is God which W. P. also doth deny and this also I shall prove from Scripture I. But Peter said Act. 5. 4 3. Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the holy Ghost to keep back part of the price of the Land c. Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Him whom the Apostle calleth Holy Ghost in the 3d. verse he calleth God in the 4. verse and him whom he calleth God in the 4th verse he calleth the Spirit of the Lord in the ninth verse How is it that ye have agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord II. 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all He that is called the same Spirit in the 4th verse is called the same Lord in the fifth verse and the same God which worketh all in all in the sixth verse and that what is spoken of Administrations and Operations in the fifth and sixth verses is attributed to the Spirit as appeareth by the seventh verse where they are called The manifestation of the Spirit given to every man to profit withal and more plainly verse 11. But all this worketh that one and the same Spirit dividing unto every man severally as he will And what can be more plain to prove that the Holy Ghost or Spirit is God when he worketh all in all and distributeth spiritual gifts unto men according to his own good pleasure III. Isa. 6. 1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne c. v. 2 3. Above stood the Seraphims and cryed Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts The three Holies signifie the three Persons the Lord of Hosts the one God ver 8. I heard the voice of the Lord ver 9. And he said Go tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not c. This must needs be spoken of God and it is by the Apostle applyed to the Holy Ghost Act. 28. 25. Well spake the Holy Ghost go to this people and say hearing you shall hear c. IV. 1 Cor. 2. 10. For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God None is omniscient to know all things yea whatsoever is in the unsearchable minde of God but he that is God and therefore the Holy Ghost is God I might speak further of his divine Works as Regeneration Ioh. 3. 5. guiding Believers into all truth Ioh. 16. 13. Sanctification and the like of our being baptized by him Mat. 3. 11. and in his name Mat. 28. 19. and his being called One that is one God where he is numbred up amongst the three Persons that bare record in heaven 1 Ioh. 5. 7. All which undeniably prove that the Holy Ghost is God co-essential and co-equal with the Father and the Son 5. The fifth and last thing is to prove That Father Son and Holy Ghost are three distinct Subsistents or Persons Concerning the name Person I shall not speak of it because Mr. Danson intendeth to vindicate that word from the cavils of W. P. in answer to what concerneth him p. 10. That there are three such distinct Persons in one Divine Essence is evident from the Scripture See Math. 3. 16 17. And Iesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water and to the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him And lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Here is a distinction of all the three Persons the Son was clothed in flesh and came up out of the water the Spirit was in the shape of a Dove which came down from heaven the Fa was in the voice saying This is my beloved Son Another Scripture which holdeth forth this distinction is Ioh. 16. 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth The Son prayeth the Father giveth The Spirit of Truth is the Comforter that is given I shall adde a third Scripture 1 Ioh. 5. 7. There are three that bare record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one They are the distinct Persons but one undivided Essence But further to confirm this truth denied by the Adversaries I shall prove from the Scripture that there are three distinct Persons in one Divine Essence 1 From the distinct Names given to them 2 From their distinct personal Acts. 3 From their distinct personal Properties 1. From their distinct Names they are called Father Son and Holy Ghost Math. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Father Word and Holy Ghost in Ioh. 5. 7. before cited These names do evidence a distinction not of nature and essence for they are one therefore of personality 2. From their distinct personal acts I mean such acts as can be ascribed unto none but such as are persons 1 Giving the Comforter is ascribed to the Father Ioh. 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter it is proper onely to a person to give this act requiring both understanding and will 2 Sending the Comforter is ascribed to the Son Ioh. 15. 6. When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father and it is proper onely to a person to send 3 Guiding into all truth speaking what he heareth is ascribed to the Holy Ghost Ioh. 16. 13. Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak And who can deny that these are personal acts The distinction of the persons in these acts is evident in all these places where the Son speaketh of himself in the first person I will pray I will send he speaketh of the Father and the Spirit in the third person which persons he evidently distinguisheth one from another by the preposition from speaking of the Spirit whom I will send from the Father Surely he must wink very hard that doth not perceive a distinction of the persons of Father Son and Spirit in these places 3. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are three distinct persons is evident from these distinct personal and incommunicable Properties 1. The personal property of the Father is to beget the Son Heb. 1. 5. Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and the Son being eternal as hath been proved this generation must be eternal 2. The personal property of the Son is to be begotten of the Father Ioh. 1. 14. We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father 3. The personal
