THREE Contending BRETHREN, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. JOB, Mr. ALSOP, Reconciled, and made Friends; By an Occasional CONFERENCE WITH Three Notorious Heretics, Mr. HUMPHREYS, Mr. CLARK, Dr. CRISP.  
And Abram said unto Lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,— for we are Brethren,  Gen. 13.8. 
A Man that is a Heretic after the first and second Admonition, reject.  3 Tit. 10. Quin laniant mundum, tanta est discordia fratrum. 
By Calvin Anti-Crispian.  
London, Printed for J. Harris at the Harrow in Little Britain. 1698.   

BOOKS Published by the Author, and Sold by John Harris in Little Britain.  
WIlliam Pen, and the Quakers, either Impostors or Apostates, which they please; proved from their avowed Principles and contrary Practices.  
A Censure of George Fox's Journal, and an Answer to B. C. and W. C. his Trepidantium Malleus intrepidanter Malleatus.  
A Reprimand for the Author of a Libel entitled, George Keith an Apostate.  
Vindiciae Anti-Baxterianae; or, Animadversions on the Life of Mr. Baxter.  
An Apology for Congregational Divines, against the Charge of Crispianism, countenancing of Tradesmens Preaching and Causeless Separation from the Public Worship.   

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Mr. Williams & Mr. Job, etc.  Mr. W. 
WELL met, honest Mr. Lob.  Mr. L. 
May I say, honest Mr. Williams?  Mr. H. 
Yes, you may, and tell as notorious an Untruth as he.  Mr. A. 
Why so hot, Sir? for you ought rather to understand Mr. Williams figuratively, than be so keen against them both; let me refresh your memory. If 
Durior impropriae est Catachresis abusio vocis,  
Contra quam sentit solet Ironia jocari,  
Insultans hosti illudit sarcasmus amare;  will not do, I hope This will: Antiphrasis voces tibi per contraria signat. As Symphora for Adversity, tho' it signify Prosperity. Auri Sacra fames; holy Covetousness, for wicked. This is known to all Orators, Youths as well as Men. You know Christ called Judas, Friend; had you been by Christ when he thus did, what would you have said?  Mr. W. 
Brother Humphreys, I assure you I spoke in the common literal sense of the word, without a Trope; for I think many Mistakes in Opinion, and Rashness in Words, and Weakness in Actions, consistent with Honesty.  Mr. H. 
Do not call me Brother, for I disown you as such; you are a Brother of Mr. Alsop, that old Calvinist, he is become your Defender: We now see what you are. You are able to distinguish, and distinguish, and distinguish a Man out of his Senses; no man, since Mr. Baxter died, is able to understand you; as if not only materialiter and formaliter, strict and late, and a thousand such distinctions, might untie many a Knot; but as if the old Archipodialiter and reflexive, etc. must come in for a share. But as it hath been long and often observed of the Popes of Rome, none were more cruel than the Clements, none greater Cowards than the Leos, none more mischievous than the Bonifaces, none more vile than the Innocents'; so none less honest than you two, call one another as you please. It was an Innocent that interdicted this Kingdom in the Reign of King John, and made Pandolphus the Monk poison him, when he laid his Crown and Sceptre at his Holiness, or, if you please, Innocency's feet.  Mr. L. 
I pray, Mr. Humphreys, how came you to have so hard an Opinion of Mr. Williams, to question his Honesty, tho' I never questioned your denial of mine, for asserting the old Protestant Doctrine of Justification by an imputed Righteousness in itself, not in the Effects only? You know Mr. Williams is yours, not ours.  Mr. H. 
How, Mr. Job! this is a foul mistake, for I aver he is not ours, but yours; he hath shaken Hands with Mr. Baxter, and bade him Goodnight. This I have told the World in a Discourse of Justification, and what I there say I stand to, You and he are both one in Doctrine, tho' not Phrases; for he asserts Justification by imputed Righteousness not only in the Effects of it, but in see: Mark Sir, in se, in itself. What material difference can then be between you two? And, to be plain, I care not for your Protestant Doctrine, for I speak roundly, and censure the Doctrine as Protestant: And I say with the Roman Catholics, Our Righteousness is the Righteousness per quod, by which we are justified; and the Righteousness of Christ is the Righteousness propter quod, for which we are justified.  Mr. C. 
I say my Brother Humphreys is in the right, and many a precious Letter between him and me will be shortly printed. I, in my Book of Justification, flee directly in the Face of our first Reformers, as erring Men, for talking of Imputed Righteousness. I tell all the world, 〈◊〉 my Doctrine Arminianism, Popery, or Socinianism, 〈◊〉 not. I there say, Justifying Faith, Repentance, Regeneration, the New Birth, Gospel obedience, is all one; these justify us before God, etc. I have raised such a Dust about the word Justify, what it signifies almost every where in the Old and New Testament, that never any Deist or Sceptic could have played the Game better; not a Man that treated on this Argument did it before me. I could tell you, I could tell you, Mr. Baxter meant the same thing, tho' he then thought it not time a day to say it, and therefore denied, in his Five Disputations, that the Charge of his Adversaries against his Aphorisms was true; that, according to his Doctrine, Men were justified by their Repentance, etc. And I tell the World that which is true, That, my Book is one of the best Books that is on that Subject.  Mr. L. 
That is Baxterianism all over, Like Master like Man. But I pray, Mr. Williams, what say you to all this?  Mr. W. 
