CLOTHING FOR THE Naked Woman, OR The second part of THE DISSEMBLING SCOT, SET FORTH IN HIS COLOURS, Being a Corection of Mr. DAVID BROWN His errors in his Pamphlet called THE NAKED WOMAN, styled also by him, A RARE EPISTLE to Mr. STERREY. PROV. 26.5. Answer a Fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own Conceit. Written by the Minister of CHRIST-CHURCH London, in vindication of him and his flock from those false aspersions which are cast upon them, of false Doctrine and Discipline. Whereunto is added, THE NEW CREED, or belief in GOD. LONDON, Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black spread Eagle at the West end of Paul's. Anno Dom. 1652. CLOTHING FOR THE Naked Woman. SInce the Author of the naked woman hath alleged that Time is one of the most precious Jewels under the Sun, and that upon the well or ill spending of time dependeth Eternity, either of weal or woe. Much hath Mr. Brown to answer for, who hath so much misspent it, in making medlyes of frivolous discourses, that he might (amongst the rest of his tedious stuff) shuffle in the old Rotten rags of his own rage against some religious persons whom he envieth, and laboureth to make odious to the World, But if he aimed only at the glory of God, he would not have built a Scaffold upon the Dunghill of the Ranters, to publish his abominable lies against such Godly people who abhor the practices both of them and him, and if he desired (from the bottom of his heart) the undeceiving of those wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, deluded, and bewitched people who are conceited of the Rarity of their Ranting fooleries, as he is of his rare Epistle, than he would have taken a better course, and instead of sounding a Trumpet about her, have been so modest as to turn away the people's eyes from beholding vanity, and much more should he have sought to take away that false principle, upon which the Ranters build their carnal exercises, for he is a Physician of no value, who seeketh not into the cause as well as the Cure. And that I may not be fruitless to the Reader, I thought good to mind you, that the ground wherefore the Ranters hold, the sinfullest deed to be as holy as the purest act, is, because the whole life and power of motion both in men and Angels, good and bad cometh Originally from GOD, and therefore they conclude, that the poor creature can do no otherwise, than what it always doth, and may do what it listeth, and is drawn forth to evil, by the great power of God and the dispensation of his good Spirit, who (they affirm) hath decreed, determined, commanded, necessitated, and drawn them forth to kill, steal, commit Adultery, Idolatry, and all manner of wickedness, which they lust to do, all which (they say) coming from God who giveth power, ability, and activity to all, must needs be, and is still good, agreeable to his will, and not evil in the least manner, or measure, but as pure, and holy, as the holiest of all, and that what man doth, God doth, and man hath no more power than a stock, or a stone to move, to evil or good, but as God moves, and that they do it not, but God doth it by them, and if they sinne (they think) they do no more than God would have them do, and that they are therefore never out of his favour or Communion by any thing which they do or can do, they think, their holiness cannot bring them nearer to God nor their profaneness draw them further from him. But herein they err & have not the knowledge of God, for albeit, that all power and ability comes from God, so that the same hand that doth good, doth evil also, and the same tongue that blesseth God curseth men, jam. 3 9 yet the misaplication of that power is theirs, and nothing else is or can be sin, but the abusing of that ability which God hath given. It's true, by the power which God hath given to men, they do such devilish actions. But that God gave them abilities and powers purposely to misaply the same, is to set himself against himself, and to make himself the Author of sin, and like the Devil himself who is the Father of a Lie, john 8.44. Now the misaplying of men's created faculties and misgovernment of themselves is a derogation from the Creation of God, Rom. 1.20. by which, the invisible things of God's power and Godhead are clearly seen, And the misaplying of the divine Ordinances of God, is a swarving from his holy institutions; So then, God is the God of all life, motion, and action, both in Angels and Devils, good men, and bad, but not of the misapplication thereof, and in ability without misapplication thereof, is not the essential cause of men's damnation. If the poor creature could never have done otherwise, he could not have been blamed nor left without excuse, Prov. 10.22 therefore the poor creature hath or had ability to do better once, God is neither the Author of sin nor of sorrow, Ezek. 18 32. He hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth, sinner's destruction is of themselves, neither sin nor temptation to sin cometh from him, though sometimes he permit sin, to punish sin, in his Justice. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, jam. 1 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed, then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err my b●loved Brethren. Every good gift, and ever● perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of changing. Hence it followeth, that God hath neither decreed, commanded, determined, or drawn them forth to do such devilish actions, God is only good, and all good proceedeth from him, as the Fountain, I am. 3.11 ●ut of which there cannot proceed sweet water and bitter: Evil proceedeth from the Devil that wicked one, sin is contrary to the will of God, and man hath ability given him of God not to do evil but good: This than is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have Fellowship with him, and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have Fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1.7, 8, 9 My Conclusion is that so long as men misaply the powers and faculties God hath given them, they commit sin, and are the servants of sin; And those that do not at all apply their abilities, are evil and slothful servants. john 8.34 Mat. 25.26. But if they rightly apply their powers and faculties to observe, the Statutes of God, that is righteousness: But the power is one and the same, Deut. 6.25. Act. 17.28. though it be not always applied that way which God would have it applied. Object. But thou wilt say; Hath not God power to restrain all men from sinning, and why will he not compel them to make right applications of their abilities, seeing God hath all power and is infinite in strength? Answ. I Answer, God hath determined to let man be a creature free, and Gods determinations must stand sure; I know that what soever God doth it shall be for ever, Eccles. 