impertinences in Divinity and Philosophy as if they were infallible Dictatours Nay one shall assert perfection another deny Original Sin Another the Resurrection Another assert the Salvation of Damned Souls and Devils which hath tyr'd out the patience of the most Patient Ministers and made private Men doubt all Religion Not only particular Ministers but the function it self shall be jib'd at and that before their Faces by Anti-ministerial Men who admire themselves when others despise them To go on When I heard the most judicious Congregational Divines cry out of imprudence of two of their Brethren as Favourers of this Man and his Doctrine Some justifying him another censuring I was prevail'd to go to the Meeting and as I desired my Friends before not to smile which is a Rule to me if at a Quakers Meeting or any Worship We sate with all imaginable Reverence when the Gentleman ascends the Pulpit and sate down with stretch Arms as if it had been my Lord of Canterbury his Grace we heard the Prayer and this Zealous Crispian Would-be brings the Controversy even there That when God gave Man a perfect Righteousness of her own he threw it away and such a Cross Creature was he that when God had provided a perfect Righteousness in another he would have Righteousness of his own When Praying for Mr. Mathers then Sick as if his Patron he gave God thanks for Raising him up and well it was so when he threatned to take away the Champion of the Cause After most impudent and uncharitable words The Text was Named John 11.21 Which compare with 20.23 24 25 c. Were they not intended Murtherers Sirs we would see Jesus We. Who Whether Greeks or Gentiles he would not say Sir Philip And here we were told a Lubberly Lecture of manners We should go directly to our Friends c. And now a Doctrine Doct. That it is naturally Written in the Heart of every Man to desire a Mediatour to come to Christ They should not have askt Philip but gone directly to Christ O rare discoveries Now let the Calvinist and Methodist look to themselves Some must bring Humility to Christ that is their Mediatour They must come humble Now we are all knockt down All was Comdemn'd The whole culpable and that all was done out of Curiosity and their Request not gratified as far as we read yet this Observation was laid down Doct. That is the Duty of every Man to desire to see Jesus the Saviour Not the Lawgiver or Commander for he was no such He gave no Commands if he had he had added to the Yoke there were Commands enough before And then an Anathema was thrown out Confusion be their reward that say it c. All Qualifications were Condemned And now we are told Abraham was an ungodly Man long after he was call'd and believers after long such were advised to plead the promise with God Lord thou hast promis'd to justify the ungodly I came to thee as an ungodly Man justify thou me An ungodly Believer is Linen-Drapers Divinity After our New Gospeller had Condemn'd all Qualifications Behold he is Metamorphis'd into a Legalist upon a sudden He tells us That whoever comes to Christ without being sensible of his Sin and Misery should come in Vain What mean these Men by Coming to Christ Christ Calls are Matth. 9.28 Them that labour and are heavy Laden Not with Ceremonies as some say but sin and sorrow to come to him His word shall stand They shall look on him whom they have Peirced and Mourn Zach. 2.7 In its primary intention respects the Conversion of the Jew which Joseph Mead and others believe will be in the like way as Paul was Converted by a Voice from Heaven and therefore can only be Accommodated here Dare you say There is no way to Mourning but here I affirm a Man may repent aright from Subjects of Sin Hell Judgment to come c. And this will I undertake and other things if any reply to this make it more necessary then as yet I can see it is More stuff there was in that speaking not Preaching which I have forgotten or care not to mention I have taken care to consult another Minister then with me who once intended to Print the Sermon with Notes but some considerations diverted him I have not willingly err'd in sense nor words He can testify the same One Notion comes on a Sudden We must not rely on the doctrine benefits merits of Christ but his Person I hope no Man will expect I should disparage my self to Confute his absurdities They that cannot or will not see them discover what they are Might not the Doctrine be Doct. It is the Duty of every Man to desire to Murther Jesus Oh Folly I had heard before the madness of the Man against all others That before a great Gentlewoman this was said as is fam'd and believ'd That the Anabaptist dipt Women to feel them in the Water c. Which none but a Dammy Boy I thought would have said The aforemention'd Minister with others heard him once before on this Text