D. makes no better then dung loss and filthy rags to both the Justification Sanctification and Salvation of sinful men from All their sins then the Quakers do who are by the Parish peoples Blind Leaders most abominably belyeâ to them as denyers of it And because we do not with the misty Ministers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the meer Letter which the Apostles were not Ministers of but of the Mystery of the New Testament or the Spirit 2 Cor. 3 own the bare External Text of Scripture which themselves confesse to be corrupted vitiated altered and adulterated in all Translations to be at leaât in their Heb. and Greek Transcripts of it entire in every Tittle Letter Vowel Syllable and Jota the self same without any losse as it was at the first giving out but say it hath suffer'd much losse of more then Vowells single letters and single lines also yea even of whole Epistles and Prophecies of inspired men the Copies of which are not by the Clergy Canoniz'd nor by the Bible-sellers bound up in the Bulk and compasse of their modern Bibles and specially because we own not the said alterable and much altered outward Text and Letter or Scripture but the Holy Truth and inward Light and Spirit which the Scripture it self testifyes to which at times that Text and Letter came from to be as to Name and Thing and that properly the Word of God which is Living the only firm infallible Foundation of all Saving Faith and invariable Right Rule of holy Life the most sure sound Balis stable Standard True Touchstone for the due Tryal determination and discerning of all true Doctrines of Christ from mens Tradition and cunningly devised Fables Therefore they cry out against us as Siders with Jews Papists Athiests and All Scripture haters as decrying the due Authority of the Scriâtures as such by whom Satan assaults the sacred Truth of the Word of God in its Authority Purity Integrity and Perfection and as Opposers of the Scripture and the Word of God as to both Name and Thing witnesse J. O's Epiât Dedicatory of his doings againât the Quakers to all young Divinity Students p. 28.30 and elsewhere as is seen hereafter Whereas how though Christ and his living Word in the heart which the Scriâture exalts also is Exalted onely on the Throne yet the Scriptures are owned by us in their due place and how though Christs Light and Spirit alone in the Conscience is according to the Scripture asserted to be the only most perfect Rule Foundation c. and not the âetter as they darkly Divine yet the Letter is acknowledged by us full as much as it is by it self to have been written by men moved of Gods Spirit and to be useful profitable servicable c. to be read and heeded and how all-J O's lying Calumnies against the Quakers as concerning their carriage to the Scriptures and the Word of God and the Foundation and Rule c. are clearly wiped away and cashiered as well as T. D's foul false Aspersions of them in his Narratives as to matters of Fact are in the 1st part of my 1st Exer from p. 18. to p. 38. is to be read at large throwout the 2 d. and 3 d. Exercitations which consist well nigh wholly in vindication of the Truth against their cloudy conceits about the Scriptures And Moreover because we as the Spirit also in the Scripture bids us Jam. 2.1 c. have not the Faith of God with respect of persons as they are high in this world in the Church where Christ is the one Master and all the rest are Brethren Therefore they misrender us as proud obstinate uncivil churlish discourteous disrespecting contemning all mens persons Whereas we truly honour all men in the Lord and what we do in denying those vain Complemental Customs of the Nations as vailing the Bonnet or putting off the Hat which is part of the outward habit and bowing cringing to the ground when we come before men and in our keeping to that plain yet not True Antient and proper English Language of Thee and Thou which is used to God himself to each single person great or small when we haue to do with them who have no law of man neither whereupon to imprison and punish any for doing herein as we do we do it God is witness and will once Iudg between us and them not in a Spirit of Pride Arrogance Disrespect Disdain or Contempt towards any man but in Conscience to the Lord that we may stand clear before him who forbids us to bow to the likeneââe of any thing in Heaven Earth or under the Earth and in humility onely and that fear of the Lord whereby we are bound to depart from all conformity to all such fond foolish fashioning of our selves according to our former Lusts in our ignorance and to This World which we are chosen out of A more clear discovery of the unsuitablenesse of which Ceremonious services of men to the Saints of God is made as in the Scripture it self so in the 1st of the ensuing Exercitations from page 40. to page 47. And because Christs Headship Kingship and Supremacy alone we together with the True Church which is in God the Father and in Christ Iesus the Light can own in the Court of Conscience and in matters purely Spiritual and of meer Religious and Soul concernment and not any meer mans much lesse the Popes or any Priests in such Sacred Secrets therefore are we mistaken and misranked among such as are utter enemies to the present Kings Supremacy in these Dominions Whereas we do according to what the Spirit requires of us in all civil causes and cases between Man and man submit our selves to every Ordinance of man himself I say in such cases even for the Lords sake whether unto the King as Supream or to such as are sent of him to be a Terrour to evil doers and a Praise to them that do well And if those who have the Sword in hand shall turn it against us for well doing and so act against the good will of God or impose by Gods permission upon us contrary to our Conscience even there where we cannot obey actively we are willing to bear patiently without violent Resistance what God will leave us to suffer from the hands of such as should protect us not reviling nor threatning nor cursing but committing our case in quietness to him that Judgeth Righteously and our Souls to him in well doing And that Passive deportment must be and is judged by All to be Aequivolent to that Active obedience which others yeild for fear to what lawes soever are made among men And because we are no Strikers or Fighters as some men called Christs Minister's alias Servants are though no such should be 1 Tim. 3.3 1 Tit. 7. with Carnal Weapons the Weapons of our War-fare being not Carnall but Spirituall nor such as theirs among whom are found Warrs and Fightings which
applicable to the very best But whether thou intend one or two only or all these Three throughout thy Book when thou contendest for the Scriptures to be now entire to a tittle as at first giving forth to be the Light Word Power of God and such like is not easie to learn If ever we hear of thee again about the Scriptures I desire thee to speak home as to these particulars and to write thy mind more fully and plainly and singly out as in all places of thy Book thou hast not done but as one that hates the Light and is not willing to come to close pinchest in thy mind and winkest and twinklest and triflest and keepest back as if thou wert afraid as no doubt thou art though he that doth truth is not Ioh. 3.20 21. to look the Light too fully in the face or Ex. 4 S. 14. Subtilius Disputare to dive too deep in thy Dispuration about the Light or as the Elephant to drink more then needs must in fair water for fear of seeing a foul face but veritas non quaerit Aâgulos For my part I shall deal ingnuously with thee in this There are some things thou affirmest of the Scriptures which I can grant to be true of some one of these Three viz. of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that are not true of either the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Translations And there be some things to be said truly of these two that are not true of the first and some things of the second that are not true of the first nor of the third and somewhat of the third that 's not true of either of the other But when thou scarest so high as to affirm the Scriptures as thou dost in general to be the same in every tittle syllable and iota as at first to be the Word of God the Living Word the Spiritual Light the Power of God and much more as will appear when I come to Reckân up and rank the things thou Praedicatest of the Scriptures in Order in order to my Answering of them I who shall ever put a difference between the Writing of the Word and the Word it self Written of do absolutely deny all these things of all the Three sorts above mentioned and if it stand so as that thou understandest all these Three as thou dost of one of them at least and that of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Transcriptions if but of one the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or first Manuscripts being all lost and mouldred and Translations all corrupted by thy own confession when thou affirmest all these things of the Scripture then so let it stand for me till I have tryed the truth of thy Positions after which I hope all that stands not upon good ground will of it self to the ground come tumbling down And as by the Word Scripture I mean excepting where such things only are Praedicated as are peculiar only to either One or Two of them and not to all the Three no less then all these three sorts of Scripture in the main Controversie with thee so no more then these three sorts and these not one jot more not yet any farther then quâ tales 1 So far only as they are Scriptures properly truly and formally so called and considered or outward Writings Expressions or Declarations ad extra by Letters legible to our bodily eyes however extant upon what ever outward matter capable to receive their impression Tables of Stone Walls Skin Parchment Paper by the finger of God or hands of men whether Writing the issue of which is Propriissime stiled Scripture or Cutting Graving Stamping Printing in which way since that Art came up the Scriptures are now most extant the effect of which though most properly it be called Print or Scuâpture yet not to be too close and curious in Criticizing about Cockle-shells shall be allowed by me as to our purpose properly enough to passe under that name of Scripture I say then 't is the Letter and not the Matter the Writings and not the Subjects Things Truths Doctrins or Word written of that is the Subject to come under Consideration between us whatever those things are that are therein declared though 't is like we shall not passe them by neither without taking some useful notice of them yet that makes nothing to us in the State of our Question as it stands before us nor will all thy tumultuous hudling it over in haste hinder this nor thy shuffles about it shuffle it off it is the Declaration that thy Disputation with the Quakers is about considered as abstract from what is thereby declared for by the Scripture I intend not the Law it self written nor the Gospel nor the Light nor the Faith therein exhibited to us and held forth to be read of in the Writing for these are not the Scripture nor is the Scripture any of these but the Writing it self that holds these forth I call no other thing the Scripture then that which is truly the Scripture and that is no other thing then the Scripture it self I call the Scripture or the outward Declaration no other things and by no other Names then those it calls it self by or are truly answerable to its nature and that is no other then the Scripture a Declaration of those things that were believed and of the Word of the Faith that was preached a Letter a Writing Holy Scriptures Scriptures of Truth Books of Writing that consist Treat of and Declare in forms of plain true suitable and sound words various true things sound Doctrines by which many unsound Doctrines of Divels of false Prophets Priests Scribes and Pharisees of false Brethren ungodly Men that creep in and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness of false Apostles that brought in Doctrines contrary to that at first delivered and served their own bellies and not Christ Taught for Doctrines Traditions of men of Iannes and Iambes that resisted the Truth of Baldam the Nicolaitans of Iezebel and Satan which are all written of and declared in the Scriptures of Truth as well as those of God Christ the Spirit the Light and Truth it self do stand not approved but reproved and condemned useful Histories of what was done and spoken in sundry times and ages past by God and Christ and the Divel himself and Men good and bad and by Balaam and his Asse also Pretious Prophesies of things viz. of good to the good of bad to the bad Comfortable Promises to the seed that is the Heir of them Terrible Threatnings to the seed of Evil doers and Woes to the Wicked Profitable Epistles to such as they were Wrote to Blessings Curses Prohibitions Commands Copies of Psalms and Songs that were sung Proverbs that were spoken Letters that were written from men to men some by good men at the motion of the Spirit of God some by Evil men out of malice against Gods Servants at the motion of the Devil Some not without
any Critick pleases and as no Authority to us at all as they in their basenesse and hatred of it which I condemne do say it is of as 't is my continual exercise in works to do it so do I here in plain words exalt the Scripture which they so debase and state it over all that their Trash and aforesaid Trumpery even on the very top of all their long Train of Traditions and over the archest Tittle of the Tripple Crown the proudest pinacle of Peters now un Peter-like painted Temple the highest point of that pompous pious piteous Pillar and ground of Truth the choicest Chapiter of that holy Church and infallibly erring infallible Chair Thus doing I shall be own'd at last if not by I. O. and such as have his dimme Doings as tâey have his person in admiration because of advantage yet by all unbyassed beholders of both our undertakings for the Scripture to be no more a pander for the Papists as I am more belyed then believed to be the lying Tribe of Levi then for himself but a just plain and impartial Pleader for the Scripture against them both and a doer of Right to those holy Writings which are egregiously wronged by both Papists and Protestants as between Two parties of partial Praters Pro and Con about them by one of which they are scarcely more sottishly and Satanically for Superstitions sake Abhorred then unduly and Superstitiously Adored by the other For howbeit thou deemest thy self and those thy self Reverencing fellow Students of it to whom thou Dedicatest thy Endeavours to Vindicate it to be such as value the Scripture as much as any thou knowest yet there are many whom thou knowest not but supposest to be sleighters and disowners of it who if to own value and exalt it be to ascribe all that to it which it assumes to it self to Preach and practise that holy Life which is the end of it and to give it its due and no more as indeed it is do own value honour and exalt the Holy Scripture much more and much more truly then any of your self-exalting selves who saving your fair Speeches for it and your fawnings on it Ore tenus your common aiëry and meer verbal Commendations thereof and of your selves as valuers thereof do yet in truth no more value or honour it then the Iewes whose grand Idol that is as the whole is yours at this day do their own owned part thereof of whose dotage in that kind I have in sundry Nations been an Eye-witnesse in not a few of their Synagogues who Adorn and carry it about as ye do your Bibles more beautified without then your selves are within and lift it up with loud noises especially when these words are read viz. He shall magnifie the Law and make it honourable when yet the Truth it makes mention of hath no Mansion in their minds to the renewing of them yea I may truly say you do more undervalue the Scripture by your advancing it above it self and over-valuing and worshipping it so much as ye do in your words whilst alienated from the Light it came from and calls to in your Works and Lives then some of the Synagogue of very Rome it self who in lips and lives too do undervalue it by how much Deceit and Hypocrisie is far greater Iniquity then 't is for men openly to disown what Cordially they do not own and to pretend to be no better Friends to it then indeed they are and by how much as all is not Gold that glisters so all that which by its glistring would fain seem to be Gold when it is but Drosse is worse then that which both is Drosse and seems to be so Yea those that undervalue the Scripture so as to set Traditions above it and they that overvalue it so as to set the Light below it both these must come under Condemnation from me as being both Abomination to the Lord before whom witness the Brazen Serpent and Christs Apostles Acts 14.11 to 19. whom the people did worse in Worshipping as Gods then if they had not heeded but hated them as of the Devil it may be worse to overvalue then to undervalue many things which may be of his own Appointment So that ye have little need to decry against Papists as Decryers of the Scriptures and lesse to link us the Quakers and Papists together as Adversaries in Common to the Scriptures as if your selves were the only Patrones thereof for as Anti-Papistical as ye seem to be about the Scriptures yet ye will be found Acting not more against them then though in a different way from the Papists against the Scriptures And howbeit thou taylest us and the Papists together figuring us out by thy fine Tale of the aforesaid Foxes as falling from and fighting against each other and yet both fellow-friends against the Scripture That is false as urged and uttered with that referrence to the Papists and Quakers as joynt Injurers of the Scriptures wherewith thou ridiculously Relatest it but true enough yea too too true If Related in that right Referrence which it bears toward the Papists and your Selves yea Quid Rides be not so merry I. O. about the Mouth for De te mutato nomine Quakers Fabula narratur thou thinkest thou hast shrewdly hurt thy meer fancied Fanatick Foes with a flap of a Fox-Tayle but in that Tale thou hast but made a Rod for thy own Tayle for verily he that hath but half an Eye and by thy mentioning thereof is minded to search where and to whom thy Simile best suits will find how causelesly and incongrously thou crowdest the Papists and Quakers so closely together as Companions in thy abusive Comparison and how aptly it may rather be Applyed to that Romish Synagogue and your Selves to whom it comes as nigh as four feet if any Simile can truly be said to run on all four can well carry it and who as much as ye dissent not only in diverse other matters but also about the Scripture it self the one for and the other against the perfection purity integrity authority and excellency of the meer Text and bare Letter of it do yet concur as closely and come as nigh to one another in denyal of the Truth and Doctrine thereof as four pence comes to a Groat Yea the Truth is your selves and they are far more fitly figured by those fiery-Tayld Foxes which tended two several wayes yet ended in one and the self same work of Destroying the Philistims Corn whil'st turning tayl to tayl and drawing into your two different Extreames one sort crying up Unwritten Traditions to be the most perfect Rule above the Scripture the other crying up the Outward Letter as the most perfect Rule above the Internal Light Word and Spirit which gave it forth ye not only fill the World as with so many Fire brands with your fiery Contentions so that like that Corn which failed when it felt the fire it fell together by the
it were not a little more strange then true for one here is though it be not yours is a very fair In-let to and by my conâent might without much scruple usher in that old Antichristian Ministry and its pertenances here again as that which may stand welny with as much safety to peoples souls and give as good security and infallible assurance of its guiding and conducting them infallibly to salvation as your own can doe since that at the worst is little worse then fallible and your own by your own consent at the best is little better for it s much at one to me and other poor people of it what Mnistry stands here in England if in a case of such main moment and eternall concernment there stands none that by the Spirit of God are made in their ministrations infallible if there be no guides to be had save such as are fain to confesse they are but fallibly guided themselves or if in this case there be no other as the Proverb is then Hobsons Choice to be made which is chuse whether you will have this or none One blind guide being to me little better then another if others would be rul'd by me I would chuse none of that sort at all but cleave to the light and Spirit it selfe which is infallible and leads all that follow it into all truth for if the blinde lead the blind whether Papists or Protestants they must all at last into the ditch and if England must have an outward ministry and by no meanes will be made to own that ministry of the Qua. now among them which is of God seeing it is so that none of all those other she takes hold on in this day of her breaches saying thou hast cloathing be thou our Ruler in things of God Let this ruine be made up under thy hand that answer her any other then so as Isa. 2.6.7 I will not be an healer for in my house is neither bread nor cloathing I am not guided infallibly my selfe I am a deceivable erring man I dare not say my ministry is unerring make me not a Ruler of the people seeing I say there 's none to guide her assuredly among all her own Sons she haâh brought forth Isa. 15.18 Neither any that taketh her by the hand infallibly to direct her among all the Sons she hath brought up with great care cost and charge at her own Universities here at home but they are all at a losse within themselves mâping up and down in a mist their Divinest Doctors confessing and declaring that to be justly come upon them which God aid should Isa. 29.9 to 15. viz. that its night to them they can't infallibly divine the vision of all is become as a book sealed to them they can't read c. Though I advise her not to give way to any of those guides yet she could have neither more nor lesse said to her if she should send for some of her own native Sons to come home and guide her that are brought up in the English Colledge at the Popes own charge at Rome it selfe But if she be resolved no more to be foold with a fallible ministry but will have one that is infallible as I would or none at all then if she mean never to bear the Popes Bag and Baggage in truth as she talks she will not let her take the infallible Spirit within for her guide and no man without but such as are guided infallibly by it which guides none fallibly that unfainedly follow it as thousands of Quakers do and if any seem to do it and do not they in so doing undo themselves but I know no other men call'd Ministers in all the world beside the Qua. that so much as pretend to infallibility but he that sâts in the infallible chaire 7 Neither is our Doctrine of the light and spirits being the rule of the true faith and good life and not the externall Text or letter of the Scripture onely any fair In-let for the Pâpish Bag and Baggage for howbeit they take not the Text thereof to be their onely truest Touchstone most certain Standard and measure of Truth and Doctrines as we doe not yet that they take for their sure and certain Rule which we say with you is a manifold more fallible matter yea by an hundred degrees more fallible then the most falsified Coppy of the Scripture that ever yet came forth is something that stands more at Staves end and at a far wider distance from that aforesaid Rule of ours then from yours who for your Rule and Standaâd doe own no other then the Scripture by how much two things whereof the one is fallible the other infallible are further off each other by far then two things are both which are at most no more then fallible for the Light and Spirit of Christ which we onely do and all Christians ought to own for their standing Rule and trusty Teacher are iâfallible and will hereafter in the proper place for that be proud to be to But your professed Standard which is no other then that outward Text and the Papists which is no other then Tradition taken from that dark and worse then dubious Oracle viz. the erring miâd and mouth of their great Grand Ghostly Father excepting ever that this is far more fallible then the former i.e. then the letter are both but fallible Your Doctrine then who teach the meer Text which is but fallible as must anon be shew'd to be the most true Touchstone comes neerer to the Papists Doctrine who teach another thing to be the most true Touchstone which what ere you say of the infallibility of yours and they of the infallibility of theirs is at best but fallible and at worst but more fallible then yours is then ours possibly can do which is on all hands own'd to be infallible And howbeit the Scripture which lyes in the midway between us and Papists so that till they March so far towards us as to own it better then they do they and we are never likely to meet in one unlesse they can come ab extremâ ad extremum from their ill extream to our true extream and misse the mâdium as they cannot howbeit I âaâ the Scripture and its honest owners are really neerer and dearer to us then they and their most trusty traditions are which they take from their sore aid Oââcle yet is there not so vast a disproportion and diâagreement betwen âuch owners as ye are of the Scripture for the only Rule and such as own that Treasury of Traditions that lyes lockt up in the Pope Breast as the only Rule as is between these Tradition-Trusterâ and us who own as our only Rule the true light of Christ and the holy Spirit the inconsistency being not so much between your meer fallible lâtter and their more fallible chaire as it is between the most assuredly infallâble holy spirit and their most assuredly fallible though supposed
judging thy self consequently enjoying the other but that thou art not in any wise for howbeit by thy own confession there Sect. 16. Capellus grants thee that the full enjoyment of the saving Doctrine of the Scripture is yet to be had or obtained by such as look chiefly after that let the Letter be never so corrupted yet thou art at no hand content with this but piteously pinest after something else which is not this saving Doctrine of the Scripture nor the Doctrine in it but another thing from which this contained Doctrine is distinguished and that is the Scripture it self which thou judged thou hast not notwithstanding thou hast its Doctrine unless thou have the Letter or Writing also and that so exactly and entire without alteration and ablation that not a tittle of it nor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be found lacking these are thy words Sect. 17. Nor is it enough to satisfie us that the Doctrines mentioned are preserved entire every tittle and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Scripture in that Writing see Sect. 13 in the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we have must come under our care and consideration and to say the truth as thou putest a difference between the Scriptures of Truth and the Truth written of in the Scriptures sometimes as I ever do so it is the Scriptures of the Truth more then the Truth it self of which they are the Scriptures that thou mostly scrawlest for in those thy Scriptures for them which yet as is said above are not more for in shews and words then in deed and in truth they are against them nor is it the most substantial parts of that bare Letter that thou wranglest for so much as for the more accidental parts thereof viz. the points trivial tittles and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So then it is concluded hitherto on both hands First by thy self as well as âly by me that the Scripture and its Doctrine are not one but two several businesses whereof the First viz. the Scriptures are the subject matter so contended about between thee and the Quakers As for T.D. he draws his neck out of the Coller here and after he had engaged me to discourse it publickly with him whether the Scripture were the Word of God or not and at the dispute desiring to know what I held about it when he heard how I on the Quakers behalf declared what we meant by the Scriptures viz. the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Writing the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã viz. the Letter and that we onely deny that Denomination of the Word of God to that not to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Word or Doctrine or Truth of God written therein he gave us the Question without more ado saying thus You cannot believe us to be so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the writing whether that be our Rule of Faith and Life P. 26. of his first Pamp. which subject matter or Doctrine and Truth contained in the Writing and testified to in it which was before ever the Writing was and is as to the substance of it eternally and unchangeably the same Christ the Word the Wisdom Righteousnesse of God the War Truth Life both yeaster-day to day and for ever we never denyed to be the Word and Rule and Foundation and what ever else I.O. and the whole School of our English Scribes do ignorantly and falsly say the Scripture is though we are mistaken by most as denying the holy Matter it Treats of so to be but the matter is not the Writing or the Scripture but that which is onely written oâ in it but the outward written Letter or Scripture much more the Book in which the writing is which I.O. is so busy for and for every point written title and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this not onely we deny to be the Word of God but all our rash reproachers of us as denying the Scripture to be the Word when we come to their faces are fain to fall in and deny the same with us also so Christopher Fowler after a long hot Publick Dispute at Reading with E.B. and my self upon this question Whether the Scripture be the Word of God or no in which he contended a great while together it was at last confessed openly and plainly before all the People and Magistrates there present that the Scripture or Writing and I know not what else is properly and truly the Scripture but the Writing is not the Word of God after which concession of C.F. they would hear no longer dispute but the Quakers were driven out of doors But I.O. standeth stifly to it that the Word of God is the Proper Name of the Scripture and even of every tittle and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of it against the Quakers for that the Truth and Doctrine of it or of Christ declared in it is Spiritual Powerful saving Perfect so that Cursed will he be that adds to or detracts from it no Quaker will deny and to fight for the perfection and integrity of that with them is but to fight without an Adversary Howbeit I.O. when thy Brains as it were begin to crow as they often do like a man in a maze thou fetchest another turn back again upon the wheel and as inconsiderately as contradictorily to thy self thou blendest and confoundest these two sundry things that were before so severed by thy very self into one again so that as the two sticks aforesaid became one in the Prophets hands so these two that were sometime put asunder and with thy own hand inscribed with different Titles are joyned Indentically Intituled denominated each of other as Synonymous of two that stood divided made one individual of two sticks become one under thy own hand which writes of the writing and the thing written as of one and in its handling of them handles and feels no such matter of distinction between the Scripturam and the Scriptum the Literam Scriptam and the rem or Doctrinam or veritatem Scriptam the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Scriptiunculam Verbi de Verbo and the Verbum Scriptum the Letter or VVriting and the Doctrine or Truth written the Scripture of or concerning the Law Light Gospel and VVord of God and the Law Light Gospel and VVord of God it self of which the Scripture is but a true writing or Declration Yea whereas in that one single Section lastly cited Tr. 1. ch 1. S. 13. thou makes distinction in thy sound no lesse then four times between them first the VVritings and the Doctrine secondly the Writing and the Doctrine thirdly the Book and the Truth fourthly the Book and the Faith in the very Section immediately foregoing viz Sect. 12. which is as small as this thou all things well considered as they stand therein almost if not altogether as frequently dost confound them
the Supream Iudge to which all should Appeal in all Cases and in whose Sentence all should rest and all Faith be finally Resolved and not coming in at the Compleating Consignation Bounding and Final Closing of the Canon should for ever Iure Ant-Ecclesiastico or Apostatico and in foro hominum forfeit that Originally Equal Title which in foro Dei Iure Christico and Apostolico they else had to be Canonized with their fellows Ah poor men It pities me to see how ye Dream together in the dark and mope up and down in your own misty Imaginations about your Original Texts and external Letter leaving the Original Truth it self which was before your Texts were ever talk'd on or had a being in the World turning your backs on that internal Light in the heart which all the Tendency of of your Letter is to turn men to and from which your Scripture Originally had its being It irks me to see how for want of betaking your selves to the measure of the Light that shines in your own Consciences that infallibly would lead you to that which is the end of all Scriptures and words spoken or written as from God viz. honesty and righteousnesse truth and acceptation with God and Holy men ye trace to and fro till ye tire your selves in the perplexing Cris-Cros Track and endlesse Round of your own meer Thoughts about a thing which the more ye try the more ye Tangle your selves about it and the more ye look after it and in it in the way ye look into your beloved Letter the more ye loose your selves in it and about it till at last you will eternally loose both it and your selves too by not looking to the Light at all even no lesse then altogether See Epist. Ded Pag. 30. I. O's Preaching on that Subject the Scripture and his publishing of it is said by him to be but his Thoughts so pag. 146 147. what he delivers about the Prolegomena and Appendix to the Biblia Polyglotta was but what his own Thoughts had suggested unto him sutable to other learned mens Apprehensions So Pag. 149. He runs the Hazard of giving his Thoughts on them Pag. 151. He discover his Thoughts on the things proposed by them So Pag. 163. What he gives out concerning the Purity of the present Copies of the Originals of the Scriptures he so Scribles for is but an account of his Apprehensions So Pag. 225. He purposes to manifest his Thoughts on the Epistle to the Hebrews So Pag. 278. He desired Dr. Ward to give his Thoughts on the difference of Apert Sounds and Vowels which he did accordingly And Pag. 177. He sayes when he shall Communicate his Thoughts to the World about an Vniversal Character it will doubtlesse yield much if not Vniversal Satisfaction unto learned and prudent men O ye Wise and Prudent Vain Thinkers and Senslesse Surmisers that sit down Universally Satisfied in the shadow of your own and one anothers shallow Thoughts When will you come to busie your selves about that which is infallibly clear and certain and let your deep infinite Disputings about dark and doubtful matters of small moment to you too altogether alone When will you wash your Hearts from that Dunghil of meer deemings and divinity Dreamings with the untempered Morter of which ye are all to be-dawbed so that one can discern little or nothing that savours of more then dubiousuesse and disputablenesse it self descending or flowing from your Well-heads and Fountains of Forgery and Fabulosity little or none from the Breasts of your Nursing Mothers of that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã plain purely reasonable sincere Milk of the Word whereby the growth is into the Life of God but such as is mangled and mingled with the Mire and Mudde of your putrid and puddlely Opinions and Opinations Will you never cease from Teaching for Doctrines your own Conceptions Apprehensions and Conjectural Conclusions of things for Truth taken from no surer Topick place then that self same that ye Condemn in Papists viz. the Traditions of men Will you never give over filling and feeding the vain World for filthy Lucre with such perishing Food as the thin froth and Foam of your own Fancies instead of the Bread that comes down from Heaven and that Meat which endures to Eternal Life Oh thou European Athens or Academical Minx thou manifold Mother with thy Children for whom t is as easie for the Blackmore to change his Skin and the Leopard his Spots as for thee who hast been accustomed to Apostarize from the Councel of God and erre from the Mind of Christ to with-hold thy foot from wandring after thy own Images and Imaginations wilt thou not be made clean When shall it once be How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Now as to the Four wayes by way of Query above propounded which of them all I.O. means to Answer by who talks so much about the Closure Compleating Consignation and Bounding of the Standard and Scripture Canon â I cant well say But as for T.D. with whom I have somewhat to do and to deal alittle here he Replyes Affirmitively to the Third among them saying Pag. 26 of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians mentioned in that First of Ours and so consequently of all the several Scriptures that are not bound up in your Bibles which I asserted to be as much a Rule as those ye have that they were not intended as much for your Rule as those in your Books To whom when I Replyed at the Dispute with him as he there Relates Thus viz. If that Epistle was wriiten to the same end with those we have as it was viz. to Instruct the Corinthians how to carry themselves to grosse Sinners I Cor. 5.9 compared with vers II. I wrote unto you not to Company and now I have written unto you not to keep Company And the same was said of his First to the Ephesians i.e. that it was to the self same End as that we have Ephes. 3.3 As I wrote before that ye may understand my Knowledge in the Mistery of Christ so now then 't was intended as much for a Rule as the other But it was Written to the same End Ergo If one a Rule then the other T.D. Denies the Consequence Saying Sermons private Religious Discourses have the same common End with the written Scriptures yet the Later only are our standing Rule the former our Rule but so far as they agree with the Later in the Scripture Reply Which Reply of T. D's is so unreasonably ridiculcus that he is scarce Animal Rationale Risibile that receives and entertains it seriously as the Truth For First it supposes as if Pauls First writing to the Corinthians were not Written Scriptures as well as the Rest we have but an Orall Discourse Secondly It supposes Pau's First Epistle of all to that Church which was cited by himself in his Second as written to the same End and was written in the same Spirit
guide and a Light to Davids Paths was not the outward Letter only of Moses Law for Moses Scriptures and Writings and Davids too did only Testifie of it Deut 30. 14. 18. Rom. 10.8 Psal. 119. 9105 But the Word that was nigh in the Heart which David had and hid also within him that he might not sin against God Psal. 119. 11. yea no lesse then a Canon that had its compleat Consignation and Bounding for all Truth which was the same then as it is now substanâially to be Tryed by when no more then Moses Five were extant so long before it was enlarged into such a Volume as now the Bible is by adding to the Old Word were the Letter that Word of God that 's the standing Measure I know not what to make of all these Additions to the Word if the Letter be the Word which have been made from Moses downward to this day but matter of Plagues Woes and Reproofs to the Adders of their Writings to the First Writings but this I can say to the Excuse of such as call Moses Five only a compleat Canon and in compleat Authority as a Standard and a Rule and the Word of God and such like full well may Five or any one Book of Moses or any one Chapter or one Verse never so small in either his or any other Prophets Scripture be so when if wee l believe I. O. when he Lyes every Tittle and Iota of any of these outward Writings is not only Part of the Word but The Word of the Great God as Pag. 168.169 Yea every Apex of it equally Divine and as immediately from God as the Voice wherewith or whereby he spake to or in the Prophets and is therefore accompanied with the same Authority i.e. as the whole is both in it self and unto us Pag. 27. so then every Tittle is no lesse then a compleatly constituted Canon and the whole is no more then so And further as to the New Testament as ye call the Letter of it as there is not the least Evidence that any such thing as the specifying of what and whose Scriptures or Writings the Canon should consist of and what not so can any of you that stand up so stifly for your fancied stable Standard shew us where any Order is given out by Christ or his Apostles to such as should succeed them to take Care to gather up their Writings and Judge and try which of them they thought fit and which not to own as their Rule and Iudge and accordingly digrading the rest to Canonize such as liked them best to submit themselves to the Tryal and Iurisdiction of into the high Names and Authority of the Word of God the Iudge the Rule the standing Canon both to them and all the world and all after Ages of it to the Worlds end Doth 2 Tim 3.13.14 twice at least cited by I O. for fear of failing viz. Ex. 3. S 26.31 prove it And doth 2 Tim. 2.2 which is without either heed or wit urged and by heedlesse I. O. as well as others quoted though mis-quoted in the Margin of Pag. 166. to that purpose prove in the least any such matter If it do then say I am a Dunce if not then see whether they are fit to be Doctors or Teachers in Divinity that by reason of the beam in their eyes cannot behold but divine so darkly besides a businesse that is as clearly contrary to what their brain conceives about it as if it were written with a Sun beam For the words of Paul to Timothy are these viz. The things that thou hast heard of me among many Witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be Able to Teach others also And in the other place these But Evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived and so they do at this day for all their scufling for the Scripture but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them Whence it is by many that would look upon themselves as wronged if not looked upon as learned as hastily concluded as the places are hand-over head alledged That Paul bids Timothy take the Scripture first committed to him by himself and commit it downwards to faithful men that must commit and continue it downwards still to others and so successively to the worlds end as a Common Continual Permanent perpetually remaining Canon and only Standard for all Nations and Spirits Gods and Mans and Doctrines true and false to stand or fall by from thenceforth even for ever Which what a crooked Consequence it is who but Ignoramus can be ignorant whenas if the Scripture had been the subject spoken of there by Paul either it had extended no further then to his own Scripture to Timothy which is but a petty Portion and poor Pittance of Pauls Epistles or if to all the rest of his Epistles then it had been conclusive of that to Laodicea and his first to Corinth and Ephesus which have no being in your Bibles which you say Contains all your Canon and are by T. D. excluded from any Claim to it but in very deed there 's no such thing at all as the Scripture or outward Text there either talkt on or intended but the things Timothy had learn't and heard from Paul by word of mouth as well as writing which though I own to be Truths and Doctrines and things which are evermore according to the Scripture the Spirit from which that was never contradicting it self yet were another thing then the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is the Writing or Scripture it self Paul sayes not those Scriptures which thou hadst of me c. commit to faithful men to make a Standard of but those Doctrines Truths which thou hast heard of me commit and those Truths were concerning the Light which Paul was sent to turn men to and not the Letter for he sayes God made him and the rest Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit Act. 26.18 2 Cor. 3.6 And the Gift of God within Timothy which he bids him stir up 2 Tim. 1.5 Neither did Paul go up and down testifying to the Scriptures as a Standard and telling men which should be the Touchstone and which Scriptures not but the things which were Witnessed to there testifying no other things Quod Essentiam to be believed or done then what were written in and spoken by the Law and the Prophets Acts 24. 14. 26. 22. And those things Timothy heard learned and was assured of from Pauls both Words and Writings As also the things the Thessalonians 2 Thess. 2.15 had delivered to them partly by Pauls Preachings and partly by his Epistles and were accordingly to stand fast and continue in but they were not the bare Bible it self or Writings or Scriptures themselves which were not then by Paul or any bundled up and carried about in a Book to take a Text and Talk out of
purpose howbeit sometimes again I O tells us truly enough that what ever means God appoints to any end it is sufficient thereunto and thereupon not imperfect but perfect and so fearing belike to loose his Word and Doctrine and not knowing any other way all others failing save that of Pen and Inke in his Providence betook himself to that way of Writing which Providence also saw it self concerned to this day to preserve entire Copies to a Tittle of all that Writing much of which yet is lost both to reduce men to a Consideration of it self in that one particular and also that his Word not a jot of which I confesse can ever fail though all Writing in the World come to perish might be secured for ever from perishing and altering by that most alterable and perishing way of Writing which if it should happen to be all lost he had no way to save his Word Doctrine and sacred Truth from dying irrecoverably by a very dreadful and mortal Distemper pag. 314. So seems I.O. summarily to say out of the sacred Secret of Gods Councel which was never with any save such as fear him more then I. O. does whose Position of it Credat Apella So Pag. 14. God by his Providence preserving the whole Text entire suffers lesser variety to fall out in or among the Copies we have for the quickning and exercising our diligence in our search into his Word Reply O nescio quo horrendo percusse Sentomate Whence came this whiffe and whimzy within the Circumference of thy Figmentitious Fancy Who told thee this Toy which thou preachest out for positive Truth Dost thou teach this for a true Doctrine of Christ if so from what Text Or wilt thou own it to be but a meer Tale of thy own a Tradition of I.O. which it thou wilt then own it that in vain thou worshippest God while thou art Teaching for Doctrine thy own Thoughts and the Traditions of thy self or any other men Thou talkest sometime at such a rate as if thou wouldst make all the World believe the variety of our Copies were absolutely none at all no not in the leaft not in one Apex Tittle Iota not in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which how contradictory it is to or consistent with that lesser variety here talk'd on who is so silly save I. O. whos 's own silliness and self Confoundings are never seen by himself as not to see But to let passe that ordinary matter of self-contradiction sifh it s as Common with thee almost as to Talk at all and to take it as it falls Is this the end why God who as thou sayest who knowest not whether thou hast the half or no of what was by Inspiration written preserved the whole entire suffered that variety that is in your Copies to quicken your diligence in your Search into his Word If that be the end as indeed it may well enough be of the total losse of so much of the Letter as there is and non-Integrity nor Indentity of your Transcript Texts that remain that ye should diligently search into his Word it were happy for you that there 's so much variety and uncertainty as there is in your Copies and nere the worse had you none of them at all so ye would betake your selves to the Hearing of the Word of God and the receiving it more immediately and purely from his mouth which the Letter of it tells you is nigh in your own hearts and mouths âo that ye need not go any where ad extra for it that ye may both hear and do it But alas poor men by the Word ye mean the Letter still the External Text or Writing of it and then so far is your so diligent searching and poring and striving and scribling one to another as the Scribes of old did Iob. 5. that never heard the Voice and Word of God it self from being any end of God at all in giving it out at first or in deriving that part of the Scripture ye have down to you whether fully the same with or falsified from the first Copies that he loaths and detests your long Tales about its Tittles and your idle Treating away your pretious time in such Trivial talk as this That the whole Word of God and all saving Doctrine and sacred Truth is lost and fails for ever without Relief Remedy or Recovery if every Tittle of the Text without losse or variation be not upheld and preserved Entire to this day which yet is some not to say the sum of that unsound Doctrine the proof of which is driven on by thee I. O. As in pag. 18. 314. and many other Pages is to be seen throwout thy Book as well as by other Doctors and Divines So Pag 34. speaking of the Scriptures uncontroulably manifesting themselve so to be that on pain of eternal Damnation men are to receive them as the Word of God thou sayst that they afford unto us all the divine Evidence of themselves and that 's none at all as I shall shew anon of their being his Word which God is willing to grant us or can be granted us or is any way needful for us Reply Another odd Conceited saying this is as like thy self who urâerest thy self Doctor-like still as to thy usurped Authoritativenesse but seldom as to the truth of thy Assertions as if it were spit out of thy mouth Who told thee this Vntruth that thou so uncontrollably utterest here for truth that God is not willing to grant more divine evidence of the Scriptures being what thou falsly sayest they are or where they are indeed and that more neither can or need be granted then what the Scriptures themselves do afford sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of the Scripture of thy own head surely or very likely at least and neither from God nor the Spirit nor the Scriptures no nor the Synods nor the Congregational Churches of England to which thou belongest nor the Doctrinal Catechismes of late Divines for these thy brethren though erring with thee in stiling them the Word tell thee of another not humane onely but Divine Testimony or evidence that may be and is needful to be granted and that God is willing to and doth also grant of the Scriptures being what they call it beside that which thou here so absolutely assertest as the onely one that must or can be afforded viz. the Testimony of the Spirit of God in the heart and not that of the Scripture alone concerning itself or of the holy Spirit speaking without us ad extra onely in the Scripture which is the dream wherein thou drawest aside not onely from the truth but also if it were a truth that the Letter is Gâds Word from the joynt Testimony of thy fellow Testifiers to it for they say the Testimony of the Spirit within us also not ãâã ââstimony without uâ and onely in the Scripture divinely evidences the Scripture to be what
ye all falsly say it is that is the Word of God Witnesse not only that so much esteemed Divine in his dayes viz. Ball in his Catechisme but also the Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines presented to the Parliament and that of the Congregationals which is verbatim the same also therewith who all unanimously in that Article of the Scripture wherein they falsely affirm it to be the Word of God declare thus in the fifth head viz. by the heavenlinesse of the matter efficacy of Doctrine majesty of the stile excellency and perfection of the whole it doth abudantly evidence it self to be the Word of God yet notwithstanding our full perswasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof i.e. of the Scripture is from the inward work of the holy Spirit bearing witnesse by and with the word in our hearts But thou in page 90. and thorowout thy fifth chapter of thy first Treatise excludest the witnesse of the Spirit immediately in the heart at all or at least the usefulnesse much more the necessity of any such Testimony making as here page 34. the Authority of God shining in it self alone and exclusively of the spirits and words witnesse in our hearts the sole medium of all that evidence which man can have of its being what ye call it viz. The Word of God but as for God and the Spirit who within do give all the evidence that they give at all of the Scriptures being what in truth is is viz a true writing of the truth what if they are willing to grant an evidence within and to afford more then thou talkst of wilt thou bind limit and forbid them so to so who ãâã unlimitedly here declarest that God is willing to afford and grant no more must not the Spirit blow where it lifts without thy leave or acquainting thee first who art no Prophet with what he will do And this may serve as a sufficient Answer to thy vain Opinion in it it being worth no better to that whole Chapter of thine concerning the Testimony of the Spirit though whether it shall or no so that I 'le say no more to thee about that Chapter is more then I le tell thee here that I may be at liberty to do as I see occasion Only thus much is spoken to that saying of thine above pag. 34. to shew how Majestically still for the eternal Truths of God thou tellest thy own meer trashy untrusty Traditions of which sort I say is that above p. 163 which I am yet in hand with viz. that God probably suffered the losse of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to reduce us to a Consideration of his Care in preserving every Tittle that was in them to this day in the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Copies we have But I O. seems to take another Reason out of the bottomlesse pit of his own infinite Fancy and Imagination why God was as willing to let the first Manuscripts perish as careful to preserve every Apex thereof in their adored Transcripts and successively Crowned and Canonized Copies to this day viz. left if the immediate individual Writings had been preserved men would have been ready to adore them as the Jewes to adore their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their Synagogues Reply Which if it be Cogent or have any Reason at all in it to prove a willingnesse in God to let the first Writings be left hath it not as much to the full to evince God Regardlesnesse of your so copiously regarded Copies upon if there were no other the very self-same Account as he was so carelesse of the other But I. O. is so totally Talpified that as Eagle-eyed as he is abroad to spie a hole in the Iewes Coat he can't see that Iewish Idolatry neerer home For if God to prevent Adoration of that Brazen Serpent and Idolized ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Scripture was so regardlesse of it as to permit it to perish and be brought to nothing is there not as much reason why he should be as Carelesse of your remote tottered Transcripts and false Translations ye are so carkingly careful of as to let what will become of them notwithstanding your uncessant pining and whining and whoring after them and solicitous scoldings and tearings one of another so much about them For as much as though ye Confesse ye have but the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet so it is that ye Adore and even Idolize them as much as ye would or likely could the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã themselves had you them to bustle and busie your minds about and as much as the Iewes though ye advance them the Right way no more then they do theirs as I have told you at large above do their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their Synagogues Suppose ye had here the very Hand writings of Moses and the old Prophets and the individual Letters and Stories that the Evangelists and Apostles pen'd with their own hands yea the very Two Tables of Stone superscribed with Gods own finger which was a Figure and Type of that Hand-writing of his Law in the fleshly Tables of your hearts by his living Spirit the Truth and Anti-type of which ye as little heed as ye heedlesly over-value the other What could you Ministers of the Letter and not the Spirit and your Literal and Formal more then Powerful and truly Spiritual Professours say or do more unlesse you would down on your Knees to them so soon as ever ye see them in way of outward Honour and Adoration thereof then ye do to your falsified Transcripts and your People to the more unspeakably false Translations which they take for Truth but by Tradition and meer implicite Faith from your selves Le ts Reason and Reckon with you here a little while about your Transcripts and Translations which are all that are extant and enjoyed at this day the first by you that have skill in Hebrew and Greek the second by your Independent on God but on their Priests lips dependent People As for the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Memorandum Oh all People by whom these presents shall ever happen to be read I. O. hath quite quitted the World of them Confessing they are all utterly perished and long since past away and lost So that 't is opon Fiction or miracuâous with him for any one to affirm that there 's any one individual Role Writing or Book that was Pen'd by the Holy men that in their several successive Ages wrote the Scripture now alive and not mouldred into dust So that the World hath done with them and they with us so as never to come within our Ocular Inspection more whereby to try whether our Doctors and Divines Adored Transcripts do to a little agree as I. O. absolutely affirms they do with the Touchstone yea or nay so as to believe our own eyes or any otherwise then as I O. who first positively Asserts it doth after as improbly conclude
then forbidden at least hidden fruit from you who what light soever ye have from God yet have not learning enough to let you into an intermedling with the open secrets of their living dead letter as for your Scripture which is but Translation out of theirs hear what they say of it who exalt it far above it self into a participation thy the halves of the same high prerogatives with Theirs and a taste of that glorious Title the Word of God yet so as that it must know it self too and not intrude further into it then they give leave by their right or wrong renditions of it ont of their for ever to be adored right-wrong Copies who in the blinduesse of their busie brains vanity and follishnesse of their thoughts and fleshly wisdom that 's enmity against God and enters no farther into the inside of the Scripture than the Eye-sight of a Mole into a milstone may render it as it seems best to themselves and you Lack lingua's little the wiser and if they give your Scripture an Inch it must take heed of taking an Ell for as there 's a Bit so there 's a Knock if it presume too far it s admitted to be the Word of God with theirs but not on even terms theirs wholly and euery Apex of it yours but by the halues or so far onely as it corresponds with theirs from which if it offer to vary by theirs it must be corrected castigated in order to its amendment in time to come theirs being perfectly the word of God yea every Tittle of it the Living Word of the great God though but transcribed as yours is but translated in the Wisedom Skill and Diligence of men yours imperfectly and perfectly too perfectly or imperfectly according as yours expresse the words sense and meaning of their Origina's so that though it can be counted no Robbery for Theirs which is but the fruit of mans Wisdom Skill and Diligence and as now transcribed was not as is confest received immediately from God to be made Equall with that which was at first received more immediately from him as the fruit of his Wisdom Care and Providence yet its Robbery for yours that comes but as theirs doth through the Skill Wisdom and Diligence of Men and within a small matter as immediately from God as Theirs doth to be equall with Theirs and howbeit they may lawfully without pride set up Their meer Transcriptions so as to make them sir cheek by chole with the first hand-writings and set up their own Altar or Altered Copies of Hebrew and Greek with that higher Altar of God even the Letter or first Copy and set up Mans posts by Gods posts even both the first Manuscripts and their own tottered Transcripts too into an Equallity of Titles Honour Power Perfection Authority Necessity c. with the True living Word of God which the first and truest Scripture that ever was was at best but a true Scripture writing or declaration of yet your Posts and Altars and Scriptures must keep aloof and not come so nigh Theirs as Theirs to Gods without a check By all wch that 's here written in this Apostrophe to you O poor deluded people ye may see what a low condition ye are deprest into till you betake your selves to the light of God within which was before any letter to writing was without which the Scriptures cry up call you to while your Scribes cry it down cry out against it and call you from it ye may see how ye are thrust out with a Pueri sacer est locus extra meijete meddle not here ye Mechanicks ye unlearned Laicks from the lines of their communication by your Fanatical Fantastical high flown haughty Haebricians and greedy Graecians that for filthy lucre take the oversight of or rather over you and that take upon them by force to be your guides before whom you are fain to stand like some poor stupified Peasant before his Prince to whom if the one say but Rex sum sic uolo sic jubeo So I mean to have it the other hath no more to do but ineak away nor to say but Amen so be it nil ultra quaero plebeius It follows then that none but Schollars have the undoubted word of God for people understand not Original tongues nor many Priests the Hebreâ and so though they say Hear the Word of God they have no undoubted Word of God to preach out of it while they take their Texts out of English Bibles So people and blind Priests have no undoubted infallible Rule touchstone to try Truth by for if this he so how is the Scripture as they have it the most perfect Rule to them both people and illiterate Priests must either get Hebrew and Greek or else confesse that they live as much by tradition in England taking things on trust from the Priests without tryall as they do at Rome for what difference between having Scripture no Scripture in the mother tongue when notwithstanding that which is so had men cannot be sure which is the Word of God which not but as the Priests tell them so and if Priests be minded to deceive them they may Translate it to their own turn as they please and people ne're the wiser so make the Scripture as a nose of wax to stand to themselves lead the world by the nose as they have ever done which way soever they will So I confesse I. O. that I see the Scriptures as taken for the Translations set somewhat lower by thee than the first Manuscripts and then your Transcriptions in the place above quoted yet entitled too with the name of the Word of God in part but your Transcriptions to an Apex are equalized with the first Manuscripts and both these elsewhere wholly with the light and living Word It is then the meer Transcripts and neither the first Manuscripts nor Translations that thou talkest so exceeding strictly for the non alteration or non-corruption of in a Title the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being lost out of the world and Translations excluded the lists oâ thy Apologetical vindication of the Scripture in the externall Text thereof in vindication of which Transcriptions of the Hebrew and Greek Texts not appearing at all for the English save quatenus agreeing with the other p. 153.174 thou talkst on Argumentatively as follows Arg. 1. To prove the whole Scripture memorandum of old and new Testament to remain entire to this day without ablation or alteration of it in one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Tittle thou urgest p. 175. the providence of God in taking care of his word which he hath magnified over all his name as the most glorious product of his Wisdom and Goodnesse his great concernment in this world answering his promise to this purpose Rep. This leads the Front of that Ragged Regiment of Arguments which follow it at the heels in p. 175. 176. 177. being no lesse than 12. in number
