Baxter's Book Entitul'd The Cure of Church-Divisions ANSWER'D CONFUTED And he prov'd to be a Physitian of NO VALUE Who hath manifested his Folly and Weakness in undertaking a Work which he hath so little Understanding in By Thomas Taylor For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness c. They have Heal'd also the Hurt of the Daughter of my People with sweet words saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace Jer. 6.13 14. But ye are Forgers of Lyes ye are all Physitians of no Value Job 13.4 Printed in the Year 1671. Baxter's Book Entitul'd The Cure of Church-Divisions ANSWER'D CONFUTED RICHARD BAXTER a man who through a shew of Learning and Religion had gotten in Oliver Crumwel's dayes a great esteem in the minds of the ignorantly Zealous Professors of Religion in this Nation and especially in the parts of Worcester-shire about Kidderminster where he then resided hath since the change of the Times and coming in of the Old Common-prayer-Book again much manifested his Nakedness Confusion and Unsoundness to every Eye that in any measure is open to see the difference of Truth and Error in the ground of it as by his works appear and that it is so amongst other things that Book of his falsly call'd The Cure of Church-Divisions which I have now under-hand to answer doth plainly manifest For instead of curing Divisions he hath shew'd himself to be a Physitian of no value so instead of curing hath struck at under a Judas Kiss of Unity Concord the very Life and Foundation of all true Christian Unity and Amity to wit The Free and Perfect Teachings and Gifts and Work of the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of the Father and Son in his believing Members whereby they cry in a spotless Mind Abba Father and freely and powerfully declare the Glory of his Kingdom to the Children of Men and instead thereof would bring in and establish that Soul-deceiving and Church-dividing doctrine of Humane Learning and Humane Helps as absolutely necessary to the procuring and engaging as it were the Holy unlimited God to give unto the Creature his holy Spirit and the Knowledge of the Mysteries of his Eternal Will and Kingdom for the same as in Answer to an Objection in the 6th page of his Book in his first Direction so call'd is to be seen The Objection against his carnal Reasonings for Old Men's knowledge is in pag. 5. where he saith I know those that I have to do with will say That Divinity is not learn't by Labour and Men's-teaching as other Sciences and Arts are but by Teaching I add yea and most free Gift of the Spirit of God and therefore the Youngest may have as much of it as the Eldest And to this R. B. there thus answers Answ. There is some Truth saith he and some Falshood and much Confusion in this Objection Reply But O the Darkness ye◠rather Enmity that is in Baxter's heart against the free Teaching of God's Spirit that he would find any thing against so plain and manifest Truth as is in this Objection But what will not Flesh do that is lifted up with Conceits of his own wisdom to keep up its Honour before the people rather then the Pure Undoubted Truth of the Gospel and Self-abasing Spirit of Truth should Raign and have the Preheminence But let us hear how this R.B. proves that that there is either 〈◊〉 or Confusion in the Objection It is true saith he that the saving Knowledge of Divinity must be taught by the Spirit of God but it is false that Labour and Humane Teaching are not the Means which must be us'd by them who will have the Teaching of the Spirit But to this I say That a Child of Light in the least Measure doth easily see the Falshood of that spirit by which this R.B. is acted in this his answer For the wind of the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and thou hear'st the sound thereof thou natural Man but neither knows whence it comes nor whither it goes so is every one that 's born of God And without this Birth all thy knowledge is damning not saving John 3.7 8. c. And Job 32.7 8. I said dayes should Speak and multitude of years should Teach Wisdom but there is a Spirit in man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Understanding And saith God It shall come to pass in the last dayes that I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and they shall all know me from the least to the greatest yea and Young-men shall see Visions and Servants and Hand-maids shall Prophesie and ye have receiv'd an Unction from the Holy One and ye know all things saith the Apostle John and ye need not that any man teach you This is the Day of the Lord wherein these things are fulfill'd prais'd be God And the new Covenant aboundantly witness'd in the Children of Light whom this wicked Book of Baxter's strikes at but his Wickedness turns upon his own Pate and his own Inquities shall slay him For he by his carnal Wisdom would darken Knowledge and shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men as his Predecessors of old the Pharisees mention'd Mat. 23. did But the Lord hath open'd a Door to the Believing Souls this Day which all the powers of Darkness shall never be able to shut Glory to his Name forever But what is that Labour and Humane Means that People must use for getting the Spirit of God or saving Knowledge of Divinity as he calls it Is it tumbling over a Ruck of Books stuffed with art and Humane Wisdom or Learning from below as this R.B. hath long done to the darkning of his Heart from the Knowledge of God and Way of his Spirit so that he knows nothing of it after all his long lost labour but what he knows naturally as a bruit Beast and that 's plain for it sanctifies him not as by his confessing That his best Duties even his Prayers are not without sin and affirming that no man prayes without sin as in his Book is to be seen page 195 and in his Preface And so the Prayer of Faith and Preaching by the Spirit he is ignorant of yea Preaching by the Spirit is become a Mock and a Derision to him and his Brethren at this day but Paul and all the Ministers of Christ Magnifie the Free Grace and Infinite Gift of the Spirit of God according to that 2 Cor. 3. Saying Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think a good Thought but our Ability is of God who hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter kills but the Spirit gives Life And that which the Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath entred into the Heart of man or Humane Heart to conceive hath God reveal'd to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the Deep Things of
God and which Things we Preach or Speak not in the words which man 's or Humane Wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual 1 Cor. 2. But this R.B. comparing Spiritual things with Carnal is not wise who because old men and long Students in Arts and worldly Sciences are most Wise or likely to be so therefore they that labour and study most in Books of Divinity so call'd get most of the Spirit 's teaching O sad That ever the minds of the Children of Men should be so cover'd with darkness and yet read the Scripture of Truth which witnesses to no one thing more then to the Free Teachings of the Spirit of God without humane Helps For all the Help that is humane or that man who is ab humo that is from the Earth can afford is but natural and of this World which comes to nought therefore is it said That none of the Princes that is the chief men of this World knew the Mystery of Christ and his Kingdom then which made them so band against him see the 2d Psalm And the Natural Man with all his natural means discerns not the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discern'd So every one that would know the Mind of the Spirit of God must come to feel through the Most Holy Faith a measure of it in themselves For after ye believ'd ye were seal'd with the Spirit of Promise saith Paul And the Word is nigh thee even in thy Heart and Mouth O thou that hast an Ear to hear hear what the Spirit speaks even the Word of Faith which we Preach Therefore go not forth from the Anointing of God in thy Heart to hear the frothy and false Doctrine of such as R.B. who