Acts 9.26 And they were all afraid of him not believing he was a Disciple And this Doctrine was laid down Doct. That it is a difficult thing for true believers to believe others are so When every Child knows the Circumstances Well Simon Magus was brought for an instance of a Preacher who had humane Learning but not the Call of the Spirit When no humane Learning had he but Magical Diabolical Tricks and who never was a Preacher To say If he was not one he would have been one is a poor Defence Well Paul had the Call of the Spirit without humane Learning Why Name I what every Ignoramous can confute except one Must Women be call'd wicked Women for talking much of trouble for sin and fears and a Story told God indeed convinced me that I was a great Sinner but I was never troubled for it I desired by a kind Letter This mans Abetters so accounted to meet me and some Congregational Ministers justly offended with these things to give us a fair Meeting amicably to debate matters That they would give us their Reasons for his being a Preacher and hear ours against it believing Here is a second Davis entring on the Stage worse every way then the first but it was not granted In another work I did I row'd against Wind and Tyde now with both being earnestly desired by many to undertake this work Congregational Men as well as others who proposed fairly for its Encouragement Yet I care not to use words of that Nature some Wise and Good Men do That such a one is a Preacher of the Devils making That had they been there they would have pull'd him out of the Pulpit That they sweat to hear a Repetition of his Folly So great is the ignorance that Reigns in this City That if a Man Preach and say any thing of God Christ free Grace and Heaven
they cry it is a Preclous VVord tho no sense nor truth deliver'd You that talk so much of Free Grace Remember it is free tho Devils and Damned Souls be not at last sav'd as some here say Tho all Men the worst of Men go not to Heaven when they dye as that Fool that Calls himself Elijah the Prophet says Who hath Written an Aurea Clavis about Miracles to confirm his Faith that he is the Elijah promis'd Yet this Barber cannot talk English and will not say it positively he is Elijah Shall his Lying Miracles convince us that he says do not make him conclusive Every Idle Jack now shall be ready to flee in the Face of Ministers and leave them as no Gospel Preachers tho never so serious sound or accurate This Barbers Doctrine is That God is the Author of Sin and when they haâ—â— serv'd his end be makes them amends and takes them to Heaven Antinomianisut is a lovely thing with now not a few We read of such of Old I enquire whether the words we Translate Sons of Belial which the Septuagint sometimes render Lawless Children or Sons against Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2.12 Might not be rendred by our Translatours had they known such a Tribe as we do The Antinomian Children When the Angels in Heaven thus turn'd Antinominians Heaven was no place for them And when these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pestilent Children by which the Septungint elsewhere calls Sons of Belial perswaded our first Parents to turn Antinomians to Gen. 3.1 4 5. Yea hath God said Paradise was no place for them And when some among us turn Antinomians may it not be a Query whether the Church should any longor be a plaâ—e for them I affirm Dr. Crisp doth often question the usual methods of Conversion confirmed by Scripture Divines and all Christians Experience whether they marr'd not all the work till he hung out his new light I humbly pray our Accusers to be at leasure for a while and not for Expeditions sake pass sentence on us before they hear our Cause For such as are come to that higth Ministers and People that they will not some Confess Sin others not Pray for Pardon I think they are of all Creatures most miserable You as your Old Brethren the Crucifyers of the Lord Jesus are not Christ Exalters but D basers you do as they Bow the Knee before him with a Hail but all but a Mockery You say you put the Crown on the Head of Jesus Christ but it is one of Thorns and the Scepter in his hand but it is a Reâ—den one Mat 27.28 29. You kiss Christ as one did But He may say to you as to him Judas betrayest thou the Son of Mun with a kiss When Mr. Baxter saw so many Armed Men turn Antinomians and Justifying-Faith was to believe a Man was justified And after all their strictness grew Licentious he in a great Zeal and Fury wrote his Aphorisms of Justification When this Book cause out he was not then known in Oxon and they thought it was a Jesuit tiâ—â— they saw his Infant Church Membership and baptism came forth the best Booâ— by the way that ever was Written oâ— that Subject they began to valuâ— him Many Presbyterians