I AM not a little surprised to recieve from the hands of Mr George Layfield a paper containing so many mistakes, false, unjust, and invidous charges against a Catechism Published by F. M. and the rather because of his high pretences to an immideate mision, and vain boasting of an extraordinary A­postolick call, insulting over all others from unusual high and enthusiastick attainments compleat perfection, and unheard of ex­periences, which the most serious and God­ly are strangers unto, and what they have any experience of most modest in discours­ing of them and selfe denyed under their greatest enjoyments I shall wave two things First it's being delivered without a subscrip­tion [Page 21] whereby it is to be looked upon as a Libel not to be Answered, nor Regarded. Secondly, that com­plementing and flattering preamble, they have e­ver Condemned in others, and withal am glad to Hear they have any Charity for any of a different Opinion from themselves, which coming to hear their Teachers will procure at any time. First, He begins with a general Charge of many Errors, false and unsound things comprehended in the Catechism; And next, He asserts the Author to be guilty of many Omissions and this from one pretending to Learning, who has diligently read and considered it, as he says, is so insignificant and idle Imputation, which all modest, and ingenuous men, must never disown; and that there are Omissions, wilful and designed Omissions, I shall never deny, for after it was first Composed, I did Compendize and Abreviate it ofter than once, to suit it to the Capacities of, such for whom it was prepared, even young ones, to whom, Quakers have had little regard hitherto, as to their Instruction in Religious Fundamentals: Neither have I seen any Writings of Quakers, even those pretending to give accounts of their Princi­ples, but justly may be charged with greater Omissi­ons, then any yet discovered in the Catechism, Pub­lished by F. M. as the Doctrine of the Trinity, of Persons in the God head, the Ten Commandments, and the Lords Prayer, the Pattern of all Prayer; and George Fox his Received Catechism, industriously spread by Quakers, not only favours of Humane Learning, and words of mans wisdom, but guilty of many weighty Omissions, and fills up a great part with stuff wherein there is no Religion' far less can they be called Fundamentals, as Salutations by words [Page 22] and Gestures, Covering and Uncovering the Head, condemning Preaching in Steeple Houses & Churches. Yea I appeal to the impartial, and unbiassed Rea­der, if the Catechism Composed by F. M. contains not more of the Principles of Religion, then one containing Quakers Principles, Composed by several Hands, as Crook, Pennington, Burroughs, Parker, Smith, and several others; now I refer my self to every man, how invidious and unjust it is to Charge a Catechism composed by one with Omissions, while so many pretenders to immediate Revelations and Inspirations, are guilty of so great Omissions, and vain Repetitions; and there is not a Book which I have see writ by George Keith, but may as justly lie under this Charge, as my Catechism; &it were vain Ostentation to disown it. And for my own part, I have ever observed in all the Writings of men, Ignorance, Infirmity, and Imperfection, to magnifie the Excellency of the Scriptures above all Books of mens Composure; but it is no strange thing to find Quakers quarrelling our succinct way, of composing our Principles for young ones, be­cause they are opposite to so early Edification, which practice is very inconsistent with Scripture Precepts, and Presidents of Training a Child when young, bringing up Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord; and Timothy knew the Scrip­tures from a Child; and the advantage of an early Instruction is witnessed by the experiences of many Godly in all Ages, where attended with the Bles­sing of God, and pursued with Exhortation, until they arrive at a riper age: Now I leave all to con­sider how insignificant and imputation this of Omission is.

[Page 23] Another general Charge is, that I have not declared from whence I have Received these things, and that I have owned in the Title Page of my Catechism, to be but a Collection from others: These are heavy Charges with him, therefore shall answer them particularly. 1. Any that reads his Paper, may understand he is as guilty of that Omis­sion as any of his Neighbours, for he has not told from whence he had what is delivered in this Pa­per, and it was the best policy; for he durst not assert it was from the Spirit of God, because of the falshood and malice it contains, as! shall make appear. 2. If they are the Truths of God, and a­greeable to Scripture, it is easily determined from whence these Truths are, which were questioned by few, until G. K. whose Trade has been to Fo­ment Contention, and stir up strife in the Churches of Christ in the World; and whose Arguments are so slender and thred bare, that they scarce deserve an Answer. 3. If I inclined to stuff my Doctrines and Discourse upon all occasions, with enlarged Ac­counts of Conversion or a work of Grace, with concomitant and consequent Experiences of the Operations of Gods Holy Spirit, as Keith pretends to do, I might amuse my Hearers; but Actions and Conversation are better demonstrations of a work of Grace, then all Keith's vain boasting Language, which with his self magnifying Language, can be esteemed nothing else then a Crying up and Prea­ching himself, instead of Christ; for though Paul oft declared his Conversion, and gloried in his At­tainments, it was, that the Free Grace of God might be exalted, and self abased; which Quakers are rarely acquainted with, either in Praying or [Page 24] Teaching, as many who have heard them al­ways declare.

And because Keith has shewn himself void of Charity, by shooting his invidious Thunderbolt at a distance, e're he knew or saw me, or I him, That I am infallibly a great stranger to the dealings of Gods Spirit on the hearts of his People; I am con­strained to Justifie my Office, from those Unchari­table Calumnies, and that Grace might be magni­fied, by giving this Relation, in the sight of an All seeing and Omnipresent God, that e're I Re­ceived the Imposition of Hands, in that Scriptural and Orderly Separation unto my Holy and Mini­sterial Calling, that I gave requiring satisfaction to Godly, Learned, and Judicious Discerning Men, of a work of Grace and Conversion wrought on my heart, at fifteen years of Age, by, and from the pains of a Godly Schoolmaster, who used no small diligence in Gaining Tender Souls to Gods Ser­vice and Fear; since which time, to the Glory of his Free Grace be it spoke, I have had the sure Ex­periences of Gods various Dealings with me ac­cording to his Infinite and Unerring Wisdom, to my [...] comfort, whereby all may see how far Grace is expected and desired, with [...] to qualifie for the Ministerial Office; for not only, was this required of me, but is expected of all Ordain­ed by Presbyters; which experience shall enable me not to value what Keith, or any other Quakers shall ignorantly and groundlesly affirm, in Judging rashly of my State, for we are looked upon as of the World, and they only the People of God, as they commonly Cauterize us, but this is our comfort, we shall not be Judged in the Last Day [Page 25] by Quakers, who must as well as their Neighbours, give an account of their rash and uncharitable judgings to a most Righteous Judge.

And that it is a Collection from the Scriptures of the Living God, I never will deny, but glory in it; [...] Keith mean from others, it is false, and there is [...], mention of those others in the Title Page; [...] what hath Keith Published in most of his Books, but Collections, and many of them from the worst of men, Hereticks long since confuted, with some, vild, sophistical, and unscriptural Nations of his own, both repugnant to Scripture, and opposite to his Quaking Brethren: And

Turpe ext doctors cum culpa redarguit ipsum.

He asserts, I declare not that it is God, or Christ, or the Spirit of God, that convinceth or reproveth people of their sins; but this is so false a Calumny▪ that none in charity can judge Keith to be so great a Perfectionist as he proclaims himself to be; and this every one may be satisfied in, if they will but turn over to page 12 where it is plainly delivered; That God in Turning or Calling Sinners unto himself, does convince them of Sin and Misery, En­lighten their Minds with the Knowledge of Christ, [...] their wills, &c. which is also the judgment of all my. Brethren, and particularly of those of the Westminister Assembly, both in their Shorten and larger Catechism. And whereas he charges me with this, that I mention but little of the Spirit of God at all; and that this may appear as false as the former, I refer my self to every Reader, and especi­ally those who have read and considered, better then Keith hath done; and let them turn over to the several pages, where I have made frequent mention [Page 26] of the Spirit of God, in so small a Volumn, ascri­bing to him that which was and is his peculiar work. 1. As being the Original Author, and In­diter of the Scriptures, page 3. 2. As being one distinct from the Father and the Son, page 4. 3. Of Christ's revealing the Will of God to us, by His Word and Spirit page 10. 4. The Spirit of God applies to us the Redemption purchased by Christ, page 11. 5. In the same page, being the Author of Re-generation, or the New Birth, according to the Scriptures, Joh 3. 6. The Spirits sanctifying of us, page 15. 7. That he teaches us to pray aright, and acceptably to God, page 41. From hence every one may learn, what credit to give to Keith's words and Calumnies for the future; and though he con­structs my Compassion over the tender Souls in an American Desart, to be a reflection against the Scots and English in Virginia, I am satisfied, it has not been so Received by them for whom it was intend­ed, neither judged so by the Spirit of God, who much after the same manner pitties and compassio­nates the Ignorance of his own people, by the Prophet Hos. 4. 6. My People are destroyed for lack of know­ledge. And I am perswaded, Quakers should not have so great success in drawing aside silly Souls from the Truths and Ways of God, if it were not for the abounding Ignorance of Virginia, and other dark Corners of the World, who have not yet received, and comprehended the Light shining about them; and even their ignorance of those Fundamental Truths contained in the Catechism. And none deserves more to be pitied for their Ig­norance, than Quakers, and of the most Fundamen­tal Truths, notwithstanding of their high pretences [Page 27] to the Spirit and Light within, as John Drummond, a Reputed and Received Quaker, a Reader of Keith's Books, with many others, who lately at my House at Poccamok, before Keith and several other Witnesses, published his gross Ignorance of that Fundamental Article, That none could be Saved without-Faith in Jesus Christ; from which I under­stand since, that he had oft reproached me, drawing his own ignorant conclusions from thence. And if Quakers are ignorant hereof, what can they pretend to know.

Another general charge is, That I nothing help the Ignorant, neither do I direct them to the true Vision; but whoever will but consider how many Fundamental Truths are laid down in the Cate­chism, for the Edification of the Ignorant, and plainly asserted, That Christ teaches his People with his Word and Spirit; and if this be not the true Vision of God, Quakers must lose themselves, and be puzzled in finding of it: but be rather would insinuate what harm it would do, if received, but this may discover how far men are for keeping sinners in ignorance, by possessing their minds with a dislike of this mean of Knowledge, which leads and directs sinners to the Scriptures as the great mean of Knowledge, and profitable for instruction, containing all things [...] to be known by Christians; and also to Christ and his Holy Spirit the Author and Efficient Cause of Knowledge, who can Enlighten without means, in a most immediate manner, but most ordinarily conveyes Knowledge by Means and Ordinances of his own Appointment concurring with his Holy Spirit, blessing and ma­king them effectual to whom he pleases. And in [Page 28] Catechism many savoury truths delivered, no sins, in­dulged, most duties relating to our general and special callings enjoined: Now how the receiving such a form of sound words containing positive Di­vinity, should be prejudicial, and Kieth's works stuffed with Quibling, and Sophistical Controversy, & his teachings filled with often repeated Calumnys against all the Reformed Churches, and Un-scrip­tural or unheard of Long-winded Similitudes, which amuse the deluded, and ignorant, should become profitable, let every one determine; and I am perswaded, none has received or can receive injury therefrom, but by slighting and disregarding it. And this my experience can testifie, that since the Catechism was opposed by Quakers, they have had a more universal, and kindly welcome, and recepti­on. And here is no new Doctrine, but what Keith had oft seen in the Catechisms of our Refor­med Churches, which he had oft impugned with all his might and Sophistry; and his repeating his old Arguments, is only with vain Ostentation, to show himself among a poor, ignorant, and deluded people, and once possessing them with this, that what he delivers is immediately from the Spirit of God, he may driver what he will, as infallible, and never to be questioned.