have run and set up themselves by their humane Helps in the place of Teachers and God never sent them and therefore they cannot profit the People at all but lead them about like silly Women laden with divers Sins and Lusts yea in their Prayers and best Performances as is manifest and so not being sent and enabled by God's Spirit they can never lead you to it but from it as is manifest Also R. B. in pag. 6. before mention'd saith The Objection hath much Confusion in it and how proves he that but by saying 1. It confoundeth the Spirit 's teaching us by inditing the Scripture with the Spirit 's teaching us the meaning of the Scriptures 2. And it confoundeth the common Knowledge of Divinity with the saving Knowledge of it No man cometh to a common Knowledge fit for a Teacher of others without the Spirit 's teaching by the Scriptures for that was the first part of the Spirits teaching us to inspire the Prophets and Apostles to deliver a Teaching Word to the Churches by which we might all be taught of God through all Generations But many men have excellent common Knowledge by this Word and by the common help of the Spirit without that special Help which begetteth saving Knowledg And all Knowledge requireth Time and Labour to obtain it though the Spirit giveth it and though it may be sanctified to us in a little time but that may be a means of saving others which saveth not the man that hath it And in pag. 114. farther saith Take them not for no Ministers that want Grace totally and marvel not that Gifts are more necessary to the validity of Ministration then Grace is he may perform the Office of a Minister to the benefit of the Church that hath no Saving Grace at all Thus for Rich Baxter O! What Sorcery and Egyptian-Darkness is here to make void the New Covenant and Free Gratious Teachings of the Spirit of God in these dayes and to establish the Letter in the room and stead thereof which only witnesses to it and is a Declaration concerning what the Spirit of God did in them and in the World before Christ's coming in the Flesh and what was done during his being in it and what the Spirit would do in the Believing Souls and in the World after that time But this the Hirelings do that they by their trading with and giving their false meanings upon the Scriptures they may keep the people in Blindness and so from the Anointing and Teaching and Enjoyment of that Spirit that was in them that gave forth Scriptures that they may not see their deceitful Doctrines and Merchandizes lest they should buy no more of them For no man that knows the Badness of Babylon will buy them any more and then will the Merchants of Souls Mourn For they that know the Lord and his Spirit 's Teaching in them which is the Good Old Way yea and the ever New Fresh Profitable and Living WAY will follow no more such men as would bring in and establish a Graceless Ministry as this Baxter doth here to his everlasting Shame But such Graceless Priests the Lord will have none of nor his People neither For my Sheep hear my Voice saith Christ and a Stranger they will not hear Surely a Graceless Man is this Stranger They to wit graceless men saith John 1 Epist. 4. are of the World and the World hear them we are of God Stewards of the manifold Grace of God 1 Pet 4 10 And they that are of God hear us And so ever Bless'd and Prais'd be the Great and Glorious Name of the Lord Jesus who hath restor'd to them that obey him the Glorious Doctrine of the Spirit 's Teaching as was in the Apostles dayes according to his true Promise where all in the Truth of which we the People of God in scorn call'd Quakers are Members where all I say is done in and by the Holy Spirit prais'd be God and nothing own'd among'st us but what is so done Here is Praying in and by the Spirit and Preaching in and by the Spirit and Singing in and by the Spirit of our Holy Lord God and so the Head being Spiritual and the Members of the Body every one Spiritual for we are all Baptiz'd by one Holy Spirit into the one Heavenly Body our Food is also Spiritual Heavenly Bread and Heavenly Wine and the Water Spiritual that Sanctifies us and makes us clean to God in all our Sacrifices and Services for Christ gave himself for his Church which is his Body that he might wash it and present it spotless to himself and without all Deformity by the washing of Water even the Water of Life in the Word of Life the creating Word of the everlasting Father which is Spirit and Life the Resurrection and the Life in every believing Soul for we are redeemed from Death thereby that we might forever hereafter serve God in the newness of his own Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter as all such do as know no other teaching Word but the Letter as this Baxter doth and so they having gotten a little Brain-knowledge by their humane helps and not by the Spirit of Truth
never taught by man Oh happy therefore are they who are come to the Everlasting Covenant of God and to know the inward Teachings and Leadings of his Holy Spirit in their Heart to Lead them into all Truth according to Promise Joh. 16. without being beholding to Vain Man's Help for whereof is he to be accounted as is manifest even as a Thing of naught is the best of them out of the Truth For O! How Ignorant of the Ministry of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit 's Inspiration sufficient Teaching is this Baxter who is not content to sit among the Parish Teachers as a Fellow but even takes upon him to be a Teacher of the Teachers Yea so Ignorant and Unbelieving is he concerning the Spirit 's Power and Sufficiency in these dayes that without an outward Miracle he will not believe any such Thing Nay he would not have People believe for themselves that God teacheth their own Hearts unless it come in man's Way and by Humane study Labour and natural Means Therefore the Lord saw good for his own Glory and for the Vindication of his own Honourable and Everlasting Truth which the Hirelings had made void by their Traditions and for the absolute necessity of his own beloved Seed to restore unto us the Ancient Doctrine of the Holy Spirit 's Sufficiency in all the Work of bringing man out of the Fall to God that the Lord the Spirit might be the first and the last yea all in all in their Salvation without man's Help for he is worthy who as he created all things by his own alone Power and according to his Good Will so he restores all things according to the Counsel of his own Will and not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the Will of Man as the Apostle also speaks Joh. 1.13 but Oh How unlike is this Doctrine of the Apostle's to Baxter's for when the Apostle had said To them that received Christ to them he gave Power to become the Sons of God left any should think as this Baxter doth that it was either by man's Labour or Study or Humane endeavour or Art or Parts or any natural Abilities or Helps whatsoever he saith It was not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the Will of Man but of God And of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth saith that other Apostle Jam. 1.17 18. and he bids not err as this Baxter doth to set up another Fountain or Root and that this Word of Truth is not any outward Writing Voice or any Creature John in his first Chapter tells us That in the beginning was this Word and the Word was with God and is God and his Name is called the Word of God Revel 19.13 so this Word though it works according to the witness of the Scripture which it gave forth freely and as it self pleaseth in the Children of men yet it is not the Scripture For search the Scriptures or ye do search the Scriptures saith Christ That witness of me but you will not come to me that you may have Life and these were they that Paul said He bore them record that they had a Zeal for God and Scripture but not according to knowledge for they being Ignorant of God's Righteousness went about to Establish their own Righteousness and submitted not to God's And so even so this Baxter and many such like have a blind Zeal and a great Talk of the Scriptures without and of the Spirit 's Teaching by