he shall abide with you that is all that shall suceed you in the Faith forever As in his Comment on the 28th Chapter of Matthew upon these words I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World And though I shall now shortly part with you yet I will by sending the Spirit upon you to lead you into all Truth and by my perpetual Presence and Assistance afforded you and by that Authority that I have received of my Father and now commit unto you John 20. 21 22. continue with you and your Successors unto the End of the World Now if we read that Scripture he quotes as an Interpretation of what he understands by Christ's being with them and their Successors to the end of the World we shall find it to be this Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost What can be fuller then that in his apprehension not only the Apostles but their Successors in the Faith were to have continued unto them the perpetual Presence and Assistance of the Holy Ghost And sayes no mean Protestant upon the Place and very truly It is by the Spirit only that men who do not profit under outward means will be enabled to profit who when he cometh reveals Truths clearly and bears them in with Life and Power upon the Heart and doth renew mens spirits to embrace and submit to them And on the 14th Chapter thus The Spirit of God in Believers is not only a Comforter to apply and bear in the Consolations of God purchased by Christ upon their Hearts but is their Advocate also who pleads their Cause with God by furnishing them with Prayers and Groans that cannot be uttered I shall now produce the sense of several Persons so great in the Socinian way conformable to what has been asserted concerning the Holy Spirit that one would think our Adversary ought to be concluded by it And the first shall be Socinus himself who in his explication of the 1st verse of the 8th Chapter to the Romans speaks in short thus Neque enim jam carni sed spiritui obsequuntur spiritus namque vitalis imperium cui et ego omnes qui Christi sunt subduntur nos a jugo peccati mortis assernit For neither do they now follow or live after the Flesh but the Spirit for the Power of the living Spirit to which both I and all who are Christ's are subdued hath freed us from the Yoak of Sin and Death Slichtingius who in his Comment upon the Passage already mentioned especially that part He shall lead you into all Truth gives us his mind thus Quando autem veniet ille nempe Paracletus spiritus ille veritatis ducet vos nempe interna illuminatione in omnem veritatem nempe ad salutem aeternam pertinentem ita ut omnia sciatis intelligatis quae vera sunt ad salutem pertinent That is When the Paraclet to wit the Spirit of Truth shall come by his internal Illumination or inward Enlightening he will lead into all Truth and to the Knowledge and Vnderstanding of all those things which are true and necessary and do pertain to Eternal Life Now since all are concerned in the End namely Eternal Life methinks it is most reasonable that all should be in a share in the means to it I mean the Teachings and Guidings of that Vnerring Spirit Thus much for this place I will instance one place more and the thoughts of these men upon it I mean this last cited and one not less Famous in the same way Crellius in his Comment upon the Romans Chap. 8. vers 14 15. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God for ye have not received the spirit of Bondage c. sayes Etenim quotquot spiritui illi divino se regendos tradunt ejusque ductum sequuntur quemadmodum sane faciunt ij qui ejus ope carnis opera in se perimunt eque non admittunt illi Dei ipsius sunt Filij qui quemadmodum jam naturae ipsius sunt quodammodo participes ejusque similes Ita etiam vicissim a 〈◊〉 â—iliorum loco habentur ab eoque sunt adoptâ—ti in Filiorum jus adsâ—iti Eos autem qui a Deo instar Filiorum diliguntur vitae sempiternae fore participes quanquam per se unicuique videtur patere mox tamen planum faciam Certainly then our Adversary if he hath any regard for Crellius will not oppose himself to the necessity of Christians being accompanied by an infallible Spirit when this Author plainly tells us That without that Spirit of God and the Operation of it to a Regeneration of Soul there is no being a true Child of God and Heir to the possession of Glory as he further speaks upon the 17th verse Slichtingius gives us the same Interpretation differing only in the Expression sayes he Probant illos victuros esse si spiritu actiones corporis mortificent Again Spiritu Dei agi ferri impelli regi spiritu actiones corporis perimere They prove themselves to be Conquerors if by the Spirit they mortifie the Deeds of the Body Again To be acted led moved perswaded governed ruled and directed and to overthrow and destroy the Works of the Flesh by the Spirit of God this is to be a true Child of God Crellius is most express upon the 12th verse of the 2d chapter of Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians Sed spiritum qui est ex Deo id est qui ex Deo proficiscitur seu derivatur in homines ideoque Dei Spiritus merito vocatur But the Spirit which is of God that is which proceedeth from God or is derived from God into men it is therefore deservedly called the Spirit of God Crellius upon that remarkable Passage of the same Apostle and in the same Chapter But the spiritual man judgeth all things c. speaks thus Opponit animali homini spiritualem Spiritualis autem homo ille est qui non soluâ— spiritu Dei praeditus est sed etiam ejus ductum sequitur a spiritu ipso totus pendet Sayes he The Apostle opposeth the Spiritual to the Natural man that is the spiritual man who is not only endued with God's Spirit but is also under the Spirit 's Conduct and wholy depends upon it What man speaks more pathetically for inspiration then Crellius doth in whom out Adversary pretends to believe Nor is Slichtingius much behind him who on the same place gives us his mind thus Spiritualis autem id est homo divino spiritu non tantum praeditus sed illi etiam totus deditus But the Spiritual man that is saith he not only the man who is adorned and over-seen as by his good Angel by the holy Spirit but who
