Lord but he that is unsanctified is without holiness and therefore cannot see the Lord And so though Grace hath abounded towards you yet it seems your sins hath much more abounded in so much that sin hath overcome you and eaten out all the Divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying Grace but with the church of Christ it was otherwise for though there was a time in which sin had abounded yet Grace had much more abounded in them so that by Grace they were saved from sin and were become dead to sin and alive unto righteousness and had their fruits unto holiness and the end everlasting life And so by all these particulars of which you have confest your selves to be guilty it is evident that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ but on the contrary it plainly appears that you very much differ from them And also there are many other particulars exprest in the said Tiverton Epistle of which you confess your selves to be guilty which time would even fail me to insist upon whereby I could further and more fully and largely prove that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Jesus Christ some of which are as followeth That coldness and deadness is upon your selves and upon the churches formality in holy duties indifferencie and a Laodicean spirit is sallen in upon you that you have been drawing iniquitie with cords of vanitie that there is amongst you personal iniquitie congregational iniquitie national iniquitie familie iniquitie closet iniquitie that you are without soundness from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot full of bruises and putrified sores and the crown is fallen from your head by reason of your iniquities that you have but as it were played with God and not trembled in his presence but have been wanton before him and without the terror of his Maiestie and â—â—at you have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and being gone away presentlie forgot what manner of men and women you were thought no more on your prayers and so confess that you have often mocked God that the World doth eat out your time your strength your zeal and that in the lap of this Dalilah whilst asleep your locks have been cut off and you are but as other men that Satan hath shewed you the Kingdoms of the world and this hath bewitched you and alienated your minds from the Lord that you are remiss in meetings and that you neglect the poor Saints Ministers of Christ whose dailie complaints and addresses you say are living monuments of this reigning abomination That you are cruel to servants and children exacting all their labours and takes no time to counsel or instruct them whereby their souls might be the better for you that slavish fear hath stopped your mouths until the mouth of this Iniquitie hath almost devoured your poor churches That these evils are so deeplie rooted in your hearts that it is hard to get them out that they have wrested all weapons out of your hands that have been formed against them so that you have laboured in vain and that which you have brought forth hath been to little purpose Several other such like things as these you confess your selves and your churches to be guilty of in the said Tiverton Epistle To all which I say If you are indeed guiltie of all these reigning abominations and apparent iniquities according to your confession then assuredlie may I conclude That you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ and that the Ordinances which you practise are not the Ordinances of Christ but the Ordinances of the man of sin which is exalted and bears rule in you for of these abominations and apparent iniquities the church of Christ was never guiltie as hath been proved And if you say you are not guiltie thereof according to your confession then is this confession of yours a most abominable piece of hypocrisie wherein you have even mocked God as you say you have done often which will render you no less culpable of his fierce wrath and heavy indignation then the former And thus are your skirts discovered your deeds brought to light you weighed in an Equal Ballance â—nd true judgment pass'd upon you and therefore although you call your selves churches of Christ Ministers of Christ yet your presumption is hereby discovered who call your selves churches of Christ and are not as their blasphemie was known who said they were Jews and were not and you with them are found lyars And although you boast of the Ordinances of Christ and say it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures and would seem to deck your selves with precious Stones and Pearls yet whilst these abominations reign in you and such iniquities so apparentlie written upon you your Name is Mysteris Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth a Synagogue of Satan a habitation of Devils a hold of every foul Spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful Bird And therefore though Joab flie to lay hold on the horns of the Altar yet from thence he must be taken because he is a man of blood and so on his head must the blood of Abner be charged and rest for ever that Davia and his house may be clear before the Lord for ever And thus the Spiritual Man which is Christ the true light with his Ordinances and Administrations which are spiritual are exalted above the man of fin and above his Ordinances which are weak and unprofitable and which doth not make the comers thereunto perfect and above that imagined false Christ which doth not save his people from their sins and above that Justification which justifies people in their sins and above that blood which doth not reach to the purging of the conscience from dead works and above that faith which doth not purifie the heart and give victory over the world and above that baptism which is not by one spirit into one body whereby sin and transgression reigning abominations and apparent iniquities are washed away and above that Church-fellowship which is not with the Father and with the Son and with the Assembly of the first-born and with the spirits of just men made perfect and above that Bread which is not the Body of Christ and above that cup which is not the cup of blessing of consolation and salvation even the Communion of the Blood of Christ the spiritual Rock of which the Israel of God drunk And above those Prayers which are but lip-labour which are so soon forgotten and no more thought upon and wherewith God is so often mocked which comes not from a pure heart and holy hands lifted up without wrath and doubting and above that Worship which stands in the will of man in conformity to a Rule or Law without them not being thereunto led by the Spirit of the living God whose Worship is spiritual and who will be worshipped in the
