An Epistle Unto Two Daughters of Warwick, Response to letter · Response 4 – Excerpt from letter 11
H. A.
UUHat a sandy foundation of Christianity H. N. hath layd / we hav seē before by his doctrine of God and of Christ / and of mans righteousnes. Here / (to build hay on his rotten ground / ) he perverteth an another scripture / and would father his error on the Apostle Paul / who most of al other did set against it. For the teaching the salvation in Christ to be by Fayth, as before is shewed: H. N. wil have him say it is by Love, the Love that is in vsus; which Love he expoundeth (as his manner is) to be Christ himself; so wresting the word / (as did the old serpent / ) vntounto mens destruction.
The Love treated of by the Apostle / 1 Cor. 13. is a qualitie in the Saincts / wrought in them by the spirit of God; as it is written / |Gal. 5. 22.The fruit of the spirit is Love, &c. Now this Love which is in vsus / (whither it be towards God or our brethren / ) is not the foundatiō or cause of our happines / but an effect thereof / as we may learn by the Apostle / that sayth / †1 Ioh. 4. 10.Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that he loved vsus, & sent his son, to be a reconciliation for our synnes. Which Love / when we perceiv by faith; then we agayn doe love the Lord; as it after followeth / |vers. 19.We love him, because he loved vsus first. Then from the Love of God / floweth also the Love of our brethren / as is further added / †vers. 21.And this commandement have we of him, that he which loveth God, should love his brother also. And that these graces come not of our selves / (and consequently ar not meritorious in vsus / nor causes of our salvation.) Moses taught his people / when he sayd / |Deut. 30. 6.The Lord thy God will circumcise thy hart & the hart of thy seed, that thou mayst Love the Lord thy God with al thy hart & with al thy fowl, that thou mayst live. As for the cause of our salvation / that it is onelyonly Gods Love and grace towards vsus / the Apostle Paul sheweth saying†Eph. 2. 4. 5. God which is rich in mercy, through his great Love wherwith he loved vsus, even when we were dead by syns, hath quickned vsus togither in Christ; (so) by grace ye are saved. This Grace we apprehend by fayth; which fayth / if it be alive / stirreth it self / and|Gal. 5. 6. worketh by love. And thus the Saincts doe shew their fayth by their Love and good works; but in case of justification before God / and mans salvation / al works are excluded / as the same Apostle proveth saying / |Rom. 4. 6.David declareth the blessednes of the man, vntounto whom God imputeth justice without works. This being so / what labour they for / but our curse and wretchednes / which would have vsus rely vponupon our Love, or any good works / for the saving of our sowles.
His next inference is more mischeevous / when he expoundeth those words / if I have not Love, thus: That is (sayth H. N.) whosoever hath not Christ is without God. Thus maketh he Love in vsus to be Christ; and so the playn doctrines of the Gospel concerning our Saviour shal be but a fable. And that this is his meaning / he sheweth elswhere more playnly / when he sayth / *H. N. First exhort. ch. 12. sect. 23. 24.If ye wil not that the wrath of God should come or fal vponupon you, so deal faithfully before God & his holy ones, & walk with your Spirit, in the Lovely and verteous Being, fasten your mind therto, & build your righteousnes theron, for that is an eternal fast standing foundation, wheron al Gods prophets & holy ones have builded, and is Christ himself. Here men may see what a miserable foundation he hath layd / for to build our righteousnes on / evē our own walking in the lovely & verteous being, and this with him is Christ. Wherby he proclameth himself to be Antichrist: for the Apostle John sayth / †1 Ioh. 4. 3.Every spirit which confesseth not Iesus Christ comen in the flesh, is not of God, but this is (the spirit) of Antichrist. Now to say that Love (which is an affection of the mynd / ) is Christ; is to deny him comen in the flesh / out of the loynes of David and Abraham / of the virgin Mary / in the dayes of Herod the King / as the scriptures playnly teach.Mat. 1. & 2. Rom. 1. And by as good reason may H. N. deny that ever ther was any such man as Adam, any such beast as the Serpent, any such creation of the world / as Moses describeth / Gen. 1. or any God: and so by his allegories / overturne al religion / and bring Atheisme in the place; which in deed he hath done / with most high abomination / in deifying himself and blaspheming God. By Christ, or righteousnes, H. N. sayth he meaneth the being like Christ, not any ceremonial Christ: so he seemeth to esteem the playn doctrines of the gospel / to be but ceremonial, that wheras we read there of one Jesus to be crucified for our syns &c. this he coūteth but a ceremonie / shadow or figure / such (it may be) as was the†Gen. 22. 13. ram that Abraham offred / or the beasts that Aaron killed / or (perhaps) the parable that*Iudg. 9. 7. &c. Jotham told: for the true Christ that saveth men / is the Lovely being that is in the Familists themselves: this idol hath their god H. N. out of his prudency according to his fleshly mind set vp. And this is a great secret / or mysterie of iniquity.
