cries up one while and down another the self and the same thing And are not Scriptures external means and so granted by you to be useless and how then are they means of perfection if they be not useful or doe you mean something not external and so intitle a false thing Scripture But I fear your Ministry is rather misery then mercy for if you had receiv'd the mercy that Paul had you would also renounce the hidden things of dishonesty as Paul did not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully as you do And if you look a little further into the very same chapter of Paul to the Rom. you shall find him make it a matter not only of difficulty but also of impossibility that any should believe without hearing or hear without a Preacher by whom Christ is preached even by them that bring the word of God whose feet are beautiful And this is the word nigh us even at our doors not leaving us to travel to Jerusalem as of old to hear the word of the Lord which now is nigh to us though he be in heaven and we on earth by faith in him But if that that light in every individual man and woman be the sure word of Prophesie is there then a Prophetick light in all if so what doth it prophesie of life and righteousnesse for sinners in a Mediator or of death for disobedience and if this be the light that shines in a dark place what is the day-star and the Sun of righteousnesse for though the Apostle hath said that all may prophecy one by one yet hath he said again are all Prophets no but I wish the Lords people were all such and that Preaching is powerful I believe though you once denied it and I now see truth is no truth till it serve your turn And for every thing that you adde further we know it without your teaching as that every man which comes into the world of nature Christ as God enlightens with the light of nature as reason sense and the like and that he is the Saviour of the world Qu. 5. And if that the external means be useless to what end were those most sacred gifts bestowed upon men Eph. 4. 10 11 12. And how the end and intent for which they were given became void Answ. 5. The end of those gifts was for perfecting the Saints and bringing all into one faith unto a perfect man which they that teach that none can be perfect by those gifts while they live do set up a faith in people contrary to the end of those gifts and by setting up external things in stead of these spiritual gifts have you lost the gifts and have made them void and so are become enemies to the end and intent of them in others who have them and believe the end of them And thus the end and intent for which they were given are become void to you Eph. 4. 10 11 12. Rep. 5. Here also you abuse my intentions wrest my meaning as you doe the Scripture unto your owne will which we are not to query what for that I know as well as you can tell me if not better but if external means were useless and so consequently these gifts how became their end void for which they were given so that you answer not at all to the question but at confused randum and stuffe up lines with lyes First that to teach that none can be perfect in this life by these gifts is to set up a false faith produce a president of one person in all the Scripture that ever was perfect by any meanes whatsoever except Christ if you can or else yeild your self a lyar Secondly that by setting up external things for those spiritual I have made them void which is another lye and that two-fold First prove that ever I set up external things in stead of spiritual things if you can but have not you and your Ghostly Father the Pope done it in setting up carnal dictates of your own brains for that of the spirit of God Secondly that I have made them void testifie this if thou canst O subtil deceiver Thirdly that I am become an enemy to the end of these gifts in others I declare in the presence of God I honour though you oppose them wheresoever they be which is backed by a fourth lye that the end and intent of them is become void to me when my end is is not yet come but how soon it may God knowes but this I can testifie the fruits of those gifts have I reaped in my measure and by them in others have been both established and instructed in the truth and so I can witnesse the effects though not the end of them as yet But what means Paul by the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven if they were perfect before on earth and whether is Paul or you a lyar herein Qu. 6. If natural light be sufficient without the help of the means what then is become of the work of grace Eph. 2. 5 8. Rom. 11. 6. and of the growth of faith Luke 17. 5. Mark 9. 24. The practical use of Ordinances 1 Cor. 11. 2 23 24. As Baptism Matth. 8. 9. The Lords Supper Reading 1 Tim. 4. 13. Preaching Matth. 28. 20. and several other places Prayer 1 Thess. 5. 17. Rom. 12. 12 Communion of Saints in publique Assemblies Heb 10. 25. Answ. 6. The light of Christ is the gift of the grace of God which brings salvation which teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lufts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 11 12. And with this light is the work of grace seen but thou that callest this natural light or wouldst make people believe it is not sufficient must needs be ignorant of that spirit whereby that work of grace and growth of faith prayer and communion of Saints Supper and Ordinances is known for without faith in the light of Christ these are not known nor accepted though dark natural imaginations may make an imitation from them in the letter 1 Cor. 2. 