O's wisedom in this point yet I am not such a fool yet or not so wise or something as to believe him howbeit who e're believes or believes him not in such wise as this aforesaid he talks in effect while p. 12.13 he sayes thus without proof as he does most things according to his own vain thoughts as followes viz. I. O. The Providence of God hath manifested it self no lesse concerned in the preservation of the writings then the doctrine contained in them Rep. Which is a loud one for many Holy Prophets writings are lost but not a Doit of the Doctrine I. O. The writing it self being the product of his own eternall Councel for the preservation of the Doctrine after a sufficient discovery of the insufficiency of all other means for that end and purpose Rep. Which is another for the Doctrine can never perish if every Tittle of the Text should I. O. The malice of Satan hath raged no lesse against the Book than the Truth certained in it Rep. Which is a third For Satan will allow people Bibles and Texts enough to talk of Truth out of so they walk not in Truth I. O. It was no lesse Crime to be Traditor libri then Abnegator fidei Rep. Which is a fourth false Tale for the burning the Book can't murder the faith as having the light does which with it's fellows I have disproved and given Reasons against above and while p. 17.18.19 in answer to Capellus his honest Grants that the Saving Doctrine of the Scripture as to the matter and substance of it in all things of moment is preserved in the Copies of the Original and Translations that do remain J.O. assenting first to it as Truth to the overthrowing of himself as he often does that notwithstanding all the errours and mistakes in the most corrupt Translations yet every necessary saving fundamentall truth is found sufficiently Testified to therein or if he deny that of Translations let him do it and see what a pickle he puts poor people into who upon the account of that denyal will be found not to have all saving Truth in their Bibles he asserts I. O. That 't is not enough to satisfie him that in his doted on Transcribed Copies of the Original the doctrines mentioned are preserved entire every Tittle and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã must come under Care and consideration or else injury is done to the Providence of God towards his Church and care of his word and that it will not be found an easie matter upon a supposition of such corruptions of the Originals in Tittles and points c. as is pleaded for against him to evince unquestionably that the whole saving Doctrine it seâf at first given out from God continues entire and uncorrupt Rep. Oh grosse as if the entirenesse of the eternall Truth that was before all external Text was was now so subjected as to depend on the entirenesse of a tottering Text for its security or else is lost for ever and yet yielded to be preserved entire in Translations that are corrupt in more then Tittles but not possibâe to be kept entire in Transcriptions if any Tittle be mis-transcribed therein I O That the nature of the doctrine is such that there is no other principle and means of its discovery no other Rule or measure of Iudging and determining any thing about or concerning it but onely the writing out of which it is taken Rep. As if the Doctrine comes from the writing when as the writing came from the Truth and Doctrine I. O. It being wholly of divine Revelation and that revelation being exprest onely in that writing Rep. Absit absurdum de quo vere dicitur quod posito uno sequuntur millia As if Revelation were not made more truely clearly distinctly and immediately by the light and Spirit then mediante litera by the mediation of the letter that comes from it in which thou sayst Revelation only is made before which yet the doctrine was revealed I. O. That upon any corruption supposed in the Transcript Copies of the Originall but not the Translations there 's no means of rectifying the Doctrine Rep. No by no means its like as if the Spirit and Light could not now possibly reveal it as easily as at first and as if Truth were not as equally by the Spirit exposed to the understanding of men in all ages as in some and as if pure Revelation were not made now by the light and Spirit of Truth which depends solely on Revelation as it ever did and not on a letter that came from it Thus much to the first of those Scriptures urged by thee I. O. to prove the promise of God to preserve the Scripture even every Tittle of the external Texts in Transcripts not Translations for Ever and the second is like unto it viz Math. 5.18 where though Christ talks of not one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Tittle failing he that shall understand him speaking there of the outward writing and outward Tittles of the Law of it many Tittles and Books of which were lost before that and not of the light it self which is that Law the Letter is but a Copy of and of the word it self that Christ speaks which is that that is heard by his sheep onely in the heart and that comes immediately from his own mouth understands neither what he says nor whereof he affirmes yet in three places I. O. quotes it to evince the Integrity and Identity of every Tittle of the Text as 't was at first viz. p. 13.155.317 The Third is as little alias not one jot not Tittle to I. O's purpose viz. 1 Pet. 1.25 where Peter speaks no more of any outward Texts or Transcripts then if he had said nothing at all nor of such a corrupting thing as Manuscripts Texts and Transcripts Titles and dead Letters are but of the incorruptible seed the Word of God that liveth and endureth for ever ver 23. Even the word of the Gospel which was that word of faith Paul also writes of Rom. 10.8 which was preached by the Apostles and Testified to by them and their Scripture and Moses Scripture Deut. 30.14 and all outward Scripture that its nigh within in the heart and mouth The Fourth viz. 1 Cor. 11. no verse of which is quoted is so far from adding a cubit to I. O's cause about the Scripture that there 's no mention made of any Scripture at all thoroughout the whole Chapter so that what verse he should infer or scrue any thing from to evince the Scripture to be entire to a Tittle I can't imagine Paul tells of things he had delivered to them before which-whether it were by word of Mouth or Epistle he intimates not there but whether it were by Orall preaching or writing is much at one to I. O. for if by writing which serves I O. most yet he means not the writing it self or Epistle but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the things he delivered as he
his Transcripts and Greek and Hebrew Copies and the absolute integrity thereof to a Tittle that the sole and final dissolution determination and discovery of all saving doctrine and distinct discerning and knowledge of all sacred Truth from cunningly devised fables does dââârd âholly and alone upon the outward Greek and Hebrew writing and Scripture of it and that so necessarily and eternally that upon any corruption supposed therein that Truth Doctrine can't unquestionably be supposed to cââââue entire and uncorrupt but must be consequently supposed to be without any other principle means rule or measure of judging recovering rectifying it and to be for ever âmedilâsly brought to nought p. 18. 68. Shall we think because I O. so thinks and sâlliây supposes so that to suppose corruptions to have befallen his undoubtedly yea confessedly corrupted Copies and the same fate to have befallen the Hebrew and Greek Bible in its Transcribing that hath befallen other Books in theirs is a Plea unreasonable in it self devoid of all reall ground of Truth injurious to the Love and Care of God over his Word and Church in a high degree and an imagination bordering on Atheism asserted on deliberation p 18. 173 Surely the improvidence oscitancy negligence ignorance unskilfulnesse and carelesnesse that may as groundedly be supposed to have been if there was never so much care and diligence in others of them in some of the Scribes that have copied out the Scriptures as well as in some Printers that have printed them and in some Transcribers of Heathen Authors and the non-evidence of any promise of God to take any of the Scripture Transcribers under such a loving Care and Aspect as I.O. ascribes to them and I O's own concession of them being not any of them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã infallible but under possibilities of mistakings and I O's confessions and grants and acknowledgements that known failings have been amongst them and that various Lections are from thence risen 167 169. and that some of those are of importance consisting of superfluity and redundancy of unnecessary and deficiency of necessary words which is destructive to the sense and arising out of Copies apparently corrupted and notoriously corrupted by old Hereticks and many more matters then are fit to repeat o're again do require other thoughts at our hands Shall we think because I.O. so thinks very cogitantly but little cogently to us conjectures that if the Points be mans invention and the Text under alteration as undoubtedly it is and therefore all the Priests Religion who live on the naked Texts and their own Traditions and not the Truth it self is at a losse however that then all is likely immediately utterly and remedilesly to perish for ever viz. Church Word of God Doctrine Truth certainty of the Gospel Gods promise Providence and care of his eternal incorruptible good and acceptabâe mind will and pleasure Life Spirit Light Law yea that all this and much more is little lesse then eternally undone as to our knowledge of them so that God himself can find no other sufficient means having tryed already quoth I.O. the insufficiency of all other before to save all these thing from corrupting but that of a perishing uncertain flexible at mans will fallible changeable meer dead to the light novell corruptible mouâdâing and in its first Manuscripts already long since mou'dred moth eaten and corrupted Letter p. 12. surely the promise of God for the preservation of his word which was before the Letter and will be after it induring for ever so that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one jot or Tittle of it shall never fail what ever become of all the jots and Tittles of the Letter and his Providence Love and Care of his Church of whose faith and obedience that word of his in the heart and not the Letter both was now is and ever will be the onely Rule require other thoughts at our hands p. 173. Shall we think because I.O. faâsly so thinks that such a fallible flexible alterable and corruptible thing as the Letter is by I. O's own confession not in its Translations onely but in the very Original Transcripts which is the onely businesse he is so busie about and so bestirs himself to bustle for is that which can justly claim and supreamly challenge to it self those preheminent Titles excellent properties extraordinary effects peculiar prerogatives marvellous successes c. which I. O attributes thereuunto throwout his first English Treatise and Latine âhesâ also wherein under that glorious name of the Word of God by which yet as by that which he undertakes to prove to be it's proper name he as if not more ordinarily denominates it then by its own and oneây proper name of Scripture he magnifies the Text as to those Hebrew and Greek Copies of it he is pleased to crown as the Canon and set his stamp upon as the Standard while he stigmatizes not onely all Translations as mens own Altars and altered things that must not stand as the Standard by the Posts and high Altar of his said unalterable Copies but other Copies also as novel spurious and noâââiously corrupted above all that hath any being under God insomuch that he cannot likely utter more concerning it in way of exaltation unlesse he should extoll it so far as to stile it God himself So I have done at present with I. O's unprofitable prate about the preciousnesse profitablenesse and divine Original of his high prized possession of the Hebrew punctation and with his peremptory Postâân and absolutely absurd Assertion of the non-corruption of his Canonized Copies of the Original Text to a Tittle which howbeit I have scarce gone above half so far as I might in discovering the deep dotage and folly that is to be found in his mingled management and miserable mangânization of those matters yet I have gone farther by the hall then I should have done considering how far off all such husky chaffy accomplishments as those Pedantick parts of the Letter are from that wherein the Life of God chiefly lyes viz. the Spirit Light and Word that 's nigh in the heart and how little concernment the more substantial parts of the meer outward Text are of thereto in comparison of them much more such Accidentals as the meer figure of the Accents and Vowels But onely that I found I.O. manifesting his foppery so far as to render these Ticklish things of such eminent Tendency to the saving knowledge of all sacred Truth as to give them out to be the most reall Rule stable standard Gospel guides grand ground chief infallible foundation of all in which respect though otherwise it is little lesse then loathsome to me to leave the life I live in the enâoyment of my self with God to meddle so much in such muddy matters yet in service to the Truth and in love to the soules of the Schoolmen and Scribes that they may see the sandy fickle fâundation they build and
true participation of the others essential properties or nature so that â like the Fisâ Caepia that being pursued by its adversaries flings a flood of black inky stuff behind it to hide it self from being seen and taken by a blind blending and cloudy confounding of things together which being treated of formaliter and discoursed of divisim each under its own peculiar form and proper name and nature both thy own folly and the falseness of thy propositions should be discovered yea by pidling and pedling and playing fast and loose thou seem'st to puzzle the minds and put out the eyes of such as shall ever prosecute thee for thy rotten principles insomuch that I may truly say of thee what thou untruly utterest concerning the Qua. pag. 69. of thy Latine Tract viz. Quaenam sit horum hominum sententia haud facile quis declarabit c. And so mutatis mutandis turning all thy Verbs out of the 3 d. person Plural into the 2 d. person singular I may safely sing back to thee in thy own words as follows viz. What thy mind J.O. is in this Question Whether the Scripture be the Word of God or no one can hardly declare for besides that thou agreest not with thy self thou dost so foolishly and nauseously prate in the opening of thy mind and meanings and playest about in words of an uncertain and dubious signification and usest for the most part certain forraign phrases containing no sâund sence that can well be understood by any that are well in their wits which are enough either to astonish or bewitch unskilful men so that it 's more easie to confute thy Arguments then conceive thy meaning yea when thy Opinion is so foul and dishonest that if the fair pretences and covers be removed and it distinctly unfolded it sufficiently destroyes it self amongst all honest men that are not openly dishonest endeavouring what thou canst so delude either thou speakest is not out openly or else manglest it to pieces in such a sticht and patcht up forme of speech that can signifie well-nigh nothing at all and so darkening thy Counsel by words without knowledge thou seemest to be afraid of nothing more then least thou shouldst be understood In such wise as this I.O. dost thou proceed in thy present Paper Works that are now under Examination having in thy hast heedlesly uttered forth some faucied high-flown falsities about the bare Letter and meer outside of the Scriptures and every Tittle and transcribed Iota thereof viz. That these are the true spiritual Light and Authoritative Powerful Word of God and such like and after fearing the falshood of such forward expressions from which as most of thy fellow wise men are in the like case who though they are foolish and ignorant enough yet of all things in the world are loath to seem and even abhor to be accounted so to be thou art ashamed totally to recede and recant so as altogether to go back which rather then do when ye are once over Shooes thou and thy generation chuse to be over Boots also thou staggerest and reelest now this way now that and to mend and moderate the rigidity of thy Positions about the Scripture for the saving of thy credits sake as far Salva celâitudinis ac celeberrimae sapientiae tâae gloriâ as is consistent with thy credit another way thou wheelest about and frequently foisting in the Predicate into the place of the Subject and that Term the Word of God in the room where this Term only viz. the Scripture should stand even while thou art but in thy proof of the Scripture to be the Word thou darknest thy counsel by words utterly without knowledge and rendrest thy self ambedextrously and ambiguously that thy Reader may not well read thy meaning in what thou writest nor whether when thou avowest the Scripture to be the Word of God and powerful c. thou intend'st the Scripture it self that one individual thing call'd the Letter or Writing which alone is the very formality of the Scripture or the other individual thing which is not at all the outward Scripture though so called often by thee viz. That Word of which the Scripture only speaketh for one while thou singlest out that grand subject of thy Dispute i. e. the Scripture and setting it apart from the Doctrine Faith Divine Truth and VVord it writes of seemest as if all along thou wouldest discuss the things thou praedicatest of it under that single notion of its being an external Writing apart from the Doctrine and Word of Faith written of therein as Tr. 1 C. 1. S. 12 13. expressing thy self thus viz. not onely the Doctrine in it but the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the very writing writings book it self is so and so thereby leading thy Reader up and down by the Nose up into the air into a high expectation of thy handling the Scripture formally quatenus Scripta as a Writing as written which is the onely subject promised to be treated on and for in the Title pages and of thy proving it as suchâ to be the Word and mighty power of God from whence thou tumblest him down again and frustrating those his former expectations other while conjangletim thou jumblest these two as Synonomaes into one in many such or the like expressions viz. the writing or wârd written the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Doctrine as written and Tr. 1. C. 4. S. 2. the Scripture or written VVord of God and S. 6. Now the Scripture the VVord of God is light the innate Arguments that the Word of God is furnisht withall for its own manifestation contain the full or formal grounds of our answer to that question why we receive the Scripture see how these terms are twisted one into another to be the word of God Tr. 1. C. 4 S. 1. Thus thou usest them so promiscuously as if they being with thee entirely one 't were indifferent and no matter at all which of the two thou expressest thy self by saying sometimes the Scripture is a light a moral and spiritual not a natural Light as Tr. 1 C. 4. S. 8 9. The Scripture makes a proposition of it self as the VVord of God Tr. 1. C. 4. S. 14. for the proof of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures if the Booke be brought to him or them that acknowledge it not c. the VVord there thou goest off again left with them it will evidence it self S. 15. The Scripture it enroll'd among things that are able to evidence themselves S. 16 17. Iâ i.e. the Scripture is absolutely called the Power of God S. 18. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament do abundantly and uncontroulably manifest themselves to be the Word of the living God so that meerly upon that account of their proposal of themselves to us in the Name and Majesty of God as such without contribution of help or assistance from any thing else without themselves we are obliged upon the penalty of
eternal damnation as all are to whom by any means they came or are brought to receive them with that submission of soul which is due to the Word of God T. 1. C. 2. S. 5. The Scripture being brought unto us it doth evidence it self infallibly to our Consciencet to be the Word of the living God T. 1. C. 4. S. 2. If the Question be VVhether the Doctrines proposed to be believed are truths of God or fables we are sent to the Scripture it self and that alone to give the determination T. 1. C. 3. S. 16. Surely men will not say the Scripture hath its power to command in the Name of God from anything but it self T 1. c 2. s. 6. Them that own the Booke whereof we speak to be the Word of God T. 1. c. 3. s. 12. How know we that the Scripture is the Word of God How may others come to be assured thereof the Scripture say we beares testimony to it self that it is the Word of God T. 1. c. 4. s. 31. And in thy two Treatises which treat all along of the Text thou tellest it more loud-lye that every letter and tittle that they were transcribing and to be transcribed of the Old Testament by the Jews was part of the Word nay the Word of the great God wherein the eternal concernment of souls doth lye These and much more ejusdem furfuris are the wayes wherein thy minde makes out it self sometimes sometimes again as if thou wert somewhat sensible of having not a little overshot thy self by thy too too eminent expressions and lofty undertakings for the naked scriptures which can never possibly be made good of them to palliate all thy proud boastings and broad shews and too too ample settings out of a bare body or bulk of Letters and ââward Writings thou drawest thy neck out of the Collar wherein it hung slylie flink'st away and shrinkest back standing like Caesar at Rubicon with one foot over he Dote-fel and the other on this side saying Yet I may go on and by and by Yet I may go back not resolved which way to betake thy self whether to go on in thy high and hasty undertakings for the Scripture upon that old single score of its being but barely Scripture least thy proof should not hold at so high a rate or whether to double thy files by bringing them two both into one again that were sometime sundred viz. the Scripture and the Doctrine or Word of truth it treats of the outward Writing and the Word of Faith within that is written of which could not be made appear consider'd sigillatim or apart to be both of them the Word of God and at last though that be bad enough there being no better way in the sight of one that loving the praise of men more then the praise of God is loath among men to be mock't at as the builder that begins and cannot carry it to an end having another string to thy Bow thou strengthenest thy weake business what thou art able furtively clapping a greater glory light power and honour in respect of titles about that dark dead weak and naked body of the writings then that which considered by it self it can duely and lawfully challenge Notwithstanding thy unwary assertions not onely elsewhere but also Ex. 1. S. 26 27. viz. That scriptura hoc verbi Dei nomen sibi vendicaâ The scripture challengeth this Name of the Word of God unto it self even that of the inward living Word of God it self to which alone all that glory and those glorious Names by right are due and not to the Letter and were due before the Letter was when thou hast laid the true unchangeable inward truth and Word of God instead of the Letter the outward and thy outwardly beloved Changeling and subtilly shrowded it under that name and notion of the Word of God which is the very thing in question and the name to be disputed on whether it be due to it or no and is as much still denied by us as it is by a piece of sophistical thievery taken by thee to be its undoubted right before it be either proved by thee or by us or any but Ignoramus himself granted to theââ Then O come let us sing a new song thou marchest forward again ãâã driving on thy self same Old Dispute concerning a new stol'n different Subject which is now prest to serve as both thy Subject and thy praedicate and to supply the proper place of both which being denominated and praedicated all along of it self all thou sayest of it is most undoubtedly true and uncontroulably thou carryest all clear before thee crying it up to this purpose viz. that of a truth the Word of God is a light the Word of God is living the word of God is perfect of Divine Authority the Word is the most glorious light in the world a shining illuminating light preferr'd abâuâ that of the sun c. the Word of God is furnisht with innate Arguments for its manifestation of it self i e. to be the Word of God There is in the dispensation of the Word an evidence of truth commending it self ââ the consciences of men some receive not this evidence is it for want of Light in the Truth it self No that is a glorious Light that shines into the hearts of men Where-ever the Word comes by what means soever it hath in it self a sufficiency of Light to evidence it self to all that Authority of God its Author Which Authority is with I.O. its power to command as the Word of God The Word makes a sufficient proposition of it self where-e ver it is He that hath the witness of God need not stay for the witness of man for the Witness of God is greater Where-ever the Word is received indeed as it requireth it self to be received and is really assented to at the Word of God it hath its power of manifesting it self so to be from its own innate Light thy VVord is Truth c. s. 14. Thou hast magnified over all thâ Name the Word thou hast spoken the Name of God is all that whereby he makes himself known yet over all this God magnifies âhis Word c. T. 1. C. 4. sect 15. Leave the Word with men and is it evidence not it self unto their consciences it is because they are blinded In all which sentences and many more that might be mentioned there 's no mention of the scriptures by the old true Term of the scriptures though that Name is interwoven too in wel-nigh every page to denote that although the Discourse that is in proof of their being the Word of God is driven on in their behalf under that new Name of the Word of God yet by that word the Word we may know that by I.O. the Scriptures are still intended but as if the sole use of that single Name of Scriptures might prove too weak a term to venture the stress of the whole
saying by which he had once gain-sayed the former returning to his former again Ex. 1. S. 29. where his Latine words Englisht are in this foolish wise viz. to express the sence they conceived of the mind and will of God the words in those tongues in which by the command and ordination of God the Scripture is written were both conceived and disposed by the holy Spirit and not permitted or left to the wisdom and will or arbitrement of the Writers themselves So of this sound piece of round Doctrine of I.O. this is the sum They that wrote the Scripture did not invent chuse or seeke words nor was it left to their minds understandings will wisdoms c. to express the truth yet to go round again they did use words of will or choice their mind and understanding were used in the choice of words yet to go round again to express the will and mind of God the words were not left to the will and wisdom of the writers Let the Reader chuse which of the two contradictory conclusions of I.O. he will take as true yet as one of them is and both cannot be true so true it is that I.O. runs the rounds and contradicts himself here as he doth in twenty places more of his self-consuting Fardel I. O. Thou addest p. 9 10. That in their writing they were not onely on a general account to utter the truth they were made acquainted with all and to speak the things they had heard and seen which was their common Preaching-work but also the very individual words they had received were to be declared And p. 9. quoting Mat. 10.10 That the Apostles were not the Speakers of what they delivered as other men are the Figment and Imagination of whose hearts are the Fountain of all that they speak but the spirit of the Father in them Rep. How hangs this true passage viz. They were to utter the truth they were acquainted withall and write the things they had heard and seen together by the ears with that false passage p. 5 6. Where thou sayest The Stories Laws Doctrines Instructions Promises Prophesies they gave out were not retained in their memories from what they had heard nor by any means before-hand comprehended by them c. What clouds of witnesses be here to the clearing of the Spirit by which thou writest to be a Spirit of self-contradiction 2. Was not their common Preaching-work and their common Writing-work all one as to the choice of Words wherein they declared Were they at liberty when they preached to ramble into words of their own meere will choice and invention and limited when they wrote so that they might not express themselves in such words as in the will and wisdome of God in which they dwelt and liv'd they saw meet for the matter in hand but just tyed to the individual words brought to them as immediately by inspiration as the matter or Word of God it self they wrote of Who acquainted thee with this whimsical non-sensical notion that they in their work of Preaching disposed and ordered their words as in wisdom they saw them acceptable or serviceable but in their work of Writing they might dispose order chuse and in wisdom seek to find out acceptable words but had every Tittle more immediately put into them then when they spake the Truth by word of mouth Dost not thou thy self say p. 9. Mat. 10.10 That the Apostles were not the Speakers of what they delivered but the Spirit in them Whereby the truer that is tthe more clearely thou contradictest thy self again and intimatest no less then thus much that the Spirit as immediately and distinctly brought to them gave and put into their minds and mouths what words they should use when they were speaking as what words they should use when they were Writing So that what ever was their common Preaching-Work and common Writing-Work in both which it 's true enough that they were assisted specially and in both equally by the holy spirit in the wisdom power evidence and demonstration of which speaking in them and moving them who were obedient to him to an active improvement and exercise of their rational faculties minds understandings wills memories thereunto they both preached and wrote 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Cor. 3.12 and so uttered no other truth then they were mostly made acquainted withall by the spirit within themselves and heard and saw by the light within as well as by hear-say and the Writings of one another from without Yet the common Preaching-work and Writing-work of thy self and thy fellow Ministers not of the Light and Spirit but of the Letter out of which ye surtively fetch filch and steal all your stuff and furniture wherewith ye feed people till they starve I say Your Preaching and Writing is of things that ye are not acquainted with from the Spirit of the Father nor from its manifestings the mind of God within you and moving you to utter them in words of his own immediate suggesting and supplying but a certain uttering forth in your own wills and times of what ye have no otherwise then by hearsay or from the Scriptures of those who spake and wrote as mov'd no more then what they both saw and heard and handled of the Word of Life a certain rude handling what ye never felt your selves nor your own hands ever yet handled of that Word of Life ye read others writing of a heedless holding forth of what ye hear not but onely hear of a talkative treating on what Truth ye do not truly taste of an impudent intruding of your selves into a self-ended shewing of what ye have not seen but as at second-hand ye see it shew'd in the Scripture by such as were in the true sight and substantial being of it vainly puffed up in your fleshly minds in which respect ye are no true Ministers nor true Witnesses for God but false Witnesses even when ye testifie the truth which is not yours as well as when ye tell lyes and teach the untruths which are your own as the old Truth stealers and Word-sellers were who though they said because they found it so said by such as felt it The Lord lives which is the truth yet they spake falsely forasmuch as they witnessed him nor risen and alive but murdered stew kill'd and crucified the holy and just one within themselves and spake not as Christ and his did what they knew Ioh. 3.11 and testified not what they had seen but worshipped and worded it about what they knew not Iohn 4.22 And so as a man can't be counted a Legal witness in foro hominum in a civil Court of Judicature among men that shall testifie of another's theft murder and scandal at second hand that is not as an immediate eye or ear-witnesse of it but on his reading in a Letter or hear-say from such as were so so much less in foro Dei Ecclesiae can any be owned as a true Minister of
affirm nor more nor less yet ye own and justifie your selves as owners and deny and judge us as deniers as of of the Scriptures Ye challenge us to dispute it against us that the Scripture is the Word of God the only Rule c. when we meet you before hundreds to that end you confess with us as Christopher Fowler did at Reading T.D. at Sandwich and I.O. doth in his Declartion or Latine Divinity Disputations that you mean not the Scripture formally considered the Letter or Text it self ye talk for not the Writing but the holy matter and doctrine contained held forth testified to therein the Word in the heart of which we say its a Light a Rule denying the letter only so to be yet the same truth when ye tell it is the truth when we tell it as a lye Ye venture upon the open stage against us a vile persons in our Tenets about the Scriptures when ye are there ye verefie the very self-same truth we vindicate against you and say with us the Scripture or Writing which is the formality of the Scripture quae dat esse Rei sormally considered is not the Word nor the Rule nor any thing but a dead letter only the matter and truth of the Text testified to is the Word Rule Light c. as we say it is only Yet when ye go away though from the first to the last ye give us the cause yet we must give you leave or else you will steal it to carry away the colours and boast and brag and vapour as the men that had the victory till by venting your lyes so fast to manifest the Qua. folly ye fling out your own folly to the view of all men T.D. But quoth T.D. p. 30.1 Pamph. All this while you go about to delude the simple as if you denied only this way of writing to have alwayes been the only way of conveyance and you magnifie the Spirit that with more security ye may throw down the letter of the Scripture and if you would speak out plainly that ye call the Spirit will be found to be the dictates of your consciences blinde and corrupt as they are the Lord knows and you are no further bound to obey the letter of the Scripture then you are willing to obey it Rep. As for thy lyes of the friends of truth that light stuff like the chaffe the winde will drive away The Lord knows whose consciences are blind and corrupt yours or ours and as to thy slighting the dictates of conscience which work I.O. is not behinde thee in flouting at what is dictated by the Light of God in it and by the light therein from it to men as Figment Fannaticism Enthusiasm and such like dirty denominations I need refer no further then too I.O. whose magnifications of the dictates of conscience otherwhiles may well serve to the contradiction and confutation of himself and thee too and stop both thy mouth and his own too who âayes pag. 42. â3 44,45 of the conscience and the voice of God therein and the instinct of good and evil and self-judgement God hath placed and indeleably planted therein it declares it self to be from God by its own light and Authority there is no need to convince a man by substantial witnesses that what his conscience speaks it speaks from God whether it bear testimony to the righteousness of God or that obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him it shews the work of the Law written in the heart and discovers its Author in whole name it speaks and much more to the like purpose so that he and thou too may with shame enough reflect upon your ignorant vilifications of it As for our obedience to the Letter we are by the Spirit so bound to that not so far only as we are willing as thou belieât us but in a cross to our own wills that while we walk in the Spirit which is our Rule we cannot disobey the Letter but fulfill it while your selves who prate of your being bound to obey it walk at large after your own wills and lusts in the liberty of your flesh and through your boundless boasting of that ye as boundlesly break do dishonour both God and your selves As for our going about to deceive the simple we deny all Deceivers and Deceit teaching no other Doctrine nor Gospel then what Paul delivered then which whoever it is that brings or broaches another whether it be we who are hated as Devils or you who are honoured as Angels of light from heaven by such as dwell in the depths and darkness of hell I say with Paul let him be accursed but those are now marked and manifested plainly enough who cause the Divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine the Saints learned of old by the children of the day are avoided also for they that are such serve not the Lord Iesus Christ but their own bellies and yet by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18. What T.D. sayes in his second Pamph. as to this question of the Scriptures being a Rule is no new thing but a Reference of men for an answer to G. Whiteheads Queries which he was shye of saying much to seeing he had not much to say to his old trite trivial Toy entituled the Qua. Folly the very book that G. Whitehead had Routed before and so dry is T.D. pumped that most of his two Butter-flyes excepting the wings it flyes with i. e. His Epistle and his Narrative consists of Repetitions of what he had uttered in the other that was Routed and new References of his Reader to that old one notwithstanding so much is added to to this head in p. 16. of his second Pamph. as more fully gives us the cause we contend for against him viz. That the Truth Doctrine Matter and not the Scripture Text or Letter is the Rule to men I must quoth he again refer the Reader for an answer to these Queries meaning G.Ws. to Qua. Folly in which yet none of them are answered and I adde the matter contained in the Scriptures is a Rule to all men so far as t is revealed to them and was so before it was put into writing and so much of it as is written upon the hearts of Heathens is a Rule to them Rep. Minde Reader how T.D. yeelds the Question to the Qua. again in his late last Lazy labours which Question between the Qua and the Priests is not about the holy Doctrine Truth and matter for the Qua. still own that to be as to the substantials before which the shadowy figurative part thereof flyes away everlastingly the same an inalterable fixt firm inward spiritual Word and Light which neither doth not can ever perish corrupt or pass away but about the outward Scripture Writing Text or Letter which uno ore with one voice all our Priests and people vote to be the Rule Touchstone Word c.
which we deny which matter notwithstanding when it comes to the point of proof before people they dare denominate only to be the only Rule and Word denying those high Titles to the naked Letter as well as we crying out with a dreadful ditty against the Qua. in their Pulpits as deniers of the Scriptures the Bible to be the Word of God the Rule c. and when we enter the lifts with them then finding themselves unable to carry it against us falling down before us in confessions to us that it is the Divine truth and matter only contained in the Scripture which is the Rule to all men so far as it that is that Truth and matter is revealed to them as it is here confessed also by T.D. to be to the very Heathen in their hearts that have no Scripture and was so before it was put into writing that is before the Scripture was which seeing it is so confest in the same way as I argued above about the Foundation against I.O. so may I here against T.D. and him both about the Rule viz. Arg. 1. The Rule must be something that is in being before the faith and life that is to be Regulated by it 2. Must be that the Scripture testifies to be the Rule 3. Something that is firm fixt sure stable inflexible infallible inalterable else all the work wrought by a Lesbian Rule a soft waxen measure may be ad infinitum crooked scanty erroneous disorderly in all Dimensions at mens pleasure who may as our Priests mostly do transcribe translate expound rectifie the Scripture according to their crooked conceits and their Antichristian Analogy of faith as they use to speak and not their crooked conceits and false faith according to the true Theology that is plain to godly honest hearted men in the Sâripture wrest their Rule to their own wills self-ends interests and where it likes not their unruly selves to be Ruled by it Run from it or rather Rule over ir as they list But the Light and Spirit and Truth and living Word and holy Doctrine was in being before the faith and life of any man 2. Is testified by the Scripture at is above shewed to be the Rule 3 Is inalserable firm c. and the Scripture it self is already proved and is yet more to be proved not to be so therefore the Light Truth c. not the Scripture Text c. is the Rule Be sides what Ioh. Tombs and Rich. âaxter who must here be wrapt with their own weapon argue falsely against the Lights being the Rule I may truly argue against the Letters being it For page 51. of their Book entituled The true old Light Thus they dispute viz. That which is variable and alterable cannot be a persons Rule for its the property of a Rule to be invariable and the same at all times The Rules Measures and Weights and Dialls and Squares and what other things are made if they be varied they cease to be Rules for Rules should be fixed and certain But there is nothing more variable then mens light in them say they falsely but say I truly then a Letter or Writing without That which is to day say they taken for light is to morrow judged to be darkness and that light which is this day in a person may be lessened to morrow a person may become Fanatick and dote who yesterday was heard with applause therefore each persons light cannot be his Rule so us that at all times he should be bid to look to it as a safe guide as the Qua. do And say I that which is to day Transcribed Translated Interpreted so and in such a sense by some may be through Mis-transcription Mis-translation Mis-interpretation be wrested as a Nose of wax to morrow by others into a clear contrary sense by Transposition of Hebrew letters which in shape and sound are alike either in way of mistake among the most careful Scribes in the world or at the mâer will and pleasure of Criticks who ad libitum may turn the Text into twenty senses one after another as seems good to them witness I.O. himself who as is elswhere shewed in many pages together of his Epistle Dedicatory tells how easie it is so to do yea to turn that one word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the different pointing of it into 8 sundry senses some whereof are clear contrary to each other yea it is but doing so or so saith he and as many various lections arise in the very original Text as a man pleases to make It being so then with the Letter that it is so variable and flexible and contrariwise the Light being fixt firm stable without variation as it is for all their lying of it it 's eternally and unchangeably the same even yesterday to day and for ever as Christ is from whom it comes one and the same in all the Foundation and witness of God which stands sure and keeps its place in the consciences of men let them go whether they will testifying the same truth as Gods witness in all men that it doth in any mân both de jure defacto also never consenting to any evil but condemning it all in all men more or less Therefore say I in consutation of I O. T. D. I.To. and Rich. Baxter out of their own Books the Light Word and Spirit of God within every one may and ought to be every mans Rule so as that at all times he should be bid to look to it and follow it as a guide as the Qua. do But the Text or Letter without however owned as it is by me above to be useful and profitable for men of God that know how to use it cannot be the most perfect stable Standard much less the only infallible Rule and guide of mens faith and life as the blind guides say in words it is though in works they themseves live and walk besides it as much as any Again if the Scriptures be the Rule and not the Light and Spirit then either there was no Rule before the Scripture or else they who lived before the Scripture had one Rule we another and so consequently there are two Rules for the one faith of the one holy Church But all these whimsies are most absurd for then the one Church hath tot regulus quot novas explicationes ejusdem veritaetis as many Rules as particular wayes of Revelation of the truth And T.D. said the Truth was one and that the matter was the Rule before the writing was and I.O. sayes Ex. 4. s. 22. Vnicus est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã divinus the Divine Rule is but one and so say I of the one general Catholick Church or Assembly of the first born from Abel to this day therefore the Light Spirit and not the Scripture is the Rule As for I. Os shallow shuffling off the Lights being the Rule and sleight slinging at it Testaque lutoque with his muddy pellet in that Section
If every mans private light be the Rule of obedience then we have as many Rules as men but the Divine Rule is onely one and that only one quoth he falsely elsewhere is the Scripture Rep. His minor as is said above serves our turn and as for his major its consequence is most false if by the Word private light he means every ones particular measure of light that shines from God into his conscience for that doth not make tot Regulas c. so many men so many Rules for the Light and Spirit which is the only Rule is one and the self-same thing in all distributed to every one as to degrees which never vary the nature of any thing severally as seems good to him And this is but a piece of his own peevish private piece of prate so often as he doth in his Disputes to term the light of God we testifie to as one in all though in different measures lumen privatum the private light for its lumen publicum commune that one publick light that comes and is communicated from God and reproves sin in all men and never did nor doth consent to any iniquity but condemns it in all men and all men as found in sin and were I.O. as well skilled in the Scripture as he is in the way of unskilful scribling for it and would once learn of Paul whom he often prates on he would have learnt ere this time with him to stile the light in all the different measures of it attained to by men to be but one Rule one thing still and not to say that if every man minde the light in himself then so many men so many Rules which Apostle Phil. 3 15 16. saith Whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us minde the same thing And as to T.Ds. saying That so much of the matter contained in the Scripture as is written upon the hearts of the Heatbens is a Rule to them I very readily grant that to be the very truth but what will T.D. get by it but 1. The glory of his granting to the Qua. that other Grand Question about which he quarrels with them viz the being of a measure of the same matter and not naââral as man is in statu corrupto but supernatural and spiritual light of truth which is contained and testified in the Scripture to be in all men in the world even in the Heathen that have not the Scripture 2. The fuller just censure of a contradicter of himself who by telling the truth herein gainsayes that false Doctrine which he teaches for Truth in another place For here he owns some of the same truth or holy Doctrine declared in the Scripture which himself and I.O. stickle to prove it against such as deny it not for the truth is so though the Text is not that every Tittle and Apex thereof is as equally divine or supernatural and entirely given by God himself and as immediately as the very voice wherewith he spake to and in the Prophets See I.O. p. 27.153 and properly the Word of God 24. and the Gospel and a supernatural and spiritual light and such like See I.O. p. 77. and T.D. p. 1 2. of 1. Pamph. and p. 23. of his 2. Pamph. I say here T.D. owns some of that same Matter Light Truth Law or Gospel the letter declares to be written upon the hearts of the Heathens that never had the letter and to be the Rule from God to them But when we affirm as the Scripture doth and T.D. too that every man in the world is enlightned by Christ the true light 1 Joh. 9. with some measure of that Light the Letter speaks of and hath some of that holy divine supernatural spiritual truth doctrine and Evangelical matter which the whole Scripture either more obscurely or more clearly declares then he denies it asserting the Gentiles or Heathens to have none of those Judgements that God gave to Israel and as T.D. to the contradiction of himself so I O Christus nullâ sub consideratione lumen salutare omnibus stngulis hominibus du sit Ex. 4. s. 17. Christ hath in no kind vouchsafed saving Light to all and every man One ignorant untrue Assertion more of T.D. while my eye is on it I may not here let pass without notifying it to the Reader and then for ought I see I may leave T.D. as to his talk of the Scriptures being in the nature or office or authority of a Rule and see what I.O. sayes as to this T.D. sayes p. 17. of his 2. Pamph. Suppose we had the signs recorded that are not written yet were they not our Rule yet confesses that were they written they might be useful being done for the very same end with those lest us G. W. telling him he contradicts himself in so saying T.D. answers he is not sensible of any contradiction herein but of subordination only between the efficient and instrumental cause That the second creation doth not exclude though the first did instruments or second causes instancing Iam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us by the Word of truth And Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rep. To which say I T.D. is not so little sensible of the contradiction G.W. charges him with as every understanding Reader may be greatly sensible of the flat falshood that is told for truth in this latter clause wherein he asserts the first creation did exclude second causes or instruments though the second doth not whereas if T.D. had not been in a Dream he would have seen that the first Creation is so far from excluding instruments or second causes if that be an instrument or second cause which himself instances to be one in the second Creation viz. The Word of God for as the Scripture sayes that the Saints are begotten to God and faith by the Word of God so it sayes but that our Scriblers for the Scriptures are little skill'd in it and so study it in their dark minds till they cannot see what who is not blinde cannot easily over-look Heb. 11.3 2 Pet. 3.5.7 By faith we understand in plurali the worlds were framed by the Word of God and that by the Word of God the heavens and earth were of old and the heavens and earth that now are by the same Word are kept in store and reserved to fire against the day of Judgement and perdition of ungodly men You had need be ashamed to pretend to be such appearers in publick pro Scripturis that appear so much in your testimony so flatly against them as ye do Now as to J. Os. prosecution of the proof of this matter which he so often over and over again avouches as a truth with divine faith to be imbraced on pain and peril of eternal ruine and damnation viz That the Scriptures are in the Authority of the only and perfect Rule and Canon since the compleating
and sure then either the greatest miracle that ever was or immediate voice that ever God himself spake by from heaven and to be the sole Rule and determiner of all Doctrines whether they be Truths or but cunningly devised fables which two Texts together with Isa. 8.20 how little they evince any such matter and what is meant in them by Moses and the Prophets and by that sure World of Prophesie which thou and thy fellows foolishly affirm to be the Scriptures I shall God willing take occasion to examine anon Three of thy main inartificial Arguments as thou truly callest them p. 50 51 52 56. or Testimonies to thy untruth being by the head and shoulders without either sense or reason wrested from them Again it is true the Bereans did search the Scriptures whether the things were so as the Apostles spake who spake nothing but summarily substantially the same which Moses and the Prophets did say should come but what though they did so of their own accord and their searching was succesful and useful also to the fortifying of the faith they had in the World of Truth which they received readily not as the word of man but of God not as fables but as truth it coming to them as to the Thessalonians not in word only but in power and the holy Spirit and in much assurance 1 Thes. 1.5 must it needs follow therefore that the Scriptures were their only Rule of determining the Doctrines whether they were truths or fables the Word of God or the word of man and that their faith and owning that truth was à priori first originally and immediately founded as thou preachest all faith and repentance must be page 58.64 on the Scriptures so that if they had not first searched the Scriptures and there found a congruity of the things with the old Writing they neither would nor could have beleeved or received the truth thus thou and most of thy faternity foolishly fancy but look again and ye will finde it far otherwise for howbeit they searched the Scriptures and did commendably and nobly therein and were commended as more noble in that then they of Thessalonica who yet are commended as noble excellent and exemplary as the other in receiving the Word in much affliction with joy as Gods and not mans word though it seems not so serious in searching the Scriptures as these 1 Thess. 1.5 6 7 8. and were not a little confirmed in their faith begotten before yet they first received the Word with all readiness of minde as hundreds do at ths day as preacht to them by word of mouth from the Apostles the witness of God being reached and answering to the truth of it in their hearts in which they were noble as Thessalonica was yet more noble by how much they were unwearied and uncessans in seeking to be more and more gradually and groundedly growing in fuller assurance of the truth as many are at this day who first beleeving and receiving the Word with joy and readiness do not sleight as ye suppose but à posteriori being in the faith Timothy more seriously and singly then your selves see into the Scriptures that being already brought into the things the Scriptures write of through patience and comfort thereof have hope according to that other Scripture of thy coating Rom. 15.4 as yourselves cannot have any more then the Scribes who stand studying and sraping with your own Animal understandings before ye are ceme to walk in the Light and Spirit they witness too and came from But what 's all this more then just nothing at all to prove the Scripture to be the only standing Rule of Faith and Life which is asserted of it to the evincing it to be the Word Nay if your eyes were in your head ye might see of your selves O ye Studentall more than truly Prudential searchers of the Scriptures that the Word the Apostles preached and the Scripture which we confess truly testifies thereof are two distinct things and in no wise one and same individual as ye would make them if ye look no farther then the present Text in hand for in that he sayes they received THE WORD with all readiness of minde and searched the SCRIPTVRE whether the things were so it imports to any but the blind searchers of the Scripture that the word they received was one thing and the Scripture they searched about the truth of it was another Again it is true and not to be denied but Apollo an eloquent Iew was from his being well versed therein before he came to own the Light mighty in the Scripture and learned in the Letter so as mightily to confound the Gospel gain saying Iews thereby when once he came to obey it himself though yet there was a tradesman and his wife further grounded in the Gospel and learned in the light than himself who was beyond them in the Letter of whom he was not ashamed as our Vniversities Literatists are at this day to learn of women that know more of Gospel mysteries than they do to stoop to be instructed in the way of God more perfectly but how little this proves the Scripture to be the only standing Rule for which end I.O. cites it he that is blinde cannot see but others cannot chuse when as he that was so well skilled in the Scripture had that been the only Rule that he could have instructed Aquila and Priscilla about the Letter with which suo sejugulaus gladio he slew the Letter-learned Iews as it were with their own sword was not so clear in his understanding of the Truth Way Gospel Spirit Word and Light of God which is indeed the only standing inalterable Rule for ever as it ever was but that he had need to be Regulated and Rectified therein by such as in meer Scripture all knowledge were as inferiour as they were superior to him in spiritual understanding Moreover what makes it to the proof of the Scripture to be the only standing Rule exclusively of the Light and Spirit that Paul sayes to write the same things to the Philippians by which its questionable whether he ãâ¦ã something to them before which is lost and not bound up in your Bibles nor canoniz'd into your Canon was safe for them As much as if he had said nothing at all for nothing at all is that to I. O's purpose nor yet that of Iohn saying These things I write unto you that your joy may be full which J O. cites to the same end And true it is Christ expounded the Scriptures to his Disciples as he did also his own Parables that he uttered by word of mouth amongst them and the mixt multitude togeâher and opened their understandings also as he does theirs that walk in his light that they might understand them but where is the immediate cogent consequence from hence to the conscience of any that the Letter or Scripture is the onely most perfect standing Rule of all Faith Truth holy life
Doctrine Divine Worship c. as I.O. states it to be and T.D. also exclusively of the internal Light Word Spirit c. And what though we should grant you that Christ sayes to the Scribes Search the Scriptures Well he might for they testifie of him as the life whom they never came to for it who if they had known either the Scriptures aright they so search't in and scribled about or the Power of God they could not have erred from the knowledge of him in his Light as they did Matth. 22.29 We say the same to you Schollars that think you study and know the Scriptures more then any men as Christ to them and as I.O. to all by way of command whereas some can't read it in his Title-page to flourish his Frontispiece and vent his vindication pro Scripturis more then ought else ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Search the Scriptures for they testifie of Christ the Light the Word that Spirit Way Life Truth we talk of they send ye to the same Light and inward Word in the heart as the Rule to walk by as the Qua. do and as Christ said of them Ioh. 5.46 47. having told them they needed no other to accuse them then Moses in whom they trusted Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his Writings how should ye believe my word So say I of you Ye need no other witness against you though ye have another even the Light within which ye despise then the Letter in which ye trust for did you believe the Letter ye would believe in the Light for it writes of the Light the Qua. call ye to and write of but if ye believe not the Writing ye so write for how shall ye believe in the light Howbeit when all 's done as the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being both the Indicative and Imperative Mood will as well bear it so the Context doth much more clear it that the Verb is rather indicative of their doting doings then imperasive of their duty and is rather to be rendred ye search then search ye the Scripture and contains rather matter of condemnation of them for that profitable deal of Do they made in their busie minds about the outward Scriptures while in the mean time they heeded not Gods own voice nor regarded the inward words abiding in them then either commendation of their great fruitless pains that way or commendation of the Scripture to them to search or commandment of them who were too mad already for the Scripture as their grand Idol receiving it as thou faist p. 236. with the honour and veneration due to God and his living word alone to search therein Yea verily both that verse and those about it do all consist of matter of sad complaint against them for their ever-reverencing the Scripture and negecting to receive or rather refusing and rejecting the Word of Life it self to any single eye ye have saith Christ to them of the Father neither hear his voice at any time nor seen his shepe Joh. 47. and 38. Ye have not his word abiding in you vers 39. Ye search the Scriptures ye look there often for in them ye think but mistake your selves to have eternal life and true enough they are they which testifie of me as the way to life and yet ye will not come to me that ye might have the life On this wise doth Christ rather expostulate with them for their ignorance and negligence of the Word then either command or commend any searchings of the Scriptures And as to the second Classis of Texts cited by the J.O. in proof of the Scriptures being the only standing Rule in which Texts all additions whatsoever to the written Word of God are expresly rejected I answer what though God doth reprove condemn threaten to plague and curse such as adde to his Word bring any other Gospel then what Paul preached make void his Commands by their Traditions enjoyn men to seek not to such as peep and mutter but to the Lord himself Paul would not have the Corinthians think of him and Apollo above what he writes of himself and him as men only by whom as means they beleeved which is the summe of the seven Scriptures by thee produced to that purpose what proof at all is there in all this such a way it is true enough there must be no adding to the Word Gospel Commandement Testimony of God or alterings or varyings or detractings therefrom in a tittle but is any of this intended of the outward Writing Letter or Scripture which are not that Word Gospel Commandement but only declare this and other things concerning it Is the Scripture that only set firm fixt standing Rule that may neither be augmented nor diminished on pain of Plagues and cursing as ye say it is then tell me 1. How much Scripture or Writing hath been added to the five Books of Moses since Deut. 4.2.12.32 was written wherein it is said Ye shall not adde to the word I command you neither shall you diminish from it and since that of Prov. 30.6 was written where it is said Adde thou not unto his Word lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar And since Isa. 8.20 where it is said To the Law and Testimony And since that Gal. 1.8 where it is said Let him be accursed that brings other then we have preacht though we or an Angel from heaven 2. Whether were the Prophets and Apostles that have added so many books since those prohibitions justly reproveable and accursed as Lyars 3. If ye say nay they were not lyars nor to be reproved nor accursed then tell me as to the measure and bounds and close of your Canon which ye suppose to be the Revelation why he that by the same Spirit moving shall in writing reveal the same truths now is accursed reproved plagued for adding to the Word and Gospel upon the account of Johns saying Rev. 22.18 If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke any more then Iohn himself who added his Scripture and Revelation after Pauls Epistle to the Galathians or Paul who added his Scriptures after Isaiahs or Isaiah and the other Prophets who added theirs after Solomon or Solomon that added his Writings after ââsâs hiâ inhibition in Deuteronomy 2. Beleeve it that the Scripture is not that thing nor standing Rule to which no more must be added and from which no new Scripture may be diminished on pain of cursing and plagues but the Word Doctrine Gospel Commandement Law Truth told in it to which cursed be he that addes another or any new Word Gospel Doctrines c. or detracts a Tittle from that And so John sayes If any adde to these things and take away from the words of this Book God shall adde plagues and take away his part out of the book of life and from
teeth and tongue are in his mouth and I should Reply t is a mistake for that which is in the mouth of a man is not within but without him T.D. would suppose me to be some Monstrous Simpleton and a doer of the said man no little wrong in making no less then a Monster of him by saying his teeth and his tongue are all ad extra without him when they are no otherwise then other mens are al orderly within his mouth but I must take this of his who sayes the word is said to be without a man while it iâ said to be in his mouth for the voice of wisdome from him or else the Qua. folly will not be manifested to all men by it but much more of his own then all theirs amounts to And so as wise as he is in his own generation byond the children of Light I shall think my think of this to my self and to let it pass with no more then this notice by the way to the Reader 1. That as the word is in the heart shewing good and evil thoughts there searching and separating between the precious and the vile which is the work of the Word and Mouth of God there Ier. 15.19 so it is in the mouth distinguishing between the good and evil words there in the particular persons in whose mouthes it s planted and put for that purpose first according to the promise Isa. 59. ult My word which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor of the mouth of thy seeds seed for ever from out of the mouth of which Seed of God the righteous Race which are mostly babes and sucklings to the wise and Disputeâs of this world Psal. 8.2 Mat. 11.25 It is secondarily to go forth as the strength of the Lords ordaining against the enemy in the latter dayes Jer. 1.9 2. That it is no news to me now that T.D. sayes in the mouth is without which was somewhat strange to me at first till I was acquainted with his quaint and coyn'd kinde of distinctions and sinister senses and many uncâuth meanings that he puts upon Scripture phrases wherewith to blinde people from being begotten into true wisdome by that which he calls the Qua. Folly for t is his usual manner of expounding and the ordinary meaning that he gives to these two terms In and Out to say by within is meant without and by without within for as he counts the righteousness of Cârists person without us to be in us to our justification whilst not inherent in us but in him only So the righteousness wrought and fulfilled in us by his power and Spirit not to be in us but without in his Person only for Rom. 8.4 in us quoth he imports not in out persons but in Christ p. 17. 1. Pamph. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which he thought had been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 17.22 by in you in among you without p. 5.1 Pamph. and so I.O. will have to be expounded in that place to avoid the dint of that Doctrine of the Qua who tell of a Kingdome and righteousness within men that are not in it which he confesses is used but in one more place in all the New Testament as he calls the new Letter of it viz. Matth. 23.26 and there it s used for the inside of a Vessel Cup or Platter by Christ saying to the blinde Pharisees first cleanse the inside that the outsiâe may be clean also yet in Luke 17. it seems quoth he to be used in the same sense as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so making it thus the Kingdom of God ad vos pervenis is come to you a T.D. does within in effect to signifie without Ex. 3.5.47 and so in the place in hand in the mouth is without quoth T. D. which fine new-fangled way of Respondency to an opponent urging otherwise an irresistible Truth I should never have learnt had I not met with these two Sophistical Shufflers howbeit now I hâve learnt their wonted way of winding away from plain truth I shall tâeâeby learn at least to avoid it turn from it and pass away but shall never learn how to walk in it it is so crooked unless I mean to leave the good way of uprightness to walk in the wayes of darkness Now as to I.O. though often he puts a difference between the Writing and the Doctrine and sayes the Scriptura formaliter or litera scripta is one thing and the materia or veritas scripta is another yet rather then he will give the Question to the Qua. who care not whether he doth or no which Question as is shewed above he is not ashamed basely to beg he will distemper and conjumble all that together again into one Chaos or lump of confusion which he had once orderly set asunder and therefore drives on in gross without dividing between the Scripture Writing Letter or Text and the Word Doctrine Light or Truth that 's written of and earnestly endeavouring to blend all these into one And though for haste jumbling and posting on he gets many a stumble by the way whereby he layes himself on the ground yet up again he gets and on he goes though haltingly never heeding how he interfears nor feels how he often hacks and cuts one leg against the other hoping that so long as he stands not still nor gives quite out nor lyes flat he rids ground as well while he stumbles on as when he seems to slide away more smoothly but his blinde blunderingâ in which he thinks he posts on unseen are noted and seen by such as are not far behinde him who finde him full of flâws altering often where he himself supposes his work is most firm and what ever he thinks of it himself yet to every understanding Reader he little lesâ then gives the cause in effect not onely in other places agâinst his will and unawares to himseâf but also in p. 71. where is a passage that while it here presents it self to me I must take notice of lest I let it pass altogether and finde not a fitter place hereafter to observe it in J O. It is the Writing quoth he it self it now supplies the roome and place of the persons in and by whom God originally spake to men as were the persons speaking of old so are the Writings now it was the Word spâken that was to be beleeved yet as spoken by them from God and it s now the word written that is to bee beleeved yet as written by the command and appointment of God Rep. all this I grant to be very true but tending to the overturning of J.Os. own cause and purpose in it which is to prove the Scripture or writing to be the Word of God and to the confirming of the Qua. cause who against him deny that assertion for the Word spoken and written even as spoken and written by Gods appointment is that which we say is still within the
