Parallels Censures, Letter 1 · Section 11
The eleventh Section.
The next poſition is your third, which is this, viz.
3. In maintaining that it is not lawful to heare any miniſters amongſt vsus whatſoever they be no… to joyne in prayer with ſuch as feare God among vsus: I for my part hold both vnlawful: bicauſe your miniſters are falſe miniſters: & your people of falſe Churches: Now how can wee who are the Church and body of Chriſt, have any Spirituall communion with you, who are the miniſters and ſubjects of Antichriſt. 2. corinth. 6.14-16.
But heer you would needes have vsus beleeve that ther be many that feare God among you. & that they are particularly known vntounto vsus: for my part I do beleeve generaly that God hath his people in Babylon, & even among you who are Babel that is confuſion: & I do alſo beleeve that thoſe who are miscalled by the name of Puritanes, are the moſt likely to be Gods people: but to ſay, certainly this or that Puritane hath ſaith or feareth God, I cannot doe by any warrant out of the word of God that I ſee. For know you that ther is only one true forme of a viſible Church, Eph. 4. ther is one body: in this body ther is one only true faith, for the Apoſtle faith the …aith is one: but none of you al are mēbers of this body which is a communion of faithful men Seperated from al vncleanes, & walking in the obedience of al Gods ordinances: & therefor none of you al are of the true faith which is found only in the true body.
You shal ſee Mr. Be. how many things I chardg you al with.
1. You are mingled with al the abhominable people of the land cōtrary to theſe ſcriptures. 2. Cor. 6.17. Apoc. 18.4.
2. You cal God Father jointly with al the people of the Land whō are brethrē of you & members of the ſame Church with you: with is vntrue if you take your ſelves to be faithful: For they are of their Father the Devil.
3. You make Chriſt a Mediator to you al in common with al the profane people of the land, which is contrary to Apoc. 8.2. Ioh. 17.9.
4. You make al the wicked people of the land members of Chriſt, & members of your ſelves, in the ſeales of the covenant, if you challendg your ſelves to be Faithful: which is contrary to 1 Cor. 6.15. & 10.16.17.
5. You refuſe Chriſts Teſtament & his Kingdome, & will not have him to raigne over you in his owne Offices & Lawes: which is contrary to theſe places. Luk. 19.27. Apoc. 14.9-11.
6. You vtterly reject the cenſures of admonition in the thre degrees therof contrary to Mat. 18.15-17. Heb. 10.24.25.
7. You ſuffer your ſelves (if you challendg to be Gods people) to be deprived & robbed of the powre of Chriſt, to choſe your own officers contrary to Act. 6.5. & 14.23.1. tim. 3. toto. & 5.21. & 6.13.14.
8. You reject the truth, we by our teſtimony offer vntounto you; yea you perſecute it by ſlaunders, by lyes, by raylings, though many of you have been enlightened by it: how then can we account you faithful certainly: but we muſt certainly know thēto be Faithful with whome we pray: For whatſoever is not of Faith is ſinne: I pray you miconſtrue me not: For although I dare not ſay you have Faith of a certainty, yet I hope wel of many of you in particular: but to tel you plainly I hope better of many that never knew this truth then of you & ſome of your Diſciples whome I know by: their owne confeſſion to have beē inlightened with it, & yet now oppoſe againſt it: look to your ſelves, your eſtate is fearful: if our goſpel be hid ſaith the Apoſtle, it is hid to them that perish, 2. cor. 4.3. & when certaine were hardened & diſobedient ſpeaking evil of the way before the multitude (as you doe) Paul departed from them, & Seperated the Diſciples, Act. 19.9. & ſo doe wee to you, and therefore our practiſe is warrantable: Therefore conſider theſe things that I write, for I profeſſe before the Lord that this truth which wee teſtifie vntounto you is as cleer and evident vntounto vsus as the noone day: and obſerve it well that thoſe among you that have been enlightened with it, and now quench it, shall grow from evill to worſe, and shal have Gods hand out againſt them, ſo as every man shal ſay the Lord is avenged of them, except they returne againe: and ſo I leave this point.