Having answered his Generals, I proceed to examine his particulars; and he suffers not the first page to pass without a Censure, because I have affirmed, God made the World out of Nothing: and that this is not only true, and agreeable to Scripture, that to word and express it otherwise, were inconsistent with the Revelation of God, and it were to jump in with the Ad­versaries [Page 29] of Gods Truth, for we cannot conceive of Creation; without saying it was made out of Nothing which all describe to be, Productio ex nihilo; therefore as many places of Scripture as but mention Creation, say as much as I have done, for which I am quarrel­led. Did not Creation give the First Being to all things that were made, and consequently were all nothing before God commanded them to be, for was nor Light nothing till God said, Let there be Light [...] Further, if God made the World, he either made it out of his own Essence, or some pre existent matter from Eternity, or produced it out of nothing. I pre­sume you will not be so absurd as to assert any of the first two, not the first, for so the Essence of God should become divisible and corruptible; not the se­cond, for then some matter should be Co-eternal with God, which were blasphemy to affirm: And it is no small argument of the Omnipotence of God, to declare and affirm, especially to young ones, the Word was made out of nothing, seeing they know not that it is implied in the word Creation; for be­cause of the Omnipotent Power of God in Creation. Acclamations of Praise are ascribed to him, Psal. 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, & all the Host of them, by the breath of his mouth, Acts 4. 24, In that joynt Acclamation of the Apostles, Lord thou art good, which hast made Heaven, and Earth, and the Sea, and all that in them is: And it is no adding to the Word of God, while nothing is delivered but Gods Mind in his Word; though Keith next in his pretences to Nailor himself should discover so much palpable weakness as to censure it again: And I have also asserted in my Catechism, that there is no work so peculiar to any of the Persons of the Holy Trini­ty, but all of them have a hand in each; so that his [Page 30] advice which he called sufficient, is prevented, if he had diligently read and considered it, as he has said.

In page 3. He chargeth me for [...] no o­ther Teacher but the Scriptures to direct us to Serve and Glorifie God, this is no strange imputation from Quakers, who notwithstanding of all their fair preten­ces, yet have uttered many vilipending expressions thereof, calling it a dead Letter, a nose of Wax, Pen & Ink Divinity; & Keith in his publick Teaching in Accomack, compared it to a Letter wrote from an ab­sent Husband to his Wise, which as soon as be Returns, is to be laid aside; any may easily apprehend what this Gentleman would be at, who also in his Book, though he would make fools believe he commands the Scriptures; yet immediately he accuses it of in­sufficiency, and imperfection, and affirms there are several things which the Scriptures Teachers not, for which we must have immediate Revelations; and Daniel Acres, a Teacher in North Carolina, declared to me, it bordered with Basphemy to call the Scrip­tures the Word of God But the further affirms, I should have joyned the Spirit of God and Christ with the Scriptures, and that I should not only have done it, but that it is really done, every Reader may find page 10 where it is taught, That Christ Reveals his Will by his Word and Spirit; neither dare any as­sert, I have said it was only the Scriptures, excluding Christ or the Holy Spirit of God; and yet we have ground from the Scriptures themselves to affirm, that the Scriptures are a rule to which we are directed by the Spirit of God, & our Saviour too, and the fulness and sufficiency of the Scriptures oft our direction, is assered from the Spirit of God, though we are una­nimous in depending on the Blessing of God, pre­sence of Christ, and concurrence of his Holy Spirit, [Page 31] to make the Scriptures effectual to our Salvation, with all other Means and Ordinances; yet the Scrip­tures are the Rule for our Instruction and Direction, though Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God the Open­er up, and sole Interpreter of the Scriptures to us, as all of us Teach, Believe and Own; which is evident, from our Praying before and after all and our publick and private Administrations, which many Quakers are absolute [...] to, as John [...], of Elizabeth River, who never was heard to Pray either before or after Teaching; this Savours of Opus Operatum; I say, the Holy Spirit of God endures us with skill to understand, apply and obey the Scriptures; so that Quakers confound the Rule, with the skill in making use of that Rule; but our judgment is fully delivered in answer to that Question in the Assemblies Cate­chism. How is the Word made effectual to Salvation: and that all that read those Sheets may see how per­nicious it is to quarrel our Doctrine concerning the Scriptures, let them peruse those following Scriptures; 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by [...] God, and is profitable for Doctrine, for Reproof, for Cor­rection, for Instruction in Righteousness; and in the foregoing verse, The Holy Scriptures which is able to make thee wise unto Salvation, [...], Faith which is in Jesus. 17 That the man at God may be [...] throughly furnished unto every good work; and are we not directed to the Law and to the [...], but no where directed to the Light in all men, and cones­quently in the Heathen and Reprobate, to be our Guide to Glory: Our [...] and confirms our Judgment; Search the Scriptures, for in them you think ye have External [...], and [...] that testifie of me. And we find out Lord in [...] with the Capcious Jews, appealing to the Scriptures [Page 32] as the Rule of Faith, and Judge of Controversies, saying, It is written, and Cites the Prophets oft for their Conviction, and charges them with ignorance of the Scripture, as the cause and ground of their Error, saying, Ye Err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. And though dim Natures Light, the Rellicks of one fallen from perfection, and the works of Creation, render all inexcusable for their Ignorance of their Creator, yet are very lame, and insufficient fully to teach their Duty, or to discover all their sins, or teach them the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, whom Qua­kers say is in ail men; but can this Jesus of theirs be the true Christ, and savingly in all men; seeing there are Nations and Kingdoms, who have not the least remote or dim notions of Christ the Son of God, as Saviour, or Mediator between Sinners, and God, who was in Christ Reconciling the World to him­self; and if so as Quakers affirm, then blinded Pagan Nations are in as brave a case, as the Churches of Christ, to whom the Oracles of God are committed, who are pronounced blessed beyond all others, at Gods Chosen Inheritance, and particularly from that great and transcending priviledge of enjoying the Revealed Will of God, to whom the Divine Ora­cles were committed, and blinded Nations were our Predecessors, within some few Centuries past.

And what Keith understands by silent waiting on God, which he calls a silence of mind and thoughts; I fear neither he, nor any Quaker for him, can ever demonstrate from plain Scripture Testimony; and it is not the first time they have been puzled to tell us what it is, though some have preferred it to the Rea­ding of the Scriptures, and a Mean appointed of God, for right understanding of the Scriptures; but [Page 33] this new notion of theirs is warranted no where is the Scripture; some of them have taken upon them to call it a silent posture of the heart, without think­ing good or evil; but this is so strange a conceit, that it is inconsistent with the nature of the heart and Spi­rit of man, which is in the judgment of most, and to solid experience of all, so stirring and active a thing, that it is never at quiet or rest, but always employed about either good or evil, and this so many as call a Spirit Res C [...]gitandi, say, is while man is asleep; but further it is inconsistent with Scripture waiting, for herein there must be an exercise of the Graces of Faith, Patience, Hope, &c. Psal 4. 1. I waited pati­ently for the Lord, and he enclined unto me, and board my Cry; here is both the exercise of Patience, and the use of Prayer, in the Psalmists successful waiting, and how this can be without exercising the heart a­bout good or evil; this is much like the Commentary and vulgar gloss of Quakers on that Text, Mat. 6. 6. When thou prayest, enter it no thy Closet, and whom thou hast shut the door, or according to these able Com­mentators,) shut thy heart, which is an unfit frame for God, to whom we must open, and before whom we must pour out our hearts. Another Instance of Scripture waiting, very unlike Quakers waiting you May find in Lam. 3. 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord; and let every one be umpire in this case, whether there can be the exercise of those Graces, where the heart thinks neither good nor evil; and they are often puzled to satisfie us, whether their silent waiting be publick or private Worship; for if it is not done in Faith, it must be sin, and consequently no acceptable Service so God, it private of secret, it ought to be gone about with as great secrecy, and to go too pub­lick [Page 34] with it, is visible Hypocrisie to be seen of men. If publick Worship, it must and to the Edification of others; but how the perfect silence, without all Admonition, Rebuke, Prayer, Introduction, or expres­sions of Praise edifies is unconceivable, and as they meet, so they disperse oft, without the least motion to speak, which demonstrates how [...] man, such Meetings are; and what they amuse the World with their imaginary experiences of refreshments from their silent Meeting, when nothing is said, they must needs be like those, which an English Congregation received from a Quaking Dutch, woman, Teaching in an unknown Language; and what reason we have of believing their boasted of Experiences from nega­tive imaginary Worship, and they regard not the Experiences of thousands of the Godly, of ravishings of Soul, and ineffable Joy and Comfort from Prai­sing of God in singing of Psalms, and from Communi­cating in the Supper of the Lord, as performed by us, and in most of the Reformed Churches.