3.14. nothing can be put unto it, nor any thing taken from it, and God doth it, that men should fear before him. Let this deter you from the abusing of your received abilities, Lest God power contempt upon you, and harden your hearts from his fear that ye can never be rec overed out of the Grave of Apostasy. Thus having written somewhat to convince the sect of the Libertines of their abominable sins, and to deter them there from. I shall proceed to answer: D B. in those matters concerning myself wherein I refer him and the Reader, first of all to the book which I set forth in vindication of Leiutenant Col. LILBURNE and Mr. MUSGRAVE, and others from David Brownes false aspersions And I deny that he ever procured any place for me in the Commonwealth, or that he ever kept me in it, as he falsely allegeth, or that I was so much as suspended from it, unless it were in private, and I have nothing to do with any thing that is done in Huggermugger, I also challenge all persons to show wherein I have done the least wrong to the Commonwealth or to any particular person, because D. B. who seemeth to be the Committees (and their Clerks) advocate (though he be none of the wisest (unless in his own conceit) would make men believe he is a great loser by me, but he lies; for I never had any thing from him, and what I & my Friends have done & suffered in our estates for him is well known, & my promise never budded but it blosomed after in performance, but his accusations are general, and I know not where to find him; therefore I will not trouble myself, nor the Reader, to follow him, because he is as a fish in the water; And indeed I expected that he would have set forth something more particular concerning Worcester house, but because he saith he hath it yet to divulge; I shall cease troubling myself any further, to untwist Briars and Thorns, before I be entangled therewith, I know its more suitable to the Rules of the Gospel, to be Defendant then Plaintiff; And I fear not the face of any man, though Belzebub the Prince of the Devils, and all his Train be set in battell-array against me, to make thousands of people more wretched than they be, by hindering my progress concerning the satisfaction of THE PUBLIQVE FAITH, out of all discoveries of Lands concealed from and which doth Justly appertain unto the Commonwealth, and also out of all monies in Treasurers and Collectors hands which they have concealed from THE COMMONWEALTH, as also all the estates of Convicted Papists, and Delinquents, undisposed of (making this proviso, that every man's Just right, and legal interest should be preserved and industry considered) and so, It is desired that the Ours, and Lands under high-water-mark and Forest Lands may be improved, and Popish cathedrals demolished and sold, and that the overplus may be for THE RELIEF OF THE POOR, and satisfaction of the LOSSES, and other Just debts of the Nation, according as the PARLIAMENT shall appoint, Which some private men, who seek their own mercenary ends, more than the glory of GOD or THE PUBLIQVE GOOD do labour to oppose, the Devil being always at their elbows to stir them up thereunto. And as touching Mr. Brown I confess ingeniously that although the Church hath excommunicated him justly, Rev. 8.10 yet he holdeth forth many truths which he held, and received when he was a Member with us; But he is like the blazing Star, which Saint John saw fall from Heaven to the Earth burning, He professeth total separation to cloak his abominable Hypocrisy & disimulation; as shall be made to appear shortly for he hath a burning zeal against these Ranters, he professeth for total separation, from the false Assemblies, standeth for Common Justice imputting male factors to work, who ought not by the Laws of God to suffer death, (and that THEY ARE MURDERERS WHO KILL THEM,) he is for the quite plucking down of the Idolatrous high places, and yet he is a sinner against his own soul, though he with Belz●bub confess that Christ is the Son of the blessed; But his confessing Christ is of envy, thinking to add affliction to the poor Saints, who have cast him out from amongst them for his wickedness, for after he had brought in those persons whom he (in his rare Epistle) calleth famous Witnesses, to prove his Charge, D. Brown the Plaintiff (after I had made my defence) confessed, that he was hearty sorry for charging me with Lying and Cheating, and that he knew in his own conscience, I was bonest and Just; But that the Devil provoked him to accuse me, and thereupon he prayed the Church to forgive him, and urged the speech of Christ to Saint Peter to forgive often, 70 times 7 times; but when he saw that the Church would have a little more experience of him before they would admit him to the SACRAMENT, (from which he was suspended because he had so often played fast and lose with them in a dissembling way) and desired him to Certify under his hand the wrong that he had done, that those that are without may be satisfied, to whom he had carried his lies, he then fell to justify himself, and to undo all his repentance, and to charge the Church with sin, wherefore the Church seeing his wickedness and obstinacy, called upon me to discharge my duty, and to pronounce the sentence, and so he was cast out as a liar and false accuser of the Brethren, and as a hateful person before God and man, because of his sowing discord amongst them, and persisting in his obstinacy; Since which time, he hath proceeded from evil to worse, as if he were given up to a reprobate sense; And whereas he saith he witnessed against the evils of divers false Doctrines which were by Samuel Chidley one of their Teachers delivered; I shall declare the Doctrine what it is, and leave the same to wise men to Judge of. The Text from whence the Doctrine was raised, is Isaiah 63.9. Surely they are my people, Children that will not lie, so he was their Saviour. The Doctrine which was raised from the word (will) in that place, Children that will not lie, he accepted against. And as a preparative to the Doctrine, I noted many things. And after them these which follow. 