Section I. Containing the Introduction , and the Method , the Author proposeth to himself , in this Treatise ; with the reasons wherefore , together with some general Considerations relating to I. B's. whole book , and Remarks on his Epistle to the Reader .

¶ 1. AMong the many evils , that abound amongst those , that bear the name of Christians , this is a great one , that , in the unhappy difference they have among themselvs , there appears so much malice , bitterness and envy ; and so little of that candor and sincerity , true and unmixed zeal , and of the meekness , peaçablness and gentlness of Iesus : so that there is often-times observed an eager willingness to represent their Opposits other ways than they are . But , among all sorts of such , as profess Christianity , I know none have more reason to complain of this abuse , than we ; who , albeit we have not a little laboured to make known to all , the plain Truth , held by us ; yet our words have been most miserably perverted upon many occasions , and we most horribly misrepresented , as is abundantly manifest to many , who are acquainted with the books writ against us , and our answers : wherein many , if not most , of the arguments used against us are not levelled at those things we truely hold , but at the monstrous and horrid conceptions , which our adversarys have framed to themselvs , and then would needs fasten upon us , as our Principls and doctrins . Many of us have been thus exercised in the controversys , wherein we have been concerned , and I my self , in some small rencountres that have heretofore faln to my share , have had my part , but I confess inferior to many of my Brethren . But now that I. B's work appears , I think ( considering the bulk and natur of it , hereafter more particularly to be viewed ) I may come up with most . For I scarçe think that ever a man's words were so horridly and constantly throughout perverted , or that ever a book of controversy , of its bulk , to wit , ( as I take it ) betwixt 70 and 80 sheets of paper , was so stuffed with a continuall strain of Railing , from the very first page unto the last . Yet , when we consider the man's design , which appears from the natur of his work , perhaps there will be less occasion of wonder .

¶ For either he , or some brother of his abroad , having , without any provocation from us , the People called Quakers , faln into the most gross and vilest sort of railing against us , in a Post script to S. R's Letters , and that without the least offer of probation , it seems they judged themselvs concerned to give the people some reason for their so doing . And there could not be a finer knack to beguil the credulous and implicit Multitud , than to answer a book writ in Latine , and not extant in their Mother-tongue : for there a man , as to them , ( who can not read , understand , and compare it with that , to which it relates ) may pervert words , as he will , draw consequences at pleasur , and make to himself what monsters best please his fancy , or like his humour best to batter . And yet he can not find in it by all his perverting enough to make us so black , as he would have us , so that he is often-times constrain'd to fish for this , by citing the writings of some , that have writ against us , and bring us up some of their old threed-bare calumnys , long ago answered by us : in which his injustice shall be afterwards observed . And so he , being thus furnished , can the more easily abuse , especially while he is almost secure , that the generality of those he writes to , are such , as will not call in question , as to the truth of it , what is said by one esteemed by them a pretious and gratious Minister , and sufferer for the good cause , to boot . But ( blessed be God! ) the number of such implicit believers groweth daily less , and many ( that had wont to do other-wise ) begin to love to see with their own eyes , and not to pin their faith so much upon the Clergy's sleeve , as they had used formerly to do . For this cause , had I had to do only with the more judicious and Learned , who could have wel understood the Latine edition , I should have thought my self the less concerned to have said any thing to this answer : But knowing that his may come to the hands of many , and may be read by them , who do not understand Latine : and that not a few , who do understand it , love rather to read and consider things in their own language ; this made me hasten an English edition ( not one sheet whereof was committed to the press several weeks after I. B's book came out ) and now it being abroad , as to those , who are diligent and judicious , and willing seriously to compare , as to the argumentative part , I should not be much concerned to answer him , judging the English edition , with all such , a sufficient reply to this pretended examination , however he often-times sings a triumph to himself , saying in many places , What will our Quaker say now ? Contrary to the rules of sobriety , and to what the Scriptur teaches him , saying , Let not him boast , that puts-on his armour , but he that takes it off , besides what his brother , in a most fawning flattering manner , adds in his Postscript . ( To which something may be said hereafter . ) But , because too many out of malice , prejudice and ignorance , may be too apt to credit him , I resolve here to take notice of his gross perversions and abuses upon every These , and of his most unreasonable and brutish railing , which being subjected to the Readers view , will give him a great in-sight in the matter , and let him see what kind of man this is , and what kind of work it is that comes from him . And likewise in respect he insults very much , I may labour to allay it , in taking notice of his chiefest arguments , that are any ways to the purpose . This I know will satisfy the moderat and judicious , who bring not along with them an understanding already prepossessed , but are willing patiently to hear both partys , and then make a judgment accordingly . And as for others , who are wholly prepossessed with malice and prejudice , and have no ears to hear , but ( according to the Author of the Postscript his advice ) avoid the least of that kind as poyson : I say , as for such , I wish the Lord open their eyes , and give them a heart more just and equal , I shall not be much concerned if my writing have no great influence upon them at present .