In the next place he condemns our asserting and believing there are Three Persons in the God head: It is no wonder to find so great and transcending a Mystery, rather to be Reverenced, Adored, and Be­lieved, then Reasoned and Disputed, as it has been mistaken and quarrelled both by Ancient and Mo­dern Hereticks in the World. [...] not to lip up the gross Errors of Ancient Hereticks concerning this Doctrine, as of [...] Nestorious, Sabe [...], and [...], and am not a little concerned, that Quakers pretending no so great and so good things, should joyn hand in hand with such, whose [...] have been long since cunningly [...] and exploded; and that they by their frequent and scurrilous Barkings against so Fundamental a [Page 35] Truth, as solomon Acl [...]s, who in Barbadoe [...] asserted this Doctrine to be a Presbyterian Fiction, and most others of that Gang I have conversed with, had most Ignorant, and gross Notions of a person, dreaming it to be some gross, material, visible and corporeal Substance, like unto man, and looked upon it, an absurdity to apply any such thing to God at all; and here I find one of their Learned and Litigious Cham­pions, quarreling Three Persons in the God-head, or Divine Essence, and how such men can be Reconciled among themselves, I leave to those that are con­cerned; I must confess, it I understood what Keith intends by this Charge so obscurely delivered, I could with greater fulness and particularity answer; and waving that uncharitableness he was notoriously guilty of concerning me, and others, I conceive he only contends about words, by calling Three Persons in the God head, not Scripture Language; but words of mans wisdom, as all our Doctrines and Writings are commonly Calumniated by such. And this I must Animadvert the Reader, that I am the more confirmed in that which I charged him with at my House, that most of his Writings are quibling Con­troversies, and his Debates a disputing about words, little to the Edification of Souls, but tending to Fo­ment Divisions in the Churches of Christ upon Earth of which he had been a great Instrument already, by making perverse Disputings his Trade in the World, and to confirm it, he brings a sublime and transcend­ing Mystery, rather to be adored and believed, then disputed and brought under the Debate of men of corrupt minds; but 1. If words not expressed in Scriptures in the same Letters and Syllables, be words of mans wisdom, and an adding to the Scriptures, the Words of the Living God, then all Expositions of [Page 36] Scriptures, though agreeable to Scripture, if not nu­merically the same words, must be condemned and thrust but of doors; and then what will become of most of Keith's Teachings, which are delivered in publick as immediately from the Spirit of God, yet stuffed to the amusing rather than Edification of him Hearers, with unscriptural, unusual, and unheard of Allusions of a Key, and losing and finding a Key, at also of a Table and covering of Tailing, with Trenchers and Napkins, and a Cupboard at Home, and no Meat in it, as also a Husbands Writing Let­ters to his Wife, while absent, all which was deliver­ed in Long winded Discourses at Thomas Fooks his House in Onankok, and Nus [...]waddux, to numerous and [...], Auditories of men and women, rather of­fended then edified and affrighted from, then engaged to Quakers Principles, or Practices 2. If I should make it appear, that Quakers are as guilty of using words not to be found in the Scriptures, as any of their Neighbours, will no all men believe them very per­verse to Censure others for that which they practice themselves, and consequently from Keith's words and to the words of the Scriptures; And 1. Let any be prevailed with, to observe the Writing of this [...] Author, which is fil'ed in every page with Hu­mane Learning, and Scholastick Notions, making as much use of School Art in all his sophistical Argu­mentation, as any that has put Pen to Paper, as he himself owned the use of Humane Learning in all his Writings. 2. I shall instance to you from themselves not only words, but sentences and phrases, which none could ever yet find or hear of, in or from the Scriptures, some whereof are pens, others belong to Barclay, others are usual and common in the mouths of most Quakers, as those uncouch phrases of Mira­cles [Page 37] in Spirit, which Keith made use of at my House; a measure of God, as if God were divided in parcels, from the Spirit in Ward by ravening the Seed in Captivity ravening comprehending brain, fleshly comprehensions, Traditional Read Knowledge, Vulturous Eye, with many others, and for words none more new and invented, without any foundation in the Scriptures, then some used by Quakers; as Ve­hicle of the Spirit, Fermentation of the Spirit, and many such like. 3. How much is it to be Lament­ed, that the frequent Debates, and needless Janglings of Keith concerning this Subject, could not have suf­ficed him; he must now upon his running Circuit, raise a new Debate, and Controversy, about words, which is Censured in the Words of the Holy Apostle, 1 Tim 6. 4. He is proud knowing nothing, but doting about Questions, and Strifes of words, whereby cometh Strifes, Railing, Evil Surmisings. 5. Perverse Dispu­tings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the Truth, supposing that Gain is Godliness, from such turn away, or withdraw thy self: And all such are Censu­red in the words of Holy Calvin, that Eminent man of God, Lib. 1. Cap. 13. The Hereticks bark at the name Person, and others too precise Carp at all words devised by men, and would have all to re­strain not only their meanings, but their very words, strictly within the bounds of Scripture; who are be Calvin Charged as unreasonable; who quarrel words expressing nothing but what is testified and approv­ed by Scripture, and what hinders, faith he, but we may in more plain words express such things as are mysterious to ordinary thereunto? such, faith he, as quarrel this, must be reputed, to be grieved at the Light of the Truth, because he quarrels this, that the [Page 38] Truth is made so easie & plain to be discerned; and the reason or ground given by this worthy Author, why the Churches of Christ are necessitated to use such novelty of words, if they may be so called; is when the Truth is to be Defended against Ranglers, who deride it with Quibbles; so the Old Fathers be­ing troubled with False Doctrines, were necessitated to express themselves in exquisite plainness, least they should leave any crooked by ways to the wicked, to whom the doubtful Constructions of words, were hiding Holes of Error; therefore it was that the Fa­thers, in confutation of Arius, were necessitated in asserting the Divinity of the Son, to call him HO­MOUSION, or Consubstantial with the Father: And against Sabe [...]ius, who denied all Distinction between the Father, son, and Holy Ghost, but what was Nominal; the Defenders of Truth were necessita­ted to say, there is subsist in the Unity of God, a Trinity of Persons, which is most suitable to, though not rigidly the same with the Language of John, There are Three, and these Three are One Trinity, Tres Unes, or Tres in Uno, Trinity.

Having offered these Generals, I come particularly to the Charge, for asserting there are Three Persons in the God-head: All that Keith would seem to Al­ledge, is only that it is not Scripture Language; whereby he would seem to favour the great Funda­mental Principle, most, of his Brethren have been blasphemously barking against these Thirty or Forty Years; and devoutly to say, There are Three in One: But it were to be wished, that he, and all of them, would demonstrate themselves according to their usual boasting, more skilful in the Scriptures, then any of their Neighbours, by declaring freely, & ingenuously, what those Three are called, that are [Page 39] but One God, and what Substantive, they joyn with the Adjective three, which is distinguished in the Fa­ther, Son, and Holy Ghost; and then they would have dealt plainly without all Popish Equivocation, or Reservation; which all that Read their Books, and frequently Converse with them, will find the ge­nerality of Quakers as guilty of, as any subtile Jesuit at St. Omers. For if this great and Fundamental Truth, would be made plain to the Edification of the Church of God, to which it is so highly necessary that God can neither be known, believed in, or called upon aright without it, then some denomination must be ascribed, and given, differing from one another in Incommunicable Properties; for they must either be three somethings, or three nothings; the former being rejected, if three somethings, they must be ei­ther three Gods, three Essences, three Parts, of the same Essence, or three Qualities, or three Names, or three Manners, or wayes of Subsisting; To assert to Three Gods, were insufferable Blasphemy: though Josiah Coal is as guilty of as great Blasphem [...] in a Letter to George Fox, which as it came from Qua­ker, was also Approved of by Pen himself, in his An­swer to Mr. John Faldo, a Minister I lately saw in London; which for the Readers satisfaction, and ab­horrence of all, I shall here Insert.

Dear George Fox, who art the Father of many Na­tions, whose Life has reached through us thy Children, even to the Isles afar off; to the Begetting of many again unto a Lively Hope; for which, Generations to come, shall call thee Blessed: whose Being and Habitation is in the power of the Highest, in which thou Rules & Governs in Righteousness: And thy Kingdom is Established in Peace, and the Encrease thereof is without End.

Let Pen, and as many as will dare to Justifie this, [Page 40] consider the [...] that Justifies [...] Just, even they [...] are Abomination to the Lord.

But to return, To assert Three Essences, were to conceal Three Essentially Distinct, which were to fall in with the former absurdity: To receive or be­lieve three parts of the same Essence, or God head which were most inconsistent with that Oneness and absolute Simplicity in the Nature of God, which cannot be conceived divisible, and to call the three in one, three qualities or accidents, were to believe accidents in God, which were absurd; and to assert nothing else but three Names, were to fall in with the long since exploded Heresy of Apollinarius, and to hold Faith repugnant to the Rule of Gods Word whence he has twice Three Names, and yet asserted to be but Three only; so that it must be Three Di­stinct Manners, Methods, or Wayes of Subsisting, and is Termed in the Schools, Ens, and Modus En­tis. And according to the unanimous Opinion of our Reforming and Reformed Divines: A Person in the God-head, is whole God, not absolutely or simply considered, but by way of some personal Properties, or a manner of Being, or Distinct Subsistence, have­ing the whole God-head in it. Usher, and Calvin, call a Divine Person, a Subsistence in the Divine Na­ture, which having relation to the other, is distingui­shed from them, with Incommunicable Properties: So that though the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be really and essentially the same in Essence or Be­ing, yet they have something differing from one ano­ther; for if the Word, Joh. 1. 1. had been simply, and absolutely God without any thing peculiar to it self, it had been improper, and amiss to have said, it was not only God, but with God. To which Do­ctrine [Page 41] Tertullian agrees, saying, there is in God a cer­tain Disposition, or Distribution, which changeth no­thing of the Unity of the Essence. I need not heap up these manifold Testimonies both of old, & New Testament, asserting Three in One, and One in Three; and if any quarrel the word person, they shall find this plain Scripture Language, Heb 1. 3. speaking of Christ the Second Person in the Trinity; saith▪ He is the Brightness of his Fathers Glory; and Express Image of his Person, can any serious, and il­luminated Reader pass over this Text, without own­ing the word Person, to be Scripture Language, and that the Father is a Person, distinct in Person from God the Son; for he is not called the Fathers Person, Remark it Reader, but the Express Image of his Fathers Person: And if none must be called a Person, but the Father, as some Quakers have said, then what was Christ's Person, when Mediator, hav­ing two Natures of God and man, not mans perso­nality, for so Divine Nature would have satisfied in the Person of the Humane Nature, which would im­ply no small Absurdities, or he should be the Person of the Father, which were repugnant to the formerly cited Text: Our Mediator was without all Person And finally, if the Father is a Person, and the Son the Image of this Person, why not the Holy Ghost a Person also, and Three in One, and One in Three

The Next Charge is, and that a Weighty one in P. 9, & 10 And that is for mentioning only Three Offices of Christ, as Mediatour, a Pro­phet, Priest, and King. And that [...], Saving [...]y, and only to those that Believe in him, and to whom He is Actually a Saviour; and that those Three Offices include, All that Christ did, and was Reque­site to be done as Mediatour; None, even Kieth [Page 42] himself cannot deny, as he readily owned at my House, all was Reducible to those Three Offices, which are all we have mentioned in the Scriptures, and those Three▪ are very Obvious and Plain.

1. He is called, and that Deservedly, The Great Prophet of His Church, according to that Promise of, and Prophecy concerning him; A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto his Brethren, Him shall ye hear in all things. And this Promise was fulfilled in his Coming, and Execu­ting this his Prophetical Office, by being the Great Gospel-Preacher to his Church, and People; Declaring the Way, and Means of Salvation, by a Mediatour, delivering the Will of His Father; This was Prophe­sied also of him in Isaiah. 61. 1, 2, 3. and Hebr. 3. 1. He is called, the Apostle of our Profession. And He is the Sole Teacher of the Mysterys of Salvation from the Father. Matth. 11. 27 No Man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom soever the Son will reveal him. And this Our Great Prophet do's not always immediately, else K's. Teachings and all the Teachings among Quakers, were most need­less, and vain, but,

1 By the Holy Scriptures, Profitable for Doctrine, and able to make the Man of God, Wise unto Sal­vation

2. By His Messengers, and Ministers, whom he has commanded to Go, and Teach all Nations; and sent to give Warning to His Churches, and People, Therefore from their Office, and Teaching, called Teachers.

And Lastly, by his Holy Spirit in the Hearts of his People, where Christ dwells not Substantially, as Quakers say, but Spiritually by Faith; and so is u­nited by Faith tho' Locally Distant, without the [Page 43] Presence of the things United, as K. would insinu­ate, and assert in his Paper. For if there can be a Moral Union, and Relation standing firm betwixt a Husband, and Wife, the one in Europe, the other in America, and a Natural Union, and nigh Rela­tion, between Parent, and Child, much more be­tween Christ in Heaven, and believers on Earth, by a Spiritual, and indissolvible Union, by Faith, which is not an absent Christ to Believers, with whom he is by Gracious, and Spiritual Influences in their Hearty. And K's. Subtle, and Sophistical Argu­ments from the General, and Universal Presence of Christ as God, to his special and Gracious Presence as Mediatour, will take Place with none, but Ig­norant, and Deluded Quakers; for so the Devils in Hell▪ should enjoy as great a Priviledge as Believers on Earth.

And also it is granted that he is the Eternal High-Priest of His Church, who Offered and gave Himself a Sacrifice once upon the Cross for Sinners and by the Efficacious Merits of this Death, ren­ders the Persons and Services of his People accep­table unto God, not only Teaching them by His Holy Spirit, what to pray for as they ought; but also continues an High-Priest at the Right-hand of God, making continual Intercession for Believers, Heb. 7 25. Wherefore he is able to Save them to the uttermost, that come to God by Him, seeing be ever Liveth to make Intercession for us; all which is fully and soundly deli­vered in the Catechisms, and Confessions of Faith of our Divines of the Westminster Assembly.

And Lastly, He is the Sole King, Head and Law­giver of his Church; by which Kingly Power, and Authority, he Appoints Laws and Statutes, for the Counsel and Direction of his people, even to the [Page 44] binding of Conscience, with the whole inward man, in whom Christ does Rule, and Reign, even in and over such as subject their Souls to his Government, suffering Christ to Reign over them.

2 He Subdues and Conquers sinners Naturally Re­bels to himself, making them from an Un-willing, a Willing People, in the Day of his power.

3 In defending of his Church from all their E­nemies, assuring them, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against them.