grateful is the lowest degree of Reason to us wheresoever we find it that we can no more deny it or occasionally refuse our selves the use of it then the greatest since its being so does not unreason it or render it no Reason in it self though confessedly a less degree of Reason nor is it possible that the meanest Appearance of Reason can withstand the greatest since Reason alwayes acknowledgeth and owneth her self in what Degree soever she meets It is not Stature that makes a Man nor Magnitude a Tree or Stone but the Nature and Property of each And truly we are well contented with our weak Reason as he is pleased to call it we know it to be God's Light Grace and Spirit of Truth that since we gave our Minds intirely to be governed and exercised by it We have found that Mortification of Sin and Corruption that Renewing of Heavenly Divine Life that holy Courage and Patience and it has brought us to so good an Vnderstanding of the Mysteries of God's Eternal Kingdom and Assurance as we are faithful to the same of Everlasting Blessedness that 't is beyond the power of the ratling of these Leaves of Charge and Reproach to scare us from our Standing or beget the least Question in us concerning the certainty of this Pure Unchangeable Way of God in which we walk but is invisible to his vulterous Eye who so disdainfully writes against it I had some hopes he had done with Personal Contest at least against the Body but I find him still in his Reflections For whilst you look upon your selves as led by an infallible Spirit though it be indeed nothing but the Fancy of G. Fox or some other of your Teachers you must needs reject the clearest Light that God hath given to Men 〈◊〉 Angels when it opposes your Sentments Though he could scarce say any thing of us more disingenious and scurrilous rendring us such deluded Sots and very Iddeots as to captivate our own Understandings if he can think we had ever any to the Dreams and Fancies of a few illiterate men under an Apprehension of being led not by them but an Infalible Spirit Yet since in this one Expression lies wrapt up if not his great undervalue of an Infallible Spirit at least his Disbelief of any such thing as the Guide of men and his unworthy Reflection upon us in crediting any such Doctrine I am more then ordinarily engag'd to state and vindicate that one most necessary Doctrine viz. Whether God's holy and Infallible Spirit be the proper Rule of Faith Judge of Controversies and Guide of a Christian Life or any other thing this I reckon as the main Hing on which all turns and I now make it my Post by which in God's Strength I am resolved to stand firm in its Defence and that by Scripture and Reason hoping whatever uncharitable Thoughts he entertains of us that he is not so devoid of all sense of either as that they may not be used with advantage to him under his present Ignorance and Presumption 'T is true this deserves an intire Discourse of it self as that which above all other Subjects disputed on in the whole World deserves mans most weighty Consideration and if the Lord make way it may be by some or other more distinctly and at large hanâ—llâ—d another time in a perticular Tract however I shall state and briefly defend the Question I hope to present satisfaction The Question Stated Whether God's Holy and Unerring Spirit for I am so Charitable as to think he believes God's Spirit to be so is or should be the proper Judge of Truth Rule of Faith and Guide of Life among men especially under the Administration of the Blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or not I affirm it and proceed to prove it both by Scripture and Reason First Gen. 6. 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is Flesh yet his dayes shall be an Hundred and Twenty Years c. If God's Unerring Spirit has been wont to strive with men either to convince them of and convert them from the Evil of their Thoughts words and Deeds or else to provoke them yet more fully to do the Will of God so as to press on from one degree of Glory to another then Men have had an Unerring Spirit to be their Teacher and Judge and Rule and Guide of that Truth concerning that Faith and in that most holy Way which leads to Eternal Life But the Scripture proves the first Proposition That God's Spirit has frequently strove with men and for the Ends before-mentioned and consequently they have not been without an Holy Vnerring Spirit to Teach Judge Regulate and Guide them Secondly Neh. 9. 