A A i^: ft '/Ti A DEFENCE . Of a PAPER, Entituied,- (io(pel'Crntt)& Againft the EXCEPTIONS > « O F T H E Bifliop of CorE. By l©i''^cntt. • # London^ Printed and Sold by T. Sowle, in White-Hart-Courtt in Gractom-Street., and at the Btl>le m Leaden-Hall-Street, 1698. r Reader, I T was tht^WiJe Counjel of an Ancient and‘Great Frelate^ of ■he Kingdom of Ireland, at a late Vijit I made him there^ to diJcoU" rage Controuexjie^ and endeavour to _ abate Strife among Chrifiians: For^ ^ jaid fee, Heaven is a Quiet Place j there are no Quarrels there, and Religion is a Holy and Peaceable Thing, and Ex^ cites to Piety and Charity, and not to Genealogies Strife and Debates. Butlekjhop^f Cork jeems to be of another Mind, that could not pafs by fo Inofenfwe a Paper as that /filed Gdpel- Truths (^vm hm^ by me in a Private . IV. That as we are only jujlified from the Guilt of Sin by Chrift the Propitiation, and not , by Works of Righteoufnefs that we have done j fo there is an abiolute Neceflity that we receive and obey, to unfeigned Repentance and Amendment of Life, the-Holy Light and Spirit ofjefus Cbrifi, in order to obtain that [ n Remiffion and juftification from Sin: Since no Man can be juftified by Chrifi, who walks not after the Spirit, hut after the Flejh, for whom he fanBifes, them he alfo juftifies: And if we walk in the Light, ^ he is Light, his precious Blood cleanfetb us from all Sin \ as well from the pollu~ tion as Guilt of Sin, Rom. 3. 2Z. tO ^ 6 . Chap. S. I, 2, 3, 4. I John 5. 7. V. That Chrift is the Great Light of the World, that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World, and is full of Grace and Truth, and giveth to all, Lightfor Light, and Grace for Grace 3 and by bis Light and Grace he Inwardly Appears to Man, and teaches fuch as will be taught by him, 'That denying ungodlinefs and worldly Lufis^ they Jhould li^e So^ herly^ Righteoujly^ and'Godly in this prefent World-, John 8. 12. Chap. i. 9, 14. Tit. 2. 11, 12. VI. That this Principle of Light and Grace, which is God’s Gift, through Chrift to Man, is that which Jhews us our Sins, reproves us for them, and would lead all out of them that obey it, to ferve GOD, in Fear and Love-, all their T>ays. And they that turn not at the Reproofs thereof, and will mot repent, and live, and walk according to it, fjall die in their Sim. j and where Chrifi is gonoy they jhall never come, who is undefiled^ ^ind Jeparated from Sinners, Ephef. 5. 13, John 16. 7. Prov. 1.20, to 24* John 8.24. t 4 r I I B 2 VIL X C 4] VII. This is that Principle by which GOD prepares the Heart to ivorfhip him aright, and all the Duties of Religion, as Traying, Vraipng and ought to be performed through the fan6lifying Power and Affiftance of it j other Worfliip being but Formal and Will- Wbrlbip, with which we cannot, in Confcience, Join, nor can we maintain or uphold it.y Rom.8. z 6 . I Pet. 4. lo, 11. VIII. Worfhip in this GofpeUDay is Inward and Spiritual: For, God is a Spirit, as Chrift teacheth, and he will Nonf be worfliipped in Spirit and Tmth, being moft fuitable to his Divine Nature. Wherefore we wait in our Allemblies to feel GOD’s Spirit to open and move upon'our Hearts, before w'e dare offer Sacrifice to the LORD, or Preach to others the way of hij Kingdom, That we may Preach in Po^ver as well as iVords, and as GOD Promifed, and Chrift Ordained, without Mo¬ ney, and without Pric(?, John 4. “ 4 ' * Theft. I. 5. Ifa. ^5. i. Rev. 2z. 17. Mat. 10.8. IX. This alfo leads us to deny all the vain Cuftoms and Faftiions of the World, to avoid Excefs in all things, that our Moderation may be feenof all Men, becaufe the LORD is at hand, to See and Judge us according foour Deeds, Tit. 1, ii. Rim. i-- z.Thil. 4- 5. Feel. 12. 14. A'lat’h. ifi. 27. Rom. 6 . Rev. W t 1 • X. We I -I 1 C 5 ] X. We believe the neceflity of the 0 »e Bap- ttfm Chriftj^as well as of his One Supper, which he promifeth to Eat with thofe that open the Door of their Hearts to him, being the Bap^ tifm and Supper fignified by the Outward Signs 3 which, thowe dif-ufe, we Judge not thofe that confcientioufly pradice them, Matth. 3. II. Ephf.^ 4. i. i Pet. 3. 21, 22. John 6. Re'u. 3. 20. XI. We Honour Government 3 for we believe it is an Ordinance of God 3 and that vye ought in all things to fubmit, by Ddng or Suffering 3 but efteem it a great Bkjfmg, where the Adminiftration is a Terror to evil doers, and a Praife to them that do Tvell, Rom. 13. i, 2, 3, This hath all alon? been the general Stream and "Tendency both oj^ our Mintfiry and Writings^ as our Books will make appears^ notwithjlaridlng what lll-mlnded and Frepidic*d Perfons may have (irainr‘ ed to Mif-reprefent Us and our Chrl[lian Pror f^ffi07L . ‘ . Dublin, ^th of the ^d Month ^ x6^S. lUdliam Penn^ Anthony Sharps Tloo. Story^ Georze Rock, ' u »• Friends Friends, I Am fuch a Reader as in your Paper you de- fire. I have read and Soberly -weighed the Account you give of thofe things -which you fay are chiefly Received and Profejfed amongft you. :l| And I will exercife fo much Moderation and j Charity, as to lay a great weight on that I word [ chiefly ] hoping ihefe are not the On- ^ r ly Things, or All that you Believe. I fhould i r have been heartily glad to have found that \[ you had been in the Truth, as I am well af- * lured I my felf am j but, as I frofefled-, when / j the Paper was given me. That if I took it, you muft expedl I fliould hear my Tefiimony touching It or againfl It ; So I now muft tell you, I think my felf bound in Confcience to perform what I then profefled ; and that n upon • more Reafons than I will now trouble the World with. You muft not be offended if I fay. You have fuch a way of Writing and ; Speaking, that it is very hard in many mat¬ ters of Religion to know what you mean* Bur, as far as I underftand you, I will can- i didly acknowledge what Truths you have I fufficiently or tolerably expreft, I will Ihew I you, with Meeknefs, how far your Faith., ir ! this be your Faith, comes fhort of being fuf- I ficient or Chriflian j and I will ^ncerely tell ; you, what I apprehend to be the -caufe of your t I I I ^ I t73 Delufion, and how dangerous a Condition I really fear, nay believe, you to be in. , And firft \ The only Articles, in which you have expreft a fufficient Chriftian Belief, are your VI. which is touching Juftification, and your laft touching Government and your Submiflion thereto. I wilh you may always flick to this Belief and Pradlice ; and I hearti¬ ly rejoyce to find you acknowledging the Ne- cejjity ^ Chrifi^ as a Tropitiation, in order to Re- mijjion of Sins and yufifying you^ as Sinners,yrow Guilt. ’Tis the firft time 1 have heard of it t ^ amongft you. As to all the reft of your Articles, I mean thofe which I underftand, I muft tell you, the Declaration of your Faith comes fo fhort of what is required from People to denominate them Chriftians, that except, under each Ar¬ ticle, you believe more than you have declar’d, you cannot be accounted Chriftians. For firft, in thofe Articles of Faith, which you have thought fir to mention, you.have fet down only fome little Ends, I had almoft called them Snaps, of the Article. And Secondly, Many more whole Articles, of the true Chri- ftian Faith, aud which aiH: of no lefs import, you have intirely omitted, waved or fup- preftfed. You acknowledge in your I. Article, there is a God^ and you own his Providence as to the other Life. But that He made Heaz/en R 4 and '!!! [ 8 ] Earth, that He is the Almighty, and at prefent by his Sovereign Power moft wifely and holily, Governs, Orders, and Suftains all ( by his Mercies as well as Judgments, even in this World, not leaving himfelf without wit- nefs ) you fay not a word. Creation in the be¬ ginning and Trovidence as to this World at prefent, are not here acknowledged by you. We hope you believe both. Your II. Article is wholly true j for it is exprefs Scripture, i John 5.7. But it is only what the Apoftle there had occafion to fay, and what was to his purpofe, touching the Father, Son>, and Holy Spirit j far from being the Sum of what the Holy Scripture teaches of them j ^and therefore is not a fufficient Confeffion of Faith on that Head. In your III. Article you acknowledge in¬ deed the Son of God to have been made Flefh, but nc'ilhev Conceived by the Holy Ghofi, nor Bern of the Virgin Mary ; fo that it does not appear, by this your Confelfion, but that He was at firft an ordinary corrupt Sinful Perfon j Nay, you own him not fo much as Jefus or the ChrijV, (the great Saviour, who delivereth from the Wrath which is to come j or the Great Vrofbet, Frieji, Lord and King, of his Church : ) You acknowledge him indeed to have dyed for Sin, but ( not to mention the Articles inferrible from, and relating to, the Cixcumltances of his Death. ) You have not .. ’ one C 9 ] one word His: RejurreBion from the Dead, or of His Jfcention into Heaven ; which it may be proved feme of you have exprefly denied, faying, He is not jifeended into Heaven^ He is in Nor again, of His fitting now at the right band of the Majefiy on high. And fo you feeni not to own any thing of His Mediation.^ Interceffion., or Af^earing now in Heaven for m. Nor further hav'e you faid a word of his Com- ing again to fudgment, or the End of the World. Thus indeed You have here neither owned the Creation or DijJ'oluticn of the World j f6 that it does not appear, by this Account of your Faith, whether you do not Judge it Eternal, and fo otherwife Infinite, Yet again. Not a word of One Church, which it may be feared you ftrike out of your Belief, becaufe you are relblved never rftore to return into the Unity of the Church, but to make and maintain aSchifm or Party forever. Nor further, have you a word of the RefurrcBion of the Body, which divers of you have been known to deny, and others of you only fay. It may he fo. And Laftly, Tho you acknow¬ ledge Everlafting Rewards for them that fear God, yet nothing of the Everlafting Punip- went cf Wicked Men: You mention Hell in¬ deed (in a very unnatural place, viz. in your firft Article of the Being ot GoJ j bufw'hethcr you mean thereby the Grave, , as mod com¬ monly in Scripture is meant 5 or a pace 0 \'h fit' t lo j Temporal Vanl^ment after this Life, as fome have done or a State of total DeJlruSlion and Annihilation^ as many now a-days do, no one knows. Upon the wholes As to the Sum of the Chriftian Faith, which you have been pJeafed to fet down. There is not one Article of our common Twelve, that you have owned in- tirely 5 and Eight at leaft, if not more of them, that you have here totally fuppreflfed or waved. And how influential to a holy Life, thofe which you have waved are, and therefore how neceflary to Salvation, I muft require and conjure you, on your own Eter¬ nal Account, to confider. I will only mind you of two paffages out of the Scriptures of Truth i I Cor. ly. 16, 17. If the Dead rife not (that is, if there be no Reiurre^on of the Flefli) then is not Chrifi raifed. And if Chrifi is not raifed, your Faith is vain, you are yet in your Sins. Hence it appears All other Points of Faith are in vain, if this be not true. The other is Rom. 10 9. If thou Jhalt confefs with thy Mouth the Loo-d jefus, and jhalt believe in phy Heart that GOD hath raifed him from the Deady thou jhalt be faved. This Article alone is of fuch force and influence on Men’s Hearts, that if believed as it Ihould be, fuch belief will fave Men. But both Chrifi's Re~ furrebliofi and Our own, are by You in this Pa¬ per, left out of your Faith. I judge you not, bur C II ] but judge Your felves, left You be condemned, of the LORD. Your V, VI, and VII. Articles treat of what VOU call The Light of Chriji 'within Man ; This You have never been able yet, that I could find, to make out what you mean by. For You will not allow it to be either the Natural Rational Faculty, or common innate Notions, or Natural Confcience, or Confci- ence illuminated, by the Preaching of the Gofpel, and the Operation of the Holy Ghoft thereby: Till you can make us underftand your meaning, or indeed till you underftand it your felves (that is, till you are lefs con- fufed in this, the very Fundamental Principle or Rule of what you profefs) you muft not think of Declaring ( or Publijhing ) an Account of your Faith .-i See you underftand it firft. There are fome Men who have a Faculty to fpeak things feemingly ■profound, but in the End neither themfelves nor others can make' any diftinft'fenfe of what they have faid. This we ufually call Banter : And I muft acknow'- ledge as far as I can fee, your Difcojirfe of this Light within is perfectly fuch. Take notice. We in our Preaching require People to look within, as much as you do: We ftridl- ly charge all to walk according to the Corj'vi&i- onsf and Light they have received. We daily, appeal unto Co'nfcience • but then we teach, that Conjciince (opened\>y the Holy Spirit, under the Miniftry L12:] Miniftry of the Word, JBs 14,) does and muft take in its Light from Holy Scripture^ The Commandment of the Lord is pitre^ inlightning the Eyes, pfalm 19. 8. (viz. of the Mind, Eph. I. 18.) Th)/ Word is as a Lamp to my Feet, and a Light to my Path, Pfalm 119. 105, To the Laiv and to the Tejiimony ; If they ( even Men in their Confciences ) [peak not according to this Word, ■ it is hecaafe there is NO LIGHT in them, Ifa. 8. ro. Now thefe things are intelligible. This Rule is fixt and certain, . nothing of which can be faid of Tour Light within. In Your VIII. Article You tell us, Worjhip f . under the Gofpel is Inward and Spiritual. If You ' mean hereby, that all Outward and Bodily Worfliip ought to be accompanied with an Inward and Spiritual Worfliip, it is what we I daily Preach and Pra6lice, and even in pri- j:‘ vate prefs. But if, as it would feem, you i mean all the Worfliip GOD now requires, r is from the Inward Man, or from the Spirit, M this is abominable falfe: For Our Bodies are I god’s handy-work, and Chrift’s Purchafe, as f well as Our Souls: On which reafon, GOD, I: by his Apoftle commands, Glorifie God in your ;l Eody and in your Spirit, ^a.Ttvut'j which (in the ii Plural Number that is, both which) areGOD's. ii Nor to tell you, that you your felves now a- 'i days perform fomewhat. of Bodily Worfliip. And indeed, if there be not a Worfliip of the i ■ ' Body il ■ [in ‘t Body, as well as* of the Spirit, there can be' no publick Worfliip. This Article therefore muft alfobe mended, to make it Chriflian. In your IX. Article, You tell us of your Denying all the vain Cufloms and FaJInons of the Worlds as aljo Excefs in all things. I know no fort of Chiillians who teach otherwdfe ; I wifli I could fay, I knew none ( even of your felves ) that pradlice otherwife. It is one part of the Catechifm we teach our Children., to renounce all thefe. But there are many In¬ nocent and Laudable Cufiems which you Call vain. Would it not almoft make a Man’s ftomach turn to hear one forbear, in point of Confcience, faying Tou to a lingle Perfon, becaufe it is improper; and at the fame time, while he is fpeaking to his Superiour, be¬ caufe Thou doefi, founds a little rudely, to foften the Thou, and fay Thee doejl, which is commonly your Peoples practice, and much more improper. Will you ever be able to prove, the Primitive Chriftians ufed a Dialedl or Drefs different from others of their Na¬ tion and Qualities, and placed Religion in it.