The Reviler Rebuked, Treatise · Part 1
THE Reviler rebuked. OR A Reply to R. FARNWORTH HIS INTRODUCTION.
BEfore I can fall upon the Subject of the Controverſies between me and my Antagoniſt, I muſt touch at his Introduction wherein he mentioneth his receiving of my Book renews his charge againſt me, gives a ſeeming proof of his charge, and concludes with a Thundering Anathema.
1. What he received, A Printed Paper (as he calls it ſlightingly) that came out of Scotland into York and Yorkſhire in England, publiſhed by one John Stalham, Preacher of the Goſpel at Edinburgh. That little piece, of three ſheets and a half, J. S. owneth, as publiſhed by him, and that he called himſelf Preacher of the Goſpel at Edinburgh (for the preſent, as was inſerted) it was becauſe for ſome time, he had been, and then continued preaching of the fulneſs of the bleſſing of the Goſpel of Chriſt, to his Auditors, from Rom. 15. 29. with other Scriptures; And for as much as that great truth of the Goſpel was openly oppoſed by one of the Sect, called Quakers, touching the juſtification of a believing ſinner, he was called to enquire after the opinions of the ſaid Sect, and to draw up his collections from divers of their Pamphlets, which he referred unto ſeveral Heads of their Scripture and Self-contradictions, wherein he is,
Secondly, Charged by R. F. to have manifeſted himſelf, and his ſubtile ſerpentine Spirit, by his lies and ſlanders, for all his gloſſes and covers, to be a miniſter of deceit, and ſo of Antichriſt, of all this, or any part of it, J. S. is no ways conſcious, nor of his falſly accuſing the people of the Lord (ſuppoſe any people of the Lord be fallen into the errors and opinions of the Quakers, as he is charitably jealous ſome are ſurprized therewith) nor of ſhewing forth a bitter ſpirit of envy againſt them and the truth. The Lord knows he loveth all the people of the Lord, for the Truths ſake that dwelleth in them, and pitieth thoſe who are over-run with theſe errors (as with a running Itch, or ſore) as he himſelf would be loved and pitied, who is not abſolutely free of error; although the particular fruit is not (in theſe matters of difference) viſible to him; yet the root of all error, as of all ſin, is in him, and ſeen by him, not throughly in all degrees mortified. As for any of his painted and deckt Notions, Implications, and Contra-diſtinctions, his gilded, coloured, borrowed, and form'd up imagined Expreſſions, he thinketh R. F. had a minde to pleaſe himſelf, and ſome of his Readers, with ſeeming ſhadows of Rhetorick, which J. S. never affected, but clothed all he wrote with a familiar, home-ſpun ſtile, as he ſhall, this Reply.
Thirdly, The ſeeming proof of the Charge is, That, with the Light, John 8. 12. John 1. 9. R. F. thinketh J. S. is ſeen and known to be one that hates it; and why? 1. He bears record of himſelf againſt Chriſt and his Apoſtles: Let that be found in any paſſage of his former, or preſent piece, and R. F. ſhall be no falſe Apoſtle; J. S. will hide his head in a hole, or openly recant the folly and wickedneſs. 2. He calls the true light (ſaith R. F.) the Light of nature, and the common Light of reaſon: Where's the proof of this allegation? J. S. doth peremptorily deny, that he ever ſo expreſt himſelf ſince he had the Light of reaſon in him. The true Light (as 'tis printed both in R. F. his Book *Page 2., and in the Bible, John 1. 9. with a great [L] and there ſpoken of) is Chriſt: J. S. never called Chriſt the Light of nature, or the common Light of reaſon, (or reaſon, as Page 34. R. F. clamoreth and clattereth.) Haply, he may ſay again and again, That Chriſt, as the very God, and the true Light, giveth the Light of nature to all men, and common light of reaſon (more or leſs) to every man: for he is able to diſtinguiſh betwixt the Donor and his Gift; betwixt the un-created Light-living God, and created Light-given, before the fall, to Adam; or given back ſince the fall to him and his poſterity. If R. F. or any man will confound Chriſt-giving, or enlightning, with the Light-given, or lighted up as a Candle in every man, he may as well confound God and the Creature, and make them (as ſome blaſphemouſly imagine) to be one and the ſame Eſſence. Therefore, as in this, ſo in all other inſtances,
Fourthly, J. S. is confident (after R. F. his impudence in his Preface and Proceedings) he ſhall neither be found Lyar nor falſe Accuſer; but, as he is ſure that Saint Pauls Anathema was out long ſince, Gal. 1. 8, 9. and is ſtill in force againſt thoſe that preach another Goſpel-way of Juſtification, as do theſe Quaking-Papiſts, or Popiſh-Quakers; ſo the Anathema, Maran-atha, that R. F. denounceth imperatively and imperiouſly [Let him be an Anathema, Maranatha] againſt J. S. ſhall be as the curſe cauſleſs, that ſhall not come; but that God will do him more good, as already he hath done ſomething for him, by Shimei's railing. Tyrants, Sectaries, Seducers, and Hereticks (as Luther ſaid) do nothing elſe but drive us unto the Bible, to make us read more diligently therein, and with more fervency to ſharpen our Prayers; and I may adde, (by their buffetings) to be more taken off from ſelf-eſtimation, and to be viler in our own eyes, then we can be in the eyes of our Adverſaries, who know not our hearts.