prove that general ignorant audacious Assertion of thine Doth any one of them respectively prove the particulars thereof that it is particularly alleadged to Doth Gal. 1.8 because it is said If we or any man or Angel from heaven bring any other Gospel then what we have preached to you twice over let him be accursed prove him cursed that writes more Scriptures of the same Gospel by the same Spirit if so was not Iohn hereupon accursed that wrote more Scriptures of it after Paul was dead by a new Revelation not the same and was not Paul if he wrote any Epistle after to Galatia cursed out of his own mouth by saying though wee bring any other Gospel let us be accursed if that were his meaning ' that no more Scripture must be written is every new Revelation and new writing by way of Revelation of the old Gospel a new Gospel or doth Rev. 22.18 prove there must be no more Scripture nor Revelation within nor new outward Scripture and Revelation of the Gospel by motion from the Spirit after by Iohn because he saith If any shall adde to the words of this Booke God will adde the plagues of it to him Said he therein any more then what was said long before Deut. 4.2.12 ulz. Prov. 30.6 Adde thou not to his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar were all those adders to Gods Word or words and reprobate and liars as they must be if the Scriptures bee Gods Word and the adding of more Scripture be additament to his Word that added all that Scripture which was written after Deuteronomy and the Proverbs and if the Scripture were the Word of God is not taking away his name out of the Book of Life threatned to him that takes away from the words of that Book as well as plagues to him that addes and so ye in that ye discanonize most of what was writ there by the Prophets are discarded from the comforts of the Scripture by the places of you own quotation Doth Col. 2.18 twice over cited and allowed two votes in this Section vote either of those particulars it is cited for Doth the Spirit there condemn Angelorum alloquia alias called by thee Colloquia Angelica s. 28. all conference with Angels or only that worshipping of Angels forbid more expresly as I hinted to thee before in Rev. 19.10.22.9 where I also told thee of the lawfulness of talking with Angels or receiving of Revelation of the truth from Angels unless thou wilt Tax such as received the Law which was given by the disposition of Angels and Daniel and Mary and Zachary Cornelius and Paul and Iohn that wrote the Revelation and Christ himself who all were spoke to and ministred to by Angels were these all guilty of sin and condemnation Look again I.O. on the words in English which thou Greekest out perhaps to the further hoodwinking of Idiots that ken not Greek lest they should finde out thy folly who settest it for a Cypher if rendred in plain Latine which to give thee the reading as they stand in your Translations run thus Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility or worshipping of Angels Is the talking of Angels to men here deeply damned by the Spirit of God as thou dreamest And 2. what 's that Text to prove there must be on pain of cursing no additament of more Scripture or Writing to that Scripture that is in your Bibles with pretence of immediate Revelation of the same Doctrine Truth or Gospel there taught from the same inward Light and holy Spirit which is the second purpose for which it s cited a second time And again as to Heb. 1.2.4 cited Heb. 1.1 3. for thus thou citest that twice to the 2. same purposes with Col. 2. what hath that in it to the evincing the Spirits damning of either all talk with Angels or addition of more Scripture thereof from the Revelation motion or inspiration of the same holy Spirit to that Scripture of the Truth that is now truss'd up as the close of the whole Councel of God that ever must be declared in writing or counted upon as part of your Canon according to the Clergies Councel who first caused that consignation of it by Book-binders within the bounds of your Bibles thus run the words God who at sundry times and in diverse maners spake in times past the Fathers to the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us in his Son who is better then the Angels c. Must not his eyes be out that sees any such things hinted at here as those above the proof of which I.O. intends by this quotation Because Angels are here named inferiour unto Christ therefore Anathematized is he that hears or heeds any thing that shall be spoken to him by an Angel though he reveal the same Truth and not another seeing that truth is already written in the Scripture yea cursed be hee from henceforth even for ever there 's one of I.Os. Concâusions who consequently concludes Iohn accursed that wrote the Revelation from thenceforth even after this of Paul to the Colossians and the Hebrews were written from whence forward I.O. drives his execration downward to this day sith the said Iohn had his Revelation immediately from an Angel by whom Christ who had it from the Father sent and signified it to his servant Iohn Rev. â 1 And because Christ is better then the Angels and God in these last dayes speaks in and by him his only begotten Son the light of the world the great Shepherd and Over-seer of the soul whose own voice his Sheep hear warning all to hear him to hear his voice in all things what ever he sayes on pain of being cut off from among his people therefore the Scripture must have no more writing though of the same truth that is there added to it on pain of damnation for ever there 's the t'other of I.Os. Conclusions from Heb. 1. from which Conclusion I can much more clearly conclude that a cloud of darkness is drawn over I.Os. understanding and that a beam is in his eye then draw such an untruth as that no more Scripture since Iohns time was to be written by the holy Spirits moving and added to that from that Text which tells the truth if I.O. would once heed it viz. that the hour now is wherein God speaks to the Sons of men in and by his own Son whom he hath given to be a Light and Leader to all people wherein the dead must hear his voice before ever they live to God who since God speaks by him and hee by his own light Spirit Voice in I.Os. conscience why doth not I.O. heed him then but scoffe at him in his inward Light and Spirit the Qua. call to as at Christum quendam Imaginarium infallibilem Doctorem nescio quod lumen scu verbum internum nescio quem Deum seu ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Deoforsan quopiam
eyes and stumble at noon-day as in the night is not a mist upon thee already from the hand of the Lord so that thou seest not the Sun as it was on the false Prophet Act. 13.6.10 11 12. that sought to turn away the Deputy from the faith and from beleeving in the Doctrine of the Lord which yet he could not do by all his mischievous subtilty and to pervert the right wayes of the Lord And now thou hast brought mee upon that Text 1 Iob. 4.1 't is true hee bids the Saints not beleeve every Spirit but try the Spirits for many false Spirits and Prophets were then abroad and as Christ said Matth. 24. there should in the last time come false Prophets false Christs Antichrists even so witness Iohn here and also 1 Iob. 2.18 they did come and were even then already in the world and have multiplied since then into a number numberless and spawned themselves over the face of the whole Europian earth and more so that all Cities Countries Vniversities so called Parishes through Christendome are even overflowed therewith the more shame for them that cannot see Wood for Trees and how Christ is now coming to consume the Antichristian locusts of all sorts where they swarm with the Spirit of his mouth and brightness of his coming in Myriads of his Saints Iud. 14. but rather dream they are now newly rising out of the bottomless pit so I.O. Ex. 3. s. 19. and so mistake the true Prophets to be them who rather are armed with the Light and standing up in the might and power of the Lord against them But let me ask thee I.O. what were they to try the Spirits and the Prophets by was it the Letter or the Light the Scripture or the Spirit of God it self which of these two is the Rule or touchstone of trial which is the Iudge that must give the resolution in whose sentence there must ultimately be a resting and undoubted discerning what Spirit or Prophet is of God and speaks truth and what is false and comes with cunningly devised fables I know thou sayest p. 67 68. the Scripture and that alone we are sent to in this case to give the determination but saving thy single say so there is no evidence of any such matter either in this Text or any other t is not denied by me but the Scriptures may bee searcht and that that which is of God contradicts not them So the Bereâââ did who are commended for receiving the Word first as it was spoken ãâã readiness of minde and recorded as searching the Scriptures also but that on the account of which they beleeved the doctrine before they lookt into the Letter was the Light in their own hearts whereby then very conscience could witness it to be the truth it answering to that of God in them as face to face in a glass and not the Letter without for being lookt on without the Light and Spirit of God it came from that gives to see into the mystery of it to say nothing here how the Light and Spirit within only gives to know the Letter to be more of God then the Iewish Talmud or the Turkish Alcoran the Scripture answering to the eternall unchangeable infallible light of God in the conscience then those Fables do the Letter would have further blinded them from all beleef of the truth as it did the old Scribes and doth the new that search it in the darkness of their own understandings more then the Bereans did the Letter being but such a History Record and Writing of certain outward things transacted in a ceremonial or temporary figure and Type of some spiritual inward substantial invisible and eternal truth as lookt upon by them that are not in some measure in that Truth it self it in a figure calls to and is the Type of benights the dark minds and prejudices them more against the truth then if they had no outward Letter at all as the Pillar of fire to Israel that were on the inside thereof was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians that were on the backside which is the reason why all sorts of porers on the outside of the Letter and backside of the Bible and Professors as well in separated Assemblies as Parochial of the Letter in the carnal Commandements thereof are further hardned in hatred against the Qua. the children of light who are let and lead by the Spirit and light of him who only opens the seales to his Disciples into the inside of it and into the power of the endless life yea more then very heathens that never heard of any Letter at all for to such as read the Letter any other way but in the Light and Spirit that gave it forth by holy men as Animal men do and therefore discern it not it seems to contradict the things of the Spirit whereupon the Apostles were counted blasphemers of the Truth because they called men into it out of the Types and taught men to forsake Moses Testament that stood in outwards viz. Heb. 9.10 eatings drinkings of flesh bread and wine and divers Baptisms carnal Ordinances outward or in the flesh c. which all had their institution and were in being before Christ crucified who dâ jure put an end to all these by the Sacrifice of himself though de facto used after by permission for a time in regard of peoples weakness at first to bear the total leaving them off for indeed to the lookers for the Kingdome and coming of Christ in outward observations hee that seeks to bring them off from these which decrease to Christ who increases that they may witness him formed and his image brought forth in them seems to such as Paul did to the foolish bewitcht ones of the Galatians that hung in the Letter and stuck short of the Spirit thinking to be made perfect by the Letter and fleshly performances to bee a very enemy both to them and truth and then most when he tells them most of the truth I say then 't is the Spirit and Light and not the Letter by which Doctrines Spirits Prophets true or false are to be tryed neither is the Spirit of God which was before it so to stoop to the Letter as to stand at the Bar before the Letter that is inferâââ ãâã it and came from it but both the Letter and all false Spirits and their speakings and it self and its own also to bee tried judged and determined by the Spirit of God which judges all and is not to be judged by any which as the Light discovers discerns and comprehends the darkness but is not discovered discerned nor comprehended by it nor is this absurd as it may seem to some blinde ones to say the speakings writings doctrines things of Gods Spirit as well as all false Spirits and the things thereof are to bee tried by the Spirit of God it self for as the Sun outward is that which shews both it self and all things and
Peter Paul and the holy men of old wherein is written and transcribed their Witness or Testimony for Iesus which they were moved by his holy Spirit to give out and hold forth whether by word of mouth or writing but the Epistle of Christ written not with inke but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart yea the testimony of Jesus is no less than the Spirit of Prophesie it self Rev. 19.10 and not the writing thou so writest for in which men do but write it and write of it as is shewed above This verbum lumen internum the Word and Light within is that which those that reject it are in that place of Iob 24.13 hinted at by thee called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lights Rebels men resisting the Authority which they cannot but be convinced of and not the present letter or letters of the Scripture as thou dotest p. 74. before the writing of one letter or tittle of which outward letter this inward light was though he that lives not by the light lives not by the letter neither which came from it and excepting where men have sould it with the dirt of their mis-transcriptions and mis-translations agrees with it I wonder how much of that Scripture thou so super-eminently adorest and wouldest have the preheminence in prating for it was written when that in Iob was wâiâing against which men could be said to Rebel tell me if thou canst and in so doing thou perhaps mâyest tell thy self that that was a light within and not a letter without which they then were said to rebel against which letter without as much as thou seemest to wonder at the Qua. for holding the light within in authority equal to it they are not ashamed to set the light above and to say that it is non ejusdem Authoritatis cum Scriptura sea majoris Authoritatis quam Scriptura not in as much but in more Authority then the Scripture neither will all thy Scripture-admiring scrape adde so many cubits to the statute of it as among any but such stocks as stick at nothing but without streining swallow all down for truth that thou tellst them is so to state it in any equality with the light it came from And that the Word we are sent to in Isa. 8. is the living Word and not the dead letter nor mens dead senses thereon interpreting it according to their own private familiar spirits muttering out their own meanings and imposing on people their own cloudy cogitations thereon as Cogent Canons is evident for he calls them off from the dead to the living when they say unto you Seek to them that have familiar spirits and Wizards that peep and mutter should not A people seek to their God for the living to the dead to the Law to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because the morning light is not to him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so it s more truly rendred then thus there 's no lightin them which mis-translation many not knowing the Hebrew and many knowing it not heeding make no little ado against the lights being in all men and to as little purpose for it s no light to him and not no light in him and we know a light may be in a room under a bushel and so not shine out unto it And that by Moses and the Prophets to which Christ directs as the most effectual means of bringing men to repentance and that all faith and repentance is immediately to be grounded on is not meant their meer outward writing it evident for all men that need repentance have not that yea if the Scripture it seâf and that alone be that men are sent to by which the Doctrines to beleeved must be tried whether they be truths of God or fables and upon which all faith and repentance must be grounded what must become of those twenties to one in the world to whom God never vouchsafed so much as a sight of those their Writings if thy Divination from hence I.O. be as true as 't is sure enough to some its but a dream one of these things must be true as concerning such viz. either I. They need no faith nor repentance as they do or 2. They must be accepted with God and saved without either faith or repentance as they cannot or 3. Both beleeve and repent without any ground at all for the doing of either and so build a castle in the aire without any foundation or bottome which how impossible it is or how well it would stand if it were possible so to build it an Idiot may imagine or 4 perish and be damned for ever by and from the living God for not doing that which they had never any ground at all given them from God whereupon to do it and so absit blasphemia be cursed for ever for not acting what they were never put into any capacity to act and absit tibi Domine ne tale quippiam facias exercendo Pharonis tyrannidem absit tibi an non Iudex totiusterrae exerceresjus be sorely beaten for not making as great a tale of brick without any straw at all as would have been expected from them if they had had straw enough and be punisht for not effecting impossibilities But thy faith about that Scripture being but the festisious fruit of thy own fancy and thy Divination from it but the divinity of a divine that dreameth we need not in the dark iun upon any of these ragged Rocks having a more sure way then any of these in the light made so plain before us that unless we chuse so to do as some do we cannot split our selves upon them for as all men having sinned need faith and repentance so they have a more effectual means of bringing them to repentance and a more immediate ground to build their faith and repentance on then the naked outward Writings of Moses and the Prophets which thou here makest the ground of all faith and repentance not mentioning the Apostles as if thou hadst forgot them whose writings thou makest a joynt peece of the foundation in other places p. 33 34. or then the meer outward writings of the Apostles either together with them and that ground is no other but the self-same which the writings of all these bear one joint Testimony unto viz. the measure of Gods grace in every ones heart that teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts such as will learn of it and io live soberly justly and godly in this present world appearing to all men to that end bringing salvation along with it to such as submit to be taught by it 2 Tit. 1.17.14 called the riches of Gods goodness Rom. 2. which such as thou art despise to their own ruine not knowing it s given to lead to repentance the Law Light Doctrine Truth Spirit Word Writing and Testimony of God himself in the heart and conscience
of God is said to be preached published multiplied received which as is shewed more at large above is as non-sensicall as for a man to say that the Lantern though formaliter it be not so but only the light that is contained in it is so doth yet challenge to it self that name of the light as its proper name yet engages himself against the Qua. in vindication of the Word of God to be the proper name of the Scriptures so truly that those are injurious to it and opproââious reproachers of it who will not allow it to be properly called by that glorious title So thou engaging thy self in vindication of the Scriptures to be the Word of God 1 Giving us the Question to have been debated flinkest away into the proof of another matter saying that ye upon the matter contained in the writing which say we is another business the holy truth that is there told and the Light and Word of God Law and Gospel there witnessed to being a thing to distinct from the Scripture of it that as it is now where the letter is not and was two thousand years before the letter was so it will be for ever for its an euerlasting Gospell when the letter of it shall be no more Whether that be your Rule of Faith and Life a matter in no wise denyed by the Qua. if not only by the Scripture ye mean as properly ye cannot do the holy Doctrine Truth Word Light Law Gospell of Christ therein declared to be in some measure at least in the heart of every man preached in every Creature that they may hear and do it but also by thy Term Our Rule of Faith and Life that which de jure ought to be your Rule otherwise if ye say even of that de facto that it is your Rule or in esse actuall that which ye do actually and indeed walk by I deny even that also for howbeit ye should own that also and not the letter and text only as I.O. doth yet so farre are ye from so doing that if thou do not yet at least I.O. both doctrinally and practically denies and damnes it down as a meer nescio quid of the Qua. coyning Moreover much what in the same manner dost thou in the Point of Iustification give us no lesse then the Question as to the Termes wherein it was stated and then startest a new Question in thy Sophisticall sââ it of subtilây which is so familiar with thee that it 's seen by any that are but ââ unculi only in the thing called Dispute by staring and translating the old one under new termes For witness thy own disagreeing counterfeited Account thereof p. 14. 1. Pamph. the new Termes wherein that thou mighest the more easily wrong me by thy wrong Representation of me to the world as a rank Papist and render me suspitious and the more securely write me out as thou doât in the second Page of the lying Narrative of thy second Pamp. under that traducing Title of one suspected to be a Iesuite thou with much ado as thy phrase there is drewest and wrestedst the Quest. into and âayest on thy own head they were slated in were whether Our Good Worâs are the meritorious cause of our Iustification which I hold in the affirmative no further then as by Our good works are meant the good works of God and Christs own working in us by his Spirit which though most truly his are by the Spirit it self vouchsafed that name of Ours witness Isa. 26.12 not as by Ours those only of our own working in our will wisdome and strength are expressed and intended for all such are Our righteousnesses which I who own none of Christs working in us to be so as thou T.D. blasphemously dest if p. 15. and 22. of thy I. Pamp. be rightly soan'd do own to be but durg lâss and filthy rags according to Isa. 64.6 But the true terms of the Quest in which it was stated and debated if we may as sure enough we may believe the joynt testimony of both thy self and those Gentlemen and Ministers in the Margent as in thy Epistle thou stilest them of whom there thou sayest also they are witnesses of the terms of the Questions agreed to by the Qu. before the testimony of thy single double lying self-contradicting self were otherwise witness thy own Relation thereof in thy lying Narrative which hath not any thing at all of that little truth that 's in it more true then this wherein p. 58.1 Pamp. setting all these witnesses viz. Hen. Oxenden Io. Boys Esqs N. Barry T. Selyard C. Nichols Ministers o're against it in the Margin to testifie the truth thereof together with thee thou relatest thus The terms of the third Quest. were Whether Good Works be the meritorious cause of our Iustification which was expresly affirmed by them i.e. by the Qu. in which terms staring the Question without that term Our which is of thy own foisâing in the other place where even thereby on thy own head thou alterest the stare thereof and makest it clearly another Question I affirm it to this very day and ever shall to the faces of any of you as occasion is yet owning no works to be truly good but what are done by the Believers in Christ and his Light and done by Christ and his Power and Spirit whether in their persons or his own who never did evil work in his or without blasphemy in Paul that can be call'd as thou call'st that he wrought in Paul and works in us Pauls own and ours which is but dung less and filthy rags or deserve condemnation or any less then Justification both of himself and his Saints in the sight of God by any good work that ever he wrought either in himself or them And so my Argument a Contrariis ye so ball and squabble with me about was both intended and urged in effect viz. If evil works deserve condemnation then good works no Condemnation alias Iustification but this is true therefore the latter Which question so stated thou T.D. not only affirmest with me For thou neither dost nor daâest deny but that we are justified by the good works of Christ or that any of his worksare not good or are a violation and not a fulfilling of the Law only thou foolishly flamst it off with his good works done ad extra and not ad intra without only and not within us thy folly in which I have largely enough manifested before but also urgest the same thy self P. 15.1 Pamp. thus viz. Evil works which are the violation of the Law d serve Condemnation Ergo Good works that are the fulfilling of the Law deserve Salvation and we know no good works such sayest thou but Christs and so say we too Thus thou givest us that Question also And this G.W. tells thee of and turns upon thee in his Reply to thy first so plainly that thou dost but add to thy shame in thy Reply
wherein he requires it to be done by them as being never possible to be done in that to come if neglected here Yea then the Doctrine of full freedome from sin here is contrary to the Tenour of the Scripture quoth T. D. yea in short no better nor worse then a very doctrine of Devils quoth T. D. and T. Rumsey both in their Book which is so largely answered already in mine above said So then we have the Ministers mind in this poynt tripliciter or rather quadrupliciter at least about the time of the Saints perfect purgation from all sin First It is somewhere that they all confesse at first Secondly 'T is not here in this World cry they that comes too near the Copyhold of the Qua and we would not be ensnared with their beguiling Doctrine Thirdly 'T is not in that to come cry they this puts us poynt blank into the Purgatory of the Pope We must beware of that lest fleeing too farre from the Qua snare we fall into the Papists pit Fourthly 't is not in any World between this and that to come for there 's no such middle World that we know of therefore Fifthly to goe quite round to where we were before we began for Incidit in Seyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim It 's somewhere as we said at first but we know not where which to go round again is as much as to say for ought we know just no-where at all Howbeit some are not so well aware yet of the Traps they talk themselves into thereby but that they will be taking on them precisely to determine where it is when we closely urge them but their Testimony hangs as handsomely and is as well tangled together as the links of a pair of Pothangers where of every one draws a different way from another for some if askt when the full purging is it is say they while the soul is passing between here and heaven after its departed from the body This as A. P. informes me was T. Ds. answer to L.H. when askt at Sandwich in an assembly of many the precise time and period of the perfect purging so making a purgatory after death notwithstanding which it seems is in the aire and therein only different from the Popes which is seigned to be under the earth Others that I have put the Question to say t is a little before the soul departs out of the body to whom when I have redoubled my Query thus if a little before the soul depart why not a little sooner sith before is but before let it be a longer or a lesser while and if a minute why not an how if an hour why not a day and so caeteris paribus the same means attended to why not a month a year and years many as well as few I have received no answer and good reason why because there 's none to give and so we take it for granted from them that it 's before death however as we say if at all though these contradict T.D. who sayes with the Pope it 's after death Others not knowing which to say seeing according to our Argument which is thus viz. perfect purging if at all must be in this World as the Qua say or in that to come as the Pope says who seigns a Purgatory there for the remnant of sins that remain unpurged away here or else in another World betwixt this and that to come which Chimara who ere heard of being now somewhat wary left if they say before the soul go out which is in this World they yield to the Qua and if after it 's gone out which is the World to come they appeare too near a kin to the Pope in his poynt of Purgatory affirme it to be in the very ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or moment or instant of the souls departure which is not in tempore it seems not in any time at all but in instanti and so sith Instans non est Tempus but as it were punctum temporis the instant being but a poynt of time and not properly Time it self it seems that Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in aevo That happens in a poynt of time which could never be so much as hoped to he attained in all the life time before Thus the Divines dance between this world and that to come not knowing yet where Purgatory is nor daring to say distinctly one thing nor other whether here or hereafter in this World or that hovering like Caesar at Rubicon with one foot over the dore sell t' other on this side one in t'other out one in that World t'other in this World saying with him yet I may go on and when afraid yet I may go back So 't is Somtimes one way then another Somtimes both wayes the and t'other Somtimes one o' th' two take either Somtimes 'twixt both worlds in neither Some say 't' si'th ' aire some say 't's i' th' earth Of knowledge where 't is there 's a dearth Some say 't's here there some some O Riddle Nor here nor there but just i' th' middle Contradictions and various self-confutations absurdities riddles and rounds about their Rule of Scriptures V. As to their Doctrine about the Scripture or Letters and not the spirit and lights being the Word of God the fixt firme foundation stable standard truest touchstone or tryall of all truth only sure inalterable invariable infallible Rule of holy life They tell us one while not the light within but the Hebrew and Greek Texts and Transcripts only and those at least though no Translations but as agreeing therewith are all those things abovesaid that one only Lydius lapis unchangeable measure for all doctrines spirits faiths truths and things of God and sayings to be measured by yea both it self and its own sayings also the Word of God properly the foundation rule inalterable and unaltered in so much as points tittles iota's or losse of one letter or syllable and what not Quarrelling with the Qua as siders with Papists in denying it only to be all this and for calling it a nose of wax that is flexible and may be twined and wrested by mistakes and mistranscriptions as themselves confesse it may by many mistranslations and for calling it as I.O. himself calls that most ancient Translation of it the Septuagint therefore see what an infallible rule and Word of God poor people have that know not Heb. and Greek a Lesbian Rule c. Witnesse I. O. whose businesse in all his Book above mentioned is to prosecute the proof of the Scripture in those and the like particulars and T. D. in his Books where he disputes the Scripture to be the Word of God and only Rule of faith and life and that there 's no other standing Rule but the Scriptures p. 25 26. 1 Pam. p. 16.2 Pam. Otherwhiles yea no further off then in the self same Books wherein they prosecute the proof thereof yea and T.D. no further
Reason why I went so far in a talk comparatively to the Truth of Toyes and Trifles and was so taedious to my self and such as look't long since for an end of this labour and wasted so much paper in a work so worthless as it may seem to some as is fitter for J. O's Iuniors to be busyed in at their Schooles where Pueri tam Puerilia tractant then for men cal'd Ministers to medle too much with whose wisdom lies more if not in forgetting yet at least in forgoing frivolosities that are so Remote to the Souls Redemption then to fight so fiercely and foolishly for them as J. Owen does whom neither For nor Against but About them only I have much to do with so that bear with me in it if it must be deem'd my Folly the Ground of which piece of Folly is as followes In His Threefold Thing I found J. O. 1st in the Theses of his Latine Thoughts Glorying not a little in being on behalf of the Collegians among whom he was then a Chieftane intruâted as he talks with the Task of contending for the Text of Scripture not so much against the Foes as under that name against the Truest Friends of both the Text and Truth as the Word of God properly as to Name and Thing and not only consequently but most expresly also both there and in the 1st of his two English Treatises the only most perfect Rule of all Belief and Holy Life Stable Standard True Touch-stone for Triall of all Truth Doctrines Spirits Speeches yea it s own also and the Sole sure Foundation for all True Faith to stand on and be discerned by from Falsehood Fable and meer Fancy and not only so but also Tiring himself in his Taedious second Treatise to evince the Entireness and Integrity of the said Text to every Apex and Tittle as at first it was given out without Addition Ablation or Alteration in the least âota or Syllable p. 153. in the Trans-scripts of it in the Original Languages how ever confessed by him to be Corrupted and Egregiously Adulterated in all Translations and insisting so uncessantly eagerly and earnestly in proof of the said Integrity of the outward Text as for hast to outrun all his own Reason and to Reject also the Uncontrolable Reasons of All others to the contrary putting also so great a stresse upon that poor Punctilio of the Hebrew Punctation as from a self-conceived Imagination and dangerlesse Affrightment to stickle for its Antiquity againât those that on better grounds Iudg it to be Novelty and not Coaevous with the Consonants with such stricâness as to deem all Divine Saving Truth lyes at stake and is Eternally Liable and likely to be lost if it be not as he conceives in these particulars for as is seen at larg in the book ensuing he Trembles to think what will be the Isâue how desperate will be the conâequences of such a conclusion that the Text-mens Hebrew and Greek Transcripts are by mistake Mis-transcrbed in a Tittle and that the Points Vowells and Accènts were added to the Hebrew Text by the Tyberian Mastorites A Firebrand is brought into the Churches Bread Corn quoth he All 's utterly undon for ever as to any true Distinct Sound Certain Saving Knowledge of God or understanding of his Mind Will without either Remedy or hope of Recovery ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ther 's No firm footing nor Foundation to stand on No abiding Bottom at all to build on No Right Rule for the Faith and Obedience of the Church to be Regulated by No Word of God remaining uncorrupted No more means to be seen of being delivered from utter uncertainty in and about all Sacred Truth Epiât p. 25. Nay though it be yeilded by his Antagonists that howbeit the Copies are Corrupted Altered and found Various in their Lections as to the meer Letter nevertheless the saving Doctrine as to the Substance of it Remains Sound and Entire in the Copies of the Original and the Translations that remain yet this is no Satisfaction to him he deems that the Saving Doctrine can't continue entire and uncorrupt and that their is no Relief against the Absolute Perishing of All Truth one of the World without any Rule or Measure of Iudging and Determining any more of it or Principle of Discovery or Medium of its Rectification or Recovery if every Tittle and Iota be not Preserved Entire or on supposition of any Corruption to have befallen the outward Writing p. 17. 18 19. Yea upon such Supposition that we have not every Letter Tittle Point Iota Syllable Accent c. as 't was in the Beginning of its Writing without Alteration by Ablation of any Apex or Addition of the Hebrew Punctation Gods Promise Isa. 59.21 Mat 5.18 Fails his Care of his Word and Church Fails he leaves it in uncertainties about the things that are the Foundation of all that Faith and Obedience he requires at our Hands so that we know not where to lay â Sure Foundation of Believing yea 't is impossible we should come to any certainty almost of any Individual Word or Expression whether it be of God or no p. 55. Yea p. 212. out of Jo. Isaac He that Reads the Scripture without Points and so must they Read it âoho did Read it before Points were say I as they did before Ezraes dayes if the Points were not from Moses is like a man that Rides a Horse without a Bridle and p. 214. 215. on this Hypothesis that the Points are added I know not saith J. O. how Bellarmines Inference can be avoided then which I know nothing in all his opposition to the Truth more Pernitiously spoken that partly by their Addition and partly by the Negligence and Ignorance of the Transcribers the Hebrew Scriptures which are not Uuniversally Corrupted by the Malitious Work of the Jewes are not yet so Wholly Pure and Entire but that Errours are Crept into them Yea they that are otherwise minded then those are who Maintain the Antiquity of the Vowels and Accents and with Radulph Cevallerius whose Opinion he sayes is his own that the Hebrew Language was written with them from the Beginning do not only make doubtfull the Authority of the Scriptures but even pluck it up by the Roots for without the Vowells and Notes of Distinction it hath nothing firm and certain p. 213. Yea so dangerous in the Consequenceâ of contending for Various Readings though not false nor pernitious that there 's nothing remaiÌning upon that account firm and unshaken p. 219. Without the owning of these Points to be of Divine Original we shall be left unto great uncertainty in all Translations and Expositions of the Scripture p. 292. Yea the distemper that there are corâuptions befallen the Text Varieties from the first Copies is dreadfull and such as may well prove mortall to the Sacred Truth of the Scripture These Cuen multis aliis c. are the Extremities J. O. Asserts his Position in insomuch
in the like lame cause who belabouring your selves in talk about the Letter against the Light live and walk more by the false fire and twinkling flash of your own thred-bare thoughts and infatuated imaginations then either by the Letter or the Light I come now ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without much Preamble or more ado ad rem substratam to the businesse and work it self as it lies before me And howbeit I shall not regard any External form order or methodical manner of proceeding with you so much as words and matter of profit and truth it self yet as there is a Quaternity of you or rather a Fraternity of four angry Fighters or Quarrellers with the Quakers and the truths told by them viz. I. O. T. D. I. T. R. Baxter all whom first or last one where or other more or lesse I shall have to do with So though not therefore I shall divide my ensuing undertakings against you in the Name and Power of God on their behalf in such wise as thou I. O. dost thy Doctor-like Divinity Disputations or Latine-labours against them viz. into four Apologetical Exercitations or Earnest Expostulations with you The first whereof is to be more down-rightly directed to thee T.D. the rest who are of the same misty mind with thee not excluded in way of Examination of that Legend of Lyes which thou like some great Benefactor to it bestowest on the Clergies Cause against the Truth and its Children and as concerning the point of Iustification in special which thou makest thy self a main Mannager of against us for all the rest who say little of it and in which thou by thy lies about it in both Doctrine and matter of fact most basely abusest both thy self and the Truth and my self in particular and all the Qua. in general also The second is to be most peculiarly directed to thee I. O. in Examination of sundry of thy base belyings and misreportings of the Qua. as to their mis-behaviour toward the Scripture about which T. D. who sides with three therein doth but give us a short snap and away and as concerning the very formal being nature Text or Letter or the Scripture it self ye call your Canon the Bâunds or measure of that your supposed Canon the Hebrew Punctaâion Integrity of the Text to a Tittle without Various âection and such like passages which thou more preheminently pratest on then all thy Fellows The third is to relate though partly to T. D. and partly to I. T. and R. B. alâo as being all three in some sort tampering together with thee in the same muddy manner about at least some of the same mistaken matters yet principally to thee I. O. who in the dark dream of thy night Vision drivest on more down rightly as the Prime Promoter of these Principles viz. that the Scripture and every sylâââle and Iota thereof is the Word of the Great God the most efficacious powerful all-sufficient all-perfecting heart-searching soul-saving living life-giving Word of the living God that it even that outward writing Letter External Text and not any such thing as an Internal Word of God Spirit or Light within is the only Infallible Guide Incorruptible Canon perfect Rule of all Faith holy life saving Spiritual Knowledge or Worship the most certain Sanctuary for the preservation of all Sacred Truth the most sure Touch-stone stable standard firm Foundation true Witness of God the most invariable inviolable way of safety and security to all Divine Verity the most absolutely necessary means of Spiritual and Eternal life cum multis aliis quae nunc praescribere longum est with much more id genus of the same soure leven too long to be reckon'd up here sith they are all to be elsewhere reckon'd with in due time and place The fourth will be promiscuously and interchangeably carried on by way of entercourse with you both I. O. and T. D. which two only were intended to be by me so much as medled with when I first was throughly resolv'd on some Reply to your rude reproachings of the Truth As concerning your denial of the universality and sufficiency to save such as heed it of the Light and Grace of God in all mens hearts of modern immediate Divine Inspiration of Perfection as to the purging away of sin in this life and as concerning your Dream of a peremptory Election and Reprobation of persons unborn viz. of very few to life and of many to one as unchangeably to damnation without respect to their doing good or evil in their life about all which as occasion is I must have in a few words a round reckoning with you both I. T. R. B. and all the rest of that self-reverencing black-mouth'd Brotherhood as blindly banding in one body in the self-same mist of darkness not excluded for the Rounds ye run in as to those particulars at the latter end i. e. in the said fourth and last part of these foresaid Presents in which as occasion is ye four aforesaid Fellow-Fighters for your own follies against Gods Wisdome are likely little or more to be all bespoken in one or other of the Chapters into which also I shall subdivide the fore named four divisions If ye four Foxes that spoil the Vine and her tender Grapes whereof inter-scribendum one successively still started out afresh upon me as I was pursuing the sent and chasing the other had like those of Sampsons turned tail to tail in all points as in some ye do and took several wayes ye could not so well have been caught altogether as now ye may notwithstanding all your Majestical craft but sith ye face all one way and joyntly steer your course in general to one Cave running parallel into the same Wood of your own wisdome there housing your selves in the same holeÌ dreaming altogether of no danger neer you in one Den of Darkness there needs no more but to set something to the Mouth of that bottomless Pit ye all belong to out of which the Fox-like strong sent and stinking savour of your erroneous Tenets vents it self to the poysoning of poor peoples Souls throughout the whole Countryes where your respective beings are and so digging you out of your foresaid Dens put you altogether into a Bag. S.F. The First Apologetical and Expostulatory Exercitation CHAP. I. FIrst then though they came out last and began to fly abroad some while after I. Owens yet I shall begin with thy two Butterflyes T.D. which have flown up and down the World not only upon the wind of their own wings but also as fast and far as they could carry them upon the light chaffy leaves of the whiffling News-books for some few moneths together to the frightning of all such folk as are befool'd into an Implicit Faith of thy folly to be wisdome out of that little wisdome they have by that fearful flutter they have made thorowout as well the Cities as Vniversities and Countryes with that falâe flashy and fair-flourishing
Title of the Quakers Folly under a meer empty seeming shew of manifesting whereof to all men thou hast more truly in the eyes of wise men and more fully manifested thy own and that so egregiously that Petulanti splene Cachinno some man of a light spirit and ticklish spleen so much concern'd in the all manner of ridiculosities thereof as I and my two Friends of Truth Rich. Hubberthorn and Geo. Whitehead who together with me who am very much are not a little belyed therein would have sent them home to their Author long since with no other Rod at their backs then some loud laughter thereat before the world they being worthy of little better Reply Howbeit I have answered them hitherto with no other then sober silence partly because the first is captivated already from doing so much mischief as it was designed to and both before and behind too well besieged to do any great Execution against the Truth being a Priori beset by a Book of R. Hubberthorns which it gives as it faith it self p. 34. a short Answer to a Posteriori by a Book of G. Whiteheads in which it is as soberly and âufficiently replayed to and partly if not principally because as I.Os. three Treatises have one with another as he saith Arctissimum materiae seu Doctrinae consortium so thy two books have with his as to the Doctrinal parts such an affinity in subject and co-incidence of matter being both di putatory more or less against the self-same truths the Qua. tell that in answering the one the other remains not unanswered and as to the Narrative parts of both which are full of false Narrations if two false tongues of two lying Linguists be like one another haud Linguae dissidium scarce more difference in Language then thus that as I.Os. book tells tales in some so both thine do in some other particulars against the Qua. insomuch that I saw I might as also I accordingly do though the bulk hereof thereby become bigger and the time of its coming out to publike view a little later then was once intended in replying to I.O. in many places wherein he and thou T. Danson who eodem horrendo âercussi scotomate dance the Râunds often together in the dark do meet in one easily interpose such a general Answer and render such a round Reply to thee and thine together with him and his as by which the Truth I singly seek to vindicate may be truly served though what I do is scarce so smarting a Rod as by thy two abusive businesses is truly deserved and that what is fit to be said by way of Answer to thee that is so over-p'us that it can conveniently come in neither directe nor collateraliter as miscellaneous among the matter that mainly relates to I.O. might as it is here and as it is but meet be clapped on as additional at the beginning I shall begin with the Wings of thy two Pamphlets each of which hath two waxen ones a piece viz. an Epistle and a Narrative which by the help of those lyes and false tales they are as with so many Peacocks tails behung with they fly so high at the face of the Sun itself even the Light and Truth of the living God that they melt of themselves before the heat thereof and must at last lye as low though they sore aloft for a while as the very Pit of Perdition the smoak of which together with their Fellow Locusts they first came out from These their two respective wings whereof I know not which to call the left and which the right so sinister are they all and so little dexterity is therein any of them being a little cropt or closely clipt the barebodies of both T.Ds. Divinity books as they will never soundly recover of those wounds that each of them hath had already from the hands of of G.W. and L.H. respectively replying to them so of the further bruises which they together with I.Os. Academical Ousets and hasty Assaults of the same Generation of Just ones are like to meet with in this ensuing encounter they will be disinabled from flying abroad so fast as to do any mischief where the night spends and the day dawns though they may possibly live so as to crawl and creep about a while in some Collegian Cells and other such like dark corners of the earth My Entrance shall be at thy Epistles in the first of which thou T.D. sayest Perhaps the Reader will wonder that thou shouldst meddle with such a Generation as the Quakers and think thy time hangs on the lug and will not off at any considerable rate Rep. I confeâs I am one of those Readers that more then think thou mightst have spent thy time far more considerably and to better purpose to have fully fell on with the Qua. in that good work then to fall upon them for it so fouly as thou dost of calling thy rude people to repentance from all sin into perfect purity and holiness the very thing thou pretendest to have thy wages for But when I consider the old Proverb that all Trades must live and that thine as well as that of the Lawyers is no longer liv'd then while people live and die in trespasses and sins I wonder no more then at Demetrius and his fellow Silver-Smiths of like occupation who by that cast of keeping men in sinful blindness having their wealth throw dust into the ayr against the Light that would lead them out that thou and thy muddy Generation meddle so much as ye do to muddle mens minds against such an Enlightening and Purifying a Generation as the Qua. are and besides Prov. 20.3 Every fool will be medling as Iannes and Iambres were as thou and I.O. are to manifest the Qua. notorious folly in these daies till they most notoriously manifest their own T. D. Thou tellest 'T was never thy ambitiÌon to appear so publikely as in print Rep. It had not need unless thou hadst better ware then thou hast the darkness which vents it in thee is the likeliest place to put it off in it being not vendible in the light T. D. That hadst thou consider'd the likelihood of the Qua. printing which would necessitate thine thou shouldst likely have waved any discourse with them Rep. Insipient is est dicere non puraâom It s as much Innocencies ambition to appear openly in the service of Truth as 't is the guise of Guilt to hide its head Thou mayst well think the Qua. who are in the truth it self which thou art not yet so much as truly in the words of will not be out-weigh'd by the wind of one that as thou sayst thou didst chuses rather to out-word them and whether thou appear any more publikely for thy lyes and doctrines of vanities yea or nay yet the truth which may be a while opprest never sapprest will now lye no more hidden under the black dawb of darkning School-distinctions but will appear
of Masters Reverend Sirs c. under the disguise of Servi Servorum-Dei are indeed no less then Masters of all mis-rule and Domini Dominorum Terrae T. D. Thou tellest us alluding to a saying of the Bishop of Alâf concerning the Protestants that if the Qua. have Orthodoxos mores an Orthodox conversation yet they have Haereticam fidem an Heretrodox or Heretical belief Rep. Herein thou shewest thy self to be as well as in other things one of the blind Grand Children of that blind Papistical Bishop who can'st not discern how impossible it is that an Orthodox true right or good Gospel conversation should proceed from an Heretical or false faith Silly man Does not true Faith purifie the heart and life work by that love which works no evil give victory over the world with the lust thereof c And does any perfect purity of heart or life any true love that works no ill any victory over the world any truly good manners righteous works holy actions honest or godly conversation flow from an Heterodox unsound untrue dead Heretical false faith Is not that a dead and unprofitable faith and such is yours who deny any perfect purging from sin in this life which doth not avail to the purging of the heart and life Which overcomes not the world And is not all purity and love and victory over the worldly lust c. the necessary effect of a true Faith and of that only and no other and can there possibly be a bad false faith where there are truly good works and an holy life In thy yielding here that the Qua. have a right conversation thou not onely givest thy self the lye in other places where thou accusest them as wanting not having so much as moral honesty as p. 11.2 Pamp. and p. 5. of the Narrative but also to the proving thy own faith consequently to be false evincest the Qua. Faith to be true and not Heretical for good manners and a righteous wel-ordered conversation cannot flow from a false or from any but a true living justifying Soul-saving Faith or Belief within aud if the Heretical faith for so ye will needs call the true one bring forth the right life and the Orthodox for so ye will call your own fruitless one be seconded with and shewed by a prophane conversation then give me our Heretical and take you your Orthodox belief unto your selves give me the Faith that purifies works no ill gives victory over sin and is both proved and perfected by good works shew me T. D. thy faith without thy good works I will shew thee my Faith by my works for where the life is right the Faith cannot be amiss and while the life is crooked corrupt and rotten the Faith is not pure right nor sound yet I know the Clergy will needs count the Qua. Faith Heretical let their life be never so innocent being themselves most in love with that Faith in Christ if they could find it our once that can allow and assure them of not onely Salvation from wrath when they dye but while they live also a vain conversation and no little liberty to sin T. D. Thou say'st G. W. layes the most innocent truths under the odious Imputation of Antichrists deceits Rep. If those 20 of thy Antichristian deceitfull Doctrines with G. W. sees down as thine at the end of his Reply to thee are the most innocent truths with thee that we may be delivered for ever from embracing those as Truths shall be my earnest desire and Prayer to God for myself and all men to whom I wish deliverance from darkness and deceit it self and from delââsion and damnation for sure I am the contrary to those however ownââ by thee because of the blindness of thy heart are the most innocent soul-ââving Truths of Christ. T. D. Thou tel'st thy Reader thou trustest he will be confirmed in his bad opinion of the Quakers Rep. Here thou confessest thy opinion of the Qua which thou seekest in thy first book to beget men to and in thy second to confirme them in is a bad opinion out of thy own mouth from thy own pen art thou judged as no Minister of Christ but an evill doer oh thou improfitable Servant art thou sent of God are not all that are indeed sent of him as thou in word pretendest only to be sent to turn men from bad to good and to confirm them in those good opinions yet behold T. D. Trusts that the people to whom he Ministers will being by his writings converted thereunto be confirmed in their bad opinions of the Qua. Can more be done by any man in discovery of his own folly nakedness not to say iniquity and wickedness to all men then is here by T. D. Was there ever the like seen save among such Ministers as are like to T. D. himself that a Minister should confess to all the world the end of his endeavours to be the converting of his Hearers and Readers to Bad and the confirming them in their Bad opinions yet T. D. thus writes to his Reader I trust thou wilt be confirmed in thy bad opinion of the Qua. Herein T. D. thou justifiest the Qua. as no such Bad people as thou would'st Render them to be at other times for if they were so indeed it were not a Bad but a Good because not a false but a true and iust opinion to think so Badly as thou speakest of them but since thy own self stilest it a Bad opinion of the Qua. which thy care is to confirm men in to think ill of them it evinces them not to be such evil ones for if men be bad indeed it s a good opinion to deem them to be Bad and to think of them as they are yea because the Devill is Bad A Lyar A deceiver he gives the Devill but his due and does well speaks and thinks well who has that good and true opinion that he is a wicked Lyar and Deceiver and who speaks and thinks no better of him then he is But if it be a Bad opinion to think ill of a man and to be of opinion that he is Bad and Naught it must needs be that that man is Good else 't were not Bad but Good and just to judge him Bad the Goodness and Badness of every opinion consisting in no other thing then in the truth and falshood of it respectively and the Badness of a mans opinion about another man arising ever from the goodness or innocency of that other man lie thinks Badly of Indeed were the Qua. such Bad men as thou belyest them to be and had'st thou said I trâst thou wilt be confirmed in thy opinion of the badness of the Qua. thou had'st then spoken according to what thou now evilly and falsly thinkest of them and also the opinion thou seekest to confirm men in about their Badness would be as Good and thy endeavours to confirm them in it as Good as ours are who
because the Priests are generally vile and naught do endeavour to bring people who are begâiled into the false and bad opinion of them that they are good and men of God Ministers of Christ and such like when it s nothing less to that good true and right opinion of them that they are but Ministers of mens making and men of Sin and not of God But ââth the Qua. are excepting such as are so named for comming among them who are no more of them nor owned by them then all they are Israel that are called Israel an Innocent Honest Trueâ Iust Righteous Pure Peaceable people and thou say'st its a Bad Opinion of them to think of them as ill as thou would'st have men in that as Caiphas the Priest of old not of himself but as he was ordered unawars to speak more truth of Christ then he himself was aware of thou hast said truly and judg'd thy self as an unjust and evill doer in begetting in peoples minds Bad Opinions of Good men and justified the Qua. as a generation of Iust Ones against thy will T. D. Thou say'st thou shalt blow away the dust the Qua. raise with their Feet Rep. Throwing Dust in the Aire casting mists and thereby blinding men from seeing the Light and Gospell that 's the work of Demetrius the Silver Smith and his Companions who by the craft of holding up false Worships had their wealth and not of Paul the Qua. who are men of like occupation with him these make no Trade of Preaching much less of hiding the Gospell as ye do but seek to publish it freely and what in them lyes to make it without charge T. D. Thou shuttest up thy Epistles to thy Reader with thy short Prayers to this purpose that thâse men the Qua. may proceed no further but that their folly may be manifested to all men 2 Tim. 3.9 And that we henceforth be no more Children tossed too and fro with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the Truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ is the earnest Prayer of Thy Servant for Iesus sake T. D. That thou maist not know the depths of Satan as they speak Rev. 2.24 But maist hold fast that Doctrine which thou hast already v. 25. is the Prayer of Thy Servant in the work of the Gospel T. D. Rep. Thou art very full of these ejaculatory supplications but thy ejaculations against the Qua. be ever too short to enter into the Eares of the Lord of Hosts to obtain ought of that thou desirest thou maist save thy breath and keep thy Darts to thy self they do but reflect back upon thee dream what thou wilt in the darke as to thy audience and acceptance we know as well as he who e eyes Christ opened heretofore Ioh. 9.24 to 32. that God heares not sinners much less such as thou art who not only beleivest thou maist but even must sin also while thou livest and so regard'st iniquity as to plead against those as broaching of the Devils Doctrine who plead a perfect purging and freedom from it in this world Wert thou a Worshipper of God and doer of his will which none doth while he sins though thou dreamest men may be in a justified Estate while Committing of Adultery and Murder he would heare thee for his spirit would then guide thee to aske according to his will and such things only as are well pleasing in his sight and to make intercession for his Saints and not against them as thou often dost and thou should'st know also as they do that thou hast the things thou desirest of him 1 Ioh. 5.14 15. but poore wretched man that thou art it s now quite otherwise thy sins lye at the doore and shut out thy Cains Sacrifices from comming up as incense in the sight of God so that thou fallest and loosest daily more and more for all thy Prayers the Qua. both have and will proceed yet further and by the Wisdome of God in them will both the Lyars the Lyâns mouths be stop't at laââ and thine and thy fellows folly be manifested to all men as that of old Iannes and Iambâs was who in their corrupt minds withstood and resisted Mâses and the Truth 2 Tim. 3.9 and while thy self and all that heed the wind of thy Doctrine unless ye take more heed to the light within shall be henceforth as ye have been hitherto as Children tossed too and fro and driven like the Weathercock which way so ere the wind blowes and turned about as the Priest and his Parish ever hath been into what posture mould or mouldy Religion soever the times happen to settle in the Qua. who are stated on that Corner Stone ye builders refuse on the suââ ãâã the Rââââf agâs Christ the Light of the world and Life of all that hear his Voyce will stand upright and not fall nor be wiâdâd about any more by the âlight of the Shepheards that have driven them from Mountain to Hill in the dark and gloomy day nor catcht by the cunning Craftiness whereby the Clergy lye in wait to deceive but know not so as to own or approvâ yet so as to â Scâân and disprove the depths of Satan as they speak and when thou and thine shall be forced to let go what ye have and holdâ and hold forth for the Doctrine of God by tradition from men the Qua. shall hold fast what Doctrine they have already learnt from God himself and shall not in that thy Complementall form of words who as the old Servus Servorum Dâi doth when that he may be Dâmârus Dâmiâorum is that he more desires subscribest thy self thy Servaut in the work of the Gospel for Iâsus sake while thou art indeed one of those Master Ministers that serve for filthy Lucres sake against both Iâsus and his Gospel but denying your usurped Mastership be made able Ministers of the Gospel or New Testament not of your dead Letter but of the Life and Spirit and speaking the truth in Love and not lies in Envy and Hypocrisie as ye do grow up into him in all things even into his likeness and the Image measure and Stature of the fullness of him who is the Head even Christ into whose likeness though ye live like the Devill here ye look to grow in the world to come only and not before Thus far as to thy petty pair of painted Prologues and as really piteâs as seemingly pious Apologies or Epistolary Prefaces to thy two Paultry Pieces CHAP. II. Now as to thy two more Notorious Narratives whereby as by the Epistles on the one so thy two Butterflies are on the other side as with so many wings born up and furnished to fly apace through the world that is in love with lyes I shall need to say the less to them by how much some of the many lves
