Some manacles for a mad priest: or, Animadversions on William Jameson's preface to a book, lately published by him, called, Nazianzeni querela

SOME MANACLES FOR A Mad Priest , &c. To all the Unbyassed and Free-spirited Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Scotland . Friends ,

TO you I must address my self , having to do with an Adversary , who knoweth no limits to his licentious Pen , but Quicquid in buccam venerit , whatsoever comes to his Noddle , if he but thinks it can defame his Neighbour , forth it goes , never regarding whether true or false .

I hope there is no good Patriot , but is at present , together with me , Lamenting the woful Condition of his Native Country , which hath , for some Years past , groaned under the Hand of a justly provoked God , whose Anger is not yet turned away , but his Hand is stretched out still : Yea , and the want of Bread hath so far prevailed , that Parents have exposed their Children , and Children their Parents , to die at their Neighbours Doors , without pity . Yet in the mean time , our Clergy are feeding on the Fat , and cloathing themselves with the Wooll , without fear ; and living upon that which ( even after the Church began to degenerate ) was , by the Clergy themselves , called The Patrimony of the Poor : See Doctor Burnet's History of the Rights of Princes , &c. from page 113 , to page 145.

Is this a time , pray consider , ( when Protestants are Persecuted in France , in Savoy , and as our Letters bear , even in the Cantons of Switzerland ) for this wanton Scribbler to be widening Breaches at home , and railing on all Protestants , except his own Fraternity , as he hath now done in two Books successively ? Or is it not rather a time for Protestant Princes to look about them , and for the Inhabitants of this Nation to be humbling themselves before the Lord , that he may avert his Judgments ? In which the Clergy ought to have been Patterns to others . And our Author had certainly been better imployed , to have been Mourning in Sackcloth for his own , and the Sins of the Nation , than in writing Books , to beget Hatred and Animosities among Friends and Neighbours .

Philo Judeus tells us , That Religion is the most effectual Charm to procure Love ; and that the Worship of one and the same God , is the most Indissolvable Bond of Friendship . But our Clergy have made it the only Makebate , and the ground of Malice , yea , of capital Enmity , if there be but the most minute Difference from the National Religion , though it be but in Circumstances , or Modes of Worship .

Now among these , who profess Christianity , albeit some who hold all the Essentials and Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith , yet may be mistaken in some Circumstances , and may err in smaller Matters ; are they therefore to be Persecuted , Hated and Reproached ? No surely : Errantis poena est doceri , ( i.e. ) The Punishment due to him that erreth , is , to be Instructed . And Seneca , in his Book De Ira , saith , Lib . 14. No wise Man ever hated him that erred ; for if so , he must necessarily sometime hate himself . He that is Ignorant ought not to be ill treated , or accused ; but it is sit he should be instructed in that whereof he is Ignorant .

It very observable , how mildly Augustine dealt with the Manichees : Let them rage against you ( saith he ) who are ignorant with what Labour and Sweat a Man finds out the Truth , ( which is but one ) and how difficult it is to decline Errors , ( which are infinite . ) Let them rage against you , who know not how rare , and how hard a matter , it is to overcome all carnal Conceits , by the Serenity of a pure Mind . Let them rage against you , that apprehend not with what difficulty the Eye of our inward Man is so strengthened , as to be able to behold the Beauty and Splendor of its own Sun. Let them rage against you , who have not experimentally learned how many Sighs and Groans it will cost , before a Man can attain to the Knowledge of God in the least Degree . Lastly , let them rage against you , who can presume that they are without Errors themselves : As for me ( saith he ) I neither can nor dare .

This is indeed modest , and speaks forth a Christian Spirit , according to that of the Apostle , Restore such an one in the Spirit of Meekness , &c. Whereas our Religious Controversies at this day breathe nothing but Hell , Death and Destruction : And as one said , The Opprobrious Name of Heretick , is b●come as common among our Clergy , as Son of a Whore , is amongst our Huffing Gallants : Not that any of them pretend to Infallibility more than Augustine did ; yet they will impose their Creeds and Models of Discipline as Imperiously , and with as much Violence as the Pope doth his .

Sozomen reckons up nine Creeds made in a few Years ; And Hilary , Bishop of Pictiers , saith , We Decree every Year of the Lord a new Creed , nay , every Change of the Moon our Faith is altered , &c. He concludes with saying , That the Christians were torn in pieces by themselves .

The Changes I have seen in my time , from the Year 1638 , unto this present Year 1698. are so Notour , I need not recount them : I shall therefore instance but one : After the Independants had got into the Saddle , and Presbytery was brought low , They lowred and grudged , repenting what they had done against the King , and would fain have washed their hands of his Blood : But soon after , when Oliver had set up himself Protector , and had struck in again with Pres . bytery , and had allowed them their Tythes , which the little Parliament endeavoured to dismount ; then the Pulpits rung with Encomiums upon Oliver , he was no less , than our Moses , our Joshua , and his Son Richard our Solomon , reserved from Blood , to build the Temple of the Lord : Nevertheless , in a very little time after , all this is hushed , and a new Change comes in with King Charles the Second : And it is yet fresh in the memories of Men , how few of our Presbyterian Priests stood firm .

It is recorded , That when Queen Mary of England died , there were One and Twenty Hundred of the Popish Clergy in England , who had entered into Orders , and that of all this vast number , there were but One Hundred and Twenty who stuck to their Principles when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown .

Is it not to be presumed , That the Inconstancy of such Changlings , is a great cause of the Atheism and Irreligion which now overflows the Land ?

If the Controversies of this present Age were for matters truly necessary to Salvation , they were more tolerable ; but it is manifest , that all the Particulars in which Men differ , who profess the Name of Christ , are in themselves of no Consequence , in respect to Salvation ; for as a late Writer saith , If it be temperately considered , there is not one particular , that if it had never been controverted , or so much as thought of , had been at all a prejudice to our following the true and plain Rules of Christianity . Nor can the Belief , or dis-Belief , of any of these disputed Particulars ( betwixt the Presbyterians and Episcopalians ) be reputed any part of the necessary Faith .

As for us the People called Quakers , What bitter Invectives , malicious Slanders and Reproaches , have we been leaded with , by three Presbyterian Priests successively , viz. Robert Macquar , John Brown and William Jameson , their own Books bear Witness : What have we done to deserve all this ? What can they charge us with , either Blasphemy against God , Treason against the King , or Immorality towards our Neighbours ? No surely : All they can charge us with , is , That we cannot believe all that a Presbyterian Priest saith , and are not willing to pin our Faith to another Man's sleeve : And to be short , it is for Luther's unpardonable Crime , That we have opened our Mouths against the Ambition and Avarice of the Clergy , as he did against the Pope's Crown , and the Monk's Bellies : For this we are much exposed .