H. N.
5. Herevpon my beloved mought ye or som other say, we learn not, or ther is not any thing taught vntounto vsus, then out of the clear scripture, which may not lie. Yea my beloved the scripture lyeth not, but al those which ar not instructed through the spirit of Christ, they lie & are beguiled, & signify or expoūd the scripture which is spokē through the holy Ghost, & shewed out in the spirit of life Iohn. 6. vponupon an earthy or elementish foundation, wherthrough the man can not obteyn or get any renewing of the hart. Even like as in the witnessing of the scripture ther is witnessed sufficiently to those that can vnderstand the same. Who is ther without the word of the Lord which is spirit & life, Iohn 6. that hath atteyned vntounto the salvation, or who hath I beseech you in any world, brought forth any true witnes, vnlesse that he through the Spirit of the Lord, which is his word, become altogether born anew…
H. A.
UUE are sure the sacred scripture l…th not / but H. N. which abus…th and falsifieth the scripture / and denieth Jesus to be the Christ / making Love and the Lovely Being in himself and his familie / to be Christ, (as we have heard:) is by the Apostle condemned for a Liar and an Antichrist, 1 Ioh. 2. 22. and he not being instructed through the Spirit of Christ, hath taught an earthly and rotten foundation / to the ruine of true religion.
The scripture cannot rightly be vnderstood or opened but by the Holy Ghost, that is the gifts of the holy Ghost. But some have the gifts of the Spirit / which yet are not themselves altogither born anew: as had Balaam / the Scribes and Pharises / Caiaphas / Judas the traitor and others many / which as the Apostle sayth / Heb. 6. 4. were once lightned & have tasted of the heavenly gift, & were made partakers of the holy Ghost. Therfore it is false which H. H. writeth / that none in any world, brought forth any true witnes, vnlesse that he became altogither born anew. Againe he here brocheth another error / in expounding the Spirit of the Lord, to be his word; which H. N. in his grosse vnderstanding perversly gathereth from Christs words Iohn. 6. 63. the words that I speak vntounto you are spirit, wherby our Lord meaneth that his words were spiritual, not that they were the Holy Spirit it self. For he vseth the like phrase of a spiritual and regenerated man saying / Except a man be born of water and of the spirit / he cannot enter into the kingdome of God; and / that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Iohn. 3. 5. 6 Now seing H. N. describing his Communialty of the Love / sayth / ‡Spirit, land of peace. cha. 33. sect. 5.Whosoever cometh into this good city, he becometh altogither born anew in the spirit, he may by like reason conclude that himself and his Nicholaitans / are also the holy Spirit, and so be a blasphemer against the Holy Ghost, as he is against the Father and the Son. The Scriptures teach vsus playnly to distinguish between the word and the Spirit of the Lord / this latter being cause and author of the former / as it is written / 2 Sam. 23. 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake in me & his word was in my tongue: and of al the prophets it is witnessed / that they spake as they were moved by the holy Spirit. 2 Pet. 1 21. The Apostle sayth / †1 Pet. 1. 25.this is the word which is preached among you; and how they preached it / an other sheweth / when he sayth / that|1 Cor. 2. 12. 13. by the spirit of God they knew the things given them of God, and spake those things not in words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the holy Spirit teacheth. that al men may see how ignorantly (if not worse) H. N. hath confounded the word and the Spirit of the Lord / as if they were one thing.
H. N.
6. Note wel, or consider of fellowship, the estate or manner of the Apostles, how that they, although they went about so long tyme with Christ, & wer alwayes with him, whiles the power of God was wrought through him, vnderstood not what the mind of the Lord was, concerning the godly causes, before that the day of Pentecost or Whitsontide, when that they received the holy Ghost, was come vntounto them. Even like as there standeth written, how that they sayd at the tyme when Christ was crucified among them, we had hoped or supposed, that he should have delivered Israel, and it is now the third day, and ther cometh nothing of it, we wil goe a fishing. For they supposed that Christ should have set vp a fleshly kingdom.
H. A.
HEre H. N. to magnify himself / as a spiritual and godded man, spareth not to wrong the holy Apostles; as if they before Pentecost, (Acts. 2.) vnderstood not the scriptures / nor preached the word truly; wheras it is evident that they were sent and had preached the word long before / Luk. 9. 1. 2. which word Christ had given them and they received / Iohn. 17. 8. 14. and were made clean by it / Iohn. 15. 3. and he had opened their vnderstanding to vnderstand the scriptures Luk. 24. 45. though afterward at Pentecost, they received more plentifull graces of the spirit / when Christ was gone from them. Act. 2. 1. 2. 4. &c.