I am not to answer for every thing Mr. Baxter did, tho' I believe he was mistaken in many things, I pin not my Faith on his Sleeve; he doubted Perseverance, I do not; he disowned Presbytery, I believe it to be of divine Right; he asserts Nonresistance, not I For these two men, I am sorry they assert downright Popery, their Books are intolerable: I have lately vindicated my Doctrine, That man is justified by the Righteousness of Christ, not in the Effects only, but in se, in itself, against Mr. Humphreys; I need not tell you, Sir, in what Book. These men, I doubt, have given that wound to Mr. Baxter's Name and Reputation, that will never be healed; as deep a wound as did, doth, and will that Unhappy Book, Vindio. Anti-Baxt.  Mr. L. 
I even adjure you, Mr. Humphreys, and Mr. Clark, tell us plainly, Do you believe in your Conscience that Mr. Williams is no Baxterian, but one with me in Doctrine, tho' not in Phrases?  Mr. H. Mr. C. 
Believe Sir! we more than believe it, he that called him in two Books a Semi-Baxterian, might honour him in this thing beyond his desert: And seeing you adjure me, were it not too high an Expression, I could almost protest, by the sacred Name of Richard Baxter, that it is true. Seeing you have him, beware of him, for he hath one unpardonable Fanlt we cannot forgive him for, neither, I doubt, will you.  Mr. L. 
What is that, I pray?  Mr. H. 
He hath too much Wit for one man.  Mr. L. 
Now I will speak roundly: Honest Mr. Williams, I am in a rapture or transport with joy, let you and I have a Friendly Debate, for I doubt we have been mistaken in one-another, and these gentlemen's Opinions of us both true and right: I know you are afraid of Crispianism or Antinomianism, as well you may, a filthy, poisonous, abominable Weed, and I have written against it, for which they revile me as they do you and the Apologist. I have been much afraid of Arminianism and Socinianism, now grown to a great height: This might make us not so well to understand one-another as else we might.  Mr. A. 
A Friendly Debate Gentleman! that is a word out of joint, and is an unlucky Omen; you will talk but little Sense or Truth. A Friendly Debate! the Phrase is grown odious, since Patrick (thirty years since) wrote his Friendly Debate, wherein the friendly Con tells the Noncon, He was no good Subject, and therefore no good Christian, for living in a Corporation, or within Five miles of it, contrary to Law. He brings in the Noncon as a Fool, I pray, Sir, explain your meaning, I am not skilled in definitions. And when the Question was, whether our white Caps under our black ones might justify Laun sleeves? the Answer is, Any thing becomes a good Man. On goes Jack to prove the Bishop's good men; his Comparison of the Gentleman's praying in the morning, at nine of the Clock, in the Parlour, requiring his Servants to come then, and there, not in a Stable, with clean Clothes, Faces, and Hands, not all dirty, was as much to the purpose about Symbolical Ceremonies of human appointment, as his Story of the Cupboard of Plate God had, and would return to it, but it must be well beaten first, and that was when the King must pack up and be gone. Who, I pray, sent their King packing since? Gentlemen, I shall for this reason protest against a Friendly Debate, but should be glad to hear a Friendly Conference between you.  Mr. H. 
I could wish Mr. Baxter alive (were it proper to wish the greatest Saint that ever went to Heaven here on Earth again) to see what his reputed Advocate, but real Adversary, (said to take the Chair since his death) hath said and written.  Mr. L. 
If these men judge right, what have I done to be so tenacious of a Phrase, Commutation of Persons, and so to raise such a Dust, to trouble Bishop Stillingfleet and D. Edward's, famous Men, my Friends, as I thought by their Books; but your Friends, as I find by their Letters? And many say, our late Controversy is one of the most fruitless ones that ever was brought on the Stage. A Story of matter of Fact, and a Phrase; and my Friends, as well as Adversaries, say, That by my Rashness all is in a flame; for tho' we long since lost our Union, yet our Peace continued: but now that is gone too.  Mr. W. 
I doubt I have been mistaken too in some things; seeing you confess your mistakes, I do mine: So true is that, Incidit in Syllam— You ran so fast from the Tents of the Socinians, that you might come in some Phrases too nigh the Tents of the Crispians; and I ran so fast and far from the Tents of the Crispians, that I might err, as I am sure you did.  Mr. L. 
Who is this that comes towards us with so much Rage and Fury?  Mr. W. 
It is Dr. Crisp.  Mr. A. 
No, that cannot be, for I remember that of old they pictured him like an old Hermit, and had I been a Manichean, I should have spent time to consider who made him. This looks more comely, sure it is not he.  Mr. W. 
Why, Sir, you must know, his Son hath been so troubled about it, to see his Father pictured as if with Cain his maker had set a mark on him, that he hath played the Barber himself, like a kind Son, to make his Father look better, or, if you will, less ugly, and hath clapped a few tolerable Sermons, to make the intolerable Sermons go down the better.  Dr. C. 
Have I found you, O my two Enemies, that have written against my Doctrine! You Old-Testament-Daniel, and you New-Testament-Stephen, some say, that as the Old and New Testament make one Bible, so you two are one in the main. I say, as that Heretic Humphreys, you two are one in Doctrine, tho' you differ in Phrases. You are both corrupt, tho' I say it on a different account: You both deny Justification without Faith, and make God's Covenant a Bargain, etc.  Mr. L. 
You will find, Gentlemen, this man cannot express himself, he had need get one to do it for him.  Dr. C. 
What! do you make me such a Dunce, that am a Doctor?  Mr. A. 
I have heard of a noted Doctor, Head of a House in Oxon in the Interregnum, famous for advising young Students never to go into the Water, till they first learned to swim, etc. That once telling a Story, how the Proctor always at night seeing a Candle in his Study, said, That man will be a Doctor or a Dunce, his Servant replied, In good truth, Master, you are both. I apply not the Story before a D. in D.  Dr. C. 
Will you deny, that there are any good things in my Book?  Mr. L. 
