without charge as Paul a Minister of the Gospel did Answ. Paul did not alwayes and in every place so though he did so at Corinth as was said before Neither did he think himself bound so to do as appears 1 Cor. 9. 6. where he saith Or I onely and Barnabas have we not power to forbear working Much lesse did 〈◊〉 or Christ his Master and ours injoyn us alwayes so to do whatsoever you Quakers would do For Christ saith Luk. 10. 7. The labourer is worthy of his hire And the Law said Deut. 25. 4. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the corn See 1 Cor. 9. 9. and verse 11. If we have sowen unto you spiritual things Is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things and verse 13 14. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple And they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel c. Yea doth not Paul himself in some sort prohibit this labouring with our hands in a Mechanick way when he saith to Timothy 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affaires of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a souldier Sure I am that the Church in former Ages hath upon this ground in her Councils and Synods ordained that no Minister or Clergy-man should be employed in Mechanick works or otherwise be incumbred with secular Affaires 16 Quaery Whether thou dost not walk in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees who art called of men Master or Doctor and hast the chiefest seat in the Synagogue and uppermost room at feasts and greetings in the Market-place contrary to the practice of the Apostles and so art under the Woe which Christ pronounced against such Answ. What if Christ gave the name of Master to Nicodemus Joh. 3. 10 and Luke the name of Doctor to Gamaliel Acts 5. 34 Is it then the giving or taking of those names which Christ forbiddeth or the arrogant seeking of them out of an high and proud spirit that desires to be idolized Certain it is the word Rabbi which he speaks of signifies no more then a Doctor or Master And the word Doctor imports no more but a Teacher which names were familiarly given both in the Old and New Testament to those that were worthy of them as Ecclesiastes 12. 11. Solomon calls such the Masters of Assemblies and Paul reckoning up the several ranks and orders of those Teachers whom Christ first gifts and then sends he nameth Apostles in the first place Prophets in the second Evangelists in the third and Doctors or Teachers in the fourth Ephes. 4. 11. And the like he doth again 1 Cor. 12. 38. which thing he would not do if the Titles were unlawful As for the chief seats in the Synagogues the uppermost rooms at feasts some that are worthy of them were allovved them by Christ himself Luke 14. 7 8 9 10 c. Mark 5. 22. and by Luke Act. 13. 15 Chap. 18. 8 17. And as for salutations and greetings they are allowed as well in the Market-places as anywhere else It is not then the having or taking of those that is condemned but the ambitious and inordinate desire of them and especially by such as are unworthy of them as the Scribes and Pharisees were In whose steps whether of exalting themselves or despising others who will more frequently be found then some of you called the Quakers who take your selves to be the onely or chief illuminated men Prophets and Teachers raised of God in these last dayes not without contempt and reproach to others 17 Quaery What is the Church and whether it be not a delusion to the people and a dishonour to Christ to call a house of lime and stone a Church Answ. It hath been a custome in most Ages to call an Assembly and the place where that Assembly is held by one and the same name yet not without a trope or figure So a company of Scholars and the place where they learn are both called a School The usual meetings of the Jews and the place where they so met were both called Synagogues as you may read for the first Act. 6. 9. and Chap. 9. 2. and for the second use of the word Luk. 4. 16. Act. 13. 14 c. So the word Church is first and properly a Congregation of Saints or of such as professe so to be 1. Cor. 1. 2. And then in the second place this word is used for the place where such a Congregation use to assemble The Apostle useth the word Church for both in one and the same Chapter 1 Cor. 11. 22. verse 18. Chap. 14. 5 23. compared with ver. 19. 28. Neither is this any delusion to the people nor more dishonour to God then to use this phrase the house of God first for the people in whose heart God dwelleth Isai. 60. 7. and then for the Temple or place where they were gathered together to seek and serve the Lord as Psal. 42. 4. and elsewhere Therefore here you seek a knot in a bulrush 18 Quaery Whether thon and such as thou be not the creepers into houses who would confine all to the steeple-houses Ans. Indeed Paul speaks of seducers that creep into houses and lead silly women captive who are laden with sins led away with divers lusts Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim 3. 6 7. But whether this better suits with your manner of teaching or ours judge ye For we do not creep into the Churches who have the doors set wide open for us and have our Congregations or Assemblies publickly called together by a Bell or the like means None creep into those houses but such as come by stealth with a purpose to steal something The houses into which the Apostle affirms some of the false teachers to creep were ever taken to be private houses and perhaps such as scarce have a man in them besides women and children till James Parnel and some of his gang rose up But why must our houses of lime and stoue be called steeple-houses more then the Glassiers-Hall or the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate be called a glasse-house a chimney-house or a stairehouse or a stable-house for that hath both staires and chimneys and stables belonging to it Sure I am first that those houses were not built for the steeples but the steeples for them nor have all our Churches steeples belonging unto them How then will you stile those But where did Christ or his Apostles reproach the Synagogues with opprobrious names as you do these our Churches 19 Quaery Whether it was the practice of the Apostles to take a Text of the Prophets words and from thence to raise Uses Points Tryal and Motives as thou and such
