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A47164 The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith. Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 1691 (1691) Wing K191; ESTC R21261 124,580 240

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time and it was not a bare Figure or Sign that he gave them but in the use of the Bread and Wine he gave them at the same time an inward enjoyment of him And all this we own and are very glad of such occasions when we have them to sit together and eat and drink both outwardly and inwardly enjoying a two-fold Table and Supper at one time and finding the Lord himself spiritually present and blessing both unto us and enabling us to receive both his Spiritual and Temporal Blessings with Prayer and Thanksgiving And such breaking of Bread we own from House to House even outwardly as well as inwardly with singleness and gladness of Heart as the Primitive Christians did of Old sometimes in a lesser Number and sometimes in a greater For at that Supper above mentioned Luke 24.30 there were only present these two Disciples besides Christ himself so that it is not the number whether greater or small that is essential And also we do believe and say that it is our Duty not only in these more solemn Eatings and Drinkings to remember the Lord's death and what he hath done and suffered for us when we thus eat drink together perhaps many belonging to divers Families but also in all our other Eatings and Drinkings and at all other times as it doth please the Lord to enable us and every true Christian hath the Lord's Death Resurrection and his great Love and what he hath done and suffered for us printed as in Capital Letters upon his very Heart and Soul and writ as a living Epistle with the Spirit of the living God upon fleshly Tables and that this ought to be done not only to his more abundant inward and spiritual coming unto us but to be perpetuated and continued by all true Christians to the end of the World and the last coming of Christ And now tell me wherein we are behind you or wherein we fall short of you or what excellency worth or value hath your Supper above and beyond ours But on the contrary hath not ours the advantage every way Seeing we have more frequently both the outward and inward eating and drinking together than ye have the outward and alas the many lean and dead Souls among you void of inward and spiritual discerning taste or savour too manifestly demonstrate ye are generally strangers to the Supper of the Lord. And we also acknowledge the outward eating and drinking is but a figure of the inward and therefore ought not to be rested in but the Substance that is invisible and eternal ought to be minded and sought after above all And though we are not for holding up or preaching of Figures meerly institute for to signifie and represent a thing to come as were these under the Law yet such a Figure as is natural and necessarily to be used by us all as eating and drinking we may not reject For the outward eating and drinking is a natural and necessary Figure of the inward even as the whole outward World is a Figure of the inward and spiritual as Paul doth expresly call it 1 Cor. 7.31 see the ●reek 5. And concerning that ye call your Christian-Sabbath which ye say is the first Day of the Week and ye do positively affirm in your Confession That the Sabbath was changed from the last Day of the Week from the Resurrection of Christ unto the first day of the Week and so to continue unto the end of the World see Confess cap. 21. sect 7. But ye bring no sober proof for any such change and the Scriptures ye cite say no such thing as Gen. 2.2 3. Rev. 1.10 Exod. 20.8 10. Matth. 5.17 That place in Gen. 2.2 3. saith nothing of the first Day but of the seventh Day And what that seventh Day is ye cannot demonstrate And as to the next Scripture Rev. 1.10 where John saith He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day Although it is more than ye can prove from Scripture that the first Day of the Week is that Lord's Day yet taking it for granted it doth not therefore follow that it was appointed to be the Christian Sabbath But it might be so called because Christ rose upon that day and honoured that day solemnly not only with his rising upon it but appearing at sundry times on that day to his Disciples betwixt his Resurrection and Ascension And that the Christians did usually and more solemnly meet on that day for publick and religious Worship in honour of our Saviour than on other days we readily grant and so also do we according to the Example of the ancient Christians And all true Christians should employ more of their time in religious Works and Services both in private and in publick than the Jews did and ought not to fall short of them but exceed them And that beside other times set apart for the worship of God both in publick and in private it is commendable in Christians to set apart the first day of the Week from common and ordinary labour not only for an ease to their Servants and Cattel but also that they may with the more freedom and cheerful readiness attend upon the Lord and his Service without all incumbrance For experience doth prove it that even bodily Rest from toyl and labour doth contribute to the ease of the Mind and is a help being duly used to disburthen it from divers weights For if the Body be over-charged with labour it is a hurt and clog unto the Mind in divers respects But all this doth not prove that the first day of the Week was