In what Book are there not some good things? Your Book may therefore be called good, as some Philosophers call an Ethiopian white, not simpliciter, but secundum quid, about the Teeth.  Dr. C. 
You, Mr. L. are neither for Mr. Baxter nor me, but have written against us both: When some say, If he be not in the right, I must be so; if not I, he must be so.  Mr. L. 
I have heard of a Captain in our Civil Wars, who meeting with a poor man on the Highway, asked him who he was for, for the King's Soldiers, or the Parliaments, and promised him, if he spoke his mind, no harm should come to him: Then, Master, said the poor man, I am for both: How so, said the Captain? Why, said he, for the hanging of both sorts; for, Master, said he, we cannot keep a little Bacon in the House, but one comes one time, and another at another time, till all be gone. So say I, we cannot keep a little Protestant Doctrine in the Church, one pulls one way, another another way, till all be gone. Yet I wished well to Mr. Baxter's Person, and so to yours, but to neither of your Doctrine.  Dr. C. 
See how Daniel Williams, that pure Stick, sits there like a Sheepstealer; he hath nothing to say, I think my Disciples have done his Work for him, and told the World of his lewd Life.  Mr. A. 
He hath said so much to you already, that he hath done enough for one man, and need say no more till he be well answered. Indeed there was a story, that one man had it from his Maid, that said she had it from Mr. Williams' Maid, who said she had it from her Mistress; that Mr. Williams dropped an unsavoury Joke, (tho' the Maid by the way denied it on Oath) had it been true (as it was false). Let the Defamers consider, if all their unsavory Jokes (or other sins) were written on the Palms of their Hands, would they not be ashamed to take off their Gloves, even at Meal times?  Dr. C. 
He wrote against me, and that was Crime enough, tho' I brought Scripture for every thing I said.  Mr. W. 
So did the Devil, 4 Mat. You prove things by Scripture as he that found fault with the Sign of the King or Queen, etc. and urged that place of Scripture, A wicked and adulterous Generation seeketh a Sign, but no Sign shall be given to them, but the Sign of the Prophet Jonah; and therefore once seeing Jonah in a Sign, said, that was lawful. I also remember, about twenty year since, preaching in a Parish-Church, (without Conformity by the way) I reproved a Country Farmer for sleeping whilst I was preaching; the ignorant man replied, He had been a long Journey, and was come home weary, and Christ said, Come unto me all you that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So oddly, Mr. D. have you applied many Scriptures, and that in particular. Is it come to this, that when we tell your People that talk of their breaking the Law because Christ kept it, Tell us roundly, what have we to do with the Law?  Dr. C. 
Say what you will, Mr. W. one that animadverted on the Reliquiae tells what you and such as you are; that Book pleased my Followers to the Heart.  Mr. W. 
He there told what you were, with your abominable Phrases and Doctrine, p. 11, of Justif. and I have heard him say, That if he thought that Book did your Cause any service, he should wish his Pen split to the head when he wrote it; but he believed no such thing. His Discourse of Justification there (on a new bottom, I confess, for which he had no Precedent) differs toto coelo from your Doctrine of Justification without Faith; Modesty forbids me to tell you what a florid Encomium he gave me, p. 175, 177. when he stigmatised you; yet some of your Creatures here say, he then wrote for you, and against me; and since for me, and against you; when it is evident there is no discord in the Vindiciae and Apology in this respect: He and we all wonder how you came to employ such a bad man to plead your Cause, as a late Tradesman, turning a Speaker.  Dr. C. 
Bad do you call him! that was before his Conversion.  Mr. A. 
Conversion man! I can easily prove, on his own Confession, he is no Convert.  Dr. C. 
How so?  Mr. A. 
He that says, he never was troubled for Sin, is no Penitent; you had as good talk of an impenitent Penitent: He that is no Peniteut is no Convert; you had as good talk of an unconverted Convert: He is one of Crisp's Believers, not Christ's Converts.  Dr. C. 
Troubled for Sin! Heaven forbidden, I hope he never will be such a Legalist, being so famous a Preacher of Free Grace.  Mr. L. 
Why was not David troubled for his Sin? Was it not a heavy burden to him?  Dr. C. 
Read the 298th, 299th, and 300th Pages, and you have my Answer to the full. I prove plainly, that seeing our Sin is transferred from us to Christ, if ever Sin be laid home, it is so by Satan: That David sinned; or had it been lawful, it cannot be to us now, since the great Sacrifice is offered up: Before the offering of Sacrifice, then, if it were lawful, it was not so after.  Mr. L. 
What Sacrifice was there for Murder or Adultery under the Law? Therefore saith David, I would have offered Sacrifice, (Psal. 51.16.) but the Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit. You make it a Sacrifice for the Devil, Mr. Doctor: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Where, by a Meiosis, more is meant than is expressed, Thou wilt greatly delight in; but you make sport of it. The bones, says David, thou hast broken may rejoice; but, according to you, the Devil broke 'em, not God. To be plain, Mr. Williams and Mr. Edward's dealt too tenderly with you, almost to a fault, and that in this particular: I tell you, you are fit to preach out of a Cage or Grate, than preach out of a Pulpit such damnable Doctrine; you put out the Eye of Repentance, this alone proves you a notorious Heretic: Notwithstanding, some say you spoke of Sadness leading to Despair, etc. did David then lie in your way? Any thing. They are three cursed pages.  Mr. W. 
Pray Dr. hear me—  Dr. C. 
No, I care not to hear any Baxterian of you all.  Mr. W. 
Strange! Mr. Humphreys just now censured me for being not a Baxterian, and you for being one, what shall I do?  Mr. A. 
Will you hear me then?  Dr. C. 
No, that I will not; You once wished you had Windows in your Breast, that the late Popish Tyrant might see your Loyalty: I heard a Tory then say, He wished he had the making them, (being a Surgeon) he would have made them of a large size. And the late Prefacer tells what you are.  Mr. A. 