19 20. Yet thou in thy manifold Mercies forsookest them not in the Wilderness the Pillar of the Cloud departed not from them by Day to lead them in the Way neither the Pillar of Fire by Night to shew them Light and the Way wherein they should go Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them c. If under the Dispensation of the Law God gave his good Spirit to instruct his People which is to say that it should teach them rule them and guide them in whatever was necessary for them to know or do otherwise God's Spirit would have been lame and defective in his holy Instruction which far be it from any sober man to affirm then will it follow that much more should the same Eternal Spirit be poured out under the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel But all that acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scriptures must confess to God's Goodness to his People in the outward Wilderness in the free Gift of his Eternal Spirit therefore the Eternal Spirit was and is the Teacher Judge Rule and Guide of his People now besides that state was but figurative of the Mystical Travel of the true Church in the dayes of the Gospel and how is God so propitious now as then if he be not as a Pillar of Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night I mean Spiritually and Invisibly so to illuminate his People concerning the way he would have them to walk in Thirdly Job 32. 8. Prov. 2. 6. But there is a Spirit in man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Vnderstanding For the Lord giveth Wisdom out of his Mouth cometh Knowledge and Vnderstanding If the Spirit in man be not of man as the foregoing words shew and therefore is that divine Spirit by and from which comes the Inspiration of the Almighty and if the Understanding he mostly intended be of Divine and Eternal Matters as the whole Subject treated on in the preceeding and following Chapters as well as that in which the words are manifests then is it not from the strength of mans Reason Memory or utmost Creaturely Ability that his Knowledge of Religious and Heavenly Things comes but from the Revelation and Discovery of the
weighty Scripture containing the very Work of Regeneration and sine qua non or that only certain Means Condition and Requisit without which there can be no obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation requires our best notice and consideration in order to which I shall divide the place into these two Heads and briefly raise my Argument thereon 1. Christ's most positive exclusion of all from any Portion in God's Kingdom who were not born again in answer to Nicodemus his carnal Conceit of the impossibility of an old mans entring a second time into his Mothers Womb. 2. That the Birth which all such as would inhererit God's Kingdom should be Witnesses of was and is the Birth of Water and the Spirit upon which I thus proceed to argue If none can Inherit God's Holy Kingdom but those who are regenerated of Water and the Spirit then none can inherit God's Holy Kingdom but such as are cleansed by Water and taught led and guided by God's Holy Spirit The first none can deny that own the Scripture it being but a part of the very verse quoted the second I evidently prove thus If Water and Spirit be the only operative to Regeneration and Regeneration the alone Way to the Kingdom of God then can no man inherit God's Kingdom that is not regenerated neither can any man be regenerated that is not washed by the Water of Life begotten work't formed inspired and acted by that Eternal Spirit to Newness of Life That to be begotten is to be principally guided and acted by that by which any is so begotten I prove No man can live move sensate or act but from the original Heat Life Motion and Action of that which did beget him because the Nature of that which begets being conveyed to the begotten truly renders him begotten or else there were no such thing but every regenerate man is the Begotten of the Eternal Spirit so far as concerns his Renovation or Regeneration therefore every such regenerated man was and is led motion'd and acted by that Eternal Spirit which begot him and consequently the Saints which are the regenerated are not left destitute of an infallible Teacher Judge Rule and Guide amongst them In short We look upon being born of Water and the Spirit to be Our being cleansed from all filthiness and quickened informed ruled and guided by the most pure and perfect Dictates and Operations of God's Eternal Spirit And how a Regenerated man can be made or continue such without the daily Guidance of that Infallible Spirit and the Scriptures kept clear from the Reflection of Contradiction if not gross Error is a Riddle too hard for me to explain and a Task I may without Presumption say too great for our trifling Antagonist to perform Twelfthly John 14. 16 17 18 20. 16. 13. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Again Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come be will guide you into all Truth Upon these Divine Passages thus particularly exprest by the Holy Ghost I offer these short Arguments 1. If the Spirit of Truth or most infallible Spirit be God's Gift to his Servants in Gospel times to abide with them forever then are they accompanied with an infallible Spirit but we see the plain Text proves that God gives his Spirit of Truth to his Servants that they might be assisted in all their Wants and therefore they are not without such an infallible Spirit And our Adversary is more to blame to reflect upon the Guidance of an infallible Spirit which is so consonant with the express Letter of a multitude of Scripture Passages then we are because we credit G. F. upon Conviction And if he tells us That unless we believe what our Eyes see of Contradictions as he pretends by him collected out of G. F's Book that he will not believe whatever