14. And thus are the works of grace become to all that deny the light and spirit of Christ within and take up a tradition from the letter without sensual having not the spirit Jude 19. Reply 6. O deceitful sophistry Is this an answering or a baffling Is it a satisfactory resolve when I asked you what was become of the work of grace faith the growth of Faith which is by the natural use of ordinances c. all which we own as did the Apostles though you deny most if not all of them when you wave it and proceed contrary to request to declare though but shallowly what the work of grace is how sin and how the rest are known all which is impertinent to the thing required and therefore it being only a titular answer it scarce deserves a reply so that it resteth as at
NAYLER'S BLASPHEMIES DISCOVERED OR SEVERAL QUERIES To him Proposed WITH His owne Answers thereunto By a Friend to the Truth of CHRIST Matth. 7. 15. Beware of False Prophets which come to you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly are ravening Wolves LONDON Printed for Simon Waterson at the Sign of the Globe in S. Pauls Church-Yard 1657. A PUBLICK DISCOVERY OF A SECRET DECEIT An Answer to Nineteen Quaeries subscribed JOHN DEACON 1. Quaere IF every man that comes into the world have light in him sufficient to salvation how then do you say that I am in darkness for either you must grant your first or second Assertion to be false or prove me not come into the world or not born of a woman Answ. 1. The cause why thou art in darkness is because thou dost not believe and follow that light which is sufficient according to Christs words John 8. 12. For they that turn from the darkness to the light have the promise but the unbeliever is condemn'd in darkness yet is the light sufficient John 3. 15 16 17 18 19. Reply 1. When first I undertook to encounter with thee O subtil Deceiver and secret Deceit though I looked not for the innocency of a Dove but rather the ravening of a spiritual Wolfe yet I find the subtilty of a Serpent though not the purity of Christ yet the policy of Antichrist But as Satan is a Serpent so is Christ and that a brazen one too and as the Deceiver is a Lyon that seeketh whom he may devour so is Christ a Lyon and that of the Tribe of Judah and as the serpent is subtil to deceive so is Christ no less cunning to preserve unto his everlasting habitation who hath began a good work of faith in our souls and also will do it the end whereof is everlasting salvation When I quaeried since you affirm that all that come into the world have light in them soul-saving how then I being come into the world and so in general affirmed to be in light that you in particular should conclude me in darkness as if not come into the world at all and therefore I quaeried how the contradiction could be reconciled to a concurrence you put me off with a pretended Answer which indeed is but a Sophistical flash of the Deceivers policy with an uncharitable I had almost said diabolical Assertion that I am in darkness when this I can affirm with joy that God hath so far enlightned me as to see your deceivableness and I fear hellish darkness 2. Qu. If that Light be universal that is soul-saving shall all be saved yea or no Answ 2. All that believe shall but he that believeth not the light is his condemnation John 3. 19 Reply 2. That all which believe shall be saved we need not you to teach us but since you affirm all have soul-saving light the question was whether all should be saved if not your Doctrine is false which saith there is in all a sufficiency But you pretend private I may say a new light left your deeds being as dark as Antichristian they should be brought unto the publick light Christ and his Gospel and so by that light that evil be made publique which now lies hid in you under glorious pretences 3. Qu. If you say yea I query further How is it then that you say I am damn'd and where is the Reprobate Answ. 3. Thou art damn'd by thy unbelief Joh. 3. 18 19. And where Christ the light of the world is not known within but denyed there is the Reprobate 2 Cor. 13 3. 5. Reply 3. Here I finde two diabolical satanical censorious uncharitable Assertions both beyond the spiritual presumptuous determination First that I am damned Secondly that I believe not both which are devilish in a double sense First as presuming to step up into the seat of Gods Tribunal and to define that which only belongs unto him to whom judgement is given But who art thou that judgest another and judgest not thy selfe Secondly as being a lye that I believe not prove this if thou canst or else it proves thee a lyer but if it be so that I must believe your heresies and then be a believer and though I believe in Christ yet still be an unbeliever let the devil be the first and if he will for I will be the latter And here thou abusest the Text in saying that where Christ is not known within there is the reprobate as much as to say he may be there unknown But canst thou hide the Sunne O deceitful Deceiver that it shall not shine forth If thou couldest yet this celestial Sun of righteousness cannot be kept under but will banish all sinful clouds and illuminate resplendently to the obvious prospect of that soul where it is And the Apostle saith Christ is in you Corinthians except ye be Reprobates giving thee the lye who sayest Christ is in Reprobates as well as Saints 4. Qu. If this light ought only to be minded and all external means utterly abolisht I query wherefore you teach and to what end serveth the Scriptures which were for the making perfect the man of God 2 Tim. 3 1 6 7. Ans. 4. We teach to turn peoples minds to the light word which is the one thing needful to be minded 2 Pet. 1. 