follow'd him and still do but none under that Denomination that I know of followed Crisp Some unwary Independents in as great Zeal and Fury follow Crisp none of them Mr. Baxter that I know of And now between these two Contenders Tâ—â— Question is Which is in the right 〈◊〉 Which brings to my mind a Story Sir W. Rawleigh in his History tell us When two were contending which was the best Soldier The Frenchman or the Spaniard one standing by after all said the Englishman So the Calvinists say I or Old Protestant But to return to our Right Antinomian for remember I am far from Condemning all that are so call'd that cry down all sadness for sin c. Pray Sirs yet I Pray That that Jesus the Lord and King startle not at this who in the Days of his Flesh cur'd many Demoniacks That he would take you in cure tho your Evil Spirits Name be Legion we are many Should we now be silent the stories of the Streets may cry out against us A word is sufficient Remember the followers of Mr. D. your Meteor Lantren hath lead your Preachers into Confusion in their Pulpit Harangues He that looks for a Connexion or Correspondency either of sense or truth may look in Vain And for you it hath led you into Lakes and Precipices and there left you Your Preachers coming any where is Omnious as is said of a Comet or the coming of a Whale into a River Your Arguments are of no Value too mean for any Man to insist much on a solution of them yet if I cannot put your passions and my own to a demur I know not what I may in time be forst to do I close this part of my work with a known certain story a worthy Congregational Minister lately wrote thus to one of the same perswasion I ever valued you which made me at last take up with your Antinomian Principles I often Preached them up to this Congregation to which I belong which I found a sober People but now I have Preacht a Congregation of Christians into a Congregation of Devils * Two of my hearers went away and committed uncleanness immediately I therefore resolve to Preach up the Old Protestant Doctrine c. May you all thus repent and reform as this Man Amen Amen As I ever have been careful to decline Stories upon common fame not because I doubted them but could not prove and therefore mention what I know I shall now take the like method about our Mecanick Preachers such as I knew One with whom I was acquainted when Dead I saw his Notes after he had been a Preacher Thirty Years the Text was Heb. 11.6 For without Faith it is impossible to please him He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him In these words saith he are these three things 1. An impossibility for without Faith it is impossible to please God 2. A proposition with a direction He that cometh to God must believe that he is 3. Here is a reward and a rewarder of them that diligently seek him I shall enquire saith this Shooe-maker for such he had been 1. What God is 2 What Faith is 1. God is an Omnipotent Omniscient and Omnipresent God 2. He is an Almighty God c. There are two sorts of Faith 1. The Faith of adherence 2. The Faith of relyance And you may easily imagine how all was prov'd and spelt Another Preacht in a Town to which I was no stranger on that Text God hateth the wicked He said it appear'd God hated them 1. Because he did not Love them 2. Because he could not endure them 3. Because he was
If it pleas'd them at Pinners-Hall to Preach more of Christ as a sanctifier as well as justifier and them of Saltars-Hall to Preach more of Christ as a Justifier as well as Sanctifier They should have my Consent and I doubt not of many that hear them Would not this be a good mixture and make such Savoury Meat as the Soul of a serious Christian Loveth They are all Men of Worth and Learning and God Loveth them better then they love one another It is the good honest Complaint of some Congregational Men who when they bring their Children and Servants with them to their Meeting hear so much of Comforting of Saints What is this say they to them Who should hear awakening Discourses of Conversion and Subjects suitable for them Besides say I we live in an Age wherein Religion runs at so low an Ebb That where one Good Man need be told of Comfort a Hundred had need to be told of Mortification Watchfulness and Circumspection and of greater usefulness Where do we see so many fainting sad Christians that so many Cordials must be brought when there is need of Griping working things They must not be told much of Duty Activity for God this is Legal Preaching forsooth All Lenatives no Purgatives What shall be said to great Professours Pillars too that make nothing of an officious Lye to help out a bargain of sitting long at the wine of defrauding others Sins inconsistent with grace if continued in Let them think what they please do these want Comfort It is true