4 He restrains the Fury, and rage of, and Final­ly, executes his Wrath on all His, and their Ene­mys.

And we never did disown that the special Fruits of all these Three Offices are wrought in the hearts of Believers; which is inconsistent with that Pro­phet, Priest, & King in all men according to Quakers Doctrine, while the Scripture affirms, they are Re­probate, in whom Christ is not. And it is plain the Quakers common Christ, is not the true Media­tour and Messiah, who only dwells in the hearts of Believers by Faith, and not of Infidels that do not so much as know by any kind of knowledge, and yet they are Enlightned by him, as they say, with a sufficient, and saving knowledge. How unnecessary must it be to multiply Offices in our Mediatour, seeing all are reducible to those Three? and must he not be a Man of a Perverse Spirit, and contentious mind, that would raise a Debate upon this head? and K's Evasion and Quibble for this is extreemly silly, and weak; for (saith he) the Commands of Gods Moral Law are reducible to two; yet also branched out into Ten; for the first Division of the Divine Commands, was by God himself into two [...] or two Commands; yet the same God [Page 45] makes the Enumeration or Division unto ten; but no such Warrant can be produced for this Enumera­tion or Multiplication of Offices in our Mediator; for it were as impertinent, and idle, as if every Duty required, and every Sin prohibited in every Com­mand, were a new Command; and there should be thrice ten instead of ten; and what must be thought of those that multiply Offices in Christ, calling every thing that Christ is called a new Office in the Medi­ator, as a Father, a Shepherd, an Husband, Physician, &c. Whence he is called the Way, a Rock, a Door, a Vine; all which denote no new Offices, but signifie his Richness, Fulness, Benefits, Love and Fa­vour to Believers, denoting that Spiritual Relation to Believers, and Christ's usefulness to them in all E­states and Conditions.

His next Charge, Page 10, 11. I have affirmed Christ Died, or was Sacrificed for Sinners. Now let any determine whether this Answer does not set forth the Fruit, and Satisfaction of Christ's Death for Sinners; for if he Died for Sinners, and for our Sins, is it not enough to us; for if we had not been Sinners, we should not have stood in need of Re­demption: and if sinners were Redeemed, no others did want it. And tho' he seems to reprehend it with Scripture Language, yet his Charge is more obscure, and defective, then that he finds fault with; either that quarrelled at must be true, or false, or deficient; if true, why Censured, if false, let Quakers speak their minds plainly; if deficient, there must be some for whom Christ Died, besides Sinners. If I have not multiplied words, to humour captious and critical Quakers, I hope I shall never have cause to repent it, where I Studiously avoided all prolixity, and endea­voured all succinctness and brevity.

[Page 46] But to return to the matter in hand concerning the Nature, Efficacy, and Extent of Christ's Redempti­on, we have to do with many Adversaries, whose va­rious Sentiments are not to be reconciled either a­mong themselves, or with the Holy Scriptures: for some say, Christ Died absolutely for all, and every individual sinner, and in Laying down his Life, did equally intend the Salvation of all; others say, he Died for all conditionally, from a foreseen condition of Faith; so it was only a conditional Salvation, or Redemption, wherein not one was absolutely Redee­med; this by some is called a possible Salvation; whereby they explain Universal Redemption to be nothing else, then Christ's Pacifying an Angry God for all, and leaving all in a possibility of Salvation if they will; others of a middle sort, say, he Died absolutely for the Elect of God, but conditionally for the Reprobate: But the most unanimous, and received Doctrine of the Reformed Churches, is, That whom Christ Died for, be absolutely and compleatly Redeemed; and that was some Select and Chosen Number, given him of God the Father, to Lay down his Life for them, as our Lord himself hints plainly to us in John 17. at large, of which says he, None was Lost.

That I may discover the absurdities of the former Opinion; consider first, Christ's absolute Redempti­on for all, and every individual Sinner: For 1. So Christ should have intended to have saved those that were actually in Hell, and condemned to Eternal Flames, before his Death, under an Irrevocable Sentence of Wrath. 2. What a Dishonour were it to God to say, he intended, and at so dear a rate, as the Death of his own Son, to go about the Redeeming of those whom he knew from all Eternity should be infallibly [Page 47] Damned; can it be imagined, Christ intended to Save such? 3. If all men and women, were absolutely Redeemed, all should be infallibly Saved, for Salva­tion supposes Redemption, and Redemption secures Salvation; but it is evident to all, the smallest num­ber shall Enter in at the Strait Gate 4. If God should purpose and intend the Salvation of all absolutely, and yet the smallest [...]umber escape Eternal Wrath, what should the purposes and intentions of God be more then the purposes, and intentions of his Crea­tures that can be frustrated, disappointed and come to nought?

Let us view the absurdities and inconsistencies that flow naturally from the universal, [...]ditional Re­demption, whereby all are left under a possibility of Salvation, if they will; and 1. If so, then it would have been possible, for all to have been Dam­ned, and not one Saved; for if man had but resisted as it was in his Power, because not absolutely Re­deemed, then Christ might have Died really for no­thing, and have seen no Fruit of the Travail of his Soul: And, Let serious Souls consider what an in­significant Death, and fruitless inefficacious Redem­ption should he have Paid. 2. If a conditional Redemption, and a possibility of Salvation was all that Christ Died for, I would Enquire, Who it is that performs the Condition, God or man; if men can believe or repent of themselves, then the Conditional Salvation, might avail them something; but he cannot believe, it is Gods special Gift, Ephes. 2. And man cannot repent, for it is his grant, 2 Tim

1 What will a Possibility of Salvation for all men avail, and a conditional Redemption signifie, if all men are not left also in a Possibility of believing and Repenting also, if, and when they would. [Page 48] 3. If a conditional Universal Redemption, be all the Redemption accomplished by Christ, then it is as im­possible for man to be saved, as if he had not been Redeemed at all; seeing it is as impossible for man to perform the Conditions, as it is for him to redeem himself; and all may see it this be Quakers uni­versal Redemption, what a poor, lame, ineffectual and half Redemption they believe in, and build upon for their Salvation; as Barclay has declared, in Publishing his Universal Redemption, sufficiently confuted, by Mr. Brown; not answered till he was Removed off the Stage, by Death.

And such as tread the middle path, holding an absolute, Redemption of Gods Elect, and only a Conditional Salvation of the Reprobate; They [...]old (1.) A Twofold manner of Redempti­on, which we have no ground for in the Scriptures; all that are Redeemed, being Redeemed alike.

2 If so, the greatest part of Mankind are left in as bad a state, as if they were not Redeemed at all.

I [...] we consider the Merit of Christs Crucifixion and Death, materially in regard of its Sufficiency, Dignity, Worth, and Merit, by Reflecting on the Person who Suffered and Died, and of the man­ner how he Accomplished it, with Faithfulness, and that most Willingly, and Chearfully, that it was no less Price then the Death of him, who was God, Equal with God the Father; The Ransome must be owned, and believed, of Infinite Value, and Worth, Merit, and Dignity, and so not only a compleat, and sufficient Satis­faction for the sins of the whole World, but was in it self a compleat Ransome, for the Offences of a Thousand Worlds. And so if we consider [Page 49] the Sufficiency of his Price, and Ransome, he Di­ed for all, he Offered a Sacrifice, and gave an A­tonement that was enough for all, he gave himself a Ransome for all, and Tasted Death for every man; further we assert, and believe, that all Na­tions, Kingdoms, Tongues, and People were Re­deemed by Jesus Christ; so according to the School distinction, He Dyed, for, Generibus S [...]ngulorum, for, All kinds of men, not for Singulis Generum, not for, Every Individual Man and Woman according to Johns Vision, Rev. 5. 9. For thou wast slain, and hast Redeemed us to God, by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation, so that all and every one that is or shall be Redeem­ed, are Redeemed by Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour, and no Name given under Heaven where­by we can be Saved, but by the Name Jesus; so he is the Saviour of all. And this we dare most bold­ly and Warrantably affirm, that Christs Death is Efficacious for the Salvation of all, whom he died for, and not one of these Predestinated to Eter­nal Life, shall Perish, but be brought Infallibly to Glory; Rom 8. 30. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called, and whom he Called, them he also Justified, and whom he Justified, them he also Glorifi­ed. From which Scripture, none can be Ignorant, unless they wilfully stop, and Blind the Eyes of their understandings, what an inseperable connecti­on is between the Means, and the End, and all flowing from the Everlasting Purpose, and immu­table Predestination of God; and as many as Christ Died for, shall be infallibly Saved, and to whomsoever he has purchased Salvation, to as many he has Purchased all the Means and Conditions, of Salvation, as Faith, Repentance, and all the [Page 50] Holy Graces of the Spirit of God; for saith the Spirit of God, as many as were ordained to Eter­nal Life, Believed; neither dare we believe such an ineffectual Redemption, as Quakers hand in hand with Arminians, and Pelagians do hold, which only leaves man in a possibility of Salvation, if the sinner will; but may be, the most of Christs Redeemed ones, go to Hell notwithstanding; while Christ, John 17. Speaks of his Redeemed and Ransomed ones, as those Select Ones, whom the Father had given him out of the World, for whom, that is the World, He would not so much as Pray, far less dye; and Keith himself owns in his Malicious Uncharitable Book, Against New-England Ministers, that there are those for whom it may be said, Christ Dyed not. And so this must be the Gentlemans Posi­tion, Christ dyed for all, and dyed not for all; which is a plain contradiction; and farewel Keith's uni­versal Redemption, which if it had not evanished in a contradiction, was uncomfortable, and ineffectual to the greatest number of Redeemed ones.

I Remember in the beginning Keith says, I speak very little of the Spirit of God at all, which I have already shown in the most convincing, and parti­cular manner to be False, by directing the Reader to the particular Pages, and now I am to show he contradicteth himself, by owning in several Questions, and Answers, my asserting, The Spirits Operations, in calling Effectually, in Regeneration, in Working Faith in us, and Uniting us to Christ? But while he is necessitated to own this; He affirms it, To be inconsistent with, and contradictory to, my own and My Brethrens Doctrine; which he endeavours to confirm, by a far fetched, and inconsequential reason, because we deny all extraordinary immediate, and [Page 51] objective Revelation, such as the Apostles had; and tho' we disown this Doctrine of theirs, how it shall Follow, we renounce, all the special Gracious, and saving operations of the Spirit of God, in and by the use of means, and Ordinances of Gods own appointment, and sometimes immediately, where External means of our Salvation are Wanting; in the Regeneration, Sanctification of Souls, & in making them meet for himself in Glory; Heave both to Na­tural and Gracious Souls to Determine.