19. 2 Cor. 4. 1. to the 8th And the Apostle preacht that word to the people which was in their hearts Rom. 10. 6 7 8. And their preaching was to open the blind eyes and to turn from darknesse to light and so from the power of Satan unto God the Father of the Light Acts 26. 18. And the Scripture serveth for declaring and testifying that this Christ is he that is the light of the world and lighteth every one that cometh into the world and the Saviour of all that believe John 12. 46. John 1. 9. 1 Tim. 4. 10. Rep. 4. Here you grant a damnable heresie that all external things are useless none excepted in that you pass it over with a consent of silence and hypocritically say you teach to turn peoples minds to the light and yet elsewhere declare against all them and so confusedly against your self here that say the light in every man Reprobate and Saint is not sufficient to lead and guide out of all the wayes and works of this dark world into the wayes of God without the help or teaching of man confusedly there declaring against and now attesting for the self and the same thing But let me here so far presume on your vitiated patience as to salute you with this one query Is it not as lawful for others as for you to teach and may not their doctrine be as effectual to this end to turn peoples minds from darkness to light as is yours and whether it be not the spirit of Satan in you that cries down that in others which it preacheth up in your self And is it not the spirit of confusion that
the first wholly unanswered not on thing being properly cleared Qu. 7. Whether the Bible be the written word of God yea or no if not what means the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 36. 37 38. Gal. 1. 10 11. 1 Thess. 2. 13. Answ. That is the word which the Bible declares of which is invisible and eternal which they that received it of God and had it in their hearts did speak or write it down which writing they called a declaration Luke 1. 1. 1 John 1. 3. But doth no where say the Bible is the word but God and Christ is the word John 1. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 25. And of this word the Apostle means which was of God and not of man nor by man and the word of God is the name of Christ and not the name of the Bible Rev. 19. 13. Reply 7. I must needs confesse though I am loth to use it thine own language best beseems the exordium of this Reply Thou blind Sot canst thou so much boast of the spirit of light and yet be so far blinded in darknes as not to discern between the co-essential and co-eternal word with God the temporal expressive word of God And if they received this word of God as you acknowledge they did how then can it be but it must be the word of God from whence it did proceed and the Scriptures quoted by thee are nothing to the purpose For John 1. 1. The word was with God and the word was God And so this temporal word is but the expressive word of that co essential word and so it is a lye to say that this is that word that the Apostle means when he saith For this cause thank we God alwayes that when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God This is clear and the Apostle saith that it was not of man nor by man but by the revelation of Jesus Christ and so not the word Christ but the word of Christ who is God And for the other it is so clear speaking plainly of writings that it needs not be discoursed And a learned Author renders that place Rev. 19. 13. as being spoken of Christ as to his co-essential name and I the rather believe it in respect that the same St. John records and testifies of what he writ as from the mouth of an Angel These are the true sayings of God and makes a distinct difference between the word of God and the testimony of Jesus and such like titles are usually attributed to the holy volume of the Scriptures as the word of God * the word of the Lord the commandements of the Lord and the like But that the Scriptures should say that the Bible is the word of God is absurd to imagine because it is a word not there to be found it being a word of Art used to expresse the whole volume of the Scriptures in general but yet that which is therein contained is so called and is so indeed Qu. 8. If the Ministry now established be Antichristian where then and who be Orthodoxal Ans. Those Ministers who have their Authority from Chr. are such as abide in the doctrine of Christ and these are they who are hated of the world ever was for crying out against the deceits and filthinesse of the world Priests and people And whereas thou askest where they are I say in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation many of these are for the same now by means of those who live out of the doctrine of Christ and in the steps of the false Prophets Scribes and Pharisees seeking for their gaine bearing rule by their meanes