The Bloody Tenant Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb, Part 1 · Chapter 38
CHAP. 38. A Reply to his Chap. 38. Diſcuſsing the place in Timothy. 2 Tim. 2.25, 26.
Diſcuſſer.
I Acknowledge, this Inſtruction, to be meeke and patient to all men, &c. is properly an Inſtruction to the Miniſters of the Goſpel.
Defender.
Then hitherto the Anſwer is not perplexed and ravelled.
Diſcuſſer.
Yet divers Arguments will from hence be truly and fairely collected, to manifeſt and evince, how farre the civill Magiſtrate ought to be, from dealing with the civill Sword in ſpirituall caſes.
But firſt by the way, I deſire to aske, what the Anſwerer meaneth by his unconverted Chriſtian in Creete? An unconverted Chriſtian, is as much as an unconverted Convert, untamed tamed, unholy holy, Chriſtians Antichriſtians.
How ſad an evidence is this, that the ſoule of the Anſwerer, hath never yet heard the call of the Lord Jeſus to come out from thoſe unconverted Churches, from that unconverted Antichriſtian-Chriſtian world? &c.
Defender.
Reply. 1. When we come to thoſe Arguments truly, and fairly collected out of this place of Timothy (which is not till the next chapter) we ſhall, (God willing) conſider what Truth and fairneſſe they hold forth: which if it be found, wee ſhall conſider, whether they be of force againſt the Truth witneſſed by me.
In the meane time, for Anſwer to his demand, what I ſhould meane, by the unconverted Chriſtian in Creete?
Anſw. I muſt take it upon his credit, that I ſpake at all of any unconverted Chriſtian in Creete. Mine owne copy is not extant with me. And the Tranſcript, which with much ſeeking, I found, hath it, inſtead of unconverted Chriſtians in Creete, unconverted perſons in Epheſus. As indeed Timothy was left at Epheſus when Paul wrote to him his firſt Epiſtle, as is evident, 1 Tim. 1.3. and Titus it was, who was left at Creete, Tit. 1.5. But whether Timothy was then at Epheſus, when Paul wrote his ſecond Epiſtle to him, is not ſo certaine. But whereſoever he was (as being an Evangeliſt, he was not limited to a certaine place) doubtleſſe there wanted not unconverted perſons, amongſt whom the Members of the Church lived.
Yea, but they were not unconverted Chriſtians, for it is as much, as unconverted Converts, &c.
Anſw. It muſt lye upon the Diſcuſſers credit, whether I uſed at all ſuch a phraſe or no: ſure I am, I cannot hitherto (after much ſeeking) find mine owne hand-written copy, which might cleare the miſtake, both of Creet for Epheſus, and unconverted Chriſtians for unconverted Perſons.
But let it not ſeeme ſtrange to him, to heare tell of unconverted Chriſtians, or unconverted Converts. There is no contradiction at all in the words. When the Lord ſaith, that Judah turned unto him, not with all her heart, but fainedly, (Jer. 3.10.) Was ſhe not then an unconverted Convert? converted in ſhew and profeſſion, but unconverted in heart and Truth? Let him then conſider his own phraſe here miſapplyed, whether this be the Language of Canaan, or the Language of Aſhdod. Jeremies Language is the Language of Anathoth, not of Aſhdod.
Reply. 2. If the Diſcuſſer looke at it as a true, but ſad experience of my unconverted eſtate, from unconverted Churches, and that the Lord Jeſus never yet called me to come out of them, becauſe I ſpeake (if I doe ſo ſpeake) of unconverted Chriſtians living amongſt them.
I muſt be contented ſtill to lie under that imputation from him. I never knew that Church yet, nor ever read of it, in which there was not, (or at leaſt might not) be found, ſome unconverted Chriſtians, unconverted Converts. Judas was found in Chriſts Family: Ananias and Sapphira, in the Apoſtolick Primitive Church: Balaam and the Nicholaitans were found in Pergamus, and Jeſabel in Thyatira.
Beſides I have not yet learned, (nor doe I thinke, I ever ſhall) that the children of beleiving Parents borne in the Church, are all of them Pagans, and no Members of the Church: or that being Members of the Church, (& ſo holy) that they are all of them truly converted. And if they be not alwayes truly converted, then let him not wonder, nor ſtumble at the phraſe of unconverted Chriſtians.