¶ But , if any strange that so small a Treatise , as this may seem to be , should answer so great a bulk , the considering of these particulars following will easily remove that wonder .

1. If we consider how much is taken up in meer railing , of which few pages are found free , and somtimemes takes up near the whole page , besides that almost every paragraph ends with a dish of this desert : saying , O what hell-hatched heresies these abominable Quakers maintain ! and the like : besides many little sentences , such as , This is an answer fit for a Quaker . This is like the Quakers non-sense . I see the Quakers can dream waking , and such like stuff . I need not set down pages to prove this , for , as thou wilt find a specimen of it in the first half side to the Reader , so indeed thou 'lt scarce open the book but thou wilt meet with it : so that I may safely say , to speak within bounds , there are 20 sheets ( if it were all put together ) that are meer railing , either by way of admiration , detestation , or execration , which have nothing of argumentation , neither from Scriptur nor Reason , but the meer strong affirmo of the assertor ; all which ( albeit I may remark it as I go on ) I think not my self concerned to answer , nor do I conceive will any sober man judge I am , and my answer thereto , as now to the bulk of it , so may perhaps prove not much more all along , than The Lord rebuke that railing spirit in thee I. B. , and , if it may stand with his will , redeem thee from it , that thou mayst learn sobriety , of that Grace of God thou so much fightst against . It is a trade I love not , nor do I skill or think to learn it , I will readily grant him both the preference and victory in this art of Billingat's rhetorik , or , to speak yet more plain to all our Scots capacitys , of kail-wives , oratory . So I say , Let all this railing in his book be laid aside : and whereas he would insinuat in severall places , as if there were much railing in my Apology , saying , I rage , and such like expressions , how great an abuse this is , I leave to the judgment of the intelligent Reader .

2. If all his excursions be laid aside , wherein he runneth out oftentimes into long homilies , by way of explanation of their judgment , descanting upon the severall opinions of their Divines , as he calls them , in which he often-times not only bestowes severall pages , but sometimes divers sheets , as in its place may be observed . In all which tedious preachments ( some whereof are may be shies of old rusty sermons , that have been lieing by him ) I think my self no more concerned , than if the man had writt a great volumn of their Divinity , which I should not perhaps have bestowed the pains to read , far less lookt upon it as my business to answer it .

3. If all his citations out of Hicks , Faldo and others , that have writen against us , all which are long ago answered , though not heeded by him , were laid aside , which is not only most impertinent , but likewise unjust , ( as shall be after more particularly observed ) and likewise his long citations out of the Westminster confession of faith and larger Catechism , a good part whereof he hath transcribed and inserted in his book , albeit it had been a great deal easier to have cited the chapters , and referred to them , the book being so common : but it seems it pleaseth the man's humour to see a great bulk go under his name , however it be filled up .

4. Lastly : If his many perversions be considered , wherein he either wilfully orignorantly mistakes my meaning , and sets up to himself a man of straw , and then batters at it : I say , this being laid aside , which takes up no small part of his work , will make a considerable abatement . Now all these things considered , and all this superfluous and chassy stuff being laid aside , which is little or nothing to the purpose , the Reader will find that what remaineth will go into a pretty narrow compass , and bear no great disproportion , if any at all , with these my observations .