I shall add here a Note of a Sermon , preached by Dr. Tillotson , late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury , in his Sermon upon Luke 9. Chap. and vers . 55 , 56. He tells us , That our Saviour came to discountenance all Fierceness , Rage and Cruelty of Man , to restrain that Furious and Unpeaceable Spirit , which is so troublesome to the World , and is the cause of so many Mischiefs and Disorders in it ; He came to Introduce a Religion , which consults not only the Eternal Salvation of Mens Souls , but also their Temporal Peace and Security , their Comfort and Happiness in this World . For when once Religion comes to supplant Moral Righteousness , and to teach Men the absurdest things in the World ; to Lye for Truth , and Kill for God's Sake ; when it serves for no other cause , but to be a Bond of Conspiracy to inflame the Tempers of Men to a greater Fierceness , and to set a keener Edge upon their Spirits , to make them ten times more the Children of Wrath and Cruelty , than they were by Nature : Then surely it loses its Nature , and ceases to be Religion ; for let a Man say worse of Infidelity and Atheism if he can .

I intreat my Presbyterian Country-men , that in calmness of Spirit , and in the cool of the Day , they may consider , and compare their own Practices , with these fore-cited Doctrines , and see whether this Author , and their Champion , hath done more hurt to the cause , or benefit to himself , by such a Rhapsody of Ranting .

I have cited ( for the most part ) Bishops , for two Reasons :

First , Because the Presbyterians pretend to be a more Pure and Pious People than they , and yet it seems to me , that the Charity of these Bishops is a far more Excellent and Christ-like Vertue , than all the Faith our Presbyters pretend to ; For let them have Faith to remove Mountains ; if they want that Charity which suffereth long , and is kind , envieth not , vaunteth not it self , is not puffed up , is not easily provoked : Beareth all things , indureth all things ; They will be found but Sounding Cimbals and tinkling Brass . Let them therefore betake themselves to other methods , for certainly these will never do their business : They must be weak Men who will be scolded out of their Religion ; and assuredly Force will never beget Faith .

Secondly , Because I know nothing so fit to restrain the extravagancies of a furious Presbyter , as the Authority of a Bishop ; and if our Author had been subjected to the Authority of a prudent and moderate Overseer , The World had never been troubled ( as himself words it ) with such Trash .

The Arians were the first that called in the Civil Power to their assistance against their Adversaries , and that endeavoured by Force , Stripes , Imprisonments , and false Accusations , to draw such unto themselves , whom they could not win with strength of Arguments ; thereby ( saith Athanasius ) plainly declaring how little of Piety and true Devotion there was among the Professors of that Doctrine . But as then , he that was born of the Flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit , even so is it now , Gal. 4.29 .

What ye can gain upon the plain by Preaching , and the strongest Arguments ye can produce from Scripture and sound Reason , take it and welcome : But hencforth forbear to use such unworthy Methods , as have been condemned by sober Christians in all Ages : As Gregory the Bishop of Rome , Nova & Inaudita est ista praedicatio quae verberibus exigit fidem ; I shall add , Contumeliis & Mendaciis . It is a new and unheard-of Manner of Preaching , which enforceth Faith by Stripes , Reproaches and Slanders . And Grotius tells us , in the Preface to his Book , De Jure Belli , p. 19. That the School-Men furnish us with great Examples of Modesty , whilst they contend among themselves with Reasons and Arguments ; and not , as the Custom now begins , to deface our Books with Reproaches , the spurious Issue of weak and effeminate Minds .

And now to his Introduction .

And , first , among other Favours I have done him before ( though ill rewarded ) I must Methodize that part of his Introduction which concerns me , thus :

First , He endeavours to Excuse himself from writing . Secondly , He gives us the Reason of his Writing . Thirdly , He falls upon me , and my Book . And Fourthly , He dreams the Episcopal Party have helped me ; for which he resolves to be Revenged of them . Of all which I shall take notice .

To begin with his Excuse , he saith , I can truly say , I am so far from loving a Salamandrake Life , the Line of Contention or Controversie , for Controversie's sake , as to pray earnestly , that all our intestine Heats and Strugglings may resolve into that happy and lawful Striving , How each of us may please him that hath called us unto Holiness and Peace . And that there may be no Provocation , save unto Love and good Works .

When I read this , I was awakened with some Expectations , that the Man had repented of his former Follies , and that he had brought us now some healing Counsels ; at least , that he would have been willing to allow us that Liberty at home , which his Brethren would be glad of abroad : But I found my self quite frustrated , and that all this was but Paint and Hypocrisie ; and that I might say , as Queen Elizabeth said of a Popish Embassadour , Legatum expectavi , Heraldum inveni : I expected an Embassadour , but found a Herauld : Or as one of his own Brethren said , I expected a Dove , with an Olive Branch in his Mouth , but I have found a Snake , with a Sting in his Tail . Nemo diu agit Hypocritam , None is long a Hypocrite . Before you read a page or two , he will put off the Disguise , and appear , in puris Naturalibus , in his own Colours .

Doth he think that any Man , who hath read his two Books , will believe him ? He saith , He loves not a Salamandrake Life . Why then hath he chosen it for near ten Years ? a Time sufficient to have consumed him to Ashes , if he had not been a real Salamander : For in his last Book , he complains of the Primate , for refusing him a License to Print it , and hath but now taken occasion to revenge himself : So that having boiled ten Years in the Furnace of Contention , he now comes forth to vomit out his black Choler upon every Body he meets with .

He saith , He loves not Controversie for Controversie's sake . But if this had been true , he might have washed his Hands of one Controversie , before he had fouled his Fingers with another . He seems to be a Man of a great Mind , and esteems the Quakers as too low and abject Adversaries for the Honour and Dignity of a Presbyter : Therefore hath engaged with the Episcopal Clergy : But I doubt that Incidit in Scillam cupiens evitare Charibdiu : He falls into Scylla , that seeks to shun Charibdis .

As to his Prayers for Holiness and Peace , we have some ground to doubt whether they be serious : Because of an Observe of the oldest Men here , to wit , That Peace , Plenty and Presbytery , were never yet contemporary in Scotland .

He tells of Love and good Works : Let the Reader judge whether he merits Love upon any other account , than the Obedience due to the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ , who hath said , Love your Enemies , Bless them that Curse you , and do Good to them who Despitefully use you and Persecute you . As for Good Works , if Railing , Reviling , Slandering , and bearing False Witness against his Neighbours , be his Good Works , I wish I may be preserved from his evil Works .

In the second place he gives us the Cause of his Writing in these words : My main end is , only to disabuse my Protestant Brethren , misled by some who are so uncharitable as to Un-Church and Damn the greater and better part of the Reformed ; because they imbrace not as Divine , that which at best is but of Humane Device : And who thus conspire with the mortal Enemies of all Protestants , against these of them , whom the common and insatiable Adversaries most implacably hate ; for above all others , the Presbyterian Puritans , &c.