to be holpen up again from the fall or to be saved from the hands of mine enemies or of all that hate me and so to be renewed through him that I may be enabled to serve him chearfully and without slavish fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of my life Luke 1. 71 72 73 74 75 c. This faith worketh by love brings forth obedience purifies the heart makes us conformable to Jesus Christ So that I hope for no benefit by his death unlesse I dye with him to all known sins Rom. 6. 8. and it makes us patiently wait for the hope of righteousnesse But the faith of the hypocrite for so you mean though you write otherwise seeks alwayes something else by or through Christ then what it should seek to wit the putting off the old man and the putting on the new which is created after God in righteousnesse and holinesse of truth Ephes. 4. 21 22 23. And herein differs my faith from the hypocrites and perhaps from James Parnels also 24 Quaery Whether all that thou givest bread and wine unto which you call a Sacrament do discern the Lords Body Ans. I hope most of those to whom I give bread and wine have some understanding of the true body and blood of Christ whatsoever James Parnel or his Comerades have for I have often declared the mystery of both unto them more distinctly and evidently then any thing that I have yet read in their writings And as for calling these a Sacrament the word imports two things first an holy mystery which I think you will not here deny and secondly a military oath wherein the spiritual Souldier is obliged to love obey and follow his General in life and death which most lively sets forth our duty in remembring the example of Christs death and following him therein And therefore do not quarrel with the word or thing which you understand not clearly 25 Quaery Whether thou dost not give bread and wine to natural men and women Ans. First I can give nothing but the elements of bread and wine with the signification of the same Secondly those I give to natural men and women and to spiritual ones Thirdly I give the same not onely to those that are spiritual but to a mixt company as Christ himself did to all the twelve Disciples Luk. 22. 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22. whereof Judas was one and as the Apostle for a time gave the same to those that professed repentance faith and new obedience but fell away afterwards 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. 1 Joh. 2. 19. 26 Quaery Can any be set free from sin while they are upon earth And when must they be cleansed if not upon the earth Ans. There is an earth or earthly being which is sin it self Colos. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon earth In this earth there is not a man that sinneth not Eccles. 7. 20. yea there is not a man upon the outward earth which hath not often sinned Christ himself excepted But when I look upon one main end of Christs coming which is to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. Ephes. 5. 24 25 26. upon his power to do the work Matth. 28. 18. Heb. 7. 25. and upon the promises to that effect Amos 9. 8. Micha 7. 19. Luke 1. 70 71 72 73 74 c. 2 Pet. 1. 4. I cannot but acknowledge that all iniquit both may and ought to be subdued here Nor do I know any other place of purgation after we are out of the body And these things have been held forth by my self and others long before we heard any thing of the Quakers yet we shall own that or any other Truth that comes from them 27 Quaery What Scripture hast thou for thy Rule to give Davids conditions to the world to be sung in metre Answ. First all are not of the world whom you take to be of the world to wit who are no Quakers or counted and called such Secondly Israel in the general to whom David gave his Psalmes to be sung were for the greater part unregenerate and men of the world as ye call them Thirdly he gave them in metre or measures to be sung as the learned in the Hebrew tongue know well though perhaps none of your new Schooles understood so much Fourthly what condition was David in into which every man may not come in time Fifthly are not Davids Psalmes part of the holy Scriptures which are permitted to all men and are profitable for all men to read Sixthly the Jewes did read all the Old Testament in publick with a singing voice as the Learned know Seventhly Did not the Lord by his servant Moses teach all Israel a song of his own making to convince them of his goodnesse and their own wickednesse for the time to come even then when they should depart from the Lord corrupt themselves and become mere men of the world Deut. 31. 19 20 21 22 which Song is contained at large Deut. 32. 1 2 c. Now you will not deny but Davids Psalmes may have the same use and effect even upon the wicked when they find how far they are from his godly wayes spiritual frame and growth His prayers may teach them to pray his hymnes may reach them to laud the Lord His afflictions may order support and comfort them when they are in the like condition His prophecies and promises may be the strengthening of their faith Finally his zeal to God and his love to righteousnesse may provoke many So that scarce any book in the whole Bible or Volume of the Scriptures is more universally profitable to be read said or sung then this will prove for all sorts and estates of men So that here you and your friends who are of the same opinion with you discover your great ignorance and weaknesse 28 Quaery What is the Word and whether it is visible to the carnal eye or invisible and where the Scripture speaks of any other Word of God then one Answ. I must for true order sake speak to the last part of your quaery first wherein again you lay open your great ignorance For the Scripture speaks clearly of a manifold Word of God As first there is the eternal essential powerful and living Word by which all things were made Joh. 1. 1 2 3. and are upheld Heb. 1. 1 2 3. and in whom they subsist Col. 1. 15 16 17. Secondly there is the ingiven or inspoken Word which usually came to the Prophets and Messengers of God Jer. 2. 1. 4. 11 13. Thirdly there is the out-spoken Word Psal. 68. 11. And lastly there is the written Word of the Lord 2 Tim. 3. 16. To the former part I say that none of these save the last named Word is visible to the carnal eye and that in the letter onely All the other are invisible and not invisible as you learnedly write to that eye but in the Spirit the first is both