^ Does not Chrift require Saluting even thofe who Salute not us ? And no doubt his, and his Apoftles Salutations, were in the common form. In a word. There is more Vanity in Singularity and Affekation, than in a moderate following a common innocent Phrafe, Garb, or Cuftom, In if il C 14 3 , In your X. Article you believe ( you fay ) a Spiritual Baptifm^ and a Spiritual Supper and Communion', but acknowledge you difufe the Outward Signs, by US cotunaonly called Sa¬ craments: Now did not Chrift command Water-Baptifm : Go ye and Baptize all Na¬ tions, Matth. i 8 . 19, lo. The Baptifm here commanded was Water-Baptifm: For Bap¬ tizing with the Spirit was GOD’s Work, not the Apoftles j and though the Baptifm of the Spirit commonly accomp’anied Bap¬ tifm with Water, yet not always, as in the C&fe of Simon Magus, and many others. Yet, did not Chiift promife to he with them ( Preaching to all Nations, and Baptizing ) to the end of the World ? Further, Did not the Apoftles in Obedience to Chrift’s Com¬ mand, both conftantly pradlice, and alfo re¬ quire, Water-Baptifm to all Initiated Chri- ftians ? Gan any Man forbid Water, that thefe jhould not he baptized which have received the Holy Ghoji as well as we ^ And he [ Peter } commanded they jhould be baptized: A£ts 10. 47, 48, Then as to the Outward ufe of Bread and Wine for the Lord’s Supper, can any command be more Exprefs than. This do in Remembrance of Me ? Four times re¬ peated in the New (which you call the better ) Teftament. To which St. Taul adds, It is a jhewing forth the Lord's Death until He come, 1 Cor. it. z 6 . Now if Chrift and C >5 ] his Apbftles have commanded this, who hath Authorifed you to difufe it ? Remem- i her what St. Taul xd\s thQ Corinthians^ ^ he re- ■ ceived ^orn the Lord that 'ivhich on this Sub- i ytdi de delivered to them, i Cor. ii. 25. And i ‘*tis a fevere Paflage in another Epiftle of his, : Gal. 1.8. If ive, or an Angel from Heaven^ ! freach any other Gofpel unto you, than that which I we have preached unto you, let him be accurfed. I That which lays afide fo much of the Old ! Golpel, and fets up a New and Variable Rule i of Faith ( we know not what Light withinj : is Another and New Golpel. To draw towards a Conclufion: I have written this fliort Paper in much and true ^ Companion to you : It had been far eafier to ; me to have faid more, than thus to have con- ; fined my (elf: I look upon many of you as ! an harmlefs well-meaning People, but under , ftrong Delufions. I This your Deluded State proceeds from your making what you call The Light within you (which is in many Cafes nothing but your own Prefumptive Perfuafion or Fancy^ a Rule of Faith and TraBice, Co-ordinate, if not ; Superiour and Antecedent to the Holy Scriptures: Thefe words in your Paper {TFbich are the Double and Agreeing Record of True Religion j intimate at leafc thus much, That you will not believe what Scripture faith, except the Light within you didfate the faniCjand fo make a Dou- C ] 1 a Doubie Record. Now my Friends, do noil | flatter your felves, GOD is not mockedy yoii : muft Anfwer at the Dreadful Day of Judg- ment, amongft other Points, to fuch as theie j and therefore Examine your Confciences be¬ fore-hand* 1. Is it not your main End and Study^ by oretended Mortifications, and Renouncing the World ( while there are no fort of Men alive that more eagerly purfue it, nor have more effeftual, wily, and focret ways o ting Wealth than your felves } ) Is it not, I fay, your main Aim and End to make yow felves a Tarty confiderable^ and fuch, to which, for Reafons of State, peculiar Priviledges mult V I?'- be indulged? . 1. Are not, to this purpofe, many of your Dt- mncHiveCbaraBers, fuch as yoLir Different Garb ( for it is plain, not a few of your Peoples Cloaths, as to Materials, are more coftly than many of ours ) your v;ay of fie aktng, yea, even ymr Looks and , alTumed rather to make your felves remarkable, and at firfi fig hio^n from other People, than out of any •Perfuafion, Senfe of Duty, or Confcicnce of ^V.^What Kafonable or tolerable Warrant can you plead for waving, fippreffingj at l^ah, ^ fJA tndRejeaingallOimd t I C 17 ] JVorplif (-erpecially Baptifm and the Lord’s- Supper) which have fuch plain and repeated Evidences in Holy Scripture. Your Light within, (or Senfe and Perfwafion which you fay you have, and are fure is from Chrift ) forafmuch as, in the prefent Cafes, it didla- teth againft Holy Scripture, can never be proved even to your felves, much lefs to others, to be from Chrift: But muft rather, in all reafon, be refolved to be one of the Heights or Detths of Satan transforming him» felf into an Angel of Light. And for any Per- fons to yield to fitch ConduB ( befides or againft Holy Scripure ) is plainly to abandon thernfehet to the Delujions of the Devil. t In a word therefore, I again require you, as you will anfwer all your Secret Arts and high Pretenlions at Chrift’s Tribunal, that you either Embrace and Trofefi the intire Chrifiian Faith, in the Points wherein I have fliewn you to be defedlive ; and that you receive the Chriftian Seals or Badges, Baptifm and the Lord's-Supper j or elfe that you de/ifi to lay claim to the Name of Chriftians. 4 It is not for me to Judge you, but again I fay unto you, (truly from GOD, as His Mi- nifter) Judge your Jelvcs. This is the Cale. If Men who take aivay even from the Faith once deliver d to the Saints, at Icaft Two Thirds C be^ c i8 ] befides many main Points or the other Third: who Equal their own Erefumtuous Conceits to the Divine Oracles^ and Revelations; who ufe and difuje^ at 'pleafure^ what parts of GOD'% Inftituted lEorpnpthhy think fit. Even the very Badges of Chriftianiry, ( I will hot here Interpole your Making Gain your Godlinefs) but if the aforefaid Men are in a PEay of Terdition, } what can you conclude of your felves ? In \ the Name of God Repent and Return; And - from my Soul I pray, That GOD will pleafe to give you Repentance. EDIT. CORK and ROSS. Gorki July the - - 2d. 1598. V / «<■ C 19 ] ‘ Of a PAPER, Entituled, t \ . I Have given the Bijhofs Exceptions together at' Large, as he did our Paper, and lhall now Confider their Validity. He is pleafed to fay at the beginning of his firft Paragraph, he is fuch a Reader as in our Paper we de/ire : Words that gave me great hopes, of not only fair, but friendly dealing 5 and I heartily wilh it had been fo : But lince it feems to me, the Reverfe of his Promife, he muft hot take it ill from me, if I flop a while, and fliew him a little to himfelf, and how much he is miftaken in his own Temper, as well as in our Principles. For tho’ he begins with the Names of Moderation, Charity and Meeknefs, that’s all: He quickly Lofes light of them, and forgers them, with himfelf, al- moft all the way. And unlefs my Tafte be Extreamly Depraved, there is little Felilh of V ■ C z thofe ■ [ 20 ] thofe Venues in his_ Managemcnr, or a tole¬ rable Temper illiewn towards us, relpefting either our Belief, or Praftice. We defirc fuch a Reader indeed as had rather we were in the Righ^c, than in the. Wrong; One that did not Prejudge our Cafe, and would give us (and not our Enemies) the warding of our own Belief: While the Bifliop but too plain¬ ly lliews, he would not have us in the Right, Even where he dares not Ssy (however free¬ ly he ^ggefts it) th^t we are in the Wrong. Which appears, ■ • * Firft, by his XJnnecejfary Exceptions to fuch Truths, as we have Declared in our Paper (and he cannot deny) as imferfeUly Expreft, becaufe we have not laid all that might be laid', tp Branch them out, or Illuftrate them j iho’ enough to be underftood by fuch as are hot. Captious. Secondly, hy Sufpejitions Incongruotny and that can have np other Service than to Expofe us, and that in a very ill Manner. Thirdly, by rending us to Deny^ what we don’t Exprefs in our Paper; Though indeed " -we Believe it. Fourthly, in not taking due notice of what is Implied^ as well as Expreft: Which had been but Juft. . Fifthly, in making the wor(i of what is not concurrent with his Belief, and not the beft, where we believe the fame thing. Sixthly, r ] ^ Sixthly^ by Grofly Mifrendering our Pre¬ tences to StriB Livi^- ' . > ■ ■ Laftly, by Condemning, us upon Rumour. All which is more than leaning to ' that fide, that had rather we were in the Wrong, than in the Right j and Confequently not fuch a Reader as we delired. That this''is foj let it but be obfcrved, how.he Unchrifiiens us in his third Paragraph j, tho’ Immediately in a ContradiBion to What he juft before Acknow¬ ledges in his fecondi- , Nor will he allow us to be fo mbch as iHifis in- his- fourth, or at mofl: but very Imperfect ones, becaufe, we have not hid all’ of God, that-^may be afcribed to him. .In his fixth, he fuppqfes us Capable of believing that Chrift _ Came of Corrupt and Sinful Flejh^ becaufe v'C fay no more in that Place, of.the Manner- of his In¬ carnation than the Evangelifi doth, John i. 14. Alfb, that we arc DefeBive'^ at.beft, Jm~ hizuom^ about Eternal Rewards ar«J Punilh- ments. He makes us, in his fcvenih Paragraph, to Dmy the Refurre^iion of the; Dead, at large, and ovithcut' DiJlinBion, tho’ we there Acknowledge a Future State, w'hich itnplies it j and' have not faid one word again ft it j but upon all Occafions, in Print, or pther- wife, have Expreft our Belief of that Branch of Chriftian J^oftrine, according to Scripture, In his Tenth, he derides our Plain ( though Proper ) Language, of Thou to a (ingle Vtrjon, ■ . C 5 though C 22 I . though it is what he himfelf gives to God in his Prayers. In his Fourteenth and Fifteenth, he is pleafed to flight and render our Striker Living, a Trick to promote a Tarty, and that our Garb, Looks and Gefiures, are more to make our [elves Remarkable, than out of any Terfivafion of Duty, or Conjcience: As bad a Conftrudlion as he couW make. In his Sixteenth, he tells us, The Light within m, that we fay^ we have from Chrifi^ is rather one of the Heighths or Dephs of Satan Transformed, and that we are Abandoned to his Delujions. So that We, and moft of our Principles too, are ftark Nought with the Bi/hop. In his Eighteenth, and laft Paragraph, he fuggefts. We • take away Two Thirds of the Cbrifiian Faith, befides many Points of the ether Third j and equal our Trefumtuom Conceits, to the Divine Oracles, and Revelations, and ufcy and difufe at pleafure, what part of God's Injlituted Worfloip, we think fit j Even the very Badges of Chrifiianity. I will not, fays the Bilhop, interpofe ( yet fuggefts it ) your^ making Gain your Godlinejs j but if the Aforefaid Men, are in a way to Perdition, what can you Conclude ~ of your [elves ? In the Uame of God Repent and Return: Thus the Biftiop, upon a whole Peo¬ ple, without any other Provocation, than has been Expreft. I hope, after this. He will not Expeft (I am fure he ought not) that any Body Ihould think him (uch a Reader, as we de- fired, [ 2 ? 3 fired for our Gofpel-Truths, and which he ■ proinifed us to'be ^ or that he has treated us with the Moderation^ Charity, and Meeknefs, he made us hope for j fince none of our Ad- verfaries have ufcd us much worfe, in fo little a Compafs. I heartily wifh him a bat¬ ter fight of himfelf, as well as of us, that he may be lefs miftaken in both another time; for I have a refpeft for him,^ and de¬ fire not to be upon thefe Terfns with him, any Longer, than he thinks fit to make it neceflary. The reft of his firft Paragraph is only a Strain of Fair and Tafioral Promifes, forgotten by him, and not to be remembred any more, at this time, by me ; and therefore ftiall proceed to his Second. Only obfetve this one thing to my Reader, and the Biftiop too, that he is pleafed to place Moderation and Charity to our Account, becaufe he does not take us by our word' Chiefly to mean Only, or All in reference to the things, by us believed: Which, under favour, he could not do in Jufticej and therefore he needs not bring us in Debtor for that, which is our Due, fince no Body ever took Chiefly, (ot .Only, any more than m.Eldefi, for an Only Son, or an Arch, for an Only Bilhop. Nor does Chiefly imply All, any more than Only j for whether It regards things Hu¬ mane, or Divine, It imports the Befl- Fart of G 4 anv [ 24 ] any thing, but not All: The mofi 'valmhle^ that 'which deferves and commands our Re¬ gard and Efteem in the firft place. And I leave it with my Reader, whether Believing in God-, and Chrifi^ and the Holy Spirit ,• and Be¬ lieving the Scriptures^ and the Necejfity of Holi~ nefs^ and Divine Worjlnp., and finally of Eternal ■ Revsards and Tunijhments, are not Points of Faith, Chiefly to be Received, and Profelled by Chriftians ? And if they are fuch, the Bi- diop muft have been Super-finely Critical, upon our word Chiefly^ as well as that he might have been a better Husband of his Mo¬ deration Charity^ and have kept them for an Occafion where they might have been tncre needed, and Confequently better be¬ llowed. His Second Paragraph allows us to have fufficiently Expreft our Ghriltian Belief in two Articles, but with this Cenfure, that of Eleven, W'e are only Clear in the fe Two, viz. juflifleation by Chrifl, And Submijflon to the Civil Government, wiflnng we may always flick to this Belief, and Practice-y and adds, I heartily Rejoyce to flnd you acknovdedge the Hecejjity of Chrifl, as a Vropitia- tion, in order to the Remijflon of Sins, and Juflify- ing yoUi as Sinners, from Guilt. 'Tis the flrfl time I have heard of it among you. If fo: It is the Bilhop’s Fault, and feems to me, next to Impoffible; fince before that ^ Paper y'as given him, he was pleafed to ’ ' ■ Acknow- f i ' i. ' C *‘51 Acknowledge he had read fevepi of our Books i particularly, my Rife and Frogrejsdf tit PeopU called Quakers, taking it out of his Pocket at that timej alfo Robert Barclay i Apology, which States, and Vindicates our Principles at large, in .which the two Do- arines afore-mentioned, are very clearly De¬ clared, and Maintained, notwithftanding he feems to make this look like a JVew Difcoyery. But however, I am pleafed, that the Bifbop is fo, at two of the Gofpel-Truihs : I am of Opinion if he had well confidered the Force and Comprehenlivenefs of our Belief concern¬ ing Chrift, that pleafes him fo well, he might have faved himfelf the Trouble of what he has publilhed to the World upon the reft of them: For, whoever believes in Chnft, as a Propitiation, in order to Remiff on of Sin:, and ‘fufiifcation of Sinners from the Guilt of Sin, can hardly disbelieve any Fundamental Article of the Chriftian Religion ; fince, eve¬ ry fuch Perfon, muft NecdTarily believe in God, becaufe it is with Him alone Man is to be Juftified. To be fure he muft believe in chrifi, for that is the very Propolition. He muft alfo believe in the Holy Ghoft, be- caule, he is the Amhor of his ConviBion, Re¬ pentance, and Belief. He muft believe Heaven, and Hell, Rewards^ and Punifmenty and Con- fequently the RefurreBion of the Jufi, and XJn- jujl: For, why Ihould he be Concerned, about [ 26 ] about being freed from the Guiit of his Sin, if he were unaccountable in another World ? So that Acknowledging the Neceflity of Chrift, as a Propitiation, in order to the Re- miffion of Sin, comprehends the main Do¬ ctrine of Chriftian Religion j and as fo many Lines drawn from the Circumference to the Center, they all meet and center in chrift: And I, indeed it is as the2Wh ii t'l >, s| i I ..1I jr' f'i [ 2S ] all Chrifrans, take for granted, and allow, as often as they hear any one fay, He believes in God. For not to be believe Him Omnipotent, Omnifcient, and Omniprefent, is not to believe him to be God, being infeparable from the Divine Nature. I muft appeal to the Bifliop, whether a fmall Grain of Charity would “ have excufed us from bis Refledlion upon thisr'Head. We have faid more than Mofes faid to Pharaoh : For befides that, I am^ is no more than. He is-. We have added