The Bloody Tenant Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb, Part 1 · Chapter 75 – Chapter 76
CHAP. 75. A Reply to his Chap. 78.
Diſcuſſer.
BƲt here I obſerve the Anſwerers partiality, That none but ſuch as truly feare God ſhould enjoy Liberty of Conſcience &c.
Defender.
But here I Obſerve the Diſcuſſers both partiality and faſhood. Partiality, for I did but repeate the very words of the Author of the Letter, and graunt them to be good. The Letter had ſaid (as himſelf repeateth it, It is no prejudice to a Common-wealth if Liberty of Conſcience were ſuffered to ſuch as feare God indeed: whereto I ſubjoyne my Atteſtation, It is true, that without prejudice to the Commonwealth, Liberty of Conſcience may be ſuffered to men that feare God indeed.
Here the Diſcuſſer in me obſerveth Partiality: but in the Letter the very ſame ſpeech paſſeth for Currant, and approveable. But the Lord help him to remember Divers weights, and divers meaſures are abomination to the Lord, Prov. 20.10. But I truly obſerve in his ſpeech, not onelyonly partiality, but falſhood alſo. For it is a very falſhood, that I ſhould ſay, None but ſuch as truly feare God ſhould injoy Liberty of Conſcience. I ſay no more then the Letter ſaith: It ſaith, That it is no prejudice to the Common-wealth, if Liberty of Conſcience were ſuffered to ſuch as feare God indeed. I ſay, It is true, without prejudice to the Common-wealth, Liberty of Conſcience may be ſuffered to ſuch as feare God indeed. Now if a man ſhould gather the ſame Obſervation out of the Letter, That none but ſuch as truly feare God ſhould injoy Liberty of Conſcience, I beleive the Diſcuſſer would obſerve notorious falſhood in ſuch dealing. And juſtly he might: for it is one thing to ſay, liberty of Conſcience may be ſuffered to men that truly feare God, without prejudice to the Common-wealth: another thing to ſay, it may be ſuffered to none elſe.
I eaſily grant, nor did I ever deny it, that the Inhabitants of the world, though they never come into the eſtate of men fearing God, yet they may and ought to be ſuffered to live in the world, unleſſe they diſturbe the Countries of the world where they live, with ſome Capitall Crimes. And if they doe diſturbe the Countries where they live, they ſtand and fall to the Lawes, and Governments of the Countries where they inhabite.
And therefore all the dangerous conſequences, which the Diſcuſſer gathereth from my ſpeech (but indeed not my ſpeech, but his owne) as if I ſhould drive the world out of the world, or turne the world upſide downe, or leave it to men that have not Gods feare, to judge who feare God, and who not, and the reſt that follow, they are all of them conſequences without an Anticedent, or an Anticedent without exſiſtence in any ſpeech of mine, but onelyonly in his owne imagination.
Neither hath it any better ground, that paſſionate exclamation of his, with which he endeth this Chapter.
Heare (ſaith he) O Heavens, and give eare O Earth, yea let the Heavens be aſtoniſhed, and the Earth tremble at ſuch an Anſwer.
What Anſwer, thinke you, might this be, that might provoke not the Diſcuſſer onelyonly, but the Heavens and earth to ſuch attention, admiration, trembling, aſtoniſhment?
The Anſwer (forſooth) is that which he calleth a wonderfull Anſwer, which the Miniſters of New-England gave to the third Queſtion ſent to them by ſome Miniſters of Old-England, to wit, that although they confeſſed them to be ſuch perſons whom they approved of, farre above themſelves, yea who were in their hearts to live and die together: yet if they or other godly people with them, comming over to them, ſhould differ in Church-Conſtitution, they then could not approve their civill Cohabitation with them and conſequently could not adviſe their Magiſtrates, to ſuffer them to injoy a civill being within their juriſdiction.