property of the Holy Ghost is to proceed from the Father and the Son Ioh. 15. 26. And when the comforter is come whom I will send from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testify of me I shall conclude the proof of the distinction of the persons of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost in the unity of the Divine Essence with the two arguments made mention of before in the disputation which because no answer was given unto they remain in force The first argument is this against W. P's plain assertion that there were not three distinct persons in the Godhead with three distinct incommunicable properties If the Father be another from the Son and the Son another from the Father and the Holy Ghost another from each and all three be God and the incommunicable property of the Father is to beget the Son the incommunicable property of the Son to be begotten of the Father and the incommunicable property of the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son then there are three distinct persons in the Godhead with three distinct incommunicable properties But the Father is another c. Therefore there are three distinct persons in the Godhead with three distinct incommunicable properties The consequence of the Major none can with any reason deny because another and another and another do signify plainly a distinction of those persons and begetting being begotten and proceeding are real not imaginary properties The Minor also is firm in all the parts of it 1. The Father is another from the Son Ioh. 5. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me Ioh. 8. 18. I am one that bear witnesse of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witnesse of me 2. The Son is another from the Father because the Father is another from the Son 3. The Holy Ghost is another from each Ioh. 14. 16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter even the spirit of truth 4. That Father Son and Holy Ghost are God hath been proved 5. The incommunicable properties of each person also hath been proved Therefore it undeniably followeth that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead with three distinct incommunicable properties The second argument out of 1 Ioh. 5. 7. to prove that Father Son and Holy Ghost are three distinct persons was this The Father Son and Holy Ghost are either three substances or three manifestations or three operations or three persons or something else But 1. They are not three substances because in the same verse the three are called one that is in regard of substance or Essence 2. They are not three manifestations for all the attributes of God are manifestations and so there would be more than three hence also it would follow that one manifestation should beget and send another which is absurd 3. They are not three operations for the same reason namely that there are more than three operations and it would be very improper to asribe personal properties either to manifestations or operations 4. They are not any thing else Therefore the proposition remaineth firm and sound That Father Son and Holy Ghost are three distinct subsistents or persons in one Divine Essence or Godhead The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are nor three Gods but one God the persons of the Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinct but the Godhead is the same not specifically the same as the same humane nature is in all individual men but numerically the same so as no similitude or comparison is to be found in the creatures to set it forth The fooles gathering his skirt into three folds and pulling them abroad into one the affections of One Good True in Being The understanding will and executive power in the Soul and the like similitudes may a little help the understanding in the conception of this mystery but all comparisons fall short and cannot square in every respect hereunto Yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so hath been proved from Scripture and it is one great fundamental point of our Christian Faith which all Christians are bound to believe because of the authority of God CHAP. VI. Ananswer to part of the 10 the 12 13 14 and 15 pages of W. P's Pamphlet which he intituleth the Trinity of distinct separate persons in the Vnity of essence refuted from Scripture right reason with information and caution in the close THe word separate person I disown any further than we may conceive it to signify no more than distinct and so W. P. was told again and again in the meeting I need speak no more of that since his endeavours are to refute the distinction not the separation of persons in the glorious and ever blessed Trinity And his first attempt is to refute this Doctrine by Scripture The Scriptures which he alledgeth to overthrow the Doctrine of the Trinity of persons are such as prove the unity of the essence that there is but one God which we do not in the least deny but have and do assert with as firme belief as he or any in the world can do but though the Godhead or Divine essence be but one this is not inconsistent with the plurality and distinction of the three persons in the same Godhead And here it is very remarkable how W. P. doth discover weakness and want of learning in the proof of the unity of the Godhead by Scripture for however he doth attempt to show something of a Scholar in quoting one Hebrew text in the margin as if he were well acquainted with the original Hebrew tongue so as to be able to read and understand it without punets yet most ignorantly and rediculously he cites three texts namely Isa. 40. 25. chap. 48. 17. Psal. 71. 