But every Christian Reader may discover, in this person, a most Arrogant Spirit, to pretend to know my Principles, and Opinions better than I know them my self, and with impudent falshood, to affirm and declare, I have Published an Account of Principles I do not believe; and that they are repugnant to my Brethrens Doctrine; seeing our publick Confessions of Faith, and Catechisms known to the whole Chri­stian World, sayes the same things, and particularly in the Description of Effectual Calling, which is further confirmed in all our common places, and Bodies of Divinity, and in all the practical Pieces, treating of these Subjects, as Mr. Allen of Conversi­on, Mr. Burgess, and Mr. Cole of Regeneration, and many others; and I am satisfied, how oft I have de­livered in publick my Opinion in these matters. I must needs declare, it is an evil Principle, and unfair Undertaking for any to take upon them to Publish Principles, and contradict Principles, of those he is an absolute stranger unto; and it is the true Character of a Deceiver, to possess others with prejudices against our Principles, only by misrepresenting of them, and Fastening Principles on us, which we abhor. And as to all inward Revelation, or speaking of God to the Souls and Hearts of Believers, I never read nor [Page 52] heard of any of our Divines, absolutely deny or dis­own i [...]: And I have upon all occasions, publickly Taught, and Do, and shall in the Strength of Jesus Christ, firmly believe, and that unto the end, the Il­luminating, Sanctifying, Mortifying, Quickning O­perations of the Holy Spirit of God, in the hearts of e­very sound Believer, in restoring the Corrupted Soul to the Forfeited Image of God; so it is evident, how inclinable Keith is to Calumniate, and misrepre­sent us, upon all occasions. How great must the Ig­norance of Quakers needs be, who cannot, or their perversness be that will not, distinguish between Enthusiastick, Immediate, Extraordinary and Obje­ctive Revelations; from the Spirits Gracious and Spi­ritual Illumination [...] his mind, impressing those Truths made known, and Revealed in an ordinary way, by Means of Heavens Appointment; giving them Efficacious Grace to see, Embrace, Close with, and make Saving Application of them to their hearts, and Grace to observe the same in their Lives; which ordinary and extraordinary Operations they confound together, as they do the Universal, or General Presence of Christ, with his special, saving, and gracious Pre­sence, holding him to be in all, after the same man­ner. And whereas he has assumed boldness to affirm, we call it Blasphemy to say, Christ is really in the Saints All the Answer this deserves, is, that it is Noto­riously False, and a groundless Calumny; For all of us firmly believe, That unless the Spirit of Christ be in us, we are none of his; and Christ is in us, except we be Reprobate, and he dwells in all Believers; but from Pauls words, it is by Faith, Eph. 3. 17. as I declared, and that fully from that Text, Colos 1. 27 Christ in you the Hope of Glory. And it is no contradiction to affirm, and believe that God hath [Page 53] called Sinners out of Sin, unto Grace, yet at the same time to feel, and assert, that all have sin remain­ing in them; for it is no hard matter to distin­guish betwixt Sinners being under the Power, Do­minion, and Slavery, or Drudgery of Sin, and a Sinners having some Relicks and Remainders of Sin, and Corruption in them, whereby even in Believers there is a constant and spiritual Warfare raised in the believing Soul, whereas formerly the Strong Man kept the House, the Apostle gives us this distinction; Sin shall not have Dominion over you, you are not under the Law, but under Grace; and the same Apostle, even after his Conversion, complains of his own sinful, wretched Corruption, and at the same time Triumphs in the Victory obtained, for in the next breath; Thanks be to God who has given us the victory; and if Sin in some measure be not contemporary with saving Grace, or Conversion, what must become of Quakers universal sufficient, and saving Grace, and all the multitudes of them, I have ever seen, must according to their own Opinion, be void of Conversion, Grace and Justification; for Sin have been easily discernable in all, neither did ever any of them produce one in­stance for their absolute perfection; and yet none of us assert, that the Saints Sincerity, Thought, Word and Deed▪ as Keith falsely words it; yet if strictly, and spiritually taken; all are attended with Infirmities. I am quarrelled, for asserting in my Catechism, page 25. This Justification and Adoption, are Acts of God, without us, and and work only a relative Change; and that Justification, Adoption and San­ctification once had cannot be Lost. As to the first, Justification is according to the Judgment of all Pro­testant Divines, a gracious Act of Gods Love, in a [Page 54] Judicial Way, upon the account of Christ's Imputed Righteousness, acquitting, and absolving the sinner from Guilt, and consequently from Condemnation. I hope Quakers will not jump in with Papists, who assert, Justification to be the making of one Just, and so Confound it with Sanctification, which the Spirit of God makes to be distinct Acts, tho' always unse­parable. As to Adoption in its nature, it is Gods Numbering us among his Children, a taking us from among the Children of Satan, and Giving us a Right to all the Priviledges of Gods Children; & pray where is the falshood, and danger, in asserting, they are Acts of God without us, bringing Believers into a new Relation unto God, Christ, and the Holy Spi­rit, to whom they are Enemies and Strangers by Nature; seeing at the same time we firmly believe, that there is no Relative Change wrought by God on any Sinner, in Justification or Adoption, without a real, saving, inward, gracious, and universal Change upon the whole man by Sanctification, which are as different by the Language of the Apostle Paul, as Sanctification and Glorification is, Rom. 8. And none are Justified or Adopted, but Sanctified also; all which is asserted in my Catechism; if Keith's con­tentious, Cavelling, and Carping Spirit had allowed him to take notice thereof; for none of us hold, that God makes any his people, or children, without a real, gracious Change, as Pen and Keith would invi­duously and falsely Calumniate us, and our universal­ly known Doctrine, fairly published to the World; any yet that renewing work is not properly Justifica­tion, but Sanctification, which is a gradual work; whereby the Old man of sin and corruption, is Cru­cyfyed, and the New man of Grace, Righteousness or Ho­liness, is r [...]newed and put on, more and more; and [Page 55] though Keith would make Peace of Conscience to be the Essence, and Nature of Justification; yet all Re­formed Divines, with the Apostle Paul make it a concomitant, or rather a consequent Blessing to our Justification, Rom 5. 1. Being Justified Faith, we have Peace with God. And whoever denied Regene­ration to work a real change, which my Catechism plainly asserts. And that Justification, Adoption and Sanctification may be Lost, is not only the Doctrine of Quakers, but of Pelagians, Papists and Arminians too; though Keith and Barclay own that some may Arrive to such a pitch and measure that they cannot Fall away; now this measure must either be higher than Justification, Sanctification, or Regeneration, or they contradict themselves, in opposing Free Grace, and denying the Perseverance of the Saints in Grace with most discouraging and comfortless arguments to Believers, which imply many gross absurdities; and concerning this Head, Mr. John Brown our Coun­try man, in confutation of Barclay, layes down our unanimous Doctrine, and first animadverts all that we hold, the Perseverance of none, but such as are Regenerated; and how false and absurd were it to say, a Sinner Regenerated, or made a Child of God to Day, and yet be a Child of the Devil to morrow, made meet for Heaven, and yet go to Hell, Pardon­ed, and yet Damned. 2. We do not hold a special and inevitable necessary of Perseverance, though un­willing and lying in Sin, as Enemies would insinuate to the prejudice of Truth, as Quakers often have done. 3. We do not maintain a Perseverance de­pending on the will of man, but on the gracious Covenant, The Everlasting Purpose of God, the Un­changeableness of his Love, and Efficaciousness of Christ's Death.

[Page 56] 4 That a Believer may fall away, Back-slide and Depart from God by many degrees, as, (1) From Duty, as Hearing, Reading, Praying, Praising &c. (2) Into Grievous Sins, as Noah, David, Soloman, and Peter. (3) In [...]o great Doubts, and Fears [...] their State. (4) From Degrees of Grace, as from a Strong unto a Weakness of Faith, their Zeal for God, and Religion, may grow ve­ry cold, they may fall from their First Love; they may fall from their former measure of Fear And (5) they may Fall from the Truth of the Gospel, from the Doctrine of Our Lord Jesus, and embrace many gross, and dangerous Errors, and Believe a Lye. (6) They may fall from the Accidentals of their Gracious State, as Sense of Favour, As­surance of Gods Love, Strength of Habits, Measures of Comfort, is oft times and may be remitted, and lost. And yet in the last place, we Believe mentain and hold, There can be no Total and Final Apostacy, and Defection from a Regenerate State, or the Essence, and Habits of all Grace, and this is not only our Doctrine, but the Doctrine of all our Reformed Church­es: tho' K's Invidious Malice is most commonly set against the Reformed Church of Scotland; verifying the Ancient and common saying, Omnis Apostata sua S [...]cte osor. And every serious soul may easily conceive how comfortless, and discouraging the Doctrine of Quakers must needs be, to all Rege­nerated, and Believing Souls; if after Regeneration, being [...] Covenant with God, Sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, Redeemed with the Blood of Jesus, they may yet be Damned in the End, this, and many more are the Absurdities that attend this Ancient Pelagian, and Arminian Error, as [1] Is it not inconsistent with that Puffing up Doctrine [Page 57] of their Perfection, they could never yet demon­strate from instances. [2] It is inconsistent with the Immutability of Gods Love,for whom He Loves He Loves unto the end, for his Gracious purposes, are Unalterable, and his Will Irresistible, Isa. 41. 31 They that wait on the Lord, shall renew their Strength, they shall mount up with Wings, as Eagles they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not be Faint. [3] It is inconsistent with the Stability of the Covenant, that is well ordered in all things, and sure, and all its Mercies, are sure Mercies; hence called frequently, an Everlasting Covenant. Jer. 32 40. And I will [...] make an E­verlasting Covenant with them, and I will not turn away from them, to do them Good, but I will put my Fear in their Heart, that they shall not depart from me. And all Objecting Instances, from Scrip­ture, must implye no Saving Faith, or true Rege­neration, or their Fall was neither Final, nor Total. [4] It is inconsistent with the Faithfulness of Christs undertaking to God the Father in the Covenant of Redemption, it destroys the Efficacy of His Death. Let any Read Christs Prayer to God the Father in, John 17. And he may soon be satisfyed, there was a Select Number given unso Christ to redeem and Ransome. 24. And Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. And he prays, 15. And that God would keep them from the Evil. And he has enga­ged to God the Father, that none that the Father had given him should be Lost; otherwise Christ might be Charged with Unfaithfulness. And such as deny the Perseverance of the Saints must be ignorant of what Christ has done for the confir­mation of the Gracious State of Believers. (1) His [Page 58] Redeeming them from all the Demands of Divine Justice, with his Precious Blood. (2) Redeeming them from the power of Satan. (3) From the Dominion of sin. (4) He is gone to prepare a Place for them. 5 He makes intercession in Heaven for them. (6) He promises his Holy Spirit to abide in them, to compleat his begun work in them, and establish them, all which is abundantly confirmed from Scripture.

5 The Final and Total fall or Apostacy of Regenerate Saints is inconsistent with the Nature of Grace which is an Incorruptible Seed, that can­not be totally extinguished where e're it is planted of God. And farther, it much weakneth the Faith of the Saints, their Hope and Confidence in Gods Preservation of them from Falling which the expe­rience and confidence of the Apostle Paul testifies they firmly Believe Rom. 8. 35. 38. 39. and that in their deepest Tryals, and sharpest Afflicti­ons. Finally, it Robs the Regenerated Children of God, of their Spiritual Joy, and Holy Consolation in the Holy-Ghost, by filling them with Perpetu­al Fears Anxiety, and Doubts about their State. And we find Keith insinuating this, That the Do­ctrine of Perseverance Flatters men in great sins; for tho' the Godly cannot Fall, Finally nor Totally, yet as we have said, they may Fall into many E­vils provoking to God, and injurious to their own Peace, and comfort, which they are ever watchful against, lest they should lose the sense and comfort of Gods Special Love, and Favour; any measure or degree of Grace, or Holiness, which would be most Wounding, and Grievous to them, and so far from Flattery; but this his Calumny is like unto the rest. And I dare refer my self to Quakers them­selves, [Page 59] if Universal Grace, saving and divine Light, the Spirit of God, and Christ, Substantially present in all men, even the most ignorant, wicked and Profane, and absolute Perfection in some, be not more soul-deluding, and self-Flattering Doctrine, then the Perseverance of the Saints once Regene­rated, whose sins and infirmityes, humbled, and makes them constantly watchful; and so it is evident, it destroys the promise of Gods Establishing & con­firming Spirit, and leaves the Catholick Church of God which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against, upon a most Ticklish Foundation, and Lyable to [...] come to nothing; it would annul all Christian Communion and Fellowship, for according to Qua­kers opinion, one may be a Saint to day, and in Christian Fellowship, and may Fall away, and be Damned to morrow; it renders out Pardon comfort­less, seeing after Pardon we may perish Eterna [...]y, and destroyes the Hope and Faith of Life Everlast­ing, seeing no man can firmly believe it, until he have the Enjoyment of it.