when the Dogs are beat the Children cry yet this is sometimes necessary notwithstanding Sinners must be told their own as well as Believers theirs One great Cause of the aforenamed Corruptions I take to be the Preaching of unqualified Tradesmen especially such as set up for the only Gospel Preachers Many Tradesmen may be and are such as may deserve the Name of prudent wise Christians but yet make woful ignorant Teachers Who is sufficient saith Paul for these things Had Paul liv'd in London he would haâ—e met with some that say Who is not sufficient for these things Obj. But the Spirit can do this work Answ But we see in you he doth it not And I may say to such what Peter said to Ananias and Saphira Why have yè agreed to belye the Holy Ghost You that never had the sense and reason becoming Men what pretend you to extraordinary discoveries Obj. Peter was a Iasher-man c. Answ Is there no difference between a Fisher-man made wise and that to work Miracles and Write excellent Greek Epistles and between ignorant Plowmen Weavers Taylors Is it not a lovely Charming sight to see an Association of such Reverend Persons and not two Schollars among them Who tell the People Christ is the Subject of all our Righteousness In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength He is the Efficient of all but not the Subject Obj. I Pray What Qualifications are necessary Answ Such as you want and that is enough Christ promiseth I will give you a Mouth and Wisdom whereby you shall convince Gain Sayers Mouth there is many a time enough or more then enough but for Wisdom no Man can see it Are they Ambassadours for Christ Pastors Shepherds Angels Such as should give themselves wholly to these things Workmen needing not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth And yet such as cannot talk better then Women not as Preachers to such a Question as this How know you the Scriptures to be the Word of God All the Answer I have known from such Preachers is by the Spirit Is it not enough for them to be ignorant but must they be so frantick to go into Pulpits to discover it They sweat at the end of their work and wise Men at the beginning They can Preach they say often and make nothing of it Thou Fool said Paul in another Case Let alone say I the work to qualified Men who Preach seldom and make something of it What Polly is it for Crispians to tell the World Dr. Owen once Preacht to them Pure Doctrine of Justification when it is so evident if this be true then Dr. Crisp Preacht impure Doctrine For our New Gospeller lately set up some say He hath been an Ingenious Man others say No If the former be true God seems to make him on purpose to let the World see Preaching is quite another thing then what most think it to be An Ingenious Tradesman can no more make an Ingenious Preacher on a sudden then he can an Ingenious Physition and Lawyer or then an Ingenious Preacher can make an Ingenious Tradesman or Linen-Draper For his Morals I find his Friends shaking their Heads I leave them to dispute this matter But there is a Question to be askt Seeing his Father and Mother were both Quakers When was our Reverend Linen-Draper Baptis'd But we are told of two Men of worth that seem to Countenance him out of respect to them I will not say all I can Yet some deny it and I am sure they care not to own it I shall not say much of the Rude Treatment much talkt of to me and others when we went to hear him VVhit-Monday before and after his Text lest it should be thought to be the Great Cause of my appearing against him Which I declare to be no Cause at all but yet might be a sufficient excuse to Cut him up and send him to the Tribes in Israel with see consider and speak your Minds I and others did as God says Go down to see whether it were according to the Cry And intended to Apologize for him if I found the Charge of Nonsensical Heterodox stuff not true But I found according to the Cry thereof or worse The English Tongue which is so Rich and Copious yet here hath that Penury that it will hardly afford words to set forth the Vanity of this late Preaching Linen-Draper whom I was desir'd to hear which I did with reluctancy Before I give an Account of what I then heard from Mr. Mathers borrowed Pulpit I think it proper to anticipate an Objection by Men that may Love only Fine and Polite strokes as That I am too sharp in this and some other Causes I will only put them in mind That when Hannibal past over the Alps and had a hard Passage Fire Vinegar Salt are us'd to make his way which in other places he did not That I am almost Fifty Year Old and never appear'd in any Controversy till a Year since coming to London A second Amsterdam of which it was ever said He that hath lost his Religion may there find it I take this to be one Cause why our Tradesmens Mouths water after a Pulpit They see in some Glubs here in the City they may speak their Opinions before Ministers and controul them to boot as if their Inferiours Latin and Greek words thrown out and half of them Crackt And Glorious Nonsence and splendid