the Letter and Humane Helps and the like but will not come to Christ to know him in them that they may have Life and Wisdom and Righteousness But would Establish their own which is meer Emptiness and Vanity in the sight of God and all truly Spiritual men 2 Cor. 13.5 Rom. 10.3 And how far this Baxter's Language in those other words where he saith That if any will pretend to a good Understanding of the Scriptures without learning the Languages which they are written in and the Customs of those Times Countries or without much reading and long study of the scriptures themselves and the Writings of them that 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 them had need of some Miracle or sounding 〈…〉 to perswade themselves or others that they are not deceived How far I say is this Doctrine and language in this 〈◊〉 from the Language of the holy men of God that writ Scripture let the Spiritual Man who best understands all things judge for the holy Apostles Magnified the free Grace and the free Teachings of the Spirit of Grace and debased man and all Humane Helps as is said before and as the Scripture every where witnesseth But this Baxter tyeth the Wait and main stress of all upon Humane Learning natural Parts knowledge of Customs and Countries much reading long study and the like insomuch that without them man must not look that any should believe him Nay nor he must not own God's Teaching in his own Heart without these unlest seconded by some Miracle or the like But Oh the Misery therefore of such poor Souls as follow such wretched Teachers and their damnable Doctrine as I may well And Oh forever Blessed are they who are brought from off such Barren Mountains into the good Fold where all the Lambs of Christ lie down in the good Pasture of the Spirit 's fulness and walk up and down in the Light of the Lord under the hand of the good Shepherd Christ Jesus where none can come to make afraid nor deceive for in the Light of our God we see all these false Teachers and their devouring Doctrines and by the holy Power of God are delivered from them and made able in the overcoming Spirit of Truth to declare against them Glory to God forever Amen Again Let us revew and consider in particular a little of those words of his before set down where he saith as an Argument to perswade his young Ones and Dissenters to his falsly called Humility Especially saith he If you know your advantages for knowledge have been less then other mens that you are younger or that it is but a few Years since you entred upon the Study of the Scripture or that you have not any stronger natural Parts then other men or that you have not had that Measure of learning which might further your knowledge of the holy Scripture But that others that differ from you have had much more of all these Helps and Means then you and have Prayed more and Meditated more c. To which I Answer That by these words it is easily seen what manner of knowledge it is that this Baxter trades in and would have all Slaves unto and what are his Means for obtaining it to wit a meer natural Knowledge which by meer Worldly Helps and Advantages may be attained for a meer Heathen accompanied with many Years and much Humane Learning and strong Natural Parts that can but talk much of the Scripture especially having on him a Form of Prayer and the
profess And praised be God for ever who through his Grace gives our Souls the Victory but as for this Baxter and his Followers who are so full of that earthly faln wisdom which receives honour of men and judges of things according to the Flesh I say for them to seek God's Honour and glorifie him in such low contemptible things as this is is at present far from them but to put off the Hat in honour to proud Flesh And to love greetings in the Markets and to go in long Robes as the old Pharisees did and to be called of men Master and the like which gets praise and applause of the World though Christ forbid it never so much I say these things they like better the more is the pitty see Mat. 23. and so it appears who are in the Selfishness Pride and Hypocrisie and who are not and so is the Scripture fulfilled which saith In that day it shall be seen who are they that fear God and who not Glory to God for his unspeakable Gift and not unto us but to thy Name be the Praise O Lord. What would this Baxter if he had been in those dayes have said of Christ of whom it was said That he taught the Way of God truely and regarded not the Persons of Men then surely he put not off his Hat in honour to proud Flesh as ye do I say would not this Baxter have called him some odd conceited singular proud Fellow as his Predecessors the Pharisees of those dayes Who received Honour one of another did no question but he would for if he do thus to us his Servants What would he have done to him our Lord and Master but happy are all they in this day who chuse rather to suffer the Affliction and Reproach with Christ and his People then to enjoy the Pleasures of sin which are but for a Season so be it ALso because this R. Baxter in pag. 27. of his Preface saith That People are far more averse that is contrary or against to Communion or Concord with the Parish Churches then the conforming Ministers are and yet he seems in his Epistle to Bryan's Book to be unwilling that People should think he hath conformed though he hath pleaded for it and against separaing from the Parish Assemblies and Worships as now manag'd and also seeing that Bryan as he saith is or was silenced for non-conformity himself I desire all that reads these Lines to take notice of what a strange uneven and unrighteous Spirit these men are of in their creeping and twisting and twining to and fro yet the Eye of the Lord and his Blessed Spirit in his Children this day doth easily spy them out Sometimes they are all for Conformity and against Separation by any means and plead the Common-Prayer-Peoples Cause with all their might as it were and yet presently they are all on a fire against any that shall think they are Conformists Nay says Baxter How can any judge him to be a Conformists who is silenced for Nonconformity But if this Baxter sometime a Head to those called Presbyterians at and about Kidderminster and Bryan of the same nature sometimes a Teacher at Coventry be not conformed or be not yet Conformists as well as others of their Brethren who have long since licked up their Vomit the old Common-Prayer Service which they vomited up in Oliver's time because it hindred them then from swallowing the Peoples Labours and seeing they plead so shamelesly for it and also seeing this Baxter in express words confesseth That they are not so much against Conformity with the Common-Prayer Service as the People are What may be the Reason of this strange thing to wit That they do not in all things conform to wit in Deed and Practice as well as in words save only as is plain to me this to wit because they judge that their Admirers are not yet sufficiently wearied out with keeping off nor sufficiently moulded and fitted in their Minds for coming in and therefore they have lingred and may do yet linger a while longer before they do openly and before all appear Conformists desiring if possible to see the People in before them for these two chief Presbyterian Priests so called are wholly already in the Parish Stuff in their Judgement and with their Minds and Hearts already or at lest would be thought so to be by the wicked World of whom they are Lovers Yet they see not how to vend their flattering Doctrines if their Admirers conform not and come not in with them or rather be not in the Pit before them so weak and wretched a thing is man yea the best seeming of the Sons of Men out of the Truth oh how truely fulfilled by these men are those words of the Apostle where he speaking of the false hypocritical out-side-Teachers of that Time saith With good words and fair speeches they deceive the Hearts of the Simple Therefore ever praised be Christ who hath opened our Eyes to see and perswaded our Hearts to avoid such Wolves in Sheeps-clothing as this Baxter and Bryan are For what finer and higher Talk