22. to prove Gods unity in all which the Hebrew maketh no mention of it the translation indeed is Holy one and Holy one of Israel and he very sillily writes ONE in great letters as if one did bear the emphasis of the place when there is no such word as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one in the Hebrew only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou Holy of Israel in the new Testament he alleageth some Scriptures which the Socinians do make use of to prove that Christ is not God one is Math. 19. 17. Iesus said unto him why callest thou me good there is none good but one that is God Whence no Socinian can rationaly infer that Christ is not God any more than that he is not good for his question doth not infer a denial of his Divinity or goodnesse but is propounded according to the young man's apprehension of him and by way of probation For in other places as hath been shown Christ's Divinity is clearly enough declared Another Text is Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternal that they might know thee
no direct reply to this Sylogism but findeth fault with the terms and W. P. telleth us that God did not use to wrap his Truths in Heathenish Metaphysicks but in plain language but let the Reader judge whether there be the heathenish Metaphysicks he speaketh of in this Sylogism wherein there is not a word but what is to be found in the Scripture not but that some words may be made use of in explaining Scripture Truths which are not in the Scripture themselves so they expresse the thing which the Scripture doth signify in other Phrases more proper to the languages the Scripture were wrot in and I could make it evident out of the Books of the Quakers themselves that they use many words which are not in the Scripture No answer could be obtained to my argument in the Meeting but W. P. taking the argument into further consideration attempteth at length in his Pamphlet to make a reply and first taxeth me to be as little a Scholar in regard of the manner of my Sylogism as a Christian in regard of the matter of it My Sylogism was urged to prove the three glorious persons in the Godhead the denial of which doth necessarily infer the denial of Christ to be God equal with the Father and let any judge who approveth himself most a Christian either W. P. in denying this or I in asserting and proving it As to the manner of my Sylogism some Quakers it may be who know not what a Sylogism is may believe that it bespeaks me to be little a Scholar but no Scholar will judge so from that Sylogism which they know to be according to rule and to carry a firm proof in it drawn from the Induction of particulars but W. P. discovereth himself to be that which he taxeth me for namely little a Scholar and though he hath been at the University yet that either he never read Logick or never understood Logick or hath forgot Logick or that purposely he hath laid aside Logick that herein he might be like to the Quakers in answering nothing to the purpose for besides his finding fault with my Sylogism his reply to it doth most of all detect his want of Learning and grosse absurdity for which he would have been hissed out of the Schools had he done it in the University for though he telleth us he will give his reason why he will deny my Minor yet most ridiculously and ignorantly he argueth against my conclusion The Minor as he repeateth it is But they are not three manifestations three operations three substances or three some things else besides subsistences The conclusion Therefore three subsistences If he had indeed denied the Minor he must have asserted that they were either three substances or operations or manifestations or something else but he mistaketh the conclusion for the Minor and argueth that they are not three subsistences No one substance can have three distinct subsistences c. W. P. argueth against the Trinity of persons in the unity of Essence behold the Christian he argueth against the conclusion of a Sylogism calling it the Minor behold the Scholar yet because his argument is against our Doctrine therefore I shall give answer thereunto and his other cavils together in the sixth chap. After this he reflected upon Mr. Madox in the 11. page whose answer you have in the following Chapter CHAP. III. An Answer to the 11. page of W. P's pernicious Pamphlet by W. M. ANd because G. W. willing to bring this strange Doctrine This Doctrine is strange to none but such as are strangers to God and ignorant of the Scriptures whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. but as Ephraim when joyned to idols counted the great things of Gods Law a strange thing Hos. 8. 12. so these men having prostituted themselves to an Idol of their own brains The Light within which is their Christ and Savior count the Doctrine of the true God a strange Doctrine To the capacity of the people You mean to the scorn and contempt of the people for his design was not to explain but to expose the Doctrine and it is absurd to imagine that he could facilitate that to the understanding of others which he himself neither derstands nor believes Compar'd their three Persons to three Apostles By their three persons you mean the three increated Persons of the ever blessed Trinity the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Of the insolency and wickedness of this Comparison you shall hear by and by onely here let me tell you that we have endeavoured to make them ours by a fiducial application of them to our selves and it is no dishonor to us though it be a blasphemous reflection on them that they are in reproach called our three persons because we appear in vindication of them saying he did not understand how Paul Peter and Iohn could be three persons and one Apostle Neither did we assert it either directly or by consequence For though we call the father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons or He 's according as they are held forth in the Scriptures yet we say there is a vast and infinite difference between three created and the three increated persons for three created persons are so many distinct and separate Essences as they are persons but all the increated persons have the same simple and unseparated essence of God Ioh. 10. 