full of Indignation against them c. Another Shooe-maker after he had been a Preacher Thirty Years Prints a Funeral Sermon and there we are told how the Devil winkt with one Eye on the Good Woman O said she That I could but see a Troop of Angels in they came and it was a lovely sight Well we have the Epitaph for her But as to she or any other that shall attend upon his Call shall live and Reign with Christ and that is best of all To She is the Nominative Case to the Verb. On he goes Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth was the Text John 11.11 He begins with the Story of Latimor before K. Edward Beware of Covetousness Named three times Change the Subject What is that beware of Death He chargeth a Neighbour for saying Regeneration was a believing the Gospel so as to obey it If so it will follow says he That every Man hath naturally something of God in him Transubstantiation say I. That it is the Power of Man to turn himself to God Purgatory say I yet such Men have been our Lords and Masters and it was an honour to come into their Pulpits Well another Neighbour of his a Weaver after he was a Preacher perhaps as long hath Written a Book against the Anabaptist proving out of the third of Mat. 5.3 Infant Baptism For he said truly Old Baxters Arguments could not convince him and therefore he would go on a New Bottom In this New excellent piece we are told that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if we should say that bene comes from benefacio and a Multitude of such Notions Well John baptis'd Infants All went out Infants the trees When I told him John Preacht to the all and the trees Did he Preach to Infants Yes said he that he did I will believe the Word of God say what you will Did You ever Preach to them said I Whether I did or no said he is not the question but what I should do c. So I left him In that Book in the Preface he brings in this Objection But many Learned Men urge not this Scripture for Infant Baptism He Answers either those Learned Men are alive or dead If alive let them plead for themselves If dead they are either in Heaven or in Hell If in Heaven they are of my Opinion now If in Hell I care not what their Opinion is for all their Learning c. What shall we think of such Fellows who spoil a good Cause I remember when a Boy I heard one Trade so an Expound Countenance for Continuance which marr'd the sense I wonder said Dr. Featly long since That our Pillars and Posts did not swet in which was On such a Day such a Taylor Preacht and such a Waterman Expounded Weâ—l perhaps by this time some High Church-men will cry out You see what is the Fruit of your Liberty Pray my Masters Consider not only how Arminians swarm among you but Socinians and Deist Who of ours turn Socinians The last time save one I heard a Sermon in a Publick Church I heard one Condemn three good sound Articles of yours Soon after I wrote a Latin Letter to prove by the Canons of your Church he ought to be Excommunicated for that sermon Dr. Crisp Mr. Toun c. Were yours not ours One came to Wells to be ordain'd the Examiner put him this sentence Apostoli Loquebantur Magnalia Dei He began Apostoli O ye Apostles Loquebantur look about you a Great Man sitting by said Magnalia Manfully spoken Dei I would not be mistaken I believe the Church of England had never so many Learned Men in it as of late Years And therefore I ever thought it an unworthy disingenious thing in the Author of the Contempt of the Clergy written about Twenty Seven Year since to run back Fifty or an Hundred Year before to find dirt to throw in his Mothes Face His Stories of Poverty and Ignorance are not sufficiently qualified Neither would I be thought to Condemn them who take wise private Men and make them Preachers I am of Bishop Crofts Opinion Naked Truth Many such may be useful I plead for wise Men whether Schollars or No. But if this Book fall into the hands of any Papist He may say You see what you are come to since you left us Fiat Lux Written in the Year Sixty on the Return of King Charles hath sought to improve these things against us more then any of that Tribe I ever read Is it not a Sceptical Atheistical Book at the Bottom like sure Footing in Christianity He always distinguisheth the Protestant and Presbyterian and yet says our Reformers Luther Calvin and the rest disown'd Episcopacy but Queen Elizabeth saw a necessity to reassume it A Brave Historian Not to say much of your Disputes when Dominicans and Franciscans burnt one another Jamenuists are accounted Hereticks and been destroyed as such A Million