or Skin or Clothing can the Wolf get then to make Sermons of dwelling with God and the like as this Bryan doth when it s manifest he neither knows God nor his Way nor his dwelling-Place but is inwardly ravened from that good and Blessed Spirit of Truth and Honesty which should commend him to God The Wolves nature in R. Baxter is already in this Writing set down and manifest and now I come in the Light of the Lord to make manifest some of his Brother Bryan's And first shall set down that blasphemous Passage of his in p. 291. and 292. of his sixth Sermon in that Book of his intituled dwelling with God c. where he saith I am not ignorant that many of you whose Habitation I question not but the Lord is who have your Habitation in several Countries of this Kingdom have drunk a deep Prejudice against all the Parochial Congregations whereof you are legal Members and where all you were baptized and thereby were made the Members of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of his Kingdom I fear some of you will startle at these expressions found in the Common-Prayer But if you consult the Holy Scriptures you will find them warranted in a sacramental Sence and your prejudice hath so far wrought upon you that you have forsaken the assembling of your selves together with your Neigbours in the publick Meeting-places thus far this Bryan Answer But ever praised be the Lord who hath delivered us from the mouthes of such manifest Wolves as these are who in times past were hidden but are now fully seen who though his Brother Baxter sayes his Mouth was stopt or silenced for not conforming yet here it seems it is wide open still according to his and their custom to manifest his folly and wicked-inside against the Truth and for deceit that the Simple-hearted might forever be
freely given for the edifying and building up of the Body of Christ till we all come to a perfect man to the measure and feature of the fulness of Christ no more then the Apostle did Ephes. 4.11 c. but that which we cry down is that Antichristian spirit in R. B. and all such men as by seting up self and flesh would draw from Christ and his Teachings in Spirit to look at them and their painted words and love killing Doctrines who are this day Goliah like come forth to defie the Armies of the Living God but the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands shall dash them and their Images all to peices Glory to the Lord for Ever And though they with their Humane or Earthly spirit and Sorceries withstand the Truth and Spirit thereof as Jamnes and Jambres withstood Moses when he was about to call Israel out of Egypt yet as their Folly was soon seen so are these and they shall not proceed far but Israel out of Egypt shall go and those Faithful ones that are escaped shall they not with all their Inchantment bring back again into Egypt Glory to the Lord for Ever Amen But wouldst thou indeed know Oh vain man R.B. for what the Apostles who had Ability to preach without mans help were sent forth then thou mayst know it was to reprove such as thee that would limit God to vain man's Help and to call his People from amongst you who lay heavy Burdens on mens Shoulders but will not touch them with one of your Fingers it is even so But whereas thou addest and say'st Those are taught of God who are taught by those who are sent of God to be their Teachers It plainly shews the numerous Company thou boasts of who believe thee are not taught of God for thy Doctrine already mentioned shews most plainly that thou wast never sent of God for never did any whom God sent set themselves against the free and Gratious Teaching and Gifts of God's Spirit to Establish Humane Helps as thou doest But as if that which thou hast said were nothing thou addest Pag. 8. Advise with the experience of all the World Who was the man that ever you knew able to Expound one Chapter in the Bible by the inward Teachings of the Spirit alone without any Labour of his own or Help from others by Voice or Writting Where dwelleth the man who by meer Inspiration can turn one Chapter out of the Hebrew or Greek into the vulgar Tongue and where is the man that can solidly unfold any Doctrine of Divinity which he never read or heard of or can Teach that Truth and deny that Religion which he was never taught by man And afterwards in his Second Direction and Pag. 16. having led his wretched Disciples into a Laborinth or Mist of words about their uncertainties in their Matters of Knowledge and having advised them to humility as he calls it or not to think too highly of their own knowledge he there adds and sayes in that 16th Page especially If you know your advantages for knowledge have been less then other mens that you are young or that it is but a few Years since you entred upon the study of the Scriptures or that you have not any stronger natural Parts then other men that you have not had that Measure of Learning which might further your knowledge of the Holy Scriptures but that others that differ from you have had much more of all these Helps and Means then you and have Prayed more and Meditated more c. And in Pag. 17. in his Answer to an Objection which is That the Learnedst men are not always the wisest in the matters of Religion he saith many men are learned in the Languages and Sciences who are not learned in the Scripture because they applyed not their Studies that way and many men are learned in the Scriptures and Sacred Languages who yet live in sin though they are able to Teach the Truth for others here by the way all may take notice what a False Teacher this Baxter is who is not ashamed to say That man that lives in sin may Teach the Truth for others for such as live in sin neither know the Truth which is Christ nor have seen him as John's first Epist. Chap. 3. expresly saith but this Baxter goeth on and saith But those that well understand the Scriptures without learning the Languages which they are written in and the Customs of those Times and Countries or without much reading and long study of the Scriptures themselves and the Writings of them that better understand them are so few if any at all that if you will pretend to be one of them you had need of some Miracle or somthing like a Miracle to make your selves or others believe that you are not deceived I Might here add his other false Doctrines immediately following these in that his Book as his Answer to an Objection there set down against singularity or so the Objection is this The greater Number are not alwayes in the Right therefore why should my singulary discourage me But because his Answer hath pretty many words in it I refer it to another place and to what he hath already said do answer and say in brief thus First That as by his other words so also by these it is most manifest from what Fountain this Baxter's knowledge hath proceeded to wit not from the Inspiration of the Eternal Spirit which gave forth Scripture but from his own Earthly or Natural spirit and Humane Industery and Studies and trading in Books and Letters without him from which Earthly or Humane Spirit and Wisdom hath not come nor possible ever can come to any the right meaning and understanding of Holy Scripture as such as he would have it for the natural man as the Apostle saith Perceiveth not the things that be of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 But all false Visions and lying Divinations have ever come from that Earthly spirit and all the cruel wrestings of the Holy Scriptures from the beginning to this day have proceeded from it to the miserable and wofull undoing of the Generallity of that People called Christendom as also the Blood-sheds and all the cruel usage of Spiritual Minded Men for their pure Conscience sake have issued from that Fountain of the Earthly spirit and the false Births thereof from the beginning and that great Whore found Guilty of all for in her was found the Blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth Râ—â—â— 18.24 for what Spiritual man did ever ask such a Question or rather affirm for in him his question is an affirmation to wit That no man is able by the inward Teachings of the Spirit alone to Expound one Chapter in the Bible And that there is none can solidly Unfold any Doctrine of Divinity which he never read or heard of or can teach the Truth or defend that Religion which he was