¶ 4. But , ere I make an end of this section , I judge it needfull to take some notice of his Epistle , where the manner of his introduction is very odd . Men use to be sober and moderat , that write controversys , in the beginning at lest , and not seek to prepossess the Reader with prejudice against their adversarys , untill , by the strength of their Reasons , they have proven them to deserve it : but this man is so full fraughted with malice , and so in love with railing , that he can not forbear the first page , where we have him calling us Locusts , of whose ministry the Devil makes use , only Masculine in Malice against Christ , &c. — breathing forth nothing but that Putrid porson , that innate Serpentine Venom , &c. And of this strain is the whole of his Epistle , where we are termed Apostat - Quakers , Runagado Pag. 2 & 3. Quakers , &c. But methinks it should have been more rational , to have forborn this untill he had proved us such , and not to have begun thus to rail without the least probation . But however this may take with malitious or credulus persons , it will give the Judicious a sufficient tast of the natur of his work , and we are not afraid of great prejudice by this kind of arguing . But as he goes on , he gives us a clear specimen of what spirit he is of , and abundantly shewes , that , if either he had power , or were able to influence the Magistrat thereunto , he would have saved himself the labour of all this confutation , by making short , in cutting us all off . For since he represents us not only as the worst and vilest of heretiks , but as the sworn and most desperat enemies of Jesus Christ in all his offices , we need not doubt , considering his judgment expressed in the case of Liberty of Conscience , what he would have done with us . And albeit it might have been judged that in prudence he should have let it alone , untill that place where it seemed to be most proper , and only might be inferred by way of consequence , yet in this , as in most other things , his malice outdoes his prudentials , and therefore he can not let 3 pages pass , and that in the Epistle , till he discover his temper in this ; for there he tells us a story of a Turk , who caused punish a Iew for blaspheming of Christ , to the shame of Christians , who have not so much zeal , &c. — and a redress of this ( saith he ) is called for at the hands of one and other , according to their Place and Station . The language of this is sufficiently understood , and beareth no small reflexion upon Magistrats , as not being so forward to persecut , as I. B. would have them . And , if we consider that flood of railing that followes , the application is easy : and then , as he goes on , he takes a very convenient way that he may rail securely and calumniat without fear of being discovered , for he would fright People from so much as coming near us , yea he will have all fleeing from us more hastily than from persons having the black botch ( such is his comely expression ) yea and under the dreadfull hazard of incurring Anathema Maranatha , so much as to enter into a friendly communing with us , give us the least token of kindness and affection by word or deed ! ( What! not feed us , if ready to starve ? or cloath us , if naked ? which Christ commands all his Disciples Prov. 25 : ver. 21. Matth. 5 : 44. Rom. 12 : 20. Rom. 7 : 2. Eph. 5 : ver. 25. to do to their greatest enemies . ) But how would this man have a husband behaving towards his wife , or a wife towards her husband , if , turning Quaker , they must shew one another no token of kindness and affection either in word or deed , when the Apostle encourages Christian husbands and wives to live with one another respectively , if they be willing , albeit professed Heathens and open Idolaters ? But with him , they must not so much as shew a token , so much as by one cast of the eye , far less by more homely discoursings : and after the same manner a little after , he would have all forbear so much as looking into our writings , to which , according to his ordinary stile , he gives such epithets as his railing Genius affords him ; a very ready way for him to belye and calumniat us at pleasur . But upon this occasion I would ask him this question , If he judgeth it reasonable , that he , that readeth his Examination should look into the Apology to which it relates , or unto that which is said by way of reply to it , or if he would have them taking all upon trust from him ? Were not this a brave way of examining controversys ? and doth not this fairly lead to the blind ignorance and implicitness of the Church of Rome , and to the custom of the Turks and Mahumet's rule ? ( whom he hath so often in his mouth . ) I would willingly know if the man would avow himself so irrational , as to require or desire this of any body in their wits : and yet he must be so irrational , or otherwise allow the breaking of the Rules he so earnestly presseth .