that He is, the PewardeT of all Men, according to their Works. We gave the Text, as it is, and the very Text feems expreft far a Declaration of Faith in God, viz. He, that ■wilt come to God, mttfl believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder, of them that feek Him. The Text does not Enumerate and Require the Belief of all the Divine Attributes, and Properties that are in God, but the bare Belief of his Being, and what He is to Mankind that fear him. And whatever the Birtiop fays, this is enough for a Man to come to God, though not enough, it feems, to come to the Bilhop in the Qua¬ lity of a Believer : He muft help the Holy Ghoft to fpeak Properly, or- we, that- fpeak after him, mulf be def dent in our Expreflions, if nor our Belief. But when any .one affirms, that Man was created by God, is he Short, Fallacious, or Equivocal, becaufe he does not fey how God made Man, or what he made him ^ [ «9 3 him ? Is not his Body^ Soul, and Spirit, his Willj Underfianding, Memory and AffeBions com¬ prized, and meant, under that word Man? Befides, could the Bifliop think that while we own God’s greater Providence, his leller could be disbelieved by us? He that has the alone Power of Ramrding Men, in the other World, according to their Works in this, muft certainly be the Sovereign of Both ; and his Providence, in Juftice, is to be lb underitood. And as it is moft certain that we believe of God, all that the Holy Scriptures declare of him, and whatfoever is proper to that Great and Glorious Beingfo, had we not thought it unneceflary to be more par¬ ticular, from the Common Notion all Men have of the Deity, the Bifliop could have had no room left for the Exercife of his Charity. In his Fifth Paragraph he Blames us of being. Defective in our Confeflion of the Holy Trinity : Though we give it in the very Terms of the Holy Ghoft, i J-ohn 15.7. If this is not a fufficient Text to prove the Tri¬ nity, that Antiquity Urges, and alfo Modern- Writers of the Church of England, to prove it, I know not where to find one, in the Scripture. It is Generally Believed the Apoftle fohn gave this Declararation to the firihChrlfians, to prevent their being deluded by Cerinthitu. How [ ?0 ] . How come the Bi/hop then to render it buf a by pajjage, and otherwife intended by the Apoftle, than for an Article of Faith zhoui the Trinity ? Is there a plainer, or a fuller any ■where in the Writings of the New Tefta- ment? Three and yet One, is the Dofilrine of the Trinity: And no other Apoftle has gone fo far, or been fo Exprefs: Inforauch that the Text has been doubted, and ren¬ der’d Apocryphal by fuch as do not believe the Common Doctrine of the Trinity \ and Foiled in to ferve the turn of Trinitarians: So-plain it has been thought to their pur- pofe, even by the Anti-Trinitarians. How then is the Text defective with the Bilhop? But he- fays the Apoftle writ it upon occafion : Doiibtlefs he did fo. But what other Oc- calion, I pray, than that of the Ho// Trinity ? He adds. And it was to the Apoftles purpofe, touching the Father., Son, and Holy Ghofi: But what purpofe could the Apoftle have, but that of Declaring the Trinity, and yet Unity ? What othej;JLJfe does he make of it ? The Bifhop muft be very hard put to it, certain^ ly, to Ihift of, and lelTen our Gonfellion in this Point, and Rather than fail, render the Text it felf Ihortwhich, with fubmillion, I think is a bold Attempt in one of his Sta¬ tion, if he Believes the Thirty Nine Ar¬ ticles. The C 3 The next and fixth Paragraph, relating to our third Gofpel-Truthy is large, and confifts of divers Branches, and therefore I fliall Con- lider them diftindlly and apart. In the third Article^ Tou acknowledge indeed the Son of God \ to have been made Flejh^ hut neither Conceived hy the Holy Ghofi^ nor Born of the Virgin Mary: So that it does not appear^ by this your Confefwn^ hut that he was at frfi an Ordinary^ Corrupt and Sinful T erf on. I think it is hardly to be fup- pofed that we could intend fo Grofs a thing, or that it is inferrible from the Manner of Exprefling of our felves, in Reference toChrijl's Manifefiation in the Flefh. Where Enough is faid, to Comprehend the Reft, all is Meant, tho’ all be not Expreft: We call him the Be¬ loved Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Fa¬ ther : Pray what is that fhort of being Con¬ ceived hy the Holy Ghofi ? To be fure, it is ve¬ ry far from a Corrupt and Sinful Perfon, a Sup- pofition as remote from what we faid, as from what the Bifliop promifed, viz. Charity, He that Confefles the word 7 vas made Flefh, Con- fefles Him made Flefh hy God, and there¬ fore made Holy Flefh : For God never made any Corrupt or Sinful Flefh. If the place is read, as fome do, viz. the Word took Flefh, the Flefh muft be Holy, for he would not take, or dwell in Sinful Flefh. And had the Bifhop well remembered what ht Acknovdedged, upon our Believing Chrift to C J i to be a Propitiation for Sin, not many lines before, he could never have Suggefted fo un- reafonable, as well as uncharitable a Conceit, lince Sinful Flejh, or a Corrupt Terfon could ne~ ver be any part of a Sacrifice for Sin : So that in Commending that part of our Belief, he has . ■ fufficienily fecured us againft this part of his i Infinuation. But the BHhop proceeds to Ag- ■ gravate our Shortnefs in Exprefllon to a Severe Imputation, viz,, that we own him not fo much as jefus or the Chrifi. This mufr be a great overfight of the Bi- fhop, not to fay worfe, when the very Fourth Head, about Jufiification by Chrifi, of which he declares himfelf fo well faiisficd, Thrice confefles him to be Chrifi, viz. in the FiV/?, Third and Fourth Lines. Again, we call him Chrifi in the Firfl Line of the Fifth Gofpel- Truth i likewife in the FirB and Fourth Lines j of the Sixth we call him Chrifi: We do the fame in the Firfi and Fifth Lines of the Eighth, and in the Firfl Line of our Tenth Gofpel- j Truth: How the Bilhop came to mifs in fo Palpable a Point of Fa«^t, in the Compafs of one half fide of a Sheet of Paper, I cannot Imagine, and am unwilling to Cenfure. Nor | would I willingly think the Bilhop fo Trifling, as well as Difingenious, as to Excufe himfelf herein, becaufe we do not call the Word that took Flelh by the Name of Chrift in that place, fince the Bilhop Repeats it from us « r «s, out of our aforefaid Fourth Head, about Jufiification by Chrift^ where we call him by the Name of Chrifi, as may be (een in the Second and foregoing Paragraph of his Re¬ flexions. Befides, we have not Confeffed his I Name left than 'Nine times in that Paper. But if the Bilhop Could yet infift upon the word Cbrifi not being in our Third Head, I fay the Thing is there, though the Word be nor. For what is Chrift but the Word ‘ made Fkjhy and who is the Word made Flefli but Jefus Chri^ ? Again, who is the Beloved Son of God but Cbrifi:, and who eJfe but Chrift is the Beloved Son of God^ and Only Begotten of tbe Father^ full of Grace and fall of Truth : For thefe High and Di- , ftinguifliing CharaXers are to be found in I That very Head of DoXrine, where the Bifliop I will not have us to acknowledge him to be Cbrif. So that unlefs aCorruptand SinfulPcdoti can be full of Grace and Truth, I wonder howt the Bi/hop came to fuppofe a thing, in our Name, fo very Grofs. But he proceeds in the fame Paragraph, You acknowledge indeed he died I for Sin, but you have not one Word cf his Rejitr-' I reSiion from the Dead, or of his jfeention into I Heaven, which it may be proved fome of you have exprefly denied, faying, he is not afeended into ■ Heaven, he is in us : With more to this Ef¬ fect. I fhould be forry to tax the Bi/hop here of Ahfurdity and Uncharitahlenefs j but D who C H ] 1 who can help it ? For if Chrift be not Rifen, ; He is (iill in his Grave j He is no more. . How then do we aflcrt him to be a Troft- nation, and the Light and Life of his People? ; See GofpeUrruth 3, 4> and 6. Can that which is Dead SanBifie and Jttfiifie Believers ? Can the Dead give us Grace and the Holy Spirit ? Or have we not faid fo of Chrift, that he is the Giver thereof? And if we have faid fo, muft not the Bilhop be Extream- ly befide the bufinefs? His Uncharitablenefs is as obvious, I will not lay his Untruth; but I muft pray him to Refleft a little better upon what he has writ 3 for unlefs he would make us to mean the Grave, when we fay that Wicked Men ftiall never come where Chrift is^gone^ ,Gofpel-Truth 6. he muft allow that we acknowledge. Chrift to - be in Heaven, and Confequently Afcended. What fliall I fay to his Story of fome of our Friends, whom he makes to affirm that Chrift is not afcend¬ ed into Heaven, he is in us ? Can it touch us, or Ihould he have faid it, and not have proved it ? Is that fair and candid ? Is it Charitable, Suppofing it were true, which does not appear? Or is it Juft to Infinuate it upon the People as Dubious ? But let it be never fo true, it cannot Conclude the Peo- | pie, if not the JB of the People. The Church of England has Doftors of very dif¬ ferent Sentiments j would the Bifhop think it I C J5 3 it fair the Common Belief of the Church ihould thereby be concluded ? It is true, and a great and comfortable Truth, that Chrifi is inus^ according to 2 Cor, 13. 5. Gal 2. 16. Col i. z6, ij. but not Confined to Man : He is not fq there, as that he is no where elfe, and leaft of all that he is not in Heaven. For the Apoftle tells us,. 4. lo. thatHe^yce» 12.. Yet again fays the Bifliop, Not a •tnord of one ' Church., ivhich it may be feared you finke out of , your Belief, becaufe you are refolved never more to return-into the Unity of the Church, but to make and maintain a Schifm or Tarty for ever. Thefe are very harfh Conftrudtions, befides that they beg the Queftion,' and in my Opi¬ nion would have paft better fiom a Peifon whofe Office was lefs .concerned in Chanty than That of a Bifhop; But why, mult Intereft Obflinacy liMle OurDlffient? WhatS 10 be got by if Profit and Preferment go the BifhopWay, I will not fay he goes rhe|rs T 37 ] But why not Conjcience-, tho It were miffa- ken, fince we have been all along of the Looftftg fide? Which is not ufually' efpoufed, by the Men of Interefi \ nor are Men ordina-. rily Obftinate againft their Inurefi. Let us at leaft be Honeft Men and allowed - to mean well though we were miftaken. But what ' Church, of the many Churches in Europe is ,the Bilhop's One Church, to which he would have as return ? He has not told us. Methinks he that cenfuresour Shortnefs fo much, flipuld ! not have been deficient himfelf in fo mate- j rial a Point. So that if we are out of the I way, w'e muft be fo fdll for all the Bifiiop j 1 fince we are yet to feek what Church we Err from, or fhould repair to. But I will fuppofe he means his Own, by which he ex-, eludes the Luther mi and Cahin’ii the Presbyieri-^ an. Independant and Baptifi, as well as the Peo¬ ple called Quakers^ from being of his One Church \ to fay nothing of the Roman Catho- Uck or Greek Churches. But unlefs the One Church, as he phrafes it, by which I under¬ hand him to Intend the true One, may be of two minds, it will be difficult for him to recommend his own above the reft, hecaufe that is not only broken in Sentiments, but TraElice too, and which the Biftop knows is no longer a Secret. 1 might xnention the Differences w'armly managed between the Doctors of it, about Grace and Free-will j onr D 2 raking C ?8 ] taking the Calvinlfl^ the other the Jrmman \ way; as they alfo do about the Do6lrine of SatisfaBion and Jufiification. Likewife the late Controverfie between two Famous Men of • the Church, about the Trinity^ who are fol¬ lowed in their differing Sentiments by great Numbers of the Learned of the BifhopsOwc Church : And for that Reafon ( if no other ) I cannot be fo well fatisfied of his exaft Correfpondence with all the Articles of that Church himfelf. And I hope I am not be- lide the bufineft, when I fay it would very well have become the Bifliop to have told us what it is he would have us believe, when he found fo much fault with what that Paper fays we do believe. It would be too long, and perhaps he might think it befides the ^ bufinefs, at leaft the brevity the Cafe requires, to give him the Reafons of our Separation and Dljfent or Dlfagreement with the Church. I put thefe Words together, becaufe fome Were never Members of it, and fo they could not properly be faid to feparate from it j but true it is, we may all be faid to Diffent or Difagrecj and I would think the Bifliop fliould not be much to feek for the Reafons of it. And yet where w'e are vulgarly appre¬ hended to differ moft, we dilfent leaft, I mean in Doctrine, which is the reafon fo many have | upon occafion faid, as indeed did the Bifliop at the Vifit I made him : viz,. Why we believe ^ v*«-. • ^ _ C ?9 3 the fame, 'tis what we Treach as well as you. For except it be the'vlvoiding of fbfne of . the Articles of Faith in School Terms, there are very few of them profeft by the Church, of Eng¬ land, to which we do not heartily Affenr. And this I have expreft for my felf, and in behalfof myFnWanmy Key,^ and' Trimitive Chrijlianity revived. But of this and the more material Reafons of otir diftance from the Church, I may have occafion to exprefs my felf at the Clofure of this Vindication. I But the BilTiop proceeds in his Sixth Para¬ graph ; have you a word of the EefurreUi- cn of the Body, which divers of you have been known to deny, and others of you only fay. It may¬ be fo. I fliall confider this Immediately upon the next Paragraph, where he treats upon the fame fubjedt, and apply my felf to his con- clufion of this: Laftly, Tho’ you acknowledges everlajiing Bewards for them that fear God, yet nothing of the everlafting Punijhment of wicked Men. I think we do,' and that the Bifiiop ag¬ gravates his difingenuity to us upon this Head: For the Words of the Paper are thefe, It is our Belief that God'ts, and that he is a Revmder of all them that fear him,v>ith Eternal Rewards of Happinejs y avd that thofe that fear h/m wt Jfjall be turned into Hell. The Scriptures aie, Heb. II, 6. Rtv. ii. 12. Rom. 2. 5, Pfalm. 9, 17. Now tho Eternal is not joyn- D 4 ed IW II! C 40 1 ^ to Hell, yet Juftice as well as Candor would have underftood it fo, and to mean the Hell of the damned, the Tmijhment of Evil Doers af¬ ter this Life, according to, the Ancient, Com¬ mon Belief. But the Bi/hop that feldom fails w make .the Worfi of every thing for us. Thus Comments upon our Words. Ton men¬ tion Hell indeed, but whether you mean thereby the Grave, as mofi commonly in Scripture is meant, or a Place of Temporal Punijhment after this Life, as Jome have done, or a State of total DefiruPlion and Annihilation, as many now a-days do, no One knows. But with the Bilhop’s leave, what if we mean None of Thele, may we not be in the right for all that ? For what if none of theie are^ the Ancient, Common and Scri¬ pture Belief, what will the Bilhop do then? Since Qne would think that one of them is the Bi/hop’s Hell, becaufe he gives Us and I more Room for our meaning, or any other Belief of a Hell. And either one of thefe is an Article of his Belief, or elfe he keeps the true Hell to himfelf, and was L ^ include that in the Queftion With the reft, left he fhould be thereby guil- ^ hs capable of meaning the One in our Gofpel-Truths, viz. The Worm that never dies, the Fire that never goes outy where is weeping and gnajlmg of Teeth for ever: See z ThelTalpnians i. p. Jude 6 . 