If this be his End , he hath certainly taken unlucky Means to bring it about . One of his old Friends , a Heathen Poet , tells us , That Charms may invite the Moon out of Heaven : But I never read that she cared for barking . And therefore look to your selves , my Friends , whom he calls his Protestant Brethren ; for in so venemous a Malice , Courtesie is always Fatal : If Scolding cannot do the business , he hath in store , Ratio ultima Cleri , The Clergy's last Refuge ; and wants nothing but Power to enforce it .

He calls Episcopacy , an Humane Device , and themselves Uncharitable , because they Un-Church all who will not imbrace it as Divine .

I always thought the Episcopal Party more Charitable ( at least in their Opinions ) than the Presbyterians . I have cited several Bishops already upon that Head , I shall now give him a Pope , to wit , Gregory the Great , in his Epistle to Paschose , Bishop of Naples : Such as would , with a sincere Design , draw over ( the Aliens from the Christian Religion ) to the Orthodox Faith , must do it with gentle Methods , and not with Roughness , lest ill usage drive away such , whose Minds might have been wrought upon by clean Reasonings . And whoever will do otherwise , and under this pretence , will hinder any from their Customary Ways of Worship , it is evident thereby , that they follow their own Ends more than the Cause of God . I shall intreat the Presbyterians in Edinburgh to compare this with their Practises towards the People called Quakers , in violently keeping them out of their Meeting-House , in the Year 1697.

As to Un-Churching , it seems our Author must be ill acquainted with the Doctrines of his Brethren , the Itinerant Preachers sent to the North ( vulgo , The Twenty Merk-Men ) whose common talk it was in the Pulpits , That the Gospel had not been preached there these Twenty Eight Years past , that is to say , all the time of Episcopacy : Now where the Gospel is not preached , no Christian Church is , it being one of the Essential Marks thereof ; so that I may say with Beza ,

Caecus es & Beaam reprendis Sexte quid Ergo ?

Sanum Reprensor debet habere Caput .

Thou art blind thy self , O Sextus , yet Reproaches Beza therewith . But sure he should have a whole Head himself that reproves another .

As for the Divine Authority of either of them , I am little concerned ; nor do I intend to meddle in that Controversie ; only , if our Author can shew me , either from Scripture or Antiquity , a General Council of Presbyters , intermixt with Lay-Elders , without a Bishop among them ; a Provincial Synod , and Presbyters of the same kind , a Church-Session constituted of a Priest and Lay-Elders having Jurisdiction , not only to appoint Pennances ( such as the Stool of Repentance ) but also to impose upon Delinquents pecunial Mulcts , and to exact them , and bestow them at their Pleasure : I shall acknowledge him better read in Scripture and History , then I pretend to ; tho' perhaps I have been no less inquisitive than other Plowmen have been .

In the next place he Insinuates , That the Papists most implacably hate the Presbyterian Puritans , and would have them thought to be the most irreconcilable to the Roman Doctrine , and on this account , The prime Objects of their Malice .

I know no place in Europe where Presbyterian Puritans reside , but the West of Scotland , and some part of the South , and I am certain they have been as little troubled with Papists , or Popish Persecution , as any People in Europe have been : And as for reconciliation between them , it is no way to be expected , because they differ in their Forms of Government ; the Papish being Monarchical , the Presbyterians Democratical , and both of them claiming an absolute unlimited Power , unaccountable to the Civil Magistrate : But in many things they agree , to wit , Tyranny , Cruelty , &c.

I am now come to the third thing mentioned , wherein he falls upon me and my Book , which he calls , A pretended Answer to a part of a Book , wherein he had given some further Discovery then had been already made , of some of the Impieties and self-Contradictions of that Sect .

This I have taken notice of before , as a great vanity in our Author , in preferring himself to his other Presbyterian Brethren ; albeit he had adduced nothing new , but some Lyes of his own forging , and what he had taken from two noted Forgers , Hicks and Faldo , as I have formerly told him . He calls it , A pretended Answer ; but all he hath done here , will hardly clear him of what is therein charged upon him , but it will lie at his door , till he be at leisure to give it a more discreet Reply .

In the next place he says , He does not think that my Book belongs all to one Parent .

He should have given us the reason of his thoughts , for he may think Black is White ; and in this he must surely depend upon Tradition , whether it be so or not ; and I doubt not his Informers are Men of as little credit as himself , but he hath heard none yet say , Hos ego versiculos , feci tulit alter honores . I wrote it , but another took the Praise . But more of this afterwards .

Immediately after this , he giveth us a piece of rare stuff , thus ; I can say with the Prophet Jeremiah , that I have suffered rebuke for my God's sake ; and with Job can take mine Adversary's Book on my Shoulder , and bind it as a Crown to me , having received all along thorow't , instead of a Confutation , a most strong Confirmation of the Truth of the Doctrine I propugned .

Would not a Man think that this had proceeded from a sober humble self-denying Person , one that can bear Injuries , if he had met with any ?

But be not mistaken , This is but a lucid interval , and you 'll find him shortly as Mad as a Man can be ; and of all Persons , a Mad Priest is thought the most incurable ; I must therefore add what follows .

You shall find him ( saith he ) most frequently yielding the whole Controversie , as also over-skipping the Marrow of what I had adduced ; and yet anon triumphing as if they had never in the least been guilty of such dealings : You shall find that the most pardonable pieces of their Book , is wild Gibberish , extravagant Raveries , meer Impertinencies , palpable Perversions , loud Lyes , Heresies , Blasphemies ; and in a word , a Lump of Stuff so Atheistical , that it proclaims the Authors neither to fear God , nor regard Man ; never to have consulted Conscience , nor to have remembred of future Judgment , or of the Account they must give at the tremendous Tribunal of God : Yet all this is but what I expected , and is not unworthy of these , who , with Satan's sworn Slaves , renounce their holy Baptism , and therewith whatsoever is constitutive of a Christian .

Here you have a full Answer to my Book , such as it is : I told you before what you might expect . Could this Paltry Stuff have proceeded , but from a Spirit grievously exulcerated ? Could any thing but a raging Sea have cast up such Mire and Dirt ? Could a good Tree have born such Fruit ? Or a pure Fountain have sent forth such impure Streams ? No surely : To rail in Religious Controversies , is nauseous any way ; but to rail Rhetorically , and with a Jingle , is sufficient to provoke a Vomit . What hath distempered this poor Man ? The King of France that lost his Wits by the carelesness of a Page , that carried his Launce , and let it fall upon his Masters Head , so frighted him , that he never recovered his Wits again ; and what if the Plecig-Staff hath done our Author the same trick ? It 's evident the Man is Angry with me , and Anger is Madness , and as strong in Force , though not in Course so long . And I desire you may take notice what vast difference there is betwixt solid Reason , and furious Passion ; it seems that Machiavel his old Rule , hath great esteem with him , Calumniare audacter aliquid adhaerebit . Throw Dirt enough , and some will stick .