¶ 5. After he has proceeded at the same rate of railing , accusing us of Devilry , and what not , ( as for the number of the poisonous assertions , which he saith he has gathered together , it shall be spoken of hereafter , and his gross abuse therein detected . ) he comes at last to apprehend that some will think he is too large , but he has a quick way of solving that difficulty , by answering himself with a contrary apprehension , that more will blame him for not being larger , and so this objection is easily dispatched . As for the reason he gives of his prolixity , to wit , because of the temper of the Quakers , who would have been ready to vaunt and triumph , if he had omitted any thing . But for all this boast , it shall be shewn , that several times ( as large as he is ) he hath omitted whole considerable Paragraphs , where he found he would be pinched , and that the matter was too hot for his fingers , that he durst not meddle with it . At last he comes to an honest and ingenuous confession , that in most of the heads , he hath adduced , for confirmation , only their Confession of Faith , and Catechism : A very plain acknowledgment of the natur of his work , for he is very good at begging the question , and proceeding upon Principles denyed by him he hath to do with . But the judicious Reader may judg whether his proofs be very valid and binding , which are only confirmed by that which is denyed by me , and which needes to be confirmed no less than the arguments deduced from it : since I account it no confession of the true Faith , this is just as if a Papist , arguing against a Protestant , should tell him he useth only , for confirmation , the decrees of the council of Trent , how ridiculous this is any judicious man may judg . But since he hath so great a veneration of the confession of Faith , and also such an itch of scribbling , methinks he should not suffer it to lie so long under the censur of that examen which was written several years ago , and lieth yet ( for ought ever I could learn ) unanswered , all the notions of which albeit I will not espouse , yet I think all I. B's Clergy and Reason will not solidly reply to it , and I am wel assured it hath disgusted hundreds of that confession ; ( who are not Quakers ) and also how weakly the Confession is confirmed , and how grossly the Scripturs are perverted , to make them serve it , I have given a tast in the last chapter of my book , intituled , a Catechism and Confession of Faith , which is not only extant in English , but he will find also printed in Low Dutch , and should in reason have been removed by him , ere he had used it only for confirmation in controversy against me . But there is something more in this expression , for , when the Confession of Faith and Catechism is onely adduced for confirmation , what becomes of the Scripturs , that , in words , are so highly exalted ? It seems , notwithstanding all these verbal commendations , he has no more use for them than for an old Almanack , the Confession of Faith and Catechism is that which is to be minded . It seems what he brings of them in this controversy is only pro formâ , for the confession of Faith is only adduced for confirmation ; it is the good antidot against the many Errors of the Times : and whereas he speaks of apposit passages of Scriptur , those , that will compare them with the things they are pointed to , to prove , will find in most not the least correspondence , of which I have given some proof in that place before mentioned .

¶ 6. But indeed he hath spoken out the truth of the matter , for all their great talk of the Scriptur , it is manifest to such as will narrowly look into it , that not the Scriptur , but the confession of Faith and Catechism is their Rule of Faith and Manners : for the Scripturs must serve the Confession of Faith , not the Confession of Faith answer the Scripturs , which must be turned , twin'd and wrested , to sute to the Confession of Faith . Hence if a man believe the Scripturs ever so firmly , and square his faith accordingly , unless he agree to every point of the Confession of Faith , all is to no purpose , he must pass for an Heretik .

At last , to conclude , he having , it seems , said all he has to say , makes provision not to be put upon the necessity to vindicat his gross perversions and calumnys . As for his comparison of Rats and mice their dealing with books , he must know I intend not to square these observations to gratify his humour , it will be enough for me to satisfy the candid and judicious Reader . He doubts not to make a judgment of things not yet in being , and therefore expects no answer , that shall savour of Reason , Religion , Candor and Plainness . We have seen that of him , which gives us ground to believe he has bad enough thoughts of us : but however , he must not expect to be judge in his own cause , and whereas he saith , he will not be troubled at our Railings and Barkings , one may wonder the man has the confidence to accuse others of what himself is so highly guilty of ; but he shall not need fear to be troubled with such stuff , and whether he gives or gets most of that , is referred to the judicious Readers , to whose judgment and censur , whether he will or not , as his writings will be liable , so to them , and to their Christian consideration , I freely submit what is written in these Observations .

Section II. Wherein his two first Chapters , containing Remarks upon my Preface , and the first These of the true ground of knowledge , are considered .

¶ 1 UPon the Preface of my Theses , which is but about half a dozen of lines , he bestowes no less than 12 pages , all which being either bare assertions or railing ( as can not escape the diligent Readers observation . ) will therefore require the shorter reply . He hath not got the length of a dozen of lines , when with a piece of confidence he will seem so modest , as not to preoccupy the Reader 's judgment , by calling the Theses , Ethnical or Diabolical , but methinks , if he has not forgotten his epistle , which we will in reason suppose the Reader to have first viewed , in which ( as is above observed ) there is enough of that sort said to preoccupy his judgment , so that he must needs put out his eyes , that doth not see that his pretended modesty and forbearance is not real .