Mr. Williams hath answered for me; I care not for the Censure of that late Plotter, of whom the ejected King gave order, That Care might be taken of him, that he might want nothing. In a late Traitorous Book he chargeth King W. to have Testimonials by him of his being reconciled to the Church of Rome: And I think, among my Accusers, there is none of them worth a hanging but he; he is, I confess, a man of parts, would he had been so too who answered Melius inquirendum.  Dr. C. 
You are reputed to be a second Hugh Peter, or Daniel Burgis, who have made their pulpits Stages, and themselves as Theological Mountebanks; read your Sermon about Wowens Dresses, when so many Ministers pulled their Hats over their Faces to hear you.  Mr. L. 
Mr. Alsop is a graver man in the pulpit than you; half the Stories of D. B. are Fables, as the Story of the Cloak, and how he lost Sixty pound a Year for Christ, etc. yet I wish him more Gravity with his Zeal.  Dr. C. 
I pray have a little patience, and I will give you some account of my censured Book.  Mr. A. 
I doubt a little Patience will not serve the turn, we had need have a great deal, to hear such woeful stuff, which to hear contentedly, some would think Stupidity, not Patience.  Dr. C. 
I will do it, say what you will; my Son tells the World, to the Crispian Reader, (for so it should have been instead of Christian) That he hath written about 5200 Sermons after Dr. Owen and other famous Divines, and that not six Sermons contradict any Doctrine of mine.  Mr. L. 
That proves either that your Son never understood Dr. Owen or them, or understood not you, nor those neither whom he censures to bear the Number of the Beast; and what have such private men to do with our Controversies, who by this thing declares plainly he understands them not?  Dr. C. 
If he please you not, I hope my good Friend Mr. Cokyan the wise will, in his learned well-penned Epistle to his Precious Hearts, who says, He is confident all that are led by the Spirit of God will be satisfied. He tells you as well as Paul and I, If an Angel from Heaven preach other Doctrine, he is accursed.  Mr. L. 
If they be accursed who bring in Works in Justification, must not they keep them company who leave out Faith? Is there not a Curse in taking from, as well as in adding to?  Dr. C. 
In the beginning of my Book on 14 John 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life, I told my Hearers, that I would tickle their Ears, and tickle their Hearts too; and for this end I told them, p. 3, of the Hiddeness of Grace, and the Overmasterfulness of Sin, and that there was a threefold Power of Sin, 1, A reigning power, 2. A tyrannical power, 3. A bustling and ruffling power; and also, that—  Mr. A. 
Doctor, stop; I suppose you meant grate their Ears, when you talked of tickling them.  Mr. W. 
Let him go on, you shall hear worse by and by, and then judge whether the Cry against me be true, That I have misrepresented him.  Dr. C. 
Against Qualifications in them that come to Christ, I often urge that pertinent place of Scripture, 11 Mat. 28. Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Mr. A. 
But why had you not urged another place of Scripture more pertinent than that?  Dr. C. 
What is that?  Mr. A. 
And the Gibeonites came to Joshua with old Shoes, and clouted; doth not that place prove as much as any the contrary to what you assert?  Dr. C. 
You and all the World know, you may as soon teach a Cat to hold a Trencher, as me to manage a Controversy, or answer Objections, and yet you will be pelting at me; I am such a very Sir John, no one expects it of me that knows me, and is in his Wits.  Mr. A. 
Well, Sir John, then go on with your blunders in Divinity.  Dr. C. 
I often said also, That God was never oflended (or angry) with a Believer, nor could not be, unless he was offended or angry where was no cause.  Mr. L. 
This is bustling, ruffling Stuff; but did you Answer such Objections, The Anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, 4 Exod. 14. and a thousand such places of Scripture?  Dr. C. 
At what an idle rate doth this man talk! I knew I could say what I pleased, tho' I could prove nothing. Instead of this, I said, That I declared all from God, and in the name of the Lord; and that if any Scripture seemed contrary, we must believe what God in the Text says, God cannot contradict himself. Then I tell them of Love, and other Graces, as they call them.  Mr. A. 
Yes, we know you often say, as we call them, and so the Scripture calls them; What do you call them I pray, Whims, with our modern Deists?  Dr. C. 
I tell them of such as you all: You make God's Covenant a Bargain or Sale, p. 24, I will do this, and thou shalt do that, etc. but God will not set his Son to sale: And somewhere I tell them, Such shall have a Whip as soon as a Christ; and p. 73, I tell them, If they thought to get any thing by Duty, they should get a knock.  Mr. A. 
Oh, for Love and Pity sake, send some one for a Cordial, for I am ready to faint away to hear such Gibberish; if this be tickling our Ears, would his Master had tickled this Toby every day, and taught him to speak, tho' but at a common rate; did you think you were at a Play?  Dr. C. 
I tell you, you cannot endure sound Doctrine: I brought more Proofs against Qualifications coming to Christ, p. 35, If men thirst, they may come; that is, have but a mind to Christ.  Mr. L. 
Why is not thirsting a Qualification? Is a mind to some Drinks thirsting?  Dr. C. 
I told them, I came in the Name of the Lord; and that if this was not true, God is a Liar, and Christ is a Liar, with reverence be it spoken,— and that you are ravening Wolves, p. 56, and straight is the Gate. I have expounded to admiration 6 Mat. 13.  Mr. L. 
Oh thou blasphemous Wretch! dost thou think to speak of Christ as if of Oliver's Porter? with reverence be it spoken, some think, gilds all their nasty Phrases. If you should have a Promise from the King, and you doubted not his word, would you dare to say, If it be not so, your majesty is a Liar, with reverence be it spoken? Offer it now to thy Governor, say I, as the Prophet in a ease not so bad.  Mr. W. 