But I have one comfort , He hath been sound to trip so often , that few will believe him ; For though an ill Man ( as one saith ) cannot by praising , confer Honour ; nor by reproaching , fix an Ignominy ; yet there is more in it , for at the same time that we imagine what is said by such an Author to be false , we conceive the contrary to be true ; and I can assure him , that many as wise and learned Men as himself have read that Book , and have given it no such Character .

But before I dissect his Answer , I must tell you , That in my last , I ( partly ) answered a Fool in his Folly , lest he should be wise in his own Eyes ; but now I resolve not to Answer a Fool in his Folly , lest I should be reputed , as great a Scold as he , which is a Character no Man will covet , who regards his Fame .

In the first place he compares his Patience to Job's , and the Prophet Jeremiah ; but I told you , This was but a lucid interval ; and he is now fallen into a perfect Lycanthropie , his Discourse being all turned into Howling , Yelling and Barking , without the least vestige of Reason in it .

I shall next take notice of his Ingratitude ; he saith , That all along throughout , I have given him a most strong Confirmation of the Truth of the Doctrine be propugned : And a little after , That I most frequently yield him the whole Controversie .

Now consider , What monstrous Ingratitude is this ? After I had done him such a favour , as to write twenty Sheets of Paper , as a most strong Confirmation of his Book , as if I had yielded him the whole Controversie , to treat me as an Atheist , Heretick , Blasphemer , &c. seems very wildlike : But 't is observed , that Mad-Men are most Furious against their Friends and Benefactors : But if this be the best reward he bestows , I think sew Men will be curious to do him a good Office . And yet when he takes leisure to cool his thoughts , he may find that the Evil and Reproach he prepared for me , returns upon himself ; and then , Qui sibi nequam cui bonus ? He that 's false to himself , To whom is he true ? For if my Book be a Confirmation of his , and a granting of the whole Controversie , then undoubtedly his Book must be of the same Grain , and a piece of the same Stuff ; and if my Book be a lump of Atheistical Stuff ( yet a Confirmation of his Book ) he cannot deny his to be Atheistical , Blasphemous , Heretical , &c. Seeing he says , I yield him the whole Controversie , and so have not opposed him : It is evident he is the first Atheist , the first Heretick , the first Blasphemer , &c. if any such thing were true of my Book : But Fraus Latet in Generalibus : Deceit Lurks in Generals : And he hath not adventured to prove his Libel , either by Instances , or by relieving one of his own baffled Arguments , or touching one of mine .

But immediately he becomes as Serious as it is possible for a Mad Man , and tells us , The Book proclaims the Author neither to Fear God , nor Regard Man , never to have consulted Conscience , or remembred of future Judgment , or of the Account they must give at the Tremendous Tribunal of God . Here he leaves off his Banter a little , and gives us Cant for it . But how can he reprove others , who hath let the Sun go down upon his Wrath Three hundred times at least , and hath so long given place to the Devil , and now casts up such Foam ? Let him not teach the Laws of God , while he hates to be Reformed ; and learn to bridle his Tongue , before he be esteemed Religious . But how can he talk to us now of a future Judgment , when in his last Book he accused us , as down-right Sadduces ? But it seemeth , either he hath forgotten himself , or he hath better Thoughts of us now : And I know not when I have him , or when I want him . He tells of consulting Conscience ; in this he is no less inconsistent with himself ; for he calls Conscience a Natural Thing ; and they teach that our whole Nature is corrupted . How then shall we consult Corrupt Nature ? But I doubt our Author hath consulted it too much in the writing of both his Books ; otherwise he had not given so much way to his unruly Passion as he hath done .

But now he will rank us among Witches , saying Who with Satan's sworn Slaves , renounce their holy Baptism , and therewith whatsoever is constitutive of a Christian .

Behold how far Inveterate Malice and Revenge will transport a Man ! He hath been just now talking of the Tremendous Tribunal of God , and anon falls into a mad Fit again . Did he , or any Man else , ever know a Quaker to Renounce his Baptism ? Or is this Language fit for a Presbyter , who denies Baptism to be necessary to Salvation ? For Proof whereof , I shall cite no private Authority , but that most Famous Assembly , held at Glasgow , in the Year 1638. Act Sess. 17. Decemb . 1638. Number 4. Which Acts and Censures make manifest , that our Kirk abhorred whatsoever fostered the Opinion of the necessity of Baptism , and giving of the Sacrament , as a Viaticum . Thus the General Assembly .

But , lest our Author should say , I yield him the Controversie here , I assert , That the true Christian Baptism is absolutely necessary to Salvation : And I heartily wish , that I , and all good Christians , may keep to what is necessary , and neither be Superstitious , nor seek to Supererrogate .

And now , being weary of him , I shall give him this sober Reply to what he hath said . And First , ( though he always writ in the Plural Number ) I assure him , he hath to do with no Man in the World , but my self . And Secondly , That none of my Acquaintance will believe him , than I am an Atheist , either Speculative or Practical ; and I bless my God , I have the Testimony of a good Conscience to boot . Thirdly , As for Blasphemy , the Lord ( who knows my Heart ) knows , I abhor any thing that hath a tendency that way ; and as he hath hitherto preserved me from Blaspheming his Holy Name , either by Word or Writ , I trust in his Mercy , that he will continue so to do , while he allows me a Day upon the Earth . Fourthly , As to Heresie , I can truly say , with a good Man , Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo , I may be mistaken , I may err , I am not Infallible ; but I will not be a Heretick . And Lastly , As to Gibberish , Raveries , Impertinencies , &c. an Adversary can be no competent Judge , being a Party , and that very Malicious . So I hope my Country-Men ( to whom I address my self ) will give him no credit till he bring better Evidence , than his dogmatical and uncharitable Ipse dixit , ( he saith it . ) But a Reproach will run , when a Just Vindication can scarce creep . If it were not the Interest of those Men to render us odious , we might be esteemed good Christians by their Hearers , and even by some of themselves . But the safest way to take away our Lives , is to render us Abominable ; and it is no less advantage to the Clergy , to represent us Wicked , than it is for us to be really Pious : Their Advantage being outward , ours inward . To conclude , this Man hath no Charity for any that bear the Name Christian , but his own Brotherhood , and prepares War for all the World beside . He is sick of Malice and rooted Envy , and therefore I will give him a Pill ; and I hope he will digest it the better , because it comes from a Brother of his own , Thus : The Gospel is a Message of Peace , from the God of Peace by the Prince of Peace , to the Sons of Peace ; which Gospel breathes nothing but healing Counsels ; drops down the balmy Dews of Gentleness , Meekness , Patience , Longsuffering , Charity : So that , Aut hoc non est Evangelium , aut vos non estis Evangelici , Either Charity is not Gospel , or our Author is an Infidel .

I am now come to a piece of stuff , so impertinent to his purpose , as he might have been ashamed to bring it forth . And thus he begins : For a further Confirmation whereof , hear the Quakers themselves , who are now split into Factions ; to wit , Keithians and Foxonians , &c. And then he goes on with Citations , of , He said This , and the other said That , and in the end sings his Te Deum , as if he had now undoubtely done his business .