appointed for a Sabbath and put in the room of the seventh day of the Week enjoyned to the Jews and People of Israel for that outward Sabbath that was enjoyned unto them was a Sign and Figure as all other outward Sabbaths which they had were as of Weeks Months Years as well as of Days And when the pure Gospel and Christian Dispensation did take place all these figurative and shadowy Sabbaths were changed to the Substance and that Substance or Body is Christ according to Coloss 2.17 But to say the Jewish Sabbath is changed into the first day of the Week is to put the first day of the Week in the room of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a great dishonour unto him for he is the End and Perfection of the Law and of all the shadowy and figurative Ordinances thereof And as the outward Temple that the Jews had is not to be changed into another outward Temple but Christ is the true Temple of the Christians wherein they meet so he is their Sabbath and not any outward day Next as to Exod. 20.8 10. it saith nothing of the first day of the Week nor of one day of seven All this is but Man's invention But it mentioneth the seventh day wherein the Lord rested from all his Works and that Rest signifieth the perfection or finishing of them although as it is said Heb. 4. the
Works were finished from the Foundation of the World and therefore that seventh day doth signifie Christ Jesus the first and the last who is the alone true Rest and Sabbath of all the Faithful as he invited saying Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest And concerning this spiritual and divine Sabbath or Sabbatism it is said in Heb. 4.9 10. Therefore there doth remain a Rest unto the People of God for he that is entred into his Rest he also hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest c. And Verse 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest By all which it doth plainly appear that the New-Testament understandeth the Christian Sabbath not of any outward Day but of Christ which the outward Sabbaths of the Jews did by way of Allegory signifie and hold forth And lastly as to Matth. 5.17 where Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it It is not to be understood that he came to keep up and perpetuate the Types and Figures of the Law but to put an end to them and in the room and place thereof to fulfil all the Righteousness Equity and Justice that they did signifie or hold forth which is as the Kernal Otherwise ye might argue as much for upholding the outward Circumcision as the outward Sabbath and that outward Sabbath was not the first day but the seventh day And whereas some plead that the 4th Commandment is altogether Moral as well as the other nine that were given forth immediately by the Mouth of the Lord unto the People and writ by his Finger on the Tables of Stone and therefore is perpetual and never to be abrogated If all this be granted it doth not prove that the first day of the Week is there commanded as these called Presbyterians and Independents would have it Nor can they who plead for the keeping of the seventh day of the Week for the Sabbath prove that the said fourth Commandment did enjoyn to the Jews the keeping of any outward or natural seventh day of the Week for their keeping the outward seventh day of the Week was enjoyned to them among the other Ceremonial Laws and Precepts as is clear from Exod. 16.23 and Chap. 31.13 14. where it is called a Sign to wit of that spiritual moral and perpetual Sabbath And therefore if it be granted that the fourth Commandment is altogether moral and perpetual it doth not follow that the seventh day therein mentioned is any outward day or that it enjoyneth any outward day for it can all be spiritually understood very well as the tenth Commandment Thou shalt not covet doth not enjoyn any outward thing but reacheth to the Heart and inward part only and is altogether Spiritual And as the last Commandment of the second Table is altogether spiritual so why may it not be said that the last Commandment of the first Table is altogether spiritual And even the mystick Writers among the Jews do acknowledge that not only the seventh day mentioned in the fourth Commandment but all the six days signifie spiritual Days and Mysteries as well as the seventh of which I shall not particularly enlarge at present A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. THE Burden of the Word of the Lord that came unto me on the twenty first day of the fourth Month 1688. in the Town of Boston in New-England to declare it unto Boston its Inhabitants and to the Inhabitants of New-England who have been or are concerned in opposing and hardning their Hearts against the inward appearance of God and of his Son Christ Jesus in the Hearts of his Servants and in the Living Testimonies they have born unto you to call you to believe in the Light of his Son Christ Jesus who hath enlightned you all and every one of you and to turn you from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Oh! Repent Repent for your great Sins and Transgressions of all sorts that ye have committed against the Lord and against his holy and divine Light and Gift in all your Hearts and especially Repent of your great Hypocrisie all Teachers and People of Boston and New-England every where who call your selves Christians and have a Name to live but are dead who draw near unto God with your Mouths and honour him with your Lips but have removed your Hearts far away from him and who have the Name of Christ oft in your Mouths and think to cover you with his imputed Righteousness while ye are ignorant of his Life and holy Power Spirit and divine Nature in your Hearts and while ye are daily crucifying the Lord of Glory afresh and putting him to open shame and treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant as the holy Scripture declareth concerning some that professed Christ Jesus in former Ages And this is the state of many of you yea of the generality of you both Teachers and People of Boston and New-England of all sorts a few Names excepted whom the Lord doth honour and they shall walk with him in White although ye have sought to dishonour them And this I have seen from the Lord in that pure Light of his that maketh all things manifest and before which all things are naked and bare which Light ye generally despise and reject and blaspheme calling it A meer natural Light and insufficient to lead unto God and the Children of it ye have hated reproached and mocked with cruel Mockings whereby ye have sufficiently declared your selves to be born after the Flesh and not after the Spirit Oh ye Blasphemers against God and his Temple which is his Light and them that dwell therein Repent repent of your Blasphemies and hard Speeches and hard Thoughts against Gods inward appearance by his holy Word Light and Spirit in all your Hearts And Repent of all your Pride Vanity Folly Excess in Meats Drinks and Apparel who though ye profess your selves to be more pure and more purely reformed than other Churches so called yet in the sight of God ye are nothing better but many of you worse and the Sin of Sodom which was Pride and Excess and fulness of Bread is the Sin of many of you especially of the richer sort Oh unthankful Nation Do ye thus requite the Lord who are Jesurun like that since ye waxed fat have kicked against the Lord and are gone from that Tenderness Sobriety and Simplicity that was among you and your Fathers sometime ago Oh! how quickly have ye degenerated and departed from the Lord of whom ye have made and still are making a great Profession The anger of the Lord is ready to break out against you yet more than formerly unless ye Repent And though his Hand hath been manifestly stretched out against you in manifest Judgments and especially in
Psalms and in the Song of Solomon and other places of holy Scripture for by the living Word of God as they come freshly and newly or immediately from the mouth or spirit of God the Souls of God's Children are quickned and kept alive as Christ said The words that he did speak unto his Disciples were Spirit and Life and man liveth not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God And David waited for the coming of the Word of God to quicken him to wit that God might speak unto him and he said I will hear what the Lord will speak for he will speak Peace to his Saints and to his People So here is God's Promise to all his Saints and People to speak Peace unto them and as he promised to his Israel in Hosea Chap. 14. I will allure or perswade her and bring her into the Wilderness or a solitary place and there I will speak comfortably unto her or as the Hebrew hath it I will speak to her Heart And this is an inward Speech And the Scripture Promises when God is pleased by his Spirit to apply them to the Souls of his Children is as real and proper an inward Voice and Speaking of God unto them as he spoke to the Prophets of old 5. And therefore the Scripture doth not contain either all the Word or Words of God as some say but many thousands of Words of God have been livingly spoke and utter'd by the Spirit of God to the inward Ears of his dear Children since the writing of the Scripture and daily are and will be to the end of the World And as it was said in the Apostles days the Word of the Lord grew and multiplied Acts 12.24 and 19 20. so ever since the Apostles and writing of the Scriptures the Word of God hath grown and multiplied and still shall and must to the end of the World and yet no new Doctrin or Gospel to be Preached but the same which the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles have already Preached 6. And as Christ and the Apostles expounded the Scriptures of the old Testament by divine Inspiration and Revelation of the same Spirit without propounding any new Doctrin or object of Faith unto People so why may it not be so now yea it is so that some at this day by the same Spirit do expound and open places of Scripture both of the old and new Testament and yet bring no new Doctrin And it is a far better way to have such Preachers and Expounders who open and expound the Scriptures by the Inspiration and Revelation of the Holy Spirit as the Apostles did than for men to presume to open and expound them without all new Revelation or Inspiration and who plainly confess They neither Preach nor Write by any Infallible Spirit And such mens Exposition who declare they have no infallible Spirit can neither be the word or words of God which are infallible but only the fallible word and words of man and human Imaginations 7. And as for the term Word the Greek of it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I find it variously used and translated in the new Testament as first to signifie Christ Joh. 1.1 2dly to signifie Treatise Acts 1.1 3dly Communication Mat. 3.7 4thly Vtterance 1 Cor. 1.5 2 Cor. 8.7 Ephes 6.19 Col. 4.3 5thly Word of Talk or Discourse 1 Thes 1.5 6thly Reason 2 Pet. 3.15 Acts 18.14 7thly Preaching or Doctrin 1 Cor. 1.18 8thly Account or