Reformation Separation Revelation or any thing that may manifest People to have a care of their Souls But Oh the misery the misery the unspeakable misery of such as are not yet redeemed from under the slavery and Egyptian Bondage of such men But the Lord will break the Rod of the Oppressor as in times of old as in the days of Midian and Egypt where both Jannes and Jambres who withstood the Lord's Servant Moses in his calling Israel out of Egypt were made manifest and their Folly by all clearly seen as this Baxter's is by every open Eye Praised be the Lord for his Infinite Love in all things But the Hearts of the Righteous whom God delights to comfort he doth all he can to make sad by perswading the dark cruel World that the cause of all the miseries of the late years yea and at present in these Islands is much what if not mostly occasioned by those who in tenderness of Conscience to God could not nor cannot joyn with nor uphold the Popish Customs and Antichristian imposition in Matters relating to Religion and the Soul which is more pretious to them that know it then all the World And in the Truth we may say that if we should come amongst the Steeple-house Worshippers or any other Company who are only separated from them in form and not in Life and Power and their exercise or Gift and heavenly holy Worship and Service to the Lord Jesus Christ our God we should even sacrifice the Abomination of the Egyptians before their Eyes and would you not Stone us or Imprison us or otherwise evil intreat us even as you do and ever have done yea yea and as they dealt with the Prophet Isaiah for saying Chap. 66.3 He that killeth an Ox is as if he flew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs Neck c. and Chap. 1.11 c. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of them and who hath required it at your hands to tread my Courts bring no more vain Oblations c. for which it is said they slew him so they would deal with us And what measure have the dear Servants of God in New-England met withal not long since for the like witness against those Hypocrites but Death and cruel Whippings and Banishment and in old England lately but most savage and cruel usage And would this Baxter yet have us yea and those he counts his Brethren and of his Flock who have any tenderness in them to communicate with such whose Hands are full of Blood if he were as the mouth of God he would put a difference between the Clean and Unclean But he being of an other spirit is for leading People back again into Egypt not for bringing them out of Egypt into the Promised Land and so his Work and endeavour is accursed of God and abhorred of all that know God who are escaped out of Sodom and Egypt and Babylon spiritual where our Lord was crucified And to us the Lord hath said Let them return to you ye saved People but return not you to them for their Pastors are become bruitish and have not sought the Lord therefore they shall not prosper and all their Flocks shall be scattered Jer. 10.21 He that hath Ears let him hear and he that readeth let him understand for the time is at hand for the Lord is arisen to plead with all the false Worshippers upon Earth and with him is no respect of persons And now is the Lord God of ever blessed Power and love appeared in the Earth after the long Night of Apostacy to restore all things and now are the Virgins called upon through the whole World to trim their Lamps for behold the Bridegroom is come and coming and now the foollish Virgins who have been long sleeping and slumbering in a dead Profession of Christ and the Scriptures are found wanting in their Faith Holiness Love and all other Christian Vertues and so in their Unholiness shut out yea and though they run to the Hirelings that set all things to sale to buy yet still before they come the Door is shut for whilst the Lord stood waiting upon them with his pure free and full Grace and Spirit they would have none of it but rather chosed to go their own Ways of Carnal endeavours and man commanded Religion and so like the Jewes of old going about to Establish their own Righteousness have not submitted to the Righteousness of God which is by Faith in Christ Jesus But the wise Virgins who are of an honest Heart to fear God and wait for the Lord Jesus Christ to appear in their spirits to set up his heavenly and everlasting Kingdom in them they receive daily of his fulness which filleth all in all where the true Oyl of the Kingdom is found in their holy Lamps to the praise of the Glory of the unspeakable Love and free Grace of the Almighty Father so be it Again to that part of this Baxter's former Answer where he saith That in all Ages God giveth to some few men more excellent natural Parts then others and he engageth some in deeper and more laborious Studies and he blesseth some mens Studies more then other and therefore there are still some few who know more then the rest of the Country or Mankind and it were well for the rest if they knew these and would learn of them Quer. But how may one know these hard and laborious Studiers as he calls them Oh saith this Baxter They are such as give proof of their knowledge they pretend to and they are such to imploy their knowledge to the preserving of the Peace and Concord of Believers and do not proudly make a stir with it to set up their own Names though thereby they set the World on fire To which I answer and say it is still more and more manifest that this Baxter layes all the weight and stress upon natural Parts and hard Studies as though the Kingdom of God were not at all come nor the Promise of God concerning the free Gifts and plentifull pouring forth of the Spirit not yet fulfilled and so a necessity of learning at the feet of Gamaliel and earthly Doctors still But now that the Spirit of Truth according to God's blessed Promise is come and witnessed amongst us that believe praised be God we cannot go to such as this Baxter with all their natural Parts and hard Studies for the Spirit of Truth leads us and all that obey it into all Truth but this Baxter and such as he leads are in all Error as is manifest for they are of those that lead about a Company of poor Souls silly as Women leaden with divers Sins and Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth which sets free from sin for that and nothing else is the Truth which sets free from sin for saith Christ If ye
know the Truth the Truth shall set you free indeed But this Baxter and all such teach it for Doctrine That they are so far from being free from sin that their very prayers and best performances are not free from sin but sin is in them all Oh sad that ever they should dare to pretend to the Ministry of the Gospel who preach such a Doctrine as make nothing perfect but leaves them in sin all their lives long And no wonder that they and their Doctrine should be void of all good Fruit for saith God They have run and I have not sent them therefore they shall not profit the People at all And yet they would gladly have People know them and learn of them though they can do them no good at all and this is that sorry and bad Proof that the Hirelings make of their great knowledge they pretend unto which they have gotten with their natural Parts and hard Studies and so thy own words shall witness against thee Oh Baxter and thy Brethren who have given no good proof of your knowledge to this day nor have thereby preserved Peace and Concord amongst Believers but done what you can to break it for that Doctrine that makes not men free from sin leaves all the seeds of Discord and Dissention still in Peoples Minds for as sin separated man from God at first so doth it to this day keep them asunder and so keeps them from Love for God is Love and none live or dwell in Love but such as live and dwell in God But such as live in sin and never pray without it are out of God as the Apostle said of People in unbelief They