publick then the Market place what is above Printed may for more I have by me suffice to let the world know if yet thou have such Relations under the Ministers hand what kind of Creatures thy Credible Witnesses are and how unworthy thy very worthy and Reverend men are to be call'd Ministers of the Gospel and to have their words taken in matters of Doctrine and Soul conceânment who are found saying lyes to thee in secret of the Qua. and unsaying them to their faces and not having so much morall honesty as to speak truth in matters of Fact nor yet so much trustiness neither to their own Father of lyes as to keep his and their own Councill without be wraying it when they have done as this Cavehold Reverend Clergy man seems to have done by that Testimony of his I have here inserted and that contrary one to himself which thou say'st thou hast under his own hand and this may suffice also to let all men see who are not wilfully blinded what fruits follow the most solemn Fasts of this Generation of Blind guides when they gather together after their devouring of Widows Houses and spâyling of poor Pâoples Goods for Tyths for a pretence to make long Prayers So that I shall do no more as to that last piece of Patch of T. D's putting forth having returned the âye upon him again which he thinks he has returned to L. H then having pluckt its wings turn the Sting that stands at the tayl of that Bawbling Butterfly back upon himself and in short shut up this my return as to that in the very last words mutatis mutandis additis addendis wherein thou T.D. concludest that thy as Impudent as Impotent Rejoynder to L.H. viz. So that upon the Whole the Publisher hereof S.F. doubts not but that the Wise will be able to discern between truth and falshood and will in their own thoughts be as farr from acquitting T.D. and his Companions whom L.H. Charges with Lying as they would a Thief at the Bar meerly because he pleads not guilty to his Indictment which is an usual thing let the evidence be what it will And he doubts not but if they should revile in Print again he may be excused if he make no other return then Inhonestum est honestam matronam cum meâetrice litigare i.e. It is unseemly for an honest Matron to stand brawling with a Whore London 2. d. 2. m. 1660. Sam. Fisher. And whether the Qua. or the Parish Priests are respectively the Loyall Spouse the Lambs Wife Rev. 21. or that great Whore which makes the Earth Drunk with the Wine of the Wrath of her Fornications Rev. 17. if the Night is not yet spent farr enough for all to see yet Dies Declarabit though this is your hour and the power of Darkness the day is at hand that will declarâ it to all that yet know it not And now as to thy Generall false charge of the Qua. as complying with the Papists and Antichristian Faction which is not thine alone but that of Will. Prinn I. O. I. Tomb's R. Baxteâ also and of the Priest of Kendall W. Brownsword answered in that particular by E. Bur. I. Story and in a manner of the whole Covent of co-contenders against the Quakers Rep. I should blush and be Ashamed were I in thy case to make such a confident Narrative of it and such an undoubted Profession of my faith thereof as thou dost of thine and produce no more then two such pitiful proofs for it as thou dost and to send it abroad in Print on two such lame legs as can help it are the stile Little more then a bare Repetition of thy Reasons after thee is enough to a Right Reader to Render the urger of them Reasonless and Ridiculous enough in all Reason T. D. I am out of doubt sayst thou they are Acted by the Antichristian Faction Rep. Why so T. D. A Gentleman of good credit assured me that be met with an English Iesuit in London the first Lords day in June last one who was bred in Cambridge and had been formerly of his acquaintance who after some shyness to be known at length confessed that he came over to propagate the Romish Faith and told him that there was a good honest people called Quakers whom we jeer'd at that did their work at the second hand and he boasted much of the numbers that turned Catholicks immediatly or mediatly by becoming Quakers Rep. Both thou and thy men of credit will come to be out of credit ere long if thou crack thy own and their credit but a little longer so much as thou hast done hitherto But 1. Suppose it true that he assured thee so 2. Suppose that true he assur'd thee of what then The Papists dote as our Priests often do in other cases that that will make for them which to any but such as discern not the signs of this season doth undoubtedly work toward their utter ruin therefore doubtlesly the Qua. either are or will turn Papists Object But many by becoming Qua. turn Catholicks Rep. The Qua. are of the Catholick Church if thou wilt know as thou dost what Catholick is but so are not the Papists that are of no Church but that of Rome the Church of Rome is but a Particular Church as that of England or another National one may be but the Catholick Church is general and universal a Church that was before Rome was a Church or a City either as some Qua. have oft asserted to Friars and Iesuits to the stopping of their mouths a Church that had its Being though the world sees it not nor knows it from Abel to this day to which General Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven and to the spirits of Iust men made perfect the Qua. are come as the Saints were of old Heb. 12. and so while Romanists are but as ye are a Bastard brood the Qua. are the truest Catholick Church that is in the world T. D. Anotheâ Gentleman that came this Spring from St. Omars did avouth that he saw the Iesuits there about four a Clock every evening throw off their Gowns and put on aprons and betake themselves to the exercise of Handy-craft callings some plaid the Shoomakers others saâe at the Loom others kill'd and dress'd sheep and they did not stick to boast that under the disguise of such callings working as Iouânymen and changing place as they listed they served the Romish Church And the Head of the Colledge told him that England never was in so fair a way of return to the Romish Sea since it broke off as now And what hopes the Papists can have unless from the encrease of Qua. I leave Reader to thy determination Rep. What news is this to any but Nevices that Iesuits in craft use handicraft callings that under that disguise they may serve Rome but what follows hence T. D. Nempe similium similis ratio the
one that receive a Pension from him which is the Top-stone of thy brittle building that I am to take down and the Conclusion in proof of the probability whereof at least all the rest is alledged I shall not as much Countryfied as I am be so Dunsical as to begin with the denial of the Conclusion nor would my nay prevail against thy yea among thy Creditors if I should but discover first the falseness weakness nakedness and inconsequences of the Premises that every indifferent Reader may conclude the utter improbability of the truth of thy confident conclusion within himself and remove the under stones which thou lay'st for thy foundation and among the rest that of my holding some Doctrines held at Rome which thou makest the very head of the Corner that so the foreâaid Topstone may tumble down of it self What is true among thy Premises I shall own the Truth of but deny the consequence thereof as to that which by thee is from thence deduced and what is false not only deny but also deny the consequence of it if it were true 1. That I have been at Rome and there born my Testimony against the Pope and Cardinals in such wise âas was required of me by the Lord who sent me who only and not I my self as thou quippingly recitest that passage suffer'd them not to meddle with me that I made light of thy charging me with Popery and that I was at Dunkirk and in discourse with the two men of Sandwich T. Foxton and T. Barber at the time thou speakest of and that somewhat by me was spoken about Friars and Iesuits holding some sound Doctrines which some Protestant Priests deny and somewhat about the non-necessity or indifferency of the use of the things ye call Ordinances where the substance of which they were shadows and to which as figures they pointed was come in place like as of a Candle where the Sun shines and that I said good Works intending Christs are the meritorious cause of our Iustification and argued a contrariis to this effect viz. Evil works are the meritorious cause of our condemnation therefore good Works are the meritorious cause of our non-condemnation or Iustification all these Premises are own'd and thy elf also Asserting thus far only of me artown'd as standering me of no more then Truth but quid hoc ad Rhâmbum all this yet is of no consequence as to thy deduction And 2. As to all the Rest viz. my having Bils of Exchange to and from Constantinople to Rome and my Broaching Doctrines that are not only theirs but a fair inlet to their Bag and Baggage and my saying to T. F. and T. B. at Dunkirk in those very Terms thou settest down vâz that I looked upon the Iesuits and Friars there to be sounder in Doctrine then those ye call the Reformed Churches and that I my self am above Ordinances and that I have great Bils of Exchange from a Quaking London-Merchant as thou quippest it out again and that the Terms of the third Question which I held in the Affirmative were whether OUR good Works viz. done by us only and not by Christ in us are the meritorious cause of our Iustification and that I undertook to prove it under thoâe Terms of OUR Good Works in thy sense its all as false to the full as the other is truâ but if it were every whit as true as it is utterly false yet would not thy Conclusion viz. that I have a Pension or am in pay from the Pope follow from it so much as probably as thou dotest much less so necessarily as throw their dotage upon thy Do-little Disputings many Ignorant ones of thy instructing do as ordinarily as ignorantly infer it the falsehood of that which is false and the inconsequence of both that which is true and that which is false and the utter invalidity of what is false in case it were never so true to prove thy Charge against me of complying with or having pay from the Pope I shall yet a little more particularly explain 1. Then that I have been at Rome and that in a double sense is true enough first spiritually and mystically when I was but a Protestant at large and so born and bred as English people for the most part still are I then dwelt together with them and you National Ministers and Parishpay-Preachers in the Suburbs and out-works of that Great City Rome or Mystery Babylon the Great the Papacy the Arch-Whore and Mother of her Daughters the two younger Harlots Prelacy and Presbyterie that are both separated from her bowels and as like her in many matters viz. persecution for conscience sucking Saints blood greediness of gain Lording it by a Lordly Clergy over the true Clergy or Heritage of God Parish-pay of the Popes first Imposing Parish-Church Posture of his Constituting Traditional Infant-Sprinkling and sundry other Romish Remnants and Relicks of Romes Religion yet abiding unabandoned and alâo pleaded for as one kind of Christ'n Creatures that are unlike to Christ himself can be to each other and as a Pair of young smooth-faced Sisters Quâbus facies non omnibus una est nec diversa tamen can well look like so old and wither-fac'd a Mother in the said Suburbs and out-works of which said Great City which once was in one Room but before its Ruin stands divided into three P.P. Parts canina utentes facundia barking and concarâing together by the ears with one another and like some old Bawd and her two Bâats Bâawling and breaking each other to pieces about their Bastardy ye dwell to this day not only being in the same inward but in somethings also in the same outward form and Image while ye hold your Pontifical Orders by vertue of which you so Pope it in your Parishes from such Presbyters as had theirs from the Prelate who had theirs from the Arch-Prelates who had theirs from the Pope by lineal succession who had his as the great Whore hath Rev. 17. from the Beast that bears her who Rev. 13. had his from the Devil or Dragon who whether he had his Power Seat and great Authority from Peter or no Credat Apella 2. That I have been bodily in Rome literally so cal'd as I did not so I do not deny and that as its evident by what of mine is extant against the C.C. Clergy I have done here so I bore my witness against the Pope and Cardinals there in such wiâe as I was cal'd to do I might make manifest here were I so minded but need not foâasmuch as though Weââhercock-like thou preâently upon it go'st about to deny and disprove it again as unprobable yet thou seemest first both to believe and prove it to be probable thy self for thou saist the Qua did Report it of me and thou supposest they would not bely me and that I am since in safety from their hands thy self hast seen iâ thou canst believe thine own eyes but what of all
men but if they were asleep as they say they were is the Testimony of those men fit to be entertaind for Truth or of force among any but such infatuated fancies as every ignis fatuus befooles into a following of it self wheresoever it goes before them that stand up to beare witness of what was done while they were asleep yet how strongly and strangely did this filly shift work upon the misbeleiving faculty of that foolish Nation to the finall falsifying of their Faith in so high an Article of it insomuch that as that Saying is commonly Reported so that Article of Christs Resurrection is thereupon not beleived to this day said the Evangelists 16 hundred years ago and say I who have been an Eare Witness of the same to this very day wherein we live The like effectual operation upon the prejudicate opinions and Imaginations of such people to whom there is deceptio visus and in whose visible faculty there 's a deep defect through their living in the Night and not loving the Light hath T. D's mis-reports and mis-representations of the Qua. going to Rome which as little or no truth as they are of yet if less then none can be are of less consequence to prove that he intends by them to be Truth sith of force to prove the very contrary S. F. Quoth he hath no visible Estate hath Bills of Exchange to take up 400 l. if he will had to and from Constantinople to Rome Bills of Exchange to take up money there Therefore 't is probably as true that he there receiv'd a Pension from the Pope His Tripartite Antecedent is as false as the Popes Tripple Crown is foolish but suppose it were all as True as 't is false I know no hurt in it if it were for such as Travail whether to Rome or elsewhere to have Bills to take up money if they need it and what I had or where or from whence or from whom let him that lyes go look yet âile tell the truth to him so farr at least as will tell his Tale to be a Lye I had none to Constantinople nor from thence to Rome neither Received I any money by any Bill at Rome much less any Pension from the Pope which is that he makes the consequent of the other so that T. D.'s Consequence is utterly inconsequent and a most non-sensicall non sequitur Some wise man that had been willing to know the Truth would have argued thus ad Contrarium viz. He went with coals from New-Castle to London therefore 't is very probable he went not to London to fetch or to get any there He carried great Bills with him to Rome to take up mony there therefore 't is utterly unlikely that he had any Pension of his own to Receive there from the Pope for then he might have sav'd his labour in the other For verily it had been as silly and superfluous for me to have Merchants Bills to take up mony by at Rome had I had a Pension to Receive there from the Pope as 't is as the Proverb is to carry coals to New-Castle which what fool doth may carry them home again when he hath done So then this Text of T. D's Triviall Talk as threefold a Cord as it may seem to him that is not quickly broken is indeed though strong enough to conclude the clean contrary way yet as to his purpose but a threefold thread of Toe so ill spun that it fails like flax when it feels the fire Nevertheless Note one Point of Doctrine more before I quit it that arises from it more against then for T. D. and his fellow forgers and foul falsifiers of the truth i.e. that whereas the National Ministry dare trust to the benevolence of their own people for outward means and maintenance no further then they have the Magistrates Mittimusses to take it from their people and raise it for them for we may have little enough and do full ill cry they if we stand to the good will and affections of our Parishes being it seems for all the shallow shews and Love-tokens and fair words that pass between them which buy no lands as little affected by their people as their people are trusted by them for each of them love money much more then they love each other yet such love credit and confidence in each others faithfulness there is among the Ministers of Truth and the children of it that they that for the Gospels sake chuse to have little of their own in their Ministry to it need not lack but serving it for its own sake and not for hire nor by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind may not by force of Arms but freely not by the greedy distraint of Tythe-mongers and Bumbayliffs but willingly have what is needed which is not so many 100's by the year as the Priests that stirring not far from their own fires need it not are ever needing in the service of the truth and rather then it shall want promoting for lack of so much no less then 400 li at once if they please T. D. Another of T. D's Antick Autecedents from whence he endeavours as by the rest he doth tooth and nail to evidence me to be of the Popish faction is that I affirmed my self to be above Ordinances saying there 's no more use of them in this life to some then of a Candle when the Sun shines instancing in Baptism and the Lords Supper Rep. In which Antecedent this is utterly false at least though affirmed by T. D. and his Sides-men viz. that I said of my self that I am above Ordinances I use not to bear Testimony to my self but to the Truth unless where the Truth is so much concern'd as it is in my clearing of my self from the clouds that not only I but that also comes under through your Lyes that are told and attend me in the service of it in the case in hand neither in the point of perfection which if I be but moved to speak the Truth in presently cry the blind leaders and the blind whom they lead he faith he is perfect did I ever say of my self that I am perfect but of myself and almeâ that so we should be even in this life and may be too if we be not wanting to our selves and must be also or else shall never be as our heavenly Father is perfect and as for my self by the grace of God I am what I am and what ere I am where I am you are not though what and where you are both as to this woâld and that to come I have been now long ago Neither as to Ordinances did I ever say I was above them I should not a little bely my self in so âaying and that I have little need at all to do being belyâd moâe then enough already both by your selves and others for to meet and wait with his Saints on the Lord to stand in his
and avenge all that disobedience of his Adversaries whose Ministry further then by his own permission it s born down by that extrinsecall force of the beasts putting forth and interposing for a time will make its own way and cleare the truth as the light both amongst and against all false ones without either maintenance or defence or so much as good countenance if that may not be had from the higher powers of the earth being such a Substantive as is well able if let alone and in the midst of not a little interruption to stand by it self in reason before any and not such a Noun-Adjective as the nationalâ C Clergy is which cannot stand by itself to shew one glasse full of its own sense and meaning on the Scripture without some Constable or Officer joyning with it to take that honest man or woman to the Stocks or Cage that by two or three good words shall disturb them nor stand by it self to shew its reason or signification to such as soberly reason with it but must require another force then that of words to resist and sometimes the rude ones to run with stones and stop the mouths of its opponents Not by might nor power of this sort but by my spirit saith the Lord. That Dagon that cannot stand unless its worshippers hold it up in this manner before the Ark undoutedly will fall and let it fall if it will and never rise any more for me And if Papists Iews and Turks being obedient to the civill power in civill matters between man and man shall come in and uâe their blind consciences in their respective blind Religions they shall deceive not one of the Elect and none but such as are disobedient to what they know âfor which to stumbling they are appointed That Protestanism that can't stand if Popery Indaism and Turcism have liberty till it fall by the pure power of God and not meer man to stand peaceably by it in one Nation for fear it should dye out before them let it dye out with them all when the Lord will for me that truth which is to out-shine and out-live them all may stand up alone in its proper power and native lustre when they are gone as for such Protestants as would run to hell with them if Papists Turks and Iewes should come among them they are onely such as would never come neer to heaven if these should never come neer them at all 5 Our Doctrine of the true lights enlightning every man the truth of which is to be prov'd against I. O. and T. D. in its proper place and our calling every man to attend to the shining of it in his own conscience can be no fair In-let to the Popish Bag and Baggage for all that arises and springs from the cloudinesse of their consciences the blindnesse of their hearts the darknesse that is in their understandings in which darknesse or dark places which are in the heart the true light shines though the darknesse comprehends it not and the daâk minds of men consider it not which if they would once doe so well as to take heed to the day would dawn the day Star arise at last in their hearts the light shine forth the shadowes fly away the clouds scatter the vaile that overspreads them vanish the face of the covering be removed the daâknesse of this world in which the devill who is the Prince and Ruler of it dwells diggs deceives devoures destroyes udoes does all he has to doe who hath nothing in Christ the light nor ought to doe in them that dwell out of his reach under Christs Protection in the lâght would be dispeld and the bââghtnessâ of a better Religion Worship Gospell Faith Knowledge Righteousnâsse Holynesse Salvation Redemption Kingdome then any power and glory they yet are aware off or your selves either would break forth upon them But such as your Tenet is who rebell against the light not knowing the paâhs theâeâf Job 24.6 and band yourselves together against the blowers of it up in men to blow it out what yee can denying it to be in any measure at all in any but very few quarrelling with the Quakers for calling any much more all to take heed to it that they might walk up in singlenesse to to what of God by it is made known in them doth both River England into a resolution to retain so much of Romes Bag and Baggage as is yet remaining and into their and the Priests wonted readinesse to receive more or all of it again if it shall so return as in Maâyes dayâs and be handed out to them by the threatning helping hand of those that have the highest handling of the Helm 6 Our Doctrine of the infallibility of the true Ministry of Christ which we say is that which is among them call'd Quakers in these dayes as in those of old can be no fair In-let to the Antichristian Bag and Baggage or to those Ministries or Ministrations for to teach which is not more taught by me then shall be proved against I. O. and T. D. who both deny it more at large in its proper place viz. that the infaââible spirit continues his infallible direction guidance and diviâe inspirations to the true ministây and Church which waits upon him now in such wise as heretofore is so far from leting in that it shuts out for ever their Mânistây all its A coutrements as false fictitious and yours also who as to your confessed fallibility are Biâds of the same feather with them who as in that ye flock so must flee and fall and fail all together seeing saving onely that they ascribe infalibility to their Vice-God the Pope as yee doe not and Châists spirits inspirations to his single sacred soul they count it Egregiâus blasphâmy for any Minister or other to say they have the holy spirit so onely as to assure them of Gods love and acceptance much more to make them infallible in their ministry and though you hold men may have it to assure them of salvation yet as to it s assumed and infallible guidance of your selves in yours or any men at all in their ministrings now you count it little lesse then the same and differing so as to the matter of the Ministry no further from them then thus viz. that whereas they hold infallibility âomewhere but falsely enough fixing it to that false subject the breast of their Arch-Bishâp Vicarâ of Christ and supream Master-Minister here on earth yee deny it to be in anâ Ministers at all now to the utter uâmânistring of your selves and evincing it yee are none of Christs any more then they But so to teach that all Ministries that pretend to Christ are fallible in these dayes and not one Christian Ministry infallible throw-out the earth Nor any one of all them that are in England at this day no nor yet so much as that of your own is a Doctrine and a peice of news which if
the Scripture which only Testifies of him without ever coming to him that they may have the life or to the Pope I leave it A little time will now detect it howbeit some may go one way some another and like to like and each to what and to whom he best loves and likes but Christs Sheep to whom he onely gives Eternal Life they will assuredly heare his voice which who doeth not must be cut off from among his people 9 Our Doctrine of the Vniversal grace and general love of God to all mankind in giving Christ Intentionally to be a Saviour to all that all that are lost in the fall of the first man may be in possibility and true capability of Redemption and Salvation by him without a bolt by any personal Reprobation of the most therefrom with no reference to their acting any evill and that unchangeably before they had a being unless themselves pânendo obicem debarr themselves from the benefit thereof by Rejecting the council of God against themselves by an obstinate resisting the strivings of his Spirit with them to bring them to it and a wilful putting away of the word of eternal life when by Christ its brought nigh even in their hearts and mouths that they may hear and do it this is no fair In-let to their Bag and Baggage This perhaps is assented to as truth by the Papists the more shame for the most of our hypocritical Churles that gainsay it who would be but must be no more called liberal and bountiful while they are bold to utter errour against the Lords large love as if he were such a niggard as themselves who care not how few men be saved provided that their ever-sinning-selves be not damned but elected to be saved in their sins without being perfectly purg'd from them before they die by Christ of whom they must yet once know what yet they will not that he came to save all people from all sin who aâe willing to be saved and not to give any such darlings of his as they darkly deem themselves to be an allowance in the least or a dispensation to sin throw infirmity till they die and then to save them from the desert thereof after death the Instruments of which vile Chuâlâ aâso are evil to destroy the poor people of God with their lying words when they speak no other then right things But what if the Romish Clergy do hold such a general grace of God they are by so much the more of a noble spirit then your selves who deny it in the owning of that most pretious truth if they were not far worse then yourselves in other mattters And as for us called Qua. who preach it here for Truth as against I. O. and T. D. it must anon be prov'd to be in the proper place as we take neither it nor ought else to be truth by tradition from Papists or eâe the more because they own it but as our selves have received it from the muoth of God so I hope you wise men will grow wiser by then I have done then to judg we must either reject truth it self if their Church once hold it or else be judged to be of them while we hold it with them and as in holding it out freely as we do other Truths we neither fill nor feed as you do your own by holding In the Truth their as Hypocritical as Hydropical Bag so it being no worse then that Golden Gospel Truth which ye Divines darken so much by your dirty distinctions and meer guilded glosses could we make such âa fair In-let for it that it might shine forth in its brightness as it once will do from one end of England to another we should in so doing usher in no part of their Baggage But indeed your selves in standing against it have not only stor'd your Bag more then is fit for men to do that make a Trade of treading down the Truth But have brought in a piece of Babylonish Baggage of your own as bad if not worse then all the Popes for its all one to me what outward Religion men be of true or false Papism or Protestanism or whether they have any at all among them yea or nay if it be so as our personal Electionists absit blasphemia breath it forth verbatim or at least doctrinally and in effect that the mercy of the Almighty which is said to abound to and over all and extend beyond all his other works and his infinite large and incomprehensible love to all men is yet no larger then may be comprehended in that little corner whereinto they croud it so as to say that one of a thousand only are decreed to be saved and a thousand to one of the Sons and Daughters of men without respect to any evil foreseen in their proper persons to be acted in time are from all eternity decreed by God himself and that unchangeably and everlastingly to be damned For then that one of a thousand shall assuredly be saved and a thousand to one as inalterably perish and die eternally and this or that outward Religion is no remedy against that which was so ordered long before the poor Creatures had any being And as one said once unto me for whom t will be better then he deserves if our God take him not at his word viz he would not own that God that would own a Qua. to be one of his Children so say I but not so desprately as he did the other I know and own no other God but him who will own all to be his Children who will unfainedly own him to be their Father and save all them that are truly willing in his way to be saved from their sins by him who never yet declared himself willing to save any in them who sent his Son a light in the world not to condemn it but to that intent that the world which loving darknesse rather then light will needs be damned through his Light notwithstanding might be saved and will shew mercy upon all them who will have pitty upon themselves so far as not to despise the riches of his grace and reject his unfained tenders and honest offers thereof when they are made neither do I own him to be my God for my God is a God of mercy and truth to all who without any respect to their personal rejectings thereof in time wills never to have mercy upon thâ most who would have any to perish and not have all to come to Repentance who would not truly have all as well as some to be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth who hath any pleasure at all that the very wicked much more that the innocent should die that delighteth in the death of him that dieth and had not really rather that he should turn from his wickednesse and live that means any otherwise then he sayes or is quite contrary to what he seems to be in his speeches to either good or bad
Commandements and Traditions of men and of the Pope himself in many things still and yet because they did not so much as he appointed them in matters of more moment but were unclean and wicked refusing to walk in the good old way of the Light which was the way before Moses and the letter was turning away their eare from hearing the Law in the heart which is the light were not only vain but abominable in the very best of their Oblations In Preaching therefore in order to Gods acceptance of us and our good works which are not outward worships where the heart and life are yet defiled but where a new Creature created after his own Image of God in Christ Iesus to good works in his nature and by his Power though in it's own person doth perform them is as an utter exclusion of all your own so no fair In-let to any of the Popish Rubbish will worship meer self service and unprofitable devotion for these being only done by man are neither good nor accepted of God But to Teach and maintain and plead for evil works as necessary to be done while we are in this life and Teach down the doctrine of perfecting holinesse and perfect purging our selves from all uncleannesse of flesh and Spirit while we are here in the body which Paul taught up as a doctrine of devils and to deny the possibility of performing this duty of not sinning and make such a grosse state of sin as that was which David stood in when he was guilty of adultery and murder consistent with Gods acceptance of men and their justification before him and that the Saints as some call them in such a pickle while they are in sin up to the ears even in such a case are not in a condemned but in a justified estate and that if the Saints own heart condemn him and his own conscience tell him that God doth not accept him and that his estate is bad in such a bad sinful case and not good it 's defiled and lyes and testifies falsehood to him and leads him into a wrong opinion of himself and that the Saints may be blessed men as David was having no guile in his spirit but sincere upright after Gods own heart though under the guilt of so grosse and great sins when the Scripture saith the contrary viz that David was upright before God saving in that matter of Vriah wherein indeed his very heart was false and rotten and to affirm to the encouragement of men in their imperfections and infirmityes by which name they stile the Saints grossest iniquities as T.D. does contradictorily to himself in other places that the gospel gives life upon imperfect obedience all which and more ejusdem Farraginis is done and utter'd by T.D. and such as own him therein in the 11.19.45.47 pages of his 1. Pamphlet as they were by word of mouth at the disputes This is to strengthen the hands of the wicked that they cannot return from their wickednesse for how is it possible they should do it when 't is preacht and believed as impossible to be done this is to sow soft pillows under their elbowes that they may sleep on securely in sin and take their rest for its all but infirmity and no inpreachment to his justification nor to his standing accepted and in covenant with God that a Saint does and their 's no condemnation to them that are Saints and in Christ no though they be in transgression in which who is say I is out of Christ and not a Saint and though they walk not after the Spirit as all that are Saints and in Christ Jesus do but after the flesh and in a word a very fair In-let to a very worse matter then that whole mare mortuum of the Popes Beggerly observations even no better a matter then the very whole bundle of the Devils own Bag and Beastly Baggage So then I see not hitherto and am perswaded never shall till I come to see as T.D. does in his floting fancy many things with his eyes shut how any Doctrines of the Qua. even such as they and I hold with any more then what we hold flatly against the Popish Priesthood do either conclude my complyance with them or make any way for the incoming and abiding without its own speedier Ruine of their Romish Baggage or how our parochiall Priesthoods preaching and practice too doth any other then uphold the Butt end thereof and preach their own câmplyance with those their Brother Ravens in many matters But T. D's Biggest Bolt and weightest Bullet as he counts at least lyes yet behind and that is our doctrine of good works as needful to that use of our justification before God here he iudges that Omne tulit punctum he hath fully hit the white and that this will do if all the rest die and fallen the fault of favouring and fathering the Popish cause upon me as some Iâsuit if all the other fail Good works for necessary uses viz to manifest faith to be true to sanctify to make meet for the possession c. T.D. and his Associates in words and doctrinally more then practically maintain as much as any but to maintaine good works not only to the use of our sanctification but our justification and to justify not only deâlaratively in the sight of men but also formally in the sight of God not only to approve a beleiver but absolve a sinner p. 8. not only to fit for but to give right to the inheritance p. 22. not as concurrent and concomitant only but as cooperative and constitutive together with faith and coincident as a cause in the case of our iustification to let good works be accounted not only Via ad Regnum but also carsa Regnandi as your Scools distinguish yea and further yet to dispute it not in these Terms barely of good works but in these Terms of OUR good works and lastly higher yet to rank them so high in order of causes as not only Instrumental with faith but a deserving or meritorious cause of justification This is notorious yea so grosse and Popish that we may well Rank you thinks he among the Papists p. 58. as at least a bringer in of their Baggage yea now quoth T.D. of me p. 14. you shew your self a rank Papist indeed Rep. Ipse dixit T.D. hath said it who of all those Seers with his eyes in Sandwich or else where who giving heed to him from the least to the greatest saying of him This man is the great Power of God have hiâ hitherto bewitched with his Simonical Sorceries can do any other then believe it to a Tittle This stroke enters with so deep a dint into the thoughts fancies and faith of many that 't is supposed by some we Qua. shall never be able to lick our selves whole of the deadly wound it brings with it both to the doctrines that we maintain as Truth and to our selves also whom we maintain to be no
Rank Papists nor Rankers of our âelves with them against the Truth in our maintaining of thoâe Doctrines I must therefore since the Lord hath laid it upon me if all the world would take me off it take leave here to enlarge so far as to enter the lists in one short single duel with T.D. alone about these matters desiring I. O. to have patience and stand by a while longer till I can have while to handle him and T.D. both at once in those points wherein they two joyne and issue out together making as it were but one head as to the doctrines wherein they oppose against the Qua and the rather because I find not I. O. in his book which elsewise is Brotherly enough with T.D. in bitternesse against the Truth and Qua. intermedling much there what ere he thinks in this so momentary a matter As for T. D. I have sundry things to reckon and reason with him in aboutit 1 I am to have a talking with thee T.D. in a few words for a certain abuse or injury done by thee in that passage of thine p. 14. wherein thou relatest that the 3d. Question debated on by us was stated in these Termes viz. whether OUR good works are the meritorious cause of our justification that I not onely held it in the affirmative but also disputed it in those termes of OUR good works in such wise as the Papists do so as to shew my selfe a rank Papist which injury in regard of the extent of it to the severall persons wronged is not more manifest then manifold yea verily seven-fold more then ordinary for as much as no lesse then seven persons are thereby most grossely abused and belyed that is to say not only my selfe whom onely thou intendedst should suffer by it but also thy selfe and five of thy chiefe friends too for want of thy forecast viz. 2 of them thou calât Gentlemen and three of thy Master Ministers whose witnesse thou appealest to who are all more moderate and gentle Men then thy selfe it seemes as to their Testimony in this matter for they all and thy selfe too who bring'st them to bear witnesse with thee of the truth in this case do with one accord together with thee testifie another thing which is the very truth and no more then the truth viz. see p. 58. Of thine own narrative that the termes of the 3 d. Question were whether good works be the meritorious cause of our justification which as 't is there said truly was expressely affirmed by us without that figmentitious particle OVR in the sence thou usest it in which is of thine own forging and foisting in and adding to that term good works the adding of which in the eye of any save such as are not either Arrand fooles or else as the Proverb is more Knaves then Fools which yet is in plain terms the plain case of all that wink against the truth and will not seem to see it when they do doth alter the State of the Question so as to make it utterly another for who but such as either cannot see or which is worse may see and will not can chuse but understand that whether OVR good works at least in that sottish and sordid sense wherein the Papists hold it do justifie Is one Question And whether Good works do justifie Is another In which 1 st sense of the Papist when they say OVR good works whose Good Works as they call them are no better than other mens own are whose own meerly are all stark naught I neither do nor ever did affirm our Iustification to come but in the latter viz. that Good works meaning only those of Christs own working in and for us by the same power and spirit by which he did good works in that person in which he liv'd and dyed at Ierusalem then whom I know no other that can without his power work any Good I confesse I both then did affirm and own and as I then did in the power of Christ so I ever shall both affirm evince and maintain And whether it was in this latter sense only or in the former Popish sânse in which thou T.D. art impudent enough to assert I held it he that will in no wise beleive me if I speak in my own case nor any that side with me in the truth but had rather give credit to T.D. let him beleive T.D. with all my heart provided he do but take his Testiomy to be truâst where its strongest for then he cannot but beleive me to be belyed for that T.D. who in p. 58. Sayes the Question was stated in these Termes Good Works which was the same T.D. undoutedly that sayes the other doth flatly gainsay and clearly contradict that T.D. And prove him a lyar that saves p. 14. It was stated in these Termes OVR good works and if any doubt which of these two selfe-overturning Testimonies of T.D. may most securely be taken for truth seeing they are 2. contrary Testimonies of one and the same man viz. that in p. 14. wherein he wrongs me or that of his own in p. 58. which I appeale to for right and am willing to be tryed by as touching his false charge of me as saying OUR good works justifie I say unlesse the Reader mean to wrong more then himselfe or me either by his misbeleife namely not only such of my friends as witness truth with me but also â of T. D's own most eminent and credible witnesses so as to Judge them also to be all Lyars he must beleive what T.D. sayes p. 58. Namely that I affirm'd Good works justifie and beleive that to be a lye which T.D. sayes p. 14. Namely that I affirm'd OUR good works justifie for T.D. alone on his own head only sayes this last but T.D. together with his 5. Witnesses assert the other Thus then stands this case between me and thy selfe T.D. thou arraignest me openly at the Bar before the world p. 14. as a raâk Papist as saying in these Termes that OUR good works are the meritorious cause of our justification to which Inditement I pleading not guilty of saying OVR good works but good works are the cause c. How wilt thou be tryed quoth the impartiall Iudge the honest hearted Reader that would âain find out the truth in the Court of his own conscience whether thou be guilty of affirming and disputing the said position expressely in those Termes or not guilty I reply by God and the Country What evidence bringst thou in quoth the righteous Reader to T.D. against S.F. whom thou so accusest What were the Termes in which he and the Qua. expressely affirm'd it The Termes of the Question were these quoth T.D. p. 58. whether Good Workes he the meritoricus cause of our justification which was expressely affirmed by them Thus am I cleared in the sight of God and all men from T. D's Accusation by the true evidence of T.D. himselfe my accuser for we have
Rags nay no better nor any other then that which Paul calls his Own which Own of his he having once counted it gain he had now suffer'd the loss of and counted but loss and dung that he might be clothed with Christs which Doctrine of T.D. if it were true but God forbid that any should take it from him for Truth for its most abominably false yet let 's see at least what use of Information were to be drawn from it and in a word it s this 1. That the Righteousness of Christs own working in his Saints and that which the Saints received by Faith from Iesus Christ and that fulness of it that dwells in him is but meer mans Righteousness which he must utterly suffer the loss of and count on not as gain at any hand but as loss and dung before he can know Christ or receive or be clothed with the Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteosness which is of God by Faith in him and 2. that the foresaid Righteousness of Christ which he works in us and we by Fath receive from him is but our own and is no better even all of it then our unrighteousnesses are that is as filthy Rags before the Lord he that readeth this let him understand it if he can annd receive it for truth if he dare but if he do not let him know that T.D. hath done his best ill will to the truth that he can to reach it to all men for no less then Truth however though such folly falshood not to say blasphemy it is that worse scarce ever fell from the Pen of a Professed Preacher 4. One Observation more which is scarce fit to be noted to any other use or purpose but to the noting of T.D. to be such a notable none-such as is deservedly Nigro carbone notandus arises from T.Ds. discourse about the two Righteousnesses of Christ one of which he calls mans own and filthy Rags as if Paul when a Pharisee had no Righteousness of his own that he stiled lâss and dung but that which was Christs and which he had received from Christ which what a loud Tale it is he is not much versed in the Truth that cannot tell and that is in such wise as followeth viz. whereas T.D. tells ut of two different ends of the'e two Righteousnesses of Christ as he doth also p. 39. the one whereof i.e. that which is inherent in Christ serves quoth h eto justifie us and give us a Right as a cause of our Title of the inheritance of the Saints in Light the other i.e. the Righteousness wrought in us by Christ which Paul calls lâss and dung and T D. imperfect and filthy Rags to sanctifie us and to make us meet for the Possession of Heaven without which Heaven would not be a place or state of blisâ nor we fit to enter into such a Glorious Holy Place and Inheritance among Saints in Light which of these two give us Right to enter as the cause of our Title I shall shew plainly by and by saying onely at present against T.D. as 't is said Rev. 22.14 that us doing Gods Commandments by the Power of Christ as they are given out to us in the Light that gives us Right as well as makes us fit to enter as well Ius ad Regnum as Aptitudinem Regnandi but from T. Ds. Doctrine who Teaches that the Righteousness wrought in us by Christ which he also calls OVRS and dung and filthy Rags serves to sanctify us and make us fit and meet to enter into Heaven it s but meet here least I meet not so fair an opportunity for it an on to observe thus much to T. Ds. shame that if his Doctrine were as true as it is false that the Righteousness of Christ in us which yet though wrought in us by him and received by Faith from him is but meerly our own according to T. D. and no gain but loss dung and filthy Rags doth though not enright and entitle us to Heaven yet at least wash purifie sanctifie and make us meet and fit to enter into it so that without being purged cleansed sanctified and fitted by or covered and clothed with the foresaid dung and filthy Rags we can in no wife be clean or fit enough to enter into that Pure and Holy place into which no dung nor fiâh nor unclean thing nor ought that defileth can enter nor say I whoever worketh such abomination or maketh such a lye as T. D. doth who danceth the Rounds in this Rotten Doctrine of his till a man can easily find neither head nor tail in it nor Truth nor Unity with it self nor sense nor reason if he look on it in gross as it lyes together in the whole corrupted mass and unleavened lump scarcely from one end of it into the other yet thus it is know all ye Saints that are devoted to dance bud-winkt in the dark to the Tune of T.Ds. loud Trumpetings against the Truth viz. that unless ye be clothed with the Royal Robes of that Righteousness which is inhaerent in Christ Person only which is as they also say as far off you as Heaven is from the earth so that ye can't have it but by that Romish Faith which is Crede quod habes habes believe onely that ye have it and ye have it sure enough though sure enough ye have it not you can have no Iustification no Right nor true Title to enter into Heaven and unless ye put on and be clothed with the dung and filthy Rags so T. D. partly expressly partly implicitly calls it of that Righteousness of your Own as he Terms it which is received from Christ nevertheless and wrought in you by him if ye can believe T. D. ye are not meet in any wife to enter into Heaven but albeit ye have a Real true Right to enter being though still in your sins already justified by the former yet ye may not enter for all that real Right ye have so to do into so Holy an Habitation for want of being cleansed sanctified and made meet for it by this latter So of the things that T. D. hath spoken ye have the summe And so I come to some fuller Examination of the way by which as a meritorious cause our Iustification comes and our Right and Title to enter into the Heavenly Inheritance and our meetness and fitness for the Possession of it also And first I shall shew what these matters come not by 1. None of all this comes by any or all those good works or Righteousnesses which abstract from Christ as the Worker of them in and by man are most truly and properly mans own for howbeit T.D. charges us as crying up Our own works of Righteousness not onely as our Sanctification but as de Iure deserving Iustification also or acceptance in Gods fight and entrance into his Kingdom yet but that his eye is so busie abroad that its utterly blinded
the remaining of so many Relikes of the Romish Whoâe among our English Clergy that they are still living in and loving the Skirts of that great Whores Scoâtations Indeed to say as T.D. doth of S.F. He hath been at Rome He had great Bills of Exchange from Constantinople thither He witnest against the Pope and Cardinal there yet was not medled with He saith he is above Ordinances He saith Iesuits and Friars are sounder in doctrine then those call'd the Reformed Churches He made light on 't when he was charg'd with Popery before 100ds of peâple He affirm'd justification by our good works and such as doctrines are a fair inlet to the Papists Bag and Baggage therefore probably he complyes with the Pope and Cardinals hath a Pension from him and is manifestly a rank Papist These 7 or 8 piball'd Magpie premises and Humbââ Bee propositions whereof some are true and some false may like so many Roaring Megs and Thundring Canons make such a hideous Rumbling noyse in a Country Church as they use to say as to frighten poor Folck out of their senses and force all Priest-bewitcht people whether they will or no into the faith of what followes at their heels as the conclusion they serve to usher in viz that S.F. is a fer-vent Factor for the Sea of Rome Neverthelesse there is no more Consequence in them though less Truth then if a man should argue thus where the Antecedent and Subsequent are both true though the one very untruly deduced from the other viz. The Wheelbarrow runs Rumble to Rumble Therefore the Clergy will never leave climbing up by lyes till down they Tumble The Second Apologetical and Expostulatory Exercitation CHAP. I. NOw I Return again to thee Iohn Owen whom excepting here and there with a word or two as occasion was I have not visited of a long time being by T. D. his interposings in this Question about Iustification which is excentrick from all the points in which thou encountrest the Quakers so totally taken off for many pages together from any steady discourse or any but meer cursory conference with thee that some men who measure others by themselves and take an account of the Quakers conjunctions with them in contending for truth by the cowardly spirits they carry in their own brests may Term it little lesse then shameful or total Tergiversation in me to tarry so long from thee and not so much as face thee all this while And now I am come to deal with thee I shall freely allow thee the advantage of the utmost assistance that T.Ds. Book against the Quakers and that of I. T. or R. B. also affords thee to help thee if need be at any dead list where thou art a stand in the Doctrines about which I have to do with thee which though some are more eminently to be canvased between us two then the rest which are but transiently toucht on by thee yet are no less then the five aforesaid viz. 1. The Letter 2. The Light 3. The Infallible Spirits present infallible guidance 4. The Universality or particularity of the grace of God to the Sons of men 5. Perfection of holinesse and cleansing from sin in this life In all which five whether in the selfe same order as they are here laid down in or no I cannot say nor is it much matter for that as I am first or last to speak on or to joyne issue in against thee So more or lesse T.D. falls in and joyns issue with thee in them against the Quakers so directly that I see not how I can meddle with one and let the other wholly alone but must unavoidably hold an entercourse briefly or largely as occasion happens either simul or successivè with you both and with I. Tombes and R. Baxt. also who whether they meddle in their last book with them all or not so as to prosecute them yet intimate themselves both in that and other of their labours to be of the same minde with you as also most of the Divines so called are throughout this Nation Now concerning these which are the grand Subjects in reference to which all that is said of any of them by either of us in our Disputation about them is but the Praedicate so contrary are we as the Case yet stands between Thy self and me to each other in our Assertions that very much if not most of that which is denominated of them respectively by either of us is as absolutely gain-said by the other So as whatsoever is as most that thou sayest at all of it is falsly Affirmed by thee of the Scripture the Subject which in a shallow sound of words thou seem'st to stand for but art seen in truth to stand against is utterly denyed by me and most of that which is most truly Asserted by me and the Quakers of the Light and all the rest of fore-named Doctrines is as positively denyed by thy self though in thy denying thereof thou dost not more evidently contradict both the Truth and us then thy silly self who art yet so sensless as not to see it What Testimony it is that we bear of the grace of God the Spirits guidance Perfection and true Light the Subjects which we plead for and thou impleadest will be seen when I come in all plainness to give it out with the good grounds thereof as at last I shall God willing howbeit not till toward the last for as much as in the last place thy false witnesse comes out against it and in the mean while betake my self to the intended Tryal of those things which are as blindly as boldly bolted out by thee about the Scriptures and to declare wherein we do and wherein we do not and also why it is where-ever we do not that we neither do nor may nor can accord at all with thee about the Scripture for not Assenting to whose meer fancies about which as infallible and undoubted Truths having hung up thy Flag of Defiance against Atheists Anti-scriptural Iewes and Papists and sought up thy foolish fight also with sundry of thy fellow Protestant Divines for not dancing after thy unharmonious Pipe nor singing to the same Truthlesse tune with thee about the Scriptures Thou beatest up the Quarters of the Quakers and unjustly Quarrelâst against them slandering them as fowlely as falsly in a long Latine Piece of Scholastical scrible as slanderers of the Scripture whom yet thou neither dost nor canst evince to be such unless that be to slander the Scripture to say no more of it then matter of truth Now for as much as my Businesse with I. O. principally and in part also with T.D. as to the Scriptures will lie mainly these two wayes viz. First to clear the Quakers from those clouds of ignominy wherewith they as all their fellow Clergy-men commonly do seek to cover them by their lyes of them as a people that deserve to be held accursed among
all for their enmity to the Scripture Secondly to recover both Priests and people as much as may be from under those dark cloudy conceptions of the Scripture which these two men being overcast with themselves labour what they can to beget others into as if all the worlds were for ever utterly undone and under the losse of all saving truth and utterly without any possible way whereby to come to the knowledge of the will of God concerning them in order to their souls Salvation from sin and wrath to come if the outward Letter or External text of the Scripture be not Talkt up into the Throne as the onely Lapis Lydius ex 3.5 33 sure Word of God infallible guide Trusty Teacher Supream Iudge perfect Rule stâm foundation stable Standard fixt unerring unalterable measure and such like as I.O. states it to be by which all Doctrines Faiths Words Writings Spirits true or false must be toucht tried and determined or else no man can be at any certainty where to be what to believe how to walk with God which to take for Truth and which to turn from I shall first plainly shew what the Scriptures are and what we mean when we talk of Scriptures 2. Briefly take notice of some of the base unworthy absurd abuses and fowl aspersions and unjust accusations whereby thou I.O. what in thee lies labourest much more abundantly and abominably I must needs say then the other as to this point to render us odious to all men as despisers and deniers of them and then 3 dly addressing to the controversie it self leave all who shall read such Animadversions as are to be made by me of thy unfound Assertions about it to judge by that light of God in their own Consciences whether themselves or we erre most beside the Scripture or most duly deserve the Censure of Anti-scripturists First then I shall here give all men to understand more distinctly yet then I have hitherto done what it is that I intend and what I would be understood as speaking of by this term the Scripture which is to be so often agitated in this Discourse between me and I.O. in whose Book also it is so often agitated and what sort of those Holy Scriptures it is which is the common Subject of which so much is prated and predicated by I.O. that is as utterly denyed by the Quakers That we may not by hanging in universals only which are in no wise or sense truly seen but by considering the particulars wherein they exist conclude of things in a tumultuous mist of Confusion as thou dost distinguishing where thou shouldst not and jumbling things into a kind of Omnigatherum which should be more singly and severally spoken of whose Trumpet gives such an uncertain sound that its hard to know either how or where one must prepare to the battel The word Scripture then though it be an Vnivocal nor AEquivocal as us'd by us yet is it a General Term and so Ambiguous and doubtful unless it be explained by its particulars signifying not only all other kinds of Scriptures good and bad that ever were in the world but also more kinds then one of that kind of Scripture which Abstractively from and more eminently then the rest in regard of its worth we ordinarily call The Scripture and have singled out from all the rest as our Present Subject What thou meanst in thy heedlesse handiement of this more General Subject I can hardly find thou drivest it on when thou Praedicatest this and that of it in most parts of thy Dispute at Randome in general terms and run'st away with the word Scripture at all adventure scribling it over again and again The Scripture is this the Scripture is that the Scripture is written by Inspiration of God the Scripture is the Word of God the Scripture is entire to a tittle perfect c. scarcely shewing which of those Three several sorts of it which thy self hast divided it into thou wouldst have us to understand thee as speaking of when thou denominarest these high things of it viz. Whether first thou mean the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as thou caliest them pag. 13. I The individual and immediate Manuscripts of Moses the Prophets and Apostles and such holy and honest men as were the first Pen-men of the sundry Parcels of that holy Scripture which was copied cut the Copy whereof is bound up in the bulk now called the Bible Or secondly the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I the transcribed Copies thereof whether first immediate that were at first hand taken out of the first Copies Or secondly those mighty mediate and far remote ones taken by thou knowst not whom out of thou knowst not what Copies that were handed downwards successively not without some mixtures mistakes and for ought though knowest losse of much of what was at first throw all the dark Ages since then to this of ours by men that were some faithful and some unfaithful but none of them infallible by thy own confession p. 167. or divinely inspired so that it was impossible for them in any thing to mistake which uncertain Copies ye have as your only Rule and Canon at this day in which Copies neverthelesse of the Originals yet remaining that may secundum te I.O. according to thy Concession be more or lesse crooked as it happens and thy self granting there are varieties among them cannot be all true Thou dost not blush p. 173. to adde and say That the whole Scripture entire as given out from God is preserved without any losse and within them all is every Letter and Tittle c. Or Thirdly Whether thou mean the several and various Copies of the Translations of those various and several Transcriptions into several Tongues and Languages What thou meanest I say or which of all these Three sorts of Writings whether the first Manuscripts only or the Transcripts and Translations also or the Two first only and not the last or all the Three which are all Three commonly called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Holy Scriptures When thou Praedicatest these glorious things of the Scripture thou dost not very distinctly declare but goest on in generals and that Dolus latet in universalibus thou art not ignorant so that he had need to be wise that very easily discerns thy mind and what thou meanest yet this I know full well and 't is the more shame for thee if thou be ignorant of it that some things may be said tru'y of some one of these that cannot without falshood be affirmed of the other Two and some things of Two that cannot of the Third and he understands neither what he saith nor whereof he affirmeth whosoever he is that without distinction denominates all the things that thou dost of the Scriptures of these Three sorts all alike or of any Two of them either most of which will upon due examination not be found duly
the Spirit by such as lived and walked in the Spirit and were in all they did led by the Spirit to some private Christians about some worldly Affairs as that of Paul to Philemon Some by Chief Captains to their Presidents and by Presidents to their Princes about Prisoners and Tumults and divers other sorts of passages So that as written in the Spirit the Holy Scriptures may be said to be Homogeneous Writings all of one kind but in respect of the several businesses written of therein they are at Heterogeneous I a body or bulk of as various Writings as any extant in the World-besides them Now by the Scriptures I mean these Writings that contain the matters abovesaid and many more and not the matters themselves therein contained And if thou mean by the Scriptures any other things then the Scriptures themselves as like a Reed shaken with the wind thou seemest sometimes to do and again sometimes not to do and which things the Scriptures are not or by any other things which are not the Scriptures when thou speakest of them viz. the Law Word of God the spiritual Light c. meanest the Scripture as sure enough thou dost well-nigh throughout thy confused discourses and disputations about it then thy meanings are too mean to be any otherwise at all then meanly accounted on among any that mean honestly and plainly and know the Truth as it is in Jesus By us when we talk of the Scriptures to use thy own words onely vice versa Ex. 1. Sect. 26. non sanctissima ista veritas seu materia Scripturarium sed scriptura formaliter considerata intenditur honestly and plainly we intend that onely which is so even the form of writing it self and not the matter or holy truths of the Scripture the Scripturam and not the Scriptum or at most the Litteram Scriptam not the rem scriptam not the Verbum Scriptum the Declaration and not the Doctrine declared the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the letter in the oldnesse of which thou art yet serving who knowest not the newness of the spirit the Scripture or Writings of the Prophecy and not the Prophesie of or contained in the writing nor the Prophetical VVord the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the writing for so the word is there translated truly 2 Chron. chapter 21. not the VVord Written or word of Prophesie that came to Elijah and was sent in a Writing to the King which thou falsly sayest p. 12. that Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is used for in that Text and every wise man that is truly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã especially in a dispute where the Question is whether the writing of the Word of God be the Word of God Written of or no while sub judice lis est will till the thing in debate one way or other be clearly determined remember still to keep these two things as two asunder So thou dost thy self while thou art well in thy wits witness thy words above cited by myself Ex. 1. S. 28. where thou puttest a plain difference between the Scripture it self formally considered and the most Holy Truth or matter therein delivered yea when ever thou keepest in any measure of sober-mindednesse thou keep'st these two as distinct in thy discourse as the two sticks of Iudah and Ioseph Ezek. 37 19 17. that were superscribed with two several superscriptions vouchsafing to each its own proper name and not communicating the name of either unto the other but clearly dividing between them so as that any one may see thou thy self dost not believe one of them to be the other nor yet darest affirm them to be Synonymous witness p. 12 13. where thou makest them two and writest of one of them all along as in contradistinction to the other in these Terms viz. not the Doctrine in it but the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it self The Providence of God no lesse concerned in the preservation of the writings then the Doctrine contained in them the Writing it self being the product of his Counsel for the preservation of his Doctrine Satan hath no lesse raged against the Book then against the Truth contained in it it was no lesse crime of old to be Traditor libri then to be Abnegator fidel which sour last Assertions of thine though they are all four false tales for Providence is not so much concerned to preserve the Writings as the Doctrine neither is the Writing so necessary for the preserving of the Doctrine that as thou there hintest it must it must needs perish if the Writings perish for it was before them and may be without them and will be after them Neither thirdly is the malice of Satan so much against the Book called the Bible as against the Doctrine of the truth for he is willing to let hypocrites alone long enough to carry gaudy Bibles under their arms so be they serve him and abide not in Christs Doctrine nor in the Truth the Scripture tells of neither 4ly is it or ever was it so great a Crime to betray the Book called the Bible as to deny the Faith and the Word of Faith therein written of for the Book is not worth a Pin as to salvation without the Faith but the Faith is sufficient thereto without the Book and was so before the Book was witnesse the Worthies from Abel to Moses whose sufficient faith is written of Heb. 11. and would be if the Pope and the Devils rage should reach so far as to burn all the Bibles in the World so here 's four utter untruths asserted together neverthelesse as they are Tru-lies yet are they true enough to serve the truth I here summon them in proof of viz. that thou thy self who countest it as bad not to be as trusty to the Bible as to the Truth that 's in it as it is to betray the Truth and deny the Faith dost deny the Book or Scripture the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Writing to be one and the same with the Faith Truth and Doctrine or the Doctrine to be the Writing or that these can truly be denominated each of other I say then that here being more sober minded as to thy discerning between the writing and the written verity though drunk enough elsewise to lay so many lyes or at least so many tales that are not true upon the top one of another in so small a space as one short Section thou art freely willing fairly to distinguish them into two Yea further yet that thou dost not judge these two to be one it may appear plainly to thy self or any that are free to peruse the places in the 16. and 17. Sections of the same first Chapter for if thou didst then in the enjoyment of the one thou wouldest be satisfied as