30. I and my Father are one 1 Joh. 5. 7. These three are one not one in person for so the Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another from Christ Ioh. 5. 32. There is Another c. and the Holy Ghost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 14. 16. Another Comforter i. e. Another as to subsistence or manner of being but one in nature and essence so that though Paul Peter and Iohn being of a finite nature cannot be three persons and one Apostle yet I am sure from the Scripture that the Father Son and Holy Ghost being of an infinite nature are three persons and yet but one God and till you can prove that finite and infinite or God and the Creature are all one it will be in vain to make such a comparison for the shaking of this foundation-Foundation-truth A most apt comparison to detect the ridicult of their doctrine Or rather to discover the monstrous blindness hardness and unbelief of his own and your hearts who dare so boldly spit in the face of God like men that have cast off all fear and reverence of God as well as of men One Maddocks whose zeal out-stript his knowledge busling hard as one that had some necessary matter for the decision of Controversie These extravagant expressions designed to cast disgrace on my person I purposely overlook because I contend not for mine own honor but for the honor of God In stead thereof perhaps to save his brethren
or shew himself There was no need to save my Brethren for I do not remember one word either of Scripture or right reason that was opposed to what they asserted and proved so that it was neither to save my Brethren nor to shew my self that I then appeared but to stop a blasphemer's mouth and to make manifest his wickedness that he might proceed no further 2 Tim. 3. 8 9. Silences our further controverting the Principle Your further reproaching and reviling it you mean for if you would have disputed it without your wicked comparisons and reflections I would not have interposed By a Sylogistical but false and impertinent Reflection upon G. W. his person it runs thus He that scornfully and reproachfully compares the Doctrine of the Trinity of Father Son and Spirit to three finite men as Paul Peter and John is a Blasphemer But you G. W. have so done Ergo That this is a false and impertinent reflection on G. W. his person you assert but prove not I shall therefore prove the contrary And first that the minor is not false nor impertinent appears by his words and your confession for you acknowledge that in scorn to the Doctrine of the Trinity he compar'd it to three finite men viz. Paul Peter and Iohn which you call a most apt comparison to detect the ridicule of our Doctrine Secondly that the major is not false nor impertinent as is manifest for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hurt or blast the fame of another is all one as to blaspheme him and hence the perverse disputings and railings of men of corrupt mindes that consent not to wholesom words and the Doctrine that is according to Godliness are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blasphemies 1 Tim. 6. 4. And what can be more derogatory to the glory of the infinite God than to fasten the imperfections and limitations of finite creatures upon him and to assert three separate essences as the necessary consequent of three distinct persons this was the old Arian Plot whereby he and his followers endeavored to prejudice the mindes of well meaning but simple men against the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost and this is to blaspheme God and the Scriptures A strange way of argumentation to beg what cannot be granted and to take for granted what still remains a question viz. that there are three distinct and separate persons in one essence What you mean by separate I know not if you mean so separate as to destroy the unity and simplicity of the Divine Essence I own no such separation if you take it to be all one with distinct then I say it was no begging of the question for it had been sufficiently proved that there are in the Divine Essence three distinct persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Let them first prove their Trinity and then charge their Blasphemy It is not for want of proof that this Doctrine is rejected and blasphemed and still called our Trinity in a way of reproach assure your self the day is coming when you will wish you had made it yours also but you have a way to scorn all that is offered in defence of it as mens lo here Interpretations and lo there and to brand all the determinations of Councels Fathers c. concerning it as the issues of Faction Prejudice and Cruelty and there is little hope that any Arguments though never so strong will convince men of such proud insolent humors this Doctrine is more than hinted in the first line of the Bible Gen. 1. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Verb of the singular number signifies the Unity of the Divine Effence and the Noun of the plural number denotes the Trinity of persons God that created Heaven and Earth is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Read also Iob 35. 13. God thy Makers Heb. Consult Mr. Caryl on the place Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creators c. Isa. 54. 5. My Makers is thy husband Heb. in all which Texts the Trinity of persons is denoted by words of the plural number See also Isa. 42. 1. where you have the Father choosing and upholding the Son and the Spirit put on him as Mediator three persons spoken of Mat. 3. 16 17. and 28. 19. Ioh. 14. 16. there is Christ praying the Father and he giving another Comforter the Spirit of Truth what can be more plain than a Trinity of persons in this Text So Ioh. 15. 