were without God in the World It is not any outward Conformity that will or can make them to be at peace with or love one another for if it were possible to bring Papist Athist and Carnal Protestants and Professors of all sorts into one Form of outward Worship as for Time Place Words or the like Yet there would be neither Love Peace nor Concord amongst them for want of Unity with God and his good Spirit the onely true Ground and Foundation of all true Love Peace and Concord And so Oh R. Baxter we have known thee this many years to be a great Enemy of God and therefore we may not learn of thee nor any such but of Christ do we learn ever praised be his Name who teaches his People to profit and so it s onely the poor deluded Multitude that knowâ— thee not who learn of thee and suck in such poysoned Doctrine as makes them most uncapable of the pure Word of Life and Doctrine of Salvation so that Publicans and Harlots who make little or no Profession enter into the Kingdom of God before you And as for making a stir with thy knowledg and striving to set up thy own Name thereby though thou set the whole World on fire by it who more notorious then thy self in this R. Baxter as witness all thy lying frothy words Books and Pamphlets which thou hast spoken and written against the appearance of Christ and his Truth in these late years but thy Studies and thy Works God hath cursed for no Child of Light will ever buy any of thy Merchandize nor the deceitfull Wares of any other Merchants of Babylon for evermore Blessed be God for his unspeakable Gift Amen But the end of these words of setting the World on fire set down here by this Baxter is easily seen to be this to wit to perswade People that those who are zealous for God in these days in publishing his everlasting Gospel upon the Earth in a cross to the World are such as set up themselves and would set the World on fire And so he is manifest to be one of the old evil Generation of Priests who accused Christ for a mover of Sedition and Paul for a pestilent Fellow Oh it was that good stirring Spirit of the Lord Jesus in himself and his Followers which did so trouble the World the combustible World in all Ages that made and doth make the Hrieling Priests and their deluded Followers so rage and cry out but as for setting the World on fire in a goodsence Christ Jesus saith That he came to set Fire in the Earth But for setting the World on fire in Baxter's sence that is sowing discord and dissention amongst People this is the work and ever was the work of the Hireling Priests who loved to be called of men Masters as this R Baxter is as is said before witness not onely our own Age but the holy Scripture and the Histories of all Times and Ages as those that read may understand And yet these proud Masterly and false Teachers were ever the first and for wardst that cryed against Christ and his Followers for disturbing the World's Peace when as this Doctrine of Christ's Spirit though it did alwayes disturb the Devil's yet it did alwayes tend to the working of the hearts and Souls of the People into God's Peace and did ever and doth at this day work this glorious and blessed Effect in all that believe Whereof we are Witnesses praised be God though for the Testimony of Christ we are troubled on every side by the wicked World So that even now when the Wicked have no peace for there is no peace to the Wicked we whom the World mock stone and persecute under the Nick-Name of Quakers or so have peace in all our Dwellings And within Egypt is full of Darkness that one may feel it yet in our Goshen is plenty of Light ever praised be God And when the World of false Christians are learning War and preparing Weapons we are ceasing from War and not to learn it any more as the Lord hath said And therefore Oh ye Inhabitants of the Earth if ye knew us ye would not hate us and persecute us but love us with your Hearts because of the good will of our Hearts towards you for our Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual Not for pulling down or Destroying of you but your Enemies your sins which wars against your Souls And the Reason why we cannot joyn with you in your Liturgyes and Worship-actions is not because we hate you but because we Love God and your Souls for if we should joyn with you in your defiled Worship as your selves confess they are we should strengthen you in an evil Way But by our separating from you because of the unholiness of your Sacrifices occasion may be ministred to you to question your State and so some of you in time may come out of your Darkness into the marvellous Light of the Lord Jesus with us and praise the Lord in the Land of the Living so be it Another of this Baxter's Follies and false Doctrines I may here mention as one may read it in that Book of his that I have under hand to wit in Pag. 114. are these words It may be unlawfull saith he in a Ruler to command
a thing that will do no good because it is a vain Command and maketh men spend that time in vain and yet be the Subject's duty to do it Answ. This is just such Doctrine as Paul's Enemies taught who said Men might do evil that good might come of it whose Condemnation was just So to avoid Sufferings from men he would have us to obey Unlawfull Commands which will do no good but rather a great Evil to wit make People spend pretious Time in vain Away with such Antichristian stuff amongst the Heathen for all true Christians abhor it in their Hearts as the Lord the good Shepheard hath commanded them And now R. Baxter to that part of thy feigned Prayer Pag. 252. where in words thou seemest to desire That God would stir up some faithful Friend to tell thee with convincing Evidence where it is that thou hast miscarried that contrition may prepare thee for the Peace of Remission Here the Lord hath contrary to thy will and desire stirred up one in faithfulness and love to thy Soul and the Souls of the poor deluded People whom thou hast deceived to tell thee plainly of thy faults and grievous miscarriages as by what is convincingly in these Lines set down doth appear and might be more abundantly if all the miscarrages in this Book onely to let pass all thy other were answered unto in particular but these in this Answer of mine being as it were least of what the rest are may satisfie at present And Oh that the Righteous Judgments of God may come upon thy Heart and the Hearts of all them who are in the same false fleshly confidence with thy self whose very Prayers are not without sin that you may never have peace day nor night until you humble your selves before the Lord and repent of all your hard Speeches and evil Deeds that you have spoken and done against him and his Servants for his Truth 's sake that if it be possible you may be saved from the wrath that will certainly come upon you if you Repent not for that old wicked Paper full of Lyes as I made manifest before thee and some of thy Company in thy Study to thy shame at Kidderminster which thou writst in the pride of thy Heart against us in Oliver's dayes when thou wast lifted up Entituled Reasons to perswade why no reasonable Man can be a Quaker amongst the rest of that kind which thou art not humbled for to this day as I perceive by this Book do all stand upon Record before the Lord the Righteous Judge against thee for in those thy doings and all of that kind against the manifest and manifold Appearances of Christ in his People of every degree thou hast plainly declared thy self to be of Rabshekaie's spirit who raised against the Living God and his dispised Israel and of that spirit that Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses in his work under God of calling Israel out of Egypt and as the Lord pleaded the Cause of his People in those dayes so will he as he hath for ever plead our Innocent Cause against thee and all his Enemies for of a truth the Lord God blessed for ever hath raised us up to be his Servants Sons and Daughters to bear his Name in Righteousness before the Children of men in a pure holy Witness against all the false Ways and Worships of false man so be it and so it will be as hard for thee and all