we shall say or affirm we may on much better Grounds conclude never to believe what he asserts and wholy to decline writing or speaking to him to use his own words if hereafter he will dare to continue in the belief of so Anti-scriptural and Anti-gospel an Apprehension as that there is no infallible Spirit to guide men in the Way of Salvation which is as express and evident from many naked Texts of Scripture as that God is Truth else never did any Writing more delude Mankind because none could be more particular and plain in the Promise and allowance of it But let God and his written Will be true and our Vnspiritual Adversary in his confest Fallible Judgment of us a very Lyar. 2. If the not seeing and knowing of the Spirit of Truth be the Reason rendred by our Lord Jesus why the World receives it not then may we most justly infer that they never saw it neither know it but are of the World who cannot receive it but write against it in reference to its greatest Office viz. Of being the Saints Teacher Leader and Comforter And indeed because the Spirit is not some visible elementary thing that may be seen by their outward Eyes and be comprehended by their dark confused and disputative Brains which is contrary to the Decree and Way of God's manifesting of his Will from the conviction of the least sin to the enjoyment of the highest Glory therefore they dis-regard it as contemptible and dis-believe it as incredible 3. If the Ground of the Saints Knowledge of that Infallible Spirit be the Spirit 's inhabiting them for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you then were they not without that Spirit and consequently they were attended with an infallible Guide within them 4. If the Lord Jesus would not leave them comfortless but though visibly with-drawn yet in a more Spiritual and Invisible manner would come to them again and that at that day they should know that He was in his Father they in Him and He in them Then were his Servants not destitute of an infallible Judge Leader and Guide because they had Him that was the Way Truth and Life to whom all Power and Judgment were committed 5. If both the Spirit of Truth was promised to come and when come to guide into all Truth that is to say that whateve they scrupled were ignorant in or ought to know and practicer with what they were oblieged to reject and testifie against should be by that Eternal Spirit discovered unto them then undoubtedly they were not without an infallible Spirit to Judge Regulate and Guide them in all that concerned Faith Worship and Conversation but the first Proposition is purely Scriptural and therefore the consequent not
in writing against a particular Person to prove a Charge against a People having already pointed at it in another place but shall fall to the Charge it self which I will faithfully lay down in his own words and the rather since it is one main part of his Proof against G. F. that he is an Impostor because he renders not the very words of Scripture though words importing the same sense Pag. 3. If you will but allow us competent Witnesses to prove that G. Fox killed a man supposing we have seen him at noon-day thrust him through the Heart with a Sword or if you will grant that we can read English and know that A. B. is not C. O. then upon these Concessions we will undertake to prove that G. Fox is a false Prophet a Lyar or Imposter This Reader is the Charge And dost thou not think it is rarely drawn up Well may I say rarely for I dare say it is the first of the sort that is extant in the World I must confess I am at a stand what he intends with his suppository Introduction to it for I as little understand what the man means by allowing Vs Competent Witness when the Vs are to see the thing done as he can pretend Difficulty in the obscurest Passage in G. Fox's Writings for either he should have said If you will but allow Vs to be competent Witnesses supposing we have seen him at Noon-day c. or if as by him already Phrais'd viz. If you will but allow Us competent Witnesses leaving out to be then say I it should be supposing They and not We have seen him at Noon-day c. for as exprest they are competent Witnesses But if this be so trivial as that our time might have been better spent and our Charity have over lookt it as a slip of the Mans Pen or in the Compositors Setting Methinks he was as lavish of his Time as penurious in his Charity that without any Just Provocation he should trouble the world with an entiâ—e Book containing little else but a Collection of such slender at most omissions enlarg'd with his own malicious Comments Well but it is now time that we should see this wonderful discovery he has made of George Fox and that so plain as killing a man at noon-day which unhandsom Comparison is no mean Instance of his own vexed base and murdering Spirit or as his Mathematical Demonstration that A. B. is not C. O. for which peculiar and easie way of well-expressing of a Charge we remain his Debtors To prove this Charge the only thing we want for of false Accusers and Accusations we have enough he thus goes about it to use his own words If G. Fox in matters of concernment not only to mens Bodies and Estates but also to their Souls and eternal Estates affirm that to be true which to your own Eyes is manifestly false or that to be false which is true Again If G. F. doth belye not an ordinary Person a mortal Man or Prince but God Almightâ— our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost Moreover