being call'd of men Masters c. all which are forbidden by Christ and for bearing witnesse against such much innocent blood hath been shed though they ever call themselves Orthodoxal and the Ministry of Christ establisht by men Reply 8. That these Ministers who are of Christ abide in the doctrine of Christ we know and witnesse and need not you to teach us and hereby are assured you are not of him but of some other And the persecuters in all Ages like you sought to set up â— doctrine and way of worship of themselves and yet were sensual having not the spirit though separated as peculiarly sacred such as are you and your Founder the Pope Yet still was it their practice like as you doe now to cry down and as the Eagle to her prey pick forth first the right eye of Christianity to wit the Ministry that they might no more speak uprightly of that name in which onely is Redemption that so the Shepherds being destroyed and the flock dispersed they might with the more ease and the lesse difficulty be devoured by such wolfes as thy selfe and so be made a prey for the deceiver But since you say the true Ministers are in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation who doe you meane the Romish Priests from whence you sprung and such like if these be they speak out or are they some of those branches which are sprung from that grove of heresie to wit your vagabond fraternity taken up as strayed from their habitations and from their Religion too But that these are for the same now that the true Saints in former times were martyr'd for is a most notorious lye and prove it if thou canst that ever any dyed for this cause wherein you now persevere except Jesuits and you seem to accuse us as being out of the doctrine of Christ as also saith Rome because we are not one with you and them And you seem to alledge that they seek for their gaine from their quarter speaking of our Ministry of which in my Answer to your Queries and bearing rule by their meance speaking of Scribes and Pharisees which is another lye for it is by Gods Authority they rule over us and watch for our soules and you againe further adde it being called Masters of men which is cleared by that most Reverend Mr. Baxter and answer him if thou canst And then thou sealest all this with thine own Signet a most damnable lye that it is forbidden of Christ and that for bearing witnesse against such much innocent blood hath been spilt but whether you meane the Gunpowder Traytors or Garnet that Jesuit with the rest of those Romish Priests whose beginning was at Tyber and whose end not undeserved at Tyburne but prove that ever any unlesse such dyed for that cause you now stand for if you can name them Qu. 9. Since that you say that Presbiterians Independents and the like differing Forms are of Babylon and under the distruction thereof I quere who are out of it and where is the true Church Qu. 10. And if you say a small number of Quakers I query againe where then hath the Church of Christ been since his passion for this 1600. years and more
the spirit of God by him or by the testimony of them who before had come with such works for the spirits of the Prophets are subject unto other Prophets or else if he were a Prophet the event was to declare whether he was of God or no and yet still if the matter of his exhortation were to withdraw us from the known will of God as is yours and the rest of your praters of the Quaking Society though the signes and wonders should come to passe as the man of Sinne shall abound with such deceivablenesse yet we ought not to hearken unto it though the simple beleeve every word for the Lord by such as you proveth us whether we will be faithful to the death that we may inherit a crown of life by keeping his commandements Quere 8. What eye is that which the god of this world hath blinded how he hath blinded it and how it is opened and by what and whether the Letter can open it yea or no An Answer to the Eighth Quere This seems unto me a Fiction of your own braines for to the best of my knowledge I remember not that ever I read any such phrase as that eye which the god of this world hath blinded and therefore till you produce the proofe this might suffice but I shall freely inlarge to tell you that Paul speaks to this effect if the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost and then he adds whose minde the god of this world hath blinded and for minds I suppose you will grant that there is no more but one in general and them whose minds are so blinded to them also is the Gospel hid and it is hid from them onely who are lost and therefore I leave it to you to examine with unexpressible feare and trembling whether it be not hid from you since you see it not as it is the word of God but of men and thus he that is most blind may see it for no one can see it in a lower degree and for the manner how blinded by unbelief and how open'd by faith of which more at large in my Answer to your fourth Query and whether the Letter can open it yea or no the question is absurd for though it be a material it is not the sole and absolute meanes of it for though faith be by hearing yet is hearing not unto them to whom God hath given eares that they may not hear but unto them properly whose eares are sanctified by the grace of the spirit for though Paul may plant and Apollo water yet it is God must assist to