till this upstart Faction spread it selfe abroad like an infectious cloud for if in all this time there were no Church then could Christ be no Head without a body nor no Husband without a Spouse nor a Saviour without a people saved Answ. All formes differing from the light of Christ are in Babylon darknesse and distraction and the true Church is in God 1 Thess. 1. 1. Such onely are out of Babylon who are gathered out of the world by the spiritual light of Christ and there it hath been ever since his passion and he hath never been without though but in a small number which he hath saved which the world hated and scornfully miscall'd and into Prisons and corners have they been driven all this time of the man of Sinne and his Papal Priesthood but now he is come who is spreading his truth and multiplying his seed as a cloud to the Egyptians wherefore the Heathen rage exceedingly But it seems by the Query that thou ownest the Church all along since the Apostles to have been in the multitude of the Popish Priests rather then in the Martyrs seeing thou speakest so scornfully of a small number to be the Church of Christ who are so contemptible which the Church ever was and so it is at this day Luke 12. 32. Mat. 7. 14. Mat. 20. 16. Reply 9 10. Now I beleeve you speak truth as that all Formes differing from Christ and so yours among the rest are of Babylon and under the destruction thereof not but that there may be difference in circumstance and yet a concurrence in substance as there was in the Primitive times even amongst the very chiefe of the Apostles and though there be some difference in part of opinion yet may those so different be Christians still but not so if like you they erre in the main And what you tel me here is nothing but what I knew before ever I heard of you and is nothing to the thing required at all for we know and are sure that there now is and ever hath been a Church on earth as also was that of the Thessalonians as well as other Churches which is evidently declared in many places And what I queried was concerning a visible Church not of an in visible Church of which you speak nothing at all and in that you grant that Christ had ever a Church since his passion you also grant your selves to be none of his Church you being never heard of until of late years unless in the days of holy Moses but if you follow their wayes be careful of their end And for what you further adde it is nothing but of words without proofe and the Pope calls them that dye for the testimony of his Apostacy Martyrs which are rather malefactors and for them who are Martyrs indeed they dyed for the testimony of that Religion Doctrine and Ordinances which we professe and you now oppose and like the Heathen rage exceedingly against the Ministers and professors thereof who are so contemptible in your eyes and others of your society as to be railed against with the unchristianlike termes of dumb dogs serpents sons of perdition instruments and children of the Devil and the like and if this be the language of the spirit of God what then is the speech of Satan Qu. 11. Whether you own the Resurrection of the body after death if not of what doth and shall Christs Kingdome consist for he can be no King without his subjects Answ. I say yea the Resurrection I own according to the Scriptures Rep. 11. This is no satisfactory Answer in general unless you do descend unto particulars for I know not whether you doe mean according to the sense you wrest it unto and so by such subtilty smother perhaps heresie in privacy for some of your Fraternity have affirmed to me that there is no other Resurrection spoken of in Scripture but in this life as from the death of the first Adams fin unto the life of the second Adams righteousnesse contrary to the true me aning and so not according to the Scriptures which usually speaks of a resurrection from the dead after a dissolution of the body therefore speak out your meaning plainly Qu. 12. Whether you acknowledge the Trinity of the persons in the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost one substance but three in subsistence or manner of beings Answ. For the word Trinity thou mayst send it to Rome from whence it came but God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one I know and acknowledge according to the Scriptures 1 John 5. 7. Reply 12. Now O subtil Deceiver yet simple Etymologer doth not thy pen here stink with the tinkture of ancient Hereticks whom you here imitate in that you say that the word Trinity came from Rome in a derision of it I shall not stand to dispute it as a Controversie because perhaps you brought it thence with most if not all of your Tenets but this I know it was a word long time used and never disallowed that I know of by any unlesse erroneous Hereticks for the Latines have it as well as the English thus Trinitas as we Trinity both signifying three in one and so agreeable unto Scripture But O wretched imitator of Hereticks who with thy self hath stumbled at this word Michael Servetus that heretical blasphemer compared the Trinity unto Cerberus the Porter of Hell-gate and Arius that notable Heretick counted the word Trinity a Fiction and a laughing-stock whose end was as wretched as his life was wicked for in easing himselfe of natures courses he disburdened himselfe of his bowels and the same opinion is now upheld by his Successor Biddle a man no lesse obstinate then erroneous The Turkish Mabomet and Sabellio likewise held the word Trinity in derision as doe you and many more of your Society and I fear in many more of your Tenets concurre with them Qu. Whether Jesus the Son of Mary incarnated in the flesh Godman in one person who dyed at Jerusalem upon the Crosse rose from the death to life the third day and ascended on high into the highest heavens and sitteth on the right hand of God be the true Messias that you own and say is within you Answ. Jesus the Sonne of God and Eternal Word which came downe from God became flesh borne of the Virgin God and man who dyed at Jerusalem rose againe ascended and sitteth at the right hand of the Father the true Messias which Christ we own to be within us which no carnal minde which denies his light can comprehend and Christ in you except ye be Reprobates 1 Cor. 10. 4. Reply 13. This is in some sort more then any of the rest satisfactory but that the true Messias is within you I have not faith to beleeve it because I see such opposite actings to him or any thing of his spirit That I apprehend them rather