and write as if with thee they were as one for besides thy stiling the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Writing or Scripture which is well-nigh the total Subject Treated on in that Section by these names viz. the Prophecy of Scripture the word of Prophesie the written VVord the Word of God and thy loud lying in saying that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is above fifty times in the New Testament put absolutely for the Word of God not proving it to be so put so much as once not being able sure I am to prove it to be half so often if thou couldest as I shall shew elsewhere prove it so to be put an hundred fifty times all that would prove nothing to thy chief purpose which utter untruth must be more talk't with in another place thou twice there makest one of them as explanatory onely of thy mind and of what thou meanest by the other in these Terms viz. the writing or written word the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it self or which or is there more conjunctive then disjunctive the Doctrine as written also thou makest the one but explicatory of the other in many other places viz. Ep. Ded. P. 20. Tr. 1. ch 4. S. 2. S. 19. and Ex. 1. S. 24. where thou writest of them not Sâorsim as of two but conjunctim as of one and the self same thing thus Scripturam sacram seu verbum Dei scriptum the Scripture or written Word of God sacred Letters the written Word Nâ so incogiaant art thou as not onely both to divide into two and confound again into one these two distinct Subjects viz. the Scripture and the Word of God the writing and Doctrine of Christ therein declared within so small a compass as the space of two small Sections standing both together but thou both dividest and confoundest them within the little corner of one single sentence witnesse the last clause of the twelfth Section of the first chapter of thy Treatise above cited where thou expressest thy self thus viz. not onely the Doctrine in it but the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it self or the Doctrine as written is from God 1 as his Word for so thou meanest still by that term from God in the first part of which the Doctrine written in the Scripture and the Scripture it self are made two in the latter the Scripture the Doctrine written as written in it are made one which is the same Doctrine still as well when considered as written as when considered as not Written and is neither more nor lesse of God whether written or not written and under both these notions a distinct thing from the writing evermore If the Serpent can hansomly and fairly twine himself out here from the just censure of a self confounder let him scape scot-free this once and in this one thing for me but if he cannot do it without dawbing and dribling and shuffling and shifting and cutting and lying against the Light within then let him hang there for me in his Fetters of darknesse till he learn to speak without confusion for I know not how in a way of honesty to help him out or take him down CHAP. II. HAving shewed what truly and properly the Scripture is and what we the Quakers intend and I.O. also if we may take him as meaning what he mostly sayes by that Term Scripture when we deny it to be what thou contend'st it to be and pleadest against us for as its Proper Name viz. the Word of God c. I come next to those base abuses put upon us and false matters charged against us partly by T.D. in his first Pamphlet but principally by thee I.O. as concerning our carriage toward the Scriptures Principally in thy Latine Legend wherein thou lyest more at liberty then in thy two English pieces of emptinesse and the more securely by how much thou seemest to thy self at least to lye more hidden or more obscurely out of the reach of their rebuke whom thou reproachest in that Latine Language then in the other insomuch that by thy own speeches we may conclude that thy whole work as relating to the Quakers which is fronted but fronti nulla fides with Pro Scripturis Adversus Fanaticos for the Scriptures against the Fanaticks with which new nick-name the Quakers by many more besides thy self who Arbitrio Diabolico wast one of the first Imposers of it on that truly enlightned people begin now to be abusively branded seems to be designed more to the sporting thy own and thy School-fellowes leâd spightful Spirits by playing upon the Quakers in secret in your dark Divinity cels among your selves then either to convince them to their faces of such errors as thou erroneously accusest them of or by thy crude Theological Disputations Determinations tumultuarie sane fatis conscriptas as thou callest them ad lectorem to confute the Quakers plainly and openly before Plain-hearted people witnesse thy own saying to the like effect which I shall first enter at as it lies in thy little Latine Lecture Ad Lectorem J.O. The Fanaticks or with thee the Quak who are in these dayes most notable in their errors and foolishnesse we here Principally assault But no man could be deemed to dote so much as my self if I aimed at the convincing of them by what I here write sith they no more understand the speech we here use then we at any time can perceive that indigested sound of words void of all sound sense whereby they when they speak seem to noise it out to not onely one another but all others also Ex. 2. Sect. 23. They the Quakers are well nigh all unlearned and skild no further then their mother Tongue Rep The more shame for thee I.O. if the Quakers be all so unlearned and utterly unintelligent in the Latine Tongue as thou sayest that thou talkest therein against them as thou dost and chargest them with much more error in Doctrine and evil in life then will ever be made good against them by thy self or any of thine Abetrours or stand approved for Truth while the world stands among spiritually understanding and honest minded men when they come to be divested as hereby they are to be our of that disguise thou dressest them our in to thy Iunior Ieerers at Christs own Image which is seen upon them Was it not enough for thee to have belved them in English as no lesse then twice ore thou hast done in thy Epistle Dedicatory of thy Dean-like doings to thy Reverend Friends the Prebends and Students in Divinity in that Society so called of Ch. Church Col. in Oxford where thou wast lately Dean but quo jure divino I yet know not but thou must likewise needs lay at them and lye in ambush and talk and take on against them in a Tongue wherein if thy surmise of their Vniversal ignorance of thy Latine Lyes had been as sound as it seemed to be they
hollow holes and cavernes throw the several Sections or lesser Rivelets thereof as throw so many dark Cells till driving downward still throw that least and last Head-lesse and Tail-lesse piece of Envy against the inner Light they issue out into the outer darknesse and at last all empty themselves headlong into the bottomlesse pit from whence those Exercitations for the most part were at first exerted and so downward still into the most dismal Lake of all even the Lake of fire that burns with brimstone which is the second death where the strong Warriour who is as âoe and his work which is as a spark and every Lyar and his Lyes must lye and burn both together for ever and not be quenched And as for thy boasting thy self and glorying over the Quakers as learned no farther then their meer Mother tongue and such as understand not so much as the Latine tongue wherein thou cowardly enough encounterest them nor know how to speak sound sense to your understandings in their seeming bâbble to each other and to all others Alas poor man this is no newes to the Quakers to see Sanballats and Tobias's High Priests Scribes and Pharisees Doctors and reverend Rabbies superstitious Athenians University Philosophers Epicureans and Stoicks who worship an unknown God A generation of Arteficial Fools and Scholastick ignorant Ones that of old encountered Paul a better Schollar in Christs School a wiser builder then themselves Acts 17. count Gods Prophets Christ and his Apostles bringers of strange Matters and New Doctrines to their Ears medlers beyond their line measure Rule and Call doers and speakers of bald businesses no newes to hear the Opposers of Truth in their Science falsly so called say of the Quakers What will these feeble folk do Will they fortifie themselves Will they Sacrifice Will they make an end in a day Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the Rubbish that are burnt That which they build if a Fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall Neh. 4.2 3. Oh thou Seer that confessest thou wast neither bred nor born a Prophet but an Herdsman com'st thou to Prophesie at Bethel at the Kings Chappel away hence to thy own Countrey eat Bread and Prophesie there if thou wilt Prophesie but come not here dropping thy word thou art not a fit man to minister here the Land will not bear thy words Amos 7. Whence hath this man these things he pretends too this boldness to teach us having never learn't at our Schooles being never brought up at our Nurseries of Learning and Religion and such like But miserably wretched and deluded men that ye are ye little consider though the old Priests and Scribes as bad as they were took knowledge of such a thing in Peter and Iohn Acts 4. that as outwardly unlearned and ignorant men as the Quakers seem to you to be yet they have been with Iesus from whom they have learned that by looking to him in his own Light which all your meer sublunary literature can never lead you into the knowledge of even that hidden Wisdom of God in a Mystery which the Princes of this world are not acquainted with that Crosse of Christ the Wisdom Power Righteousnesse Image and Glory of God which is foolishnesse to them that pârish Ye glory in your Fencer-like Faculties of Disputing in Form and Mood and Figure over the Quakers as a sort of Rusticks and Russet-Coats disorderly Disputers unruly and vain Talkers because they are not Regulated as your own blinded People are in all things implicitly by the Rules and wordly Rudiments of you Renowned Rabbies but ye forget that the Lord hath rejected the Scribe and Disputer of this World and will confound and make foolish and bring to nought all his strong and wise and mighty Matters that Are by the weak foolish base abject Contemptible things that Are not and by stammerring lips and another Tongue then they wot of and by Precept upon Precept line upon line here a little and there a little make the Drunkard of Ephraim stagger and stumble and go backward and fall and be broken and snared and taken and weary these vain wise wild-Asses out of their Academical Niceties and Punctilio's out of their Accute Astutenesse and Astute Accutenesse out of their witty Wiles and wicked wrestlings against the Truth by a foolish Nation that are even as no People in their eyes Ye tell the World that these People know not the Law and are accursed as your Fore-fathers did saying Do you see any of the Rulers of the Pharisees believe as they do they are un'earned and unstable a giddy headed People that wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction But ye heed not how Christ tells the Scribes that were as well skilled in searching into the Scripture as your selves that they Erred and knew not the Scriptures nor the power of God and how even ignorant and unlearned Peter himself as to that Science of yours falsely so called or Wisdome of the flesh which is ever enmity against God and is never subject to his Law nor can be speaks of another kind of un'earn'd and unstable Ones then those ye count so who are a thousand fold more spiritually discerning then your selves that being out of the Light and spirit in which Paul and holy men gave them forth wrest both Pauls Epistles that are hard to be understood by the learned'st of our Letter-lauders and also other Scriptures to their own ruine The Quakers Preach Christ his Light and Crosse the Power of God the Wisdom of God to the Iew outwardly a stumbling Block and foolishnesse to the Greek the Quakers know not the Originals say they How can they Expound and Open Scriptures They know not the language we here use quoth I.O. whose Lyes are most in Latine against the Quakers who busies himself about the back-side of the Book and tangles and turmoyls himself in tedious Tattle about the External Text about the integrity of the Hebrew the Greek But ye say I know not what is talked of in that Text it self ye so much talk of when it tells of a time wherein the Eyes of all Israel as of one man shall be toward the Lord who will bend Judah for himself and fill the Bow with Ephraim and raise up the sons of Sion against the sons of Greece and make them as the sword of a Mighty man in his hand Yea who so blind about the Scripture it self as well as about the things therein written as the great Scripture searching Scribes and Scholastick Scriblers thereupon who come not at all to Christ himself whom the Scriptures testifie of that they might have Light and Life who never at any time hear either his or the Fathers voice or see his shape so far are they from coming forth into his likenesse or Image which in their own imaginations these Spiritual men of God so called pretend to appear in more then any others Now as to
present Seers gain-getting Priests false Prophets and foolish People But alas poor man thou art far enough from the New Testament or Covenant yet which is a Gospel a Covenant of Light which thou art so far from that thou fightest against it thou thinkest thy Judgement is over past and the Old Testament a thing that thou hast learned long ago but thou art not come so near to the sharp Paedagogy of it yet as thou must do so far art thou from the glorious Liberties of the New Thy words are true enough the Word under the New comes in a way of more Liberty and Glory but it s no newes to hear High Priests speak Truths which themselves know not thou art at best but an Old Testament Talker of the New and one that 's come truly yet under the Tuition of neither As for the New the Word comes under it in Liberty and Glory but not to Old Testament Spirits Doctors Scribes and Pharisees they see not clearly so much as Moses face much lesse the Glory of God in the face of Iesus Condemnation is yet to come from Christ himself first to such as these as well as from Moses Iohn yea Christ himsâlf whose friendliness to Publicans and Sinners as a Physitian was found fault with by such Friday fasting Pharisees as this Age is filled with as much as Iohns Austerenesse was found in Iohns rough Spirit Camels hair Garment and astonishing Appearance to them that went about to Murder him in his inward Ministry and Testimony within themselves and then they said of him too as of Iohn Thou hast a Devil Ioh 8. Ah poor Nursing Fathers and Mothers Vniversally Erring Vniversity Seducers poor seducing Priests and seduced People notwithstanding the Glorious Liberty and Gloriousnesse of the Gospel Times that ye are glorying in in a Dream that ye live under ye must most assuredly find a Condemning Iudging Terrifying fiery flaming Law laying hold on your Consciences and finding you out and the Sword of the Lord entering into your Souls and the Wrath of the Lord rending your very heart-strings a sunder and dread terrour and trembling surprizing you Hypocritical sinners in Sion before ever ye shall come to know the true Liberty or Glory of the Gospel which is the Image and Glory of God brought forth among you yea judgement is already laid to the line and Rigeteousnesse to the Plummet and the Hail is falling that will sweep away your Refuges of Lyes and the storm that will overflow your hiding places and break and disinable your supposed Covenant and Agreement with Death and Hell as if your judgement were passed over by the Lord and none of that could come near you and your Bed will be found too short for you to rest on and your Covering too narrow to wrap your selves in from the Wrath of God the power of whose wrathful displeasure shall make your Mount Sier shake like Sinai before ever ye come near to the sight of that glorious Rest that the Saints ly down in on Mount Sion Now as to that other new found Phrase of Fanaticks These Fanaticks the Fanaticks of this time our Fanaticks Fanatical Quakers Fanatical Souls Fanatical Enthusiasts Fanatical Knaves Fanatical Anti-scripturists and under which ever and anon yea so oft that I may say Ferè numquam non thou soamest out as thy fellows do that froth filth and falshood which floats about in thy foolish vain Spirit against the Quakers in gross as against a furious distracted mad crack-brain'd kind of men that for so those Terms signifie as used by thee pretend to Visions Revelations Illuminations Inspirations the Spirit of Prophesie and such like but are Reapse stark besides themselves and bereft of their very wits and senses As new a nick-Name as 't is to this Age this is no other then what all the Prophets of God were entertained with in the several seasons wherein God sent them out by the many false Prophets that were Coaetaneous with them and therefore nibil novi no new business to such as are not blind He is but meanly skill'd in the Scriptures who hath not yet learn'd from thence That the Prophets by whom God spake and by whose Ministry be muâtiplied Visions and used Similitudes as Hos. 12.10 were ever counted Deceivers as the snare of a Fowler in all their wayes that the true Prophet was a fool and the spiritual man or man of the spirit Mad Hos. 9.7 8. and hatred alwayes in the House of his God And that Gods People by meer profession rose up against them as against an Enemy and as now the same Generation of Holy Hypocrites do both in Old England and in New pull'd off their Robes and their Garments from them to whip and scourge them sometimes as Seditious and Disturbers that passe by securely as men most averse from War and streitned the spirit of the Lord saying Prophesie not so such as Prophesied in his Name and Power and putting them to shame if they did when if a man would walk in the wind of his own Invention and Lye falsly and Prophesie to them of âelly Ohear of Wine and of strong Drink even he should be own'd a Prophet by that People Mic 2.8 9 10 11. And that Ioshua the true High Priest and his fellows even Christ and the Children that God had given him were as men wondred at were set as signes to be spoken against even to the house of Jacob from whom he hid his face and their peepers and mutterers out of their own familiar spirits to the unbelieving Despisers that wonder and perish for signes and for wonders from the Lord of Host that dwelleth in Mount Sion Isa. 8.17 18. Zach. 3.8 Luke 2.34 Act. 13.40 41. Yea I. O. hath read his own Book ore but by the halves if he do not learn this Lesson out of it himself pag. 58 59 61 62. that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or divinely inspired men whose Doctrine was to have been received as from God who sent them and in whose Name they spake though but Herdsmen and of mean Occupation were yet generally rejected upon innumerable prejudices that attended the Truth they spake arising from the personal infirmities and supposed Interests of them that delivered it as Amos 7. Ier. 43.2 3. Ioh 9.29 Act. 24.5 and that what with these things and chiefly the Peoples being so eminently perplexed with false Prophets both as to their number and subtilty that they could not well discern aright between Gods Word and that which was only pretended so to be and so became guilty of unbelief and rebellion against God not submitting to what they spake in his Name it alwayes so sell out that scarce any Prophet that spake in the Name of God had any Approbation from the Church of dead stones in whose dayes he spake Matth. 5.12.21.33 to 38 Act. 7.52 Thus much I.O. may learn from these words which are mostly his own that it was alwayes so heretofore and
thou liftedest up thy self as thou dost in so vain a way of lifting up and advancing the Letter over all that which is to be preferred before it and was before it as that it came out from and points men to even the living Word and inward Light and spirit which as held out by the Quakers not in any way of that Devilish disparagement of as thou intimatest Ex. 1. S. 3. or spiteful disrespect to the Scripture thou settest at nought with all the Calumny thou canst likely cast on them yea as thou sayest of the Pope Ex. 2. S. 8. Papae Tempus erit c. So say I to thee Non Papae solum sed tibi tempus erit cum magno optaveris emptam intactam Scripturam And that I am no Iesuite nor sider with them about the Scripture so as to agree with them in upholding their seigned infallible Chaire besides what many can witnesse who have been Eye and Ear witnesses of my opposing them in other Nations I adde this as my Final Defence of my self as to that Aspersion of T. D. He that will give heed to it let him if otherwise let him chuse Non cum Jesu Itis qui Itis cum Jesuitis So then as to Evince it that I am none of those Idiots that Idolize any meer mens Writings as many do the un kilful scriblings of their Scribes for the Scriptures little lesse then Israel did the Golden Calves after which they dotingly ran from God himself saying of these Imuges in their own Imaginations These are thy Gods c. Nor yet any meer Writings of those holy men that wrote the Holy Scripture it self as most of our misty-Ministers and their people do because they were written by Divine Inspiration little lesse then Israel did the Brazen Serpent because it was hung up by Divine Institution I shall First take occasion to thrust down that enthroned Calf of thy Anti-scriptural Triobulary Treatises Theses and Atheological Thoughts upon the Scripture from that high place it hath in the Thoughts of such as fall down before it as Moses threw down that Molten Image which the High Priest made and ignorant people made a God of and stamped it to powder And Secondly As Hezekiah not without Gods own approbation took down the Brazen Serpent which had its being as the Holy Scripture it self had not without Gods own appointment when once men began to do Homage to it and called it no more then Nehushtan that is a piece of Brasse that they might know it was no God So shall I take down the dead Corps and bare Carcase of the best Copy of the Scripture since men begin to go a Whoring after it from God and Christ and the Word of Life it self out of that high and stately Throne wherein thou I. O. statest it and from those surpassing and lofty Titles of the Living Word of God the most glorious spiritual Light in the World above the Sun the most perfect Rule and many more such like with which thou as hereafter appears dost invest and exalt it over all even over the Light it came from which is by thee unjustly put behind it and dehased below it though both in time and worth 't is far before it and stile it by its own true Name of Writings of Truth or Holy Scripture that so men that seek to it more then to God himself for Salvation and search it and therein think to have eternal Life at the old Scribes did that never came to Christ the Light above whom they prefered it may recollect themselves and see that the Letter gives not the Life but doth only testifie outwardly of another whom being lost from him by looking to the Letter which bids look to him they never look to nor never yet came to that they might have Life So withal to evince it that I am none of those Popish Ignoramus's that deal so ignobly with the holy Scriptures as to set them at nought and pluck them down as they do not only below themselves which have as Real and Great an Excellency as any such thing as is no more then an External Writing of an External Truth can possibly have but also below that which is worse then naught viz. their leaden Legend of Lyes their trashy Traditions their mouldy Massora their invented Oral Law their vain verbum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that meer imagined Moon calf the unerring breast of their most erroneous holy Father and such like I shall in this Work before all the world prefer the bare body and letter of the Scripture which is legible to mens bodily Eyes far before that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as thou truly callest it for all their Abominations before that whole Body of Fools bawbles that bottomlesse pit of Paultrinesse that boundlesse bundle of Baby clouts that endlesse Ocean of Omnigatherums that dirty puddle and deep dunghil of Devility rather then Divinity which the more it s dived and raked into the more rotten it renders it self like some for did sink that stinkes the more the more 't is stirred in for such is the Traditionary Treasury of that saltlesse unsavoury Sea upon which therefore the plagues of the Vials which must be filled upon you also are fallen falling and to fall which Sea of Rome is as the blood of a dead man lifelesse putrid and corrupt so that every living Soul dies that lives therein Yea Consider the naked literal Aspect of the holy Scriptures nor in its highest not in its primitive best and purest as at first given forth but in its meer derivative in its lowest meanest and most altered and adulterated capacity wherein it stands at this day wrested and torn and like a Nose of Wax twisted and twined into more then twice if not ten or twenty times twenty several shapes by mens untrue and tottered Transcripts and Translations for Oh that vast variety of Lections besides the Infinity of Senses throw mens misrenderings corrupt copyings correctings of and commentings on it c. that the World is now loaded with and led out into yet as meer a graven Image as that is with Ink and Pen on Paper or skin of parchment for 't is so though I reject their jeers as improper and impious by whom it is scoffed at as Chartacea Membranae c. for 't is not so and as dead a Letter as it is bear with me in that Expression I. O. till I come to shew where thou so callest it as well as Papists and Quakers whom thou quarrellest with for so calling it and as very a Nose of Wax and Lesbian Rule and no certain stable standard as it is for I know not why what they wickedly because Tauntingly we may not honestly sith truly seriously and soberly so call which may so easily so endlesly be altered by the wills of men as they self I.O. shewest us in the 20 21 22 23 24. pages of they Preface the Scripture may and made to stand which way
and by your Words without Knowledge I say which of these Two the Quakers or your Schollers bring forth Fruits most meet for God and like those of the Spirit Peace Meeknesse Patience Temperance c. Gal. 5. Let them be the Good Trees and so known and owned to be by their Fiuits and let them be the true Flock of Christ and be by us as I am sure such are by himself accounted as his Sheepfold And which abounds most in those Fruits and Works of the Flesh there spoken of also viz. uncleannesse lasciviousnesse wrath hatred Drunkennesse Revellings and such like and which wallows most in that kind of mire let them be the Hogs and Swine and not Christs Flock and Fold but he held hence forward for a Hog-sty Now for my part if I were to judge by what Fruits have come forth in and from our Two Nurseries of Religion of latter years and as well in and from Oxford it self as Cambridge and how many of them in the time of I. O's Vice-Chancellourship there I. O. knows as well as I even such as are not sit to be named among Christians and what Fruits of Righteousnesse have been found among the Quakers both there and elsewhere who have suffered innocently and as to rendering evil for evil patiently under them and others I could quickly determine the matter but sith its like I.O. will hardly let me be Judge in my own Case lest I cleave too much to my own Cause and Company let such Books as are Extant of the Schollers Misdemeanours against the Quakers in their own Meetings who have been alwayes bound to their Good behaviour towards the other by that of God in their Consciences in the midst of all their abuses to the Quakers and then let all men Judge which Generation of men the Quakers or University Schollers and their Respective Assemblies do most exactly resemble the deportment of Swine in their Hog-styes Besides those sundry Relations that are Extant in Print of the Imprisonments Whippings and other Persecutions of the innocent Servants of the Lords sending among them to warn them of their Wickednesse at Cambridge there are Two at least viz. one stiled A true Testimony of the Zeal of the Oxford Professors and University-men put forth by R.H. And one much more lately under the Hands of 8 Witnesses stiled A true Relation of some of the Sufferings inflicted upon the Quakers as the Fruits of the Evil doers viz. the Proctors and Schollars at Oxford in which who reads may see the matters of Fact to which I Refer such as are minded to be Judges between me and I.O. an Oxford man in this Case who if they be not such as are loath to call their Brothers Theeves and their Sisters Swine will assuredly from those Arch-Abominable and Antick-Actions conclude from thence with me the Actors and Abbettors look much more then like the Sheep of Christ like Foxes and Bears and Wolves and Dogs and Wilde Boares and Swine However whether it shall stand with I.O. or nay it matters not I shall from thence infer my Conclusion That if Innocency Quietnesse Patience under Sufferings Temperance Godlinesse Reproving Wickednesse and becoming fools for Christ exposing themselves for Truths ' sake as Signs and laughing stocks to an Adulterous Generation be the Characters of such men as the Scripture calls Swine then that House and Family of the Quakers is become a Hog-stie But unless turning and tearing and renting and trampling under feet when Pearls and holy things are held out to them and devouring and hurting to death and tying Maids Arm to Arm together and tumbling them into Graves and dirting them and dragging them into Pools and setting them on their Heads with their heels upwards and Pumping well-nigh stifling them Mocking Stoning Scourging putting poor innocent Strangers that came in love to Truth and them into Cages and out of their Coasts and haling the Quakers out of their own quiet Meetings by the hair of their Heads and breaking the Doors to pieces and Windows where Quakers meet and carrying away the Keys and knocking tenters in the key-holes pulling up part of the houses squeezing them in their passing to and fro between the doors turning up the forms and seats where they sit and like wild Horses and Colts riding upon the backs of men and women and smoaking their Roomes with Gun-powder Squibs and stamping rudely like Tavern-hunters in their Holy meetings and crying out give us Beer and Tobacco and Wenches and Whores and bringing in strong Beer and drinking to them and for refusing to pledge throwing it on their Cloaths and Bands and powring it down their Necks and singing Bawdy Songs and Cursing and Sweating and such things as would be counted as favouring more of Bedlams and Swine then Saints if Quakers should ever have done so in their Masse-Houses and obscaene Carriage toward Women puffing and blowing with Tobacco-pipes in their Mouths raising Doctrines and Uses and Points about Coblers and Tinkers and Tobit and his Dog offering to put their hands under Womens Aprons asking if the Spirit was not there and many more such filthy stinking sordid actions as Hooting Yelling Laughing any thing to hinder the Hearing of what was spoken of Truth drawing some into Colledges and there most unseemly and inhumanly abusing them and this not only Tolerated and Connived at by Officers that should have punish'd it but also Countenanced too much in part by some of them I say Unlesse these boarish bruitish Gestures Cum muliis aliis qua nunc praescribere longum est be the behaviour of Christs Sheep then for all the uncessant pains of Interpreting of the Scripture at the Well-head of Religion and for all I. O's saying That if what we see and daily hear would sway us we would be ashamed to deny the fruit of Expoundings of the Scripture to be best where they are most Expounded as they are pro forma in the Universities as fair and far from it as they seem to be to themselves they look more like Hog-styes to the view of men after Gods heart and the Children of these Mothers more like Herds of Swine then the Places and Persons of the people called Quakers do among whom there 's not such a busling and such a businesse about mens Books in order to it nor such Clamorous noises about Opening the Scriptures as is among the Scribes that are Strangers to them but the words of the wise even of Wisdom it self Christ Iesus are heard in quiet by them that are Wise more then the Cry of him that Ruleth among Fools And as for what Fruits of saving Knowledge of God and Righteousnesse and Holinesse of Truth are abounding in most Academies Towns Cities and Places in all the Reformed parts of Christendom more or better then is to be seen among Turks and Heathens unlesse Couzening Cheating Lying Drunkennesse and some such like as abound more among Christians then Turks that never talk out of the Scripture be
had never done so before till then Did not God speak in his Prophets and by them to the men of their several Ages from Moses upwards as well as from Moses downwards Did he not speak in Enooh the seventh from Adam in Noah in Abraham Isaac Iacob Lot and Iob who lived before Moses if Catholick Tradition be to be Credited in one thing as well as another and whose Book who ever Pen'd it whether himself or some other for ought thou knowest was written before Mosâs who thou thinkest wrote the first of the Scripture either lived or wrote and by them who were upright righteous just and walked with God to the wicked unrighteous Worldlings and wantons who walked with the Devil in their Generations who all were before Moses as well as by Moses and those that lived after him 2. Why sayest thou downwards to the Consignation and Bounding of the Canon in Ezra's days as if between his dayes and the dayes of Christs flesh the Spirit of the Lord was straitned as it never is Mic. 2. and God had limitted and bound up himself from manifesting his mind cut of his own mouth to any men at all for so many Hundred years together because some Prophets had been moved by him to commit to Writing or at least to permit to be Written by others some few of those things they saw and said concerning partly their own and partly the after times and other Nations Doth not Wisdom say of her self That in all Ages entering into holy Souls she maketh them friends of God and Prophets Wisd. 7.27 And were there no Holy men of God in those dayes wherein ye imagine all Gods speaking in and by any Prophets then was ceased in and by whom he manifested his Mind as he moved them to speak and write as immediately as he had done others before them And who told thee That the Canon as thou call'st it or full standing Rule of Tryal or infallible Touch-stone of the Old Testament Scripture to which nothing must or might be added after it till the time of Christ in the flesh was Compleated and after its Consignation and Bounding by them delivered to the Judaical Church in the dayes of Ezra alias Esdras and his Companions the men as of your own heads ye are pleased to term them of the great Congregation Whence hast thou these fancies of thine Or suppose they be not simply Suppositions but real Truths whence dost thou fetch or take them to be so but from the untrusty-Traditional-Tales of thy Forefathers and such Iewes as are little lesse then unerring Oracles with thee when saying ought that suits with thee yea thou callest pag. 203. the Assertion of Iustin Martyr of the Iewes corrupting the Bible out of their hatred to Christians An Incredible Figment yet little better but much worse then ordinary Infidels men feeding themselvns with vain fables desperate cursed Opposers of Truth mischievous in their devices against the Gospel of a profound Ignorance in all manner of Learning and Knowledge but only what concerns their own Dunghil Traditions addicted to monstrous Figments bewitching bewitched with Traditions Idolaters Magicians blind crafty raging fools sets full of deceitfulness froth venome smoke nothing but faithlesnesse and infidelity it self what not that 's nought where any thing issues from their most Catholick Testimony that makes against thee Pag 241.242.244.303 Yea whence knowest thou who art easily apt to Question when it serves thee so to do whether there ever were such men as the 70. and such men as the Tiberian Massorites in Rerum Natura pag. 243.336 that ever there was such a thing in Rerum Naturâ as that Great Congregation thou art every where in thy Book so greatly taken with and ever and anon betaking thy self to for Refuge but only from thy putting more confidence in thy own uncertain Conjectures together with the Catholick Tradition of the with thee creditlesse Iewes and Christians then in the Conjectures of the Prolegomenâ as Learned as thy self at least who oppose thee in it For there 's not so much as any Scripture at all that mentions such a set Sanydrim of Ezra Nehemia Ioshua Zacharia Haggai c. as thou settest it down in the Book of thy own Brain and the Counting-house of thy own conceit that there was pag. 302.303 And let it be as it can be no more then imagined there was such a great Congregation which it being as not possible to know it so nor here nor there to mine or any mans Salvation I 'le not search into so far as to put my self into any Capacity of either saying or gain saying it that there was and to ground any as I. O. does many things upon its being so as he but thinks is as he sayes in another case pag 293. to build Towns and Castles of Imaginations which may be as easily cast down as they are erected yet when all 's done whence had that Sanydrim such Authority as to confine and bound out that Canon and Canonize some of the Writings of such Prophets as ye wot are Canonical and Cashiere the rest of the Writings of the same Prophets and all the Writings of some other Prophets as of no such divine Authority as to Command with their fellows in Gods Name as his Word and to abrogate them as Apocryphal as ye speak and disband them from the bench of Iudicature and to bind the sweet Influences of the holy Spirit so as to say O Spirit of God be silent now blow no more nor make any more Prophets now for these many hundred years to come but become subject thy self to be tryed by the Touchstone of the Writings of such Prophets as thou hast already moved to write Gods Mind or so many at least as it seems good to us now to Authorize and Establish into a standard for the Tryal of thy self as well as all false Spirits And if I. O. say as he does pag. 303. That was not called the Great Congregation from its Number but Eminency of Persons yet I say are any Persons so Eminent if I.O. be not a Lyar pag. 35. as to have Authority from God to Authorize and Canonize casting aside what they like not what seems good to them into the Name to bespeak I. O in his own feigned phrase of the Word of God that they themselves must be subject to the Authority of and of the Rule that themselves must be Ruled by and of the Foundation that themselves and all others must be built on and of the Basis of their own belief It is indeed quoth I.O. pag 35.36 a Contradiction for men to say and if for other men then for I.O. say I who sayes the same yet sees it not They give Authority to the Scriptures they Bound the Canon and deliver to the Church what it shall be which it hath antecedently to their Charter and Concession And again Moreover to say the same of his supposed Sanydrim that I O sayes to the digrading
very Antient Writer since those that wrote Ioshua who ere they were for himself it was not that wrote it all at least as Moses not all Deuteronomie unlesse he wrote of his own Death and Burial before he died See Iosh. 24.29 do quote him Iosh. 3.10 Where 's that part of Ieremiah the Prophet wherein he spake that which Matthew cites Matth. 27.9 10. about the giving the 30 pieces of Silver the price that Christ was sold at for the Potters field for howbeit Zachary the Prophet Zach. 11.12 speaks of the same thing who was in his work an Exalier of God in his time which the Name Ieremiah seems to signifie and so may be called Ieremiah which is not likely to be Matthews meaning yet in all the Prophesies of Ieremie extant in your Bibles there 's no such thing spoken And for you to say either that Matthew was mistaken quoting throw forgetfulness one Prophet for another or that the Transcribers of the Copies of their Original out of Matthews Original Copy failed so fowlly in their Transcribings for all your Copies that ever I saw so read as to write Ieremie for Zachary will be for I.O. upon his Principles who stands to plead every Letter Tittle and Iota that was in the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be now in the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as sorry a shift and miserable remedy as he makes for himself and finds who leaps out of the frying pan into the fire Where 's the Prophecy of Enoch spoken of Iude 14. out of whose Prophesie the Iewes can tell you more then ye wot of from that of Iude And as for Ezra or Esdras and his true Companions of whom thou sayest truly enough if not truer then thou art aware of that their care in restoring the Scripture to its Purity when it had met with the greatest Tryal that it ever underwent in this world considering the Paucity of the Copies then extant was great and that the Consignation and Bounding of the Canon delivered to the Judaical Church was in their dayes and that they did labour to reform all the Corruptions crept into the Word of God And that they compleated the Punctation the compleatnesse of which then was not Coaevous with the Text as at first Written in Hebrew as thou contendest to the Consuring of thy self here and that they were guided herein by the infallible direction of the Spirit of God Pag. 177. 211. 302. 303. Did not they in the Spirit and Power of God Write many more Books even 204. most of which are not in your Bibles Read 2 Esdras 14. throughout the Chapter Where are all these and sundry more Scriptures some as and some more Antient then Moses of which I will not now speak particularly And as to the New Where is that First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians mentioned in the first of those Two that we have 1 Cor. 5.9 And that First Epistle of his to the Ephesians for its evident he wrote One to them before That mentioned in that One which ye have Ephes. 33 And that Epistle of his to the Laodiceans mentioned Col. 4.16 Besides several to Seneca Neros Tutor and other of Pauls Writings who was doubtlesse far more Voluminous in his Writings then that poor pittance of Epistles to Churches and Ministers and the Letters to Philemona Tradesman about a Domestick businesse of Receiving his Servant Onesimus that had ben unserviceable to him amounts to of whole Spiritual Scriptures and Speeches that fell from him at his Martyrdom that were taken by such as were present at it some in these dayes have seen more then that which was Written of him by Luke in the Acts and Written by him in the Epistles ye count a part of your Canon And whether that which Iohn wrote to the Church mentioned by him in the 9th vers of his Letter to Gaius were no other then the first of those Three Recorded And whether that of Iude whereof Iude 3. he sayes in the Praeterimperfect Tense When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the Common Salvation it was needful for me to write unto you c. were not One he wrote before This which was now but under his hands is more then all you Sayers of what ye think only are able groundedly to gain-say And whether Clements Epistle whose name was in the Book of Life and that Church of Rome to Corinth wrote 30 years after Pauls may not Challenge to be ranck'd among the rest is worth your enquiry And what think ye of that sweet shorr pretious Reply of Christ Iesus himself in his Letter to Agbarus King of Edessa who wrote so loving'y and beleevingly to him about the Malady that lay upon him as it stood Recorded in the Roles of that City and may do still for ought ye know which is to be read and many other pretious passages about that businesse in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilius Is it not as Christian as Divinum Spiritum non hominem sapiens and worthy as particular as it is to stand in your Standard and claim a room in your Canon as that particular Letter of Paul to Philemon What is become I say of all these and more then may now be mentioned none of which is within the Confines of your Congregationally Constituted Synodically Composed Ecclesiastically Authorized Clerically Conceived Canon 1. Were they not divinely Inspired That were to Render doubtful your undoubted Divine Original of what you have Since some of them are quoted in these you have 2. Are they all utterly lost That were to loose himself much more in his Cause who is lost too much already for I.O. to say so sith more then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one jot or one Tittle is then passed away and perished from the Law if the Letter be it not one jot or one Tittle of which Letter quoth I.O. wofully mis-interpreting that of Matth. 5.18 for the lotaes and Tittles of the meer Text and Letter which Christ utters only of the Doctrine Truth and Holy Matter of the Law is to passe away till Heaven and Earth which are yet standing are past away 3. Or did not God Himselfe intend to Dignifie these with the same honour and Crown them with so high an Account as those though as well descended and as immediately derived from him as the rest or did he not design them to the same Spiritual Ends and Renowned Uses with their fellows 4. Or were these Books out of the way and not present at the time and place of the first setting up of your Standard by such Synods and Sanydrims as took on them to stablish Sign Seal and Authorize what Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles should and what should not stand under that honourable Title of the stedfast Standard and so were Censured and Sentenced for ever for not appearing at that sacred Session and high Court of Iudicature which was to Iudge what Books should be from thence-forth
it from what is suggested to his own Thoughts from Hear-say and other mens Talk to and fro and Tradition and as he Confesses all along â heap of Vncertainties and Conjectures so that all the tumblings and tossings snapings and snarlings of even the Protestant Divines about their Scriptmre is but about their remote Transcribed I cannot say well neither for most Transcribed Copies too are out of the way since Printing came up but Printed Copies of the Text which are all not more lyable in any thing to be then in many things they are already falsified which since the Primitive Copies are concluded to be gone and the infallible guidance of the Spirit by I. O. T. D. and all Divines excluded out of the World also though they tell us Translations must be Rectified by their Transcriptions yet if they happen to be as an hundred to one they are and none knows in how many in any things crooked or various from the first there 's no means of Rectifying or Reducing their supposed Rule to Conformity to the first literal Rule nor of amending it any otherwise then uncertainly for ever But suppose I say ye had the Primitive Copies could you make more ado in Adoring them then ye Doctors and your People that dote on you do about your various respective Transcripts and more various Translations out of them into sundry Tongues and Languages which Translations yet are all in somethings not more several in their sorts then the Tongues into wch they are translated and divided into as many Senses as the many men that Translated them thereinto which said numerous untrue Translations also are as to the Letter if they look not to the Light within and live not by that all that the poor blindly guided mis-led Priest-befoolled People who ken not Hebrew and Greek many of whom can't read English neither have to trust to whose Faith about the Scripture it self which thou callst pag. 155. the Foundation of that Faith and Obedience God requireth at their hands and whose belief of the Truth or untruth of this or that Translation is as much pin'd upon the Priests sleeve here in England still as it is at Rome it self in this and some other matters for there they Believe as their Church alias Clergy believes and take things on Trust being not suffered if they were able as here though suffered they are not able to try the Truth hereof and by meer Tradition from their illiterate Purblind Priesthood and no otherwise do they here as to their Tratslâtions then upon Traâiâion ârusting to the fidelity and to that infalible certaines of their supposed learned leaders the Serââes then whom no men are more humpered in a heap ãâã uncertainties about the Scriptures What would ye do more to the very writing that was inscribed with Gods own finger if you had it in way of homage then ye are doing to your respective doted on derived copies Do you not dance about them as Israel about their Calf saying these are thy Gods O England that brought thee out of bondage to thy sin to which yet they committing it they remain servants to this day Iob. 8 and must save thee and lead thee into life and are perfectly sufficient without the light and spirit within the Quakers talk of as that which the letter came from and alone can do it to instruct thee in the knowledge and worship of God and thy obtaining of everlasting Redemption Do you not Canonize and crown them with the Titles of the only Perfect Rule Foundation Light Witnesse Living Word of God the Lydius Lapis Unaltered Unalterable Standard Touchstone immediately come forth from God to us without the least interueniency of Wayes or Mediums obnoxious to fallibility or capable to giue Change to the least âota or Syllable Are not these as high Titles as ye could give to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if they were here Do you not say and do this and much more to your ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the People to no more then their meer Translation Yea do the Iewes say or do more in way of Adoration to their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their Synagogues then beautifie adore guild lift up in their hands exâal them with high Applauses Hugge and Kisse them as ye do when ye Swear upon a Book and such like outward magnifyings and makings honourable of them which is the utmost that I have seen them do in their Synagogues throw many Nations without living that substantial Holy Life the letter calls for And do you do any lesse as to outward Adoration or any more as to inward and real Observation towards your Bibles Yea do ye not all as well the People that have no better then their uncertain yet certainly untrue Translations from you as so many of you of the Clergy as can read the Copies of the Originals for many cannot read the Hebrew Text at all and some the Greek as âetle as that as necessary as these Tongues were made a while since to the very esse or being of Christs Ministers who have no better âhen your uncertain Transcriptions cry up your several Transcribed and Translated Copies respectively that best like you and every one hugge his own at least as most insallible however crying down others as corrupted And how beit if any one of them were so as none of them at all are yet all of them can't be right as each one faith that is that he takes toâ Are ye not all noysing it out as the Iewes at âeâusaâem and the Gentiles at Ephesus Jer. 7. Act. 19. of their Respective broken Reeds the Temple and Diana to which they trusted Great is Diana The Temple of the Lord The Word of God The Word of God Inspired The insallible Word oâ God are these The perfect Living Liâe giving Soul saving Word the very Power of Gâd unto Salvation Are the Iewes more mad upon their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã theâ People are upon their untruly Translated and you Divines upon your untruly Transcribed and both on the more Kreanously yet Trans-printed Sculptures Talking and Treating up your Respective Texts into the Throne where Christ the Light and Living Word alone should sit making little lesse of your Copies then some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Cornu-Còpia Deo forsan quapiam melius For what are all the Ephesian like Glamours eager Out-cryes loud Noises of the people here for against the Quakers Are they not for the bare Bulk of that Book called the Bible the out-side of which they are at great Care and Cost to Paint and Guild and Bind and Beautifie and Adorn and Adore while the Truth exhibited in the Writing or Text thereof lyes trampled under their feet Saying the Ruâe the Foundation the infallible Standard the Word of God of no more then their by the self Conâessed in many things corrupted Translations counting the Quakers not fit to live in the Land any otherwise then Out-law'd because they can't
or a whole Iury impannel'd to Try this Case of which this is the Foreman that speaks more then they all for it s insisted on or hinted at or'e and o're and or'e in I know not how many places of thy Book as if thou laydst more stresse and purrest more trust in this than in all the rest and indeed though it is a most piteous poor one yet seeing I know no better it may be called as its rank'r before the Rest the very best in all the pack Let 's see then what force this consideration viz. the love providence care and promise of God to his Church and Word Engaging for the preservation and continuance of it to a Tittle without losse hath in it to evince the entirenesse of the Hebrew and Greek Text to a Tittle That the Love Care and Providence of God is to or ore his Church and so ore his Word for his Churches sake I deny not in the least and that his Word he speaks he magnifies ore all his Name as the most glorious product of his Wisdom and Goodness as his great concernment in this world dearer to him than all the world besides which his Promise is for the continuance of it so inalterably entire and uncorrupt that Heaven and Earth it self shall pass away as Christ saies Matth. 5.18 before one jot and Tittle thereof shall fail or pass away and that not one Apex Tittle or Point of that hath yet failed or been altered or is liable for capable to be altered or corrupted All this I grant for his Word is the incorruptible Seed that lives and abides for ever But what 's all this to thy purpose I. O. whose talk is only about the outward Writings Image Copy Letter Text which talks of that Word and who producest all this to prove every Tittle of that Text to be entire Wilt thou never learn to put or at least to keep that difference which somtimes when thou art deliberate thy self puâtest between the Word that is written of and the Text which is the meer Writing of it Dost not thou p. 12.13 though I know thou blindly blendest them together both there and throughout thy Book make the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Writing the Book the Letter one thing and the Faith Word Doctrine declared in it another Dost thou not distinguish now and then as every wise man does ever between the Text it self that talks of the Truth and the Truth it self which the Text talks on We know the Truth and Faith and Doctrine and Word of God which is but One and the same in its Nature Essence Being and Substance whether written or not written of whether cloathed or not cloathed in this or that outward accidental forme whether displaying it self through the vail of the Letter or shewing it self more immediately in its naked Native lustre is to a Tittle the same now that it ever was in Substance though all the shadowy Discoveries of it wax old and vanish and as a vesture are folded up and changed and Pass away as a Scrole that 's Roled up and grows out of Date when all Letters and Literal Appearances of it shall be mouldered away The Word was before the Letter was aud is neither more nor less what it was now the Letter is and will be no less than it was of old or what now it is as to its preservation in every point when the Letter shall be no more So that what are all thy Propositions about Gods Promise and Providence and Love and Care of his Church and Word to evince or prove the entire preservation of every Iot and Tittle of an outward Text or an old uncertain Transcript of what was by the Holy men of God some thousands of Years since written between which Word and the Writing or Light and the Letter which leads only to it there 's no more proportion as I may shew thee more anon than is between the Lanthorn and the Light the Glass Window and the Sun that shines through it or then as thy self intimatest there is between the Ark and the Testament or Covenant that for a while was used to be kept in it Dost not thou count the Letter the Ark p. 236. saying the Iews have now the Letter as somtimes they had the Aâk among the Philistims to their further ruine and p. 315. For my own part I am sollicitous for the Ark or the sacred Truth of the Original Yea such proportion say I as the Ark that kept it bore to the Letter of the old Testament that was laid up in it the same doth the Old Testament it self the whole ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or bare Letter or Shadowy Dispensation bear unto the Light Word of God or New Testament which is not a Literal but a Spiritual Administration Now as it would be fâlly and absurdity in the abstract for a man to Argue the Light to be the proper name of the Lanthorn which exhibits it the Sun the proper Name of the Glass it shines through and the Writing or Letter of the old Testament the proper name of the Ark in which it was laid up and then to affirm all the Properties that appertain peculiarly to the Light Sun Letter belong to the Lanthorn Glass Ark respectively and to plead from the unchangeableness of the Light the permanency of the Sun the long duration of the Letter Some of which in some uncertain Copies abides to this day that the Lanthorn is unalterable the Window inviolable the Ark abiding the self same and not one jor or inch of it is lost or altered to this day but in all points in the same that it was when Moset made it because some Copies Imagess and Pictures of it are found painted on Walls aud Printed in Books or so to this day Semblably as Ridiculous it is to the full to Argue the Letter is immediately come to us from God without interveniency of any Medium obnoxious to fallibility the Text is not capable to be altered not is altered in one Tittle so but that its intirely the same that it was at first in every Point Syllable and Iota because the Light Faith Doctrine Truth and Word which is as the Sun the same still and preserved in the Providence of God full firm and sure as all the Ordinances of Heaven are whether it shews it self through a Glass only or without it Now then howbeit we own all that which I. O. tells of the Providential care and Promise of God as to the preserving of his Word to his Church to be true as told of his Word yet as spoken of the Letter as Gods great Concernment in this World dearer to him than all the World the most glorious Product of his Wisdom and Goodness and such like and as urg'd in proof of the Text and each Tittle of that to be Entire and Eternal as the Heavens I say as so every Tittle of it is false And I would fain know of I
O. what Text of Scripture God ever made such a Promise in concerning the Text or the Scripture that he would in his Care and Providence preserve every Titt'e of that outward Writing for his Church and his Words sake which was written at the motion of his Spirit so that it never should be so mis-transcribed in any Tittle of it but that in the Greek and Hebrew Copies not English mark that nor any Translated but only Transcribed Copies he would keep it from being so adulterated vitiated altered depraved and interpolated as not to be every jot the same verbatim as at first I say I. O. where is that Promise so made to this purpose which his Providence is so engaged to answer Is it in Isa. 59.22 the place thou quorest together with a whole nest of others to the same end p. 155. viz. Matth 5.18 1 Pet 1.25 1 Cor. 11. Matth. 28.20 not one of which make one jot of mention of the Letter Text or any Tittle thereof at all That in Isaiah there cited is hinted at and harp upon to the same Tune in 7 or 8 pages in thy 2d Treatise viz. 155 167 168 169 273 317 319. In all which more or less in whole or part thou talkest much of the Transcribers lying under a loving and careful aspect from the Promise and Providence of God in beir transcribing alluding all along to Iâ 59.12 as if God had there engaged himself by Promise as it were to guide their hands that they should not erre in a Tittle for his Word and Churches sake but is there the least Tittle of such a Promise there made and look it âore again and see if there be such a thing touche upon in the least either expressly or implicity ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as thou speakst or by consequence either immediate or far fetcht the words are these to the Church under the new Covenant or Gospel My words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of the Mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth for ever Here I confesse is a promise to keep his words in the mouths of his Servants under the Gospel in the latter dayes especially so that they shall by word of mouth and writing bear Testimony against the world to his Truth and Name even the whole seed of the Righteous successively for ever without fail as now they begin to do even âabes and Sucklings out of whose mouths and stammering lips the Lord is speaking to reprove the world and the proud Doctors Pharisaical self-seeking Teachers and to convince all ungodly ones of their ungodly deeds and hard Speeches they speak against him in his Saints in whom he comes to Judgement but what 's this to the preservation of I. O's Greek and Hebrew Texts to a Tittle without alteration This is not spoken of the continuance of any outward Scripture but of that word of Faith in the heart and mouth which the Apostles Rom. 10. preacht to turn men to telling them 't was nigh and they need not look without for it was ever man so bemoped as to draw such a Conclusion as thou dost from that Scripture viz. that every Tittle of the Text of Scripture given out of old should be secured without one jot of losse to the worlds end and if that were the promise there made it was never made good since as is shewed above the Scriptures of sundry whole prophecies and Epistles written by inspiration are lost since then nay rather and indeed that Text produces a Truth which thou deniest that in the last dayes his word and Spirit shall be de novo so poured out shed abroad and planted in the heares of his handmaids and servants Sons and Daughters that they shall Prophesie and reach as of old by word of Mouth his word as put into them by God himself Yet I. O. I know not how often betakes himself to that Text to make good his talk of the eternal Entirenesse to a Tittle of his outward Text in the Greek and Hebrew Transcripts thereof without which the word is as true entire and secure as it is when the Text is entire when the Text is torn to pieces and every Tittle of it mouldred away Beside if that were a promise of preserving the Text it must evince the Text is to endure for ever world without end as the word it self doth for its never to depart for ever from the seed that it 's there promised to but I. O. confesses the Scripture is not to abide for ever in its use which is onely faith he Ex. 3. S. 39. presenti statui c. suited to our present state and say I as it shall cease as to it's use so once to its esse or very being Obj. And if I. O. urge as he does in effect that it 's true the Word and Doctrine and Truth is the thing promised to be continued for ever primarily but consequentially the Letter and it's Tittles for as much as without it be preserved in that and that be preserved entire to a Tittle the word it self cannot be preserved from corruption Rep. He had as good have told me as soon I should have believed him in it that because Moses by Gods appointment made an Ark to lay the Book Tables and Letter in the two Tables and Letter written on it could not last any longer then the Ark or be kept from being lost any where be not kept so entire that not one bit or scrap of it be broken or lost there is no hopes that ever the light should shine out or be kept alive or be beheld yea if one inch of horn or a nail or the least Pin about the Ark had happened to be shattered or got any knock or any odd corner of it be broken off with being carried jumbled or tossed to and sro between Israel and the Philistines there had been no means of preserving the Letter from being lost or as if one should say the glasse window is set up that the Sun may shine through it therefore suppose that to be crackt or to have any flawes in it or to suffer the losse of but one little piece of a pane there 's no likelihood of enjoying the clear bright Beams of the Sun more distinctly or at any certainty nor can I be satisfied unquestionably that the Sun it self remains inviolate unlesse ye can assure me that there is every barley-corns bredth of the glasse-window without any losse as it was at first setting up though yet we see now the Sun both is the same and is better seen when beheld without a glasse then thorough it and is most clear when the glasse window is taken down and it beheld more immediately in the light that shines from it self he were fit to be Canonized for a fool that would count him a very wife man at least as to that affair that should so affirm so let who will esteem of I.