Paralleles, Cenſures, Obſervations, aperteyning to the eleventh Section.
Mr. Bern. Sep. Schiſ. pag. 152. Saith that thoſe men have loſt the feeling of former grace & all true charity, that ſay thus, viz: That they cannot ſay certainly, by any warrant off Gods word, that any of vsus hath eyther Faith or feare of God: & he nameth Mr. Smyth in the margent.
Againe, pag. 58. he writeth thus, viz: one of them writeth that certainly he cannot by the word be perswaded that any of vsus hath eyther true Faith or feare of God: naming Mr. Smyth in the margent.
I write in this Section thus: that particularly, & certainly, I cannot ſay by any warrant of Gods word that I ſee, that this or that perſon hath Faith, & feare of God among you: yet I ſay alſo: That I verely beleeve generally that God hath his people among you, & that they are in al likely hood the perſons that are miscalled Puritanes:
Heer I wish the conſcionable reader to conſider Mr. Bern. evil dealing whither ignorātly or maliciouſly I know not: I ſpeake generally & ſpecially: Generally I doe certainly beleeve that the Lord hath his people in England: Specially I ſay certainly & particularly, I know not who they be yet in likelyhood they are the Puritanes ſo called: now Mr. Bern to make the Lords truth odious, & his owne part good, perverteth this ſpeech off myne in 3. particulars, 1. he leaveth out the good that I ſay, viz: that I certainly beleeve Gods people to be in the Lād, & that in likelyhood they are the Puritanes, 2. in his ſpeach he leaveth out this word particularly knowne to mee, 3. he in one of his ſpeeches, viz: pa. 59. tranſporteth the word, Certainly, to the beginning of the Sentence, as if I were certainly perſwaded that none of the Land feared God or had Faith: I beſeech the Gentle Reader to marke his fraud & evil dealing, & ſo to truſt him according to his deſert, as alſo to conſider what I ſay, & therefore to read the beginning of this Section where my words are manifeſt: al that I entend is this: That viſibly, certainly, & particularly I cannot ſay any one to have Faith or feare of God in the Churches of England, which are Falſe Churches: buc generally, certainly, & inviſibly, I beleeve ther are thouſands, viz: a remnant according to the Election of grace: See for this Rom. 11.3.4. compared with 1. King 19.10. Revel. 18.4. Mr. Bern. I will not deſire the Lord to reward you according to your workes as Paul did: but I deſire the Lord to give you eyes to ſee, & a hart to acknowledg this your ſinne, & I deſire all men to take notice of Mr. Bern. deceiptfull dealing in this one particular, and accordingly to judg of the reſt, of his dea…s.
Further, pag. 152. Mr. Bern. accounteth this one of our errors, to hold that None of the Miniſters of England may be heard: and pag. 155. He reckeneth this as another of our errors, to deſend it to be vnlawfull to joyne in praver with any of the aſſemblies.
Seing the aſſemblies Eccleſiaſtical are falſe Churches, and the members of the aſſemblies members of falſe Churches, how can the members of true Churches have communion with them in that eſtate and ſtanding. For Chriſt and Antichriſt, the members of Chriſt, and the members of the ſtrumpet cannot bee mingled together, and as it is impoſſible that oyle & waters should mingle, ſo cannot the body of Chriſt and Antichriſt the members of the one body and of the other be made one: Braſſe, Iron, Silver, Gold, cannot poſſibly be mingled with clay or earth: No more can the members of the true Church, and the members of the falſe Church: but in al the parts of Spirituall communion, as prayer, prophecy, prayſing God, the Sacraments, the perſons that partake in them are commingled, & make one body. 1. Cor. 5.9.11.2. Theſ. 3.14. 1. Cor. 10.15.17 & 2. Cor. 6.14-18. Therfor whoſoever shal mingle with falſe miniſters or members of falſe Churches therin offer as shameful indignity to Chriſt, as it is to take the members of Chriſt, & make them the members of an harlot. 1. Cor. 6.15.