7. And which, I think, is none of the Threg the Bi- foop C 4 « ] (hop mentions. However, he abundantly fliews his Inclination to reprefent us rather Wrong than Right, in our Belief; For if the Scriptures by us cited are confulted, they plainly fhew we never meant the G’r^w, and that they Equally Refer to the Future State of the Souls of Menj That all Jhall re¬ ceive the Recommence of their Works, and the Re¬ wards of their Deeds, according to the Nature and Quality of them. And if the Rewards of the Righteous are Eternal, then fo mult thole of the Wicked be, or both muft .be Temporary: For the Holy Ghoft makes no Difference as to the Duration of the one more than of the other. One Grain of a Truly Chriftian Temper, had laved the Bilhop, and heme, the Trouble of this as well as of other Reflexions. I am now come to his Seventh Paragraph, the firft part of which is a heavy Complaint of out Shortnefs and Deficiency in Exprefling of our Belief. We, it leems, are too General in fbme Points, and Wave Others; he is pleafed to lay Eight of Twelve, but Inftances only in that ot the RefurreElion ; tho 'he conjures us at the fame time, upon our Eternal Account, to confider what he fays. Now if being Ge¬ neral and keeping to the terras of Scripture be a Fault, we are like to be more vile with the Bifliop: For thanks be to God, That, only is Qur Creed, and with good realbn too, fince it h ill ’:4 IS [ 42 ] is fit That fhould only conclude and be the Creed of Chrillians, which the Holy Ghoft could only Pfopofe and Require us to be¬ lieve. For- if the Comment is made the Creed inftead of the Text, from that time we be¬ lieve not in God but in Man. I heartily wifli none had been wife above what is writ¬ ten, and that Generals had Concluded Chrifti- ans: Then Charity had been better Maintain¬ ed, and Piety Promoted: Whereas Strains or Refines upon the Tbxt, have thrown us into thole Labrinths of Controverfie, that the Zeal which Ihould have been Imployed to fup- prels Sin in all its Branches, has too Gene¬ rally been uled to Fire one Party upon Ano¬ ther, till Pradice, which is Religion indeed, was blown up by the Generality. So much for our Shortnefs or Wavering, as the Bilhop calls it. I lhall now attend his only neceflary Point of Eight, that he thought fit to mention, which he lays we either fupprels or w^e, .viz. The RefurreSiion of the Dead : I confels I did not think that any Body would have been lb uncharitable to us, after our Ac¬ knowledging the Future State of the JuJt and Vnjufi, lince that implies it, and every Me¬ dium to it. However I will attend what the Bilhop urges for Proof of what vjc don ti deny, but always mull the Slander of doing’ [ 4J ] fo. /w 7 / (fays he) only mind you of two Paf- foffes out of the Scripture of Truths i Cor. 15. id, 17. If the Dead rife nat^ your Faith is vain^ you are yet in -your Sins, Hence it appears (lays the Bifliop) all other Points of Faith are in vain,, if this be not true. And lb lay I, as well as the Bilhop, and lhall always fay as he lays, while he lays no more than the Text fays: For who can think that allows himfelf to think, that we fliould not believe an Immortality, who have expoled our lelves, and lufiered fo much that we may obtain an happy One. But the Queftion is not whe¬ ther the Dead Rile, But with what Bodies f For if the Dead Rife not, then may we fay with the Apoltle, Verle 19. in the fame Chapter, We are of all Men moji Miferable. So that the RefuiTeftion of the Dead is out of all Di- fpute with us: But with What Body, will I be¬ lieve, be One, till the Dead Rife. Here it is we are Cautions, and tread Softly, Remembring what the Apoftle fays to the Curious and Inquifitive upon this Head, Verle 37, 3(5', 37, 38. But fame Man will fay. How are the Dead raifed up. And with what Bodies do they come ? "Thou Fool, thou fowefi not that Body which f sail he, but bare Grain. - But Godgiv- eth it a Body as it hath pleafed him, and to every Seed his own Body. Here is the Ground of our Caution, which the Bilhop is pleafed to call Supprejfing, and Others denying of the Rcliu’- redion r-1 i'l i ,1 'Hi ■-i|J 'liS'! m ■j'i P I'll [ 44 1 '' rediion. We have indeed been Negative to the Grofs Conceits of People concerning the Riling of this Carnal Body, we carry about us, which better agrees with the Alcoran of Mahomet, than the Gofpel of Chrift. But that there • is a RefarreElion of the Jufi and 'Un- inf to Rewards and R uni foments, we have ever believed. And indeed we cannot but won- ' der that any fliould be diffleafed with us for being Pleafed with that which God is f leafed to give us. Bodies we lliall have, hut not the fame fays the Apoftle, and fo believes the Quaker^ hut God giveth every one a Body as fleafeth him, and thk Pleafeth us, whoever it dilpleaieth : For wc bad rather be called Fools Ten times by the Bifhop than Once by the Apoftle, which we think we fliould delerve, if we fliould dare to the Text, or pre- fume to defne the Secret. . The other Scripture urged by the Bifliop, in defence of what we never o^fofed, is Rom. lO. 9. Jf thou foalt confefs with thy Mouth the Lordfefus, and believe tn thine Heart, that God hath raifed him fom the Dead, thou foalt he faved. He adds, Thofe who believe this as they foould do, fiall he faved. But that we have left out both Chrifi’s RefurreBion, .and our Own in our Faith. In the firft part of his Note, I, agree with him, that all who Rightly believe the Text, will be faved : For that muft be 'ft C 45 ] by the Illumination and Working of the Saving Power of Chrilt in the Heart, that he can fo believe. But that we have left out Chrlfi’’^ RefurreBlon and ottr Own^ is a miftake already oblerved, becaufe they are both plainly Impli¬ ed ■, one in our Belief of Chrifl’s being aPro- fltiation for Sin, and the Lights Life and Strength^ of his People, and in giving us Lis Grace and Holy Spirit^ which that which is Dead cannot do: And our own Refurredion is fufficient- ly fecured in our declared Belief of Rewards and Pmljhments *, tho the Mode of it be not Expreft: Nor was there any reafon for faying more upon that Head with refped to the Occafion of our Papers being Publilhed. I am now come to the Bilhop’s Eighth Pa¬ ragraph, which Comprehends his Exceptions to Three of our Gofpel-Truths^ viz. the ^thy 6thy and ’^th, which wholly relate to the Dodrine of the Light of Chrlfi within Man. And I am truly lorry to find the Bilhop at lb great alols, as that Paragraph Ihews him, about lb Excellent and Evident a Principle •, and which lb very much concerns him, and in¬ deed All Men to know. And that my Rea¬ der may Inform himlelf throughly in this Matter, I mull delire him to look back and read thole Three Gofpel-Truths, and compare them with the Bilhop’s Eighth Paragraph, and he will make himfelf much a better Judge 1 ... , ‘I t; '-HI '^1! f ^ 'ij! i'. f m ifeii* ■rt'li^: Jtm Sfc ;:*! '•'i f*i’' 1.1 li ■ ii' Itf*!.. 'i ' judge tif the Validity of the Bifiiop’s Anfwef and my Reply^ and which of us two keeps clofeft to the Doftrine and Language of the holy Scriptures, that he in the lame Paragraph feems fo much to Relped. His lirft Exception In this Parapraph is at our Jncapacky: For he lays we have never been able yet., that he could find, to make oitp ■what we mean by the Light of Chrifi within^ Perhaps the Bilhop has never fought, or has fought amils; which as great and learned Men as himfelf have done before now, and lb milt what they have fought for: And then it cannot be a wonder, that he has not found out what we mean by the Light of Chrifi in Man. But that a Bilhop Ihould re- prefent this an uninteligible Doftrine, after, reading fo dillind and plain an account of it in R. Apology, not to mention divers other Books i and which is of greater Au¬ thority, the Scriptures of Truth, is no or¬ dinary Surprife to me. Has the Bilhop for¬ got the firll of John, and the ^h, gth and 1 6th Verfes, Where Ipeaking of the Word-God, he fays in him was Life, and the Life was the Light of Men. ^ This is that Light of Chrill the Quakers AlTert, and delire to turn the Minds of all People too. For all mull have it, if it be the ■ C 47 ] the Light of all, as the Text plainly tells us it is. The Ninth Verle is yet more exprel^ viz. That • was the True Light which lighteth Every Man that cometh into the World ^ thea which, nothing can be more Exprell to our purpofe. And that the Bifliop Ihould feel no lhare in this Glorious Light of Men, ren¬ ders him very unfit, methinks, for an Overleer of them. % I know Ibme read this Text otherwile, as indeed he did to me in Cork. viz. That was the true Light, That Coming into the World lighteth all Men ; referring the word Coming to Chrift, and not to Man. But all the Ver- lions I ever met with,and I have feen more than twenty, render the verle as it is in our Englilh Tranflations: And all Criticks and Commen¬ tators, except the followers of Socinns, Read and Render it as we do. *And wliile we have lb much Company and lb great Authority, I think we need not be Solicitous about the fuccefs of this point. But belides that the foregoing verle tells us, that the Divine Life of the Word-God, is the Light of Men, which fliews all Mankind have it in them ( for it is the Light of their Minds, and noe of their Bodies) it is impolfible that Intefpretation Ihould be true in a llrid Senle: For the Com¬ ing of Chrill in that BlellM manifeftation was to the fews only ; He lays it himfelf, he was ^ , i:48] . ' 1 Xoai not font hut to the lofi Sheep of the Houfe if Jjrael., Matth. 13. 24. Again., he came unto his own., ond his own received him not, John i. 11. And within that narrow compafs he could not be faid to • be the Light of all Mankind thatW, did and Jhould comt into the World, for fo both the ^h and 9th Verfe plainly im¬ port, viz.. The Light of Mankind, without re- llriftion to This or That Manifeftation of God to MeUi But the Bilhop is ftill at a lols what to make of this Light, and what we would be at 3 for, lays he, Tou will not allow it to be either the natural Rational Faculty, or common Innate Notions, or natural Confcience, or Confcience Illu¬ minated, by the preaching of the Gofpel, and the Operation of the Holy Ghof thereby. e, lay we would have it to be what the Scriptures lay it to be, viz.. 'The Light of Chrifi, the Son of God, who calledhimlelf, John 2 . 12. the Light of the World and if fo, then Every Mans Light ; the Light of every Mind and Underflanding, and conlequently the Light of Chrifi within, too hard it leeras for the Bilhop to comprehend, and yet lb very ealie, to the meaneft Capacity that ob- lerves the Difcoveries and Convidions of it in their own Hearts. But lince it is, as he rightly terms it, a Fun¬ damental with us’, we w ill follow the Bilhop, in his Inquiries a little further. We fay firlt then. r 49 J ihcn, It is not the Natural Rational Faculty of Man; for then It would be Man, or a part of his Comfofition, meerly as Man: But that It is not, out a Manifeftation in the Soul of Man, of Chrijl^ the Word God, the Light of the World, the Second Adam, the Lord from Heaven, the Quickning Spirit j who was full of Grace and Truth, and of whom Man hath received, Grace for Grace: To wit, a Tij/Zewt, a Proportion fuit- ed to his Want and Capacity, to Convince and Convert him, to Renew and Reftore him from his great Lapfe unto God, his Blefled Maker, again. In fhort, our Natural Ration¬ al Faculty is our Sight, but . not our Light: That, by which we difcern and judge what the Divine Light Ihews us, viz,. Good from F,vil, and Error from Truth. But as the Eye of the Body is the Senfible Faculty of feed¬ ing External Objefls, through the Difcove- ry that an External Light ( as the Sun in the Firmament) makes to the Eye, but is not That Light it (elf j fo does the Rational Fa»- culty of .the Soul (ee Spiritual or Immaterial Ohjecls, through the Illumination of the Light of chrifi within, but is by no means That Light it felf, any more than the Eye is the Sun, or John the Baptifi was our blelTcd Lord and Saviour Jefm Chrtf, that was but Savant Fore.runner of his blefled Manifeftation in the Flefli. As- Bi •. *r I , I ki¬ ll i Rlut'O ;. 'i ^ [ $0 3 As for the Bifhop’s Innate Notions, and Na¬ tural Confcience if by them he means Im- preflions, or Principles which are born and come’with m into the World, viz,, the Law of God in the Heart of Man-, I muft tell him, firft, that this is not the Language of the Law and Tefiimony he refers us to in the fame Para¬ graph : And next, that as the Work is not the Workman, fo They are not properly the Light of Chrift, but the bleffed Fruit and F^eFl of the Light of Chrift, the Word-God in Man» which fhines in the Heart, and gives him the Knowledge of God, and of his Duty to Him. So that the Innate Notions, or Inward Know¬ ledge we have cf God, is from This true Light that lighteth every Man, coming into the World, but is nor that Light't [elf Juft fo the Biftiop’s Natural Confcicnce, muft only mean zCafa- city that Man has by Nature j that is, in his Creation, of making a Judgment ot himfelf, his Duty, and Actions, according to the Judgment of God manifefted to him by the Light of Chrifi within. Not that fuch a Capa¬ city is That Light-, but that it fees Ot under- (lands by the Inftiining of the Divine Light, the things that belong to Man s Duty and Nor is it Confeience Illuminated,^ the p-each- ina- of the Guff el, and the Oferation of the Holy (ibuji thereon, which is the laft of the Biftiop s i'^ondru^tionSj but That very Frincife of Life and C 5* ] ani Lights which Illuminates the ConlcientCi and was the very Spring and Force of the yipofiolical Minifiry, and of the ConviBion and Converfion of their Hearers •, and which Open¬ ed their Hearts to receive the Gofpel when ' preach’d unto them. In Ihort, this Excellent Principle is in Man, but not of Man, but of God. The Nature of it is to Difeover Sin, Reprove for It, and Lead out of It, all fuch as Love and Obey the Convictions thereof It is a Principle of Divine Life that Quickens the Obedient Heart to Newnefs of Life: It Raifes the Mind above the World to God, and fearcbes out and reveals the Deep things of God to the humble and waiting Soul. ■ And be it known to the Bifliop, and all that with him profefs Ignorance about what we mean by the Light of Chrifl within Man^ This is It I have been treating of j and I have writ, I blefs Almighty God, My own Experience, thtTafie and Relijh I have had of Its Excellent cy and Sufficiency iri the Courfe of far the greater and beft part of my Life. But the Bifliop muft excufe me if I fay, I cannot but take it very Ill at his hands, to forbid us in his following Words, to pretend to give an Account of what we Believe-, . unltjs tve can make him underfland our meaning : And, becaufe he does not penetrate our Senfe, to call our way of Wording that blefied Princi¬ ple of the Light of Chrilt in Man, a Perfecl E 1 Banter, i C 52 ] Banter. This to me is one of the fevereft Pa - fecutions, becaufe Spiritual things, are only | to be Spiritually difcerned and underflood. 1 would fain know how a Regenerate Man can 1 poiTibly make a Carnal Man underfland the New Birth ? It is Certainly the Gift of God to underjland Divine Truths, as well as Right¬ ly .to Believe. So that fuppofing our Afleiti- on of the Nature, Power, and Excellency of the Light of Chrift in Man to be true, not to have leave to fay fo, unlels we could make every Man rightly take our Senfe and Meaning, whether he be Spiritually Difcerning., or not, looks Antichrifiian as well as Uni^a- fonable. We [peak VFifdom, fays the Apoftle, i among them that are perfeB, 1 Cor. 7. 