whilst sin doth reign in you all that you practise is but the Ordinances of the Man of Sin and those Ordinances are weak and unprofitable and can never make the comers thereunto or the practisers of them perfect and in this state the Spiritual Man which is Christ you know not neither of his Ordinances which are spiritual can you partake for this I affirm That the Ordinances of Christ which are spiritual are onely used and practised in the Church of Christ and amongst the Saints and not elsevvhere and for any other to say that they either follovv them or plead for them I say they are intruders into those things vvhich they have not seen and are talking of those things vvhich belongs not to them neither vvere they ever intended or ordained for such to practise and it vvill be said to all such Who hath required these things at your hands And therefore notvvithstanding your profession and your great boasting of the Ordinances of Christ except it may appear that you are the Church of Christ and that his Spirit leads you to and guides you in the practise of those things they are not the Ordinances of Christ to you but a Worship set up in your wils in imitation of others who were thereunto led by the spirit of God for he that hath not the spirit of Christ to lead him and guide him is none of his and then no member of his Church such cannot partake of his Ordinances And he that hath received that spirit is thereby made a Member of the Church of Christ and by it led and guided into all truth and so into the practise of those Ordinances of Christ that are spiritual and this is agreeable with and according to the Scriptures of truth and therefore I say except it may appear that you are Members of the church of Christ and led and guided by his spirit in the exercise performance of those things which you practise which you call Ordinances of Christ all that you do is but imitation at the most and not withstanding your boasting of the Ordinances of Christ and that it is his Ordinances you plead for and follow yet it will appear to be but will-worship and voluntary humility and the foolish inventions and imaginations of your own hearts which wil never make the comers thereunto perfect and so your Faith of which you speak will appear to be vain and as by your own confession it appeats it hath not so it will not purifie your hearts nor give you victory over the world but you will stil remain in your sins and the Law stil have dominion over you if you are not Members of that church whereof Christ is the Head and so Members of his body and that his spirit leads you to and guides you in your Worship and your Practise then you are of the Synagogue of Satan and so the man of sin is exalted in you above all that is called God and his voice you obey and his servants you are and his Ordinances you practise and him you worship and of the true God and his Worship and the true Christ and his Ordinances you are ignorant and therefore you shall be tryed whether you are the church of Christ or not or wherein you differ from them and thereby it will appear what those Ordinances are and whose they are which you say you follow and plead for herein you shall have just measure for you shall be tried by your own confession and the Scriptures of truth shall be witness which said Confession is recorded in a printed Paper directed to all the Churches of Jesus Christ as you call them from a meeting of the Messengers of the Churches in Tiverton the 18. day of the 7. Month 1657. Signed in their Names and by their appointment as the Subscribers say who write themselves Thomas Collier Nathaniel Strange Thomas Glass And so this Author with all the rest of the people called Anabaptists are concerned in it which said Tiverton-Writing or printed Paper was the occasion of T. S. his directing his Epistle to you called An Epistle to the Churches of the Anabaptists so câ—lled Which ought rather to have been received by you in love then for any of you thus to reward him evil for good but his reward is with the Lord and whether you hear or forbear whether you believe or perish in your gain-saying he will be clear of your blood and be a good savour to the Lord And amongst many other particulars contained in your said Epistle you say You have made confession of those reigning abominations in your own souls and in the Churches To wch I say Hereby you appear to be neither Ministers nor Churches of Jesus Christ but very much to differ from them for if abomination reigns in your Churches then abomination is the Head of your Church for that which reigns in the church is the head of the church and if abomination be the head of your church then is not Christ your head but the church of Christ did witness Christ to be their head and not abomination and they were exhorted to grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ who is both the Head and the Saviour of his church which is his body according to the Scriptures Eph. 4. 15. Eph. 5. 23. Coll. 1. 18. and thus it 's evident that you are not the church of Christ which is his Body because Christ is not your Head Again that which reigns in your churches hath dominion over your churches and you say abomination reigns in your churches in your souls therefore abomination hath dominion over your churches and over your souls and this proves you to be no Church of Christ because you are subjects to another Prince and other Lords hath the Dominion over you and you are not subjects of Christs Kingdom but the Church of Christ were in subject on to Christ and he did reign over them and had the dominion over them as the Scriptures declares which saith He shall reign over the house of David for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end who is set far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named c. to whom they ascribed praise and dominion for ever and ever Luke 1 33. Eph. 1. 21. 1 Pet 4. 11. Again Abo nination is that which God hates and his wrath and displeasure is against such in whom abomination reigns for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable c. must have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone but the Church of Christ are beloved of God and have their part and their inheritance and fellowship with the Father and with the Son and with the Saints in light as the Scriptures doth witness which saith For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts and