Seeing you make so bold with Christ, which is intolerable, had your Doctrine been as true, (as it is false) I hope I may make bold with you, his Enemy, and mine, and of all the Churches of God. If the Doctrine be false, and the Expressions blasphemous, you are a filthy Heretic, with reverence be it spoken; or an ignorant impudent Fellow, with reverence be it spoken, and that you had need to be sent to School again, with reverence be it spoken, because of your notorious Contradictions, childish Repetitions of the same things, etc.  Dr. C. 
Such may thus find fault, that never read over my Book, nor observed the coherence of things.  Mr. A. 
I have read it over every word, but I confess I never observed (as you say) the coherence of things, for little is there of this, but incoherence enough have we all observed.  Dr. C. 
I told them also, men might come to Christ in any pickle, etc. That justifying Faith is to believe a man ' Sins were laid on Christ. Other things were not necessary as not to concurrence, so not to presence, etc. That the general tender of the Gospel was the best Security we could have, etc. I often harp on this thing, God justifieth the , in whom is no change; and I unanswerably proved it from 55 Isa. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters: incline your ear, hear, and your soul shall live. 22 Rev. 17, He that is a thirst, let him come. Some will not have Christ unless they pay for him. I said, I wish they were cut off that trouble us, and little less than damn them all.  Mr. A. 
Prithee Crisp, how long hast thou been crazy? If this be proving, return to thy old way of telling; these are Proofs for your Adversaries, and Objections for you.  Dr. C. 
I said to them from the Lord, That Sin could be no bar to them from coming to Christ; no Sin, not Unbelief: Some say, Men must receive Christ by a hand of Faith; but I say, They may receive Christ without a hand, passively;— I disown the word Hand or Instrument in Justification. There is a passive receiving of Christ against a man's will, as we pour Physic down the Throat of a Patient, p. 98. I said also, p. 102, When Christ is said to bind up the broken in Spirit, it is of those that are undone, not of those that are sensible of being so; as a man may be broken in his Estate or Credit, tho' not sensible of it.  Mr. A. 
Was there ever such a senseless Perverter of Scripture! I doubt thy Head was early broken, if thy Heart was never so: Is this to be broken or wounded in Spirit? p. 106.  Dr. C. 
Of general tenders read much. In 127, I there make sport with men's Complaints; I say, O what a noise is here! I must have a broken Heart, mortification, etc. And p. 114, I bewail it, that the Servants of God should lose the Name of Libertines: And p. 170, I said, God s●es no Sins in his own, never punisheth for them; and p. 198, God is not such a Changeling; and p. 202, If thou be a common Swearer or Blasphemer, come; if there be no alteration in thee, come; if thou be as sinful as thy skin can hold, come. 16 Ezek. I cite again, and again, and again, etc. v. 6, When cast in the open field, when in thy blood, I said to thee, live. This was a time of love, I made a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine.  Mr. L. 
For that Scripture, can you deny that the primary intention of it is, to show the state of the Jewish Nation? Ver. 3, Thy Father was a Amorite, thy Mother a Hittite. Abraham and Sarah could not be such strictly, but like as 1 Isa. 10, Hear, you Rulers of Sodom; give ear ye People of Gomorrah. Jerusalem was so called, because like them in manners and life. 13 Ver. of the 16. of Ezek. After they multiplied, and God put Ornaments on them, it is said, they prospered into a Kingdom. Read the 15 Verse, he chargeth these with playing the Harlot, committing Fornication: 17. That they made Images with these Jewels, (not Graces sure). 21, Thou hast made my Children pass through the fire. 20. Thou remembredst not the days of thy youth, when thou wast polluted in thy blood. 29, Woe unto thee, saith the Lord God: they committed Fornication with the Egyptians, and in the Land of Canaan. 26, 29, O Harlot, hear the word of the Lord. Is there, Sir, any falling from Grace? 60, 61, Shows, God would bring them again out of Babylon, and humble them: Yet all this is well accommodated by Divines spiritually; but Parabola non sunt Argumentativa nisi ratione scopi, is a common known Rule.  Dr. C. 
What say you to the 15th of John?  Mr. L. 
15 John 4. If you abide in me, the Branch abides in the Vine: 5th, 6th & 7th Verses speak of Abiding, not Uniting.  Dr. C. 
What say you to Isaiah, I am found of them that sought me not? Isaiah 65 1, are plain words, are they not?  Mr. L. 
That makes nothing to your purpose, I said, Behold me, behold me, to a People not called by my Name; they had no Helps to seek: But, I pray, what specific difference is there between the Echo or Belief of a man who believes his Sins laid on Christ, that proves vile still, and his that doth not so? What is the matter, that in all your wordy Book you do not, according to all men, distinguish as becomes a Scholar or a Man?  Dr. C. 
You know the reason well enough without my telling, would you have me, like a young Conjurer, to raise a Spirit I could not allay? A Dr. in Oxford once distinguished in the Hall, Aliquo modo est, & aliquo modo non. I do like a Moderator I knew in that University, who when the Question was, An Omne Ens potefl apprehendi? (carried in the affirmative) one brought a shrewd Argument against it, he answered, Nos disputamus non de iis Entibus, quae non possunt apprehendi, sed quae possunt apprehendi. I often expound 11 Heb. 1, Faith is the evidence of things not seen; that is, that they were pardoned and justified before they believed in the height of all their wickedness. Alas, they were nothing that expounded on this Text, till I gave the true sense; I gave the World the first light of those words: see whether you can find Mr. Pool (that great man) to think of it. I have also said in about fourteen or fifteen Sermons on this Text, On him hath God laid the Iniquity of us all; p. 160, 177, 170, It was the Iniquity itself laid on Christ, so that it cannot be found in the Conscience of the elect to sting there; they are not our Sins, but Christ's actually so.— I over and over observe it is not God doth lay, or will lay, but hath laid, in the Preterperfect Tense, and therefore God laid them on him from Eternity.—  Mr. L. 