And heer Mr. Bern. pag. 153-156. indevoureth to prove it, 1. Lawfull to heare their Miniſters, 2. to be vnlawfull to heare vsus, 3. to be lawfull to pray with them that are Faithful among them: For the firſt you ſay, who ever heard, that to heare the word should be a ſinne? yes: I have heard it in theſe places of Scripture, Deut. 13.3 Math. 7.15. 1. Timoth. 6.3-5. & 2.3.5-6. againe you ſay: you have converted by the word, go: you may bee heard: I deny that ever you converted men viſibly to the Faith of the New Teſtament, I regard not what you doe inviſibly, for I cannot ſee it nor know it: what ſay you to them that convert in popery, shal they be heard? or doe you think they convert none inviſibly? Viſibly I am aſſured they convert not: the like I ſay of you. Further you plead that the Scripture commaundeth to heare the word, pronounceth them bleſſed that heare it, and maketh it a marke of Gods Child ſo to doe: I grant it, if it be preached in the Lords true ordinance, els men are forbidden to heare it, pronounced accurſed that heare it, and are marked for the Servants of Antichriſt for ſo doeing, Revellat. 14.9-11. Moreover you ſay, Chriſt forbiddeth not to heare the Scribes and Phariſees: true, for they were members of the true Church of the Old Teſtament, and their communion Typical was not polluted by Typicall vncleannes for ought that is mentioned to my knowledg: but you ſay Paull rejoyced that Chriſt was preached, though of contention & with a purpoſe to encreaſe his afflictions: Well: Paull rejoyced not that falſe Miniſters in falſe Churches preached Chriſt, or that Chriſtians heard them ſo doe: neyther doth Paull ſpeak of viſible ſinnes, but of inviſible affections, which he by the Spiritt diſcerned to bee in the Teachers, even as Peter diſcerned Ananias and Sapphyras diſſembling: And what is this to your purpoſe who are both falſe Miniſters in falſe Churches, & Antichriſtian convinced Heretiques, except you can and doe make answer, which when you have done, then, &c.
For the Second, you ſay wee are not to bee heard, bicauſe (as Browniſts) wee ſpeake our owne fantaſies, & viſions of our owne harts, and are obſtinate Wel Mr. Bern. I ſay no more for this point, but this, that every Godly mynded man give ſentence whither you or wee have the truth: the tyme wil come when ſecret things will come to light: & your ſelves doe approve al that wee profeſſe in ſubſtance except the Seperation: the Lord judg betwixt you & vsus: you ſay againe, that wee convert none but are our ſelves converted by you: I ſay al that come from you to vsus are▪ by vsus converted to the truth from your errors & falſe wayes, & you doe not convert one man viſibly to the faith: Beſides I demaund when you Seperated from Rome, who converted you from Rome? Finally, wee condemne no man among you, only wee declare what you are viſibly in the account of the Scriptures, by reaſon of your falſe Church, & ſtanding: & they that ſee the truth to be the truth & yeeld not to it woe be vntounto them: & take heed you be not of them who have ſeen it to be the truth, & have confeſſed it ſo to be, & yet write your bookes againſt it: if it be ſo, woe be vntounto you from the Lord: I ſay from the Lord except you repent you shal grow worſe and worſe: as for them that ſinne through ignorance, their is a Sacrifice for their ſinnes: Lett willfull ſcorners looke to them ſelves.
For the third, you ſay, that if wee hold you the children of God wee may pray with you: For ſo Chriſt hath taught vsus to ſay our Father: Well: I deny not but thoſe among you that apertayne to the Lords Election have God for their Father, but I ſay they are in viſible, vnknowne to vsus certainly & particularly, therefore wee cannot have viſible communion with them: For whatſoever is not of faith is ſinne: I may have viſible communion with one that is a reprobate in the Lords account, as Peter had with Iudas: & I may not have viſible communion with one that is Elect in the Lords inviſible Electiō, bicauſe he is not viſibly faithful to me, as namely with thouſands of you in the aſſemblies, bicauſe I cannot poſſibly know them certainly, & particularly.