let your communication be Yea yea and Nay nay for whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil Jam 5. 12. But above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by earth nor by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay lest ye fall into condemnation Q. 39. Whether Paul himself did not swear in those words 2 Cor. 11. 10. As the truth of Christ is in me no man shall stop me of this boasting in the Regions of Achaia Concerning outward material Churches and the publick exercises therein Quaery 41. Whether any thing be a sin against which there is no Law or command in the written VVord of God seeing the Apostle thus defineth or describeth sin 1 Jâ—h. 3. 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law for sin is the transgression of the Law Q. 42. What Commandement is there against building of Synagogues in the Old Testament or the erecting of material Churches in the new since the Jews moved our Lord to do a miracle by that argument Luk. 7. 5. He hath built us a Synaegogue and he blames not their reasoning Q. 43. Is not the coming together into one place for the exercise of Religion and edification allowed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 23. If therefore the whole Church be come together into one place and all speak with tongues and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers will they not say that ye are mad and verse 26. How is it then Brethren when ye are come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a doctrine hath a tongue hath a revelation hath an interpretation let all things be done to edifying Q 44. And may not such meetings be mixt Assemblies of learned and unlearned of believers and unbelievers seeing the Apostle said before verse 23. And there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers Q. 45. May not an house built of purpose for such meetings with all conveniencies and decently kept as the Synagogues were and our material Churches are be more convenient and useful to those sacred ends then any common house as Glasiers Hall or the Bull and mouth usually can be seeing as was said before the religious Jews so thought and spake and our blessed Saviour contradicts it not Luk. 7. 5. For he loveth our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue Q. 46. Is not this place of assembling as well as the Congregation it self called a Church by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 17 18. Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse For first of all when ye come together in the Church I hear that there be divisions among you c. See also 1 Cor. 14. 19. where the Apostle saith Yet in the Church had I rather speak five words with mine understanding that by my voice I might teach others also then ten thousands words in an unknown tongue Q. 47. Whether Christ himself did not frequent the Synagogues to teach therein seeing he himself faith to the high Priest Joh. 18. 20. I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jews alwaies resort and in secret have I said nothing See Matth. 9. 35. Q. 48. Whether the Apostles did not usually repair to those Synagogues and first hear the Scriptures read and expounded and afterwards speak and teach themselves in the same place if they had an invitation or fair opportunity for the same seeing Luke saith Acts 13. 14 15. But when they departed from Perga they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and sate down And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent unto them saying Ye men and Brethren if ye have any word of exhortation say on See further Act. 15. 21. 17. 10. 18. 19 26. 19. 8 c. Q. 49. Whether ever Christ or his Apostles did call those Synagogues by any reproachful names as you do our Oratories and Churches by the name of steeple-houses and the like Q. 50. Did not the Prophet complain to God against the prophaners and destroyers of the Synagogues Psal. 74. 4 5 6 7 8. Thine enemies roar in the midst of the Congregations they set up their ensigns for signes A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers They have cast fire into thy Sanctuary they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy Name to the ground They said in their hearts Let us destroy them together they have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the Land Q. 51. Whether our Saviour speaks against publick prayer in those places or the posture of standing to pray or only against an affectation of praise by an hypocritical practice Matth. 6. 5. where he saith And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are For they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men seeing our Saviour saith from the mouth of his Father Matth 21. 13. It is written My house shall be called an house of prayer For so it is said Isaiah 56. 7 Q. 52. Is it unlawful to call either Baptisme or the Supper of the Lord a Sacrament or obliging mystery since that name imports no more and you cannot deny but that both those are mystical things and obliging mysteries viz. to the washing away of sin and the following of Christ into his like death Q. 53. What Scriptures have you that forbid the baptizing of Infants or the sprinckling of them with water Q. 54. Did not Christ more for them when he took them up in his Arms and blessed them saying further that of such is the Kingdome of God Mark 10. 13 14 15 Q. 55. Were those Disciples commended by Christ or reproved who would have kept back such Infants Mark 10. 13 14 Q. 56. Whether did not Christ give the bread and wine to a mixt company when he administred those elements to Judas as well as to the other eleven Disciples Matth. 26. 21. compared with Luk. 22. 21 Q. 57. Whether did not the Apostles distribute those holy signs to some who discerned not the Lords body aright because they were afterwards punished upon that account who had so received 1 Cor. 11. 29 30. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eatâ—th and drinketh judgment to himself not discerning the Lords body For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Q. 58. Yea who is there among you who are called Quakers or the other Sectarians your forefathers that hath rightly declared the mystery of Christs body and blood in your dissentings from us since none of you have declared this according to our Lords intent Joh. 6. 33 c