6. It feems others underfland'him not, muft He therefore not have wrought of the things of God.? The very Preaching of the Golpel was Fooliflinefs to the Wifelings of Jews and Greeks-, they could make neither Head nor Tail of It, by Their way of Judging ox Truth: M uft not the Gofpel therefore be preach d. When the Apoflle Vaul preach’d to the nians, fome of the Men of the Gooi/w, the Phi- lofophers of that Time, Oppofed and Delpi- fed him, faying, What will this Babbler fay. But had they known what he meant, we can¬ not think they would have faid fo to Him. W ts the Apoftle then,or the Athenians in fault, that they did not underfland Him .? Or, was If [ 5? ] it Bantering as well as BahhUng^ becaufe he did not make them underftand his meaning; which is onl>^ the Work of the Holy Gboft to do ? Who was it, I pray, that faid The Worli by JVifdom knew not God? And Can we fuppofe any thing elfe blinded the Scribes iindPharifeejy and the High-Prieft of the Jews, from dif- cerning the MeJJiah when He came ? For they wanted not Academical Learning, if that could have enlightned them j nor yet the Scriptures^ but they Rejified the Holy Gholl their only True Interpreter, and fo ftumbled and fell. Let the Bifliop alfo have a Care. In the Second Chapter of the firft Epiftle to the Corinthians^ he Will find that the Apo- {lle fpake the Wifdom of God in a My fiery, which the Pnnces of this World knew not, with all their Wifdom: For the things of God, iiiys the ApoQ.k, knoweth no Man, but''the Spirit of God -y by which thofe Chriftians, knew^ rhofe things that were freely gi^ven to them of. God. Which thing aljo we [peak, fays H.e, not in the Words which Mans Wifdom teacheth.i but -which the^ Holy Ghofl teacheth, comparing Spiritual thinos ovith Spiritual. But the Uaturai Map recei^eth not the things of the Spirit of God. for they arc foolifhnefs unto himNeither can he know them tscauje they are Spiritually dljcerned. Now ac- cording to the Bifhop's treatment of us,’ ihe ApoliJe ought not to have writ of Faith and salvation, unlefs he could have made all that ^ 3 read 1 -^ t-j C 54 ] ^ read his Writings underjiand his Meaning. And it muft be a perfeB Banter^ to talk of . fpeaking Wifdom in a Myfl^y, and not , in the Terms that Man’s Wifdom teach- eth. I But the Lord Jefus Chrift was of another Mind, when he faid, 7 thank thee^ O Fathery : Lerd cf Heaven and Earthy hecaufe thou hafi gfd thefe things (the Truths of the Kingdom) from the Wife and Prudent, and Reveal'd them j unto Babes: Even fo Father, for fo it feem d i good in thy fight. It, is hence beyond all I^I- pute that God hideth the Myfteries of His Kingdom from the Wifdom of Man, when ‘Simplicity and Sincerity fail not to Reach and Underhand them. Here it was that pwr Nr*- codenm was abfolutely at a lofs for Chnlt s meaning, when Chrift faid, tynlefs a Man be Born again, he can in no wife enter the Kingdom ; vf God, John 3. Infomuch as he asked Chiift, upon his Difcourfe of the New Birth, How I can thefe things be ? At which Chrift feems CO j admire, in a fort of Reproof upon Nicodemm, | Art thou a Mafier of Ifrael, and knowefl not | ihefr things:? As much as to fay, Alt t^hou, a 1 Man of thy Station in the Church of God, Ignorant of the Way to Heaven ? Wlmev^ | reads that notable Interview betvt^n Chrilt | and Nicodemm, will find that Chrift reiolves the Matter into Two Births, That which is 1 Born of the F/#, and that which is Born : ^ ^ ■ Oa C 55 ] of the Spirit, and thefe are Contrary: And therefore no wonder if they dijfer in their iJnderftanding of the Holy Scriptures, being a Declaration of the tahh and ExperlcTice, as well as DoBrlne and TraBlce of tne Servants of God that were Enlightned and Born of the Holy Ghoft. Nor is this all j for they that are Born of the Flejli, Perfecute them that are Born after the Spirit : So that when they can no longer commit Violence upon their Per- fbns and Eftates, they will Perfecute them with their Tongues and Pens : They arc He- reticks, Blafphemers, Illiterate and Ignorant, yet PrefumptmusEnemies to Catfar, and Difohedi- ent to Government, if they will not give God’s due unto Man, viz. Confchnce. And if they choofe to deliver themfclves in Scrip¬ ture Stile, and fpeak earneftly of the NecefHty of the Work of the Spirit of God, in order to an Experimental, Sind Saving Knowledge of the Truth, declared in Holy Scripture j and that Chrifs Minifiers are made by the Htdy Ghofiy and not by Humane Lcsxmn^ •, and that the Worfliip, which is acceptable to God, muft be tn the Spirit and in the Truth j that is, with Clean Hearts and Right Spirits, Kindl'd and Inf ant d with the Holy Spirit of God ; They muft be called Enthuprafts, Unintelligible, Men of Cant of Banter, And here I leave the Biihop, upon this Paragraph, ddiring him to Confider, whether his Knowledge of God f' 4 tile C ] the Father, and Je(us Chrift, •whom rightly to 1 inow is Life Eternaf John 17. be by the Re~ \ velation of the Son of God in his own Soul, ; fince Chrift himfclf Teacheth and Affirmeth, that MO Man knows the Father but the Son, and He to whom the Son Reveals H'lm: I fhould bc glad to fee the Bilhop’s Evidence for this s JCnowledge. For in the Conclufion of this Paragraph, he turns us to the Scriptures, who, in the beginning of it, makes us Un¬ intelligible and Banterers in Religion, for Ex¬ prefling Ours in the Terms of It j which may well merit the Bi.lhop’s Serious Re¬ flexion. His Ninth Paragraph refers to OUr Eighth Article, as he calls it, of which he cites thefe Eight Words only, IVhrJhip under the Gofpel is Inward and Spiritual j upon which, he fays, If jou mean., that Outward IVbrJhip ought to be per¬ formed with Inward and Spiritual ITorjhip, tis what we Preach, Prefs and PraBice j but tf (^'dS it would feem ) you mean that all the JVorJhip., God now ree^uires, is from the Inward Man, or from the Spirit j th^ is abominable falfe j for our Bodies are God's Handy-work, and God by the Apofle commands, Glorifie God in your Body, and in your Spirit, which are God’s. Not to tell you, that you your felves, new a-days, per¬ form fomewhat of Bodily IVorjhip. Indeed we do, and Ever did, and Ever fhall, I hope, while we have Bodies to Woffliip God in. Wegrelo C 57] far from denying the Body what fliare is due to it, that with the Apoftle, i Ccr.6. 19, we lay, What-y know ye not that your Bodies is the Temfle of the Holy Ghofi-, v^hich is inycuy 'which ye have of God, and ycu are not your own ? Of which I w'ould have the Bifliop well Con- lider: For, if our very Bodies are under the Infuence of the Holy Ghoft, how much more rcafonable is it to believe, that It dw'ells in our Souls, and that our Hearts muft be Pre~ fared, and Animated by the Holy Spirit, in all our Devotion towards God. But two things I muft Remark to the Bifliop, Firft, That we did not give him the leaft Occafion tofufpeft we deny’d Bodily Worfliip, as ap¬ pears by the Gcffel-Truth now in queltion: For ’tis plain there, by thefe words, Pfbrjhip in this day is Inward and Spiritual, That we only diftinguifli’d between Gnfpel Worfliip. and the Ceremonial, and Tompom Worfliip of the Lav^ j and that by Spiritual Worfliip, w'e undeiTtand Braying, Vraifng, and Breaching by the Brepa- ration and SanSiification of the Spirit of God ; which the Bifliop does not, and, I hope, dares not. Deny : Yet Unkindly, and I think Un~ jufily brings in Hi.s, as it would feem, to make us by an Uncharitable Innuendo look to his Reader, as if we denied Bodily IVorfhip. And' yet, to avoid lb hard a Chapter, as Maintain¬ ing this Afperlion would prove to the Bifliop, he is forced to confefs that new a-daps we perform V ■ * m 1J.W IF i [ 5* 3 ferfornt fomewhat of Bodily Worfllip j aS if wc did not perform atiy formerly, and but a little now: Which fliews not that Candor, that his Chara6ler owes us, and but too plainly tells every Impartial Reader, how much more mind he has that we fliould be in the lVro»£ than in he Right. I muft Confefs we have kfs Pomp and Gaudineft in our PP'brJhip^ as well as in our Cloaths, than is the Cuftom of fome other Churches, and think it our Happinefs that We are freed from fuch an Unprofitable as well as Unfuitable Incumberance. Whatever It be, tis fuch as we believe God by his Holy Spirit hath led us into: And tho* it be not fo Enter¬ taining to thofe who are Govern’d more by the\x outward Senfes thin their Souls, yet, 1 hope it will be allowed us to be Grave., Solemn and Fervent. The other Remark I make upon the Bi- Iliop’s Exceptions is this, That the Spiritual Worlhip he there allows of, leems to be but the Worfhip of Mans Spirit, and not of the Spirit of God, working upon the Spirit of Man. I would not Imitate him, left I Ihould be Uncharitable too: For if my Reader can make more of it, he has my Confent j but that feems to me to be the Biftiop’s Inter¬ pretation upon Chrift’s wpids cited by us on this Occalion, viZj. God will be Worfitpped in 'Spirit and in Truth: Though there is a Truth in that ailOj yet this not being fo peculiar to the C 59 ] the Gofpel Difpenfation, could not be the E»?- of Chrift’s words, whofe Drift certainly was, to draw Mens Minds to a more Imt-ard and sftritml JVorjinf: Not only to have lefs Ceremony than was Practis’d among the Jews^ but to feel more of the Fower and S^irk Qf God in OUT adoration and Fraifes^ than be-- long’d to the Former Difpenfation j and, with which, I heartily wilh the Bilhop a better ^V- quaintance. Upon the whole Matter, I am apt to think my Reader believes with n)e, he might as well have fpared his Pains upon us, about the firft Part of this Goffel-Truth, as he is Silent of the latter, viz. That we may Freacb in Fower^ as well as TFords^ and ezs God Fromifed^ and Chrtfi Ordained^ tuftljOUt S^Olip, toittjout The Bifliop, in his Tenth Paragraph, is pleafed to Endeavour to leffen the Author, rity and Credit of our Ninth Gofpei-Truth, relating to the 'vain Fajlnons and Cuftoms of the World. His words are thefe. Tou tell m of denying all the 'vain Cuftoms ^and Fajhions of the, World, as alfo Excefs in all things j I know of no fort of Chriftians who teach otherwife: I wijh I knew none (even of your /elves) that fraltis^d otherwife J it is one fart of our Catcchifm we teach our Children, he firft Concurs with our Doftrine, for he fays, he knows none that Freaches othervnfe j and that they do the like in their Catcchifm. So far then he allows us r ] to be found. But he wi/hes he knew mne (e^en of Us) that PraSiice otberwife. This is a fort of Charge, and being not Prov’d, looks like a Calumny. Some perhaps do not walk quite fo ftriflly as becomes them to their Pro- felfion j but are they own’d by us therein } Or Indulged it felf? If not, what are we to Conclude bur that the Bilhop’s Infinuation is to Ballance Accounts with us for the fai¬ lures of his own People? But, pray, are our Exceffes equaf or the Numbers^ that in Pro¬ portion do tranfgrefs ? I would not have him Comfort himfelf with his Uncharirablenefs to his honeft and friendly Neighbours: As it will not Excufe his lefi exa6l Friends, that any of ours live larger than they profefs, fo it cannot juftly afFe6l our Body, where fo few are faulty, when ’tis fo well known chat fuch are fure to meet with due Re¬ proof But he adds, that There are many Innocent uni Laudable Cujloms, JTe call Tain: This is all in a Heap, and a Reflexion by Whole- Sale._ I can truly tell him, I know of none^ and if he had been more particular, fo would i too: Perhaps he thought Generals be(i to make his Reflc6tion Safe: But if it were my place to be Plaintiff, I could treat the Bi/hop with a large Catalogue of very Oilenlive Cuftoms, that would concern him to think upon. However, he is pleafed to be parti¬ cular C 6i ] cular upon us in one of them, which almoft turns his Stomack, he fays, to think of, viz,- Would it not make a Man s Stomach turn^ to hear one forbearf in pint of Confcience, faying [ you] to a Jingle Verfon, hecaufe it is Improper j and at the fame time, while he is fpeaking to his Superiour, becoufe Thou doft founds a little rudely, to fofteit the Thou, and fay Thee doe ft, which is common¬ ly your Peoples PraBice. It is pity the bifliop could find nothing elfe to obferve from us, that might have better edified us and his Readers: Yet if this be that, among the Lau¬ dable Cuftoms which we call Vain, which is. moft Oftenfive to his Stomach,, it ftiews him to have a very weak one. However, a W’eak Stomack is better than a weak Head, and fuch a one I fhould take mine to be, if my Inftances were no more to the Purpofe and my Readers Inftruftion. ■ But I have fomewhat to fay to the Biftiop, before I leave him, upon the Old Topick of Sincerity and Charity, in this Refleilion, as I have had in moft of the other, viz,. That he makes the Ground of our Confcientioufnefs, about the faying of You to a fingle Perfon, to be only Propriety of Speech; which ho (I was' going to fay) in his Confcience mu ft know is not fo: But that the true Reafon of it is, firft. That It is the Language of the Scriptures, of Truth j and next, that the Original of You to a fingle Perfon, was Pride andi Flattery, being m I -il ;-i 11*':" 'r*S'“' If' m liifi • i ill ni r 'J . ■»! r'll m ISf ^623 being a Tlural Honour to a Single Perfini given fil'd to Potentates, and then gradually to all Subordinate Ranks of People. In An¬ cient and Unraixt Tongues, ‘C^OU to a Sin¬ gle Per Ton is kept ftill, as alio among the Common People of the prefent Languages, and particularly in that Kingdom where he is a Bilhop. I refer him to a Book entituled, No Crofs No Crown, where he will find other Reafons for our Tendernefs in that Matter then he alledges, or we have Room for here; though the Bilhop confines us to Proprktj as the mly Reafon of our Pra6lice, that he might the better Lafli us with the Impropriety of Thee for Thou ; which yet he might have fpa- red, fince nothing is more common with all People, than to take the like Freedom in Speech, in Cafes as well at Tenfes; not ex¬ cepting the Learned themfelves. But be it fo, we keep Numbers, and intend not clipping of Cafes, and that’s Our Point, though not the Bilhopfs, it feems •, which it Ihould have been, would he have been juft to us upon the Queftic^n. As for the Levity and Scorn, with which he is pleafed to treat us upon this Head, I fhall only fay, it unbccame him, and Confirms us more than it Expofes us, what¬ ever it does Him. But I coriefs, I am furprifed, to find a Man of his Character, and Pretenfions, propofe fo loofe a C^eftion as that with which he clofcs. this [ <5j 3 this Paragraph : viz. Will you ever he able to frove^ the Primitive Chrijiians ufed a Dialed or Drefs^ different from other of their Nation or Qua-- lityj and placed Religion in it ? Does not Chriji require Saluting thofe that Salute not us ? And no doubt^ Hcy and His Apcjlles Salutations VJere in the Common Form, Doubtlels, we are ahlc^ moft eafily and fully: And *tis admirable to con¬ ceive how he could be Ignorant of ihefe Proofs, who ought to be fo well read in Scripure and Antiquity. J befeech you therefore Brethren^ fays the Apoftle, by the Mercies of Gcd^ that you frejent your Bodies a Living Sacri* ‘ fice^ Holy^ Acceptable unto God^ which is your Reafonable Service: ht ttOt Confo^lllttl I to ttjtjES mOtlUj but be ye CtanSSfCaUieD bf the Renewing of your Minds^ Rom. 12. i, Again^ the Apoftle Veter^ Chap. 1.13,14. Ex¬ horts the Believers, to Gird up the Loyns their Minds.