26. the Spirit sent by Christ from the Father and Act. 2. 32 33. 2 Cor. 13. 14. 1 Ioh. 5. 7. for brevity sake I onely name the Texts I might also adde that the names properties or attributes works and worship of God are frequently in the Scripture given to each of these three Persons so that they are one and the same perfect and infinite Essence each of them God and one God by nature but three persons And now having proved the Trinity W. Pen must either deny Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and God himself speaking from Heaven or else confess the Blasphemy But I must not forget this persons self-confutation who to be plainer called them three Hee 's But what self-confutation it is to call three persons three Hee 's you neither do nor can tell that each of them is frequently spoken of in the Scripture as a distinct he is so plain you cannot deny it and expressed by the Pronouns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 1. 2 3. and chap. 16. ver 8. 13 14. 27. and I called them three Hee 's to try if you would own the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost under any Title and you by refusing to call them three Divine Hee 's have made it manifest that your Quarrel is not with the word Person as some then apprehended but with the Doctrine or Fundamental Truth expressed by the three persons viz. the modal distinction and essential union or one-ness of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which is no less than to deny and reject God for though you pretend to own God the Father yet in rejecting the Son you reject the Father for saith Christ he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10. 16 and the beloved Disciple telleth us that whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father 1 Ioh. 2. 23. If he can finde a he without a substance or prove that a subsistence is any thing else than the form of a he he will do well to justifie himself from the imputation of ignorance That my calling the three persons three Hee 's implies a He without a substance is the first thing that you would here insinuate but this is your gross ignorance of this great mystery For each of these Hee s is by nature God and hath the entire undivided nature substance or essence of God and all that you can say to the contrary is but like childrens shooting Paper-pellets against a Rock your latter phrase discovers your ignorance of Philosophy
of Christians in the truths and ways of God In W. P's conclusion by way of caution he teleth us he doth not disown Father Word and Spirit to be one but he disowneth them to be three Persons which hath been proved out of the Scripture that the Trinity as he saith hath not a foundation in the Scripture that its original was three hundred years after Christianity was in the World hath been proved to be false What he speaketh concerning the Council of Sirmia That the controversie concerning the Trinity should not be remembred because the Scriptures made no mention thereof is also falsely alledged for by that very Council the Doctrine of the Trinity is expresly asserted as a chief article of the Christian faith and the distinction of Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost plainly implyed in the Anathema which was pronounced upon those that asserted they were but one Person that which W. P. citeth is concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which this Council was heterodox as it might well be when so much influenced by the Emperor Constantius who himself was infected with Arianisme But W. P. should have looked into the Councils more ancient and authentique than the Sirmian namely the first Nicene Council which condemned the Arian heresie blasphemously denying the Son to be coeternal and coessential with the Father the first Constantinopolitan council which condemned the Macedonian heresie denying the Deity of the Holy Ghost The Council of Ephesus Chalcedon who with other approved oecumenical Councils generally assented to the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Consubstantiality of the three Persons What W. P. further addeth concerning the occasion of Idolatry is groundless the scandalizing of Turks c. is no wonder when the preaching of Christ crucified was such a stumbling-block of old After he confesseth that Christ offered unto God a Satisfactory Sacrifice and yet he denieth Christs Satisfaction and Justification by his imputative Righteousness all which three Doctrines being Fundamental established by the Word of Truth W. P's attempts to subvert them are in vain and have discovered him to be both a Blasphemer and an Heretick Since I began my Answer to W. P. there came to my hands a Pamphlet subscribed by Solomon Eccles styled The Quakers Challenge wherein amongst others he challengeth me at two Weapons as he calleth them to Fast seven days and seven nights and to Wake seven days and seven nights and that hereby tryal shall be made who are in the truth Though the Pamphlet be ridiculous yet I was unwilling to let it pass without any remark and my Answer is when the Lord hath appointed these ways for tryal of the Orthodox and Hereticks I shall undertake them but not finding any such Command or Warrant in the Word to forbear Food or Sleep so long but on the contrary because it is a tempting of God and a breach of the sixth Commandment which requireth all lawful endeavors for the preservation of our own life as well as the lives of others therefore it would be a God-provoking sin to endanger self-murther by such Weapons The Scripture Instances of Fasting many days together were miraculous and not for our imitation others I have heard of that have lived as many days together as he speaketh of without meat or drink or sleep but they have been distracted people amongst whom this man