to kick against the Pricks as it was in persecuting Saul Acts 9. read and consider lest the day pass over you as it did from the unbelieving Jewes who would not receive God come and manifest in flesh in those days to whom Christ said Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life but they would seek it in the killing Letter and as it were by the works of the Law until midnight darkness and utter Desolation came upon them For Oh how the Earth is filled with Violence because of such Doctrines and Teachings as this Baxter and such men brings forth for behold how the Field of his Followers and Admirers are all over-grown with Briers and Thorns and noysom Weeds as the proper Fruit of their accursed Doctrines as this Baxter himself sets down in his 48th Direction Pag. 236. of his Book in these words that is to say Oh Friends how bad are we our selves What pride is in our Hearts What Ignorance in our Minds So wanting are we even in the lowest Grace Humility that we have scarce enough to make us take patiently as now we are giving out upon others So selfish as dishonoureth our Profession with the brand of contradictedness and partiallity So weak that our Duties are lyable to greater censures then we can bear And our inward Graces weaker then our outward Duties This must needs be so in the Duties of the graceless Minister thou pleads for of such ungoverned thoughts that Confusion and Tumult instead of Order and fruitfull Improvement are the daily temper and imployment of our Immaginations This must needs be so in you that live in such opposition to the Life of God manifest in his Children at this day So passionate impatient and corrupt that we are a trouble to our selves and others This must needs proceed from such a corrupt Fountain and a dishonour to the Gospel it is so and a hinderance to the conversion of those whom our holy examplary lives should win to God So strange to Heaven as if we had never well believed it that is so and therefore the Sheep of Christ deny your voyce you who are such Strangers to him And to say all in one so empty of love to our dear Redeemer and to the God of love that our Hearts lie vacant to entertain the love of worldly Vanities ye Hypocrites what have you to do to name Christ who are thus unbelieving and unredeemed and to fly back from the serious thoughts of God which should be our daily work and pleasure and fly from the face of Death as if we should be the worst when neerest to our God Oh Hypocrites how can you for shame call God yours when you are thus beyond measure bad when Scripture saith He that saith he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him see 1 Joh. 2.4 and repent lest ye all perish together Priests and People for the Lord is arisen to Judgment and none can stand before him which hath unclean and filthy Garments as you are covered with whom Baxter here puts on to be Teachers of others and yet remain your selves with him under such woful sins and condemnation as is here spoken of But surely if you did believe and feel inwardly that it were so bad with you as here in words is signified you could not go away so lightly with your burdens as you seem to do but it would stop your mouthes and cause all your Pride and Glory to cease For consider but the
out of the Church as prophane c. And so for this thy suming up and concluding God hath concluded thee with the wicked Persecutors for the Judgement of his great Day O Baxter But hold Baxter thou that art thus hot and without all fear in pleading for the Devil's Kingdom I say when the Lord bids us and we obey him in separating from the Wicked is this all one with the Sin of Persecution Oh thou unjust man the Lord will be terrible to thee in the day of his Wrath which is nigh at hand to come upon thee for all thy Villany against him and for all thy daubing deceitful words in the beginning and end of this Direction the Lord sees thee to be a Fighter against him and thy Reward will be according to thy Works as he hath said and all the Rocks and Mountains of the wicked World for whom thou pleadest shall not hide thee from his strook As testifies the good Spirit of the Lord Jesus in his Servant Some more of the bad and strange sayings of this Baxter in his Book Pag. 219. GOdly men are much liker to be in the right then Ungodly men Answ. This shows what a Stranger he is to the certainty of Godliness Pag. 220. Sometimes the worser sort of men may hold fast the Truth Answ. This is a gross Lye for the bad cannot hold fast the good unless in Prison or so If any better Persons deny Infant Baptism the worser Sort of People would be all against them and yet be in the right Answ. Thus sprinkling of Infants for which there is no Scripture must needs be wrong whosoever hold it and the corruption of it appears so much the more because the worser Sort are so much for it Many do take a Form of Prayer or Liturgy to be unlawful meerly because the most of the worser Sort are for it Answ. What deceit is this If thy Hearers so badly taught by thee do such things yet those that are taught of God deny things because they know them to be evil in themselves but what Form or Liturgy is that which the most of the worser Sort of the People are for even that which speaks peace to the Wicked by telling them they were Regenerated by sprinkling a little Water on their Faces or the like when Infants And that they shall be saved though they continue in sin all their lives long but the Hour cometh and now is that neither in the invented Forms of the Hypocrite's long Prayers nor in the short invented Forms and Liturgies of the Prophane but in Spirit and Truth as the Lord Jesus enables them will God be worshipped and served by his People for the Day is dawned and Shaddows 〈◊〉 and as the Day doth more and more arise in its Glory with all the things of vain Men pass away so be it Pag. 221. The some of his 44. Direction by his own setting down runs thus Ye take the Examples of religious Men to be one of your most perilous Temptations and therefore labour to discover especially what are the sins of Professors in the Age that you live in that you may especially watch and fortifie your Souls against them And adds That sometimes the strictest Sort run in a Gang after one Opinion and sometimes after another Answ. Here I appeal to that of God in all that fear his Name and are alive to Truth whether this do not wholly tend to the hardening of Pharaoh's Heart against the People of God in these dayes who are in the Truth it self and not in Opinions as the Hypocrites are for though such as are begotten into Forms of Religion without the Truth by the Hirelings do never cease from erring yet the truely Religious who are begotten to God by Christ walk in the Way undefiled which the Fools who are upright in Heart cannot err in But this his telling of running in a gang is a filthy and reproachful Speech wholly of Ashdod and the Lord will judge thee O Enemy for thy work R. B. and therefore let all that fear God take heed of this Baxter's Soul-defiling and Heart-hardning Doctrine for out of the dark and wicked Kingdom wherein he and all such live is the Lord calling his People And to conclude If any would see this Harlot in its fine dress and the crooked Serpent in its glittering colour on the Head which must be bruised and yet with his Sting in his Tail which is full of Venom let them consider that 44. Direction which runs thus Desire the highest Degree of Holiness and to be free from the corruptions of the Times but affect not to be odd and singular from ordinary Christians in lawful things for instance If it were to go in a meaner Garb then others and as the Quakers not to put off the Hat or with the Friars to go bare Foot or in a distinguishing Habit that all men may see and say This is a singular Person in Religion it is easie to see how this gratifieth Pride Answ. But now that the Lord is arisen according to his Promise Isa. 27.1 which saith In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong Sword shall punish Leviathan the peircing Serpent even Leviathan that crooked Serpent and he shall slay the Dragon that is in the