But I shall ask this great Boaster two or three Questions , and then let him make the best of it he can : First , Was the Reformation the worse , that the Reformers split among themselves ? And that Luther called Calvin a Devil ? Secondly , Was the Presbyterian Cause the worse , that they split among themselves , and brought forth the Independents ? Who called them a Synagogue of Satan ; and their Synods and Presbyteries Inquisition Courts , and themselves Tyrants , and turned them out of Government , which was the most grievous Mortification they could have met with ; having been for so long a time Lords over , not only the Souls , but the Bodies and Estates of the Nation ? Thirdly , Was the Presbyterian Cause the worse , that James Sharp ( once as Famous among them , as ever George Keith was among us ) not only deserted them , and spoke against them , but assisted in making Laws , and putting them in Execution against them ? Or was their Cause the better , that they murdered him for his pains ? Which G. K. neither feareth from us , nor shall ever have cause . It is needless to mention the many latter Schisms among Presbyters , not yet fully cemented ; though the bestowing such fat Benefices , as Liberton , hath much conduced to stop the Mouths of some of them . Was there ever a Church without some such things ? Was there not once a proud Presbyter at Alexandria , who got more Followers than there are Puritan Presbyters ( as he words it ) in the World , and yet was at last found to be a Blasphemous Heretick ? In short , let our Author grant so much to the Papists , That Unity is an Essential Mark of the true Church , and that all the Puritar Presbyters in the World are at perfect Unity ; and then he may tune his Organs . And withal , remember that the Testimony of an Adversary is no good Evidence .

And now I am come to the Fourth thing I mentioned ; to wit , his Dream , That some of the Episcopal Clergy have helped me : In Revenge whereof ( it seems ) he hath written his Second Book : But we have a common Saying , That Dreams are contrary . And moreover , the Sufferings of the Episcopal Clergy are sufficient , without any Addition upon my Account .

And therefore I do heartily assure all my Country-Men , That there is no Man in the World accessory to the writing or composing of one Sentence of that Book , but my self ; and therefore I shall tell mine Adversary , and his Brethren , Ego adsum qui feci in me Convertite Peuas , O Clerici . Here I am , the Author ; turn your Malice against me , O ye Priests .

Having thus cleared others , I shall take notice of his own Inconsistencies : And First , he saith , I cannot think my Plow-Man to be the sole Author of the Book . And why , I pray thee ? If it be such a piece as thou hast lately represented it , sure a very mean Person might be the Author of it : Could not a Plow-Man have written wild Gibberish , extravagant Raveries ? &c. And yet it must be thought the Work of an Episcopal Minister , of no mean Rank . If this looks not like Gibberish , let the Reader judge .

But why doth he call me his Plow-Man ? I doubt , if ever he yet attained to the Honour of having a Plow-Man of his own . And I must tell him , that I have read of some very honourable Plow-Men , such as M. F. Camillus , and Titus Quintus Concinnatus ; and when he slights a Plow-Man , he should remember Elisha . But you shall have a more full Specimen of his Arrogancy hereafter .

The next Tale he tells us , is very worthy such an Author . It 's true ( saith he ) they hate all Protestants , and chiefly Presbyterians . This is so far from being True , that it is a very gross Falshood . Many honest Protestants love us , and are convinced that we love them : Which both have been made evident , by mutual good Offices . And because that though he speaks in the Plural Number , yet intends only me , as being the Author of the Book ; I shall therefore assure him , I am at Peace with all Mankind , and am so far from Hating him ( notwithstanding his injurious dealing ) that if I saw him in Distress , I would adventure my Person to help him ; and beside , if I hated all Protestants , I must necessarily hate my self , who am a Protestant ; and it were no small advantage for our Author to be as free from self-Love , as I am from self-Hatred . This foul Charge hath been intended to render us odious , but I hope no honest Protestant will believe it .

He saith , I have studied to blacken Presbytery ; but he is mistaken ; for I had neither a mind , nor room enough to depaint it in its true black Colours , which I could have done to purpose , having felt the smart of it , whereof I retain the sense to this day ; and his Tongue will cease in his Head , and Hands fail him , before he can wash off the black Spots it left behind it since the last Rebellion .

He talks next of Palliating Quakerism ; but he might have remembred so much of his Latine , as Veritas non quaerit angulas : Truth seeks neither Cloaks nor Corners ; And all his endeavours to Palliate Presbytery , and its Practices , after the Year 1638. will be found but a narrow covering .

He tells us , He finds in many places only Libels larded with Lyes , Calumnies and Reproaches , &c. I told him before , that Deceit Lurks in Generals ; but he hath not the Candor to Instance one of them : This may pass with credulous Fops , and such Novices as our Author ; but with Men of Sense , who were Witnesses to the Transactions of those times , they are well known to be sad Truths .

Next he observes ( and would be esteemed observant for so doing ) A warmth or kindness for those of the Episcopal Principles , and in a word ( says he ) much of the Book breathes forth another Species of Malignancy , peculiar to the Author of Presbytery's Trial , &c.

I thought the nick-Names of Malignant and Round-head , had been forgotten ; but we see what lies at the bottom : What if I have a kindness for some of the Sufferers among the Episcopal Party ? Is Sympathy with Sufferers a Sin ; Especially when they Suffer for Conscience sake ? I can tell our Author , that I both pitied and prayed for the Presbyterians when they were Sufferers , and am sorry they should now so far forget themselves as to become Pesecutors . And as for the word Malignancy , I acknowledge I do not well understand it , and perhaps neither doth our Author himself ; but as it is generally taken ; I cannot deny but that I always preferred Order to Confusion ; and I yet think that the City of Athens was better governed by one King , than by Thirty Tyrants : And likewise , that Fourteen Bishops were a more tolerable Grievance to the Kingdom , than a Thousand Presbyterian Popes . These are my own Sentiments , and I desire they may be charged upon no Man but my self , I shall yet add another , to wit , I am for the Doctrine of Non-Resistance , chiefly in Religious Matters : And now let him call me Malignant , or worse if he please .

He tells us next of Heylin , L' Estrange , Romanists , Hierarchicks , Papaturians , &c. These are hard and uncooth words , but they are understood ; but he needed not the half of this ; the chief difference betwixt Papists and Presbyterians , being that the latter are the more merciful Executioners ; and in lieu of the Papists Racks , Tortures , Fire and Faggot , the Presbyterians may perhaps allow Axes and Halters to make more quick dispatch : And seeing both are Wolves , the Presbyterians are so kind , they desire none to worry us but themselves ; and you may easily perceive what an eager desire our Author hath to bite , by his wild Grinning .