Again H. N. as if he delited to falsify the scripture / sayth there standeth written, how that they sayd when Christ was crucified, we hoped that he should hav delivered Israel &c. wheras these words were spoken by Cleopas and an other disciple which were none of the Apostles / as appeareth Luk. 24. vers. 18. 21 33. and to make vp his patcherie / he addeth that they sayd / it is now the third day, & there cometh nothing of it, we wil go a fishing Wheras those two spake not at al of going a fishing, but other men at an other time, Ioh. 21. 3. By this the reader may mind what credit is to be given to H. N. his allegations of scripture / who careth not to profane the holy word / for maintenance of his lies / and setteth things down as they come in his idle head. But why say I so of this godded man; seeing men|H. N. 1. exh. ch 13. S. 11. ought not to distrust him, nor suspect any manner of evil or vnwisdom by this Oldest Father; whose eysight (as himself sayth)*Proph. of the spir. ch. 1. s. 2. was clearer then Chrystal, & his vnderstanding brighter then the Sun.
H. N.
7. The whiles then that the Apostles which dayly went about with Christ, and had the word of the Father dayly among them, vnderstood not the Spirit of the Lord: how should then the multitude of these, (which now say that they are Christians, & yet neyther have nor know spirit nor word, but go on with their fleshly prudencie in the literal scripture, and set forth the same with their fleshly harts before the simple people, as it seemeth best vntounto them, and say even so very stowtly, we have the word of the Lord, wheras it is but their own word, wherin that they through their own prudencie are gendred or begotten,) feel eyther perceiv the same.
H. A.
THe application of this invective / belongeth to H. N. himself and his Nicholaitans / who out of his fleshly hart as seemeth best vntounto him / though against the literal scripture / setteth forth his forgeries to the simple people; yet boasteth very stowtly / that he is‡H. N. Gospel. ch. 1. se. 1. anoynted with the holy ghost, in the old age of the holy vnderstanding of Iesu Christ, godded with God in the spirit of his Love, made heyr with Christ in the heavenly goods of the riches of God; illuminated with the spirit in the heavenly truth, the true light of the perfect being: elected to a minister of the gracious word &c. so that in him and his sect / the prophesie is fulfild / which foretold how in the last dayes / men should be lovers of them selves, boasters, proud, cursed speakers &c. 2 Tim. 3. 1. 2. But if the Apostles (as he sayth) vnderstood not the spirit of the Lord; how should then he / (that is sold into syn / and given over vntounto heresies which are works†Gal. 5. 20. of the flesh / ) feel or perceiv the same?
H. N.
8. It is true they have the scripture, and the same giveth witnes of the Lord and of the word, but is not the word it self Iohn. 5. neyther yet may any man vnderstand the witnessing of the same, vnlesse that he hath first inherited the spirit of the Lord in the second birth.
H. A.
ONe evil and heresie draweth on another / wher God restreyneth not men by his grace. Here H. N. denieth the scripture to be the word of the Lord / saying that it giveth witnes of the Lord and of the word. Which he would gather from Christs speech Iohn. 5. 39. Serch the scriptures for they testifie of me; but he abuseth the scripture and concludeth amisse / as if because it giveth witnes of the Lord Iesus, therefore it is not the word; the contrarie wherof is true / it giveth witnes of him, therfore it is his word. For Christ playnly calleth that which is written in the Law / the word, Iohn 15, 25. and so doth Paul / Rom. 9. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 54. and Peter 2 Pet. 1. 19. The scriptures (for we speak not here of the essential word of the Father / which †Iohn. 1. ….is Christ himself) are the word of the Lord written, even as the lively preaching of the prophets and Apostles / was the word of the Lord spoken. The beginning of their books sheweth this; as Hos. 1. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea; Ioel. 1. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Ioel; and many the like. It is sayd Exod. 20. 1. God spake al these words; and in Exod. 24. 4. it is said Moses wrote al the words of the Lord. If then that be Gods word which is spoken / that also is his word which is written; and H. N. is but an instrument of Satan / to teach otherwise / that he may bring his own word in the place. If the scripture be not Gods word, because it is a witnesse: then the Holy Spirit, which H. N. made the word (before in sect. 5.) is not so / seeing that is a witnesse also; 1 Iohn 5. 6. yea Christ is a witnesse Rev. 1. 5. God the Father is a witnesse, 1 Iohn 5. 9. 10. the Apostles also were witnesses, Luk. 24. 48. If then that which is a witnes, is not the word, then none of these / but H. N. and his dreames must be the word, to weet / of the Serpent; and he indeed is no witnesse of God / neyther do his writings bear testimony to the truth / but seek to destroy it.