of Men in Italy have lately run after Molinus that Half Quaker And now a Sect of Pietist swarm in Germany What Wars are between you and the Greek Churches What Notions of ours are so Monstrous as Transubstantiation Pardon me I call that Doctrine Monstrous for let me ask you 1. Did Christ take and eat his own Body It was well said of him in the Oxford Disputation it is time ill spent to dispute with them that can swallow such Contradictions This is like the Spanish Story of the Servant that when his Head was cut off took him up in his Teeth and buried it 2. Did the Ancient Christians who burnt the Bread left after Consecration think they burnt Christs Body 3. Did ever the Heathen Julian in his Epistles or any other twit the Christians with making a God of a Wafer and Eating him when all was done Sure No then no such thing was then talkt of and if not then it is too late to tell us so now For taking away the Cup and Mutilating the Sacrament if Transubstantiation were true yet your Story of the Blood being by Concomitancy in the Body is not sufficient will not do For in the Sacrament we commemorate Christ not living but dying his Blood not running in his Reins but separate from them This Cup is my Blood shed this consideration made most of the Trent Conventicle Pardon the Expression for so Durankin hath largely proved it to be tho he dyed in your Communion almost Mad when urg'd by a Friar They flung their Seats c. Father Pauls Hist Can the same Body and Blood move and not move be eaten and not eaten at the same time I cannot Condemn Mr. Johnson and others that say These be Contradictions and Contradictoria non cadunt sub divina potentia Tho I would take heed how I express my self hear Remembring what a Heathen Cicero said in one of his Orations Pauca timide de Deo Loquimur Ye are the Body of Christ faith Paul In my apprehension you may
ad regnum non causa regnandi as they did another Saying of his Bona opera non praecedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum How often read you in Scripture such Phrases it may be Scores of Times in one Psalm 119. The path of thy Commandments The way of thy Precepts c Is there no Truth but Christ No Life but Christ Sometimes you say Christ is not in our Sermons It may be his Name is not in the Text in the Chapter Will you tare them out of the Bible For acting for Self sure if you think it a Weakness in Moses to have an Eye to the Recompence of Reward do you think it so in Christ who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross 12 Heb. 2. Mr. G. Firmin in that admirable piece The real Christian hath by the way corrected the Errors of some other men besides you that call this self love and hath proved that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-love condemn'd in Scripture is senfual self that this self-love we speak of are we prest to in Scripture Thou mayst call thy self Christian but C. will call thee worker of iniquity I may say to such of you that talk of being the best Christians what Bp. Jewel says in his Apology about the Popes being Peters Successor In qua re in qua functione in qua parte vite illi successit Quid enim unquam aut Petrus Papae aut Papa Petro simile habuit So say I in what thing in what work in what part of thy Life followest thou Christ For wherein was Christ like thee or thou like him Is this true Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord c. But tell me in short what is your Opinion Cp. I have given the Eccho without any change in me I believe my Sins are forgiven me that they are not mine but Christs he hath obeyed for me if I sin this contents me I am never sad about it I never confess fin when in a good frame nor beg Pardon of God for I know my sins were forgiven before committed Ct. I think you read not many Books no not the Bible but one Book I am sure you and all your Brethren have read Cp. What Book is that I Pray you are so consident of Ct. Your Horn-book and there you learnt Forgive us our Trespasses Well if you minded Hollowed be thy Name thy will be done on Earth Tho I believe well of some call'd Antinomians and too deservedly they are upright in the main yet as for you and such as you you are some of the Eldest Sons the Devil hath Not confess Sin nor beg Pardon Words one would think too big for the Mouth of the Devil Cp. I Pray have you read Dr. Crisp's book throughout It is the best Book in the World I dare defend it Ct. No I read it not all I was Sick to read so much Cp. This it is to censure a Book and not read all Ct. You I doubt censure Books you read none of And some of them that put their hands to the Book I hear confess they read it not over which is worse But you that are so hot Did you ever read it over Cp. I little thought you would ask me that Question But I will not lye for I confess I never