give the increase or else it is unsufficient but I might as well ask thee the question whether your plow would accomplish its proper end tillage without you or some other wrought with it or the tooles of any Artificer form the wo k intended without the Workman give it motion and direct guidance which to imagine is simplicity but yet as wise arguing as is yours Quere 9. Whether the true Ministry of Christ be the same now for matter meanes and maintenance that it was in the Apostles time or when was it changed into great Livings Tythes and set maintenance and by whom and in what must it now differ from these An Answer to the Ninth Quere The true Ministry of Christ is the same now for matter meanes and maintenance that it was in the Apostles dayes though you would change it unto that which is no Ministry of Divinity but rather a mystery of iniquity I have partly proved in my answer to your seventh Query as to matter and meanes I come now unto what remaines concerning maintenance for there I shewed how Paul the wise Master buildâ—â— who yet was servant unto all was to and did ordainâ— and chuse by deputation other workmen in the same employment with him as fellow-labourers in the Vineyard of the Lords Church and so it is the same now And concerning maintenance the same Apostle having proved the necessary conveniency of a maintainance for Gospel-ministers by many unquestionable Arguments he comes at last to this Assertion Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And certainly he so ought to live as that he may not become worse then an Infidel but provide for his own Family and the Rehearser of that Ordinance was also a practitioner in the use of maintenance for this he testifies of himselfe I robbed toher Churches taking wages of them to doe you service And therefore since it was lawful for him as certainly it was to take wages for so he calls it of one Church to doe another service then sure is it much more tolerable for a Minister to take wages of a Church to serve the same And though the Apostles in the time of our Saviours presence with them took neither purse nor scrip with them because their employment required haste yet this is annexed The labourer is worthy of his hire and to take two coats might have been cumbersome and therefore they went light but as you read of their going forth so do you of their comming in too in the same Chapter and our Saviour who first instituted also disannulled this command and bids him that hath use and him that hath not buy and they being then to travel from one Region to another were to plant not keep in order the Vineyards and therefore could not be setled in any constant employment and therefore enjoyed no standing maintenance that I have read of except Paul as before named for wages must be some certaine allowance and in that the Scripture allowes and ordaines a maintenance and pet prescribes not the summe it is evidently cleare that it is left to humane providence to order that and so Paul seemes to admonish when he saith Let all things be done with decency and in all things I suppose this was included And since you have nothing else to upbraid our Ministry withal you raile against and abuse Paul as well as them when you cry out against hirelings and therefore false Prophets say you so that it is neither changed nor different from the Primitive Institution And therefore the latter part of this thy Query with most of thy Tenets thou mayest send to Rome to thy great Grandfather the Pope who hath both added to and diminished from the true Ministry and yet calls it the true still And if this satisfie thee not I shall refer thee to more able pens who have writ on this subject above mentioned as Mr. Baxter and others Quere 10. Whether the light of Christ be as sufficient to lead to God now as it was in Abrahams time and if not what must now be added to it to make it sufficient An Answer to the tenth Query This thy Query hath been sufficiently answered in my Answer to thy first Query for that which wrought effectually in other Saints wrought also in Abraham who believed
were informed of it by the outward teaching of Paul and then they beleeved on Jesus and so their saith and their knowledge too was from without not within but the Jewes who like you thought to inherit glory by a Covenant of works not of grace endeavoured to pervert and subdue all knowledge save of their way who professing obvious light were found to be in obscure darknesse and therefore persecuted the lights of the world the Apostles and Ministers of Christ fearing lest their deeds should be brought unto the light and be found evil as you doe and so they walked short both of the Spirit and the Letter too yet professing as much and as peculiar sanctity as your selves and you and your generation manifest as much malice as did they wanting only their might against those precious candles of the Gospel who waste themselves that we may grow up unto perfection and I speak sincerely and I suppose I may doe it without breath of Christian Charity That if ever we should live to see that dismal disconsolate day wherein Quakers should predominate in might as much as now they doe in malice I feare fire and faggot would be a deare commodity through the frequent use thereof for any may see with a single eye without a paire of spectacles not onely the persecuting and censorious Jew