If he deal thus through Design and Purposâ—â— then he is what I have said viz. a false Prophet Lyar and Impostor with a Witness This is but Petitio Principii or a meer begging of the question nothing is more proved here then in the Charge it self nay it is but the Repetition of the Charge expressed in other tearms Yet to it so expressed I return in short thus much First I deny that George Fox his affirming things to be true which are false and false which are true to be obvious to our Eyes or Sences for we can see no such thing And since we are so to see them in order to the Conclusion it follows that he is no false Prophet Lyar or Impostor by his own Rule But Secondly I utterly deny that George Fox so affirming or asserting supposing as our Adversary says of him renders him either a false Prophet or Impostor since he only is a false Prophet that either runs to instruct or teach a People and not sent of God but speaks other mens words not his own Visions or who prophesies such things to come as never come to pass but happen quite contrary in neither of which acceptations is George Fox proved a false Prophet therefore none The like may be urged to clear him from Imposture since he only is an Impostor that assumes to himself the Dignity of an extraordinary Ambassador from God and proves a Cheat as Simon Magus among the Samaritans and Romans Mahomet among the Turks and the late Jew in Italy So that if George Fox had singly affirm'd that to be true which were false it prov'd him no False Prophet or Impostor And therefore our Adversary shews himself a raw Disputant and meer Novice in the sound framing of an Argument For what man that understands an Horse from a Cow would thus argue If G. Fox in matters of concernment not only to mens Bodies and Estates then in matters of concernment in part to mens Bodies and Estates affirm that to be true which is false he is a false Prophet and Impostor He might as well have said if George Fox affirms he gave ten pound for an Horse when he gave but five then G. Fox is a false-Prophet and Impostor with a witness But I think it will not hurt us to let him have to himself the whole Reputation of this kind of proving to Peoples sences the Truth of his Charge who had he not been void of all Sence himself and Reason too would never have suffer'd so much weakness and untruth to pass the Press without Correction Nay though he could make it appear which neither his wickedness nor prejudice will ever be able to do that G. Fox has designedly and on purpose belyed the Almighty God the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost as he chargeth him to have done Yet still I affirm that he could not properly strictly be tearmd a false Prophet or Impostor though all but such would justly conclude him as wicked as our Adversary is malicious for might not a deboist fellow that mocks at God and Godliness when he kills lyes or commits Adultery say in his defence as the Apostle did on â—more serious account in another case that his Spirit was 〈◊〉 to have avoided such things but the Flesh was 〈…〉 not he which did those things but sin in him hereby 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost which in the Apostle intended quite 〈◊〉 thing Yet I hope none in their wits would count such a fellow a false Prophet or Impostor though very impious and prophane And that there are too many who from Nathan's words to David in the case of Vriah's Wife and from the liberty taken by some of the Ancients have interpreted and concluded that their boundless Lusts are by Scripture irreprehensible thereby making at first sight the holy Ghost an accessory to their licentious practices who was the Author of the truth
vere sayes he in the Person of the Apostle ego gaudeo de vestro profectu in Christo ita verum est me quotidie paratum mori As I truly rejoyce at your profitting in Christ so true it is that I am daily ready to dye for it is wanting but may be understood To this of Grotius a considerable but nameless English Annotator does agree And let me further add that the Various Lections have it by way of Correction propter not per for and not by And now it may be time for me to tell our Adversary in general and mine in particular that though I don't blush to read his Impertinencies perhaps I am not ingenious enough for such he sayes will he ought at least to be ashamed of writing them and I am truly in pain for him that he should both afflict himself for the poor man has an irksome way of telling his Tale and is fain to churm long before any thing comes and also disturb others with any thing so meanly inviting and little profitting the People To Conclude If any would in short know the plain and honest Reason of our refusing to Swear to omit the many Arguments that might be urged what Glosses might be given or Authorities produced 't is this That as Christ Jesus is the Author of so perfect a Religion that the least Affirmative or Negative be it but Yea or Nay is compleatly and unquestionably true so it is below his Evangelical Righteousness and such as are gathered not only to the belief but possession of it to so much as admit of an Oath as being fitter to be enjoyned equivocating Pharisees then Honest-Hearted Disciples with whom it is the same thing to Lye as to Forswear for an Oath having been made from the Distrust of Honesty in Him that was to take it where the Cause is removed Lyes Equivocations mental Reserves c. the Effects or that extraordinary scrupulous way of Evidence should