The next grand Charge, that highly offended many of that Gang, is concerning a Question in my Catechism concerning the Sabbath; in the Answer I affirm, Quakers and Profane Persons are Enemies to a Sabbath, and now I am satisfied to have an oppor­tunity of showing my reasons to the World, how just, and not invidious this my Charge was, though I mentioned no other Enemies in Judgment, besides Quakers; and notwithstanding of all reasons given to Keith and others at my House, they seem still to be dissatisfied, but it is for the most part, the peculiar Temper of such as Rangle, and oppose all Reason­ing: And that I may refer [...] my self to the Censures of the more unprejudiced, and rational; and I am [Page 60] so far from Recanting, Denying, or Giving any sub­mission for the Charge, that I am the rather confirm­ed, it was most just and deserving, and that without all shadow of the guilt of a Calumny, and that for these following reasons. 1. Because I never met with any others that in reallity opposed this Doctrine be­sides that Party, and though I might hear common Fame accuse others, and meeting with none of their Writings, I had no Warrant, for including them un­der the publick Charge, though my Answer does no way exclude them. 2. All the Quakers I ever con­versed with in Europe or America, declared this as their undoubted Judgment, that all Dayes were alike under the Gospel, and none of perpetual Observation as a Day of Rest; and further, That they were as free to Work, or Labour in their several Callings, and Trades on the First Day of the Week, (called now the Christian Sabbath, or Day of Rest, under the Gospel,) as any other Day of the Week; of which I gave, and am able yet to give several Instan­ces: And I am lately informed, of several Servants of Quakers, otherwise Educated, who have made com­plaint to Magistrates, of their Masters, causing them to follow their daily Labour; and a Witness yet alive, can declare, being on a Sabbath at Thomas Everdens House, perceived no manner of Worship with his Family, but great diligence in dispatching one of his Servants with Necessaries for Building a Sloop; & I have met one of them with a Gun in the Woods on the Sabbath, or First Day of the Week, while we were going to the Publick Worship of God; if such are not to be looked on, without any just Ac­cusation, of an invidious Calumny, Enemies to a Sabbath, let the World judge. 3. They need not make so great a noise, and clamour at this Charge; [Page 61] forhowever others may remain ignorant, yet it is not unknown to Keith, how oft by several others Quakers have been ranked in with several others, Enemies of the Sabbath, long before I had any acquaintance with their principles: as by Mr John Brown, in his Latine Treatise, concerning the Sabbath, also Mr Matthew Crawford in his Learned defence of the Morality of the Fourth Commandment, called Exercitacio Apolo­getica; therefore this charge is not mine only, but of as many as Treat of that Subject. 4. If I can produce their own Word, charging them with as much as I say, will it not appear how unjustly they seem to to be offended at my charge; and if any would pe­ruse that small, but angry Pamphlet of Quakers, so­berly answered by Mr. Mitchel of Aberdeen; and they shall find it confidently asserted, that all Days, are alike, and are told from Rom. 14. 6. & Gal. 4. 10, 11. To Reprehend all such as observe one day of Seven as a Day of Rest; and that all Weekly Observation of a Day is Abolished under the Gospel; And how Keith comes in now of Late to tell us of their keeping the first Day of the Week, without being first reconciled to his own Brethren, both in Practice, and Judgment; And it yet remains for him to declare, By what Authority, or from what Command they keep that Day, and not another; whe­ther it is commanded of God, or only an Ecclesiastick, and Humane Constitution, which until proved to be the Unanimous Judgment of Quakers, must be looked upon to be the Private Judgment of Keith only. But he is Pleased to say, That Quakers keep the first Day of the Week, and spend it in the Religious Exer­cise of Publick, and Private Worship; but this is [Page 62] said, and not Proved; for the contrary is known to most who resort to, and frequent their Houses; where they discern no more Worship in many of their Families, than in the Families of Indians: And He Appeals to their Neighbours as Witnesses, but [...] their Witnesses have affirmed the contrary, and how they can attest to a Worship which can be neither seen nor heard, it passes my skill to Determine

Lastly, As many as know Quakers in England, Scotland, and [...], cannot be ignorant how nei­ther from Obedience to God or Man, could be perswaded to observe the First Day of the Week, but would keep open their Shops, and follow their several Callings; for which they were often drawn to Prisons, and their Goods carryed away; this was not done in a Corner, but manifest & known to all And tho' Keith blamed me, for not char­ging Mr. John Ca [...]ume, as an Enemy, as well as they, but had not the least reason for so doing, for I had oft conversed with Calumis [...]s, and Read the Writings of his Followers, who stoutly defended the Morality of a Sabbath, or the Fourth Command. And what­ever over zealous mistake that Eminent Man of God was under, when he Wrote his Institutions, yet in his Exposition on Genesis, about Eighteen Years after he Wrote his Institutions, owns the Morality of the Fourth Command, and it could not be ceremonial, seeing the Institution of a perpetual Sabbath, was before all Ceremonies, and that this was Calums last Sentiments, is not only Evident from that Commentary, but also from the Principles and Practices, of the Reformed Churches of France, and Geneva, of which Ca [...]ume was the First Refor­mer Now all these things duely considered, & put together, I leave it to any to determine, how far [Page 63] they are wronged in being reckoned with, or numbered among the Enemies to a Sabbath; which has set their peevish Spirit in a flame a­gainst my Catechism, and stirred up their Venom against me, which I ever shall little regard

In page 28. I am Charged with Deficiency, concerning Ministers, and that in three things: and I am ready to own I have wilfully Omitted twice three things concerning Ministers Qualifica­tions, and Call; and pray where is the crime­seeing there are so full Treatises by others on that Subject already Published; and all I intended in my Catechism for Young Ones, was only to lay down the several Duties of Ministers and People; and if I had been guilty of an Omission in that E­numeration, he might have found fault; but I must take notice of an invidious Parenthesis, that Peoples Maintaining their Ministers is a main thing with me. Let the Reader examine my Catechism, and he shall not find ground for this malicious Reflection; for it is expressed in as few words as any other Duty with­out in fisting thereon, and this was the expression of an absolute Stranger to me, and my practice in Re­lation to a Maintainance, to which I am bold to as­sert, I have been ever undenied as Keith, or any of his Brethren. And whatever others have done, I dare affirm, I never bargained with any people about a Maintainance; and have oft refused mony when free­ly offered, and never Enjoyed any Maintainance, but what was most freely offered to me; though I deny not to the Magistrate, a power of Determining Maintainances, when Necessity requires it; and none so unwilling to pay it as perverse Quakers, though I could wish it were voluntary Offerings; yet this par­tial Author would insinuate, as if Presbyterians only [Page 64] were Guilty; exacting Maintainance by force; whereas he cannot be ignorant, that the Maintain­ance of Ministers in Scotland, are not to be compared to what Prelates have, whether Popish or Protestant, neither for quantity, not manner of Exacting. And it is observable, that the Quakers have been brawling and barking unreasonably against all who receive Maintainance, as Hirelings; but the greatest Cham­pions among them, were never able to defend so bad a Cause, as they have been tenacious in for a long time; though now of late, they seem to change their Tunes, and own a Maintainance, providing it be voluntary, and not by Compulsion, as Barclay has owned, who has taken upon him to Publish Quakers Principles, though he never produced any Commis­sion for it; and I am perswaded, he will find it as hard a matter to procure their universal Consent, and Approbation to all he has Wrote; but a Mi­nisters Maintainance among Quakers must be volun­tary, and free, for they would never Exact it by force, for two Reasons 1. Because they never had the Government solely in their Hands, for in Pensilvania they are a mixed people; neither would the Infancy of that Plantation bear it; beside that, their former Railings would have Retorted upon themselves. 2. Because of the multitude of their Teachers, and the Weakness of many of them, that dare not claim a Right to any such Maintainance, as many silly wo­men, and ignorant Mechanicks And it must be for measure or quantity, a necessary Competency, or A­liment, as Barclay calls it; but must Quakers only be Judges of this Competency, or should the Giver, or rather the Civil Magistrate to determine it accor­ding to the several Abilities of the People: And consider what narrow and niggardly Souls these peo­ple [Page 65] have, who would allow no more to the Mini­sters of the Gospel, then common Charity obliges them to give to the most common beggar that goes from Door to Door, even a necessary Competency, and Aliment; whereas M inisters should have such a Maintainance as they may not be necessitated to in­tangle, and incumber themselves with secular Affairs, and be diverted from their holy Office, and Mini­sterial Calling, whereunto they have been Called, and to which they are to be Separated according to the Command of God, concerning Paul and Barna­bas; and further, they ought to have such an Ho­nourable Allowance, as they may not only Live an­swerable to their Station, and be able to maintain Duties to Hospitality, which Quakers Competency, and necessary Aliment, will never render them capa­ble to perform: And it were no hard matter to prove, that many Quakers, even Keith and Barclay them­selves, whose Birth, Education, Travels and Estates are known to many yet alive, have had much more given then their necessary Aliment.

And I know not what Evasion can be found for K's Hundred Pound Per Annum setled on him by the Government in Pensilvania, Exacted of a mixed People, who neither hear him, nor enjoy any benefit or advantage from his School-Keeping, which is their only shift and Back-Door, they would fly out at; which will never Blind the eyes of the Rational; for School Keeping has a peculiar advantage attending it self, without any Publick Tax by compulsion, as they call all our Mentai­nances. And I Dare be bold to say, in behalf of Prosbyterians whom he would chiefly seem to re­proach, that they are as little concerned about men­tainances as any of the Reformed Churches, and [Page 66] value them not, when they come in competition with theirs. And have not the Ministers of the Reformed Church of Scot and, these Thirty years past, have suffered Persecution, even unto Death it self, for preaching the Gospel under to much want, that they have been necessitated to Labour with their won hands, and be take themselves for a time to Merchandising, and yet never would dare to lay aside the Preaching of the Gospel And it is not unknown, how little Ministers have had of Mentainance in Maryland, either voluntary or com­pelled; And Quakers themselves, own they have Stock Purses, out of which they Supply their Teach­ers, and others; and what call you this but a Maintainance; and it is [...] easy when they come abroad, to conceal their Plenty at home, that the Stock Purses may be the more Liberal un­to them, as I doubt not but those of Maryland, & Virginia too, were in his Late Travels, which was the least he could have, for he gained but few Proselytes. And let all Judge how inconsistent their present practices are, with their former un­reasonable pratling against every thing that look­ed like a Maintenance, urging as K. still does, that Text, Freely ye have Received, Freely Give, which was the Advice of Out Saviour to his A­postles, when he enabled them to go forth and work Miracles, Heal the Sick, Cleanse this Lepers, Raise the Dead, Cast out Devils, of which they should make no Merchandiz; tho' they were Commanded to Preach tho Gospel as they go along, tending them that the Time of the Promised Messiah, was now come, who was setting up his Kingdom in the Word, and to whose Laws they were to be obedient. This Doctrine they were to confirm by Mira­cles, [Page 67] which he gives them a Charge, they should work freely, without receiving any Reward for them; that the Miracles being used to their private use, and profit, might not lose their End, which was the confirmation of their Doctrine; now it hereby was understood they should receive no necessary Maintenance, the Apostles might Rationally Judge, they had [...] then to provide well for their jour­ney; no, as, if Our Lord had said, Provide nei­ther God, no Silver, I nor Brass in your [...], nor Scrip for your [...], neither two Coats, neither shoes, nor staves; and the reason added, for the workman is warthy of his Meat, an else where, is worthy of his Hire, and pray what is Mear, and Hire, but the best of Maintenance; and it is observable, the Command for going abroad to bare, in the to of Matthew was only a Tempo­rary Command for that short Journey; for in Luke; they were commanded to take both Purse and Scrip, ch 22 If they were commanded to take none of these things and yet to go abread, and Preach the Gospel, confirming the same with Mi­racles, they must have received maintenance, or they must have perished if their Journey had been long; but Our Lord designed thereby (1) To give his Apostles an experience of depending on his Good Providence and (2) Also teach People, That the Labourer is worthy of his Hire; and let Keith consider that in respect of God all things is free, therefore his School-keeping should be free also. And it is not to be doubt [...]d that our Saviour took Men­tainance himself, sometimes asking, sometimes taking without asking, what he stood in need of, as Water from the Samaritan Woman, and the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath. And it is to be admitted with what [Page 68] Impudence Quakers plead against the Apostle Paul in denying the lawfulness of Ministerial Receiving a Maintainance, seeing he gives so particular a Precept, Gal. 6 6. Let him that is Taught in the Word, Com­municate unto him that Teacheth, in all good things; and if this be the Command of God, it must be Sin in the people to omit it. But the same Apostle pleads for, and reasons the case fully, 1 Cor. 9. wherein he has many convincing Arguments against all Qua­kers in the world; proving first, That the Main­taining of Ministers and Families is warrantable, from 4, 5, 6 verses. 2. In the following Verse he declares the Law says as much, both the Law of God and the Law of Nature, built upon Equity, pleads for it, 8, 9, 10 verse. 3. Common Equity and Justice pleads for it, verse 11. If we have sown to you Spiritual Things, is it a great thing, if we shall Reap your Carnal Things; yet all Pauls forbearing at several times to partake of Peoples Carnal Things, did not at all demonstrate the unlawfulness thereof, but only his prudential declining of that he had really a Right unto as expressed, verse 12.