Business as to have to do Heb. 4.13 and 9thly the Hebrew word in the old Testament is translated Order Psal 110.4 10thly Matter Psal 45.1 11thly Speech Psal 19.2 and 12thly the same Greek word is used by Paul to signifie the empty and dead preaching of false Teachers 1 Cor. 4.19 And therefore whether the Scriptures may be called or are called the Word in Scripture rarely or improperly is not the proper state of the Question for it cannot be denyed and is not denyed but that rarely and improperly the word is used to signifie Scripture or Scripture Words either written or spoken and sometimes the words of evil men are rendred by the same Greek word in Scripture as Ephes 4.29 and 2 Tim. 2. ●7 But the true state of the Question is Wheth●r first the Scripture doth contain all the Word or Words of God And this I justly deny for the reasons already given and indeed as the Word and Words of God are compared in Scripture Deut. 32.2 to the Dew and Rain that falleth upon the dry ground to refresh it and make it fruitful and the drops of the Dew and Rain are so many that they cannot be numbred which God hath been pleased to speak to the Souls of his People and still doth so nor can the Words of God be numbred by Men and therefore they are of a greater extent than all these set down in Scripture which may be numbred and also they are compared in Scripture to Bread that is eaten as Jeremiah said cap. 15.16 Thy words were found and I did eat them and as none can number the small grains of flower that make up a Cake of Loaf of Bread so none can number the words of God Secondly Whether the Scriptures only as they are outwardly written or spoken by the mouths of natural Men or heard by the outward ears or conceived only by the bare natural thoughts and understanding be properly and without all figure the Word or Words of God I say nay for the words of God are spiritual and of an inward nature as God himself is for the words of God are first and properly spoke to the mind and spirit of man and the outward words whether spoke or writ are but the signs of them as all outward words are but the signs of the inward thoughts of the mind which are the words of the mind or heart of man within it self Thirdly VVhether he who only talketh Scripture words and hath not the true sense of them doth truly and properly speak the VVord of God And whether he that only heareth them from man and hath not received the true sense of them hath properly heard the VVord of God I say Nay for it is not the bare Letter without the sense that is the Word of God properly understood Nevertheless the Letter of the Scripture in a figurative sense may be called the VVord as the Map of England is called England Moses his Books are called Moses and Isaiah his Book is called his Vision and John his Book is called his Revelation CHAP. II. Concerning new divine Revelations and Inspirations 1. THe places of Scripture which they commonly bring against all new divine Revelations and Inspirations of the Spirit of God prove no such thing as will easily appear to any that are impartial and unbyassed in their understanding if they will but read and consider them which places are these following as they are alledged and quoted by them called
shall finally perish not simply as men nor yet simply as sinners either for Adam's sin or other sins that they have formerly committed before that great sin of final Vnbelief and Impenitency but it doth regard and consider them as having a day of Visitation and a Call to Repent and a tender of Grace Love and Mercy from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and as having resisted and rejected the same and hardning their hearts against it and that finally until the Day of their Visitation be over whereby they declare themselves unworthy of eternal Life and that they are none of Christ's Sheep but Goats to be put at the left Hand and if any say If these Men were not Elected before the Foundation of the World it will follow that they were Reprobated before it I answer it doth not follow for Elected and Reprobated are not contradictory terms being both positive and Election signifieth a Preference of some before others but that doth not argue a total Reprobation of others when God did elect some But at the End of the World and in the Conclusion it is granted that all who are not elected are but Reprobates to wit when all God's elect Seed every where are gathered out selected and separated from others as so many Grains of pure Gold from all the Dross Tin and Lead that they have been mingled with for a time here in this World that then nothing will remain but that which is Reprobate and which the Scripture calleth reprobate Silver the pure being wholly separated and selected from the impure the Gold and Silver from the Dross the Wheat from the Tares the Sheep from the Goats and the good Fish from the bad and the Children of the Kingdom from the Children of the wicked One he who hath Ears to hear let him hear and the wise in heart let them understand for unto them it is given but unto others as Christ said in Parables that seeing they may not see and hearing that they may not hear nor understand And also it is readily granted that there is a special and peculiar and singularly gracious Care and Providence of God towards all that shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end and the number of them is most infallibly known unto God and every one of that number shall certainly be saved and none of them shall finally perish but in