deserveth to be numbred and if I should answer him in the way he challengeth I should be accounted by the sober as mad as himself His Lie he venteth concerning me is refuted already in my Narrative CHAP. X. The Call and Exhortation HAving asserted and proved the three great Doctrines of the Trinity Satisfaction and Iustification denyed by W. P. I shall further add by way of premise to the Call and Exhortation what was before intimated that these three are great Fundamental Truths of the Christian Religion necessary to be believed in order to Salvation the unbelief and denyal of which will bring unavoidable damnation 1. The Doctrine of the Trinity of distinct Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence is a Fundamental Truth because the Godhead in the three persons is the proper object of saving Faith and right Worship and those that do not savingly believe and rightly worship God cannot possibly be saved besides the denyal of the three distinct persons in the Godhead doth necessarily inferr the denyal of the co-eternal co-essential Deity of the Son and Holy Ghost which is Blasphemy and damnable Heresie so accounted by the most ancient and authentique Councils and by the true Church of God in all Ages II. The Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and Justification by his imputed Righteousness are Fundamental Truths also without which there can be no Redemption Reconciliation Remission and consequently no Salvation This being premised I shall now apply my self first to the Quakers and then to others To W. P. and other Quakers who believe these and other Quaker damnable errors I shall propound these four Queries which I shall answer according to truth Que. 1. Do you know what you are 1. You are strangers to Christ whatever your fancy be of Christ within you and I am confident that none of you all that believe these errors have had experience of the new birth and forming of Christs image upon your hearts since there never is a work of regeneration and uniting the souls of any to Christ that leaveth them in such darkness and error as you are left and bound up in No had you been ever truly regenerated you would have been humbled and emptied of your selves you would have seen your selves lost in your selves and your need of Christs satisfaction and imputed Righteousness without which you would have been assured that there is no possibility Gods anger should be appeased and your souls saved It is not turning Quaker that is turning from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Christ but on the contrary it is a turning from light to darkness and from Christ to Satan and what will be the issue hereof not remission of sins and salvation but the fastening of guilt upon you and eternal destruction 2. You are enemies to Christ and I believe that Jesus Christ hath scarcely greater enemies under the Sun than you who are greater enemies to Christ than those who deny his eternal Deity as I have proved to be the plain consequence of W. P's words and of the denial of the Trinity who are greater enemies to Christ than those that deny his Satisfaction and Justification by his merrits who are greater enemies to Christ than those that oppose his faithful Ministers and Embassadors and that lye in wait to deceive and mislead Christians you are enemies to his truths and ways and ordinances and cause and interest and Ministers and true Disciples and all this with Christ in your mouths and I am confident the Lord doth hate and abhor you for such hypocrisy 3. You are Children of the Devil and
the works of your Father you do and will do you are his more close and subtle agents that in a seeming more refined way do all you can to enlarge the bounds of his Kingdom and like Satan when the Sons and Daughters of God assemble themselves to worship their Father some of you will appear amongst them to disturb them I wonder how you can have the face to pretend Religion when it is so apparent that you are more than ordinarily acted by the Devil to oppose it 4. You are Serpents and a generation of Vipers full of deadly poyson poyson in the head the poyson of damnable errours from whence poyson doth drop forth at your lipps and into your pens you are Serpents putting forth your stings where ever you come hissing at all those who are not of your brood If our Saviour were on Earth to preach to you as he did to the Pharisees he would with as great reason thus stile you as he did them Que II. Do you know where you are 1. You are in the Devils School he is training you up in some of the deepest mysteries of his Kingdom some amongst you are but raw Scholars and in the lower form but you that I speak to are arrived to some proficiency and are well instructed in some of the chief principles of the Devils Catechism so that you are able also to instruct others in the Devilish Doctrines you have learnt of him Your master is a lyer from the beginning and the Father of lyes and you have learnt and believed some of his lyes as if they were certain truths 2. You are in the Devils arms he huggeth you so fast that it is more difficult to pluck you from thence than the most wicked and profane 3. You are in the Devils chains whereby he is leading you captive at his will they are chains of darkness and errour which he hath upon you whereby he is dragging you towards the regions of eternal darkness Que III. Do you know what you are doing 1. You are dishonouring God in dishonouring the Son you dishonour the Father in reproaching Gods Embassadours you reproach the King that sent them you are spots and blemishes to Religion and render it ridiculous to the prophane world 2. You are murdering your own Souls embruing your hands in your own blood you are poysoning wounding killing your selves and you are some of the greatest soul-murderers of others of any that live upon the Earth Que. IV. Do you