without and in that you ask what that was which led the Primitive Saints before the Letter was written in wayes accepted I say when there was no Law there was no transgression so then it must needs follow that their sins were no sinnes because they were not imputed not that I beleeve this onely though perhaps more principally presented them excepted but it is probable and I partly beleeve it too that they had immediate Revelations of Gods will for before the Scriptures were in the Letter visible there was still a supply of Prophets whereby that which is now fully written was then by peece-meals revealed as occasion required and as Israel when they had no crop or vintage they were supply'd with a sufficiency of manna from Heaven but when they came into the land of their rest a land flowing with milk and honey where all things were setled in a competent standing order they had no more manna by piece-meals as their allowance they had all things supply'd by a constant course sufficient nay in redoundancy and lay as we use to say at rack and manger so when that which by peace-meals was revealed was written in an absolute literal method there needed no more revealing by degrees when we have alwayes in store the whole and despise them not for such offence hath certainly a reward Quere 2. Seeing you say the Scripture is a Rule declare in plainnesse is the whole Scriptures a rule to all men women to take up the practice thereof or how much of it is and to how many people and to whom in particular seeing the Saints in all Ages had their particular commands how may weak people know which of their commands they must take up and which they must not and when they have found the commands where they must have the power whether that which gives the commands be not the power only accepted for performance deal plain herein that people may know what to doe and what they have done that they be not alwayes learning and never able to come to the end of their labours and rest of God An Answer to the Second Query When first I considerately perused this your Query I in part determined to have returned it back as I found it holding it a thing cautious whether it were a subject lawful to dispute without a prejudice to conscience savouring so much of spiritual presumption that I leave it unto you to consider and examine whether it extend to heretical abomination or no But considering the instability of your vitiated braines which with a blast mounts upon the falatious clouds of vainglorious imaginations as to boast of the victory before the encounter I thought better to give it a curb then to passe it by uncorrected Forasmuch as you query how much of the Scripture is useful how much not it evidently appeares you suspect if not assert some of it to be uselesse which seemes unto me an apparent suspecting of Gods perfect wayes in his actings for if God hath made or composed any thing that is uselesse then hath he wrought in vain and this to believe and teach appeares unto my apprehension little better if any thing at all then blasphemy in a high degree for private Saints had never particular peculiar commands but that which was pleasing to God in one was also acceptable in another so the command was not particular or at the least not peculiar for this were to affirm mutability in God that the thing which pleased him now should not content him another time except upon some more then extraordinary occasions and this would be at the least partiality in him which is abominable to suppose but it is freely confessed that the Saints in their particular employments had particular commands as Noah that all mankinde might not be destroyed had a particular command to build an Ark and Moses to deliver Israel from their bondage had a peculiar command to Egypt to lead them through the Sea to hew forth Tables to receive the Commandements and to consecrate Aaron had a command to array himself in Priestly Ornaments St. John to Baptize and the Apostles to Preach and the like all except the two last were peculiar to them without others the two last particular to them with others and an innumerable more might be named but it is needlesse yet this is no inducement at all to occasion a division of that sort in that which God hath inseparably united although there be remedies for every malady cures for every contagion and medicines for every misery spiritual and as the Pooles of Bethesda for all persons and all diseases This hath been discoursed of at large by several reverend pens extant in many volumes to which I refer you And for the power to fulfill these commands and precepts in the word of God I shall be brief there is no power but of God Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God and he alone must work with their labours and give the increase Quere 3. Seeing Christ preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers and the Apostle saith That which may be known of God is manifest in them and that they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts which God shewed them c. Deale plainly and let people know how it now comes to be without and denyed within as it is by you Prove your practice and judgement herein by plain Scripture An Answer to the Third Query In this Query I finde no lesse then two lies at the least if not three The first laid on Christ God-man blessed for ever that he preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers The second on the Apostle in that you say he saith they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts And the third on me in that you say I deny that light which declares God and his glory to be within This I term a lye if you speak mean particuarly of Saints and a truth if you speak of Reprobates but I own it not wholly outwardly upon any account but I shall proceed to clear the Scriptures wrested and abused by your spiritual impious impudence and presumption For the first I have observed the Relatitions of all the Expositors who have upon any occasion commented upon that place that ever I could procure the sight of who all concur in one opinion and render it thus from the Original Language The kingdome of God is within or among you the word in the Greek signifying both and so you have it in the Margent of your larger Bibles Now if the word in the Original signifie both then the one so well as the other may be used but that must needs bee most proper which most concurs with other places and therefore among rather then within since Paul saith Christ in you writing to the faithful not