cease And if any object the Law of the Land or the Ignorance of Magistrates of our Truth and Innocency I Answer The Law is either answered by Truth being spoken or satisfied by an infliction of the same Penalty upon the Lyar that is incurred by a perjured Person we need no Fines Racks nor heavy Imprecations to scare us into Truth-speaking who Believe in Fear and Worship the God of all Truth and that in Spirit and Truth The next abuse of us so far as concerns our Belief belongs to respecting of Persons he calls it our great Doctrine in a way of Reproach and often cavilling not without his wonted Folly at G. F's Wo unto them that are called of Men Master in which he only sayes what is certainly imply'd in Christ's Prohibition which he should have first confuted he undertakes the Refutation of it thus True indeed sayes Christ Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren c. Now I will take the Liberty to argue a little because the Text seems to be so plain on your side first you do restrain it from extinding all Men from being called Master whilst you allow your Servants to call you our Masters because you are their Masters which Exception is not in the Text why may not another call you Masters because you have Servants and are Masters I Answer First then he has broke his word with us which in plainer English is he has told us a Lye in assuring us at the beginning He would deal with us neither from Scripture nor Reason and yet undertakes both Certainly he is ill able to maintain Right Swearing that is wanting in True Speaking or writing at least We may well suppose his Evidence so much boasted of has left him now that he betakes himself to Scripture and Reason for defence but considering how little they will prove friendly to his Cause he is no otherwise to be complained of for Breach of Word then that the Will may be accepted for the Deed. But next The Text also must be blamed Why may an honest-hearted man say Because upon our Adversaries Principles it seems to be against mens being called Rabbi and yet is not Strange â—rreverence to Holy Writ What make it say one thing in most express termes as much as Thou shalt not Steal and yet mean the quite contrary Who makes it their Rule now We or our Adversary But let 's examine his Meaning and he is so absurd that I am confident I have heard a better Argument out of Bedlam however let us once more repeat it If you call men Masters that are really your Masters why may you not call your very Servants Masters if they have Servants which is as much as to say If you call men Masters that are really your Masters why should not you call other men Masters though they are not really your Masters O I but they are other men's Masters are they Then let other men call them so For there is no more Reason that we should call other Men Masters that are not our Masters because they are really some bodies Masters then that 〈◊〉 should call other men Fathers and Servants and other Women Wâ—â—es that are not our Fathers Servants nor Wives because they are really Fathers Servants and Wives to other Persons We can call Him Master Father Servant or Her Wife who really is so to us but in doing it otherwise we believe we should Err. A Master and Father of old I confess to have signified a Religious as well as Civil Honour I mean Sect-Masters among the Jews but since both are as well repugnant to common Truth as the Christian Religion we renounce the Title and are the rather so to do because of that great Thirst which this Age as well as that in which our Lord so severely reproved it has after that very Vanity Deceit and Wickedness and this simple honest Practice and Zeal for it we are not ashamed to have weighed in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary against all the flattering cringing Customs of Personal Respect whether by Word or Gesture now practiced in the VVorld VVell But he is of the mind that the Scripture is not a little for him since the Apostle both in his Epistle to the Ephesians and in that to the Collossians exhorts Fathers not to provoke their Children and Masters to give what was equal to their Servants in which the poor man is as much besides himself at least the matter as in all the rest for he might as well argue against what he takes for granted viz. That we refuse not to call such Masters as really are our Masters as to suppose we deny that an Apostle or Minister of Christ might not exhort the Fathers of Children to be tender to them and Masters of Servants to be just to them Certainly none can be so stupid as to imagine that the Apostle called them Fathers and Masters in a way of Title or upon singular Respect We may as
Head then Flesh nay it can better dispâ—nse with the loss of much Flesh and many Bones then the Head for if that be absent the Body quickly dyes Christ is the Head Root and Life of his Church without which she can never live one Comfortable Day Besides it contradicts positive Scripture I will not leave you Comfortless I will come to you I will be with you to the End of the World because I live you live also He that is with you shall be in you c. Fifteenth G. F. and the Apostle said The deep Things of God was revealed by the Spirit of God But the Apostle saith our Adversary speaketh not so But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep Things of God Let all Sober People judge whether this man does not groundlesly cavil at us For if God reveals his deep Things by his Spirit then does the Spirit give unto us the Revelation of the deep Things of God Could he blush he might be ashamed to shew himself such a frivolous Busi-body Sixteenth G. F. And so who is in Christ is a New Creature old things pass away Our Adversary The Apostle thus Therefore if any be in Christ he is a New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become New 2 Cor. 15. 