the proper season and time shall be graciously visited called converted justified sanctified and last of all glorified and this without any Violence done to their rational Faculties or Free-will for God doth well know how to gain and prevail upon the Understanding and Will and Inclinations of his People by such gentle and yet prevalent and overcoming Perswasions and Allurements and Motions of his holy Spirit of Grace of Light and Life as shall infallibly gather them unto himself And it is also granted that as God hath provided that Grace whereby some shall certainly be saved so by the same all are put under a capacity or possibility of Salvation And therefore that any are not saved in this World is not because of any want or defect in the sufficiency or efficacy in the Grace in its own Nature but because of them whom God in his infinite Justice and Counsel permits finally to resist it even as in the Parable of the Sower the Seed was one and the same in all the four Grounds but the Grounds differed one from another and that one Ground was good was of God but that others were bad was of themselves and the word Election doth properly enough signifie selection seperating and setting a part or refining as when Gold or Silver is separated in the Furnace from the Dross And this separation hath had its various degrees and progress from first to last as when Gold or Silver is purified or purged in the sire seven times and then in the seventh time it hath no mixture but is all pure or as when Liquor is poured from Vessel to Vessel several times or as Wheat is winnowed again and again until all the Chaff be separated And in this sense we find the word Election used in Scripture divers times Isa 14.1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet chuse Israel And Isa 49.7 And he shall chuse thee And Zach. 1.17 And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem And Zach. 2.12 He shall chuse Jerusalem again And Isa 48.10 I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction And in this sense of the Word as it signifieth a selecting or separating the pure from the impure Election doth go before Reprobation and is not Co-evous with it But whether that Election in Christ before the Foundation of the world doth in some sort signifie a selection or setting apart in Christ the Head who was before the Foundation of the world and is said to be the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as some mystick Writers affirm it is not my present business to determine neither is it necessary at this present occasion 6. But the place of Scripture which they mainly abuse and wrest to prove this reprobate Doctrin of theirs of an absolute Reprobation of the greatest part of mankind even before they are born and that not only Babes and Sucklings on the Mothers Breasts but in the Womb are absolute Reprobates and cast-aways and that some yea many Infants die in a state of Reprobation and perish eternally only for Adams sin imputed unto them as they say without any knowledge or eonsent of theirs and corrupt Nature derived into them and that all such Reprobates never had or ever shall have any opportunity of saving Grace whereby it was possible to them at any time to be saved The place of Scripture I say they mainly abuse and wrest to favour this evil and pernicious Doctrin is that in Rom. 9.11 12 13. But for the opening and vindicating of this place of Scripture let it be considered that here is only a preference mentioned of Jacob before Esau how that the Elder shall serve the Younger but this saith nothing of Esau his being absolutely reprobated The great design of the Apostle Paul being to shew that God had chosen the Line of Jacob before the Line of Esau and given unto that Line and Posterity of Jacob a Preference and Dignity over the Line and Posterity of Esau and that the reason of this Preference was not any Works that they had done but for some other cause hid in the secret counsel of God and this Preference did appear first in chusing the Line and Posterity of Jacob to be his Church in that peculiar Dispensation of the Mosaical Law and giving them many Prophets and other excellent Men to be raised up among them and honouring them with many great and signal Appearances Signs and Wonders whereas the Posterity of Esau was not so highly favoured and yet they had a divine Dispensation among
unto God that it might be made known and therefore as the grace or gift of Christ is in all Men so he who is the Fountain and Root of it from whom his grace cannot be separate is in all men to save them within a Day of Visitation or Salvation for Christ is in all men but Reprobates according to 2 Cor. 13.6 And none are Reprobates until Christ have left them and given them up to final Impenitency and hardness of Heart And for a proof of the second part see 1 Cor. 1.21 For after that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe See further Verse 22 23 24 25. and Rom. 16.26 John 20.31 4. And because of this universal Grace and love of God to all Men and that Christ is freely given of the Father to be a Saviour unto all Men therefore Christ hath commanded that his Gospel should be preached unto all Nations without exception of any and did also prophecy and fore-tell that the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached in all the World for a Witness unto all Nations before the end of the World and because he who cannot lie hath said it we are bound to believe it shall be fulfilled that so all mankind may be accountable