read one quarter of the book over yet I doubt not all is sound Ct. I am glad you would not tell a Lye nor look on it as a part of your Christian Liberty but if you had committed such a small sin you would not have added a greater to be troubled for it Cp. No for I am not the Lyar for Dr. Crisp well observes Thou art not the Idolater or Thief So I not the Lyar then the Doct. speaketh very comfortably Sin can do me no hurt And that after the greatest Sins I could commit I must as certainly conclude I am Pardon'd before any Humiliation as after say what you will he was the most Gospel Preacher in the World Ct. You will find somewhat else is to be minded besides Comforrt Your Gospel you know is a Lawless Gospel And I declare I never heard an Antinominian Sermon in my days till I heard the Reverend Linen-Draper When Heresy and Nonsense and Impudence seem'd to contend which should make him most infamous Cp. But what have you to say against Dr. Crisp All the world shall not convince me but he was a very Good Man Ct. Who denys he was Or if it might be denyed It is in vain to at tempt it to a Man resolv'd never to believe it Have I not said enough already why I am displeas'd with him See what woful work he makes of Faiths being an Eccho 493 296. Cp. But I am angry with them that say Men are not justified till they believe and that Faith is the Vniting Grace when it follows Vnion John 15. 5. Confounds you all Ct. Were the Controversy about a Priority of Nature I would not contend Our Act of Faith and Gods Act of justifying are coeval and instantaneous Acts but it is a Priority of time you plead for from Eternity from the Womb in the higth of all wickedness You must know there is a great diflerence between Vniting and Vnion as is between Marrying and Married Cp. What more displeaseth you Ct. That tho Christ sayeth My Father loveth me because I lay down my Life for my sheep Yet the Doctor talks of his being separate from God odious to him as sin being on him I know not how more then by imputation sure Doth the Judge hate a substitute punisht for anothers fault Volenti non sit injuria by the way he may so punish Doth he hate him as the actual Murtherer Traytor Thief 4â—8 Also he talks at a wild rate 98 Of Pouring Physick down the throat c. Prosper says well Voluntas in tantum libera in quantum liberata And we all say acta agit mota movit prius a Deo conversa convertit se ad Deum And his Sixteenth Sermon against Evidences is intolerable Sin doth no hurt Duties no good c. Cp. But you tell Men they should be troubled for Sin even Believers for their falls and faults Ct. Why was not David so Was not sin his burthen Cp. What David did he did of himself and he erred as when he said hath the Lord forgotten to be Gracious c Ct. Hold thou thy Tongue thou Blasphemous Corrupter of Scripture I think not this thy bold impudent assertion worth Confutation We thus might lose the best of Psalms the Penitential Psalm Psal 51. Sinned Peter when he went out and wept bitterly Or the three Thousand when pricked at the heart by Peters Sermon As in the natural birth there is no bringing forth without pain tho not in all alike so in the Spiritual Birth If a child cry not when born a cry is in the Room it is a dead Child Apply it you as you will Cp. If
theirs was it he that wrote against Mr. Keith and me vowed he would break my Head About ten Days after this when I came from Mr. Keith's at Nine of the Clock in the Evening then dark as soon as I came to Moore-Fields a Man sets upon me strook me to the Ground look'd on me a long time as one considering what to do I expected in that misery no other but that he would draw his Sword and run me through but he took a great Stone and flung at my Head down ran the Blood on all my Cloaths in that case was I found and lead home I desired Mr. Penn to examine the Matter before Friends of his and mine He refused I then entreated him not to put it in his Journal That a Prophet came to me from the Lord to tell me my Head should be broken and that it came to pass ten Days after Such Tricks have been sometimes among the Perfect Ones I doubt not but that this is sent far and nigh as a Confirmation of their Faith Whether it be true what a Gentleman lately coming to the City says who offer'd to prove it before Mr. Penn That often from Month to Month he sent Letters to Rome I will not say But his declining to meet him and their new Fears who would not suspect till now looks suspicious Croesius confest he was at Paris and often at the French Court before he turned Quaker I lately saw an Admonition to the Quakers of Philadelphia in Pensilvania to other Quakers there Where he says Whoredoms and other Abominations were grown common among them c. The Story he tells of Jennings his Knavery iâ— notorious what says Sir William to all this