to the faithlesse except ye be Reprobates and again Know you not that no unrighteous person inâ—eriteth the Kingdom of God where it is cleare that it does not possesse men as inheriting them for this implyes a contradiction but it is to be possessed of men and they to inherit it and from this inheritance the unrighteous are excepted and exempted too therefore it is certainly a most notorious lye to say Christ preached the Kingdome of God in unbeleevers though among them for he himselfe and all his excellencies that attended him in his Incarnation were among them but not in them and an error in the Translation makes not an error in Christs Doctrine Thus for the first I come now to clear the Apostle from your falshoods for you speaking of unbeleevers say he saith that all which may be known of God or of his glory is manifest in them This you pretend to be a proofe that there is a light in every man to reveale all that may be known of God or of his glory which I say can be nothing lesse then the Spirit of God when if you read the verse following for the first hath a dependency on the latter you shall see the extention of the former expression The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seene being understood by the things that are made Now this cannot be the Spirit of God or Christ which teacheth all things needfull for salvation except you can prove him to be made at the Creation and so a creature and not a Creator and therefore it must be something in the creature which can be nothing else but the eye of the rational soule which is reason by which may be seen the invisible being of God and that he is so Cicero Aristotle Plato but meer Heathens have attain'd unto therefore this is humane not divine I shal not stand to state arguments to prove it experimentally because I intend brevity I Come unto the other Scripture which you adde that the Apostle saith that they speaking of unbeleevers still came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in them A most notorious lye wresting the meaning of the Apostle unto your owne wills and I leave it to you to examine with feare and trembling whether it be not also unto your own destruction too for the words are these For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ Where is observable First what it was that shined God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined Secondly the persons to and in whom he shined in our hearts Now the word our maketh a separation between Paul and the Corinthians to whom he writ who were Beleevers and Reprobates who beleeved not therefore you must needs acknowledge you have belyed him in saying he spoke of unbeleevers when he spoke to and of Saints in our hearts unlesse you can prove that that Paul and the Corinthians were such as you speak of even unbeleevers Thirdly the intent and purpose for which he shone to give it was not free to all as you say but particularly given to some the light of the knowledge of the glory of God And then Fourthly the manner how in the face of Jesus Christ I intend not to write an Exposition on the words but onely rightly to divide them and so to cleare them from the scandal laid on them by you which is clear So that your Query being thus handled I suppose there can be no more required in answer to it and farre be it from me to hold a judgement willingly any further then is concomitant to and with Scripture proofes and practice Learne to speak truth and cease to endeavour the building of so lying a Babel which is not in that one language of God but that of Satan For every lye is of Satan the Father of lyes Query 4. Whether that New Birth spoken of in the Scriptures be Christ within or some other thing and if not he then what is it and how people may know it by the Letter without the Light when they have Christ and when they have a spirit of delusion and whether the light of the Spirit alone be sufficient without the letter to reveale the Sonne of God the Father and all truth and judge of all spirits whatsoever without any addition to it An Answer to the Fourth Query The New Birth or Regeneration is a repairing of the Image of God once in the first Adam through the effectual working of the Spirit and grace of God by faith in the second Adam which they that looke unto the first Adam and in their own strength endeavour to renew cannot comprehend for it is spiritually discerned though the policy of the Serpent may so far prevaile as to cast them into a kinde of pleasing slumber of Security and so pretending to lead them back unto that earthly Eden by personal obedience which they lost by disobedience like lambs led to the slaughter they may passe a Celestial Paradise by and perhaps arrive at a perilous disconsolate place of eternal sorrow or if you will it is a remission of sinne and a renewment of sanctity called Sanctification on the whole Doctrine whereof to insist at large would require a greater volume then either I intend to trouble you to peruse or my selfe to compose but for the satisfaction of them among you or elsewhere whose intentions are to be informed out of sincerity not curiosity I shall speak a little unto some particulars of it In brief man hath no hand at all in this work but the spirit of God for even as in the compositure or making of any thing there must two things concurre First the Agent or Workman which giveth the forme shape or being to the Work Secondly the matter whereof the work must be made or formed the which cannot be said to work it selfe but onely to suffer the operation of the Worker This is the summe of Regeneration First the the spirit of God is the workman in this work he is the begetter of this new man the framer of this new creature and the re-builder of this sacred Fabrick Secondly the minde and will of man is the matter whereof this new creature or image of God in man is made not working together with the Spirit of God but onely suffering the operation of the holy Ghost this is the Epitomy of this whole work for Regeneration is nothing else but a sanctified minde and will so the begetter of this new man is God even the Holy Ghost For that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit So that this New Birth is the work of the Spirit and although by the Ministry of man as the matter yet not