1. That it is not said Children that do not lie; The Saints of God through infirmity have fall'n into that sin, and Solomon saith, There is not a just man upon the Earth that doth good and sinneth net. Eccles. 7.20. 2. Neither is it said, Children which cannot lie, 1 john 1 8. for If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The Saints are subject to sin, the seed of sin is in their natures, St. Paul complaineth that he was carnal, sold under it, and with his flesh, Rom. 7.44. served the Law of sin, and the evil that he would not do, Verse 25. that he did, yea these precious Saints, spoken of in the Text in hand, Verse 19 whom the Lord testifieth of▪ saying, surely they are my people, Children that will not lie, and so he was their Saviour, Isa. 63 9, 10 in his love and in his pity, he redeemed them, yet it's said afterwards, in vers. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit, therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them, therefore when Paul saith, we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, Joseph saith, how can I do this great wickedness & sin a 'gainst God, the meaning is, 2 Cor 13.8 that by that inward principle which they had received from GOD, they could not assent unto it, as being contrary to their mind, and WILL, they had no disposition in them so to do, for the fear of God was before them, and They delighted in the Law of God after the inner man,— In this sense he that is borne of God sins not. 3 But the Text saith, Surely they are my people, Children that [will] not lie, whence this Doctrine was raised, THAT THERE IS A WILL IN THE SAINTS OF GOD NOT TO LIE. They have a gracious and a voluntary disposition in them to resist sin. The point being amplified from the 7th. of the Romans, from the 15 verse to the end of the Chapter, and confirmed further by Reason, and some further progress made, to the information of the minds, and stirring up of the affections, of the hearers, and the Comfort of the poor Saints, concerning their Evidences and Interest in Christ none of the Church opposed but Mr. D, Brown who made a disturbance in the Congregation, charging me with false Doctrine, another Minister and a learned man whom he himself chose to have the hearing of the business and to Judge and make an end of the difference justified the Doctrine, yet Mr. Brown was therefore angry and discontented with him also. There is somewhat else which I delivered concerning ORIGINAL SINNF, which Mr. Brown was discontented at. That ORIGINAL SIN came from Satan, entered into the World by one man, and was acted by him, this actual sin was original, Rom● 5.12 but pardoned to Adam, and not to be imputed to his posterity to eternal condemnation, without further degeneration; for although Adam's sin made a leak in the ship of Mankind, and was the Inlet to all other fins which are committed by his posterity, yet Adam was not so guilty, nor contracted such a measure of Gild upon his posterity, as they have since brought upon themselves; For we read not that Adam committed Murder, or Adultery, Idolatry, Sabbath breaking, and such abominable sins as men now commit with a high hand. Adam's sin was one, theirs are many, hence it comes that God sends many diseases upon them, which Adam had not, and which he threatneth in the Law, as the Consumption and burning Ague, Leu. 26 and such like, and so their days are shortened to what they were before; The consideration whereof should deter all men from sinning; for as Adam was, a Root to all mankind, so every man is a root unto the Children which spring from him; so that that which was actual sin in the Parents, Heb. 7.9.10 is the Child's by imputation, as Levi paid Tithes in the loins of Abraham, because he was in his loins, and as we all were transgressors in the loins of Adam, so every sinner contracts more sin upon him and his posterity then Adam did in Paradise, and so becomes an Original root to his posterity after him. These are the Doctrines which Mr. Brown calls false; If he have any thing further to allege, if he manifest it, I shall give such an Answer thereto as the Word of God shall direct, with such moderation as I hope shall demonstrate, that I have no hatred to the man, but to his evils. And now to conclude, I have here set down my profession which is agreeable to my Doctrine, which Confession of Faith I resolve through God's grace to live and die in. The Belief as followeth. A NEW CHRISTIAN CREED Built upon the old Foundation of the Holy APOSTLES and PROPHETS. JESUS CHRIST being the Chief Corner Stone. I Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth, and in jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, which was conceived by the power of the HOLY GHOST, borne of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was Crucified, dead and buried, and risen again the third day, and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, from thence he shall come to judge the Living and the Dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, The holy Separated Church The Communion of Saints,, The forgiveness of sins, The Resurrection of the dead And the life everlasting, AMEN. FJNJS.