour that Communion That this is the true state of the Case though but briefly set forth I appeal to all Friends that understand it and hereupon leave it to all such to judge in the fear of God whether the Adversaries be not they that have made this Difference and carried it on to the Breach of Charity and are therefore according to their own Conclusion WRONG The Adversaries having granted in their 16th page that those that are truly left with the one Spirit of Truth must and will agree they in the same page add But that there must be an Identity of Opinion as say they we think the School-men call it that is a Sameness of Mind and Oneness of Iudgment to Circumstantial Ceremonial or Shadowy things is sooner said than proved and savours more of Curiosity than any real Necessity Rep. It may perhaps be thought to savour more of Curiosity or something else as Vain-glory Self-conceit or a fond Affectation of being thought to have converst with School-men than of any real necessity or common Discretion for them to tell us what the School-men call Sameness of mind especially unless they could have done it upon better assurance than an as we think They had better have kept in the School of Christ where they might have learnt Sameness of mind and
into and preserved in it I find the Author of the Book I am Replying to doth not weigh his matter in the true Ballance before he brings it forth but runs on in a dark way of natural Reasoning wherein his greatest strength seems to ly which leads him to lay hold too suddenly of Crude and indigested Notions which will not stand when brought to the true Tryal But to manifest more directly to him and his Party their mistake in the present Instance I recommend to their Consideration whether they among themselves have or pretend to have any Fellowship one with another or no. If they have whether All in that Fellowship can in truth say they are cleansed from All Sin If they cannot then whether according to their own Position before laid down that Fellowship of theirs is not ineffectual This concerns all them that value that Fellowship or themselves for being in it to consider In their 27th and 28th pages having spoken of the Church 's going into the Wilderness and of her being led out of it again by Christ they say As we believe there is to be no end of the Increase of his Government now begun we are to consider there is some alteration in the work it then decreased it must now increase and if it must increase we may will consider as God is infinite and eternal he hath still more Wisdom Power and Glory to reveal Rep. There is no doubt but he hath And in his Wisdom he hath revealed such things as his Wisdom saw needful and useful to his Church and People which by his glorious Power he hath confirmed them in And which the Adversaries in their carnal Wisdom judging too mean and low for them to receive have despised reproached rejected and opposed But while they here admit that God hath still more Wisdom Power and Glory to reveal they seem to have forgotten how oft throughout their Book they have scornfully rejected things as New and Novel and bounded all to their beginning Again they say there must be a looking forward and not backward for the mind of Christ. Rep. Why then would they limit us to their beginning as in their 5th and 9th pages as if nothing were to be received but what is in their esteem Essential to true Religion or which hath been from their beginning Is not that looking backward instead of forward Besides if there must be a looking forward and not backward as they say for the mind of Christ why then do they twit us with unscriptural Orders and peremptorily call for a plain Scripture Proof for this or that Practice Is not this looking backward instead of forward For the Scriptures they know were written many hundred years ago Thus their weakness and self Contradiction appears But this is not all Their Position is unsound in it self They say there must be a looking forward and not backward for the mind of Christ. This Negative part of their Position is false and Erronious excluding the Scriptures of Truth to be looked in for the mind of Christ. Herein they Err to one Extream as the World 's People do to the other They are for looking backward not forward for the mind of Christ backward to the Scriptures which they call such a compleat Canon as admits no Addition or further discovery of the mind of God not forward as believing God hath so bound himself up to what is revealed in the holy Scripture that he will not reveal his mind any further These on the other hand are for looking forward not backward for the mind of Christ. The Truth lies between these two Extreams There ought to be a looking both forward and backward for the minde of Christ. not only forward to every fresh and further manifestation discovery or Revelation of his minde but also backward to those Revelations discoveries or manifestations of the minde of Christ which we have already received from him in our selves and which the Church of Christ in Ages past received from him through the holy Spirit and are recorded in the holy Scriptures which were written for our Instruction Thus running on headily and in haste the Adversaries have shut out the use and Service of the Scriptures of Truth from being look'd into for the minde of Christ. They say We should not think by what we know to measure what is to come and they add we hereby limit the holy One as much as is in our power c. Rep. They directed us before at the end of their Preface to understand the term We of those that are of the same minde with the Author of their Book Now this which they here say of limitting the holy One c. They speak in the term We. So that this is applicable to themselves by their own direction I am sensible indeed that what they here speak concerning themselves is true and I am sorry for it for hence has proceeded their hurt and the loss that is come upon them They have measured the Lord 's Appearances by the false Metwand of their own conceited Knowledge and the things they so measured not answering their expectation by that measure they have rejected despised and vilified the things themselves blasphemed the Power which led Friends into the practice of them turn'd head against their Brethren disquieted and disturbed the Church of Christ proclaimed in Print open War and set up their separate Meetings as Ensigns and Standards thereof Their 29th page contains a Quotation out of the Book they pretend to Answer It is too long to transcribe being almost a page consisting of many particulars pickt out of the 6th and 8th pages of that Book but not fairly for besides other Variations there is this material one that whereas the Author 's own words are If I will not comply with him that God hath made an Eye c. They have cited it If I will not comply with him that is made an Eye c. leaving out God that they might make room for an evil minde to furmise that the Eye there spoken of might be of Man's making not of God 's though the Author had expresly said Him that GOD hath made an Eye This shews as they elsewhere reflect page 25th more Cunning in Daubing than honesty in Dealing In their Answer they say 't is plain the Author intended to gain a dependance upon what he calls the Church Rep. 'T is plain they herein abuse the Author and endeavour to mislead their Reader 'T is plain the Author had no intention nor doth his Discourse tend to gain a dependence upon the Church or upon any thing else than what the Church it self is built and depends upon Christ Jesus the Head thereof That which they Carp at is a Scripture-Metaphor borrowed from the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 12. And the Author 's intention in using it was no other than to reprove and refute the folly of those who from the variety of Measures diversity of Gifts and Offices in the