¶ 2. Next , because these Theses are directed by me to Clergy men of all sorts in the Christian world , he will needs have it that I acknowledg a Christian world , to which my self and those I patronize do not belong : but how he makes this consequence appear he leaves us to divine , for there is no proof brought for it , but his own assertion . He needs not wonder that I acknowledge a Christian world , unless he had known me somewhere todeny it , for in respect of Profession ( which distinction himself elsewhere useth ) all these may be accounted of it , who make an outward profession of Christ , besides that I have sufficiently acknowledged my belief that in severals of them the inward life of Christianity is to be found ; as for what followes , he needs not doubt , but I am as much against the distinction of Laity and Clergy , as himself can be . But since I writ to such , many whereof own it , my using it to them , for distinction's sake , will not inferr my approving of it . With his usuall candor , he will have this direction to import no less than a chartal to provoke all those , it is directed to , to a dispute , as if a man for removing of mistakes and misrepresentations , could not give an account of his faith , without it be esteemed a provocation to dispute : if he really believes I intended so , I must tell him he is greatly mistaken , and I apprehend I should know my own intentions large as wel as he . He is offended that our doctrines should be thought as different from Papists as Protestants , but with how little ground , will after appear ; and he also refers it to a fitter probation . Then , after he has knocked as hard as he can upon me , for my confidence , he tells me , that there is little said by me but what was refuted , ere I was born , by the orthodox writing against Pelagians , Socinians , Arminians , Enthusiasts , Anabaptists and Papists . But methinks then there was the less need of troubling the world with his volum , yet he has for that a ready salvo , he must answer a fool according to his folly , lest he be wise in his own conceit . Some other reasons he adds for ingaging in this his work , which the Reader may judge of , whether they be of any weight .

¶ 3. As he goes on , he is greatly offended I should stile my self a servant of the Lord , and will have it to be upon no better ground , than Thomas Muncer and the Anabaptists of Munster . But because all this is founded upon the supposition of my being a false prophet , and preaching another gospel than the true , we must leave it to the Reader 's judgment , after he has taken time to consider of the whole debate . But , because he speaks here of the produçing credentials , I would willingly have him producing his credentials for being a Minister of the Gospel , and it may be then seen , if I can not produce as valid , for any thing I stile my self , only he must remember , that , as his must have something more than his own affirmation , or those of his party , so he must overturn mine with some stronger arguments than meer railing .

¶ 4. He needs not apprehend , as he would insinuat , that the omission of any words in the Theses prefixed to the Apology proceeds from my being ashamed of the name QUAKER ; since himself bears witness in the very same page , that I fully acknowledge it , in the explanation of the 11 Thesis . Here he has a descant upon Trembling , and seems to strange that any Quaker should bring the example of Moses and Habbakkuk , to shew that such a thing was not so much to be wondred at in the Saints : but why this should be esteemed impertinent by him he doth not tell us . As for the foaming at the mouth , he talks of , both here and elsewhere , it is returned upon him as a calumny , and he is desired to prove it ; but it must be by some more credible & impartial testimony than his Mr Stalham , for Partys use not to be admitted as witnesses . For his denominating us by that name of distinction , I shall not quarrel : but as for his insinuation in the begining of pag. 5. where he saith , It is like we would gladly have them casting away their Bibles , as no more to be regarded , than the Turks Alcoran , it bespeaketh the height of malice , as to which I shall only say , The Lord forgive him for so gross a calumny , which he , that is the Searcher of hearts , knows to be a most horrible lye . He goes on after his usual manner , saying , I inveigh against all humane learning , that hath been any ways made use of in Theology ; but where he finds this asserted by me I know not , whether the words he would deduce it from , to wit , ( that man has rendred the plain and naked Truth obscure and mysterious by his wisdom ) will bear such a consequence is left to the Readers judgment . But he thinks he has found out our secret design of being against Learning and Schools of Learning . ( which is neither our affirmation nor principle , but his own false supposition . ) We would ( saith he ) have all those banished , that we might the more easily prevail with our errors . But methinks the man should be more wary in venting his own false imaginations , unless he could bring some ground for them : for his assertion is so far untrue , that , if he had been rightly informed , he might have known that we have set up schools of Learning for teaching of the Languages and other needfull Arts and Sciences , and that we never denyed its usefulness ; only we denyed it to be a qualification absolutly necessary for a Minister , in which case alone we have opposed its necessity .