they had not canst thou tell me what Church had the exact Tale of so many Books of the Scripture as ye talk on and call your Canon committed to her of God any more then they or if thou say the whole True Apostolical Church of Christ under the Gospel had that Scripture we count the Canon and no more committed to it where was there ever such a thing done by whom or when canst thou tell us any of this thou talkst on or give us any Testimony of Scripture for this or trusty Tradition or any ground whereupon to act divine faith in this with thee so fundamental a matter save âhe fiction of thy own fancy and thy own meer untrusty thoughts and blindly confident Conjectures thou thinkst that in 2. Tim. 2.2 will serve thy turn in this case but I have overturned that already and if ever there were such a divine Commission of so many writings as a Canon by Christ or his Apostles to the Gospel-Church though I abhor that paultry novelly pretended Primacy of Rome over other particulars yet while it remained in its Primitive Apostolical Purity it had as deep a share as any other in that Commission of the Canon to her and so thy two Questions Ep. p. 3. what Scripture was this they say was committed to them and when was this deed of Trust made unto them have full as much in them but that plane nibilest to answer thee withall as thou hast to answer me who of the Church to whose care and custody thou sayest the Scripture was committed since Christ and by him or his Apostles do here ask thee what Church is that for thou amazest thy own and seek'st as Priests do to stun other mens minds with the name of the Church the Church but what Church is that whose care is said by thee to be so great whilst Rome's was so little to keep every Tittle of the Text entire and to whose care and custody it was to that end committed and intrusted and in thy own words to Rome so I to thee propound what Scripture was this or where was this deed of Trust made unto them And since it was not the Church of Rome as I freely agree with thee it was not what Church was it or where liv'd it or by what name or Title beside that generall blind people-confounding name of Church dost thou call it was it some one universal Catholick visibly constituted true Christian Church that had such a constant clearly visible continuance and successive outward orderly being in a Body as that Romane Harlot hath ever seemed to have from Christ downward to this day was it your what should I call it mingle-mangled Episcopall-Presbyter-Independant Church that 's run out from the Womb of that Babylonish Bawd through the loines of your late Fathers the Prelates and Scottish Presbyters into that Ragged Patcht Posture wherein it now stands like a Participle that 's neither this nor that nor Noun Substantive that can stand by it self without the Magistrates help nor Verb that betokens either doing or suffering any great matters for the Truth but most like an Adjective that leans upon Parliaments and earthly Powers to uphold it partaking with all sides as occasion is and of all formes something yet is just nothing but some Participle or PapalPrelatical-Presbyterian ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i.e. vere nihil but a mongrel Was it this Church that is one not individually but specifically the same with what yours is at this present derived downward and carefully receiving the Scripture downward entirely in all its Hebrew and Greek Letters Accents Points Tittles and Iota's without change or losse in the least is so shew us but some few footsteps of such a thing through the time of the Catholike Apostacy as a visible constituted Church which might have been known by the distinction of Elders Bishops Deacons c. in the dark dayes of Romes dominion except that of Rome it self that had the Canon constituted of no more nor lâsse but just so many Scriptures Letters Stories Tittles Iota's as thou trislingly tatlest by the Apostles and so committed to their care and as carefully handed down to you Linguists in every Letter of the Original Languages without alteration addition or diminution But I more than suppose thou shalt as soon find and follow to a hairs breadth the very way of a bird flying or an Arrow shot through the air as decypher such a matter and if the Papists should put the Question de novo to thee as they did long since to the Protestants where was your Church before Luther if thou couldst prove the Pedegree of thine so high as Luther though witnesses to the Truth more or lesse in all times suffering in sackcloth in the most dismall dayes I own yet thou wouldst be as much puzled to prove any other constituted Church that kept so entire as thou talkst thy constituted Canon in all Christendom beside that of the Romish Synagogue that corrupted it as that namelesse Author was who wrote an answer to it 1624 entituled Luthers Predecessors who though he quits himself well in proving downward from Iohn Wicklisse who was well nigh 200. years afore Luther but 1370. after Christ a company of particular successive sufferers for some truth that began to shine out again from under the Romish smother yet can instance no higher then Io. Wicklisse for at least a 1000. years upward any thing at all but an universal dominion of the Church of Rome confessing that if the Papists will tye him to prove any visible constituted Church beside theirs before Luther the Task is unequall because the records are wanting and also because the Church was not in the long time of Apostacy nor yet was to be alwaies in such a manner visible which is the very Truth for the true Church was to be and was according to the word of Prophesie Rev. 12. in a waste suffering afflicted desolate forlorn widernesse condition trodden under feet by the Gentiles coming into the out Court the outward name and profession of Christianity Rev. 11. And as when in her primitive glory she was cloathed with the Sun and a crown of twelve stars on her head i.e. the doctrine truth word of faith the 12 Apostles Preached and not simply those few of their naked writings and Letters and Texts and their Tittles and thou simply contendest on her head and the Moon i.e. all changeable things such as all Texts and Transcripts and Tittles and Iota's are under her feet so when she came into her forlorn solitary state in the time which was while the Whore or Clergy began to Ride the Beast and fit upon the Waters Tongues Nations Kings and Kindreds of the Earth and to cry Ecce duo gladii hic to claim both swords and to become supreamly as she made her sub-sub or Magistratical Power that bore her up subordinately to her not onely Custos utriusque Tabulae Vice-preserver of both Tables but pretendedly
he calls it but also that there are many mistakes in those Books that are out of his own hand writing which is no better then snares and bands a certain piece of contradictory net-work of his own composing to the catching and binding down himself wherein he hangs hampered intangled and tumbled up and down in his own fruitlesse contests fallible perswasions and perplexing self-contradicting conjectures so that there 's scarce a Chapter or so much as a Lection in it fully free from or rather not fully fraught with some or other of his uncertain conceits and certain confusions about the defending of his Assassinated Assertion one while Asserting and striving stiffly to maintain it in the very rigidity universality and utmost strictnesse of it that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. not the Iot or Tittle of the Original Text is added altered lost mis-transcribed sometimes Assenting to the contrary onely begging that all various Lections of what sort soever one or other without exception may be excepted from the account of various Lections and then Asserting that his Assertion on that condition will stand entire concerning the entirenesse and integrity of his Text to a very Tittle Now then since it is so ãâã at the outward Letter of the Scripture not only in its Translations which I.O. himself Asserts to be so universally altered and corrupted from the Originals but a little also in its Copies of the Original is by I.Os. own confession both so abundantly altered by the addition of the Points since the first writing and the Variations of so many severall kinds as himself enumerates and at best so easily so infinitly alterable as that at the wills of men exercising their critical faculties about the Text it may by Transposition and Transcription of one Letter for another or supposition and subscription of one Vowel for another be turned divers contrary wayes and subverted in its sense so exceedingly that some one word instancing in that word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ep. p. 24. may as it may be pointed or printed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã afford no lesse then eight severall senses as distant from one another as life and death seeing also that there is no relief against all that huge heap of uncertainty that is found among the founders that are continually confounded within themselves about their sickle foundation unlesse they will be perswaded to come to that firm inâallible sure foundation and inalterable Rule of all Truth the light word and spirit of God in the heart but their own vain empty groundlesse confused thoughts imaginations conceits fancies fallible perswasions and opinions taken up by Tradition from each others Tomes Treatises Targums and Talmudical twatlings as if there were neither Light nor Spirit nor word of God throughout the whole world whereby any soul saving Truth can possibly come to be known or entertained at any certainty further then the Text-tâining Text-men tell and teach it forth either by their Oralâ Talkings for Tythe or manifold Translatings of it out of their falsely supposed entirely Transcribed Copies Shall we then think because I O. to the contradiction of himself so thinks and imposes his own thoughts on us as uncontroulable proofs that there is no variation in the Copies we have from the first Manuscripts of the Scripture but that they are come to us without the least interveniency of any such mediums or wayes as are capable of giving change or aâteration or obnoxious to fallibility in the least Syllable or Iota p. 10. 153. or that the some varieties that I. O confesses R. Aaron and R. Moses found in their exact consideration of the Bible were small and of no importance to the sense of any word p. 179 especially since with I.O. if a body might take his Tattle for Truth every Letter Tittle Iota there Transcribed was a part of the word yea no lesse then the Word of the great God wherein the eternall concernment of all soules dothâlâe p 168. 169 Shall we think because I.O. thinks so p. 17. that there is not any colour or pretence nor any tollerable evidence from all the discrepancies in the Copies themselves that are extant that there ever were any other in the least differing from these extant in the world Shall we think because I. O so thinks p. 181. 193. that all that yet appears impairs not in the least the Truth of his Assertion that every Tittle and Letter that was in the Original Copies remaines in the Copies of the Original to this day without any losse or any alteration or passing away of one iot thereof and that with them that rightly ponder things abovesaid there thence ariseth nothing at all to the prejudice of that his so often o're and oâre again affirm'd Assertion And if men must deal by instances in this case as he sayes and not by conjectures though himself gives us no instance of any one Copy of which he can say unlesse he had the Autographa by him that it agrees every Accent and Syllable therewith upon any better ground then his own bare conjectures yet if I had not given him instance enough of whole words verses books prophesies c. lost of inspired mens Scriptures doth not I.O. himself give us instanâes enough of variety of Lection to the assuring us of the falsenesse of his first Assertion which instances of his own insisting on are obvious to all Readers of his Book and believed by us to be true rather then his idle talk to the contrary of his Texts integrity to a Tittle And is there any reason as he sayes of himself and his adherents Ep. p. 28 that we should be esteemed Ridiculous because believing our own eyes we will not believe the Testimony of I.O. imagining otherwise then the case is according to his own instances dealing by conjectures against his own instances a man deservedly of no credit with us running in ridiculous rounds and asserting that to be Truth which we know from his own Book to be utterly false Shall we think that the literal Text in the very Transcripts he so talkâ for is any other then he cals it as to its most ancient Translation a corrupt stream a Lesbian âule p. 15. 16 or any other then some call it a nose of wax no certain stable ãâã or standard to try all Truth by guide throughout in the knowledge of the will of God Shall we think because I.O. thinks so strangely that so corruptible and corrupted a stream as the meer Letter now is since vitiated and interpolated can be judged a fit means to judge the fountain by i. e the Light Word and Spirit it came from and a fit measure to correct and authoritatively to examine and determine those Originals by Shall we think because I.O. hath and uttereth such high and hyperbolical thoughts apprehensions and affirmations of
of the Old Testament must be also affirmed of the New with this addition of advantage and preheminenââ that it received its beginning of being spoken by the Lord himself 6. Seeing it is so as is abovesaid that all was not written by the hands of the inspired Authors themselves at the very first but much by such Scribes only as wrote from them as dictated to by them to whom God gave out this minde and so wrote not so immediately from God as thou dreamest but that they might mispell or mistake in more than Titles and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã most good men being but bad Schollers and Scribes as to inch more humane earthly skill as your Schollership lyes in how absolutely doth this overturn that other utter untruths that thou tellest twice over to the manifesting of thine own folly more fully in uttering twice such falshood not so much as once observing it viz. pag. 10 11. that the Word which with thee still is the Scripture is come forth unto us mark unto us from God without the least mixture or interveniency of any Medium obnoxious to fallibility as is the wisdome truth integrity knowledge and memory of the best of all men But if what I have shewed above did not contradict and give check to this saying of thine about the Scriptures coming out immediately from God unto us who live so many ages from the last person who received any part of it immediately from God thou whose great Masterpiece of business it is throughout thy whole book to say and unsay and contradict thy self and run in Rounds overturnest and statly contradictest it thy self saying pag. 30. that we have not the Scripture from God immediately our selves in which self-confutation and contradiction of pag. 10. by pag. 30. thou canst not to continue long neither but as one delighting to dance round and shew how well skill'd thou art in tracing to and fro about the Scripture thou to go round again returnest and reiteratest pag. 153. that falsity uttered by thee pag. 10. in this wise over again viz. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were immediately and entirely given out by God himself mark as if God himself had wrote it every tittle with his own finger whereas how little God himself wrote I have shewed above and how such as were immediately inspired the mediation of whose hand writing in what they also wrote comes between God and us did not write it all immediately with their own hands but men that took what they said from them in writing by the active improvement of their knowledge wisdome skill in writing memory and other rational faculties so far is the Text from coming immediately from God to the men of those Cities and places that lived where and when it was written but how much farther from being immediately and entirely without any medium obnoxious to fallibility from God to us who live so many Ages off unto whom that Text J.O. talks of is descended perhaps at the hundreth hand through the hands of who knows what unskilful careless forgetful Scribes or Transcribers the very best of which J.O. at best confesses to be but fallible and that it was possible they might and also did mistake so as that failings fell out among them p. 167. nevertheless on he goes thus concerning that Scripture or writings viz. That Gods minde is in them represented unto us without the least interveniency of such mediums and wayes as were capable of giving change or alteration to the least ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or syllable 7. Whereas thou sayest there was onely a passive concurrence of the rational faculties of the Writers without any such active obedience as by any Law they might be obliged to though I have shewed thee that all the first Writers were not inspired but some wrote from their lips that were so and so were though never so skilful obnoxious to fallibility yet as thou intendest it of such Prophets Apostles Evangelists as wrote their own Prophesies Epistles Histories Proverbs Psalms c. with their own hands as they were moved by the Spirit it s utterly untrue that thou affirmest for the holy men of God who either wrote their Scripture with their own hands or dictated to such as they required to pen it from their mouthes as themselves spake from the mouth of God out of which came all that wisdome knowledge and understanding that is thereby uttered forth were such as were not so meerly pasive as thou praiest in the reception of what they wrote without any active concurrence of their rational faculties but in order to their receiving the word and manifestation of the minde and will of God to them which was written had both then and long before also an active concurrence thereof and such an active obedience to God as all men are by the Law of God i.e. the light in the conscience obliged to whereby they were made and became first holy men before they were used by God in such an holy work as preaching and wrriting out his minde to others and were brought into the thing or life it self they spake and wrote of and were purged from lusts and defilements and iniquities and foolish and unlearned questions and such prophane and vain bablings as ye are yet exercised in at your Vniversities about the Bible as well as about other books of humane businesses that in comparison of that holy truth that is in the Bible handled are but meer Baubles which a man being purged from 2 Tim. 2.16 19 20 21 22 23. he shall be a vessel of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work Yea their Prophets that spake out that holy Doctrine and soul-saving truth that is declared in the Scriptures what ever some of them might be that were exercised in the copying out of sundry of those to us more unnecessary and unprofitable parts thereof viz. the endless Legal Genealogical Chronological Catalogues of mens names not so needful to us to know were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã holy men of God 2 Pet. 1. ult and such to whose souls knowledge and wisdome and the fear of God was pleasant who cried after it and lifted up their voices to God for it and were in such love with it as to wait on God for it out of whose mouth it comes and daily at the posts of wisdomes house which your Vniversities are not yet acquainted with and sought it as silver and searched for it as for hid treasure and though to Prophesie was a gift of God and such as have it are so passive as to receive it from the giver and none can receive any thing of it except it be given him from above Joh. 3. and though it is in no wise to be purchased by mens mony at Schools and Colledges as our Accademical Simon Magus's suppose who to obtain and buy all the gifts whereby they Prophesie to men for mony and sell them for mony
again when they have done yet was it a gift obtained in the way of such active obedience to God as by the said Law or light of God in the heart men stand obliged to and to be coveted and desired and was given in a certain way that ye are so far out of that ye hate it of holy waiting on God and learning of him alone in silence in all subjection in order thereunto for which work there are now as there were of old but those are not Oxford and Cambridge Vniversities as it were Schools and Nurseries of young Prophets at Iericho and Bethel alias by interpretation the House of God where Truth and true Wisdom and true Religion was and is learnt as truly and fully as it is falsly taught or rather fully and universally forgotten at our now Vniversities or Nursing-mothers of that Wisdom and Religion from beneath which is but earthly sensual or animal and deceitful See 2 K. 2.7.15 2 King 6.1 2 K. 9.1 yea in order to Gods manifestation of himself to men in such wise as he will not to World that lyes in wickedness it 's required that men keep his commandments so far as they are made known already in the light in the conscience Ioh. 14 and seperate themselves from the sensual ones that have not the spirit and not together with them from the truth Prov. 18.1 2. and that they come out of all that defileth and become holy for no defiled thing falls into Wisdom but in all ages this as well as any of old though ye own none to be now in rerum natura entring into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and Prophets Wisd. 7.23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. But the reason why so few Priests are ever made true Prophets is because for the most part they are more prophane then other people from of old and much more now insomuch that as heretofore I mind at present but two of all that numerous Tribe Race and Party of Priests that the Jewish Church was fill'd with that became Prophets viz. Ieremiah and Ezekiel Ier. 1. 1. Ezek. 1.3 So now velduo vel nemo of all sorts of persons few or none of our Academical Levitical Race of Rabbiâs arrive to so much honour and happiness as to become obedient to the Faith yet so far many of them came in the primitives times notwithstanding I can't find that ever any of them commenced Prophets Evangelists or Apostles much less are many to be found so highly graduated as to become such in the true Church or School of Christ at this day they are not upon the Tower upon their Watch toward the Light They hearken not with Habbakkuk to what God saith in them Hab. 2.1 They stand not in the Lords counsel nor receive the word from his own mouth but as the false Prophets of old Ier. 23. in which respect they were false Prophets that profited not at all and such as God was against though speaking true words they steal the word they speak out of the true Prophets Writings whom God sent and spake to when he neither sent nor ever said the same unto them and so run crying Thus saith the Lord as ours do hear the Word of the Lord as you shall find it in such a Text such a Chapter such a Verse when they never heard God's voice at any time themselves nor saw his shape They hate and fight against Gods own counsel the Light in the Conscience which would lead them to purity in their own persons and so never come to see much less to shew his Secret which is onely with them that fear him Psal. 25. whose sear which is the beginning of Wisdom is to depart from the evil which the light discovers and so as none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean so none can receive much of a clean thing into an unclean But as Isaiah who was of unclean lips had his lips first toucht and his iniquity taken away before he was sent of Gods errand Isa. 6. And Ieremiah was sanctified to the work of Prophesie Ier. 1. So there must be more Holiness of Truth found among their Holinesses the Pope and all the Priests and Praters for pay thorowout all Christendom before they know how to prophesie themselves or tell truly as much as they are found from the Text of their Transcripts tatling to the World of what they know not how and in what manner Gods Prophets prophesie Thou addest I.O. pag. 6. That in writing they were not enabled by any habitual light knowledge or conviction of Truth to declare Gods mind and will but onely acted as they were immediately moved by him their hand in what they wrote was no more at their own disposal then the Pen in the hand of an expert Writer And p. 23. That no rational Apprehensions had any place in their Writing And p. 25. That this was the first spring of the Scripture and beginning of its emanation from the Counsel of God it was brought by the Power of the Holy Ghost into its Organs and Instruments us'd for the Declaration of it and that it was not left to their understandings wisdoms minds memories to order dispose and give it out But that they were born acted moved to write all and nothing but that to every tittle that was so brought to them And that they invented not words themselves but the words were immediately supplyed to them and that in writing they were but passive instruments for the reception and representation of words And that every Apex of the written Word i.e. Writing secundum te was as immediately from God to the writers as his voice in the Prophets p. 26 27. And p. 7. That they were but as an Instrument of Musick giving a sound according to the hand onely of him that strikes it Rep. These things are false being written by thee of all the Writings and first Writers of the Scripture universally as they are without exception and distinction for so indistinct and confused art thou in thy delivery of thy mind about the Bible that though it be a Bulk of Heterogeneous Writings compiled together by men taking what they could find of the several sorts of Writings that are therein and trussing them all up into one Touch-stone crouding them into a Canon or Standard for the trial of all Spirits Doctrines Truths and by them alone Yet thou speak'st so Homogeneously of it as if whatever can be predicated of any may be as properly predicated of it all yea whatever thou sayest falsly of the Writing thou denominatest the self-same of it all and every Apex and Tittle yea every Tittle and Iota with thee is no less then the Word of the great God wherein the âternal concernment of souls lyes p. 168 169. And so every part of it a Rule and the perfect Rule for so 't was with thee when there were none but Moses five Books and 't is but so with thee now so much
other good work when called by him to it i.e. not without but with such an active obedience as by his Law or Light within they are obliged to not without an active concurrence of rational faculties reduced to their primitive perfection not without but with ability thereto from an habitual light knowledge and conviction of truth and use of their wisdomes and understandings memories not without but with an aforehand containing and comprehending of the truths they wrote in their mindes as things they had heard seen beleeved acknoledged c. God who who is the giver of every good gift and the chief Author and Actor of all good works in his Saints Isa. 26. using every instrument according to what he hath fitted it for a Beast as a Beast a Man as a Man a Saint as a Saint a Prophet as a Prophet and not a Man a Saint a Prophet a spiritual man as a stock or stone but being a reasonable creature and prepared by him naturally with such a soul such faculties and supernaturally and spiritually with such gifts and graces as whereby he is capable to act when by him commanded and a body suitable as a fit instrument to move in such a work as writing his will revealed when it is revealed also to be his will that he should write it he uses him so to write as that though himself be the principal or primum movens not only in actâ primo as he gives the pomer faculties gift graces c. but in actu secundo also he holds the hand of the Scribâ so that he would else draw but mishapen characters and guides assists and acts in and by him yet he lets the action bear its denomination from its next and immediate Agent which is not God himself who gives the word for the writing of what he will have written in the penning of the Scripture except that little i.e. the ten words as is abovesaid but men as being moved by him to write or to dictate to others whom they willed to write from their mouthes so that the immediate spring and emanation of the Scripture was not from God but men who were the agents in it under him which overturns J. O's Apish opinion of every Apex of the writing being equally divine and as to its original as immediately from God and of the same Authority in itself and to us i e. of being received as his word sub paena c. on pain of peril of eternal condemnation as his voice in the Prophets which indeed was immediately from himself and his own witness whereas the letter was mostly but the immediate work of man witnessing for God as moved by him as first given out and as we now have it by so remote away of Transcription welnigh as far from being immediately from God to us as J.O. imagines it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And as it is with Saints indeed when they pray beleeve preach write c. as moved by the Lord it is not denominated ever by the Author of it all which is God who speaks and works all in such and is in such of a truth 1 Cor. 14. but the Saints who are said to pray beleeve preach write so was it in the giving out of that Scripture or writing that was of old called the Bible which J.O. calls his Canon to which no Title more must ever be counted which was not nor is not so immediate from God to us as his own voice is that is at this day to be heard in the heart but onely mediantibus manuscriptionibus yea by the interveniency of mediums and hands of Transcribers and Translators obnoxious to fallibility and capable to give change and alteration in more then the least syllables and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 's but at the first it was no more immediately from God than the writings of his moved and inspired Prophets are at this day whom he stirs up to reprove the madness of the Priests and false Prophets which is as that was but the spiritual mans testimony for God though specially assisted by him in it concerning all whom from the beginning of the world to this day so many as have spoken or written or done any thing for the truth in his name I here say and so conclude as to that above Certum est no â velle cum volumus dicere cum dicimus praedicare cum praedicamus scribere cum scribimus facere cum facimus sed Deus est qui facit ut faciamus J.O. Thou addest pag. 26. They invented not words themselves suitable to the things they had learned but only expressed the words they received their words were not their own but immediately supplied unto them from God himself and so they gave out the writing of uprightness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã words of truth Rep. And yet it 's said Eccles. 12.9 10 11 12. as concerning the Writings and Proverbs of Solomon the Wise the Preacher which very place thou alludest to though thou quotest it not which if thou hadst there 's few so unwise but they might see thy folly therein for that Scripture clearly confutes thy self who touchest at it that in teaching the people knowledge as he did by those Writings and Books of Proverbs he gave forth he took good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs even thousands more besides above a thousand Songs more then are systematiz'd into thy standing-Canon and that he sought to find out acceptable words or words of delight or rather as thy self expoundest it more clearly to the confounding of thy self as if thou wert accustomed and wonted to that work and course of self-contradiction words of will or choice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all which if it be not Tantamount to this He invented words suitable to what he himself had framed whereby to utter and express the wisdom he received to people in writing and yet what was written was upright too and words of truth not beside the spirit of truth and so I.O. consequently confuted by I.O. himself about the Scripture If the Scripture it self had not confuted him then self-confounding which I.O. is so often found in shall pass for me for current confirmation and confusion which I.O. is a most eminent Author of shall go from henceforth for good order and to dance the rounds as I. O. often doth in his shall be held the rightest way of sound Doctrine and of all Divinity Disputation For as if he had not been satisfied with his own gain-saying what he uttered concerning their not inventing of words and non-improving of their understandings wisdoms minds memories p. 25. to order dispute give out what truth they wrote in such words as they saw best suited for the things they had learned of God by saying to the contrary thus Viz. Their mind and understanding were used in the choice of words they did use ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã words of will or choice I.O. to go round again gain-sayes this latter
God by the writers of the Scripture to the Pedagogie of the Old Testament and times before Christ such as greatly affected the outward man with trembling and astonishment for which thou citest both Habakkuk and Daniel as it the times since Christ knew no such matter as true Trembling or any such Quaking as may affect the outward man but what is fained and from Satan and the force and power of the evil Spirit imitating in his filthy Tripodes and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Dread and Terrour which is by the Power of God upon his people of which said fictitious sort thou falsely and foolishly fainest all that outward Trembling that is found among the Qua. to be at this day pag. 8. Ex. 1. S. 1. I say hadst thou been as well read and skilled in Scripture as by thy scribling pro Scripturis thou wouldest fain seem to be surely thou wouldest have found that Paul and John both were found in as great Tremblings and Astonishments Dread and Terrour to the great affecting of the outward man under the Appearances of the Lord to them in Visions and Revelations of his minde and will to them which they wrote as either Daniel Habakkuk or the rest of the Prophets before Christ that wrote them insomuch that they scarce knew sometimes where they were whether in or out of the body but were as dead with fear Act. 9 6.26.14 1 Cor. 2.3 2 Cor. 12.2 3. Rev. 1.17 But alas J.O. is so taken up and hurried in his thoughts in a hideous talking for the Scriptures that he hath little time to give any very great good heed to the Scriptures themselves he so talks for J.O. Thou addest pag. 6 7. That as far as their own personal concernments as Saints and beleevers did lye in the things they wrote they studied the writings and Prophesies of one another Dan. 9.2 and made a diligent enquiry thereby in order to the investigation of the things which the Spirit that spake in themselves did signifie 1 Pet. 1.10.10 without which though their Visions were express yet they understood them not and that they attained a saving useful habitual knowledge of the truths delivered by themselves and others by the illumination of the Holy Ghost through the study of the Word i.e. Scripture with thee still even as ye do Psal. 119 104. but as to the receiving of the Word from God as God Spoke in them they obtained nothing by study or meditation by enquiry or reading Am. 7.15 Rep. Here is such a parcel of uncouth prate about the Prophets and their Prophesie of Scriptures and the Scriptures of their Prophesies as favours of nothing but that illiterateness and ignorance of the true wayes of coming to the saving knowledge and understanding of the minde and will of God that abounds in Vniversities the supposed Nurseries as well of spiritual learning as any other well nigh as much as in any places of the so called Christian world besides What dreaming what darkness and confusion is here As if the Writers of the Scriptures because they were moved by the holy Spirit to write what they did therefore wrote they did not know what themselves nor in any wise sawingly understood every one his own piece of writing or Scripture pag. 5. whether of Histories or Prophesies or Proverbs or Psalms or Instructions or Doctrines or Laws or Promises or what ever tru he recorded delivered made known given out revealed by themselves revealed to them first from God as to their own concernment therein as Saints or beleevers by the Revelation thereof to them from God which as I said above is the only way of coming to the saving knowledge of any truth and not that of reading it as truth in anothers writings without running out to study and read the writings of some other men in order to their attaining any habitual saving useful intelligence of their own as if Isaiah that Evangelical Prophet did not savingly understand the Gospel Doctrines and Promises and Instructions and his own Recorded History of Senacherib and Hezekiah and other saving truths delivered and written by himself as they were revealed to him by the Lord nor by the voice Spirit and light of God himself manifesting them within him nor as he received the word so revealed and manifested in order to which receiving the word thou assertest also they obtained nothing by study or meditation enquiry or reading but onely as he made diligent enquiry study and search after the things the Spirit signified by him in the writings and Scriptures of some other Prophets I wonder what other parts of Scripture of the other Prophets he studied so to get that saving knowledge by since unless it were the Psalmes the last book of which is judged to have been compiled together by the Maccabees long after his dayes excepting also the three i.e. Hos a Amos and Micah that were co aetaneous with him all other Prophets that are ranked after him in your Bibles though not in the same order of time wherein they wrote wrote long after him and as if Ezekiel Jeremiah Daniel or the rest knew not savingly what they wrote themselves no more then we do as to themselves or any personal interest they had in the truths of their own writings but as they got an useful saving knowledges thereof out of each others writings in proof of which if a man would wrest them as thou doest to thine by the head and shoulders to such a purpose he might almost as easily evince the Pope to be head of Christs Church as draw any such matter as this thou concludest from Scripture That of 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Ministers no more matter of evidence to thy imagination in this particular that the Prophets searched other Prophets writings to finde out each the meaning of his own then Peters being at Rome if ever he were there doth to his being the Popes Predecessor there in the holy Chair 'T is true the Prophets are there said to enquire and search diligently after the salvation and the grace that comes unto the Saints at the revelation of Christ but is there no searching and enquiring after the salvation and the fulness of the grace of God but iâ the letter is not the most succesful searching after these matters made in the light it self that teaches and shews it and brings the salvation nigh to all that wait for it therein which light or grace hath appeared to all men Tit. 2.11 12. and is tâeâe any way whereby God gives the knowledge of his own glory but the light from himself which the letter speaks of wherewith God who commands the light to shine out of darkness shines into the hearts of the Saints in order thereunto 2 Cor. 4.5 6. And are not all things that are manifested manifested in the light and is there any thing that doth make manifest but the said light and Spirit which the letter speaks of and which was before the letter was Eph. 5.13
emananation from God of the letter as the sole foundation of all that Divine Authority as the Word of God thou ascribest to it and as thy Basis as thou sayest p. 2.24.30 thou beginnest thy Building in thy second Chapter and so onward throughout thy book in both Treatises and Theses laying and thwacking Title upon Title Land upon Land Honor upon Honor Exaltation on Exaltation Crown upon Crown on the head of the Copies of the original or Hebrew and Greek Texts of the Bible as they are at this day come down to you from the Generations of old thorough the hands of the sundry successive Transcribers extolling and magnifying it in such an exceeding high unlimited and boundless way of Benediction till like one that being busie in beautifying with Gold his carved Image and blessing his more then ordinarily beloved Idol forgets that it s but a perishing piece of Wood or mouldring matter fashioned into that form and fabrick wherein it appears outwardly and immediately to him by the handywork of meer erring man Thou carriest thy Castle into the clouds with aery applauses till by thy lofty liftings up of the letter and thy windy whiffling to and fro talkings for it and Weathercockly commendations and setting up of every Pinnacle Tittle Point Syllable and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of it thou hast trimm'd up thy Tower of Babel with a Top welnigh as high as Heaven and made no less of it even of the letter and Text of thy meer modern Greek and Hebrew Transcripts of the Scripture then appears by thy own words J.O. The only and most perfect Rule of All faith and good manners The truest and most unerring touchstone for the trial of all truth The most immoveable inalterable certain stedfast and stable Standard The only firm and infallible foundation of all that beleef and obedience that God requires at mens hands A stedfast Releef against all that confusion darkness and uncertainty which the vanity fossy and loosness of the minds of men drawn out by the unspeakable alterations that fall out amongst them would certainly have run out into pag. 28. The most effectual means of bringing men to repentance on which all faith and repentance is immediately to be grounded That which alone gives the determination of Doctrines proposed to be beleeved whether they are truths of God or cunningây devised fables Tr. 1. Cap. 3. Sect. 16. That by which we are commanded to examine and prove Tanquam ad lydium lapidem all those things that are to be examined and proved That which pleads its reception not only in comparison with but in opposition unto all other wayes of coming to the knowledge of his minde and will founded thereon p. 58. That which is necessary in such an high degree of necessity in its daily use not only ad ingenerationem fidei to the begetting of faith where it is not bââ in ea edificationem to the edification of the highest Saints in it while they draw breath here that there is not more need to us of food and rayment to uphold our very natural life than there is of the Scriptures that we may be daily instructed in the knowledge and faith of Christ. That which doth not only most exceedingly exceed all others but as to the saving ends thereof is the only and singular means that God uses in order to the revealing the knowledge of himself The light the most glorious light in the world above the Sun c. p. 43. The witness of God the power of God to salvation ipsa doctrina quam à Deo docemur yea no lesse than âhe very powerful living quickning soul-saving Word of God That which challenges to it self that glorious Title of the Word of God as its own proper name That which is so tum in esse reali cognoscibili i.e. so and so known evidently by its own light and power so to be That which manifests and testifies of it self from the beginning to the end of it p. 140. to be the Word of the living God yea abundantly uncontrolably to men p. 3 That which is often even welnigh a thousand times mentioned indigitated Ex. 1. Sect. 5.32 by that name the Word of God That which calls for attendance and submission to it as such with supream uncontroleable Authority p. 58. That which is expected from us and required of us by God himself on penalty of his eternal displeasure if we fail in our duty 2 Thess. 1.8 9 10. That we receive it not as we do other books with a firm opinion only but with divine and supernatural faith omitting all such inductions as serve only to ingenerate a perswasion that it is his Word p. 31.32.34 c. And many more such transcendently glorious Epethites and Compellations thou denominatest the Scripture by as that which as to the integrity of the Text is unaltered in every tittle and also every tittle and iota of which is a part of the Word yea the Word of the great God wherein the eternal concernment of souls lyes for of the Scripture or under that terme of Scripture or of the Word thou restisiest all this yea and very much more dost thou found out and sing of the Transcripts of the Greek and Hebrew Text to the same tune which though they are all true of the true Word of God indeed which is properly so called and in the Scripture it self which never which no where calls it self so is often and only so stiled yet being by thee uttered all concerning the Scripture which is intended by thee when thou praedicarest any thing of it under that Name or Term of the Word of God saying the Word of God is a light powerful glorious above the Sun c. as well as when thou speakest of it under its own true and only proper name of Scripture saying the Scripture is the Rule the foundation c. the Scripture is so or so it is every whit of it utterly false as thou utterest it the falsehood whereof I shall now come to make some Animadversions of more particularly And for as much as I own all those high-flown glorious denominations thou runnest out into to be true to a Tittle if spoken of Gode word indeed but deny utterly the truth of any one of them as they are spoken by thee of the Scripture as the most commodious way that I can take for the disproof of thy untrue talke of the Scriptures whereby thou ignorantly not to say Idolatrously attributest such glorious Titles and Epechites thereunto as are the due and only peculiar properties of the true and living Word of God indeed which is Christ Jesus himself and also for the vindication of the Word of God from that Robbery and Spoil that is done to it by thee who pullest it down from the Throne and statest the meer Texs and Letter of it in its place and also for the further vindication of the poor deluded Fanatical Qua. as thou callest them
beleeving and obeying then it seems with thee faith is to be begun and begotten and born by the Spirit but kept preserved and nourished up to perfection by the letter which is a Doctrine of deep dotage and deceit for it is the Spirit of Christ and the light that is both the Creator and Preserver the Author and finisher of the faith insomuch that I may truly and do here justly cry out against you blind bewitching broachers and your blind bewitched beleevers of it as Paul on the Galatians I marvel that ye should be so sottishly departed and degenerated from the simplicity of the primitive Gospel so plainly declared in the very letter it self which asserts the Light Spirit and Word within to be both the principle and the Rule O ye foolish Prophets and foolish People who hath bewitched you that ye should be so reprobate as to the knowledge of the truth Are ye so foolish as to fancy that when men have once begun in the Spirit they must be preserved in their faith and regulated and made perfect by their fleshly attendences to the Letter that the Vniversiâies and Ministers meerly of it and not of the Spirit are so lost about and wrangling about that to this day they are not agreed about the integrity of its Text They that ministed the spirit among men at first and were even by the very letter they wrote Ministers by whom men beleeved in the light did they call them so much to the heeding or hearing of the letter themselves wrote as to the hearing of the Word of faith they preached and testified to both in their Writings and by Word of mouth even that which before they wrote to them at all was nigh in their heart and in their mouth that they might do it Tell me ye that desire to be under the teachings of the letter only not the light do you not hear the letter telling of another Rule besides it self which it self doth only point to doth not the letter teach you the Spirit and light is both the principle and principal means also of discovery of right and wrong as is shewed above doth the letter part the business of our obedience as your party coloured discourses thereof would seem to make it do between it self and the Spirit or say any where that the Spirit is the principle but the letter it self the Rule of our obedience that the spirit creates and the letter preserves faith as T.D. dreamingly divines saith it not that the Spirit is both And yet O the muddinâss not to say madness of our now Ministers Another while again even within the space of one page behold O ye wandring wonderers and wondering wânderers after these vain men and their whisling Butterfly-businesses that would seem wise though they are but as wilde Asses colâs and ye shall see T.D. who affirms the spirit to be the Principle and that which creates faith and the letter the Rule that preseâves it affirming the letter to be both i.e. not only the only Rule of it but the Principle of it also and ascribing in these words p. 28. of his fiâst as also in the 17. page of his second God did not intend nor give order for them i.e. for more writings than we have in our Bibles to be the Rule but hath assured us as much as is sufficient to create and preserve faith in the Gospel we have both the first being begetting and beginning of faith to the Scripture as also I.O. who jumps with him in one as they do together in most things in these words Ex. 3. s. 39. Not only the begetting of faith but also the building up in it while we live here is the end of the Scripture What more is uttered by T.D. as to this head of the Scriptures being the only rule is in answer to this Argument was urged against him as himself relates it but to disadvantage p. 29.30 of his first Pamph. at the dispute on this wise If the Rule of faith and life was before the Scripture was then the Scripture is not the Rule c. but the Rule was before the Scripture therefore c. To which said Answer of T. D's is no other than a giving of the whole cause in question between us viz. whether the Scripture i.e. the Writing or Letter is the Rule or no sor quoth T.D. Your Argument concludes nothing against us for we assert the matier contained in the Scripture is a standing Rule yâur Argument proves but that there was a Rule before this Writing we grant that God revealed himself by Visions Dreams Since the Gospel preached to Adam there hath not been any increase of Truths Quoad essentiam sed tantum quoad explicationem as the Learned speak of the Articles of our faith the manner of conveyance is different then and now but the matter or doctrines conveyed still the same Rep. If this conclude nothing against you for as much as ye own doctrine or matter only contained in and declared by the Scripture and not the letter to be the Rule how conclusive you outcries are against the Qua. as that they are denyers of the Scripture a Fool may feel since they own the holy doctrine and matter in the Scripture which is the Light Spirit and Word in the heart to be the Rule as your selves do and so to have been also before the Scripture was though they deny the meer Writing to be the Rule which with your selves is not the matter conveyed but meerly the manner of conveyance not the essential truth it self but only the form of its explication which manner of conveyance or form of explication your selves it seems do deny here to be the Rule as well as we with us asserting only the matter truth or doctrine contained and conveyed in the Writing so to be If ye assert no more than the truth doctrine or matters contained in the Scriptures to be the Rule which matters thou thy self T.D. p. 30 31. of thy first Pamph. sayest is that Word of faith the Apostles preached which was the Word we assert to be the Rule that is nigh in the heart Rom. 10 and dare not assert your selves the meer letter or Scripture so to be I trow wherein differ you from the Quae. whom you quarrel with as deniers of the Scriptures Will you never be at quiet with the Qua. but quarrelling against them when they affirm the truths wherein your selves assent to them as much as when they deny the untruths wherein ye dissent from them Will you allow them neither to say the sound doctrines which your selves are forced to confess to nor to gainsay the errors and false doctrines which ye would fain force you false faith of upon them ye assert no more but that the matter or doctrine conveyed and truth explicated therein which is the light spirit or living Word it self is the Rule as thou sayest here so denying the letter writing or meer Text to be it we
Paul said no other things then what Moses and the Prophets said should come John Baptist came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might beleeve God sayes If the Israelites observe not all the words of the Law written in that Book of Deuteronomy he would make their Plagues wonderful Christ expounds to his Disciples all the Scriptures in Moses and the Prophets concerning himself bids Search the Scriptures as testifying of him Paul sayes Whatsoever was written afore time was for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope He says To write the same things to the Church is safe John sayes he writes his Epistles to the Saints that their joy might be full Therefore the outward Letter of the Scripture is the onely Rule of all faith and Divine worship and not the Light and Spirit of Christ ye only call to nor any internal Revelation whatsoever ficta vel facta In which of all these Scriptures the Title and Authority of the only most perfect standing Rule of Faith Life and Worship is either expresly or by any true mediate much more any immediate consequence ascribed to the Scriptures who can finde but he 's that not blinde There is but one of all the places viz. Gal. 6.16 where that term Rule is at all expressed by which as I have said and shewed above is not at all intended the Scriptures but Christ the Light and his Spirit and some of them mention expresly neither the term Scripture nor Rule ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and such as have in them terms equivalent to that of the Rule neither express nor imply at all the Letter of the Scripture as that of Psal. 19.7 8. and that of Isa. 8.19 20. and that of Rom. 10 17. and that of Eph. 2.19 20. where by the Law and Commandment and Testimony and Statutes of the Lord rejoicing the heart converting the soul enlightening the eyes making wise the simple is expressed the Lamp and the Light Prov. 6.23 and by the Word in the hearing of which Faith comes the Word hid in the heart nigh in the heart and mouth to hear and do Psal. 119.105 Deut. 30.12.14 Rom. 10.8 The Law in the heart Isa. 5 1.7 Psal. 37.31 The Law in the mind which the Law of sin and death in the members wars against Rom. 7.23 The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ the life and light whose life is the light of men that made Paul free from the other Rom. 8.2 Which light shines in the darknesse that is in our very Doctors hearts but the darkness comprehends it not The Statutes of God and Judgements to be put into the minds of men according to the tenour of the New Covenant typified by the Old where the Statutes were with Pen and Ink written and engraven on Tables of stone and by the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2. Christ the Light as is above declared and not the Writing and Letter and Text in which the internal truth is but ad extra declared and by that sure Word of Prophesie ' 2 Pet. 1. not the Scripture but somewhat within as I shall shew more abundantly by and by and by Moses and the Prophets Luke 16. Writings within as I shall shew anon All which were and were the onely perfect pure right inalterable standing Rule long before any external Text or Letter was and have not ceased so to be by the coming in of the outward writing with which they are since clothed upon nor yet have surrendered their ancient Authority of being the onely Rule by which all speakings and writings and doctrines are to be tryed nor resigned up that their Right to the Writing that testifies to their suprrmacy veracity and dignity above it self to this very day Nor have they submitted themselves that were once the chief Judge and Rule for the tryal of Truth to be now tryed ruled over judged sentenced and ultimately determined authoritatively to be received or rejected as true or false of God or the Devil Divine or diabolical Delusion Enthusiasme Figment Fanaticism and what nick-name men lift to stile them by in their learned lusts by the fallible Transcriptions Translations and Expositions of miserably mistaking men in which ways only and meerly some of that Scripture that was of old written by holy men as the spirit moved them is transmitted downward to these modern ages And as for those Texts that do make express mention of the Scriptures and outward Writings of the Apostles and of Moses and the Prophets and the Old Testament as Iohn 20. ult Luke 1.3 4. 16.29 Acts 1.1 2 Cor. 3.24 2 Tim. 3.14 15 16. do there is not the least considerable much less any cogent necessary or immediate consequence in any of them to conclude the outward Letter of the Scriptures to be the onely most perfect standing Rule Touchstone for all Truth to be tryed by so exclusively as I.O. states them Spiritus verbi Luminis cujuscunque tandem generis interni Revelatienis c. Of all inward Spirit Light Word or Revelation of what sort soever For what 's the vail's being over the Iews hearts in the reading of the Old Testament which Vail is done away in turning to Christ the Light to evince any such matter Doth it not rather evidence the very contrary For if the Old Testament which is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Letter written with Ink or Pen or engraven on stones is as a Vail over the hearts of such as read it as the Iews do of whom I.O. sayes pag. 236. They read it without the administration of the Spirit so that its a dead Letter of no efficacy for the good of souls Which Vail is to be and is done away no otherwise then in Christ the Light and by turning to the Lord that Spirit as Paul sayes it is then doth it not rather appear that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Letter written and engraven outwardly is not the onely most proper standing Rule but Christ's Light the Spirit and the measure and manifestation thereof within given to every man to profit withal And what though Paul to Timothy doth commend the inspired Scripture if yet we shall take that for the outward Writing as profitable to make the man of God who onely knows how to use it wisely more and more wise and to furnish him perfectly to exhort c. and every good work against the gainsayers as I have shewed above that I deny not the outward Scripture so to be to such a one And what though Christ saies in order to escaping the place of torment Let men hear Moses and the Prophets if yet we shall take Moses and the Prophets for their outward Writings And what though John sayes Christ did more then he wrote of him as well he might For Matthew Mark and Luke wrote many things that he did not and others wrote other matters that were written by none of