You might as well say, Christ was actually crucified from Eternity: it is said in the same Chapter, He was a man of sorrows; not is, or shall be: He was lead as a Lamb before the Shearers; not is, or shall be: He was numbered amoug Transgressor's; not is, or shall be.  Dr. C. 
I tell them, p. 18, They should not make God so childish, as some do; p. 195, I said, If God were not separated from Christ, Christ told an untruth, when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? No Sin can be charged on that man, to whom the Lord gives a heart to believe his Iniquities are laid on Christ. P. 196, That it is a lying Spirit that says Sin can waste the Conscience of a Believer; I tell them, That by their Graces and Prayers they throw Dirt in the Face of God, and spit Poison there, even the best Saints; and the Wise man saith, They are an Abomination to the Lord.  Mr. A. 
You are a Child, and worse, with Reverence be it spoken. Solomon says thus of the Prayers of the wicked; but of the righteous, that they are his delight.  Dr. C. 
I carefully distinguish once, p. 358, our Sins were laid on Christ by way of Obligation from Eternity; 2. By way of Execution; 3. By way of Application. I told them, Christ stood as very a Sinner in God's Eye as a Reprobate: That our Sins were laid on Christ's Back, is my common Phrase: That his Back was large enough and broad enough to bear all our Transgressions:— God wore out the Rod of Vengeance, even to the very stumps, on Christ. The washing, 16 Ezek. 9, was the washing of Justification not Sanctification. Sin stairs men in the Face, and spits Fire in them before they come to Christ. P. 517, & p. 543, We must not think God so humoursome, and so peevish: We tell God, That he lies to his Face, if we tell Believers, that if they do not this and that, they shall come under the wrath of God. P. 559, Against Qualifications, (at which I strike on all occasions, even Faith itself) for they make the Covenant of Grace a Covenant of Works. P. 633, I make this notable Remark, 16 Luke 20, The young Prodigal returned to his Father like a Rogue, than the Robes were put on him.  Mr. L. 
Was not this an excellent Proof? No; he returned not like a Rogue, (neatly phrased, like a D. of D. by the way) tho' (if you will so untheologically express it) he went away like one, for it is said before, When he came to himself (I hope by the way you may in time) he was, you find, so changed; there was Humility in his Heart, Confessions in his Mouth, and a begun Reformation: I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy Son, make me one of thy hired Servants.  Dr. C. 
I see you will still be objecting, which thing I could never endure, being known to be the weakest and feeblest Sect-master that ever was since the Creation. But what makes you smile, Mr. Alsop?  Mr. A. 
To see a man plead for a Faith without Repentance, or Sorrow and Sadness, and make such Proselytes. It puts me in mind what the King of the Ammonites did to David's messengers, 2 Sam. 10.4, shaved off one half of their Beards, and cut off their Garments to the middle, even to their Buttocks. and sent them away: So you send away, and so look, your Converts with Faith without Repentance; but David bids them tarry at Jericho, till their Beards were grown. Let Repentance grow, else you are not complete, but half Christians; Hanun paid dear for what he did, and so may you.  Dr. C. 
Do you think I am a Witch, to answer such a man as you:  Mr. A. 
No truly, they would do you a great deal of wrong that should so charge you.  Mr. L. 
Brother Williams, and Brother Alsop, let us be gone, I care to stay no longer to hear such abominable Phrases, Doctrius, and Heresies, from such a Brainless man.  Dr. C. 
Pray, Sirs, come back; I will now endeavour to say something that may please you: I said, after all, p. 638, Good works are comfortable Evidences that we are in Christ.  Mr. W. 
Well said Dr. then a man may fetch some comfort from his Graces: Consider what Paul said, 1 Cor. 2.12, For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our Consciences, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World. Have you not denied fetching Comfort from hence, because all from Christ, and argued all-along at such an idle rate, as if I, preaching in those words, 1 Tim. iv. 16, So shalt thou save thyself and them that hear thee; I should lay down this Doctrine, Ministers are their own Saviour's, and the Saviour's of their hearers: then God is not their Saviour, nor Christ, etc.  Dr. C. 
I will think of it: I said also, That Christ draws without an absolute necessary compulsion, but draws sweetly and freely to good works.  Mr. L. 
What! is the Physic poured down the Throat come to this?  Dr. C. 
And p. 676, in the Sermon about the Fast appointed by my good King C. the first, (whom I there commend) I said, The end of a Fast is, 1. The humbling us for Sin; 2. The pleasing of God; 3. The averting of Wrath. That Faith that justifies alone, stands not alone without good works. 685. Then I tell them, when a Man sees Christ as the chief of ten thousand, and all fair, than he comes to him, 101. That God hides his Face from a Believer when he harbours Sin, 688.  Mr. L. 
But did you not say things over and over, and with great Zeal, things diametrically opposite? Is the justified blind man at the same time a seeing man? Sees Christ fair, & c? Sure these be unusual contradictions: No doubt Mr. Edwards' Charge in his Crispianism Unmasked is too true; but I doubt, after all this, the Vertigo will soon take you again, notwithstanding some intervals.  Mr. L. 
I doubt Brethren, this man makes not a few Atheists or Sceptics. Tho' great is their folly that conclude Christ is not of God because we contend, about his person, and offices. As if because there are disputes among Philosophers whether the Sun be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, whether it heat formaliter or eminenter, whether the old Ptolomaicks or new Capernicans be right about the Sun's motion or the earth's motion, therefore should conclude there is no Sun nor Earth neither, and so might we name a thousand other things.  M. W. 