¶ 5. He confesseth I speak not amiss , in saying , the world is overburthened with books , but thinks that my Apology of 50 sheets adds some considerable weight : but methinks he of all men should have here been silent , who has troubled the world with an examination of it a great deal larger ; albeit he confesseth all , that is in it , hath been refuted by the Orthodox long ago , & not only so , but since that he has written a book near twice as large upon one point , to prove the first day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath , and yet it is but the first time , and seems but to be the porch of what he intends upon that subject . With his usual candor he saith , I am against disputes & debates , or books written of that natur : But to inferr simply that I am against all such , because I reprove the vain jangling that hath been and is among the School-men , is an ill consequence : he shall not find me any where speaking against usefull and solid controversys , for clearing and maintaining of Truth . He seemeth not to disapprove what I speak against School-Divinity , confessing the abuse of it , albeit he thinks it hath been of use : and as for this imagination of my being acquainted with it , we will place it among his other mistakes . He proceedeth pag. 8 to say , I am against the labours of those that have writ commentarys , but his conclusion here is like others of this nature . When I mention commentarys , it is with relation to what goes before , he will not deny but many books are written under the notion of commentarys on the Scriptur , by which the Truth has been more darkened than cleared ; will it therefore follow that he condemns Commentarys indefinitly ? As for such writings , tending to the opening of the Scriptur , in which the Authors are acted and influenced by the same Spirit , from which the Scripturs came , and which alone can give the true meaning of them , I am so far from condemning them , that I highly approve them , as very beneficial to the Church of Christ . As for his talk here of our disrespect to the Scripturs , I shall have occasion to take notice of it where they are particularly treated of : but he is apt to think , that the real ground of my prejudice against such books , is , because so much is to be found in them against my old errors ; for I can not but know ( saith he ) that whoever reads these must see my nakedness and folly , without much study . As for this imagination we must take it with much more , upon trust ; but this helps to prove the needlesness of his large Examination .

¶ 6. At his usual rate of Perverting he goes on to say , that the account I make of all the learned men of the World , is , that they are Scribes and disputers of the World , &c. But for proof of this we have nothing : he confesseth the words to be those of the Apostle , and how he proveth that I have a different meaning from the Apostle , I know not . After he hath commended his learned men , and loaded the Quakers with reproaches , he concludes this Paragraph , pag. 8. with another falshood , and yet he will have it remarked , to wit , that , according to my judgment , the pure and naked Truth of God was never unfolded nor declared , untill the generation of the Quakers arose , but where he finds me saying so he tells not , and indeed can not , since such a thing was never asserted by me . For answer to my saying , that God has laid aside the wise and learned , and made use of illiterat men , as to letter-learning , after he saith , it is affirmed without proof , ( not considering how improper it was not to expect any formal probation upon the occasion and manner it was delivered ) he gives us divers citations out of the Apostle Paul , warning against seducers , all which I acknowledge to be true , but the question lieth in the right application ; and yet since , ( albeit he believes they very appositly agree to us ) he thinks it not his present business to demonstrat it , it will need no reply . After he has proceeded in his 10 page , according to his usual sort of railing , affirming the great difference betwixt our doctrin and that of the Apostles , he brings forth a mighty charge , that I usurp the Throne of God , and judg of mens hearts and intentions : ( but how guilty himself is of that crime , hath been in part already shewn , and will hereafter more appear . ) but why do I so ? because I say , the Clergy have clouded the Truth , that the common People might maintain and admire them ? But have not Protestants , and that truely , asserted this of the Popish Clergy ? and is not the Thesis directed to such ? Will it not then hold true , according to his own judgment , of a great , yea the greatest part of those , to whom it is directed ? what then will become of his clamors ? Yea if it were needfull , I could give instances of very mean thoughts he and his Party have of many of the Protestant Clergy , yea and reflexions not much , if any thing , inferior to this , to verifie with how little ground he quarrelleth me here . As for his malitious aspersion , that there are shrewd presumptions our stock lies at Rome , he should have produc'd some of them , if he could ; we could never yet obtain for this old calumny from our adversarys the least probation , and it will be found as hard for him to prove it , as he may think it for such , who strongly affirm their great IDOL , the COVENANT , was contrived at Rome , and came from thence . As for his reflexions upon our Church , as being all eyes and ears , it will be proper to speak of it in its own place . Next , to prove the positions of the Quakers to be such , as overturn and destroy the Gospel , he bringeth , pag. 11 , divers citations out of Mr Norton and Mr Stalham , ( as he terms them ) adding more may be had out of Mr Hicks , but such witnesses will have small credit with impartial Readers . If he himself had dealt impartially , he should have first read our answers to them , ere he had given them such authority . It wer easy for me , by way of reply , to transcribe what our Friends have written particularly by way of answer to them , did I as much affect to have my writings bulky , as it seemes he doth . He closeth up this with a fit of railing , and , after he has quarrelled me , pag. 12. for having an high conceit ( as he imagines ) of my Theses , he falls fresh to that work again , telling , they have weight to sink into the bottomless pit the poor Soul that embraces them . I never sought any should receive doctrins , as truth , upon my bare testimony , and therefore he needs not upbraid me with so doing : and whereas , on the contrary , as himself immediatly observes , I leave what I say to the LIGHT in every man's Conscience , it shewes with how little reason he made his former alledgance , after he has pleased himself with making an impertinent conjectur of the import of these words , that so he might , if he could , render them ridiculous , he cometh at last to the true understanding of them ; and truely he needed not fear at my being offended that he should make a judgment of what I writ , according to his Conscience ; but he went the wrong way to work , when his labour is to pervert and wrest , and make them speak what they do not . This apparently proceeds from malice and prejudice , and the Light of his Conscience , if he had minded it , would never have prompted him so to do . Thus I am come to the end of the first chapter .