when that Caution is given in the love of God it is in the same love received But when under pretence of Cautioning against Formality some not distinguishing between Formality and Form endeavour to overturn subvert and take away all Form and Order from the Church of Christ we cannot receive but reject such Cautions and Cautioners as knowing that they come not from nor serve the God of Order but that Spirit which would bring all into disorder and Confusion In page 43 they say Pray let us know why Truth 's Testimonies may not be allowed and pass current where the Life and Conversation is suitable Rep. Truths Testimonies are allowed and do pass currant among Truth 's Followers But the Adversaries should have explained what they mean by Truth 's Testimonies For those Doctrinal Principles delivered of old by Truth himself and afterwards by his inspired Followers and Recorded in the Scriptures of Truth are Truth 's Testimonies especially as they are taken up and used by the same Spirit that gave them forth And the Testimonies that proceed from the Spirit of Truth speaking through any of his Servants in our Meetings or elsewhere at this day are the Testimonies of Truth also And all these are allowed and pass current amongst Friends But if the Adversaries mean by Truth 's Testimonies their own Testimonies those Testimonies that they bring and thrust upon Friends in our Meetings and ask why those Testimonies may not be allowed and pass currant the Answer is because those Testimonies are not Truth 's Testimonies how like soever they may seem to be neither come they in Truth 's way They proceed not from the Spirit of Truth but from that Spirit that Fights against Truth a Spirit of Dissention Division Disunion and Separation from Friends in Truth In page 45. they say Might not a little Charity help all this could you look upon such as trouble you to be Conscientious Again Certainly you cannot think that all is wrong that are dissatisfied c. We would perswade you better by assuring that some are right by being sincere Rep. They who have known these Troubles throughly and have seen and observed their manner of Troubling and in what Spirit they have done it had need have more than a little Charity to make them look on such to be Conscientious Was their publishing Friends in Print to be Apostates Innovators Setters up of Images Introducers of Popery Idolaters c. An Argument that they were Conscientious Was their exposing Truth and Friends by their printed Pamphlets to the Scorn Contempt and Derision of the Wicked and rendring them as much as in them lay obnoxious to the Government a token of their being Conscientious Was their shutting Friends out of their Meting-Houses wherein they had a rightful Interest and Propriety exposing antient and tender Bodies and some their nearest Relations to all Extremities of Weather and that for divers years together as at Reding and elsewhere an Effect of their being Conscientious O barbaroas Consciences O conscientious Barbarism where shall a Parallel to this be found unless in that which Christ foretold his Disciples Iohn 16.2 They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God Service How far these conscientious Troublers have answered this Prophecy let themselves and others consider Nay have they not been worse than those forespoken of by Christ For they were open Enemies these feigned Friends and false Brethren Now whereas they say Certainly you can not think that all is wrong that are dissatisfied with those new things brought in at least as made Terms of Communion I Reply We do not think all that are so dissatisfied equally wrong for we are sensible those Troublers have by slanderous Suggestions and false Insinuations beguiled and betrayed some whose Recovery out of the Snare in which those Troublers have taken them we earnestly desire and travel for But though we do not think all alike wrong yet we do think and know that all who think new things are brought in and made Terms of Cummunion with Friends are wrong in thinking so whatever they are otherwise And whereas they say They would perswade us better by assuring that some are right by being sincere I Reply If they are they must not be any of those Troublers who notwithstanding they have separate Meetings of their own to which they have withdrawn and chosen to meet apart as some of themselves have elsewhere exprest it do yet frequently thrust in at some of our Meetings and impose themselves upon Friends for Preachers as if they did it on purpose to disturb and to make trouble in our Meetings Can any thing be more contrary to Sincerity than this Is not this an extream degree of Hypocrisie Let the Troublers therefore give over their Hypocrisie and make it appear that they themselves are sincere to what they themselves have chosen and set up before they take upon them to give assurance of the sincerity of others They bid us Remember They obtrude nothing upon you Rep. That 's false Those Troublers obtrude themselves their Preaching and their Praying upon Friends which they know having been often told Friends cannot receive than which what worse they could obtrude I know not And where they have had strength by numbers they have obtruded these upon Friends under the Penalty of being deprived of their Meeting House if they would not conform to this Imposition And because Friends could not conform thereunto those Troublers have actually shut Friends out of their Meeting-Houses and do yet continue to keep them out thereby depriving Friends of their just Right Therefore when any of those Troublers shall again come to obtrude themselves upon Friends in our Meetings Let them Remember this Again they say The Lord often spared those that are wrong for the sakes of those that are right Rep. We know he hath done so and we desire he may do so still but we leave that to him who best knows to whom and how long to extend that forbearance But let not the Adversaries abuse God's merciful forbearance by continuing in the wrong after that the Lord hath made them sensible that they are wrong They add And 't is our Doctrine Tares should be suffered to grow rather than destroy Wheat Rep. And 't is Christ's Doctrine and his own Exposition of his Parable of the Tares that the Field in which they should be suffered to grow is the World Mat. 13.38 This is a good Argument against Persecution or outward Violence for Religion's sake Men ought not to be killed destroyed pluckt up and rooted out of the World only because they are Tares or a wrong Seed of the Enemies sowing But I wish the Adversaries would speak plainly whether it be their Doctrine that such Tares called by Christ The Children of the wicked One should be suffered to grow in the Church the Garden of God after they are discovered discerned plainly perceived