Now a Prophet is come from the Lord to the Quakers to tell them they should not answer us in Print or Discourse for the Loâ—d wiâ—â— soon take the Controversie in his own Hand and appear against Geo. Keith in panticular What! is he to be knockt down too He goes now in the Evening with a Guide as I do If any of you would write to me about this I pray direct as a Friend did to be left in Sixth day street Friday street at the House of John Steplehouse Church over against the Sign of the Grea Light the Sun But Friends about Doctrine write me nothing for I know you have our Faith to your selves another for us And because many of the Quakers are Socinians to my Knowledge and the Socinians their Friends I will say something on that Argument Mr. Penn once brought in Socinianism among them If Christ was only a Creature tell me how can the Scripture tell us of the Love of God in giving Christ more than any other thing Or which is more difficult for you to understand the Love of Christ in giving himself The Love of God in giving Christ God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son He that spared not his own Son shall he not with him freely give us all things Where he argues from the grearer to the lesser He that will give me a Thousand Pound will give me Five if occasion be But if God made a holy Man to preach a holy Law and lead a holy Example in this more than Pardon Grace and Eternal Life But your greater Difficuly is how can the Apostle tell us of Length Depth Breadth and Heighth of the Love of Christ that passeth Knowledge where else is the Love of God so exprest Philosophy knows but three Dimensions Longitude Latitude and Profundity but the Love of Christ four Now on their Notions we may talk of Christ's Love to himself but not to us for which of them would not suffer a thousand times more than they imagine Christ did to acquire but the thousandth part of the Glory they say he thus acquired Who talks in all Company Oh the Love of King William to 3 distressed Nations to come and save us when he got a Crown by it tho it is true his Love was great to us The divine Nature is not common to the Three Persons as a Genus to a Species for it is indivisible nor as a Species to Individuals for it is not multiplied not as a Totum to its Parts for the Godhead hath no Parts But Great is the Mystery of Godliness If it be a Mystery and not only so but a great one and nor only so but the great one of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh I am content to look on it as such therefor Mr. Sylvester on that Text We shall for ever be with the Lord and others speak wisely That all attempts to satissie our treason about the Hypostatick Union are in vain Read 6 Isa the whole 12. John 41.38 39. Was that Lord on the Throne whom Isaiah saw the true God or most High God to whom the flying Seraphims cryed Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Yes sure John tells you this was Christ 12 John thus said Isaiah When he saw his Glory and spake of him and that he refers to this Chapter here and no other appears from the Words cited 40 Verses Isaiah saith again He hath blinded their Eyes and hardned their Hearts For in Isaiah 53. sure he saw Christ there in his Suffering nor Glory numbred among Transgressors in his Stripes and John says Isaiah faith again which is elsewhere If Christ's Suffering was his Glory as some say let them consider O Fools and slow of Heart to believe all the Prophets have said Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his Glory Besides the Words cited 12 John are not in 6 Isaiah 53. Consider once again 4. Galat. 8. They were charged with once worshipping that which by Nature is not God If Christ then be to be worshipped He is God by Nature Now the Angels worship him if they much more we 1 Heb. 6. We are commanded to worship him Psal 4. Thy Throne O God endureth for ever For he is thy Lord worship thou him 1. Heb. 8 9. That all that call on the Name of the Lord Josus 1 Cor. 1.2 Saul went to persecute them that called on the Name of Jesus for so were the Churches known by this for Jesus tells Ananiaes what he should do and tells Saul it was he 9. Acts 14. compared with the 17. Once more 2. Rev. 23. All the Churches shall know I am he which searcheth the Reins and Heart Is it not God's Prerogative to search Hearts who knows it I the Lord search the Heart and try the Reins none but he Doth Christ know Men's Thoughts Principles and Ends at all times in all places Is he indeed with them that are gathered together in his Name Is he in the midst of them How I pray Again Psal 83.18 Thou whose Name alone is Jehovah now Christ is so called Jehovah our Righteousness For praying to Christ I know the Socinians are divided about it Socinus did it and the Racovian Alcaron pardon the Expression pleads it