Now ſure, if there were any ſuch Anſwer to be found in that Booke ſounding to ſuch a purpoſe, I my ſelfe ſhould joyne with him in the like exclamation, and wonderment. But when I came to ſearch for that ſpeech, and neither finde it in the Anſwer which he quoteth to the third Queſtion, nor in that, which I rather thinke he meant, the 31. I cannot but admire and adore the righteous Judgement of God, who having left the Diſcuſſer (in this Booke, and ſome other) to write againſt the Truth in point of Doctrine, hath herein left him to breake forth in his owne hand-writing, into notorious impudent falſhood in matter of fact: which any man that readeth that Booke cannot but diſcerne in this Allegation. The Anſwer is too large for me to tranſcribe, but who ſo will may reade it, and when he compareth the Anſwer in that Booke, with the Anſwer in this, he may well wonder with what heart and forhead, the Diſcuſſer could ſo expreſſe it.
CHAP. 76. A Reply to his 79. Chap.
Diſcuſſer.
Yea, but ſay they, they doubt not if thoſe Miniſters of Old-England ſhould come over to them, and were here with them, they ſhould agree. For, ſay they, either you will come to us, or ſhew us light to come to you: for wee are but weake men, and dreame not of perfection in this life.
Alas who knoweth not what lamentable differences have been betweene the ſame Miniſters of the Church of England? &c.
Let none now thinke, that the paſſage to New-England by Sea, or the nature of the Countrie can doe, what onelyonly the Key of David can doe, to wit, open and ſhut the Conſciences of men.
Defender.
I did not thinke that any man in Old-England, or New, had been ſo ignorant, or uncharitable, as to think, the Pen-man of the Anſwer to theſe Queſtions had conceived, that either the voyage by Sea, or the change of the aire from Old England to New, could change the judgements or Conſciences of men. Nature could tell, Coelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare Currunt. But yet no Chriſtian man is ignorant that mutual conference between Godly, ingenuous, and ſelfe-denying Chriſtians is a notable meanes ſanctified of God for the inſtruction & edification one of another, till wee all come to be of one minde in the Lord. Elſe how ſhall therebe mutuall convictions without mutuall conferences? It is the Key of David onelyonly, that can open and ſhut the Conſciences of men: but that Key ordinarily doth it in the diſpenſation of Ordinances, whereof Conference is one.
Diſcuſſer.
Beſides, how can this be a faithfull and upright acknowledgement of their weakneſſe, and imperfection, when they Preach, Print, and practiſe ſuch violence to the ſoules and bodyes of others? And by their Rules and grounds ought to proceed to the killing of thoſe, whom they judge ſo deare unto them, and in reſpect of godlyneſſe farre above themſelves?
Defender.
This violence to the ſouls & bodyes of men is often charged upon us by the Diſcuſſer: But he hath not yet given us an inſtance of any one ſoule or body, which hath undergone this violence from us. Si Accuſaſſe fufficiat, quis innocens exit? It is no new practiſe to be an Accuſer of the Brethren: neither is their any ſlaunder ſo falſe or ſcurrilous, but findeth ready, yea and greedy intertainment even of many profeſſors, eſpecially ſuch, whoſe beſt Religion lyeth in the obſerving and cenſuring the wayes of others. How welcome to ſuch, are evill reports of them, that dare not allow themſelves in any knowne evill?
This acknowledgement of our weakneſſe and imperfection would then truly appeare to be neither faithfull nor upright, if wee Preached or practiſed violence againſt ſuch, in compariſon of whom we acknowledge our own weakneſſe and imperfection. Meane while we may well ſtand and wonder, what rules and Grounds of ours thoſe be, by which wee ought to proceed even to the killing of thoſe, whom wee judge ſo deare unto us, and in reſpect of Godlyneſſe far above us?
Are any of them whom wee ſo reſpect, ſuch as ſubvert the Foundation of the Chriſtian Faith, and perſiſt therein obſtinately after conviction? are any of them preſumptuous Blaſphemers of the great Name of God? Or Idolaters themſelves, and Seducers of others to Idolatry?