spirit and in the truth I say The Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations which are spiritual stands over the man of sin and over these his carnal weak unprofitable Ordinances beggarlie rudiments vain ceremonies and traditional imitations which although you call them the Ordinances of Christ yet they are but your own fancies and imaginations And thus by a just and a lawful Trial it plainly and evidently appears that you are neither Churches nor Ministers of Jesus Christ but in all the particulars before-mentioned you are found very much to differ from them and because you are not the church of Christ and that his Spirit doth not lead you to and guide you in the practise or performance of those things which you plead for and follow therefore those things by you pleaded for are not the Ordinances of Christ but the Ordinances of the man of sin and so the Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations are exalted above the man of sin with the weak and unprofitable Ordinances that doth not make the comers thereunto perfect according to the truth asserted by Thomas Salthouse which is hereby vindicated and fully confirmed And now I shall return to speak to some particulars in thy Paper wherein thou saist Because in the Tiverton Epistle there is a complaint against the sins that are remaining in the Churches T. S from hence suggesteth that they are no Churches of Christ I answer T. S. had sufficient ground from your own confession in the said Epistle to conclude that you are no churches of Christ as was by him fully proved and is now again more at large confirmed For the church of Christ which is his bodie is in all things answerable and proportionable to him who is the Head Now you will all confess that the Head is holie harmless undefiled seperate from sin and sinners and if the Bodie be unholie full of abomination and defiled with sin and iniquitie then is Christ the Head of a defiled polluted unclean sinful Body and this is not proportionable for as is the Head such are the members and they said As he is so are we in this present world 1 Joh. 4. 17. But in that Epistle you do not onely complain against those sins that are yet remaining in the churches but you there say that abominations are reigning in your churches and in your souls Now these expressions in thy Paper where thou speakest of sins remaining c. might seem very much to alter the case and to lessen the crime in the judgement of those that have not seen your Consession in the said Epistle and such might begin to think that T. S. had dealt something uncharitably with you to exhort all that fear God to seperate from you and to come out from among you because some sins were yet remaining amongst you for to speak of sins yet remaining might seem to imply that some sins were mortified and put off and as if you were warring against and waiting to receive power to overcome those that remain and such a condition as this we could own though we cannot own those for a church of Christ who live in sin for we own and witness a spiritual warfare which all must know before they can be Members of the church of Christ and had you been found in such a condition as this to be armed with the power of God and so to stand in the war against sin and Satan we could have owned you in such a state as a people whom the Lord was purging and cleanslng and sanctifying for himself sitting and preparing you to be a habitation for the Lord to dwell in that your bodies might become the Temples of the Holy Ghost and so you might be married to the Lord in righteousness become the Spouse of Christ which is his Church but it is far otherwise with you for sin is not onely remaining in you but reigning in you and apparently written upon you and where sin and abomination reigns it hath the sole dominion power and preheminence and as a strong man armed keeps the house and is at peace and the stronger is not come that should dis-possess him and make the keepers of the House to tremble and the strong to bow that should enter in and break his peace and spoile his goods neither are you in a condition to war against sin for you confess that all weapons are wrested from you with which you should maintain war against it so that sin abomination hath quiet peaceable possession in you hath got both strength weapons to defend it self upon all occasions And so you are altogether servants to sin slaves to Satan under Aegyptian darkness this is much more then to say Sins yet remaining in you and as I have said doth very much alter your case from what these expressions of thine might seem to render it And saist thou that which T. C. saith is That the true churches of Christ have had the same or as great sins and abominations in them as are mentioned in that Epistle and yet were the true churches of Christ owned of God as is fully proved c. to which Scriptures thou saist T. S. gives no answer To this I say It is a very light thing with T. C. to lay sin to the charge of Gods elect and to condemn the generation of the Just and also to plead Justification for those in whom abomination reigns and in whose fore-heads iniquitie is apparentlie written but T. C. will one day know that he which justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord Yet by all that T. C. hath said though he hath quoted so many Scriptures perverting them and even wresting them to his own destruction it doth not appear that ever the church of Christ was guilty of these or the like abominations as in the Tiverton Epistle is exprest neither doth any one of those Scriptures at all prove any such thing therefore it was needless for T. S to give any answer thereunto but forasmuch as thou seems to vaunt thy self because T. S. hath not spoken particularly in answer to those Scriptures which thou call'st T. C. his Cloud of Witnesses and that both in thy Paper and also in T. C. his Answer to T. S. his Epistle the perverting of the Scriptures especially what is written to the church of Corinth is made use of as a Stirrup whereby you may mount you selves upon the Throne of Iniquitie taking occasion from what the Apostle writes to them concerning such as had sinned to boast your selves to be the church of Christ notwithstanding your great abominations and apparent iniquities confest and exprest in Tiverton Writing I shall therefore speak something briefly to some of those Scriptures thereby to discover thy blindness and ignorance of the things of God of which the Scriptures of truth declares And first concerning the Church of the Romans chap. 13.