And lest our Author should say , This is a blackening of Presbyterians without Proof , I shall proceed to compare them . The Papists since the beginning of the Thirteenth Century , have always practised Burnings , and other such like Cruelties : And all Princes have been required by the Authority of General Councils , to root out Hereticks out of their Dominions , under the pains of Excommunication , Deposition , and giving away their Dominions to others : And the Popish Bishops , at their Consecration , are obliged by Oath , that they shall Oppose and Persecute Hereticks to the utmost of their Power : Hence ( says Dr. Burnet ) no Popish Prince or Magistrate can be blamed for Cruelty , so much as for being of so Cruel a Religion , whereof Persecution is a part , and that expresly by the fourth Latsran Counsel .

Now that Presbytery is nothing short of this , see the Solemn League and Covenant , Art. 2. Where they Swear with their Hands listed up to the most high God , that they shall without respect of Persons , endeavour the Extirpation of Popery , Prelacy , Superstition , Heresie , Schism , &c.

So let my Country-Men Compare and Judge Impartially , whether a Prefbyterian , qua talis ( as such ) be not as much obliged to Persecute , as a Papist , and that it is a part of the one Religion , as well as of the other ; remembring , that not only all Subjects were inforced to Swear this Oath , but even the King himself .

In the next place he becomes Labeone Insanior , even as Mad as a Man can be , and that upon his former Dream , that some of the Episcopal Clergy have joyned with me : Lo he cries out , Strange ! Can they not uphold their Hierarchy , unless they thus study to undermine Christianity , and joyn with its deadly Enemies ; and that too , with such Varlets of them , whose Brutishness , and Molish Despicableness , as was the good Fortune of Aesop's Ass , are their only Security , and sets them too low for any Man to notice them . I am also informed ( saith he ) that the pretended Author used to have most close and frequent Converse with an Episcopal Minister of no mean Rank , &c.

Here , as I told you before , you have the Man In puris Naturalibus ( in his own Natural Colours ) he Stamps and Tears , and Swells as big as Aesop's Frog , and all upon a false Supposition , which I have answered before , I hope , to the Satisfaction of unbyassed Men : But the Pride of this Man is intollerable ; he calls us Varlets , this word hath two Significations , to wit , Slave or Vassal : For the first , We are obliged to Christianity , there being no Slaves among Christians : And a Vassal is , He who holds Lands of a Superiour , of which kind I acknowledge my self to be one ; and the best Men in the Nation hold their Lands either of the King , or some Inferior Superiour ; For I know no Freeholders , but Beggars and Priests .

He saith , My Molish Despicableness hath set me too low for any Man to notice me ( for it 's me alone he hath to deal with ) but how Despicable soever he may esteem me , he might have spared the word Molish ; seeing ( I thank God ) he hath a much greater affinity to the Moles than I : And if I be too low for any Man to notice me ; It seems he must be a Bruit for his pains .

Nevertheless , seeing the Competition comes betwixt him and me , I hope my Readers will excuse me to be a little Jocund with him , having been so long time Serious with a Mad-Man ; and now let us compare .

If there be such a vast Inequality , it must be either in our Birth , our Breeding , our Persons , or our Parts . For the first , I am not good at reckoning Genealogies , and the Laird of Cromarty is now dead , who perhaps could have helped me ; and I am content the matter be referred to King James the Sixth , who was perhaps as well skilled in Herauldy as either of us .

This King had an Axiom , that Omnia Nomina desinentia in Son , sunt Carlativi generis praeter Robertson : All Names ending in Son , are of a Base or Carlish kind , except Robertson : So here I have the better of him , till he produce better Authority .

Secondly , As to our Breeding , our Author confesseth in his last Book , that his was Eleemosynary ; and I tell him , mine was Free : I stand obliged to no Man for it , but my Father : And as for my Master Andrew Cant , Junior , He was Inferior to few in the Nation for Humane Literature .

Thirdly , As to our Persons , I bless my God , I can say , Est mihi Mens sana in Corpore Sano : I have a sound Mind , in a sound Body : Neither of which I think our Author can boast of .

And , Fourthly , Our Parts , of which neither he nor I are competent Judges , but must come under the cognizance of the wide World : And this shall suffice for his Proud and Arrogant Banter .

And now , whereas he tells us , that I had close and frequent Converse with an Episcopal Minister of no mean Rank .

I must tell him , this Discourse of his is very Incoherent ; for if he was a Minister of no mean Rank , How comes he to be accessary to the publishing a Book , whose most tollerable pieces , are wild Gibberish , extravagant Raveries , &c. Certainly , let any sensible Man take this whole Discourse as it lies , and he must conclude this Minister ( if there were such a Man in rerum Natura ) to have been either a meer ignoramus , or a great Cheat ; for if he intended to assist me , and had been a Man of no mean Rank , he could not have permitted me to have published such stuff , as our Author represents it to be . And if he was a Cheat to me , and did it designedly , then sure he deserves more thanks from our Author , and more kind usage : So that , take the matter how you will , our Author hath writ Non-sense . He tells us , he was informed ; but he should not be so Credulous , as to blast Men's Reputations upon such false Surmises , lest he be called in question for it : The Episcopal Party is not yet so low , but they may resent such Injuries . There is no new thing under the Sun ; that which hath been , may be ; and our Author may yet live to hear of a Change ; and though he should not , yet it is hard dealing , to crow over Men when under Affliction .

I shall now advise my Presbytcrian Country-Men , to come to a sober Mind , and stop this rude and crude Scribler : And having got the Possession of the Pomp and the Pelf , sit down quiet with it , and suffer other Christians and Protestants to live at Peace , beside you : Remembering the old Verse , Sed Tacitus pasci si posset Corvus haberet . Plus dapis & Rixae multo minus invidiaeque .

If the Raven would quietly feed , he might have more Food , and less Envy and Strife with it .

And to let you see how little Service this Man's Book is like to do you , I shall set down a few Remarks I made upon it .

My First Remark shall be , That in his Introduction , he would seem to flatter the Church of England ; and yet in page 107 , and 108. speaking of the same Church , he says , Is not that Kingdom where Prelacy is of most account , filled with the most idle , naughty and profane Clergy-Men that are to be found , at least in the Protestant World .

Secondly , After he hath tugged hard , to prove a Parity between Church-Officers ; he may expect to do his business , Ad Calendas Graecas ( or never . ) For had our Author lived to see Presbytery in its true Vortex ( or height ) it would have made his Head giddy to behold it . If there was but one Pragmatick fellow in a Presbytery , he was sure to lead all his fellow Presbyterians by the Nose ; or in a Provincial Synod , two or three such , made all the rest Ciphers ; and if there happen'd a Competition , then followed Factions and Confusion ; each advancing his Interest , to get a Plurality of Votes : Concerning which , Dr. Burnet says , The Majority of all Societies is apt to be corrupted . So we cannot long hope for much Order , where the Major Vote determines every thing . And I have seen a Presbyter , to wit , Andrew Cant , Senior , have more Authority , and Rule more Imperiously in the Diocess of Aberdeen , than ever I saw any Bishop there .