know whether you are going You are going the certain way to Hell your way is not in the common rodewith others but it is a by-way and dark path in which you often stumble and fall and at length it will meet with the great rode of the world at the Gate of Hell in which you will as certainly enter at last if you go on in this path as Cain and Iudas that are there already And here I might sound a peal of Judgement in your ears and forewarn you of the wrath to come to escape which one day you would give ten thousand worlds for an interest in Christs Satisfaction and imputed Righteousness when it will be too late but for the present most of you are Judgement-proof and Sermon-proof and so prejudiced against us Ministers who are employed as Watch-men by the Lord to forewarn the people of their danger that our reproofsand warnings are rejected and railing language is the return of our admonitions Yet in the name of the Eternal and Living God Father Son and Holy Ghost whose I am and whom I serve in the work of the Ministry I call upon you that are eluded by the Quakers and have not as yet sucked in all their poysonous principles which they have cunningly concealed from you but now have made manifest to the world that without any further delay you would come out from amongst them and seperate your selves that you would save your selves from this untoward generation that you would deliver your selves as a bird out of the snare of the fowler and as a Roe out of the hand of the hunter praying to the Lord to grant you repentance for going amongst them unto the acknowledgement of his truths which they deny and that you may be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who hath hitherto led you captive considering that if you go in this way your steps will certainly take hold on Hell O then hasten hasten poor captiv'd deluded Souls hasten for the Lords sake for your poor souls sake hasten from these Soul-murderers unto the Lord Jesus the Soul-Savior and into the ways of life and salvation which he hath prescribed in his word Lastly I shall in a word bend my speech unto all as yet undeluded Christians by way of exhortation to stedfastness in the truths and way of the Lord and as they desire their salvation to beware of the Quakers damnable Doctrines There are two ways whereby God doth try his people the one is by persecution and other is by heresie and the Apostle telleth us 1 Co. 11. 19. that it is necessary heresies should arise that they which are approved might be made manifest this later way doth sometimes discover more unsound Professours than the former the approved and elect of God I am sure will stand and if any go out from us it is a sign they were not of us for if they had been of us no doubt they would still have continued with us 1 Ioh. 2. 19. And here I shall again repeat what I did before assert that it were better for you to drink a cup of poyson than to suck in the Quakers damnable opinions Take heed of this infection which is worse than poyson and plague more dangerous and destructive For this end labour to get on the girdle of truth let the truths of the word be fastned about the loyns of your minds that is get the principles of Religion fixed in you which that they may mingle them with faith and love and live under the powerful influence of them And that you may be the further off from danger avoid the Company and Meetings of the Quakers lest coming thither out of novelty being out of Gods way you be left by God and as too many have been you be caught by the Devil in the snares which there he layeth and come not neer the Tents of these enemies of Jesus Christ lest you be swallowed up in the same ruine which is coming upon them If you would save your selves from their plagues you must keep your selves out of their ways I shall shut up all with the exhortation of the Apostle Peter having told believers of the unlearned and unstable who did wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction as do the Quakers he exhorteth them 2 Epist. 3. cap. 17. 18. v. Yee therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being lead away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastnesse but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Now to God the Father to God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be glory and honour both now and for ever Amen FINIS ERRATA THe speeding of the sheets off the Presses hath caused too many both literal Errata's and in the sence too the chiefest found out in a hasty reveiw you have as follow and are desired to mend Page 9 line 21 read destruction p. 11. l. 25 read own p. 15 l. 11. read understands p. 16 l. 30 r. redicule l. 32 r. heart p. 17 l. 24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 18 l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 12 Iob 35. 10. l. 2 my l. 14 for my r. thy l. 18 r. for 18 28 p. 20 l. 3 for the r. three l. 10 after substances adde therefore the Father Son and Holy Ghost are three distinct substances or three distinct nothings p. 23 l. 27 blot out W. P. required his presence else where p. 27 l. 18. blot out Father Son and Holy Ghost p. 28 l. 17 r. blasphemer p. 34 l. 28 r. Three p. 35 l. 33 r. their p. 40 l. 6 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 23 r. true where ever you find subsistance read subsistence p. 42. r. foolish l. last r. reasonings p. 45 l. 15 r. there p. 48 l. 18 r. W. P's p. 51 l. last r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 52 l. 1 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 12 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 17 r. Praxean l. 28 for thee r. the p. 53 l. 8 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 34 r. arguments p. 54 l. 27 r. much concern my self l. 29 r. but chiefly p. 55 l. 2 r. peccatum l. 7 r. when ye have c. p. 56 l. last r. to give p. 59 l. 31 r. out of