If others be Partakers of this power over you, are not we rather: Nevertheless we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the Gospel of Christ, and this was the rea­son why he wrought with his own Hands; and Lastly the Apostle concludes with the Necessity of Ministers living by the Gospel, they Preach from the Ordination of God 14 Even so hath the Lord Ordained, that they that Preach the Gospel, should Live of the Gospel. But if Quakers all this while, are only against Superfluous Maintenances they have lost their Labour, for we pleaded not for such, [...] for any other accidental Abuses, that through [Page 70] Warrant from the Word of God, that we are to be­lieve no Immediate or Extraordinary Mission, or Call, even from the Highest Pretenders without Extraordi­nary, and Answerable Demonstrations; as Our Sa­viour, when John sent His Dilciples to be informed, Whether he was the Promised Messiah? and our Lord, who might have easily dispatched them with words, bids them, Go and tell him, The Lame Walk, the Sick are healed, and the Blind receive their sight; and Let him, not trust Words, Lest Seducers, should take an Opportunity, and advantage thereby to deceive. And when Quakers are pursued hotly about Mira­cles, they Smilingly say, John the Baptist wrought no Miracles, and yet his Mission was Extraordinary, and immediate, as K, Alledged at my House,; and [...] improved it, and Particularly against the N England Ministers; and they suppose, they have gained the Day; but me thinks, K as I told him, and all others may justly be ashamed of Producing this as an instance for the Future; for, tho' John wrought [...] Miracles, yet being Co-temporary with our Lord Je­sus, and his Apostles, and they who wrought many Miracles, confirmed this Mission, that he was the Promised Elias; but the Immediate Mission of Qua­kers never was confirmed, either by their own, or by the Miracles of others; tho' some of them have presumed boldly on Miracles, which Prophesying Miracles, As the Eating Quaker in England, (Justly made the Monument of Gods Wrath, and Monster of Mankind) For daring to imitate Our Lord, in that Miraculous Action of His Fasting, Forty Days, and Forty Nights in the Wilderness. And Solomon Ackles who Boastingly challenged Ministers to Fast with him, and Justly Punished for his Unchristian, and bold Arrogance. Another once in Barbadore, [...] ­king [Page 71] upon him, to Prophecy the Death of a Child, which in all humane Probability was beyond all ex­pectation of Recovery; but GOD to confound his Bold­ness, and discover him to be a Deceiver, was pleased to restore the Child, who Lived in health for many Years, and the Quaking Prophet was necessitated shame­fully to Publish his Recantation, wherein he affirmed, he had Belyed the Spirit of God And if so, it is no Wonder they Belye their Neighbours; but any man may see how they come off with their Lying Won­ders, and so shall come off in the End, with their immediate Mission: but it is at Length, come to this, that you must recieve their Verbal testimony, or re­main altogether dissatisfyed, about their Extraordinary Call, tho' some as Keith informed us, at my house run that Self-Confounding, and Universal Gulf of Miracles in Spirit, a New invented Phrase, of worse then mans Wisdome, Far from the Language of the Spirit of God, whose Saving Operations are not Mi­racles at all, to the Spirit of God, and if Miracles, they are Gods Properly, and not Quakers, but this with many more Phrases of theirs, has no Founda­tion in the Scriptures And we desire to know how many of them ever Spake with Tongues, who were not Taught them in the School, or Learned them of others. Farewel then immediate Mission, if you take it not upon the Words of a Quaker.

And that Presbyterians, and Independants, and them only, as he invidiously expresses it, should run to the Church of Rome and Pope for to derive the mission pall, and ordination from thence; is the grossest ca­lumny, and most notorious Lye, that could be hatchell out of hell; and must be of Satan the Father of Lyes: but if K had asserted this, of such has hold no ordina­tion, but from the hands of a Bishop or Pretate, he [Page 72] might have had some plea for his charge; for Rome, and all that Party sufficiently know, there are none so opposite to, nor so faithful, and Zealous against them as Dissenting Protestants were; no not Quakers themselves, who would not have been so great at the English Court, in the late Reign, if they had; therefore a Noted Person lately gained from Rome, affirmed, The Dissenting Protestants, were the Bulwarks of the Protestant Interest in Europe. And I must greatly suspect, what K told me, at my House, as ano­ther Lye, and Calumny, that Mr. John Cetton, of Hampton, in New-England, acknowledged in a Pub­lick Dispute, that He derived his Ordination from the Pope, and the rather, because he abused me, upon is Return, to Mr. Davis, affirming the same thing of me; that, I owned our Mission, and Ordination, from the Pope of Rome; but I am con­fident, his own Conscience could not but witness the contrary to his Face [But it is to be Feared, it was not the First time, he had Learned to Baffle Conscience in more Weighty Matters] For I not only Abhorred, Disclaimed, and Denyed it; but Positively, and Plainly, affirmed, Our Mission was from Jesus Christ, and Warranted from the Scriptures. Hence I give caution to all, not to be Credulous of K's words, however so confidently affirmed; but he were no fit Deciever, if not Possessed with a Spirit of Lyes, and Calumnys But we can casily Justify ourselves from this Aspersion thrown invidiously upon us by Quakers, and particularly, by K in all his Publick, and Private Discourses, and also in some of his Writings, repeated over and over, with an empty noise of Words for if we should say with Calvin, that he and others of our Primitive Reformers were Evangilists, extraor­dinarily [Page 73] Raised, and Immediately Called of God, in that great Exigence of the Church, in calling the People of God out of Popish Darkness, and Super­stition, in bringing them out of Babylon; yet this will prove but a slender Argument for Quakers hold­ing Extraordinary Calls, and immediate Missions, to be Gods ordinary and usual uninterrupted way to the end of the World; because it might be allowed of in that juncture of the Necessity of the Church; for though our Lord himself, the King of his Church, at the beginning of the Promulgation of the Gospel, Called some in an Extraordinary Manner; though at the same time, they had an External Call from Christ as man; yet as soon as the Christian Church began to Encrease, he Commands them to use se­cond Means for that Calling, and Separation of o­thers to the Holy Office of the Ministry in an Or­dinary and Holy Separation to that Sacred Work, as Paul and Barnabas was commanded to be Separa­ted, and there was Casting of Lots used in supplying the number of the Apostles; and the Apostle Paul commands Timothy, and Impowers him to Ordain Elders in every Church, and not to neglect the Gift that was given him by Prophecy, with the Laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery, who are Com­manded to Lay Hands suddenly on no man without sufficient proof of his Parts, and Piety. And further, for their direction in this Scriptural and Orderly Se­paration and Ordination, God has laid down all the Qualifications of Ministers of the Gospel; which Quakers can never find in all their Teachers, especially of the Feminine Sex.

As to our Reformers receiving their Ordination, Mission and Call from Rome, and conveying it to us, which would seem to be the first great puzling and [Page 74] confounding Argument. I shall answer it in [...] following particulars. 1. I would inquire of all Quakers, whether God in that great defection and universal Corruption of the Church, under Romish Idolatry, had then a Church in the World, though in the Wilderness; to deny all Churches, whether Visible or Invisible, really belonging to God, & Jesus Christ, were to overthrow many Promises of God to his Church, of Building her upon an immoveable Rock and that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against her, and it is inconsistent to say, God had a Church among the Jews under their Defections, and Fallings away to Idolatry, and Superstition: Now where Christ has a Church, though invisible & in the Wil­derness, there are the Essentials of Religion, Ordi­nation, and Church-constitution, tho' much infected with Error, and corrupted with Romish Superstition, and these Essentials are still Gods, and to esteem his and not theirs, who are the chief Instruments, Heads, and Authors of all the Corruptions, under that De­fection to whom only and properly belong those Er­rors, Corruptions, Idolatries and Superstitions they have invented and introduced to the Church; And yet the soundest of Divines believe, that upon all Reformations, which undoubtedly are originally and efficiently of God; a people, or particular persons leaving and Renouncing the Abominations of Anti­christ, and their submitting to, and embracing the Truth of the Gospel, and the Purity of all Ordi­nances, and Worship, abandoning the Pope as their Head, and Subjecting themselves to Christs King­dom, they are ipso fact; Constituted Churches of Je­sus Christ, and the Gospel Truths, Ordination and Ordinances, Word and Sacraments they adhere to, are not theirs, nor from those they Separated front, [Page 75] [...] Keith ignorantly and invidiously asserts; but they are still the Lords, and belong to Jesus Christ; for even in the Church of Rome, and under Antichrist, there were Ordinances of Jesus Christ, Word and Sacraments, Praying Preaching, and Praising of Gods, tho' much vailed and corrupted; and consequently they had Ministers or Officers to Dispense these Or­dinances, who undoubredly had some of the Essen­tials of Ordination, which was the Lords, and no­thing was properly Antichrists, but Antichristian Corruptions, of which he is Author; for differen­tle [...] specicon: so that we no more have [...] from the Pope, upon Reformation, then we have Baptism, and the Lords Supper, Reading and Praising; and Quakers have Prayer, Teaching the Scriptures, and their new Observa­tion of the First Day of the Week.

And we would gladly know from what part of Gods Word is it, or can it be made to appear, that upon every Defection and Corruption of the Church, God will Beget and Create New Church­es in an immediate manner under the Gospel, more [...]on under the Law; For after the Detections of [...] and long continuance in Idolatry, upon their [...] and Reformation from all their Corup­tions, and Abuses, they were Re Established & to [...] unto all the Ordinances, and Priviledges of the Church of God; and what does Keith [...] of them, and their Reformation, dare he affirm they had all their Ordination and Worship from [...] Who made Israel to Sin, and other chief idolaters; so it will unquestionably follow, that [...] Ordination, Dectrine, Worship, [...] while warranted from the Autho­or of Gods Word, are from Rome, the Pope, [Page 76] or any Prelate in the World, as Quakers, after the manner of Satan, would Accuse the Brethren. Thus Keiths invincible Armado is beat to pieces; whereby he thought to have overthrown all Chur­ches, who have obeyed Gods Call; and are come out of Babylon. And we are confident that a great part of our Teachings are Christian Experi­ences, to which we oft publickly do Appeal for Confirmation of what is delivered, and many Preachers have a peculiar way of Preaching their own Experiences.