H. N.
6. Oh my beloved look into the same a little with me, what vncertayn witnessings that we out of an earthly or a natural Being, have followed after, even vntil this day. We may wel say with the Prophet, it is altogither lies what the scripture learned preach eyther teach for asmuch as they do reject the word of the Lord Ier. 8. Here giveth the prophet a distinction or diversity, betwixt the word of the Lord, & the witnessing of an vnregenerated man, which he bringeth forth out of the Letter of the scripture.
H. A.
THe more we look / the more indeed we see what vncertayn witnessings you H. N. out of an earthly Being, have followed after, even vntil this day. This stil more and more appeareth in your abusing of the prophets and Apostles. Here you would father a distinction vponupon Jeremy / as if the word of the Lord, and that which is written in the scripture / were not one and the same; the Prophet teacheth no such thing; but blameth the Jewes for rejecting the word in truth and deed / whiles they boasted to be wise / and to have the law with them Ier. 8. 8. 9. He denyeth not the written law to be the word; (for I have before proved / that it was Gods word Exod. 20. 1. & 14. 4.) but sheweth how vnregenerate men wil abuse it / and yet boast of it; as your self H. N. are found to falsify the word / and yet vaunt your self to be a godded man, and minister of the gracious word. Every |Mat. 5. 18.jod and title / and consequently every Letter word and sentence of the scripture / is Gods vndoubted word / though yow and al Divils should deny it; the false glosses / and heresies that yow and other vnregenerated men gather from it / are the word of Satan; which the scripture it self / by help of Gods spirit / evidently doth disprove / and so the word of the Lord endureth for ever; and that is the word which the Apostles preached / 1 Pet. 1. 25. and what they did preach / is recorded in their writings.
H. N.
10. Oh if these men, which now so boldly or freemindedly doe say that they are Christians, and wil alwayes confesse Christ with the mouth; had eyes to see, & the right spirit for to vnderstand: then should they surely cease or leav off, for to walk in the strange or erring wayes.
11. There is read in the scripture, that Christ should be confessed or acknowledged; which is a very true witnes: but the mind or meaning of the Lord therin do verie few vnderstand. And many suppose (whiles they have read in the scripture of one Christ, & likewise through their industry or prudencie, they know that in times past ther was one Christ in Israel, which was born amongst his own,) that the same when they know it, & confesse it with their mouth, is the right confessing of Christ, wherof the scripture speaketh. No my beloved, no, the confession of Christ must stand in greater force or effect, then to be confessed with the mouth, in the ceremonical service, which is a baptising with water, or an other elementish confession.
H. A.
HEre H. N. openeth his evil mind more playnly to the two daughters; Whom hitherto he hath boarded with feighned flattering speeches. First he is offended that m…n wil so boldly say they are Christians: But we have no cause to be afrayd or ashamed of this name / which is warranted in the word of God / Act. 11. 26. 1 Pet. 4. 16. But to be caled The family of Love, is a name that H. N. hath invented and taken to himself and his sectaries. Secondly he speaketh of erring wayes; when he hath not yet shewed any one error / that we walk in;3 Ioh. 1…. but pratled against vsus (as the Apostle sayd of Diotrephes) with malicious words.
Then coming to speak of confessing Christ he denyeth not the thing; but stands vponupon the meaning. He inveigheth against the knowing & confessing with the mouth of one Christ, (whom they read of in the scripture) that in times past was born in Israel &c. Wherin he teacheth open Antichristianity; for our Saviour speaking of his own person that was born in Israel / sayd / ‡Ioh. 8. …4.except ye beleev that I am He, (meaning the redemer of the world which was promised;) ye shal die in your syns. and agayn praying to his Father he sayth / †Ioh. 17. 3.this is life eternal that they know thee the onelyonly very God, & whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. The Apostles |2 Tim. 2. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 3. 4. Ioh. 1. 1. 14.preached this one man and no other / who was born among his own / of Davids seed after the flesh / according to the scriptures; they require a confession of this Christ with*Rom. 10. …. the mouth / as well as beleef in him with the hart; and did themselves confesse him with the mouth / as ensamples vntounto vsus. Act. 2. 22. 23. &c. & 3. 13. &c.
But H. N. liketh not of this Christ, nor of this manner confessing with the mouth; he would perswade an other Christ bred and borne in his own fansie and corrupt imagination / as before hath bene shewed; and another manner confession doth he require: which what it is / let vsus now examine.
H. N.
12. Mark wel what I write, No man can confesse Christ among al those that wil confesse him, vnlesse that he in his like being, have his fashion or shape in him; not according to the elementish ceremonies, wherwith the one maketh another wise with the historical scriptures: O no, but according to the true being, or flowing out of the Christian-like nature. Through which Christian-like nature, ther is subdued or brought vnderunder foot, among al those wher the same is born, out of grace, the death, Divel & hel.