For , First , Both Parties claim the Scriptures , and sometimes the same Texts , and they have not yet agreed upon a Judge . So it may be said , Quis Litem hanc dirimet nisi veniat alter Elias : Except another Elias come , and bring down Fire from Heaven , the Controversie cannot be decided .

And lest our Author should here say , I have widened the Breach , and made a Reconciliation Impracticable , I shall propose a Midst ; and if neither Party thank me for it , I 'll do it Gratis .

Their Difference is chiefly about the Interpretation of Scriptures , Which relates to Church-Officers : I shall not send them to the Pope , but to a famous Protestant , yea , a Calvinist , Peter Martyr , Loci Communes , page 31. There he tells them , That without the Spirit , no Man can understand the true and genuine Sense of the Scritpures . Where he citeth many Scriptures for that effect ; as , My Sheep hear my Voice : The Natural Man doth not perceive the things of God , &c. The Anointing shall teach you all things , &c.

But he starts one Objection thus : Dixerint aliqui , vera quidem sunt haec at nos Spiritu destituti sumus : Some will say , These things are indeed true , but we are destitute of the Spirit . To whom ( saith he ) I shall reply : If ye be void of the Spirit , how dare ye call your selves Christians ? Whereas Paul to the Romans teacheth , That he who hath not the Spirit of Christ , is none of his . And a little after , But in the mean time , this I affirm , That there is no true Christian , to whom so little of this Spirit is granted , but that he is able to draw forth and judge , out of the holy , Scriptures , what things are necessary to Salvation .

Now , if your Controversies be about things necessary to ●alvation , here is a way to reconcile yon ; and if not necessary to Salvation , I pray do not trouble the World so much about them .

And Secondly , All Protestants lay claim to the Fathers of the first three Centuries ; and our Author hath loaded , if not loathed , us with Citations : Yet in the end , page 165. He tells us , They were like others , subject to Humane Weakness and Corruption ; fell into Complyance with the growing Errors ; into immoderate Heat , Prevarication , and Self-Repugnancy , and Negligence to search for the Scriptures their meaning . And then he nameth Stephen , and Cyprian , Epiphanus , and Theophilus , and even Hierom , the great Presbyterian Father , and Ruffinus ; he adds , Not to name others ; In all which , says he , it is apparent , how little they believed one another , and how many of them prevaricated in Favour of their particular Fancies .

In the next page , he falls upon Justin Mart●r , and Clemens Alexandrinus , and Optatus : He tells us that Justin Martyr endeavoured to perswade the Gentiles , that all Mankind were Partakers of Christ , because they were Partakers of Reason ; and Christ is called Logos , which also signifies Reason . He also falls upon Origen , Methodius , and again upon Hierom , not sparing Augustine ; who ( he saith ) sometimes commends and praises several unscriptural Ceremonies .

Thus you see how he hath dealt with the Fathers ; so that they cannot be Judges . And so his whole Book Lands in a Nihil sequitur , Nothing follows .

Here you have the Fruit of all the Author's Labours : and that he hath left the matter no less uncertain , than when he set Pen to Paper .

But he hath adduced one Argument wholly Evasive of Episcopacy ( as he words it ) And take it thus :

He cites his old Friend Homer , the blind Poet , for the signification of the Name Bishop , calling it a Name of Labour and Travel , and not of Honour and Dignity : Whereas the Name Presbyter truly imports Rule and Honour . And a little after , Not a Title above Presbyter , but rather used by way of Diminution and Qualification of the Power implied by the Name Presbyter .

To this I shall only say , That if our Author can perswade the Clergy of Scotland , that there is more Rule , Honour and Dignity ( which always implies , Wealth to maintain it ) to be had by being a Presbyter , than by being a Bishop , he shall do his business more effectually , than by writing an Hundred such pieces as his Nazianzeni Querela , & Votum Justum , as he calls his Book .

My Third Remark shall be this , He is offended with those that charge the Presbyterians with Anti-monarchical Principles . But 〈◇〉 must tell him , That now a days Men's Principles are not so much looked upon as their Practices ; because many times Men of his Station are like Water-Men , who look one way , and row another : He labours to justifie them with one Hand , and casts all down with the other .

The Presbyterians have had to do only with Four Kings of Scotland , since they were a People ; and how our Author hath treated them , you shall hear . In page 13. he saith , King James the Sixth rarely minded to keep what he promised , &c. And a little after , King James his Prevaricating , Temporising , Promising and Consenting , to what he never meant to stand longer than by Force he should be able to undo them . And again , Neither made he any Bonds to obtrude upon this Kingdom , Inquisition-like , High Commission Courts , without any Law , or Acts of Parliament .

Hereby he makes King James the Sixth , a Traytor and a Tyrant ; much like Bradshaw to King Charles the First , upon whom he falls next , saying , These his steps were trodden by his Successor , &c. Thereby confirming all that Bradshaw said .

And when he comes to King Charles the Second , he saith , The Associates were at least to be excused and pitied , seeing they not only had fresh Memory of the scarce parallelled Dealing of the preceding Reign , but also perceived evident Specimens of a strange Genius in the Successor . Whence they might collect , how sad and terrible things might be feared from him , &c. As for King James the Seventh , it is well known what a flattering Address he received from the Scots Presbytcrians , and how little good Will they meant him .

And now , by our Author's Practices , let Men judge of his Principles ; and whether it be suitable Language for a Man of Monarchick Principles : Do his Brethren think that this will be savoury Language in the Ears of King William , or that he will be pleased to have the Sepulchres of his Royal Progenitors digged up by such a Pedant , and their Names exposed to such Ignominious and Reproachful Infamy ? Well , let him pretend Scripture for his Rule , and I will make it mine really ; to wit , Speak not Evil of the King , &c.

I have yet one Remark , and it is this , He undertakes to clear the Presbyterians of the consequents of the Year 1638. alledging for their Defence , That in their League with England , they neither believed that the English drove such ends as afterwards appeared , nor did they fore-see the dismal Alterations which ensued ; Otherwise ( saith he ) they had certainly never joyned with the English , or done ought of that kind .

Now I must confess , this is the first Presbyterian I ever met with , guilty of so much Ingenuity , as to condemn the Solemn League and Covenant ; but I told you in my last , I thought him a Mongrel ; and I wonder how his Brethren suffered him to publish this . For First , It concludes all the General Assembly , as well Priests as Lay-Elders , to have been a company of Cox-combs , without Fore-sight or Understanding of the Charge that lay upon them ; but this is little , if the Estates of the Nation had not been concerned : This will need an Act of the General Assembly to Confirm it , before it be believed to be the common Sentiments of the Presbyterians . And Secondly , It condemns all the Sufferers , who have stuck to it , since the English ends were discovered .

But I have one thing more to tell our Author of the Year 1638.