You speak honestly and soberly, good Mr. Job: You know this man's Followers preach up, that Conversion changeth not a man's state but nature only.  Dr. C. 
Oh, how Herod and Pontius Pilate became Friends against Christ! how friendly you two are against Freegrace!  Mr. A. 
Lay aside the Comparison of Herod and Pontius Pilate, they have served all turns, and are grown threadbare, and therefore 'tis high time to let them alone.  Dr. C. 
Look to yourselves, I tell you, If any man Preach any other Doctrine than I do, you know the Consequence, as I say in my Book? Look yonder, here is coming my Brother Town, and my Brother Eton, they will justify me, and knock you all down. For some say they writ something like sense and truth, who will by no means grant that I do.  Mr. L. 
What say you, Mr. Town?  Mr. T. 
Gentlemen, you are men of known worth, and therefore you cannot be ignorant, that to understand a Polemical man, you must consider against whom he writ: I wrote against the Arminians (Dr. Tailor in particular) not against the Calvinists, as Crup did, whose madness hath ruined our Cause, he is as. 1 Tim. 1.7. a Doctor of the Law, and understands not what he says, nor whereof he affirms. Read, worthy Sirs, p. 115. of my Book of Freegrace, if p. 33. seems harsh, I am not of your opinion, great Sirs: I modestly confess, and be sure not of Crisps, for, on my principles as well as yours, he is guilty of damnable Heresies.  Dr. C. 
Bless me! Did I send for thee Town, to justify me, and knock down my Enemies, and dost thou justify my Enemies in their Charge against me, and knock down me? Good Brother Eton, speak one word for me, let your lips drop as the Honycomb.  Mr. W. 
What say you, Mr. Eton?  Mr. E. 
Brethren, (I hope I may call you so) tho' our Heads differ, yet I cannot call this tattling prating Dr. so, being of your Opinion and Mr. Toune's, he is a notorious Heretic; for, if it please you, read the beginning of my Honycomb, and you will find I was so far from Crisp's mad definition of Justification, that I rather gave one more like yours than his. These are my very words, Justification is when we, feeling what loft creatures we are in ourselves, and in all our works and holy walkings, by reason of our sins, and sighing up unto Christ for help, are by the power of God's Imputation so clothed, with the Wedding-garment of Christ 's own perfect Righteousness, that of unjust, we are made just before God; that is, all our sins are utterly abolished out of God's sight, and we are made, from all spot of sin, perfectly holy, and righteous in the sight of God, freely.  Mr. L. 
We are well satisfied, you need say no more, you are not in the number of those Heretics we now censure; I hope you drove not at this, That men should never have any sadness for sin, etc.  Mr. E. 
I should be glad, Gentlemen, of your good company at another time.  Mr. W. 
And we of yours, Mr. Eton.  Mr. L. 
Dr. Crisp, what say you to all this?  Dr. C. 
One thing, I am sure I shall not want Followers for all this; for if all Wise men leave me, there are Fools enough to follow me, ay, Preachers too; a D. and J. are to be found in all places.  Mr. A. 
I will not say pares cum paribus.  Dr. C. 
Stop, I tell you, you will never give over your Buffonery. It was a great trouble of mind to your Brother Hugh Peter, as he tells us in his honest Legacy to his Daughter, where he saith, I wish I had not been vain in a vain World. And tho' he says, Not three men ever dealt with him in a serious way about it, you cannot say so. It is said of some, when they are in the Pulpit, It is pity they should ever come out; others, That when they are out, it is pity they should ever come in; you, Sir, however are accounted a good man, that is to say, in a Pulpit.  Mr. A. 
I cannot endure to be reflected on for being good only in a Pulpit, by them that are not good out of it, nor there neither. Did I ever play in the Pulpit, as you, on your own confessions and others, know much worse. H. Peter's played with Divinity itself too often, tho' I have reason to hope he was a good man, I only with a D. of Divinity, that is to say, he with holy things, I with profane. However, I remember what good Moniea got by a chiding word of an angry Gossip, Aug. Confess.  Mr. L. 
A little of this is too much; We even beseech you, Dr. Crisp, Answer us plainly to a few Questions, the Company desire it.  Dr. C. 
Gentlemen, I will; seeing you ask me so civilly, only I desire you to keep that Alsop quiet, it it be possible.  Nr. L. 
I pray, of what Communion or Party were you?  Dr. C. 
Had I thought that had been one of the Questions, I would not have make you such a Promise, for not one to a hundred of my Ignoramus's know: I tell you, of the Church of England, and so was Mr. Town, who glories, in his Book, that he was no Separatist; and Mr. Eton was of the same Party; and yet most think I was some great Dissenter, a kind of Independent.  Mr. L. 
Must the Independents have your Bastardly Brats and Heretical Doctrines laid at their Doors? All such Weeds grow in your Church, Socinianism, Arminianism, Antinomianism, Deism and what not; and yet the Independents, forsooth, must be charged with your mad Notions. Some of your Followers will not confess Sin, nor beg Pardon; was this your Practice?  Dr. C. 
No; how could I, when clothed with a Surplice under a black Gown, (as an Emblem of the Justification of an unchanged unsanctified Sinner) and when the Common-prayer-book was in my hand? how could I read the Confession, (what without Confession?) the Absolution, the Litany, or other good Prayers of the Church?  Mr. L. 
Then you made Confession of Sin politicly, if not conscientiously! thank your fat Benefice, your Tyth-corn, and Tyth-pigs, that hung in your Teeth, I wonder the Litany had not choked you, and other Prayers. Can you say nothing for your Followers contrary Practice?  Dr. C. 