conceived in thy brain to be the power of God both in it self and in respect of you Look upon all litteral Professârs that run a whoring from God the Lord the Spirit and the Light that shines in them there shewing moral good and evil and spiritual good and spiritual wickedness also for the fruites of the spirit and works of the flesh and the lusts thereof envy hatred lasciviousness c. are manifest and what ever manifests them and all things in the conscience is the light within which is the Armour against the one and the enabler to the other and not the Letter wihout which only sayes so of the Light and see what works most abound in the most Reformed Nations and Churches of it that are turned aside from the truth it self to a meer talking of the Text that talks of it are they not the same that are to be found among Papists that live by no other professed Rule but tradition and Popish putasion yea set aside that grosser sort of superstition and thicker cloud of superfluous Ceremonies in matter of outward observations in Religion in which the Kingdome of God which stands in inward Righteousnââs of the heart expressing it self outwardly in the life comes not as to Moralities Mercy Iudgement Equity Honesty Innocency Love Purity Humility Faith and Fear of God unfained which are the end of carnal Commandements contained in Ordinances and bodily exercises that else are profitable to little which said Moralities as little as thou makest of Moral obedience Moral good is that which the light in all mens hearts may avail to lead them to p. 42 43 45. as if these were some pedling trivial matters that God regards not which yet indeed being done in the Light out of which God who is Light accepts of nothing nor hath pleasure or delight in any of your litteral performances are nâ less then Spiritualities fruits of the Spirit and of the Spirics only and not the Letter bringing forth for the Letter never yet brought forth the Spirits fruits in its Ministers and children who for all their searchings and lookings into and labouring for the letter sow to the flesh still as the Scribes and Pharisees did of old that trusted in Moses and the Prophets Writings and of the flesh reap corruption whilest the Ministers not of the Letter but the Spirit the children of the Light sow to the Spirit and of it and the Light reap the life it self and these are the weightier matters of the Law I say as to the foresaid Moral matters saving the grosser dimnest of their devotions are not the same that is to say as good fruits found among poor Papists as amongst you and as bad among you as with them and as unsound yea V in tu cârtis Iudaeis âppederâ wilt thou judge and disdain the concised Letter-lauding âew O thou meerly Rantized Scripture-profissing-Christian when they who make their boast of the antient Ceremonies and Letter of the Law do not more through breaking the Law in the Morals and Spirituals of it then ye who boast of the later Letter and Ceremonies thereof through breaking the weightier Moral and Spiritual matters of it do dishonour God Is not your Vine aâ the vine of Sodome to the Lord notwihstanding your solemn meetings and Sabbaths and Fasts and fained forms and many things that God never required at all as much as theirs who were punctualin performance of the very things that God himself required and are not your goodly Grapes of Injustice Cruelty Whippings imprisonings Persecutings of tender conscences for telââng truth for not paying Tythes c. and all other iniquity dissoluteness and propaneness that overflows in Vniversities Cities Countries as the Grapes of Gommorrah as theirs were and as clusters of Gall and Wormwood yea shall not the Gentile the Heaâhen as ye call them the uncircumcistân the unchristned people as to the Letter that by the remants of the pure nature for the corâupt nature only breakes the Law do the things contained in the Law and shewed them in the Light within them by which they are a Law to themselves and go accused or excused in their own conscences before God judge as well thee who by the Letter and Baptism transgressest it as the Iews who by the Letter and Circumcision do transgress the Law and Rebel against the Light is not as much of the true Righteousness found among many Heathens as among most litteral Christians who ever name the Name of Christ but never depart from iniquity What geat efficacy and power then hath the Letter alone of it self without any other helps advantages or any other Revelation by the Spirit and Light within put forth and exerted to the conquering of the world and the bringing forth of fruit in all the world when as it is evident that it never yet subjected any one whether Minister or Professor of it to the perfect obedence of it self in the main matters of it as the Light and Spirit hath done done the children of it As for our Parochial and Academical livers by the Letter temporally I mean for otherwise they live neither by the Letter nor the Light but beside both both they and their Bible-blessing Beleevers are far from answering the call of their very literal Rule which is all they own under that name and notion that they are not come by it into the faith that ever they shall conform to it or be perfected in holiness or cleansed from sin by it either in this world or that to come for whereas much of it is written in way of warning not to sin 2 Ioh. 2.1 and is profitable and powerful as they say themselves from 2 Tim. 3.16 which speaks of Timothy men of God only and also not exclusively of all other helps and advantages from the Spirit and Light as I.O. but as in conjunction with faith which is in the Light as is shewed above to make men wise to salvation and perfect in good works they are so far from beleeving it possible in this world not to sin and be perfected in holiness or good works that they deny it as little better than plain Popery to affirm any works done though by Christs own power in us to be truly or perfectly good or any better than dung and filthy Rags witness T.D. who as above said p. 13â of his 1 Pamp. sayes the Righteousness wrought in Paul after his onversion was Christs and yet renounced by him as dung damn it down ââ Doctrine of Devils to teach men that they may be fully free from sin here witness T. Rumsey whose blinde judgement therein T.D. justifiâr in p. 41. of his â Pamph. and that its most false to say the Scripture either doth or can obtain its end fully towards us while we are in this world and yet that it is of no use to us in the world to come also so denying again what other whiles they affirm of the power and perfection of the Scripture
fruit only to himself so is our National Gospel Israel an empty Vine fruitful to themselves in temporals and in suâ gerere in such spiritual also as their Religion lyes in viz. in empty forms of fastings prayings praâsings preachings singings of Davids Psalms with Doegs Spirit Text applauding Treatises talkings for Tithes multiplyings of Ministers of the Old Testament not of the Spirit but of the Letter that may labour soundly to the blowing out if they couâd tell how of the Qua. extolled light magnifyings of the maintenance for such Ministers as maintain themselvs out of Augmentations by the Impropriations of Kings Bishops Deans Chapters Lands Tenths first fruits and such Levitically legal âmolumenis far better than they are able to maintain either the true internal eternal Gospel which they are utterly ignârant of or their own external Gospel either against the Qu. who maintain the true But utterly as fruitles to God as full of leaves and broad Shews wherein they flourish yea as barren as the figtree that God came three years together seeking fruit from and finding none for which the Word had long since gone forth effectually from the Lord but that intercession is yet made for it by the dresser of the Vineyard who digs and dungs it in hopes of somewhat but hath yet from it as small thanks for his great pains as the unskilful dressers not to say devourers of it have great thanks for their small pains Cut it down why cumbreth is the ground So what thou so pompously utterest I O. on behalf of the efficacy of the Letter in this particular as the All-sufficient All-accomplishing power of God in its self and to us ward to salvation and such like is nothing so nor doth any one of all Scriptures cited by thee in proof thereof evince any such thing they all excepting that in 2 Tim. 3. which as it may relate to an inward Scripture thou yet searchest not if intended of the outward yet not without the Light and Spirit within which said Light and Spirit thou still excludest and damnest down as detestable and no way needful to be so much as concurrent with the Scripture toward salvation as is shewed above intend no other Word or Light then that which is uttered and shines within in the eârt Iam. 1.21 expresly speaks of the wording rafted there which is able to save the soul which ãâ¦ã âinnate word for it s there put planted and sowed as his seed by the Lord himself some refuse and reject to walk by whose condemnation it is some receive it hear it mix it with faith in it beleeve in it to the salvation of the soul. In Joh. 17.20 Christ speaks of the same and not of any outward Scripture for by that word their word is intended the Word which they preached or held forth or testified to by their words in their preachings and writings as that which men were to come to hear and beleeve in and do till tâeir beleeving in which though they shâuld or do beleeve Historically the outward declaration as the Papists do the litteral declaration at this day with their heart and confess it with their mouths that the Lord Iesus was raised frâm the dead yet they perish and beleeve not on the Name of God savingly or to salvation Which Word is not the Letter nor their preachings but that which the Letter and their oral preachings testified to that it was nigh men in their hearts and mouths that they might hear and do it even the word of faith which they preached Compare Ioh 17.20 with Rom 10.8 9. Which word that they preached was not their Preachings or Writings or Scriptures but that which in their preachings and writings they called them to hear which was not a word without but the word nigh in the heârt between which Words and Writings of the Preachers and Writers of the Scriptures and the Truth Faith Doctrine Light Gospel Holy matter which they preached and wrote of if our Divines couâd keep constant in distinguishing at all times as they do sometime they would come out of their conlusions wherein they are found jumbling things on heaps without heed into the clear understanding and comprehendings of the truth in their heads at least whether it may have place in their hearts and lives or no that is saving their being ashamed to own it from Babes and chusing rather to be ignorant then submit to be taught by them so often told them by the Qua. T D. sayes It s evident the Word spoken of Rom. 10.8 in the heart is the holy matters contained in the Scriptures the things contained there pag. 30 31. of his 1. Pamph. Rep. Who doubts of that But are not the holy matters one thing and the outward Letters that write of those matters another the things written of which the Scripture sayes are in the heart one thing and the Scriptures that write of those things another why then do you jumble these together as one in your blindly busie brains which are so bewitcht that ye either cannot or will not own that from the Qua. without crying out of them as deniers of the Scriptures to be the Word of God which your very selves are forced to confess to the Truth of For T.D. dances between within and without in the fore-named pages as if he could not well tell where to be nor what to say the Word of faith they preached is himself denies not from Col. 3.16 which I urged but that it was within the Colossians but yet because we say its within a light within he will needs say and so he had need or else he could not out word us it s the Letter without also the Word spoken of in the heart is meant quoth he of the holy matters contained 1. Declared of in the Scriptures which are say we the living Word Light Gospel c. and yet in the same page the Word spoken of is without or it is the Letter of the Scriptures quoth he also though at the beginning of the dispute upon that subject when I told him wee denied the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the outward writing or Letter written on paper with inke to be the Word of God himself p 26.1 Pamp. he denied the same with me saying You cannot beleeve us so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense to be the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the Writing c. And p. 30. When I said the Scripture is not the Word of God for that is within but the Scripture is without ârging Rom. 10. The word is nigh thee in thy heart You read not all quoth he t is in thy mouth too so that it is without as well as within Rep. Oh gross what an absurdity is here as if that which is in the mouth of a man were not within but without him if T.D. should tell mee of a man that is no Monster that his
and truly partaking of the Divine nature and begotten by the light and living Word of Truth from death and darkness into a real union with it self by receiving with meekness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the innate ingrafted word âam 1.21 by which they become incorporated and as it were transubstantiated into one seed with it self having the Image and glory of God seen upon them and shining in and through them before the world men before whom let your light shine faith Christ Mat. 5.16 Is. 60.1 2 3 c. 2 Cor. 2. ult I say if such men may be stiled the Light of the world as Iohn Baptist was stiled by Christ a burning and shining light Joh. 35 36 then whom yet Christ had a greater witnesâ Wil I.O. therefore prefer the deaâ copies of the writings of those living men who wrote from the life light and Spirit of God moving before or at least into an equality with the holy men who under God were the Authors of those writings as they were at first which now are but the fallible âandyworks of by his own confession but meer fallible Transcribers or if he will will any wise men of God become so foolish with him I trow not in as much as the work-man is more glorious than the work that issues either originally from or but subordinately through his own hands the Writer more honourable than his meer writing as Heb. 3.3 4. Hee who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house for as every outward Writing or Letter yee now have the use of was written by some man as every such house is built by some man but he of whom are all things and he that originally built all things is God indeed Yet me thinks I sent not only I.O. but T.D. also who is so a kân to him that in most matters here hee prosecues the same point unless where he contradicts him and hobbles upon the same notions enthroning the Scriptures or outward Letter very high above the Church whose children it immediately was pend by the hands of and whose meer outward Engine the outward letter is insomuch that I.O. makes it not only dearer to God then the whole world besides p. 171. but also p. 76. the very Darling of God so that his Church whose servant the Letter is and for whose sake written is made by him but some subservant to hold out the honour of the Letter that it may bee the more conspicuous rather then to let her own light image grace glory which is that of God Isa. 10.1 2. shine out before man the duty t is quoth he almost the whole of the Church to hold up that some time and when wee say the Church is a Pillar and Ground of truth from 1 Tim. 3.15 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which words Pillar and Ground should not bee taken for the supporter or foundation nor inholder of truth in sensu Architectonico which T.D. denies âe not dispute See p. 356. See p. 355. but grant him his sensum forensem or foreign sense of it in which I.O. also who sayes absurdly however that these words Pillar and Ground may in good coherence of speech refer to the words following viz. the mystery of godliness as well as to the Church will take it in and let them have it yet what follows that the Church is but the Ground and Pillar to set the Letter upon which I.O. calls the light and truth there and to hold forth only the outward literal publication as T.D. pleads p. 18 19. of his 2. Pamph. or the seat or place of residence for the Scripture as upon the Exchange in London are pillars and places upon which hang Tables and Proclamations in no wise surely for though the Pillars of the Exchange are for support as well as shew and so T.Ds. Simile doth not quadrare nor run on all four to bee sure yet to give them the sense of a pillar to hold up or hold out only yet that which the Church is the Pillar to hold up that is hold forth is the Truth whether by or without the Scripture of it between which Truth and the book they both sometimes do distinguish which truth or light is the Foundation or Pillar in sensu Architectonico on which the Church is built and not it on the Church as the letter is which under God the Church that gives no being to the truth or light nor kindles one beam thereof as I.O. sayes but only bears witness to it gives being to and so is in sensu Architonico the Pillar or Foundation of though in sensu forensi of the light and truth only for the Church is more honourable then the letter as the Builder or that which supports the house is more honourable then the house that receives being under God and preservation from it and its Prophets but its less honourable then the light and truth it lives by and hath its being from as a Church in respect of which light and truth t is confest it is not a pillar and ground in sensu Architectonico as it is of the letter but in sensu forensi only that is the seat place or pillar from whence it is held out and shines or as the Church is called Reâ 1.20 Zach. 4.2 a golden Candlestick that serves to hold out in life and doctrine voice and writing the eternal Word of grace light truth and word of life conveyed in measure to her from the two Olive trees or anointed ones or sons of Oyl the living Word and Spirit that empty themselves into the golden Candlesticks feeding them therewith and from thence shining as God witnesses to the world which two witnesses shining and prophesying to the Church or Candlesticks and through them to the world in power and much patience and sufferings stand before the God of the whole earth Zach. 3. Rev. 11. And if the Saints born of the incorruptible seed the Word of God which liveth and abideth ever may bee stiled the Seed of God Will I.O. thence conclude that a corruptible Letter copied out by corrupt mens hands as the Scripture is at this day may be so stiled also The Word of God took upon him the nature and seed of Abraham but never took upon him however he is written of in it the proper nature of a dead Letter that was written with ink and pen by mens hands There was no time wherein the Word and Light by which all was made was made or born into the true nature of such a Letter but there is a time of its being made flesh and dwelling as their food in the Saints Joh. 1.14 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã natus est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Word was born flesh and dwelt in us Ioh. 6.51 to 64. the bread I give is my flesh c. howbeit all flesh is not the same flesh there is a flesh of Christ that if eaten with a carnal mouth would as so have profited nothing vers 63.
p. 9. the figment and imagination of whose hearts are the foundation of all they speak And this I as readily grant they are not to be deemed as thine T. Ds and some other mens are who in your private narrow conceptions and thoughts of things thrust out what yee tkinke feign and fancy still to be truth though nothing so about both the Scriptures and many other matters for they are true Scriptures of holy publick spirited men who wrote or caused to be written what was known and surely beleveed Luke 1.1 at least among Saints who were no liars if not all at the immediate motiân of the Spirit they declared the things they had seen heard and witnessed within themselves to be the truth even when they wroâe from others in matter of Doctrine Prophesie or so and in Chronicle either immediately or from more credible testimony then I.O. and T.D. when they write at all adventure upon leastly hear-sayes from very goâd hands when the matters are in point of fact many if not most of them very lyes And in this sense thou strivest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be taken which thou sayest some think is put for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 19 20. and one Copy readâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by an evident error or mistake without ground and much more ado then needs thou there makest to have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denote the writing of the Scriptures to be by men that were moved by the publick Spirit of God and not by mans private Spirit nor at his will but Gods which I grant and a little more too whether ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifie so much or not viz. That it neither is to be interpreted now it is so given forth at the Will of man or by mans private spirit or by our own coâsiââration of its sense and meaning p. 21. which sense I see thou wouldest fain exclude ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from bearing or having in any tollerable sense affixed to it and I cannot blame thee as thy principles are for else thou who deniest the presence and guidance of the infallible Spirit to all men in these dayes must cut off thy self and fellow Doctors Divines and Expositors of the Scriptures from medling much by your own conceptions thoughts understandings and wills to interpret open or give your senses and fancies on them by which craft you have your wealth but only alone by the publick Spirit of God which gave them out and only knows his own minde and meaning and reveals it to those that walk therein and not after the flesh as ye do For we saith Paul of himself and those Ministers have the minde of Christ 1 Cor. 2. So I give thee thy sense and more then thou wouldest willingly have as concerning the intârpreting of the Scripture which men in their private thoughts are not to expound nor yet to deem it as meer private mens Writings Howbeit none of all this comes out of this place so clearly as thou conceivest for it speaks not of the Letter and Writing so much as thou in thy private spirit interpretest it to do but of the Truth or holy things written for whereas thou who doest not see that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is one thing and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is another takest the Prophesie of Scripture it intends the Prophesie it self that was as to the summe of it written but not the Writing that is of it which Prophesie whether written by the hands or spoken by the mouthes of holy men of God who live in the Spirit was not to bee interpreted as the written or spoken Doctrines of private men that speak and write from the conceivings of their own narrow private spirits the figment and imagination of whose hearts is the fountain of all they utter write or speake but as the undoubted infallible eternal truth of the living God made manifest in them which they wrote and spoke forth as moved by Gods publick holy Spirit 3. That the Letter Scripture or Writing ' or Copies of the original Texts as ye have them at this day are that Word of God called there the Word of Prophesie v. 19. 4. That they are a more sure Word in their evidence to us at least though not in themselves then any voice from heaven whatever yea then Gods own if hee should speak to us from heaven or then that voice by which hee spake from Heaven which Peter James and John heard when they were with Christ on the holy Mount 5. That the said Letter of the Scripture is the light said there to shine in the dark place of mans hearts with an eminent advantage to its own discovery as well as unto the benefit of others All which three last Assertions I not only deny to follow from this Text as I did the two first which yet I deny not the Truth of but do as much deny them all three or any one of them to bee Truth at all as I do absolutely deny all or either of them to bee possibly by any sound reason to bee deduced or inferred from this place and likewise affirm that measure of the Light and Spirit of God and Christ in the hearts and consciences of men which we bear testimony unto to be the more sure word of Prophesie and Light here testified to by Peter And the grounds of my denial of the one of these viz. That the Letter is it and of my affirming the other viz. that the Light is it are clear from two or three clauses of the Text it self which are proper and the very import of the phrases and truly and plainly agreeable to the Light or Spirit or Word of God within but not a tall true or proper or in truth agreeable to the Letter without if predicated thereof for First it is as much as I.O. jeers at the verbum seu lumen internum said to be the Word and Light within and so the Letter without is not if it were either the Word or the Light therefore it cannot bee the Letter ad extra which I O. labours for against the Light and T.D. also who p. 45. of his 1 Pamph. cotâs this same Text 2 Pet. 1 19. affirming the Scripture to be the sure word of Prophesie intended here but the Light ad intra wee stand up for against them both that which is said to be within is not intended of a thing that is without only as the formal Letter or the Scripture is formally considered according to its proper name and nature as I.O. dreams or that proper essential form quae dat effeci per quam Scriptura est id quod est which gives to it that very being whereby it is what it is but of something that is really within as the Light only is which the Litera scripta or Letter without declares of And that not the Letter or Scripture formally considered but that Word of God only and Divine
Truth Law Doctrine or Commandement which is a Light and Lamp is within as Rom. 10.8 witnesses it for me so my two Antagonists I.O. and T.D. do both from the Testimony of that very Text testifie the same with it and me against themselves the one viz. T D. sying p. 30 31. of his 1. Pamph. 't is evident that the word spoken of in the heart Rom. 10.8 is meant of the matters contained in the Scriptures for the Apostle sayes expresly that is the Word of faith which wee preach whereby it seems by your selves the Letter is neither the Word there said to be nigh in the heart and mouth nor yet the Word of faith the Apostles preached but some other thing that was actually properly truly and formally within the heart even the holy Word Law Light Truth Spirit of Truth and Doctrine which wee together with the Scripture do testifie unto and you contrary both to us and the Scripture are continually testifying against and the other viz. I.O. saying Ex. 1. s 40. The Word in us is that Word of faith the Apostles preached but they preached nothing but what was written by Moses and the Prophets Rom. 16.26 yea that that Word was a Word written the Apostle professedly testifies in that place vers 10. 2. The Scripture is nigh us in our hearts and mouth not in respect of the Letter written or the Scripture formally considered as written but of the divine Truth or as it contains and holds forth the divine truth it self Reply V. 11. Thou meanest sure for there the Word Scriptures is named but what of that and who doubts or denies but that the Word in the heart was written as well as preached and testified to by writing as well as by word of mouth but wilt thou ever be so blinde I.O. as to make no difference but when it serves thy turn to do it as thou thinkest against the truth for then thou makest a difference See p. 12. 13. between the Word written Doctrine declared and Declaration Book and Truth Scripturam rem scriptam preaching and thing preached publication and will of God published proclamation of good things and the tidings or good things proclaimed and told of Suppose a man should stand at a Market-cross or in Cheapside and preach publish or proclaim by Word of mouth or set up a Bill or Writing that there is special good Wheat Bread Flesh or the like laid up under the custody of the Lieutenant of the Tower enough for all the poor starvelings of the rich City of London where the more shame and wo to the rich Gluttons in it they ly perishing about the streets by him freely to be dispenced who is sealed or authorised to that end to give to all comers according to their wants or in a time of distress or danger that there is safety in the Tower for all that are willing to run in thither within so many dayes or else the gates shall be shut for thus the Publishers of the glad Tidings of the Gospel of peace and salvation by Christ the Light alone and his Spirit and Light which reproves sin is the heart do declare both by Voyce and Letter or Writing in their times as he himself Isa. 45.22 Look to me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth viz. That in him who is the Light is the life of men to be had and not in the Letter which rather killeth Hee is the strong Tower where safety alone is Him hath God sealed to be the giver of the bread of life and the meat that endureth to eternal life to all that come to him in that time wherein he shines in his Light Now if people should run only to the Cryer and hang alwayes on the hearing of his voice or stand reading the good news in the writing he hath set up doting on and delighting only to read that day by day because its comfortable as it tells of good things and never at all according to the counsel thereof betake themselves to the Tower where they only are might they not stand there poring till they perish pine and starve and would they not lose time and perhaps totally withstand it and would yee judge them to bee well in their wits if they should run up and flock all together to the Proclamation or bare Writing supposing to injoy the things themselves though they never look after the said Lieutenant spinning out the time limited in looking upon the writing and so far dote as our Dr doth that the coming to the Scriptures is the only proper way of coming to Christ himself which he counsels us to Rev. 3. as to think that their comming to that Paper every day is their next way to the Tower their very only proper going to the Lieutenant that is required Mutatiâ mutandis de te fabula the case is your own O ye untaught better fed then taught Teachers it is yours O ye more letter-lauding then letter-learning Preachers and Priest-admiring people Christ is come from God that men might have life and have it abundantly calls all to look and come to him for it yee like the old Scribes search the Scriptures and therein look for the eternal life because they are they that testifie of it and of him who is the life but yee will not come to him that yee may have the life Ioh. 5.35 c. 2. What need I say more but with T.D. and I.O. to heed and beleeve themselves because they are so dull of hearing that they will neither heed nor beleeve the Qua. for they give the cause in Question between the Qua and them about the Scripture or the Letters being the World of faith or light shining in the dark place of mens hearts which Peter sayes men are to take heed to which said dark place that is the heart and consâience where by their own confession so gross a thing as a formal outward Letter cannot come but only some more subtil thing then that is even a spiritual light as that is not is as evident in the Text as the Word and Light it speaks of is to him that is not blinde for the dark place wherein the Word and Light here is said to thine is the same wherein as the Light is taken heed to the day dawns and the day star i.e. Christ him self arises first as that bright and morning star Rev. 2.28 whereby the day spring from on high visits such as sate in darkness Luke 1.78 79. and at last as the Sun of righteousness it self Mal. 4.2 but that is said expresly to be the heârt so far as from Ioh. 1.5 we argue Where the spiritual darkness is which comprehends not the Light within which darkness the light shines There the true light shineth but that is within in the conscience of all men therefore there the true light in some measure is shining As if the dark place within which the Sun shines be a room within
whereby bee spake to or in the Prophets and is therefore accompanied with the same Authority in it self and unto us but most shame of all if he be not past shame so as not to see it in that he from this of Peter sets the Scripture the alterable and much altered Copies of his Letter his flexible Transcripts and Text that are and may bee turned and winded as himself confesses p. 22 23 24 25. of his Epist. at the wills of Criticks into âarious senses not only in equality with but into a state of certainty abâve the very immediate voice of God that was heard from heaven which true vâice of God yet p. 66 67. hee sayes to the contradicting of himself in what he asserts as to the minority of its evidence to us then that of the Scripture hath tâat ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã accompanying it as evidences it self and ascertains the soul beyond all possibility of mistake and is that which we are at last to rest in as being discernable from and obliging men to discern it from all delusions though yet O Rotas I to go Round again the Scripture is that with him that is ultimately to be rested in and not the voice of God which he sayes may counterfeited witness the same pages where hee bems in and hedges up his speech concerning the infallible certainty of Gods voice beyond all possibility of mistake and concerning our resting ultimately in that a parte ante with this saying viz. Suppose God should speak to us from heaven as he spake to Moses or as he spake to Christ or from some certain place how should wee bee able to know it to bee the voice of God Cannot Satan cause a voice to be heard in the air and so deceive us or may not there be some way found out whereby men might impose upon us their delusions Pope Caelestine thought he heard a voice from heaven when it was but the cheat of his successour must we not rest at last in the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that accompanies the true voice of God evidencing it self and ascertaining the soul beyond all possibility of mistake a parte post with this saying viz. If the Question be whether the Dâctrines proposed to bee beleeved are Truths of God or cunningly devised fables we are sent to the Scripture it self and that alone to give the determination Thus ultimately we are to rest in Gods voice and yet ultimately we must rest in the Scripture which is another thing for those that heard and searcht the Scripture as I shewed above never at any time heard Gods voice though yet I beleeve I.O. to bee so sottish to suppose the Scripture or Writing to bee it from which yet himself sometimes distinguisheth it Now the Scripture the Letter what ever thou sayest of it to the contrary I.O. specially as to the present corrupted Copies of it which are your Canon are not Sure much less a Surer matter then the immediate voice of God neither 1 In that false sense in which I.O. interprets that Term more sure viz. more unquestionable and undoubtedly evident to bee of God for if wee grant it to be of equal Divine certainty as we need not it being as now but the Remote issue and product at the hundredth hand perhaps of Gods voice in the Prophets yea but Remote Transcripts of fallible men from the handywork or manuscripts of the first Penmen yet to say its of greater divine certainty then Gods own voice is absurdity in the abstract Nor yet secondly in that genuine sense which the Term ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã most properly bears viz. more firm stable stedfast standing permanent or the like for the Letter is changeable alterable flexible passing perishing corruptible at mans will who may mistransâribe turn tear change alter burn it c. and so flecting and transient but as for that Voice surer then which I.O. sayes the Scripture is which Scripture he calls the Light or the Word of Prophesie and the Prophesie of Scripture mistaking himself when it is but the Scripture of the Prophesie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That Voice was as infallibly sure to its evidencing it self to them that heard it to be of God as any thing can bee though so permanent it was not as the Light within is ând the Voice of God that is to be heard in the heart of those that take heed to and turn not away from it for that particular Voice that came to them from God saying of Christ Hear ye him was passing and transient not abiding staying and standing as to the actual âudibility of it but the Voice and Word of the Son in the heart of whom the Father said Hear ye him this is permanent lasting standing stable sure stedfast alwayes nigh in the heart of men that they may both hear and do it and this and not the oâtward Scripture or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which I.O. scrafles for is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the more sure word or Prophesie of Scripture i.e. that that Scripture writes of or the light shining in the dark place of the heart good to be taken heed to here spoken of even the voice of Christ speaking from heaven in the heart and conscience of whom the Father sayes vers 17. hear him whose voice his sheep hear and who ever hears not in whatever he sayes shall be cut off from among his people whose voice which shakes the old earth and heaven where it s heeded it s more dangerous to turn from then t is toÌ turn from Moses and the Prophets and holy mens outward Writings for these whether old or latter speak and write though by motion from God yet on earth only but hee commeth from heaven and is above all as Iohn Baptist said of himself and Christ Ioh. 3.3.28 29 30 31. c. I am not the Christ I am but sent before him he hath the bride I am but the Bridegrooms friend who stand and hear him rejoycing at his voice he must increase I must decrease he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from above is above all See therfore saith Paul He. 12.25 That ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Yea not the Letter but this Voice and light in the heart this inwardly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ingrafted innate Word or Spirit imparted implanted indelibly in mens consciences is as God and Christs Vicegerent there both revealing what hee requires of every man as to his own particular and taking account of him also in the name Majesty and Authority of God de facto how he answers it which Voice or Light of God and Christ in the conscience is called by thee p. 42 44 45 57. The
Spirit of God Visions inward Light or Word are to be expected or admitted as any Rule to walk by the only guide and directory of all mens beleeving and living so that who have not that have none at all of any sufficiency to lead them to life though they should follow what light they have from God vouchsafed them to the utmost So that there is no principle to speak in his own words T. 1. c. 1. s. 16. or means of discovery of the saving Doctrine or sacred Truth no other rule or measure of judging or determining any thing about or concerning it but only that writing from whence it is taken the Revelation of it being expressed only in that writing upân suppossâion of any corruption in which the saving Doctrine Truth or Word of God as at first given out from God which say I whatever becomes of the Scripture is ever entire and for ever incorruptible and unquestionably uncorrupt 1 Pet. 1. cannot be evinced unquestionably to continue entire and incorrupt hee must then bee fed as himself and his fellow unlearned learned ones do feed their poor blinde pârâ-blinde unlearned people viz. with a bit and a knock and bee kept close to so much as reason and Scripture can well spare him be caned into a just compass with his own Canon and Rapt into the right measure he runs out of with the Rule and measure of his making and bounded within the due bounds of equity which beyond all measure he breaks beyond for the bare Bibles and Letters sake by that Letter and Book it self which is called though by I.O. the Word of God Tr. 1. ch 1. s. 12. yet by it seâf never so honourably at all but only by such like Titles as a Declaration Letter Scripture Book or Bible And if he shall go on undervaluing that antient covering of Christ the Light of the world and the Armour of his light which is unchangeable and which the True Church which hath the Moon and all such moveable and changeable things as the best outward Writings are under her feet stands ever cloathed with Rom. 13.12 14. Eph. 4.23 24. Col. 3.8.12 Rev. 12.1 casting it away as some old menstruous cloath cast clout or rotten rag as he doth while in his imparralleld both ignorance and impudence he flerts at it as if 't were a meer Puppet patcht up of shreds as a fictitious imaginary Christ fain'd in the fancies of Fanatick fools and mad men Nescio quod lumen quos Enthusiasmos quem Deum c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vere nihil Ex 3. s. 11. Ex. 4. s. 15.21 Ex. 1. s. 5 6. and rejecting that covering of the Spirit of God which Wo be to him that is not covered with or is covered with any other Isa. 30.1 to cut out the outward Scripture and grave out the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã into a Gârment into an Idol covering to himself stealing Words from thence and therewith cloathing himself which will once wax old as a garment that is moth eaten and at last being old yea oldness it self though younger the Spirit and not the antient newness of the Spirit wherein the true worship and service stands is to vanish as an Idel that must go to the Moles Bats as the brazen Serpent be taken down and among other Idols of mens earthly Elements wordly Rudiments and carnal Ordinances that were good in their own times and places yet but imposed till the time of Reformation be sent away with Get ye hence Isa. 2.20.30 22. Rom. 7.6 Heb. 8.13.9 10. It s high time to strip I.O. naked and discover his shame which is seen by such as live in the light through his covering which is a prate of words about the Scripture and other things which yet he knows not and to summon him to sit in silence before the Lord undressing himself out of his stollen Ornaments which till he doth he shall not know what a work of spoyling the Lord hath to do unto him till it come irresistably upon him And if hee shall flye out so far in his whifling words as to call the Letter which to the Light bears the same and no better proportion then that of the Lanthorn to the Candlelight the Light as the name that is proper to it and flye up higher yet till according to his flashy fancy thereof he affirms it in Print as hee doth before the world that not only the Word of God written of in the Writing which none denies so to be but the Writing it self also which he means well-nigh in every place by that terme the Word or else hee strikes beside the Iron and lies hammering on the Anvil beating the Air and meaning another matter then that hee meant when he began and makes men beleeve that he means all along which is no more to his purpose then if he meant nothing by it at all is an illuminating shining spiritual light and higher yet preferred above the light of the Sun T. 1. c. 4. s. 8 9. the most glorious light in the world and higher yet the Sun one dayes light of which is unspeakably more then that of seven others as to the manifestation of the glory of God T. 1 c. 2. s. 15. a Sun that more eminently then any inferiour fire discovers and evidences it self by such properties as it hath viz. Light and Heat and Power T. 1 c. 3. s. 10. and c. 4. s. 16.20 and much more of such like high strains I.O. strikes up in till he stretcheth the bare Letter so far upon the âenters as to strain it into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and make it even every thing that the true Word and Light within is when as howbeit it hath its excellency above other Writings as an instrument yet as to these peculiarities and precious prerogatives of the living Word is vere nihil then I must summon I.O. as warm as hee seems to himself to sit and as much as he seems to see by the painted flame of his fained fire and the sparks of his own kindling that if he know no other way to salvation then the Scripture and own not the light as the way which the Scripture speaks of this he shall have at the Lords hand Hee shall lye down in sorrow Finally to persue yet a little further and prosecute our present matter under the Metaphor of the Parliament and the House If a man should arise and stand up and contend that the House the Parliament meets in is the Parliament properly and none shall perswade him to beleeve otherwise but he will try it out with them that allow him to call the House by a figure or metonymy of the thing containing for the thing contained so as to say this House is the Parliament and will say the Parliament is the proper name of the House and it may properly challenge that to it self and they rob it of its true and due name and are enemies to both the Parliament and
heavy on themselves is to be seen in a book of E.B. stiled a Word of Reproof where hee mentions about fifty sad examples of Gods vengeance on the Qua enemies where Dean Owen is also marked out for no great good but his excessive pride to which I refer thee And to this very day the Righteous God every morning brings his Righteous Iudgements to light but the unjust knows no shame Another Argument whereby I.O. would prove the Scripture to be the Word of God is on this wise I. O. It will easily appear to any one that never so sleightly reads it that the holy Scripture is by the holy Spirit very often indigitated by that name So p. 117. in every place it avers it self to be the Word of God So p 140. If the Scripture be what it reveals and declares it sef to be it is then unquestionably the Word of the living God for that is prosesseth of it self from the beginning to the ending Reply 1. In proof of thy Minor thou producest Mar. 7.13 which is nothing at all to such a purpose for its the Commandements written which were Gods commands before they were written and we confesâ to be the Word of God whether they be written or not that are there spoken of under that Term Word of God and not the Writing or Scripture of the Commandements 2. Exer. 1. s. 28 Thou overturnest thy self clear as to thy minor saying thus Where the Word of God is said to be preached published multiplied received in innumerable places almost the Scripture formally considered is not meant nor intended Which is so though I know thou contradictest this again blaming the Qua. because they allow not the Scripture to bee meant in those innumerable places of Scripture where the Word of God is said to bee preached published and received Ex. ãâ¦ã then how canst thou say the Spirit in the Scripture calls the Scripture from one end of it to the other calls the Scripture the Word of God and that the Scripture every where calls it self so Another Argument whereby thou wouldest evince the Scripture to bee the Word of life and so the Rule is a certain absolute necessity vel ad esse to the spiritual being of the Saints that thou fanciest to be in the Scripture saying Ex. 3. s. 39. Non pâusopuâest victââ vestiââuâ vitam haeââanimatem traducamus quam Scripâutis ãâã ejuâ cognitioââ Dei sâiliâet atque side in dies ââudiamur We have not more need of food ãâã to the natural life then of the Scriptures to the knowledge of God and âââth and that its evident that the Qua. have with Less danger and loss assayed to fast forty dayes then they can lead a spiritual life free from deadly sins without the Word of God Rep. Without the Word of God I grant it but the Word still is in the heart and is not the Scripture formally or Lieââer without which thou with shame enough due if thou takest it to thy self sayest men cannot live spiritually without nor free from sin without As if there were no holy spiritual men that did no iniquity as the world doth or that were free from deadly sins before the Letter was What Letter had Abel Enoch Noah righteous and upright men that walked with God in crooked generations to live by and if they lived without the Letter to God is it as impossible to do so now as to live bodily without food that which is necessary ad esse and not bene esse only must be necessary for them as well as us and so the Word of God is which was before the Letter and which they then had who had not the Scripture yea both outwardly inwardly men live by the Word that proceeds out of Gods mouth else outward bread doth not keep men alive bodily Matth. 6. yea every creature that man lives by must be sanctified by that else it s a curse 1 Tim. 4. And for the Qua. fasting forty dayes without hazard There 's a miracle told by I.O. himself concerning the Qua. if that may convince such as look for miracles yet will not men beleeve 2. More Texts there are used and quoted often over and over again in proof of many particulars respectively about the Text or Scripture not one of which either of them truly serves one jot toward the proving of as namely that it is the Word of God and that so assuredly that who receive ãâã not as so are inexcusable in damnable unbeleef that that is asserted to bee The Rule and Standard The Touchstone of all speakings whatsoever That which pleads its reception not onely in comparison with but in opposition to all other wayes of coming to the knowledge of Gods minds and will the best and most effectual means of bringing men to Repentance That which all faith and repentance is immediately to be grounded upon Thât by which God gives us greater security against all preâences and pleas of unbeleef to the excluding of them and to the enforcing of beleef as a sure foundation for faith to repose it self upon and more moving then any evident miracle That true voice of God which assertains the soul beyond all possibility of mistake That which not only it self to be discerned from al delusions but determines al Doctrines also propos'd to be beleeved whether they be truths of God or cunningly devised fables more then the most signal miracles imaginable more then that greatest of Miracles even Christs Resurrection and otheâ mans rising with him from the dead more then any voice from heaven it self not only then one counterfeited by men or Satan in the air but then any True voice of God himself speaking to us from heaven as he spake to Moseâ or as he spake to Christ yea as safely to be rested in as such aâ any voice coming from heaven with such divine power as to evidence it self ãâã be of God and to be rested in as such yea giving greater certainty and security then that voice which came to them in the holy Mouns That Moses and the Prophets which who hears not wiâ not be perswaded to repent though one arise to them from the dead That which as to its certitude is preferr'd before the certitude of even true and miraculous Revelations That beside whiâh after the compleating its Canon no new Revelations about the same faith and worship are to be expected or admitted no more ãâã it as from the Spirit to bee added which is to stand alone as the only most perfeââ Rule inalterable Standard for the trial of all Doctrines Visions Revelation Spirits Gods own not excepted to which we must stand come and are sent alone to stick stedfast and earnestly attend to without hearing or heeding Angel or Spirit without listning to any new blowings or inspirations of the Spirit which is now imited to the Letter though it was once at liberty and had the licence as well since the Letter was written as before
because men began to dote one upon another and to set up Idols and Images in their minds of good writings that were written for another end by the Spirits motion Histories Letters Epistles and instead of the Law of the Spirit of Life and Light which is by Christ Iesus to magnifie the outward Letter and make it Honourable which is but mens wiânesse for God and to run a whoring after it from Gods own Witnesse even his Light and Spirit in the Conscience Must the Spirit be bound now by thee to read his minde to men in a book of mens writing at first by his own Guidance and of fallible mens mistanscribing from the hands one of another through so many ages or else he must be silent not manifest his mind at all He must read his old Sermons it seems but he must not preach new ones he may read in the Letter what he did reveale but must come forth in no new Revelations now of the old thing nor preach immediately in mens minds any more as he had done from the beginning of the world to that time and inspired immediately whom he pleased Is not this to muzle him up as the Bâshops were wont to doe the Parish Curates lest too much Truth should come forth and as they do where the Pope hath most to do at this day so that they may read not too much Scripture neither for therein I confesse the case is a little altered for the better in England but old mouldy Mass books and Forms of Service in Latine of their own setting out in which there is here a little and there a little sprinkling of some Scriptures mostly out of the Psalms which they most corrupt and make certain Sing songs out of or if there be any Homilies read it s a mighty matter but as those the Friars make are worth little and some of them worse then naught so as bad as they be there is few Sermons to be heard throughout the Popedome and as they allow men to read Writings of their own setting out but not preach nor speak in any other order method manner or form of words then as they find there so thou wilt allow the Spirit to speak to men in and by that letter he caused once to be written he may read his mind in mens hearts by that or have it read by mens mouths one to another if he will but no preaching now by himself within or by his immediate inspiration by men without nor writing neither but it must come to the touchstone of what he bade Paul Peter or others to write before which whoso shall presume to say it is of God or from God immediatly at all though it do agree never so much with that as all that is of God and from him doth and cursed be he that speaks contrary to what was of old written rightly understood or shall say 't is Truth before our time-serving Tryers have tryed it by that who understand it not themselves much lesse are fit to try Doctrines by it let him be dealt with according to the foresaid provision against Delusion made of old in the night time while men slept in that behalf But is God and Christ and the Spirit so sparing towards his people and so niggardly in dispensing Truth in revealing his Righteousnesse which he is now bringing neere and in shewing his Salvation which now is not to tarry to them that long for it and have long lookt for it according to his promise as those narrow headed niggardly hearted Nothings and Novices are whose work is all along as dumb as they are from opening their mouths otherwise to bark and bite them back again that having left off to linger any longer at their lips and as well to feed from their mouthes as to feed or put into them make more hast then they would have them from the depths of Hell and Darknesse towards Heaven Gods high and holy Hill Nay verily he sayes to his servants Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it and stands ready to make good that blessing he hath pronounced to such as hunger and thirst after righteousnesse viz. that they shall be from himself who only reveales it no lesse then filled with it Thus liberal the Lord and his Spirit is Yet these are the doings of the Churle whose instruments are evil and of the vile person who yeâ would fain be lookt upon as liberall too as he hath been by such as saw him not in darker times nor discerned how he fed himself and not the flock and minded his own matters even to make meat for his own belly of them more then to make meat enough for the sheep in that dark and cloudy day Ezek. 24.8 9 10 11 12 c. But the hour cometh and now is wherein a Man even a shepheard whom he knows not shall reign in righteousnesse and be as Rivers of waters in a dry place and as the shadow of a great rock in a weaây land wherein the deaf shall hear the words of the book which are sealed from the back-side Admirer the eyes of the blinde shall see out of obscurity and out of darknesse the eyes of such as seeing will see shall be no more so dimme as they have been and the eares of such as hear must hearken unto him the heart also of the rash or hasty that without heed have run they know not whether shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers be ready to speak plainly they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmured shall learne Doctrine Then the vile person shall no more be called liberall nor the Churle said to be bountiful for the vile person will work villany and his heart will work iniquity to practise hypocrisie and to utter errour against the Lord to make empty the soul of the hungry and to cause the drink of the thirsty to faile the instruments also of the Churl are evil he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poore with lying words even when the needy steaketh right things but the liberall deviseth liberall things and by liberall things shall he stand In that day the burden of the insolent Antichristian Assyrian that hath so straightly besieged the people of God that dwell in Sion and cut off from them so far as God would suffer him he stay the staft the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water shall remove from off Sions shoulders and his yoke from off her neck yea that yoke shall be destroyed because of the anoynting Isa. 10.27 for the spirit shall be poured out upon them that wait for it from on high and the liberall soul shall be made faâ and he that watereth shall be watered also himself and the wildernesse shall be a fruitfull field in which judgement and righteousnesse shall remain and the works of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever and
and Israel to preserve it from taking root and blossoming and budding and filling the face of the earth with fruit as it must do at the last Isa. 27.6 and like Sampsons Foxes tail to tail they draw divers wayes loâhere sayes one lothere sayes another some sounding it out for their Fathers traditions some summoning to the Scriptures and the gâwdy glosses they put upon it who yet if they could once come to see it live by tradition and teach Gâds fear afters mans Precepts as well as the rest all to their own fanciâs dreams opinions and imaginations of one kind or other and all these fire-brands fencing to one end and as friendly as Herod and Pilate at odds against each other yet at one against Christ attempting to dis-inthrone the light of Christ in the Conâcience from its due Authority and from sitting on the Throne in its proper place Some resisting the Truth by flat opposition so all the many sorts of those guilded cups the Parish Priests do that yet hold forth all or any Râmish Relicks or measure of that old Whores trash which wooden Tops are always turning round with the times as that lash viz. the losse of living if they so do not is made use of and exercised toward them whose movings to and again back and forth from Henries Religion to Edwards from his to Maries from hers to Elizabeths and so onward and round as occasion is if the word of command be As ye were is all from the force of some externall Engine or other mostly that of money for Qui pecunianon movetur hunc dignum spectaâu Arbitramur not from any inward Principle or Power of the endless life no par no preach is their common Custom so that the powerless formes they foam at each other about would soon fall all to the earth whence they are and not from Truth were it not for that Primum-movens that principale propugnaculum of Tith as a dead man that can stand not a jot longer then propt up by something or other ad extra because Deest aliquid infus there wants the main master wheel within Others like those Inchanters that withstood Moses resist the Truth too men of corrupt minds reprobate yet as concerning the Faith leadingâ captive silly women after them from the Faith of Gods Elect by imitating the very Truth it self as farre as they are able to come neer it in their vain fleshly minds having stole into a form of the same Doctrine Words and Works without the life which they hate and oppose in them that are in the life preaching the same Truth and Light themselves in their airy spirits since the conviction thereof fell upon them for which they had very formally cast forth of their own separated Churches the Children of the Light who withdrew from them and so formally were none of them before that their senseless confuse or ejection Like theâfore âaid Sorcerers to bewitch their people into an abode among them in Egypt where they yet are in bondage altogether and into a non-believing of the true Messengers of God to be in anything beyond themelves and to make them seem to be no more in the power of God then they by striving to do all and as farre as they are able to follow on in a form till at last they be forc'd to confess a finger of God doing all that by their weak arme of flesh mans fleshly will and wisdome which by the Saints is performed both in and from no other Arme then the Light Power Wisdome and Life of God dwelling in them Of this sort are all the Prophets that are in a fairer form of Godliness then those behind them in darkâr and grosser forâmâ yet with them denying and not witnessing the power thereof in their hearts and conversations to the purging of them from pride and the other pâllutions and corruptions that are in world through lust which Magicians when they see the Servants of the Lord do any thing that is taking among their people and which they are ashamed to diâown then they will do so and as the Wise men of Egypt set themselves to imitate Moses set themselves to do the like and âin a shew bring forth an Image of the same By all which said severall sorts of subtill Sorcerers who with the most cunning craftiness they have lye in wait to deceive the multitudes of people are deceived and so seduced from the narrow way of truth that among them very few ever find it and are so eminently perplexed as to their discerning aright between Gods Worâ indeed and that which is only pretended so to be viz. the nakâd letter that only declares what is his Word and their own fallible and sometimes senseless senses and sermons upon that letter of all which they ay in their common Preambles to their people Hearken with fear and trembling to the Word of God when oft no more then every mans own word Ier. 23.36 is spoken that though God hath given men a light and spirit within which is meâsura âsui â oblâquâ that can most certainly determine of all spirits and an âar but that its slopt in most which can as truly try words as the mouth âasteth meats Iob 34.3 1 Ieh 4.1 6. and also seâmeria infall bee tokens to enable them so to do yet they can make no discrimination between right and wrong faith and falshood uprightness and errour honesty and hypocrysie holiness and heresie the simplicity that âs in Christ and that schisme from it into which they are already inchanted 2 Cor. 11.3 the light and truth and that deceit and darkness in which both Prophets and People dwell through the busie battels and confused noises these Warriours make with their loud cryings out each against other and all with one mouth against the Truth it self and the tellers of it as Deceivers and all with one consent mis-representing them as such unto the Powers mis-advisââg and mis-admonâshing their respective peoples to this or the like tune Beware and take heed of deceit and of these deceivers the Qua. not heeding all this while or at least not willing their people should heed how deeply they are all in the deceit already so like the impudent Harlot that hopes to outcry and bear down the modest Matron with a clamour of words and by calling out Whâre first these foolish loud lewd Women fearing their own filthy fornications should else be soon discovered cry out first on that Sect of Saints which was ever and every where so spoken against Acts 24.14 28.22 Heresie schisme errour darkness disturbance madness enthusiasme fanaticisme faction and such like and though they and their flocks of Goats and heards of Swine live in the lust in pride covetousness malice luxury and all wickedness and have nothing of their own save unrighteousness to be rob'd of and nothing to be led captive but that which hath captivated the just nor to be spoild of but that which