¶ 7. In the second chapter , intituled , Of the true ground of knowledge , I find he can not contradict what is asserted by me . only , because he must be carping , he makes a noise that Joh. 17 : 3. cited by me , so much of the sentence was not set down in the first as second edition . What a pittifull cavill this is the Reader may easily judge , since the place was noted , it was enough , though never a word had been set down , but this with him is a bad Omen , let the judicious judge of this man's judgment in the matter . But , because he can not quarrel at what is said , he will quarrel that so much is not said as he judged meet : but he may be pleased to understand that I judged my self under no necessity to advise with him what was needfull for me to write . But ( saith he ) since I take upon me to teach the whole world , ( it is strange it should be so natural for this man to write untruths , since I direct my Theses only to the Christian world : but if it may render me odious , such Peccadillo's pass with him it seems but for Piae fraudes ) I intended never to write of those things , concerning which we do not differ from others . But let us see wherein he accounts me defective . I have written nothing ( saith he ) of the nature and attributes of God . I write not to Atheists , but Christians , who already acknowledge , and I judg it not my work to write books to persuade men of that they already profess to believe . But I write not expressly and distinctly of the Trinity , yet himself after acknowledges , pag. 24 , that it would seem I am orthodox herein , that he finds not any clear ground to the contrary . I writ as expressly and distinctly of that , as is expressed in Scriptur , which I hope I. B. will not say is defective in sufficiently expressing this article of Faith .

¶ 8. The third challenge is , I speak nothing of God's Decrees , by which some are praedestinated to Life , others fore-ordained to death . ( for the man without ceremony takes the doctrin for granted ) But if I have spoken nothing of this , ( though perhaps not in the method he would ) how extravagant must he be , that writes a whole chapter upon Reprobation , as pretending to refute what I have said concerning it . With the like confidence , not to say impudence , he accuses me of silence , in relation to the Covenants , to the Redemption purchased by Christ , his taking flesh upon him , to the work of Grace and Sanctification , to obedience to the Law of God . Which gross abuse any one that reads my book will easily see , considering how much , and how particularly these things are spoken to , in the explanation of the 5 , 6 , 7 & 8 Theses . Last of all , he accuseth me for giving no account of the Resurrection of the Body . But do I not expressly in my conclusion affirm , that those , that accuse us of denying of it , belye us ? and doth not that clearly import an owning ? But as to that matter ( because I love not repetitions , as he doth , who will be upon one matter often , and out of its proper place ) I will referr what further I have to say , untill I come to his last chapter . At last , after he has confessed in part to what I affirm , he craves liberty , because some may put a wrong Foundation for the right to examin what by me is placed for it : which liberty is freely granted him , ( for I am a great enemy to implicit Faith , as wel the Popish as Presbyterian , who in that are much what alike ) and I will take also liberty to re-examin his examination , that I may free my self of those many abuses , wherewith he has injured me .