17. The Apostle speaks of the New Creation as done G. F. as a thing doing but with great Patience for a little would be tired I Answer Where old things are done away and all things become new there the New Creation is done But in such as he that believes the Church of Christ to be spotted wrinkled c all things are far from being made new since old things are not past away and in such there can be no New Creation as yet Seventeenth G. F. For it is the savour of Death to the Death and Life to the Life The Apostle saith our Adversary thus To the one the savour of Death unto Death to the other the savour of Life unto Life Thus that he may be true to his Way he undertakes the Confutation of G. F. and Proof of him to be an Impostor the Difference betwixt the Apostle's saying and G. F's citation is imputting the before Death and Life which is the same in Sence and Intention But again Eighteenth The Scripture quoted by our Adversary thus Of this sort are they which CREEP into Houses and lead captive silly Women laden with Sins and led away with divers Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth But G. F saith Of such as have got the words c. who are Reprohates concerning the Faith which crept into Houses before the Apostles decease which have kept alwayes learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth 〈◊〉 led away with divers Lusts Very well and what 's the Error or Perversion here Why the Apostle does not attribute to these False Teachers that they kept People alwayes learning but they led captive such as were so And what then therefore is it not true in the sence in which G. F. quotes it What wrong is there done to the Text or such Teachers either For who knows not that false Teachers do keep People alwayes learning but never bring them to the Knowledge of the Truth And certainly they cannot be false Teachers that are not led away of divers Lusts therefore they are both led away of divers Lusts and they lead others too But it is worth our notice That he who has so frequently and with such Derision reflected upon G. F's Syntax and false English is so far from being unblamable himself as to make that Elegant Apostle guilty for in the Epistle it is They which Creep in his Quotation They which CREEPS But we delight not to spend our time so unprofitably such are his Contests about the Hebrew Greek and Latine being set over Christ's Head by his Crucifiers for he would have it written as said in the Scriptures and G. F. sayes Set atop of Christ that is over His Head and true it is what he observes That all Languages have crucified Him and those that have been most Learned have been furthest from the Kingdom that is resembled to little Children I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wife and Prudent and revealed them unto Babes Nineteenth G. F. sayes the Gospel is preached in every Creature Our Adversary sayes was preacht to every Ceature and both are true for in time past it Was and now I hope he will not deny but it Is. In every Creature or To every Creature may be the same For when the Gospel of Repentance and Faith in God are by his Light and Spirit secretly revealed and declared in eveey Heart doubtless 't is also to the Heart as well as in it And though there may be outward Preaching of the Gospel yet that which is Effectual comes from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel and reacheth into the Innermost Parts and the same Spirit gives there the true Discerning and Sense and makes the Effectual Application thereof so that his Carping there is like all the rest Malicious and Troublesom But he hath something to the same Purpose XX. Again G. F. If Christ be not within People they are Reprobates The Apostle and Translators say Know you not your own selves that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 15. 5. as if in you could admit of no other Sense but within you Let us see if the Words of Christ will alwayes admit that Sense Mat. 20. 26 27. But it shall not be so within you but whosoever will be Great within you let him be your Minister c. thus far our Adversary But certainly the Man can't think that because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sometimes signifie among that therefore in all cases it must do so for let us read the verse cited so Know you not your own selves that Christ Jesus is among you except ye be Reprobates This in his Opinion of Christ's Residence would be most false Besides if it should be read within you it might be understood thus within your Precinct Company or Society and the Sense very good still However it shews he hath but little to do who shall employ his time in correcting within you for in you since whatever is in any thing is within that in which it is or else I know nothing But he tells us that G. F. is guilty of the like fault in relation to John 2. 27. where the Apostle speaketh of the Anointing which abides in you but he thus the Apostles brought the Saints to the Anointing within them To which I say that He is Guilty of the like Fault of Fooling as before For a School-Boy would be whipt for so much Ignorance and Ill-spent Time He might have learn't