of All light So then I. O. before he comes to the fight upon the place sides with us against I O and his fellow T D so farre as in effect to argue thus viz. Christ is the Cause of all light there is none but what he is the Efficient Author and Fountain of from whence it comes But there is some light in every individuall man therefore that light which is in and where with every individual man is enlightned is from Christ as the Efficient Cause Fountain and Author of it and this is like T. Ds. confession that Christ enlightens every man that is enlightned at all which is no lesse then to âay all men without exception Thus far hath I. O. confessed and fail'd in his way to the attempt and he had as good have lain still where he lay as riâe up again and fall yet up again he gets to the Text itself and from that he assaults us Andabataâum more blindly and in the dark on this fashion Non dicitur Christum c. J. O. It is not said that Christ enlightneth every man coming into the world but that he coming into the world enlightens every man for which sense besides the Latine Tongue he all along assaults the Qua. in he repeats it o're in Greek also Rep. Itane Is it so I. O. indeed as thou sayest will it hold and carry itself clearly in thy own conscience and singly as in the fight of God when thou readest the words in that order wherein in the very Greek they stand in the Text without shuffling and twinkling that the Particle Eâchomenon coming must relate to that word and Substantive that is furthest of all from it in the Text i.e. to To Pâgs and not to that which it immediately follows and is joyned to not only in order of place but of construction i. e. to Panta Anthropoâ that thou ãâã so positive and peremptory in putting that drossy guilded gloss upon that Scripture I do not deny but that Erchomenon Eis Ton Cesmon if it stood as neer to To Phos as it does to Panta Anthropon might as to the Syntax as well agree with that as its evident by the placing of it it rather now agrees with the other were it En To Phos To Aâethinon Erchomenon Eis Ton Câsmon O Photizei Pava Anthropon as it is Panta Anthropon Eâchomenon c. I would say more then I will now in way of yielding to thy meer will which thou standst for more then Truth in this matter howbeit even then as thou shalt see by and by unless thou wilt still shut thy eyes thou wouldst not have the strength of a straw more by it toward thy cause but as now it is I summon thee from the Lord God and in his Name and fear to read it o're once more solemnly as in his sight and fear before thou have run thy full Career yet into condemnation and see whether it sway not that way we say and be not cogent in thy own conscience to the very contrary as to the câooked construction thou makest of it being perswaded that if prejudice have not already blinded thee well nigh perfectly to thy Perdition that thou wilt rather consent to the sense wherein all Translators that ever I read of that Text into the English Tongue at least and Expositors too unless some two or three who with thy self in these dayes have happened to find and insist upon that silly sense and conceited crotchet against the Qua. do as one man agree to render it against thee and with the Qua. viz. That was the tâue Light which enlightneth every man coming or every man that cometh into the world and if thou wilt be so blind and obstinate as in thy malice against the Truth and Qua. to withstand the whole current of Translators and Commentators whom thou canst not but commend above thy self as I veriây believe not one of an hundred of those Schollars that are yet eminity to the Quaâ will do with thee for all that esteem thou wouldât stand in for One among them yet what wilt thou get by the busness when all is done Wilt thou gain one grain of ground against us by it if we should give and grant thee to read it thy own wrested way as we will not Nay verily though thou hast got nothing by thy naming of such a thing but disadvantage to thy self many wayes yet we as thou shalt see who will loose as little as thou getrest as to the cause in hand shall improve it to our advantage against thee more wayes then one or then thou who mostly makest more hast then good speed aânt well aware of and indeed as men that meddle to mend old Kettles that are fit for nought do oft instead of stopping one hole make two so hast thou by medling this way to mend thy bad matter against the Qua. made more work for thy patching self so that with all thy âinking and thinking thou wilt never fasten thy tackling which thou hast loosed by it so well but that at last it will all drop to pieces For first Let it be noted down upon the score before all the world how this I. O. rather then he will not maintain his malicious ends against the Qua. and the rich Gospel of Gods Grace and true Doctrine of the universality of it held out by them from God not in pretence dissimulation and mockage as themselves do saying God offers life to all but intends it only to a few but in truth will maintain that the Translators most if not every one of them that have translated the Scripture into English for the use of poor people have done not only ignorantly and blindly but abusively also to the Text and to this whole Nation to this day for if there be one English Bible throughout the Nation that reads it otherwise then thus as the Qua. read that Text viz. The true light which enlightens every man coming or that comes into the world Let him that doubts go look it I here profess I never saw any of our Translations which were done by as wise heads as I.O. that ever Englisht it his way 2. He disparages the grave Doctors and Commentators that himself so much accounts on for Quiâ legiâ hae who reads and expounds as I. O. does vel duo vel nâmo some two or none but none that ever I saw of any either Anâient or modern Expositors of any nore or credit among themselves 3. And so still he preaches it out how by the Doctors Scribes and Scriblers about the Scripture the poor people â and rich too of the Nation that understand noâ Hâbrew and Greek are abused nosed gulled and befooled being fain to be of that Faith still about the Scripture and sense of the Scripture it self which is their Rule of Faith as their Phaâisaicalâ Fathers are of believing as they do at Rome as their Church alias Clergy believes who if they happen to be out as
condition of acceptance to all and could ye suppose all would take him at his word and accept his offer they should have the benefit Rep. But that must not be supposed from the Principles of thy personal Election of a few and blinding all the rest from the very birth nay cannot be supposed thou shouldst say could suppose they could take God at his word and accept for by thy Principles and I. Os. of denying the saving ability so to do the most they to whom it 's not intended can no more accept or believe then 't is possible if they should believe they should obtain that which they are personally and absolutely reprobated from so long before for if God do not will not give hath not given as ye say he hath not some measure of the saving Grace whereby to believe and accept it to all whom he offers life to on that condition of acceptance but calls and requires them to believe and accept what he knows they cannot without him this makes him as much a Mocker of men still as such a merciless Tyrant and Arrand Hypocrite as shall stand aloof off from one hungry that is lockt in the stocks with a dish of meat in his left hand and a Pole-Axe in his right saying why wilt thou starve thou self-murdering man come to me and here is meat for thee I am freely willing thou shouldest have it and not perish never coming neer to unlock him all this while nor bringing the meat within his reach but if thou wilt not come I will knock thy brains out and so because he comes not when yet he knows he cannot runs on him pretending to do just Vengeance on him for his wilfull refusing his own help when he might alias never might have had it and cuts him to pieces indeed for he that on pain of punishment death and condemnation if the Terms be not performed tenders Life and Salvation on Termes and Conditions utterly impossible to be or ever to have been performed by the person to whom the tender is unless a Grace be given him which yet never shall be is an Hypocrite and a Tyrant and such a one ye make God by your Doctrine who yet is no such but that ye belie him as such as he that shall say he truly desires to make me his Heire and so tenders me a good Estate conditionally I will take a journey to the Man in the Moon first to get it confirmed there when I come back again but if I refuse to go thither he will kill me and so because I cannot climbe up to the Moon falls on me and puts me to death indeed Arg. 7. Moreover Gods offer of Salvation to many to whom he intends it not on conditions he knows they cannot perform without him and yet not so much as enabling them all to perform them when he might but some few only to whom he intends it makes God a Respecter of Persons as R. H. truly said of it when yet God is no Respecter of Persons as the Scripture saith but in every Nation Men that fear him and work righteousness are accepted with him and not otherwise T. D. To that of making God a Respecter of Persons this answer will suffice did God give Salvation to some who accept not of it out of particular fancy to them but exact of oâhers that acceptance and for default thereof deny them Salvation then there might be some ground for the cavil but now that its offered upon equal termes there is none Rep. Does not God upon your blind Principles of personal Election or loving of a few out of a particular Fancy to them and peremptory Reprobation and hating the most of Mankind before they were born without respect to foreseen good or evil to be done in time in their own persons excepting the respect to Adams sin which the Sublapsarians prate of against the Supralapsarians whose blind wranglings whether Election be ex massa corrupta or pura are not more wearisome toilsom then they are both noâsome and loathsome to look upon by any that love and know the Truth give Salvation to some out of fancy who accept it no more then others but as he as you say makes them to do it by an irrestible power which he denies to the other and exact of the other that obedience he enables them not to and that for default thereof not only deny them the Salvation but also damn them down into double condemnation Does not God do so I say according to your Principles and if so then is there not a ground by thy own confession for that Assertion thou call'st a cavill i.e. that God by your doctrine is doctrinally made a Respecter of persons And whereas thou sayest Salvation is offered to men on equall termes and therefore there is no ground to assert God a respecter of persons I say 't is the Truth we hold indeed that 't is on equal termes tendered to men so far at least that till some put the word of life from them and the salvation that is sent to them so making themselves unworthy of it when others receive it it is so brought by Christ the Light that the whole World might be saved as well as some of it 1 Iohn 2.3 Iohn 3.17 and where it is offered there are none to whom it is not as sincerely intended on condition of acceptance as it is to some and so God is in truth no respecter of persons But darest thou say and is it not a contradiction to thy self for thee T.D. as thy Principles are to say Salvation is offered on equal Termes who saidst above that among those where the Gospel is preached Salvation is offered to more then to whom it is intended if it be truly intended to any one and not truly intended to every one to whom it is offered but it is for all the fair offers absolutely decreed a few shall have it and shall not chuse but perform the condition of it which is acceptance and as absolutely decreed that the most shall never be enabled to perform the said condition of acceptance which is exacted of them and so shall unavoidably go without it are these equal Termes Is not this offer upon as unequal termes as if a man should tender to two condemned prisoners bound up in chains that they shall both live if they will come out of prison but if not they shall be more cruelly executed for refusal intending to unlock one of them that he may come forth and to light lead and compel him irresistably to come forth also that he may have the benefit of the Pardon and live and as absolutely intending to leave the other lock'd under restraint in his chains utterly devoid of any liberty to come forth to the end that he may cut him off from any benefit of the promised Pardon and take double vengeance on him for non-acceptance thereof and are these equal Termes are these wayes so equal as God
believe so that we were never put into any capacity for life and salvation by all that best Grace that thou vouchsafedit to uâ they told us not only that many Ages and Generations never had one offer of salvation from thee but also that in these very Nations where thy Gospel rich Grace and large Love as they call it at least is proclaimed and held forth in words proffers preachings and pretences to all yet there is not one of an hundred that is as they say no more then the personally elected ones which are very few also as they say in comparison of the rest that were a certain determinate but much more numberlesse number also as unchangeably reprobated from everlasting without reference to good or evil foreseen to be done by them in time that the salvation so universally offered in thy name was ever so truly intended to by thee as it was tendred and that the Saviour of the World of whom they say He came to save not the righteous but sinners and ungodly ones to seek out that which is lost and of whom they say Thou in thy love sentest him not to condemn but save the World was sent to save none but that foresaid few set number of elect ones of which number we could find little ground to hope we were sith an hundred to one were not any more then if an hundred were sentenced to die and but one of them to be saved and a Pardon should be proclaimed to them all conditionally that every man believed for himself that he were the man to whom the Pardon is intended any one man could have ground of confidence that himself was he and so we were quite discouraged by the Preachers of thy grace from believing the Salvation to be intended to us since an hundred to one it was not and they told us that the said Saviour did not die for all but for a few even the said choice ones whereupon though he was held forth to us all to be believed in as the common Salvation in thy revealed Will as they call it on pain of eternal condemnation to every one of us that should not believe in him as our Lord and our God and Saviour and with promises or eternall life to us all conditionally we would all so believe yet we could not see how this could rationally hang together or how we could all truly have believed such a thing every man of us for himself without the most of us should have believed a lie and we thought whatever they said that thou wouldst have us all believe no more then the Truth and not have any of us believe much lesse be damned for not believing a lie we could not see though they bad us every one believe in Christ as ours how the most of us had a Christ to believe in as ours sith they told us alâo he was not intended to all to whom he is offered but to a very few even of them since we were by themselves who bade us believe in him every of us as our Salvation bad to believe this doctrine also on pain of being held Armenians Socinians and Hereticks in the Church that he did not offer himself a ransome for all as the Scripture in plain terms sayes he did but as much as be is offered to us all yet he offered himself not for all but only for the foresaid few and that by Aâl and every one in the Scripture and the lost ones and sinners and ungodly and the whole world which he is said to die for we must at no hand understand Aâl indeed nor think that thy meaning was as thy words imported nor according to the literal sense of them for then we might mistake thee but that by All and every one the whole world thou meanest but a very few only and by sinners and ungodly thy Elect ones only neither could we see upon the account of their personal particular principles as universal as thy tenders of Christ to us all were or at least theirs in thy name that we could possibly believe the truth if we should all have believed in him as ours or that we could all have a share in him and we saw that it being so that he was not intended to be a Saviour to every man to whom he is offered some men had no Saviour to believe in as their and for ought we saw 't was an hundred to one but we might be the men and to believe it that he was ours we had no ground from their doctrine for such a Faith and so might if we had yea must most of us if we had believed it have believed a lye and tho sayest thou wilt damn men for not believing the truth and wilt thou now damn all us for believing the truth for he was not intended by thee if our Ministers did not belye thee to us to be our Saviour who are Reprobates and we did believe him not to be so according as it proves and so our Faith was of the truth and if we all had believed it that he died for every of us it had been a lye if our learned Leaders did not lye and wilt thou now damn us for not believing that which if we had believed all of us an hundred to one but the most of us must have believed a lye and that which was not so if we had believed it we had been deceived for 't was not so it their doctrine be true and now we did not believe it we are to be condemned because we believe not in thy Son and apply him not every one to our selves in particular to whose Salvation he was never appointed but in thy unalterable Decree before ever we were born though offered to us a ours upn equal terms as they say with the Elect whose only in particular beâis designed altogether to another purpose even to be the Salvation of some few but the unavoidable further condemnation of us Reprobates and only to leave us the more excuseless in our suffering of it And howbeit its true we did not obey the Gospel nor do thy will we must need confess in order unto life yet it was never savingly nor sufficiently manifested to us in all our lives as they said nor was any measure of that true Light in which is the Life nor one grain of that as our Divines told us which is sufficient for us to bring us to life vouchsaf'd but a Natural Light in attending to which had we ever so well heeded or improved it 't would not have helpt us imparted to us only a certain common Grace and Light as they told us which had we answered it could have avail'd us nothing as to Salvation and a Talent which had we traded with as they tell us and doubled it âad encreased into but more of the same kind and common sort not obtain'd any Special nor what ere the Scripture seems to say to the contrary which we poor ignorants
perfectly be washed from their filthiness The 22. is no other then the same with the 21. though alluding to two other Texts from which they fetch them viz. Iudg. 17.6 Psal. 106.39 In those dayes there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes and they went a whoring with their own inventions where they make doing after mens own thoughts conceits inventions and looking to or following the Light within us Synonimous and this last a sign of wicked men and going a whoring from God and departing from God unsafe and such like concluding thus viz. The truth is God forbid the following of our own supposed light as the greatest impiety which the Quakers place all their godliness in Rep. This is nought but another impudent lye against the Quakers as well as a most evidently foolish extravagancy from the Question which is not about our own supposed Light but some measure of that undoubted Light of God which though ignorantly by you stiled natural yet is not denied to be true Light and that from God and not our own supposed only so to be The Quak. place none of their godliness in such meer supposed light as ye do who suppose the ignis fatius of your dark and silly sânses and suppositions on the Letter as sufficient light for all people to live by their faith stands not in mans wisdome nor in that Science of you opposite Schoolmen which is falsly so called and supposed but in that real infallible Light within which is the Wâsdome and Power of God and as for Al departure and going a whoring from God and his Light within after mans own inventions and thoughts in things of God which is that impiety of the Priests that God forbids and abominates we deny and abhor it also The 23. which is from the first of the two last Texts and the 24th which is from Pro. 14.12 are both also besides the business and urg'd in disproof of that sufficiency of supposed light and the way that seems right only in mans eyes and is not so this we have nothing to do with but deny it against the Priests who unawares to themselves are walking therein as the way to death but that we plead for is the true Light Iohn 1.9 which lightens every man and is the only true way that leads to life And whereas the consequence of their 23. seems to be to this effect If every man had a light in him sufficient to guide him in right and good wayes then Kings and Rulers should not punish men for walking in the wrong and evil wayes that seem good and right in their own eyes Rep. I contrariwise conclude that if men had not such a light in them as is sufficient to guide them in good wayes then Kings and Rulers should not punish them for going into evil wayes for as 't were an unjust thing to require not of him that seeing will not see as those Math. 13. of such a blind man as never could see to see the right way which was never shewed him and to punish him for not walking therein so were it in Rulers to punish men for following filthy wayes and evil things if they did not videre meliora i. e. see and know how to do better for to him who knows good and does it not evil and declines it not both which are known by the light that is in the world i. e. in men though some for want of heed say the light in the conscience shews the evil but not the good to him only it is sin to condemnation The 25. from Prov. 22.6.15 concludes That if each man have some such true light in him then there 's no need of training up children in whose hearts foolishness is bound up in the way they should go by the rod and teaching for what need of the rod say they then to drive fully out Rep. I reply to drive it out and bring them into the way of wisdom which is in them and seen by them but not much heeded till they smart far it as well as the way of Folly This Argument holds as much against Gods correcting such whom ye confess to know his will and do it not as against our correcting children whom we correct for not doing what we know they know they shold do for no father but he that 's foolish will whip his child for any thing as a fault but that which his child knew to be so So fools come to be plagued sayes the Spirit because of offences they fly out into that if they be not incorrigible they with the wife may look well to and ponder their goings Our Doctrine concerning All mens knowing in some measure by his Light within themselves the good will of God destroyes not but establishes the whip for the Horse the Bridle for the Afs and the Rod for the back of such fools as turn aside from the truth that 's told them into folly nor does this any more conclude against teaching children then mât with both which it is consistent for the end of our teachings of both are to turn them to attend to the Light and Truth it self within them that doth teach them yea even children as they come to a few years of Discretion I remember well that before I could read the Scripture which I could read when very young I knew by that of God in me and not from my Parents only whose witness without could not have been credited therein by me had not the Witness of God which is the greater testified the same within my self that I should not lye and was judged with fears of wrath if ever I made a lye as children are apt to do to escape a whipping for a lesser fault If then it be ask't why we teach men and children I answer to bring and turn them as Paul was sent to do from the darkness in which they walk beside it into the Light Which whether they walk in it or no is yet in them and because they are not come to it as all true men do but hate and decline it with the evil ones whose condemnation it therefore is because though they come not into it it is already come into them Iohn 3.19.20.21 And with this short self-same Answer now it s brought into my spirit I shall here wipe out of the way a whole parcel of pedling Queries of R. Baxter about the the Light as they lie together in his Epistle to the Reader before I. Ts. book into the pit of darkness from whence they were exerted R. B. Q. I. I would fain quoth he be resolved in these few Questions How comes it to pass that all Nations that never beard the Gospel are utterly void of Faith in Christ when the Nations that have the Gospel do generally know him more or less Aus To say nothing how little true knowledge of God is in these Nations that he grants have the Gospel
viz. Abâaham who saw his day before any History or Letter of your Scripture at all was wâittân Was it not by that as they walk on with God in it from Abel Enoch Noah and downward some measure of which but that they minded it not as some few did but were ever alienated from it walking in their own wayes was in all Nations as well as some and not more save only in measure in the Prophets then in other men And did not this light without and bâfore the Letter help some even such still as walk't after it to the belief of this and that God would raise the dead and judge the world which they wrote in the Light and Spirit in which they saw it and in that wisdome which in all Ages Wisd. 7. entering into holy souls that heed it makes them friends of God and Prophets Were these things then as R. B. thinks in his Query never manifested by the Light without the Letter nor by any Revelation that doth accompany the Light were men never so obedient to it What darkness is this of R. B. in his ten Queries who yet to pin the basket at the end of this tenth Query to add weight to the lightness and light to the darkness of it adds one more of his own thoughts and odd conceits in these words R. R. I think its past controversie that no man hath sufficient Grâce to his Salvation till his last breath For if God add not more for his preservation all will be lost Ans. By which hasty speech the man proclaims his being in the darkness and besides the light that is in him so loud and exalts its fâlly and sets it so on high that All may see it save such as are with him in the dark where he is for besides the absurdity above spoken to of his arguing from Gods adding more and mens not having so much yet as they may have that therefore they have none at all of that Grace which is sufficient he turns from the true terms of his Question taking the word suffienâ here in quite another sense then it hath been taken in along viz. for the highest dâgâââ only of that Grace of God when as the question is about the sufficiency of it to save from that sin it shews such as keep to it in the very least degree and lastly expresly contradicts the Scripture which speaks of the suffiââency of God Grace to keep men that keep to it in such degrees of it as are attainable in this life witness that of God to Paul full fourteen years behind the time wherein he spake it and many more before the time of his last breath 2 Cor. 12. My grace is sufficient fâr thee I conclude then all R. Bs. Queries notwithstanding that though all are not saved by it yet all have some of that Light and Grace which is âaving and that all are not saved as some are it is becausâ they come not into that Light and Grace âf God which is come intâ and unto them And now I return to R.B. and I.Ts. Arguments against this whose 26th fâom Iohn 6.44 45. 65. is thus There 's need of a further drawing or gift of the Faâher that a man may come to Christ as there would not bâ if his own light without other help would make known Christ to him therefore each mans own light is not sufficient c. Rep. Here R. B. layes on hard again upon the Anvil beside the Iron in diâproving the sufficiency of mans own light by which he means mans thoughts wisdâmâ c. which we count daâkness and foolishness much more then himself does when the Question is about the Light of Gâd in the heart of which we say that though none can come to Christ without Gâd draw him yet by that Gâd dâaws all meâ though aâl mân câme not after hiâ And so the reaâon why they perish still is not because God does not dâaw thâm to life by a light sufficient to lead to it but because they resist hang back and will nto follow it therefore sayes God I drew them with the coâds of my love with the bands of a man yet shall they go into captivity because they refused to return The 27. from 1 Iohn 4.1 1 Thes. 5.21 Mat. 4.24 Believe not every spirit but try the spirits c. Prove all things take heed what ye hear is thus If each persons light within him were a safe guide of it self to God then no men need to try other mens spirits nor to prove all things left he be deceived sith if he follow his own light he is fallible c. But these things are absurd and contraây to the warinest Christ prescribes therefore the light within each person is not a sufficient guide to God I shall instead of his own light placing the Light of God about which only the Dispute is syllogize these mens silly Syllâgisme back upon them thus If the Light of God within each person were not a sufficient and safe guidâ to lead him to God then no man need to trouble himsâlf sâ much as to try other mens spirits or prove all things left he be deceived for that is but labour in vain sith if he have not a measure of Gods Infallible Light and Spirit in âim whereby to judge of things even of that Light of which the Letter sayes That all thingâ that are to be reproved Eph. 5. are manifâstâd by it and no truth is infaâliby manifested but by it which only leads into all truth he is not infallibây guided nor undoubtedly sure of his hand let him look search prove and try as much as he will any more then a man can infallibly diâcern and distinguish of colours in a dismal dark night or dark place where not one beam of the Sun shines so as to discover them But these things are absurd and contrary to the wariness that Christ prescribeth who doth not bid men try all things by that Light and Spirit of God which only makes all truth and all that is knowable of God and all things of God manifest in men Rom. 1.19 and yet not vouchâafe them one beam of that only sufficient Light to try any thing by yea 't were no less then as meer mockage as to bid a man read for his life in a dark Dungeon without sufficient light either of Sun or candle or take heed to himâelf by that Light that shines in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 when there 's no true light there at all and contrary also to all common sânse and reason therefore there is in every man some of that Light of God which as its heedeâ according to the measure of it is able to guide him infallibly to judge of the matters truths wayes dâctrines spirits he is bid to try on peril of being deceived to damnation and a sufficient safe guide to lead him unto God I wonder what Light Spirit Rule and Touâhstone all Truth and all
army of Samaria and said What do these feeble Iews will they fortifie themselves will they sacrifice will they make an end in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burnt But it came to passe that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Ierusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped then they were very wroth And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Ierusalem and to hinder it And our adversaries said they shall not know neither see till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease Then call they out for the help of Prisons and punishments cruel mockings and scourgings Pillorings gaggings draggings before Rulers accusations to Magistrates condemnings at Iudgement-seats cutting off ears slitting noses fines confiscations stockings stonings beatings buffetings brandings Borings Banishings Hangings Burnings as men no more fit to live among men nor on the earth of such as conforme not to their conceits as fall not down before what ever Golden Image they set up then the Priests and Prophets like those Mic. 3. that cryed Peace Peace begin to bite with their Teeth and to prepare War against all whose consciences cannot own them as their own and Christs Ministers so as to put into their Mouths then away with all such fellowes from their Families to Courts and Consistoryes holes and dungeons haile them from their houses tear them and theirs to pieces for our Tithes spoile and make havock of their Goods let their Relations perish and beg their bread let their children be fatherlesse and their wives widows This and the like Divinity is divined out from among the Divines to the contradicting of themselves as to that doctrine of liberty of conscience they were most devoted to while they remain sufferers under one another Witnesse as I said the sad sufferings of several of Truths truest friends not only to bloody whippings beatings banishments and bonds but also to the Death of their bodyes by hanging in New-England of late who had not long since fled out of Old-England for their conscience sake and for fear comparatively to their own fearful fleaings of Christs flock of but a few Flea-bitings by the Bishops witnesse also what I. O. himself an High-Priest who soon forgot that ere he was Clark not only did in his Vicechancellorship but also would have had done had he had his own will who when by his loudnesse for it he had got not only a liberty for his conscience to very loosenesse and licentiousnesse but also a large livelihood for his own carkasse not only many other wayes abused the Qua who disturbed nothing but that in every one that will be destroyed but also in the place aforesaid Exer 3. S. 39. bespeaks the whole world on behalfe of that innocent people for nothing but teaching that innocent doctrine of freedom from all sin perfecting holinesse in this life which T.D. and T. Rumsy also wish as well to as to any doctrine of devâls by which name they also call it to this tune Fanaticos non esse perfectos testimonio sunt illorum mendaâia fraudes scelera hypocrisis iis vero qui immunes se esse ab his omnibus aliisque peâcatis vel levissimis impudenter gloriantur punitiones et incarcerationes quas Akatastasia sua sibi ultro accersunt esse debeant That the Qua are not perfect their lyes frauds hainous crimes and hypocrisies do testifie to us but to them who impudently glory so indeed the Qua do not but assert that freedom attainable that they are free from all these and other sins even the least the more purity it seemsmen come to the more to be punisht with him punishments and Prisons which by their tumultuousnesse such as that of Paul and other Apostles 2 Cor. 7. were proved to be Christs Ministers by they voluntarily pull on themselves as the Saints and Christ ever did by exposing themselves to their malice for mens souls sakes ought to be for which wickednesse of working wishing that evil to others which they would not when they were under others willingly have done to theselves hath the Lord who avengeth the cause of his poor people who had rather suffer persecution ever then either act it themselves or wish that any for meer conscience though blinded should suffer by it yea God who judgeth all truly according to their own false judgement of others justly meteth out to that hypocriticall generation that with Capernaum clim'b up to Heaven in Forms and fair words and fine shews but are now brought down to Hell the same measure they meted to his people and will I doubt not in due time except they yet repent do the like to those holy hypocrites of New-England And let those Priests who have now the preheminence take heed of pushing too hard against the pricks is my desire to them for their own souls who are every way concerned to be wary of that wonted way of wearing out wearying and worrying of Christs little flock for not feeding and cloathing with their Fleeces such Shepheards as do not feed them And that the King and all the Powers that subordinately act under Him may so far know in this their day what makes for their externall internall and eternal peace as not to be found fighters against God nor to touch those anointed ones for whose sakes God hath of old and will again rebuke great Kings and Nations whose true intent is not to use any carnal weapons against any but to let his Prophets Lambs and Little ones alone to live a peaceable and quiet life under them in all godlinesse and honesty As 't is the best good I can so 't is the worst hurt I do wish to him and them For of a truth the Lord himself is risen up for the help of his own seed against all that slayes it and if they hearken to the hasty hue and cry of such Priests as cry out to them for help against his Saints when the Lord ariseth once more against the house of the evil-doers and against the help of them that work iniquity and stretcheth out his hand again as undoubtedly he will do to deliver his ransomed ones that are found in innocency toward the King and all men both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall and they shall all fail together of their expected ends and aim to root out the seed of Israel for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it Isa. 31.2 3. Be wise now therefore O King be instructed O ye Iudges of this English Nation serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce before him in this day wherein he hath lifted up your heads with trembling Oppose him not by your interpositions and impositions in his own Court which is the Conscience for let Heathenish people rage and imagine
I shall hereunder shew both their voluntary calls to and commendations of their unjustly occasioned cautions about condemnations of this light of Christ in the Conscience of men when the Qua commend and call to it and set the one of these immediately under the other only premising this that whether they speak of the light which themselves call Christ which the letter holds sorth and testifies to or the light wherewith God shines and shews his will and mind in some measure in the hearts and minds of all men even Heathen Philosophers or others which we call Christs light though they do not we mean however they divide these no other but that one Law of God which the Letter is the Copy of which is spirituall holy just and good which T. D. confesses to be the Heathens Rule so far as is written in their hearts Christ the Light of the World and his light in the heart which the Scripture testifies of abundantly not any such thing as mans own thoughts wisdome imaginations inventions c. Which the Heathen became vain in Rom 1. which the Qua call all men out of and the Divines that lead men by no other are themselves yet led by more then any steering by nothing but their own many minds and meanings on the Scripture c. Some few calls to and Commendations of the light with Cautions to take heed to it collected out of many more that are in R. B. and I. T. his Book P. 68. It concerns us say they to take heed how we dote on our own reason or the most exact writers of morality and neglect the light which Christ hath brought into the World Let us be wise so to use Candles as not to burn day-light that we so make use of all the reason humane wisdome and virtue we have our selves or discern in others writings or examples that yet we chiefly eye and follow the grand light the Sun of righteousness the Lord Jesus learning him by studying the great Counsell of God which he revealed and denying our selves take up our Crosse and follow him as his Disciples Christ is to be chosen and followed as our Light An Exhortation to use Christ as our Light that was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World be induced to imbrace and follow the Lord Christ as the great Light of the World besides the evidence out of Scripture to prove him to be sent from God a light into the World c. His sayings and doings do amply confirm it And p. 88. 89 they go on thus Though the Jewes contradicted and blasphemed the Romane Emperour raged Lucian jeered Libanism wrangled Iulian calumniated Papists corrupt Gnosticks Hereticks Fanaticks Quakers here they abominably bely the truth for the Quakers call all and only to the light of Christ adulterate and cloud the truth of Christ they do but pisse against the Sun the light of Christs Doctrine the truth of the Gospell doth and will shine forth nor can all the cavills say they of moderne Atheists or the dust raised by new Phantasticks take away the brightnesse of Christs light or hinder its enlightning others then themselves and shall we after all the Arguments given of Christs being the true light follow after ignes fatuos who these be but that fraternity who would have men follow their fancies and not Christs light in the Conscience which is that the Quakers call to I know not What reall comfort or spirituall help to holinesse or heavenly directions do they give to lead men to God better then Christ hath done May you not discern a vain glorious spirit a self-seeking proud carnall spirit in them what do their censures of others shew but a mind to extoll themselves their affected speech looks carriage but a desire to hide their falshood what do all the devices of Iesuits Popes and their Agents tend to but either by force or subtlety to set up the monstrous powers of the man of sin and their own domineerlng over mens consciences underhim âaSenus recte quidem sed et etiam de te fabula O Parochialis Sacerdos What is in their conclave but pollicy in their counsell but deceit in their Iesuists and Casuists but jugglihg shall we go after such Masters and leave Christ Remember we that one is our Master even Christ when any shall sollicit us not to adhere to Christ as our Teacher reject them Christ hath warned you say they and so say I too as concerning any that lead forth from his light within therefore saith he go not forth after them nor follow them If any say low here is Christ or there and so do all Priests and Professors and their Teachers in their sundry forms and outward observations in which they look for the Kingdome which comes not in them believe it not We will not venture our lives upon Mountebanks and will we our souls upon deceivers Shall we follow our own conceits which often prove foolish and neglect Christs Doctrine which say we still is his teaching light and counsell in the Conscience which alwayes proves wise and safe no no let us answer as Peter Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternall life Alas what can we expect but if we follow blind leaders as all are that teach the things of God otherwise then Christ and his Apostles did who say I called all along to walk in the light within we should fall with them into the Ditch into everlasting perdition On the otherside there is so much plain and clear light in Christs doctrine as will guide our feet in the way of peace Away then with all such obtruded insinuating Teachers as indeavour to hide from us the light of Christ shining in his Doctrine recorded in Scripture Let 's say none but Christ none but Christ that Christ which preached dyed at Ierusalem that word of his which is written in my Bible of which the Bible testifies say I that its near in the heart to heare and do it shall be my light to the Testimony of Jesus which sayes tho Scripture is the spirit of prophecy the sure word of prophecy that as a light shineth in the dark place of the heart and is to be taken heed to to his Everlasting Gospell I stick So Bixt Ep. p. 7. speaking of the Qua Do they affirm that all men have the light of reason who denyeth it of any but Idiots and Infants Do they maintain that this light is from Iesus Christ both as the Authour and restorer of nature and by whom among us is this denyed Do they say that repaired or reprived nature may be fitly called grace about this also we have no mind to quarrell with them so they will not exclude supernaturall grace thereby as we do not but hereby conclude it Do they hold that common supernaturall light is given to many at least of the unsanctified c. and who contradicteth them in this Do
they cant see over if but a Mot it s sooner seen in a Brothers ey then a Beame by them in their own if it be but some pittifull passage not fit to be Printed a Narrative must be made of it as of some Remarkable Passage that can't be omitted if but as Ridiculous a thing to Relate as Serious in it self it must be related to move Fools to Laugh at it but Wise men will Laugh most at its Relator T.D. As to thy Conclusion of thy second Narrative which is a desire of thy Reader to peruse the Qua. Answer to the Questions thereto annexed which were proposed to and Answered by Ioseph Fuce whereto thou settest both his name and answers to them Rep. I say thus much to thee that howbeit thou hast set down so much of I. Fs. return as neither thy silly self nor Io. Corbet the Priest who put forth the Queries and was accordingly answered above two years ago by Io. F. will ever be able to render any Reasonable Reply to for if ye could have refuted them the Press was as open for your Reply to them as your bare Narration of them and so much as will stand over your heads for ever as a Testimony of the Duncicall Darkness and Groaâable Blindness of you both in the Misteries of the Gospell of which for silthy lucres sake ye do but fancy your selves to be the Ministers yet either one or both of you two V pers have done the best or rather the worst ye could to abuse both Io. F. and the Qua. and the truth by that Cut-short Counterfeit Account thou T.D. givest the world of those Queries and Answers that passed between Priest Corbet and Ioseph Fuce For there were 17 Queries put by thy Couzen Corbet every one of which were at large and as to any likelihood of their being answered by you unanswerably Replyed to by Io. F. of which 17 thou bring'st out but eight 2. As thou bringest out not one half of Corbets Queries so I judge I may safely say not so much as the 20th part of I.F. his Answers but only here and there some such broken bits and pieces of them as ye thought would represent them as weak and naked to mens aspect though indeed as piece-meal as ye have rendred them they may well be left to stand against all your Priestly Prate and pedling pelting at them Why did ye not seeing ye had a Quarrell at them publish every inch of all I. F. his Answers to the 8 Queries ye have set down yea why not all the 17 Queries and the whole of his returns to each of them together with your own Replyes to those his Returns that men might be undeceived by you that call your selves their Ministers and take on you to be their Masters so as to teach them truth since ye deem them to be deceived by I.F. his Doctrines and then ye had saved your selves from the guilt and censure of that guile and deceit that now ye are found in while ye are found shuffling and cutting picking and culling out here and there a âaying leaving out such adjoyning sentences yea somtimes that half of the same sentence which being set down would have shew'd his true sence of the whole which ye scrue and wrest as far as ye can tell how into another then that intended by him Expertus loquor I speak what I know having whether I shall Print it or no I yet know not the whole entire Copy by me of those Queries and Answers amounting in all to two sheets thy Cutted Account whereof comes not neer to the 8th part of one Surely either one or both of you two Brethren in iniquity T.D. I. Corb saw ye could not Reply to them and so had made a swinging Rod for your Tayls and slasht your selves as foundly therewith also had ye put forth the whole truth which ye have not told the Tithe of whereupon ye have thrust out only some meer fragments of it with as much manglement of them too as ye well durst make and with no other then this dribling answer of thine T.D. p. 6 of thy second Narrative viz Surely by these Principles in Conjunction with the rest in the Book to which this Narrative is annexed though the said Principles remain as unrefuted as impossible to be refuted by T.D. the Qua. have for ever forfeited the name of Christians and are to be reputed Heathens T.D. Thou tel'st and that twice over viz. in thy Narrative and in thy Witness W. W's reinforcing Reply to L. H. a Tale of L. H s saying The Priests shall be destroyed by the people called Qua. Rep. But L. H. hath already so sufficiently disproved that in his Reply to thy ãâã styled the Devils how unstringed by three persons who as I laid above testifie his words to have been otherwise and so prov'd thy Witness Will Winâfield Minister of Word to be no Minister of the Word of truth nor such a Godly Minister as thou printest him out for who can joyn so cordially with thee in printing lyes that I need say nothing yet that the Preists shall be destroyed by the Qua. though L. H's words were not so is true enough I here affirm it yet not by outward Gan Sword or carnal Weapon but by the Sword of the Spirit or Word of God in their mouths Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord Zach. 3. T. D. Thou sayst in the second page of E. B's Book or word of Advice to the Souldiers he bids them give the Ministers or Priests blood to drink for they are worthy Rep. True enough that the Priests will have as much blood as they are worthy of from the Lord though the Qua. desire the salvation of their souls and bodies too if yet it may be and the destruction of nothing but that sin blindness and darkness which destroyeth them in both Howbeit in the second page of E Bill's book unless there be another of his or of E. Bur's so stiled I find no such words as thou artes est to be there on thy own personal knowledge and so all thy proofs of thy Grand Lye for ought I see fail thee and Lie in the Lake together with it Many more absurd and foolish frivolous tales thou tellest that â omit but two more of thy lying accusations of the Qua. more Remarkable then all the rest of those Remarkable passages of thy two for nothing more then the many lies thereof most Renowned Narratives remain yet to be Remarked that all may see how thou and thy heard of hearers and drove of ear-wigs have not so much me al honesty as to speak truth in matters of fact which is the very fault thou chargest us with and the worse in thee sith Turpe est Doctori cum culpa red arguit ipsum And then I shall be at liberty to take a view of the many Lyes of thy Doctrine Thoâe two one whereof is prosecuted in thy last
Narrative only and the other more wickedly then wisely made and drove on very devoutly in both but especially in thy first without either care or good councâl consideration or conscience Truth or Righteousness sense or reason fear or wit are these T. D. That the Qua. intend to prosecute the promotion of their Principles by that bloody way of persecution with the outward sword 2. That the Qua. are doubtlesly acted by the Antichristian or Romish faction and do drive on the Popish work and Papistical design and of Qua. become Papists and further for this Lye splits it self into two parts one concerning the Qua. in generall the other concerning my self in particular that I.S.F. am probably and appear to be not only a Rank Papist but also ãâã Iesuit holding complyance with the Pope serving the Sea of Rome such like of which more at large by and by Rep. As to the first of these thy two Lyes of the Qua. it lies thus palpably ayerred in thy own words T. D. The truth is the Qua. now declare their intentions to propagate their perswasions by the sword whereas they were want to pretend to so much meekness or peaceableness that they would hold neither speaâ nor sword Rep. Here 's the charge An Arrand Lye yet a Truth if four or five more Lyes will Serve to prove it if not men must take it for truth on no other Acconuâ then this because T.D. who tels so many Lyes that he deserves not to be believed when he speaks the truth doth falsly Say so for thy pieces of proof which are too piteous to prove thy main false Charge were they all true are as to the truest information that I can get thereof every of them false Charges and a pack of Lyâs like to that they are brought in proof of The first Proof is this slender Story At a Late Meeting of the Qua. in Hurst Pierpoint in Suffex He that undertook to be Speaker called out to the Priest who accidentally pasled by saying we will have you all down for now our day is come The second this Tale. And a oâher Qua. in the Parish âf Nuthurst in the same Counây did say to a Godly person of good quality in that Parish that he no more cared to kill one of the Priests as he styled the Ministers then he would to kill a Dog The Third This Wicked Lye And another Qua. Way-laid the Minister of Covehould a very worthy Reverend man at his return from a Fast and justled him upon the high way as he kept it haviâg his Wife behind him and drew out his Sword which he had by his side about half way which was a shrewd presumption that he intended the Minister mischiâf but that some neighbours that came from the Fast Coming up to them prevented it and they do usually give oât threatning speeches against the Ministry aâd their Friends Rep. In answer to these three I here subscribe such information as came from the mouths or hands of sundry Sâssex men living in and about these Parishes or Places T.D. Relates these matters of a truth to have been done and spoken in three or four of which are it seems members of those two Parishes of Nuthurst and Covewold in such wiâe as follows These three Charges or slanderous Accusations as they appear to us Coming to our hands we who are Inhabitants in the County of Sussex near adjoyning to these places where the Author saith these things were done one of us dwelling in one of these Parishes which he makes mention of have a good and perfect knowledge of these men who are called Quakers and that They are men of better Qualifications then to offer such violence or to give out such terms as is here Charged upon them Therefore for better satisfaction to ourselves as also for the sake of others who may be deceived in believing such things by giving Credit unto them without a surer ground then because they are come forth in Print to a publike view also from such A hand whom they might think would not be so dishonest as to be the Author of things that are not true Upon these Considerations and others which might be mentioned we undertook to search out the matter with some diligence that all who desire may be truly informed and who have prejudice in themselves neither against one sort of people nor another because of names or differing in judgment as we have not our selves who are now about to satisfie of this matter that truth may appear and that every action may be tryed by it in and among all sorts of people Bryan Wilkinson Humphery Killingbeck So for the first accusation which the Author makes mention to be spoken at Hurst he hath caused a lie to be printed as also the other two for there were no such words spoke nonly the friend that did speak some words from whence this report might arise might ask the Priest of Hurst what they would do if the powers of the earth should for sake them these words its like were spoken And as for the second accusation and slanderous lie which he saith was spoken by a Quakeâs in the Parish of Nuthurst we whose names are here under written did go unto the man whom the Author calls godly and of good qualitie unto whom he said these words were spoken to know the truth of this thing And his answer to us was as he and some others were drinking together there was one amongst them did say that it was no more sin for to kill a wicked man then a Swine Thomas Wyly Nicolas Manard Though there was one who went under the name of a Quaker who did dwell in Nuthurst Parish whom the man which the Author calls godly and of good qualitie did say was the man that spoke these words above mentioned which are otherwiâe then what is Printed Yet this man he caâls Quaker that should say these words hath not dwelt in the Parish of Nuthurst neither in the County of Sussex this two year and half and above neither hath he been in these parts of so long time as can be sufficiently proved and the cause of this might arise above a year before he went a way And as for the third slanderous accusation the Minister of Cavehold which the Author of this scandalous Book calls a very reverend man we whose names are here under mentioned did go unto this Minister of Cavehold in Sussex the 16th day of this eleventh month 59. For to have him to set his hand against this Scandal Because we knew that there was no such thing offered by them from which this slander might arise And his Answer to us was that there was three Caveholds in Englaâd and that it might be at some of them But he said that he knew the man T.D. that set forth the Book and that he had one of them himself and he said he would send to the man to enquire of him and if he meant Cavehold
written for the ends above specified in the Scriptures mentioned yet will it not follow that it was intended for the Rule to the Church much less the only perfect Rule or Standard of Faith and Life because God did not give order for âs so to be but assured her before the Scripture was at all as much as God thought sufficient to create and preserve faith in the Gospel she had before she had it written in an outward Letter viz. the inward Light Word and Spirit that was in the beginning from which the Letter came And p. 43. to make a Rule much more then the only sâanding Rule exclusively of all other of all internal Light Word Spirit Revelation as JO. and T.D. both hold the Scripture to be is necessary Gods appointment of a Writing to that end to which he did and even in the Scripture it appears appoint the Spirit and inward Light and Word as I shew'd above but never at all appointed the Scripture it self And p. 17 18. of T. D's 2 d. Pam. the difference lyes in God's Arbitrary dispensation who from of old disposed the Light Word and Spirit alone to be the Rule without and before the Letter as being far more excellent and fully sufficient without it as to the nature and being of a Rule but never ordered intended designed appointed or established the Writing alone as the Rule as my two Vniversity Antagonists dispute without and cââlusively of the other And as for the third and fourth Classis of J. O's Scriptures which seeing they are so near a kin to these of the first therefore I shall consider them here before those of the second they are of the same kind so that the same general Answer might satisfie sapienti cui verbum sat but seeing such stress is put on them by J.O. to the stablishing of a wrong Standard which iâ of so great concernment to be stated right or else all the Building faulters I am free to insist a little more particularly on them then else I need to do They contain as thou sayest J.O. commendations of the Scriptures as to all uses of Religion both by the practises and precepts of Christ and the Apostles searching and expounding proving and trying all things by them themselves and also commending and commanding the searching of them and the trying of all things by them in and among all others Rep. That all the places enumerated by thee do contain any such matter at all I utterly deny for some of those thou citest as well as sundry of those afore spoken to neither expresly nor intentionally relate to the Writing or Scripture but onely to the Word of God and the Things and Truth and Commands of God written of onely in the Letter which things in what Text soever thou find'st them talkt of thou present'y run'st blundering on in thy wonted blindness which discerns no difference between the Writing and things written interpreting them without more ado of the Scripture as namely Deut. 28.58 whereby the words written in that Book is not meant the Writings but the Commandmenâ therein rehearsed the Ceremonials and Morals of which they were to observe before that Booke of Deuteronomy was penn'd which is a story of Moses his repetition by word of mouth a little before his death of such things as he had from the Lord enjoined them to observe and some of them God also from his own mouth well-nigh forty years at least before that was penned Also that in Acts. 26.22 where Paul sayes he witnessâd no other things or truths as to the substance and matter of them though the manner was different the one testifying de Christo exhibendo the other exhibito one saying they should come t'other they were come then what the Prophets and Moses said should come Which things Paul could now witness were come if he had not seen their witness that they should And what mention is there of the Scripture at all in that Scripture Also John 1.7 where it s said of John Baptist he was not that Light but came to bear witness of that light which John Baptist wrote no Scripture at all that I know of which Light he testified to was not the Letter or Scripture but the same the Qua. bear witness to even that measure of its light within wherewith he inlightneth every man that comes into the world so that there is no Scripture mentioned or so much as meant in that Scripture Wherever thou seest in thy Concordance the word Scripture written of in the Scripture thou art ready to think straightway it Concuâr'â and hath no âmâl Concordance with thy cause and where thou findest the Words Rule Foundation Law and Prophets of God Light Word Commands Statutes Testimony Prophesie and such like thou as rashly and rawly imaginest the Scripture or meer outward Writing meant and mentioned by them in what ever is predicated of them and that it makes something for thy bâinde business of the Scriptures being the only standing Rule and Foundation But alas hoc aliquid verè nihil est this something is plainly nothing at all to that purpose for as it makes not a mice toward the proof thereof as appears above because the Scriptures were written for good ends and are prefiââblâ to such and such good uses unless God had Canonized them as a Rule so neither doth it that Christ expounded the Scriptures and that some did search them and were mightily read in them as some are at this day who are supposed to deny them to the confounding the Scribes that searched them daily and therein lookt for life as their only Rule but never came to him that they might have life who was the Life and Light they came from but never heard him whom they testified of that his voice was now to be heard in whom God who under the Law before his coming spake in his servants the Prophets speaks under the Gospel as by his only Son 'T is true Abraham who lived long after Moses and those Prophets whose Writings ye have were born in that Parable which illustrates a precious truth that as to the mystery of it lyes yet hid from thee is brought in by Christ as saying of the Rich mans brethren by way of prevention of their coming into torment They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them if not they 'l not be perswaded by a miraculous message of one to them from the dead but what iâ this to prove what thou here alledgest it for and more largely inferrest from it p. 63 64 65 66 67. where thou preachest on that Text a Sermon as long as little to thy purpose improving it and that of 2 Pet. 1.19 to the utmost to prove Moses and the Prophets Writings to be the best and most effectual means of bringing men to repentance on which that and all faith is immediately to be grounded and to prove the Scriptures to be that alone which we are sent to to be more effectual