Yes, yes for if all Sins, past, present, and to come, be at once forgiven, (which I call in my Book, the Doctrine of all Protestants) they say, what need then of Confession and begging pardon?  Mr. L. 
And yet you have said, That all sins were forgiven from Eternity: is this Protestanism? Let the Proposition of all Sins pardoned together (though it seems hard to say a Sin is actually pardoned before it is actually committed) let it be how it will, yet such a wild consequence can never follow.  Dr. C. 
Some good Christians, and Exalters of Christ alone, are satisfied; to pray for manifestative pardon, so it be done seldom and sparingly, though some of the Godly be not so.  Mr. L. 
David was assured of Pardon from God by Nathan, when he was humbled and confessed, have sinned. The Lord hath pardoned thy sin, saith Nathan. Yet after all this, David permed this Psalm of Psalms, the Penitential Psalm, and 1. preys, blot out my iniquity. 2. sorrows, my sin is ever before me. 3. confesseth, agairst thee, thee only, have I sinned. Besides, Christ taught them to whom God was a Father to pray daily, Forgive us our Trespasses. What Trespasses, all or some? if some, which? I say, all. Job was an upright man, and yet says, Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me possess the sins of my Youth. Judgements came on the Land for the Sins of Manassah, which the Lord (as is said) would not pardon; yet he was then in Heaven, I hope you mistake me not; consider the Text and my Design. God's Command is sufficient, and he will this way make us to keep up the sense of sin, our desert of damnation and wrath, his infinite goodness to pardon, etc. But to pass to another thing; you talked so much of purity of Doctrine, how came it to pass you minded no more purity of Discipline in that Church? You read Prayers of other men's making; you added an additional Humane Sacrament to one of Divine appointment, the Cross in Baptism; is not the Cross made a Tessara, or Symbol, or Livery, as well as Baptism, by which you dedicated Children to a dying Saviour?  Dr. C. 
You know, Mr. L. I am no distinguisher, but yet I have heard some men distinguish between an immediate and proper, and an improper and declarative Dedication: I hate your Discipline as much as did the old Puritan my Doctrine.  Mr. L. 
Would you not think it Sauciness, or worse, for a Subject to prescribe what badges or marks of subjection or office such and such should wear, who were thus to be ordered by the King?  Dr. C. 
May not the Church appoint sacred Rights, as well as the Primitive Christians their Love-Feasts?  Mr. L. 
I might invite all my Communicants to Dinner after the Lord's Supper, and all but a civil custom, if in some Parishes.  Dr. C. 
But the Use of the Cross is ancient.  Mr. L. 
Not in Baptism: Why use you it not often as the Papist do, if so useful, spit on the Child, put a Taper in his hand, as they do, and give Significations to those Signs.  Dr. C. 
What say you to Christ's washing his Disciples Feet, and bidding them do the like?  Mr. L. 
Christ then observed a common Custom going then among the Jews, as Scripture and other Histories assure us. But why call you not for the Parents to engage to instruct the Children, whom God commands to do it, and require ignorant profane men to come, who promise all in vain?  Dr. C. 
It is the Custom of our Church, and I shall not question her Authority; it you think yourself wiser than she, you may, for my part I do not, I have no such thoughts of my self.  Mr. L. 
Pray, Sir, tell us what Converts you had by preaching your Free Grace; I expected great things of this from you, in your Book, or some Preface, but found nothing: Some say thousands were converted (though not pricked to the Heart, for that had been a legal Conversion).  Dr. C. 
My Son tells you of one converted by a Sermon of mine, and stops the Reader in the midst of the Sermon, to take notice of it; I S. C. do declare a poor creature at Brinksworth, an Innkeeper, by hearing this Sermon, was reform from his drunken course in a great measure.  Mr. A. 
I can be quiet no longer; that was but half a Convert: What mean the words in a great measure? that whereas it may be he was drunk once or twice every day, he was but so every week: But pray remember when this miracle was wrought, it was when you preached against Drunkenness, not when you preached up your Free Grace; so that the Question is yet unanswered, Answer me then to another thing; Prithee Dr. how many Broad-pieces did you get for your smooth Doctrine, that wanted but one little word to make it good.  Dr. C. 
What is that?  Mr. A. 
Truth.  Dr. C. 
I got more than you know of, or ever shall for me: But who made you an Examiner? I entered my Caution against you when I began; seeing it is impossible to keep you quiet, I will answer no more Questions of yours nor theirs, but will be gone, you are able to make a man wild.  Mr. A. 
You were never otherwise, and besides, a Wildshire man.  Mr. L. 
I suppose, if Mr. C. and Mr. H. go with you, none will call after them.  Mr. C. 
We three then bid you Farewell.  Mr. L. 
Brother Williams, and Brother Alsop, what have we done to employ those Abilities God hath given us against one-another, to the scandal of our common Cause, when such Heretics multiply. God forgive us, and incline our Hearts to forgive one-another: what Time I have to spare for writing of Controversal Divinity is at the service of the Crispians; and what Time you have, I pray take Clark and Humphreys and such Semipopish Persons, to an account, or else all will say (what many now do) They speak plainer than you, but you mean the same with them, and that this lay in the bottom of Baxterianism. Some Friends, Mr. Williams, to you and me, (for such there are no Bigots) say, your Youngmen are not so much corrupted about lustification as was feared, you have somewhat triged them who were Popish in that point.  Mr. W. 
Brother Job, it is now late, and we will consider this thing the next meeting.  Mr. A. 
A good Night, Brethren, to you both; and tho' I am glad such Innovators as the three that are gone have been the occasion of the healing of our Breaches, yet I am sorry I cannot say of them, considering what they are Beati pacifici, blessed are the Peacemakers.  
FINIS.