^ and be Sober^ as Obedient Children^ not themfelves^ according to the jvrmer Lttfts in their Ignorance 3 which was the Cufiont of their Country. And Chap. 3.3,^ Whofe Adorning let it not he that of tfjC and of aaieatine of (0olO, or of dng on of iappattl: But kt it be the n st^an of in that which is not Cor- ruftihle^ even the Ornament of a Meek and Quiet Spirit^ which is in the fight of God^ of great Trice. Thus the Apoftalical Counfd to the Churches. But for all thisj the Bifhop of Cork cannot tell [ <54 3 / tell how to think We ate able to prove^ that the Primitive Chriftians diffei^d in their Drefs^ jrom ether People of their Country arid Quality. Nor was this only the Striftnefs of that Time ; I for the fame Apofde adds, Verfe 4. as an Ar¬ gument to Enforce his Advice j for, After this manner., fays he, in the Old time, the Holy Women alfo, who trufied in God, But can a Man of his Letters, j really be at a Lois for a Proof of the Singu- ' larity of Primitive Chriftians, in Drefs, Speech , and Behaviour ? Or is it to try if we have any to refolve his Queftion ? Or taking our ^ Illiterature for Granted, that he puts upon us ? I befeech him to Converfe with Ouz^lius e upon Minutius Frelix, and he will tell him | that the firft Chriftians were tax’d, and de- | fpifed for 3itt=fe?etl in Manners^ llnpoHCb’t* in Speech, (^ttfafl^tonaWe in Behaviour j in 4 fine, and ClCtCin0 : As the Chri- I ftians Irronically return’d their Scorners the i Stile of Well-bred and Eloquent. This, and 4 much more he cites out of Arnobim, Latlan- | V tius, Theodoret, &C. And Jerom writing to Cf- i lantia and Demetias, Noble Women of that i time, fets them a Singular Form of Life from 1 that of the People of their Quality : And I Paulinus Bilhop of Nola, was fo far from I pleading for Chriftians Temporiz,irg with the I People of their own Nation, or ^ality, ac- 1 cording to the Bilhop of Cork, that he ftiarp- I I ly repfoves Snlptius Severm for It, in a letter ji to him j as the learned Cafoubon^ in his I Dilcourfe of %Jfe and Cufioms^ oblerves. If , i the Bilhop would look into the Confikmions^ (i c 66 ] they votTC tti j whicli is looncr isid thcii proved. For Chrift asked ^ the Jews, How cm y(Hi believe that receive Hononr one of another, md feek not the Honour that iometh from God ©nlV ? certainly muft be Unlaw- fal to Give or Receive, which hinders true Faith. And what was this Honour, but Sa¬ lutations after the Fafhion of the Times ? As the Text fhews, Mmh. 23. and for Calling, •and being CaUed of Men Rabbi, Chrift was fo far from Commanding, or Imitating them in fuch things, that He exprefly forbids tu But the meaning of Chrift’s faying, Mat. 5. And if ye Salute Tour 'Brethren only, what do ye more than Others .? Do not even the Publicans fo? Is thisThat in all A£ts of Love, Mercy and Goodnefs they were to Exceed the Praaice of that time: They were to take more notice ot, and to look more kindly and friendly upon All Men. But in another fenfe. He that bid them Sal-ute Enemies m well as Friends, allo forbids his Difciples to Salute any Man, or call any Man Rabbi or Mafter •, for that One was their Lord and Mafter, and they were all Brethren, Matth. 23. 6,7, 8. anft And between fuch Relations Worldly Ho¬ nours were of no ufe, as well as of no value. And did a Primitive Spirit Prevail in tnoie that fo much pretend to be the Succ eft or s or the Aooftles, we fhoald fee them more Ex¬ emplary in Self-denial and holinefs 3 Encoii- • ^ A raging C 67 J » j 1 aging, and UOt 'Undervaluing ZVidi Brovo-beatina the Serious and Confcientious, But Trees are known by their Fruit ^ for Graces are not gathered of Thorns^ nor Figs oj Thifiles. In the mean time, if my Reader pleafe to perufc the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of that Book Entituled, JVo Crofs^ No Crown^ he will, I hope be fatished, that we are for Fdonour^ ■Refpebl and C uility according to Scripture ; tho Non-conj ormifts to the Empty and Trouble- fome Ceremonies of the Ttmes^ left by us, iiot of Rudenels, but Conviction ^ and forbore of Duty and no otherwife of Choice. For, Humanely Speaking, that Gontradidion to Cultoni cannot be Pleafant to us. I have detained my Reader longer upon this Head than 1 expeded, or perhaps he dellred: I mall therefore proceed to 'the Billiop’s next Paragraph, which contains his Exceptions to Tenth Gofpel-Tmth about Baptifm and the ' , StMper^ and the lail he has to take notice of, the Eleventh, about Government^ being by him already granted in the beginning of his Paper. * ■ o o He begins thus, Inyom Xth Article you believe u Spiritual Baptifm and a Spiritual Supper and Communion^ but acknowledge^ you dif-ufe the out- ward Signs, by us commonly called Sacraments: Now did not Chrifi command Water-Baptifm s’ Go ye and Baptize all Nations, Matth. 28. 19, 20 F 2 He [ «8 ] . ! He goes on. The Baplfm here commanded, , ■was Water-Bapifm : His rcafons are firft, that BavtlrJng ■with the Spirit was God’s Worh, not the Afofiles, idly, Primitive FraBice, ABs lO. 47, 48. in Cornelim’s Cafe j Who can forbid \ Water ? But this is alfo gratis diBnm^ : For the firft Reafon is no Reafon, fince it is not true : I And the fecond feems to me DefeBive and I Short. I am very fenfible of the Difadvantage I am under, and that I touch a tender Place, and what I fay upon this Head, as alfo anon upon the Suffer, will be againft Wind and Tide with the Generality. But as I hope I ; fnall exprefs my felf Reverently as well as i Plainly upon this Occafion,'fo I befeech my | Reader, for His Own fake as well as Ours, not j to Prejudge viS ^ as I am fine he v/ill not if he be a Searcher after Truth, and that I chaiita- i bly fuppole of him. ^ ^ I fay then the Bilhop’s firft Reafon is not true • for God by the Apoftles did Baptize Believers with the Holy Ghofi. It fell upon them, through the Powerful Preaching of the Word; Thus, ABs 10. 44. While Peter yet fpohe thefe words, the Holy Ghofi fell on all them which heard the Word. By which it is evident that Peter, in that Sermon, was the Mmilter of the Sfiritual Baftijht to Cornelius and his^ Company. And i ’ c 69 3 And Peter gives this account to thole of the Cirmmcifion at Jerufalem^ Ads 11 . 15. as I began to Jpeakj the Holy Sprit, fell on them as on us at the beginning : Then remembred I the Word of the Lord^ hew that he faid John indeed Sa^tiz.ed With Water^ but ye Jhall be Papttz.ed with the Holy Spirit. So that Peter evidently declares the Gift of the Spirit by the Mini- jlfry of the Gofpel, to be the Baptilm of Chrift, or the Baptilin of the Holy Spirit and Fire, which Chrill promifed at his alfcenfton into Heaven. ; ^ But the Apollle Paul puts this Matter be- j ^ yond all Doubt, in his Excellent Account he I gives of his Converfion and Commijfion to King \^a 4 grippa., A$C%26. where my Reader will find I thefe words dropping from the Mouth of the j Lord fefus to Saul j Delivering thee fom the People., and from the Gentiles, to whom now 1 fend thee, to open tljtiX and to turn them to iSLigljt, und from the of Satan unto (Bod, that they may receive For^ ^ivenefs of Sins^ and an Inheritance among them TPmch are San5tifed through Faith that is in J\4e^ Verle 17, 18. Now if this could be done ^ without the Holy Gholl, let my Reader judge. Xwas with the Holy Ghof that P^ffr’s^Hearers ’ v.^ere Prick'd to the Heart, and fjtted to re¬ ceive more of It: And it was by the fame Holy Ghoft that Paul'% Hearers had the Eyes 0 ,, their Minds opened, to fee the Myferies of ^ ' F 3 God’s 'S . f L JO 1 \ God’s Kingdom, and by which they were Converted from JDarknefs to Light-, that they j might receive the Forgivenefs of their Sins, i and Inheritance among them which are j Sandified. So that the very End and Bene¬ fit of the Apoftolical Miniffry was Converting., that is, Bapizing them into Chrifrianity ; in the Nature, Power and Life of It, by the Holy Ghofi. I Now for the Bilhop’s Second Reafon, viz. Praclice : I fay it is granted that Water- Baptifm having got place among them by John’s Miniftry, the Fore-runner, it held af¬ ter Chrift’s Coming j but that was Ex Gatia, and of Condefcention, hot of Commiflion \ for that properly ceafes when his Miniftration begins, of which John’s was but the Fore- Titnner, For ALofes and the Prophets weie till j John, and John till Cnrift. Aiid this, John ■ the Water-Baptift tells us, Manh. 3. 11. In¬ deed Baptixjc yon with Water m 0 Repentance, but he that coraeth after me ts rn-ghtier than /, He frail Baptiz.e yon with the Hoty Ghofi and , with Fire, {cQ Mark 1.8. Luke 16 . Here s a dilTerent Baptilin and Baptizer, the Ser¬ vant and the Mafier, the Water and the Ho¬ ly Ghofi: One Tranfcient, the Other Perma- j nent ;• One the End of the Jewifli, and the | Other the Beginning ot the Gofpel Dilpcina- j tion. Wherefore lays our Lord Jefus Chrilt, 7m leafi in the Kingdom of Heaven is Greater ■ than C 7? ] than John, Matth. ii. ii. Why, is not in Heaven ? No doubt of it at al 4 a,nd a Glorious Saint to : But the Leafi in Chriil’s Dilpenlation, wz.- The Kingdom of God' in the SohI^ the Work of Chrift, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghcjl and Flre^ is Greater than ^ohny as to the Nature of. his Adminiftration. See "John 3 . 30 , 31 . He rmfi Increafe^ hut’ I mufi Decreafe. What! decreale, or his Mini- ftration ? His Miniftration certainly, which he calls Earthly in Comparilbn of Ghrill’s. So that the Baptift in his Watery Dilpenlati¬ on did but Fore-run Chrilt, in reference to the Kingdom that he was to fet up in Men. He pointed to Chrilt, and Ihewed what Chrilt was to do, viz., to Wajh., Fan., and Throughly Turge his Boor-., that is, His People, and San- ^tifie them throughout, by his Spiritual Baptijm, according to the Apoltle, in Body, Soul and , Spirit, I Thein 5. 23. So tliat in fliort, PraSlice Properly can be no Infiitution, where the thing PraCliled has no Commijfton, which I fuppofe the Bilhop will not think fit to de¬ ny :■ But, lays he. It has a Commijfton, Matth. 28. 19. which is, under favour, but his fay fo and that I think it is no more, I do with all Humility and Submillion fay, Firlt, I can¬ not tell how to reconcile it to Good Senle, or Common Ulage in Sacred or Civil Mat¬ ters, that any thing Ihould be in force by a Com million that is not lb much as once F 4 'named C 72 3 named in the Comtniflion. I fay, to me it does not appear CmgruoHs any more than Cogent^ or obliging. And this is the Caufe in hand: For there is not a word of Water in the Text alledged for Water ^ nor yet in the Context. And unlefs there were no other Bap- tifm than that of Water ^ as there are feveral, it muft at leaft be allowed to be a Q^ftiony what Baptifhi Chrift meant in that Commil^ lion, when he faid, Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations^ Baptizing them in the Name of the Fathery Son and Holy Ghoji . . But it may be returned upon me ^ nor does the Text lay it is the Baptiim of the Holy Ghofiy and fo the Bilhop is upon equal Terms with me. Grant it, that the 'Word Holy Ghoft is not litterally joyned to SaptizJno-y any more than the word Water in that part: But if I am able to (hew that the thing is there, and that the Baptifrn of the Holy Ghoft was the SubjeB of Chrift’s Dir icourfe, when he gave that Commiffion at his Farewell, I prefume it will be granted me, that Chrift intended a Spiritmly and not a Water Baptiim y and that is what I (hall do, 1 hope with much Clearae(s. Firft, the Fad, and then my Arguments., Matthew, the Evangelift, large in his Hiftory upoq other Points, feems (hort and abrupt m the Context of this Commilhon, as the Reader may oblerve, And as it is uftial for one ' ' Evangelift in ] Evangelift to explain another, which was the great Wifdom, as well as Goodnels of God, that thofe Chriltian Memorials might come with left Sufpition to the World of any Humane Contrivance; So Luke fupplies the Ihortneft of the other Evangelilt in his Context to this Comraiffion. Luke 24. 45. to 50. particularly the 47,48, 49. vcrfes. And that Repentance and Remijfion of Sins Jhould be Preached in his Name-, among all Nations., be¬ ginning at Jefulalem. jind ye are Witnelles of thefe things, jind behold I fend the Promile of my Father upon you: But tarry ye in the City of jerulaleni until ye be end.ued with Power from on High. Where, as it is plain that this Evangelift in his Account of Chrift’s Com- miffion, to wit, the Work Chrifl gave his Di- fciples to do. Names no EaptixJng at all, tho that which it Implies, in my Senfe of the Word, is there, viz., the Promife of the Father, which is the Power from on High They •were to tarry at Jeruftlem for. So is there not one Word of Water here mentioned, to induce us to think that Chrift intended to give it any Place in his Commiffion. In ftiort, it appears that the Difciples were to be Qualified before they were to go forth as His Witnejfes, and that this Qiialification is the Promife of the Father, that he would quickly fend them. Now I muft dcfire my Reader to turn to the udcis of this Evange¬ lift, [ 74 ] lift:, Chap. 1.4, 5. where he further opens the Manner and Matter of Chrilt’s Difcourfe, and Farewell to his Difciples: And ( Chrilt) being jiffembled with them^ commanded them^ that they jhoald not depart from Jerulalem, but W ait for the Promile of the father^ which^ faith He, ye have learnt of me : For John truly Baptiz.ed with Water, but ye fall be Baptized with the Holy Ghofl not many days hence. It can be, methinks, no longer a doubt what Baptifm it is that Chrilt’s words, Matth. 28.19. referrs to, lince we fee not only that Chrilt diltin- guifhes between John’s Baptifm and His Own, and between VFater ajad Holy Ghofi ^ but al¬ io he alfigns Water*BaptiliTi to John., as his Baptifm, and not Chrilt’s, and thereby de¬ clares the Holy Ghofi to be his own Bap- itifra, and none of John’s, and which yet is no more than what John had faid before. So that Comparing both Texts together, Matth. 28. 19. and AEls 1.4. 5. we may fee, if we pleafe, that the Commifiion in the one, is to be explained by the Qualifications in the other, wliich was omitted by the firll Evan- gelilt. There They are bid to Go, here They are bid to Stay : That is to fay. Stay, before you Go, and receive your Qualifications before you go to Qualify, viz. the Promile of the Fa¬ ther that is, the Baptifm of the Holy Ghofi, which is followed by the Power from On High, verle 8. And indeed, had we not this exprefs force C75 3 force on our fide from the Text it lelf, the Word Therefore in the Commifiion, (refer¬ ring plainly to the foregoing Verle,. as the Reafon of wh'at follows ) juftifies our fenfe. For whereas the Bilhop has objeded againft our Aflertion, that it mufi not he a Spiritual Baptifm, becattfe that xvas the Work of God, and hot of the jipofles: It is plain that our Lord takes off the force of his exception, lince the Reafon why he bid them Go^ &c. is becaufe^ lays he, all Power in Heaven and in Earth is ^iven unto me- Verfe i8. as much as if he had faid, Go^ do all that I have faid unto yony and be not SDCuliWng or jFearfuI, aboHt the performance of It^ for Sill in Heaven and Earth is given unto me that bids you Go, and Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the World, Which need not have been laid, as an Encouragement to them, in re- ferrence to 'W^ter-Baptifm, fince that was pradifed by them,' as well as by John's Dif- ciples long before. Nor is this all ^ for the very Text, duely confidered, will not have It to be Water, fince that could Baptize none Into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghofl, and lb the Bilhop knows the GreekText runs, eh TO O'/oy.ct. for they that are Baptized Into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, inull: be Baptized with the Bapdfm of the Eloly Ghofl. Since it is to become their Likenefs, I* ‘ iVl I ’I 11 1 i‘{ Il ► Mi, j|t; s.'