to the Man Christ Jesus at the Day of Judgment either to be rewarded or punished by him as they shall be found having obeyed or disobeyed his glorious Gospel that hath been preached unto them both inwardly and outwardly unto many if not unto all but inwardly to be sure unto all 5. This divine Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Hearts of all men hath had its various Dispensations and Manifestations according to the several Ages of the world and the several States and Conditions of men in it both among Jews Gentiles and Christians and especially both in the Gentiles and in the body of the Jews and People of Israel excepting the Prophets and others peculiarly favoured of God the Principle it self was but little made known or revealed in respect of the great worth of it and the great Virtue Power and Glory that was in it God in his infinite Wisdom reserving the more full Discovery and Revelation of it to the time after Christ his coming in the Flesh and Death Resurrection and Ascension yet so much was discovered of it and so much good Fruit it brought forth in the true Lovers and Improvers of it as by means whereof they were accepted of God in that day through Christ Jesus 6. Whoever were perfectly justified and saved in any Place or Family of the World or Nation People or Faculty they were saved only and alone by the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth even the Man Christ Jesus who dyed for them rose again for there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby Men can be saved but by that Name to wit by the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth who was crucified and raised again Acts 4.10 11 12. But here some will readily object How could any of the Gentiles be justified or saved by the Man Christ Jesus and by virtue of his Death and Resurrection who never heard of him never had the Mystery of it revealed unto them consequently had not Faith in Christ crucified and risen again And upon this Head the Adversaries of Truth both Presbyterian Independent and Baptist Teachers have taken great occasion to cry out against the People called in scorn Quakers that their Religion is only Paganism and not Christianity because they say that Heathens or Pagans can be saved by their giving Obedience to the Light within them without having Christ crucified and raised again outwardly preached unto them But these Adversaries of Truth little consider what Hypocrites they discover themselves to be in this very Charge when they make that a Crime in others which they judge no Crime in themselves for they themselves hold That there are not only elect Infants dying in Infancy who are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit who worketh when where and how he pleaseth but other elect Persons regenerated and saved by Christ who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word citing Luke 18.15 16. John 3.3 5. John 3.8 John 5.8 see Cap. 10. Sect. 3. of the Westminster-Confession owned by the New-England Churches and printed by them at Boston And what they say of Infants and other elect Persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word that they are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit who worketh when where and how he pleaseth the same these called Quakers say concerning the honest and faithful Gentiles who were obedient to the Light of Christ in them and were not outwardly called by the Word or by outward Preaching yea and were uncapable of being outwardly called when living in such remote Places and Ages of the world where the outward Preaching never came within their reach For as a deaf Man is uncapable of hearing a mans Voice so is a man that hath his Hearing to wit the faculty or sense of Hearing uncapable of hearing the Voice of a man that is at a greater distance than his hearing can reach it And seeing they plainly confess that there are such elect Persons in the world not only Infants but these come to age who are Regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit who worketh when where and how he pleaseth as their Words are and the Words are true and a good use can be made of them against themselves who have confessed them then let them forever be ashamed to cry out any more against the honest People called Quakers for saying these honest Gentiles who have not heard of Christ outwardly preached unto them belonging to God's Election are saved by Christ and regenerated through the Spirit of Christ And if the Spirit work when where and how he pleaseth to wit both in Infants and persons at Age who are not outwardly called by the Word or uncapable of being so called then let them recal and condemn their false Doctrin that saith God hath committed his Counsel wholly to Writing and the former ways of God's revealing his Will unto his People are now ceased and there is no new Revelation As they have expresly and without any reserve or exception affirmed cap. 1. sect 1. and sect 6. For if God hath committed his Counsel wholly to Writing then nothing of his Counsel is extant where that Writing is not extant And if all divine Revelation be ceased then neither Infants nor other Persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word have any divine Revelation or inward Call by the Spirit Or if Infants and other Persons belonging to God's Election be inwardly called and renewed by the Spirit then God hath not committed his Counsel wholly to Writing nor are all the ways of God's revealing his Will to men ceased for by their own