but also the Saint-murdering and truth-opposing Pope enthroned both in your malice and your Tenets The Lord defend us and his cause from your envious power Quere 13. What Scripture have you for your manner of worship as to read a Chapter and to give meanings to it and call it expounding to take a text of another mans words and raise points reasons and uses c. to sprinkle Infants to sing Davids words in order of your ballads to stand praying in the Synagogues at your set times before and after your glasse Prove your practice by command from Christ or practice of Gospel-Ministers else for shame cease to call it Gospel-worship since none of Christs Ministers worshipped in that manner An Answer to the thirteenth Query When first I read this common hackny and overthredbare worne Query which hath been the publick frequent Strumpet of all your blemished vitiated pens answered more then once and againe I could not but smile to see your so often battered armour wherewith you war against the cause of Christ become the harnesse of your resistance in the list of this controversie against the truth at this time also and though in respect it hath been as often answered as proposed by several learned pens who have writ on this occasion and by others who have treated on this subject whose abilities are manifest in their works of precious concernment which might induce me to wave my Answer But as I said before so say I now againe that since your intosticated braines are so soone lifted up on the haughty wings of vainglorious pride of the victory before the encounter I shall give it a curb if not a crush And I very much wonder that you should enquire for an outward evidence when you say yours is within and may not we say the same But that you and the whole world may know we practice not the dictates of our own minds but bow all to the commands of God be it known to thee and whosoever else shall enquire after the same that an evidential command we have and what we doe is of an obediential submission to Gods revealed will And for expounding of Scriptures I answer if thou knowest not but art ignorant I shall doe my endeavour to informe thee that it was the practice of the Church in all Ages to read the Scriptures distinctly and give the senses and is not this expounding and be there not doctrines reasons and uses in all the Sermons and Epistles of the Apostles and did not our Saviour himself take a Text expouned it and apply it who also began at Moses and all the Prophets expounding unto the Disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning himselfe insomuch that the hearers hearts burned within them at his doctrine whose words were with power Philip also took a Text and expounded it and beginning at the same Scripture preached Jesus unto the Eunuch Paul also expounded unto the Romans the testimony of the Kingdom of God and the things concerning Jesus both out of the Law and the Prophets from the morning until evening who also testifieth this unto Timothy That the Scriptrues are able to make a soule exceeding wise unto salvation and are profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction and observe this for instruction in righteousnesse which I suppose comprehends all things mentioned by you except you can prove them not necessary to that end to direct in matters of righteousnesse that the man of God may be made perfect So having thus proved that Scriptures were expounded by the Apostles and Ministers of Christ our practice is justified and further yet we have this not onely as a President but a Precept rightly to divide the word of truth as workmen that need not to be ashamed Now if there can be any right division without parts prove it if you can nay further still study is required in this exercise and commanded also by Pauls spirit although cryed out against by yours and though you dare boldly blaspheme the word of God and call it the words of men and so call God a man by consequence I feare you will finde it a terrible word in the last day of Christs judgements when you shall be found a lyar and Paul a Preacher of truth who calls it in truth the word of God and the commands of the Lord And for your questioning of Baptism administred unto children I now finde the root from which you spring even from that well-spring and fountaine-head from whence flow streames unto every heresie for the truest Relations that ever I could come unto the perusal of since John of Leyden that grand fomenter and prick-louse Preacher the founder of that Sect I have not read of any grand Apostate or heretick but what sprung from that truth-corrupting Faction as witnesse most of your Society for to hinder the children of Believers The priviledge of Baptism seemes unto me a dividing of that Covenant I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee observe that to thy seed as well as unto thee Now I shall leave it unto you to examine whether it be not a clipping of the wings of Gods dominions and a limiting of and setting a bound unto his Authority that when he hath said I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed and this shall be a Covenant between me and thee for ever yet you shall put a period uno the time and a limitation unto the condition and so allow him onely the first and deny him the latter and certainly there were children in the house of Israel when they marched