.l V i iit ly isi; Jk Likenefsy and bear their Image^ which is Ho- linefs. And had not the Apoftles underftood their Commiffion as I render it, when they had Baptized with Water, they would cer¬ tainly have ufed the Terms that bore the Force of their Commiflion, viz., in the Name of the Father.^ and of the Son., and of the Holy Ghofi ; of which there is not one Inftance in all the Scripture. But that which further Ihews that Water cannot be underftood, to be meant in the Apoftolical Commiffion, is, that one of the Greateft of the Apoftles, He that came be¬ hind (and was added to, by ) none of them, denies It, I. Cor. i . 27. to be any Part of his Commiffion ; for, fays he, Chrifi fent me not to £aptiz£ hat to Preach the Gofpel : And thanks God for that reafbn, in the fore-going Ver- fes, that he had Baptized fo few: Which to be fure he ought not to have done ^ but on the Contrary to have been fbiTy he had Baptized no more, had Water-Baptifm been Part of the Apoftolical Commiffion, Matth. 28 19. Again this Eminent Apoftle, the Great Grand-Father fnot to lay God-Father"} of Gentiie-Chriftians, delivered to them for DoShrine, Eph. 4. 5. that there was but One L/ord, One Faith, and One Baptifm. And if fb, That muft be the Baptifm of Fire and of the Holy Ghofi, which is Chrift’s Baptifm, and Proper to C 77 ] ' to the Gofpel Difpenfation. Now could any other make a Man a True Chriflian^ or a Child of God then; nor can any be lb now without It. That Baptifm thetefore, with- i out which a Man cannot be a True jeroy or ! Chrifiiariy or of the Circumcifion made withouf handsy that Iforjlnp Cod in the Spirity and hath no Confidence in the Flefiiy mull need be the One Baptifm j but fuch is the Baptifm of the Holy Ghofi- : Therefore the BaptiCn . , is the Apollles One Baptifmy Rom. 2. 28, 29. Phil. 3. 3. Again-, the one Baptifm muft be Chrilt’s Baptifm, but Chrill is the Baptifm of the Spirity therefore Thaty and not Water-Ba^py- tifm, mult be the One Baptifm that’s in force, according to the Apoltle. As John was the Fore-runner of Chrill, lb was Water-y of the Holy'Ghofi : But that which Foreruns, in Nature Ceafesy and that which fucceeds, of courfe Remains : Therefore the Baptifm of the Spirit, is the One Needfuly and Permanent Bap~ tifm. Y et fur ther^lf it be Gofpel, Tnat he is not a Jew that is one Outwardy nor that Circumcifion that is Outward in the Flefh -y but that he is a Jew that is one ' Inward, and that is Circumcifion that is of the Hearty in the Spirit, and not in the Let- . ter y whofe Praife is not of Meny hut of Gody as Rom. 2.28, 29. Then unanfwerably. He is not a Chrifiian that is one Outwardy nor is that Bap- tijtn [ 7 ^ ] tifm that is of the Flefli: But he is a Chri- Itian that is one Inwardly., and that is Battifm that is of in the Spirit ^ whofe Fraife is not of Men hat of Cod. For indeed in all Ages Men cry. him down, as a Slighter of God’s Ordinances ^. but his Praife however is of God., let Men fay what they will j and this is the Inward Chriftians Comfort, in all Undervaluings and Reflections he meets with from Outlide Chriftians, For it’s not to be thought that the Apoftie meant or defigned to undervalue one Obfervation, as that of Circumcilion, becaufe it is Outward, and let up another Outward Obfervation infiead of it, viz. Water-Bapifm, Again, If in Chrifi feftts., neither Circumcifi- on availeth any things nor Uncirciimcifon., hut a iPetO CVtatUte, as faith the fame Apoftie, Cal. 5 . 15. Then by the lame Realbn, neither being baptized with Water availeth any things nor being anbaptized with Water, but a I will repeat the Apoftles Dif- courle at large upon this Subjed, in the lame Chapter, becaufe it is very Inftruding, and leems Difcilfive in this Cafe •, As many, lays he, as defire to make a fair jhew in the they confirain you to be Circumcifed ; only leafi they jhould fisjfer Perfecution for the Crofs of Chrifi. It, (eems they were Outlide People, that laid ftrefs upon Outlide things; or fomething elle inftead of the Crofs of Chrift ^ for they Tem¬ porized C 79 ] porized iii tliis matter, to Ihun the Shame and Perfecution that then attended the Chri- ftians Crofs: Which Hood partly in laying down of outward Obfervations ^ and which they that defire to make a fair fi:ew in the flejh Hand moft for. But the Apoftle goesi On^ for (lays he) neither they themfelves who' are Circamcifed keep the Law^ but defire to have you Circumcifed, that they may Glory in your Flefij. They were not exact in the other parts of the Law, it feems, as Uriel: as they feemed to be for tlds Sacramental Pradice, which is the Cale of too many now: Yet they preft it, that they might glory and value themfelves upon gaining others to be conformable to them, whether to excufe their Compliance with Cullom, that they might avoid Per¬ fecution, or out of love to Ceremonial Re¬ ligion. But lays that clear-lighted and plain-dealing Apoftle, God forbid that 1 Jhould Glory^fave in the Crofs of our Lord Jefus Chrifi;^ whereby the World is Crucified unto me^ and I unto the World. If he rejoyced in nothing but in the Crofs of Chrift, then in no other Elementary Rite, Ser¬ vice or Ordinance, any more than in Cir- cumcilion. But he proceeds; For in Chrifi fefus., nei¬ ther Circumcifion availeth atry thino, nor 'Uncir- cumcifiion.^ but a Ct^eafute. That is to lay, for according to Chrift Jefus, or in the Religion- \ Religion of Chrift Jefus, neither Circuracifi^ on nor Uncircumcilion availeth, but a New Creature-f a Regenerate Soul \ One born again by the Spirit of God: for the Apoftle in thefe excellent Words,, not only ftrikes at Circum- cifion, but all Outward and Elementary Ob- lervations: Neither This, nor That Outward thing availeth in the Chrifiian Religion^ or ac¬ cording to Chriji Jefus, but a New Creature : He does not fay, but Water-Baptifm, as feme would have it, who tell us that It fucceeds Circiimcifion by Divine Inftitution, by no means; But that which availeth with Chrift, and in the Religion of Chrift Jefus, is a New Creature, a New Man, one Changed, Regenerated, or Born again by the Word and Baptifrn of the Holy Ghofi. And fays the Apoftle (to con¬ firm them in this Doctrine of Inward Circum- cilion, that is of the Heart, in the Spirit ; which is the fame thing with the Baptife of the Spirit) As many as walk according to this Rule, Peace jhall be upon them. So that We the poor defpifed Q^itakers, take Comfort in this Apoftolical Benediftion, and can lay, to God’s Glory, his Peace has been upon Vs in OUr Belief and Confeffion of his blelfed Dodrine of the New Creature. It is what we have Aimed at, and has been the great Drift of our Teffimony lince we were a People •, and in order to it have direded all to the Gift of God’s Grace in themfelves, that by believing la L Si 3 in it, and refigning up their Wills nnd Affecti¬ ons, and whole Man to the Teaching and Con- dud of it, they may be leavened and landified by it, throughoHf^ by which the State of the Mtp CreatHre^ which is Chriftianity indeed, will be Experienced^ tho’it was and is a Mylle- ry to the World. As for the Apoftle Peter'’s Quellion, ASts lo. ^7, 48. Can any Man forbid Ufater, that Ihefe fhonld not he Baptiz,ed) which have receif ved the Holy Ghof as well as We ? It Imports with lubmiflion, no more than this j That Peter well knowing the Narrownefs of his Country-Mens Spirits, was Cautious left his Latitude Ihould Diftafte them: For the Gen-^ I tiles being 'UnhoUnefs to the fews^ and even ! Peter himftlf without a Vifion from God, too narrow Spirited for the Convictions and Devotion of that excellent Centurion, Corne^ lins j It_ behoved him to ask if any Body had any thing to fay. Why they might-not be Baptized as well as the fews^ being Prole- lytes .to the Chriftiap Profeffion. In all which he feems more concerned to fave his Owtt Credit, than to recommend or eftablilh that of Water Baptifm: As if he had laid, Why Ih'ould this Cuftom be forbid to the Gentile^ more than the fews? But this wijl not war¬ rant the Pradice in General, becaufe Pradice IS ?70 Inftitmion^ . and_ that there appears no Command to make it one. So that asking ^ who [ 82 ] ■w^o csn forbid what was not cominandcdj ftt'engtheiis his Queftioii, inftead of weakening it - Irnce what was done of Condefcemon^ could not Iiave been forbid upon Authority. There needed not fo much Care or Stricknefs in the iMatter. And indeed, the Apoftles themfelves feem not to have been, lb clear about the abolifliing of the Jewilh Obfervations, as aj)- pears by the want Peter had of a Vilion, his own apprehenfion of the Itraightnels of his Brethren, and their calling him to Account for what he had done, as may be feen in the fame j Chapter. . But I confers 1 cannot fee why the Bilhop | Ihould aflume the Power of Unchpiftianing Us, for not practifing of that which he him- lelf praftiecs fo mjcriffurally, and that accord¬ ing \o the Sentiments of a confiderable part of Chrljtendont having not one Text of Scri¬ pture to prove that Sprinkling of Water in the Face,' was the Water Baptifm, or that Children were tlie Subjects of Water Baptifm, -in ‘ the fifft times. And yet this is all the Baptilm the Bilhop pradices, who feeras fo -fevere upon us. I think our forbearing or WatertBaptifm from a Belief and Senfe ot the ■coming of the Invifible Grace, lignified by that Vifible Sign, cannot be reputed fuch a , hightto Water Baptifm, as prefiiming to^/rrc, | ^he iVlanncr and Subftance of its firll Inuitu- ,« tion ; For- then it was in the River of Jordan, now now in a Bafon j it was then unto Refemmce^ now to Children Uneatable of Repentance. But that which perhaps mifled the Dodtors of the Declining Church firft into this Pradice being at the diftance of Ibme Hundreds of Years froni the ApoRolical Times, might be the luppolition that Water Baptifm came in the place of Circumcilion, and that being to Children, fo might Water Baptifin too. But they forgot (among other things, which e- ven- before that time were crept into the Church, without Precept or Evangelical Ex¬ ample ) that Repentance was not made a Condition to Ciraimcifion, as it was to Wa¬ ter Baptifin. .1 would befeech the Bilhop to tread foftly in this Matter j for if Water Bap¬ tifm Ihould indeed prove a Badge of Chriftia- nity, he would be at a lols for one that would paR currant in Scripture. Thus much for this Point. What I have laid upon this Head of Water Baptijrn may lerve allb for what is common- ^ called the .Lord’s Sapper., which the BiJljop Reproves us for Omitting to Pradice: Urging Luke 22. 19. This do in Remembrance of me. ■ And the Apoftles words, iCor. ii. 24, 25. It is true indeed Chrill; laid, when he eat it with his Difciples, That they Jhould do it in re- memwance of him till he came. And this leems much more of the Nature of a Commiffion than that cited by the Bilhop for Water G 2 Baptifm* [ 84 ] Baptifin: But the Limitation Chrifl gives to i tlie Praftice of it, and a Right and Proper ) Confideration of the Imprt of his words, and ' the Nature, of the thing will beft lead us to . underftand his Mind therein. - r i/?. This was allb a jewip PraEiice, as well ; as Water Baptifm^ and fo in Nature of no Go- > Ipel Inftitution, but Temporary in its ufe. idly, Chrifl: feenis by this to break or open to them what was lb hard for them to bear, to wit, his Departure and Death, by a Token of ; Memorial till he fliould come to them again. Chrift t^kes occafion {r(>m tb^nce to fliew forth to his Difciples the they fliould eat, and the Fejlowfliip they fliiould have with him when he came again. Now we. believe this Coming was Spiritaalj fuitable to that laying of his, I will^ drmk no more of This Fruit of the till I drink it New with yoH in the Kingdom of my Father : ^nd fome here full not tafte of Death till they fee the Son | of Jl/an cominfT in his Kingdom.^ ‘M^tth. 2-8. Again,- He that dweJleth with yon fhall be in yoHj John 14. I in them and they in .Chap. 17. Ail which plainly Imports a Spiritual Coming. Allb Rev. 3. 20. Behold I ft and at the Door and hiochy if any Jidan hear my f^oice and cpcn the Door^ I wfll come into him-^ and vpill C *5 ] fup with him and he with me^ which was laid near Forty Years after his Alcention. , Now lince this is acknowledged to be an Outward or an Inward and Invljlble Grace^ wliat cp Outward Bread and Wine more properly Signifie and Relemble, than Inward Bread and Wine? And an Outward than an Inward Sup¬ per ? And if fo, the words may reafonably Supper of Outward Bread and Wme, till I come into^ and Sup with you^ and be your Supper, that am the Bread and Wtne from Heaven which Nourifhes the Soul untd Eternal Life. ^thly. The Kingdom of God being Spiri¬ tual and in the Soul, fuch Ihould be the Or- dmances of that Kingdom. Now Chrid tells the Pharifees, Luke 17.20. The Kingdom of God And the Apoftle Paul, Rom. 14.17. |)nnk, hutmQljUonfmfSS, and and 3 op_.« the Holy Ghofi , But the outward Sup- I^rink, and therefore not ' of feate and 3Jott h^r was made Ufe Si *^he State of Humiliatio??, be- Hnfv^ pouring forth of the rhar Difciples that were weak, and of little Faith, the Rc- membnanc^ of him till they fliould know ^ * n .J him [ 86 ] him with them and in them by his Spiritual Appearance ( as he was the Lord from Heaven^ the Q^iekning Spirit ) according to his Promife. For if the Scripture be confulted, we fhall not only find that Chrifl: Reproves the Apo- llles for their Infidelity in him, but after all the Example^ Precepts and Miracles they law by him, and that he had lb very lately left them with fuch Afl'urances of his Coming to them again;, yet when Mary^ &c. brought them the Tidings of h\% RefurreElion^ it is laid, Luke 24. 10, II. Their words feemed to, the Di- ciples as Idle Tales^ and they believed them not. Which fufficiently Ihews the low State they were in, or that at lealt they needed a Sign or Token, as that of the Sapper to Comme¬ morate Him. But this Realbn, which is yet true, does not Credit its Continuation^ for when the Spirit was come, or Chrifl: in his Spiritual Appearance, their Eyes were opened afid they law then it was the Sp/n> that Quickens^ the Flefh profitetb nothing-, John 6 . 63. %thly. Molt certainly Chrifl: meant no lefs, when he Preach’d himfelf the Bread that came ' down from Heaven., John 31 to 52. and that they that would have Life Eternal, rnafi eat his Flefh and drink his Blood: 1 hat is, they ^ mufl: feed upon Spiritual Food: Not the Out¬ ward but Inward Sapper j the thing fignified and Sabfiance it felf. For Chrifl: oppofes Him- • ' felf, [ 8 ? ] lelf, who is the Bread of God, to the Bread ' their Fathers eat in the Wildernefs who were Dead, which was of an Elementary Nature^ therefore it can never be that fuch Bread as perilheth fiiould be the Bread of the Evan¬ gelical Supper, when Chrift by Cornparifon un¬ dervalues it to the Bread he had to give them. I 6 thly, Our BlelTedLord,7. i8. taught, That it roo! not that which went into the Man that defileth the Man, becaufe it went but into his Body, and not into his Heart ', and if lb, the Argument is undeniable, •tliat, it is not that which goeth into the Alan, that is, into his Body, and not into his Heart, that Sanfti- fieth the Man; But Alaterial Bread and Wine goeth only into the Body, and not into the Heart therefore they cannot Sapctifie. The import of Chrill’s words is plainly this. Meats and Drinks neither Defile nor Sanctifie j they neither Benefit nor Harm any one upon a Spiritual Account : Confequently f Elementary Bread and Wine cannot be the Evangelical Supj)er, but a Figure of It, which ns ended in Chrift the Bread of God, that cometh down from Heaven, "John 5 . 