Sea Therefore I say it is that the Dragon is so wrathful to pour forth his Floods of Persecution after the heavenly Woman and her Man-child and therefore it is that the crooked Serpent in such men as this Baxter is is so at work every way seeking with their cunning and crafty deceitful Doctrines to peirce the Heart the Life of Truth by their Darts and so with their fair colourable words as the Apostle speaks To deceive the hearts of the Simple and Ignorant People but the Lord taketh the Wily in their own craftiness and the Pit they digg for others themselves fall into and the Lord 's Spiritual Sword of Truth pierces through all their lives and dead in the great Sea and Puddle of their own Iniquities before the Lord and his Saints this day they lie Glory to his Name the mighty God over all who is worthy For what more glistering and fair seeming words can the Serpent give then to say Desire the highest Degree of Holiness and to be free from the corruptions of the Time But that this Baxter intends no such thing no nor believes that any shall ever attain to any such thing whilst on the Earth is most manifest by the whole current of his Doctrine for not onely in his former Books where he hath publickly declared That sinless Perfecttion is the Doctrine of the Devil hatch'd in Hell c. But even in this very Book it fully appears what an Enemy he is not onely to the highest Degree but even to Holiness it self where amongst his other Unholy Doctrines he saith as is before mentioned from pag. 195. That there is no man alive that worshippeth God without some sin and
warned from following such any more for who would have thought that ever him called Doctor Bryan of Coventry and Richard called Mr. Baxter of Kidderminster who were so promoted in Oliver's time for conformity to Oliver's Laws and Religion in opposition to the Prelates and their Common-Prayers should now with a little blast of mens Breath be silenced as Baxter's Epistle to his Book saith for a time and so shattered and confounded with the fall that when they awaked and got a litle Breath that they should for fear of men be so transformed into other shapes as not to be ashamed to get into their Mouthes blasphemous words of making People Members of Christ Children of God and Heirs of his Kingdom by having a little Water sprinkled on their Faces by a manmade-Priest when they were Infants and understood nothing then which passage there is not any passage in the Liturgy or Common-Service-Book nay nor in any Book in the World whatsoever more contrary to the Scriptures of Truth as all sober Minded People well understand yea and this Bryan himself knows in his own Conscience that they are not sound words though he most notoriously and falsely say to please the present Evil World with all that the holy Scriptures warrant them in a sacramental Sence But I desire that all People who fear the Lord would take heed of such dangerous Heresies for the Scriptures of Truth do not allow of Falshood in any Sence at all for its absolutely false in the sight of God and to all good Men that Infants by any such outward sprinkling or doing as they call Baptism are made the Children of God Members of Christ Heirs of his Kingdom seeing the Scripture no where commands any such thing but saith That except People be born from above they cannot see the Kingdom of God But the Day is dawned that makes all things manifest praises to God And therefore People consider what a wretchedness those are under who follow such blind Guides as turn and change with every Time and can be any thing or nothing in appearance so that they can but keep up their Name amongst men What was the Common-Prayers and such things so odious and damnable a thing in the Eyes of these Priests in Oliver's Time And is it now yea the worst part of it became such an Idol in their Eyes as that those that dwell in God must be condemned of deep prejudice for not conformity to it What will not that spirit that climbs over the Door and never was sent of God to preach the Gospel say or unsay so as it can but please the present Times But Oh thou blasphemous Bryan the Accuser of the Brethren can those that dwell with God deny to conform to that Worship or Service which is of God And therefore it is safely and truely concluded that the Parish-Service thou pleads for is not of God because for conscience to God with whom they dwell they cannot conform to it but Oh how the Serpent creeps upon his Belly to do mischief by seeking to perswade the consciencious People That by their not joyning with the Parish Worships and Assemblies they open their Mouthes wide to cast a Scandal upon their Persons as prophane and upon the strict Profession of walking precisely according to the written Word which they think sayes this Bryan in that pag. 292. of his Book gives you no warrant for your Separation c. And then down upon his Belly he goes saying My humble and earnest request to you is to lay aside your prejudice and examine by the good Word whether your separation be not sinful Answ. To which I answer in the Word of the Lord Blessed for ever that we who for the Work and Word of the Lord in our Hearts and Mouthes are by the sinful Parishes of England and elsewhere disdained and scornfully called Quakers are not separated from them because of any prejudice or the like against them but God who by his Everlasting Light of Truth hath shewed us the Evil of their Doings and of our own when we worshipped we knew not what amongst them he I say hath separated us from them and joyned us to himself in Christ Jesus where with him our Dwelling is indeed though Bryan think not so praised be the Name of our most holy Lord God for evermore And so we are not yet to examine whether our separation be sinful or nay for that is done and we do know it to be good according to the good Word from the beginning most certainly And so the offence which the Parish-worshippers take is offence without all cause on our parts given and so it is no other then the Unbelievers took in all Generations against them that feared God as the Jews were offended at Christ and his Apostles yea and all Christians in those dayes because they could not worship with their Neigbours in their Superstitions as this Bryan would have us and not onely so but they killed Christ and his Apostles and grievously persecuted the Christians for their separation then as they do us at this day and so the reproach of Christ is to us great Riches and the Persecutors God will examine and judge And as Moses did chuse rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God then to enjoy Egypt's Glory for a Season so blessed are all that with us are perswaded in their Hearts to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes not heeding what the Wicked say or judge of them but as the Apostle exhorts looking at Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and so through all the Tryals and Persecutions of this World enter into God's Glory where none can come to make afraid But if there be any who through prejudice as this Bryan speaks and not by the Spirit of the Lord are separated from the Parish-Worship it is necessary for such to see to themselves and consider lest their return be as shameful as their separation was sinful like this Bryan and Baxter who it seems all this while have been no real and true Separatists to God but have been onely in the self-separation according to the will and force of Times For though the poor deceived Followers of such men be at present more averse from joyning with the Superstitions of the Times then your Hearers are as Baxter sayes yet if you grow not out of their rotten Root into the Root Christ Jesus you will be weary and faint in your Way before the end but let all know that these self-separatists who have not their Birth of God are no real Dwellers with God though this Bryan its like had an Eye especially to such in his words and to whom its like in a special manner he applies his fawning flattering words and desires But what 's the Reason may we say again that these non-conforming Ministers by Baxter's report are not so much against the