But if the Diſcuſſer doe ſadly obſerve it, that my ſoule hath not yet heard the call of the Lord Jeſus to come out of unconverted Churches: truly I have juſt cauſe (not without ſadneſſe and mourning) to conſider, and to pray, that he might conſider, what call of the Lord Jeſus his ſoule hath heard to come out, not onelyonly out of unconverted Churches, but converted too, yea out of all Churches?
Diſcuſſer.
Againe, I obſerve the haſte and light attention of the Anſwerer, to theſe Scriptures (as commonly the Spirits of Gods children in matters of Gods Kingdome, are very ſleepy:) for theſe perſons here ſpoken of were not unconverted Chriſtians in Creete, whom Titus as an Evnngeliſt was to convert, but they were ſuch Oppoſites, as Timothy (to whom Paul writeth this Letter at Epheſus) ſhould not meet withall.
Defender.
Whether ſuch words be found in the copy of my Anſwer to the Letter, I leave it to the Diſcuſſers credit. As I ſaid even now, mine owne copy I cannot (after much diligent ſearch) finde: the Tranſcript which I have found hath it otherwiſe, the unconverted Perſons in Epheſus, whom Timothy as an Evangeliſt was to ſeeke, to convert. But if my copy doe ſpeake as he reporteth:
Then, 1. I doe not deny, but have juſt cauſe to acknowledge mine owne haſte, and light attention, and ſleepineſſe in the matters of Chriſts Kingdome, not onelyonly in this paſſage: but frequently elſe in the race of my Chriſtian courſe of life. The Diſciples themſelves Chriſt found ſleepy, Matth. 26.40. how much more may he find me ſleepy?
2. The Diſcuſſer might have imputed it as well, to my haſt to gratifie his earneſt deſire to Anſwer his friends Letter, and to my confidence in his love, that for haſt to ſatisfie him, miſtooke one place and perſon for another, and was not ſo attentive to peruſe and examine the copy ſent by me to him, as I would have been, had I ſent it to an Adverſary.
3. The caſe is all one in the matters of Chriſts Kingdome, whether I had named Timothy, or Titus, Epheſus, or Creete: For the perſons were both of them Evangeliſts, and the places of them both ſuch, as had unconverted perſons in them, and (like enough) unconverted Chriſtians too: Epheſus had evill perſons amongſt them, whom they could not beare, (Rev. 2.2.) as well as Creet had amongſt them ſuch as were alwayes lyars, evill Beaſts, ſlow bellies, Tit. 1.12.
4. The Diſcuſſer, that obſerveth haſte, and light attention, and ſleepineſſe in another, one would thinke, would be more vigilant, and attentive himſelfe. He that ſaith (as the Diſcuſſer doth in his parentheſis) that Paul wrote this Letter, (to wit, his ſecond Epipiſtle) to Timothy at Epheſus, taketh it for granted, that which without ſome haſty lightneſſe, even the ſame, which he blameth in my ſelfe, he cannot beleive, that Paul wrote his ſecond to Timothy at Epheſus. There is no word in the Epiſtle, that ſpeaketh of Timothies being at Epheſus, when Paul wrote that ſecond Epiſtle. His calling of an Evangeliſt did not permit him to tarry long in a place: and the firſt Epiſtle to Timothy, is thought by the Learned to have been written one of the firſt of all Pauls Epiſtles, next after thoſe of the Theſſalonians. But the ſecond Epiſtle to Timothy was written laſt of all the Epiſtles, when Pauls time of departure was at hand, 2 Tim. 4.6. And when Paul writeth 2 Timothy 4.12. that he had ſent Tychicus to Epheſus, It is not likely, he would have written ſo to Timothy, if Timothy then had been at Epheſus. For Timothy would have knowne, that Tychycus had been at Epheſus: or if Tychicus had been then but on his way to Epheſus (which is a narrow point of time) it is more then propable, if Timothy had been then at Epheſus, he would have ſaid, Tychicus have I ſent to thee to Epheſus.