31, 32, 48, 49, 50. That a Alan may cat of and not dye : ■ The Subftance of all Shadov.’s; for faith the Apoftle, the Body is of Chrift -, and where that is, our I,or 4 tells us, Luke 13- 37* fhe G 4- Evrles k II P ll t <4 i!!S< he v! [ 88 ] Eagles are gathered together : Where the AjX)- ftles. Wife Men, i Cor. lo. 15. feek for the true Supper, which nourifhes the Souls unto Eternal Life, ^thly. But the Bifhop will have this Supper four times repeated in the Scripture of the New Teftament, befides that of the Apoftle Paul^ which mnft be his miftake—fince there is no Command to practice it beyond that very Time, but in Luke 22. 19. if there it , lelf. For tho’ his eating of the Pallbver is 1 there related, as allb in Mark and Luke., It , 1 was but once done •, and the Command, This do in Remembrance of we, is only Once Related among the Evangelifts, as well as it is but Once Commanded, And would we be ftrict with the Bilhop, we need not allow him that Command to reach further than the prefent Time in which it was Given*, for This Do., . or Take Eat., are Equally in the prefent Tence, | for thereby you jhew forth my Death. And the [ following words, viz. I mil Drink no more of Fruit of the Vine, until that Day when I .Drink it with you in my Fathers King¬ dom, Mat. 25 . 29. further Explains it. Thus .AFark has it, 14. 25. Verily I fay unto you, / will Drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine un¬ til that Day that I Drink it the King¬ dom of God. Luke 22. 18. gives it thus, I lav unto you, I will not Drink 0 / the Fruit of the ^ ' ^ ' ■ ' ■ ■ • Vne 1 [ *9 ] f^tne till the Kingdom of God tttlXt- Now it is plain that Chrift referrs them to the Spi¬ ritual Siippor^ which we Pieferr and Pra-^ aice, and which is the Supper Signified by That of outward Bread and Wine^ that was to ferve till the Kingdom of God came-y and then he would Communicate with them iri a way Suit Me to the Kingdom : Which Kingdom^ as before laid, is not J\dent and Drink-y but RighteoHfnefs^y Vemce and foy in the Holy Ghofl. And as the lame Apoftle has it, i Cor, ^ 20, The Kingdom of God is not in Word hut in Rower 'iy of which Power, and its coming uGiii on High upon the Apoltles, Read AUs i. 678 For when they asked Chrift, Lord wilt thou at this time Reft ore the Kingdom again to Jfraclj and that he told them, ’twas not for them to know the Times or the Seafons which the Father • had fut into his own Power, He alfb adds. But ye fhall receive Power after the Holy Ghofi is come u^on yoiiy and ye fhall be Witneffes unto me^ both in Jerufalem and Judea, and in Samaria, and in the uttermofi Parts of the Earth, This. Power was the Kingdom ot God, for it flands in Power ^ lays the Apoftle *, but^ it feems he thought fit to wave their QyHtion, as to a direct Anlwer, and left it a Secret to be re¬ vealed unto them, when the Holy Ghoft •fhould Copie, and the Power from on High ihoiild fall upon them: And thus he takes his > ' leave C 9° ] Icdvc of thcnij 3nd is Inuncdistcly received by a Cloud out of their Sight. Before I conclude with this Paragraph I would obferve, Firft^ That it was the Pajfover andCuicomof the Jews, which properly Ipeak- ing, we conceive hath no juft Plea to continue as a Gof^el Ordinance or Inftitution \ fince it was a Type of Him to come, and therefore ended, as to Inflimtion by his coming. Secondly^ That the Evangelift 'john^ the Be¬ loved Difciple,that lay in the Bofom of Chrift, does not lb much as mention It, or Water Baptifm^ as left by Chrift to be continued by his Followers. Concerning the Spirit’s Bap- tilm, tho’ he ules not the word Baptifm, yet he is very full, John 14, 16", 17. Chapters where he tells them, that he would fend them the Comforter the Spirit of Tntth^ to lead them into all Truths and that he would dwell with wem for ever. I lay It feems very Improbable if not Incredible, that what the Bilhop ftiles the Badges of Chriftianity in his lyth Para¬ graph, fhould be wholly forgotten by lb great an Apoftle of Chrifii anity, ^d.ly. And as the Beloved Diftiples lays no¬ thing of thele vifMe Signs^ which the Bilhop calls the Badges of Chriftianity, lb neither are they made an Article of any of the Ancient j Creeds Extant, which certainly does not make ^ tor their Credit or Authority: Since had they th.en been of that Importance they are C 91 ] now by fome efteemed, we cannot think they would have been forgot by the Compilers of thofe Creeds. The Apollle Paul., though he repeats t\\eTradition he received of the Lord’s Supper, that night he was betrayed, does not Injoyn it i but as often as the Corinthians did it, he tells them they fhould do it in remembrance of Chrift: Which is far from commanding it, as it would be for the Bilhop, if he ftiould fey to his Friend, as often as he comes to Cork he fliould come and Eat with him, obliges that Perlbn to come often to. Cork. So that tho’ the Apoftle bids them, that as often as they did it, they Ihould do it in Remembrance of Chrift, yet he does not thereby bid them do it often., if at all. 5f%. And whereas the Bifliop would make it a frelli Revelation to the Apoftle, when he lays, for I have received of the Lord., that which alfo I delivered unto you., I muft diflent from him! I cannot apprehend that means any more than this, that what account he had re¬ ceived of ChrifRs Eating the Sapper with his Difcivles^ the Night he . was Betrayed.f the fame- alfo he had Delivered unto them : For what need could there be of an Immediate Revela¬ tion for fo late a f^c?, lb well Witnefled by the Difciples? But if my Reader will peruie that Part of the Chapter which relates to the Supper, he will find the Strefe lies upon Remembring ‘If'ji i!'! C 92 ] K.ememhnng of the Lord, which is indeed our Daily, Indifijenfible Duty, and he that lives without it, may be laid to live without God in the World ^ of which thole Corinthians at that time leemed fo Infenlible, and as fuch are feverely reproved by the Apoltle, being Irreverent^ Greedy and Drunken^ hardly fit for the Sign, and left able to difcern the Thin. ij, i6. who are the Circumcifion made Without Hands, in putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flejh, by the Circumcifion of Chriff, Col. 3. ii. even that of the Heart, in the Spirit, whofe Praile is not of Men but of God, Rom. r. 19. And who therefore Worlhip God in the Spirit, and have no Confidence in the Flelh, Phil. 3. 3. that is, in flelhly Ordinances, or the obfer- vation of Figures and Signs compounded of Outward Elements, which reprefent Heavenly Things: Wherefore the Apoftle Exhorted and Commanded, Col. z. 16, 17. Let no Man Judge you in Meat or in Drink or in re- fpetl of an EIo, ly Day, &C. which are Shadows tf things to Come, but the Body is of Chrlfi 5 jhat L, Cduili is the Sulffance of all outward ’ . repre- . C *0? 3 reprefentations, and they that have Chrifi have the End of all. thofe things : Whom Reader we Labour and Pray, may be better known, received and obeyed by the ProfeiTors of hi^ Holy Name and Religion. That as he is Given of God to be our Prieft, Prophet and King, we may all Know, Feel and Enjoy him fuch in our felves, and then the Kingdom of God will be come in us, and his Will done in our Earth as it is in Heaven: Which Gpd Grant, I moft Humbly befeech him. For the Conclufion of the' Bilhop’s Paper, it is either Repetition, or RefleBion ^ the one needs no Anfwer, and the other wants a De¬ fence. However, I will not have it faid thai I either wave or fupprefs It, and therefore without any Reflection Twill confider his: Which fhould have no weight with my Rea¬ der but againft him. He fays in his nth Paragraph, He pities tfs, thinking many of us HarmUfs and IVell- meaning^ but under the Rower of fireng Delufons. And in his 13th Paragraph he gives ns his fenfe or the caufe thereof, viz. that we 'make the Li^ht within, a Rule of Faith and Praclice, Co-ordinate, if not Superiour and Bntecedeitt to the Holy Scripture. To prove which to be our Sentiment, he cites tliefe words out of oar Gofpel-Trtiths^ where fpeaking of the Ho-. ly Spirit, and the Scriptures, we fay, they (ire the Double and Azreeinz Record of true Relit H 4 I g'm. IP4 ] gton. Now if the Light arid Spirit agree with the Scripture, there is /»o fear of con¬ tradifiling the Scripture^ and fo we can have nothing to anfwer for on account of that Ex- preffion, for what agrees with the Scripture, efiahiijhes it, inftead of Slighting or Super- ceeding the Authority of it. And though we ufed no fuch words as Po-ordinate, much lefs Superiour and Antece- which is the Bifhop’s Glofe to render our moft True and In-olFenfive Expreffion fufpeifiled, and make way to fallen his fup- pofcd Strong Delufions upon us j I will be ve¬ ry frank with him in this matter, that we Believe the Scripture to be the Declaration of the Mind of the Holy Ghoft, and there¬ fore not Superiour to the Holy Ghoft, but Credited^ Confirmed^ and Expounded by the Ho¬ ly Ghoft i fo that without the Illumination cf It, the Scripture cannot be underftood by them that read It. ‘ The Gramatical and Critical Senle of the Words, and Allufions therein may be underftood, but the Injtde and Spiritual Signification of them, is a ifiddle to ihofe that are not Spiritually Inftrufiled there¬ in, tho’ they were never fuch Gramarians or Lingaifrs. Again Chrift fays, He that loves the Light brings his Deeds te the Eighty to fee if they are , '•ifrought in God-y John ii. which was be¬ fore the New Tcft'ament Scripture was in be- 1 .. ■ t • 1 C 105 ] ing ;■ and this makes It both Rule and Judge pf the Life and Deeds of Men. What fays Jthe Bifliop to this? Alfo John 14, 15, i6 Chapters, Chrift promifes the Spirit to lead them, his People, into all Truth, and this was not the Scripture, but fomething at leaft Co¬ ordinate, if not Superiour and Antecedent to the Scripture, which is more than we faid before, Alfo the Apoftle Vaul tells the Romans, Ch. 8. that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God : Then the Spirit is to Lead Believers', or they cannot be the Children of God. And that which Leads, Rules, and that which Rules is a Rule to them that fol¬ low it. And the fame Apoflle referr’d the Galathians, Chap. 6. 15, i 3 ^* _The Diftinguilhing Charafter of the j laft Day is not Water Baptifm and the Out- | ward Supper, but Love., Mercy and Comp djjlon ^ ! j Bowels and Charity, not being Ajhamed or I Afraid of Owning and Helping the Lord’s | Servants in their Afflidfions, viz. / was an I; Hungry, and ye gave Me Meat.: 1 was Thirfty and ye gave me Brink : I was a Stranger and ye Ij took Me it : Naked and ye Cloathed Me : I was l Sick and ye vifted Me: 1 was in Prifon and ye came unto Me. This is the Chriftian SaDfit if that will be Recognized by our Lord Jeius Chnic at the laft day : We have his own I Word for it. In all which. He is fo far I] rom mentioning either of the other Badges 1 1 2, that ;| I c II6 ] » that, Lnh 13. He brings in the Vnhappy, that 1 are on his left hand, ufing this Argument to engage him to receive them into blelled- nefs, viz. We have (Katftt and SDjatlll in thy j Prefence^ and thou hajt taught in our Streets. \ A plain Inftance they had the ufe of liich Ordinances as the Bilhop reputes Badges of Chriftianity j but it is as plain that fuch Pleas would not do: For behold the Lord Jefiis lays unto them in the Parable, / know you not^ depart from me ye workers of Iniquity ! I re¬ commend the perufel of the following Ver- les to my Reader, which confirm my fenle of the Text: For He (poke to an outfide People that counted themfelves the People of God, and were oblervers of Meats and Drinks^ and Divers Wajhings : And that which was Doftrine and Caution then, is Doftrine and Caution now, for Truth holds the lame to the End. I might add, Holinels for a CharaElerifiick^ without which no Man Jhall ever fee the Lord: ■ and that neither Circumcifion availeth any thing., [ nor Uncircumcifon, but a New Creature, Gal. j 6. Alfo the Fruits of the Spirit, Chap. 5. among which there is not one word about Water-Baptifm or the Outward Supper, with many more Paflages that are Clofe and Co¬ gent. L 117 ] His 18th and laft Paragraph tells us, He pill not judge and yet his whole Paper is but one Continued Judgment of us. But, from God^ as he fays, and as his Minifier he bids M fudge our felves. Firfl, We thank God we are before hand with the Bifhop, having Judged our felves, and that by the judg¬ ment of God upon us, and fo have right to ! Judge others according to that Judgment. i Secondly, We have no proof that the Bilhop i fpeaks from God to us: Nor can I tell how I he Ihould, that does not acknowledge the .■ Inlpeaking Word of God in the Soul. Third- • ■ly. For his being God’s Minifter, he has not !i Ihewn us his Commiflion yet, and I fear it ij will not be from Heaven when ever he does. I But if my Reader will take the pains of i perufing this very Paragraph, he will not 1 only fee a Judging Spirit, but that the Bilhop i holds out abufing of us to the lafr, rendring ' us as bad as bad can be, vIt:,. That vit Subvert I the Faith once delivered to the Saints, and equal ! our Conceits to the Divine Oracles, _ Zfing and Difujing what Parts of God^s Infituted hVorjhip j toe fleafe ', adding, I will not Jnterpoje your 1 making Gain your Godlinefs. But as I have I already taken ample notice of this Charge, ! fb I lhall fay no more of his Irreligious Slant at our Sincerity than this. That I cannot | pretend to tell the Bifhop what Tribe of Men | in Chrifiendorn it is that have long made I Gain \ f C U8 ] Gain their Godiinefs, and the Pretence of it their Worldly Inheritance; lince he has been fo much more Sen^bly Inftruded in this Af¬ fair than my felf: But one thing I am fure of, that if Gairt and not Godiinefs was our Motive to be the People we are, we mightily Miftook our way when we left the Bijhops: For jiff.iEhions^ Spoiles, Prifons^ Banijhments^ yea, and Death it felf have attended us fince God was pleafed to raanifeft his Truth to us: And if under all thofe Calamities that have followed us fince we were a People, for the lake of our Unfafhionable Profeflion, the Bilhop or any elfe is fb Unnatural, as* to envy us the Blefling of God upon our honefl Induftry, and to render that which is an Effed of God’s Goodnefs, the Reafbn and End of our Reli¬ gion, God forgive them. 1 could Enlarge upon this Topick, but time would fail, and the Difcourfe fwell beyond Bounds, as indeed it hath already beyond my Expectation ^ for which I fhould Excufe my felf to my Reader, but that it was not Simply from the Regard I had to the Bilhop’s Sheet, fince that could not have deferved this Notice from me, but might have been anfwered as Concifely as that was written, had I only confidefed his Under¬ taking and Treatment, and not my Readers Satisfadion, in the better Knowledge of our fb much Mifreprefented Perfwafion : Efpecial- ly in a Nation, where of late I had occafion fo C 119 ] fo Generally to Travel, and the Bifliop’s Pa¬ per hath been ^ I luppole as General' y Di- Iper’d. I owe it therefore to My Profellion, to My Self, and to the Country, to Vindicate the One, and to Exprels my Chriftian Regard ' and Acknowledgement to the Other: having “received a more :than common Civility from • the Inhabitants in General: To whom I wilh Soul, the Saving Knowledge of the T^ruth, as it is in Jefus: That Chriftians Indeed and at Heart They may be, to the Glory of God their Creator, and the Eternal Salvation of their Souls, through Jefus Ghrilt, the alone Redeemer, and to whom with the Ghoft, be all Honour and Glory, Thankfgiving andPraife, World without End. > ^ ^4 P I N 1 S, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 289.6P38D C001 A DEFENCE OF A PAPER LOND l