And finally, as he begins, so he closes & shuts up his Paper with groundless, & False Calumnies, and invidious Reflections; affirming, I aslert and alledge False things, concerning Baptism, and the Lords Supper, and First concerning Baptism, (he saith) First, I do not distinguish between Johns Baptism, and Christ; In answer to this, I Freely assent to any, and all the distinction made in the Scriptures; which is not in Substance, or Essence, but in Fruit, and Efficacy, and the same distinction I still make between our External Administration, and Christs Efficacious Blessing thereof: for what John said, we and all Ministers of the Gospel to the end of the World, must still acknowledge; we Baptise with Water, but Christ, and he alone, Baptiseth with the Holy Ghost, and with Fire, And if the Baptism Administred by Christs Disciples, in His Name, Authority and Presence, was Christs and no doubt it was the same with Johns for Substance, as you or any other may Read John 2. 22, 23, 24, 26. verses. For,

1. That Baptism wherewith Christ and His Disciples Baptised in the Land of Judes was Water Baptism. 2. It was an outward, visible, and dis­cernable [Page 77] Baptism to Spectators; saith Johns Disci­ples to him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, the same Baptizeth, and all men come unto him: it is observable, that it was not the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with Fire, as distinct from the outward Ordinance; for it is said, John 4 2. Jesus himself Baptised not, but His Disciples; yet it is called his, in the [...] of this chap. and in the 22. v. of the former chap (1) Because done by his Dis­ciples. (2) By his Command, and Authority. And it was the same Baptism, his Disciples, and Apostles, performed in all and Every Church, where they Preached the Gospel, according to that last Com­mission of Our Lords, immediately before His As­cension, Matth 28. and last Go Teach, and Baptise all Nations, and Lord am with you, to the end of the World. Hence Four things are observable in this Text. 1 That, Teaching of Nations, yea, All Nations, by external means, and instruments, is a Standing and Perpetual Ordinance in the Church of Christ, to the end of the World. 2 That, as many as are Called Ministers of the Gospel, are also Commissionated To Baptise also, Go Teach all Nations Baptising them. 3 That Water Baptism, or the External Ordinance, is that Enjoined, or Com­manded in the Words, and not the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, and with Fire; for it is enjoined to meer men who can do no more then John could do, who Professed he Baptised with Water, and yet we believe many who were Baptised by John, received also the Holy Ghost, otherwise a very empty, and insignificant Ordinance, and unprofitable to all, if nothing else was reaped thereby, but Sprinkling, or Washing with Water; and yet the Outward Mean, Ordinance, and Administration, was from John, [Page 78] and the fruit, efficacy and blessing, was from Jesus Christ, and it is bold Impudence, and Arrogant Pre­sumption, for any to pretend to Baptise with the Ho­ly Ghost and with Fire, which is Christs peculiar Work, and Prerogative. And Keiths answer here [...] unto in his Book, is void of all satisfaction to any Intelligent Person; for he affirms, tho' no man Bap­tize with the Holy Ghost efficiently, yet they may instrumentally; we who use the outward mean, Instrument and Ordinance, may through the Blessing, of God, and Efficacious Presence of Christ's Spirit, [...] undoubtedly are made Instruments of the [...] Grace, Life, and Advantage of that Ordinance: but how Quakers can be Instruments of Baptizing, Spiritually, who are opposite to, and ridicule the outward Ordinance, which is the only proper means, and instrument of Gods own Appointment, I cannot resolve; unless they will take Gods place, by work­ing without Means, and contrary to Means; or they imagine to work Effects by unsuitable causes, and attain an end by improper means; as if a man inten­ded to Merchandize, by Labouring in the Ground, intend for Europe from America, and yet Steer to the South; or by Planting Tobacco, to imagine to Reap Corn; for I am perswaded, that such as in Faith, Administers the outward Ordinance of Baptism, and that purely according to the Divine Institution, Pray­ing, and Depending on God for his Blessing, and Christ for his Vertue, and Presence, are in the most probable way of being Instruments of the Grace of Baptism; so that this Baptism is a standing and pen­petual Ordinance, to the End of the World; which is clearly inferred from the Promise annexed, which is perpetual; and, Lo I am with you to the End of the World, as durable as Teaching it self, which the after [Page 79] practice of the Apostles, and Servants of Christ to this day Confirm,& should be continued until Christ's Second Coming, notwithstanding of all Gainsayers. He further would insinuate, That we Learned and Received Sprinkling of Children from the Church of Rome; but it is easy to make appear, they go hand in hand with Rome in more things than we do, who are known to all the Followers of Antichrist to walk more opposite to; and in abhorrence of their Princi­ples and Practices, then any others: for their Univer­sal Redemption, their Free will, their denying Per­severance, their possible Perfection in this Life, their Vi­lipending the Scriptures, and denying it to be the Rule, and their holding the Pope of Rome not to be Anti­christ, and their Denying the Morality of the Fourth Command, they have [...]aked and picked these with many more out of that filthy Sink, and stinking pud­dle of Romish Corruption; and as for our Sprinkling in Baptism, it is not so repugnant to Scripture, as perverse Quakers do imagine: For Water in Baptism, Represents the Blood of Jesus Christ, and why not Sprinkling, the Sprinkling of the Blood of Christ, which is so clearly expressed by the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews; but neither Infant Baptism, nor Sprinkling is a Controversy between Quakers and us; for 1 They are against the Baptism of Old as well as Young. (2.) They are against Washing or Dipping as well as Sprinkling; therefore I wave both. And next, I shall make appear, That George Keith is guilty of a double falshood concerning Baptism, in his Book. 1. In opposition to Scripture, to say with his Brethren, that Water Baptism was only for Johns Dispensation, and conse­quently Abolished, or abrogated in Christ; where it was continued all the time of Christ's Life, and after he was Dead and Gone, and still does without [Page 80] all interruption, as any may read in the Acts of the Apostle. 2 He contradicteth himself, and his Bre­thren too, in saying, that only it stood in force in Johns time, and abolished immediately; yet some may be Sent of the Lord, and Instructed to Baptise with Water, and if they can prove they are Sent of the Lord, should be gladly Received; but His Labor, hee Opus est; for how they go about to prove this, they have never yet told us. Now let his Friends and Followers consider and examine, what this man would be at; so [...], it is abolished, and yet they may be called by the Spirit of God to Administer it; can it be supposed, that the Spirit of God will call any to Administer that Worship, that is Removed and Abolished by God and His Holy Spirit; were not this to make God and His Holy Spirit, who are Es­sentially one, to Clash with themselves, which were Biasphemy to affirm? He impugnes Water Baptism, with all his might, as not now warranted by Scrip­ture; and yet will Justifie a Call, and Mission to Administer Abrogated Worship; and from the same Argument, why not Called and Sent to perform all the Abrogated Services, Rites and Sacrifices under the Law, as Circumcision, the Passover, and all Legal Sacrifices; and so from a pretended Call, to set up again the M [...]saical Worship? This would be a brave Spiritual Work indeed; and to make this appear to be the Judgment of others of that Party, as well as his own; he acknowledged at my House, A Quaker once Baptised with Water, and was approved of for it. Is Water Baptism not warranted by Scripture, but Abolished since Johns Dayes, and yet performed and approved of by those who are Enemies thereunto, from an imaginary, and unknown Cast, and Mission, which would be to introduce the grossest Enthusiasm [Page 81] [...] the World, and an open door to all wild fancies, and imaginations? Let Keiths Friends and Follow­ers, beware of this mans principles, and Books.

And concerning the Lords Supper, he asperses us all; but I doubt not to make it convincingly appear, that he both contradicteth Scripture, and his Brethren too: 1 He contradicteth Scripture, in undervaluing this great Ordinance, as no Special, Divine, Spiritual [...] Gospel Ordinance; but Jumbles it in with the com­mon and dayly Eating, and ordinary means of Believers: an high indignity to this Ordinance, and the Author of it, repugnant to Scripture, and inconsistent with the sure, and certain experience of thousands of the Godly, who have Eat at the Table of the Lord, to their un­speakable comfort, and transporting Consolation, more then they reaped by their ordinary Meals, so that Christian Experience witnesseth against them, and confures all their Quibling Arguments, and Sophisti­cal Quirks; and my own experience of the Grace, Blessings, and Benefits, of this Great Special, and Solemn Ordinance, shall be an unanswerable Ar­gument to me, against all Hereticks in the World. And it is also strange, with what impudent Spirit, they can call the Supper of the Lord no Special Ordinance distinct from Ordinary Meals. For, (1) Our Lord oft Eat with Mixed Multitudes; but in this Ordinance with a Select Number of his own, even his Apostles: (2) He never did Celebrate that Ordinance, but one, and that was in the very Night, wherein he was Betrayed; a great Argu­ment of his Love, and Faithfulness to his Church. (2) He Instituted it immediately after the Passover, and that Hymn that was usually Sung, after the Passover, was deferred till after the Administration of the Lords Supper, to signify the Abrogation of the [Page 82] one, and Institution of the other in its Room, and Place (4) At what other Meals, did ever Our Lord say, This is my Body and as oft as you do it, do it in Remembrance of me? (5) Those that make their Ordinary Meals to be the Lords Supper, which is a new notion of K's, they alter the E­llements at your Pleasure, which are Signs institu­ted of God, the Bread to signify his Flesh, and Wine to signify his Blood; and they Arrogantly & Presumptuously appoint others, Fish, Flesh, and what ever comes in the way, far from the practice of the Apostle Paul, in the Church of Corinth, who delivered nothing to that Church in this great Or­dinance, but what he received of the Lord Jesus, the Author of it [...] retaining all, the Essentials both for matter, and manner, waving only some occasio­nal, and accidental Circumstances, therefore Ad­ministers it in Bread and Wine. 2 He Reflects on us, by charging us with Popish Consecrations, but in this, and many things else, he cannot be so Ignorant, as Malicious; for he knows, we abhor all Popish Consecration; And all we do, is only to Pray to God for a Blessing on the Elements, that God would be preased to vouchsafe his Gracious Presence, and Sanctify the Elements of Bread and Wine, making his own Ordinance Effectual, for the Spiritual Nourishment of Believers: and as we Eat Bread, and Drink Wine, so we may Feed by Faith, and Spiritually upon Jesus Christ, and what Popery is here, let the World judge. All this K has seen in our Directory for Publick Worship.

Lastly, In his Book, he Quarrels our Eating in this Ordinance so Sparingly, and would seem to approve of a Plentiful Meal, and a full Stomach, and commend the Quantity; but I am sure this is [Page 83] not Spiritual, but Carnal: Arguing to the Pampen­ing of our Flesh; and Flarly contrary to the Appre­hension Paul gives to the carnal Corinthians, even Eating at the Lords Table, to the Nourishment of their Bodies; which was a great and Sinful abuse of that Holy Ordinance, 1 Cor. 11. 22. What have ye not Houses to Eat and Drink in, or despise ye the Church of God; showing that Eating the Lords Supper, is another thing then Eating at home, only to the Nourishment of our Bodys, for which the Holy Or­dinance of the Lords Supper was never instituted.