Before that Year , the Kingdom of Scotland was in a most flourishing Condition , having not only abundance of all things necessary for Humane Life : But there was so much Honesty , Fidelity , Brotherly-Love , and an entire Confidence in one another , that it was rare to hear of a Man to break his Word ; Money was lent without Bonds , and a Cheat was abhorred and spurned at . But after the Assembly , held that year at Glasgow , had once proclaim'd War with Heaven , and had taken upon them , o● rather usurped , that Papal Anti-christian Power , of dispensing with the Obligation of Oaths , as may be seen , Act. Sess. 13. December 5. 1638. From that day may we date the Epocha of our Miseries ; for since that time hath this Nation been in a declining Condition as to outward things ; and not only so , but as if the Iron Age had then first appeared among us ; we may say with the Poet — Fugere pudor verumque Fidesque in quorum subiere Locum , Fraudesque Dolique Insidiaeque & vis et Amor Sceleratus habendi : Faith , Truth and Shame fled away , and in their place succeeded , Fraud , Deceit , Conspiracies , Violence , and wicked Covetousness : No Trust , no Fidelity , and he was accounted the Wisest Man , that could most handsomly Intrap and Cheat his Neighhour ; but ( which above all is to be lamented ) Perjury is become so common , that it is thought no Sin , but is openly avowed , and Men are not ashamed to take contrary Oaths ; because of which , this poor Land hath mourned , and as yet mourneth ; but I shall cease to meddle in that matter any further , lest I may happily get both Parties about mine Ears , and then have not I made a fair Pargain on it ?

Only I cannot omit his frequent and disdainful repetitions of the word Hierarchy ; this word doth signifie , a Sacred principality , in Scripture , called , A Royal Priesthood , or Kings and Priests . Now if our Author think this Name of Holy Principality due to the Episcopal Clergy , he must certainly be an unholy Man that opposeth it : And if not due , Why doth he not tell his Reader so much ? But he is to be excused , not being compos Mentis .

If my Presbyterian Country-Men would do themselves and the World so much Justice , as to Try , Search and Examine the Principles of that People , called in Scorn Quakers , and not take them upon trust from their Teachers ( whose Interest it is to mis-represent them ) they could not miss to have better thoughts of them . Other Men of Learning and Probity have done so , and have confessed to the Truth in many things , some whereof I shall here insert .

Doctor Henry Moore : Scripta Philosophica , p. 748.

Fatendum est , &c. Englished thus :

It must be confessed , that they ( to wit , the Quakers ) have arisen much above the Dispensation of Familism , &c. If they all hold the same Faith with Robert Barclay , William Penn and George Keith ; for while Familism is a certain Infidelity or Incredulity about a Future Life , and the History of a Saviour : William Penn , in his Book , call'd No Cross , No Crown , so presseth the Argument concerning a Future Life , and the Blessed Immortality of the Soul , that thou canst scarce fall upon any Author that inculcates that matter with greater Zeal and Vehemency of Spirit . But that we may pass by William Penn and G. K. concerning whom , I doubt not but they firmly believe a future Life ; let us hear R. Barclay , what he saith in his Apology , p. 84. But we ( saith he ) from our Hearts reject the Heresie of Apollinaris , who denyed Christ to have had a Soul , but only a Body acted by the Divinity ; as also , the Error of Eutiches , who would have the Humane Nature altogether swallowed by the Divinity ; For as we believe him to have been a true and real Man , so we believe him thus to remain , as yet in the Heavens , glorified in Body as well as in Soul ; by whom God shall Judge the World in the last day of Judgment : But he who believeth Christ to be glorified in Heaven , both in Body and Soul , him indeed I cannot suspect of Incredulity concerning the Immortality of our Souls ; and so much the less , because in another place , he seems to tell his Mind in that matter sincerely , p. 137. Where speaking of the secret Influences of Divine Joy and Life , wherewith they are watered in their inward Silence and Retirements , he saith , This is a fore tast of that sensible Fruition , which the Saints daily enjoy , in Heaven , which God often indulgeth to his Children for their Comfort and Encouragement , especially when they are gathered together to wait upon him . These few words ( which the Saints daily Enjoy ) is indeed a full and express Profession of the Immortality of the Soul . And as to the History of Christ , he writeth very plainly thus , in p. 85. As we believe all these things which are written in the Holy Scriptures , concerning the Conception , Birth , Miracles , Passion , Death , Resurrection and Asoension of Christ , to have been truly and really Transacted ; so we believe all Men are obliged to believe them , to whom God brings the Knowledge of them : Yea , we think the unbelief of them to be damnable , if any Man should not believe these things , being brought to his Knowledge ; because the Divine Seed doth encline him so to believe : And albeit , it doth not reveal to every Man the External and Explicite Knowledge of these things ; yet it always assents to the Truth when it is declared . Which words ( saith Henry Moore ) are truly Golden , and a true Touch-stone of the pure Gold : And a little after , he saith , — I do not a little rejoice , that my foresight hath not altogether deceived me , which I published some Years ago ; to wit , That such of them who did continue in the Serious and Sincere Desire of that Knowledge which tendeth to Life and Piety , should come at last fase unto Jesus Christ , that great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls .

Behold how vast a difference there is , betwixt a Candid and Impartial Inquiry in this learned Man , and a furious and prejudicate Bigotry in our Author .

And as to his disdainful Ishmaelitish mocking and slighting of us , as so contemptible : He may see what thoughts more moderate Spirits have of us ( even of our Enemies ) see Norris his Book of the Light within , p. 32.

And ( as to the inconsiderableness of the Perswasion ) I cannot think Quakerism to be so , as the Principles of it are laid down and managed by Mr. Barclay . That great and general Contempt they lie under , does not hinder me from thinking the Sect of the Quakers to be far the most considerable of any that divide from us ; in case the Quakerism that is generally held , be the same with that which Mr. Barclay hath delivered to the World for such : Whom I take to be so great a Man , that I profess to you freely , I had rather ingage against one Hundred Bellarmines , Hardings and Stapletons , than with one Baxclay .

I shall add but another , Joseph Glanvil , his Essay 8. pag . 29. I confess the proud and fantastick Pretences of many of the conceited Melancholists in this Age , to Divine Communion , have prejudged divers intelligent Persons against the Belief of any such happy Vouchsafement . So that they conclude the Doctrine of Immediate Communion with the Deity in this Life , to be but a high-flown Notion of warm Imagination , and over-luscious Self-Flattery : And I acknowledge I have my self had thoughts of this Nature , supposing Communion with God to be nothing else but the Exercise of Vertue , and that Peace , and those Comforts , which naturally result from it .

But I have considered since , that God's more near and immediate Imparting Himself to the Soul , that is prepared for that Happiness , by Divine Love , Humility and Resignation , in the way of a vital Touch and Sense , is a thing possible in it self , and will be a great part of our Heaven : That Glory is begun in Grace ; and God is pleased to give some excellent Souls the happy Anti-past . That holy Men in ancient times , have sought and gloried in this Injoyment , and never complained so sorely , as when it was with held and interrupted : And the Expressions of Scripture are infinitely this way ; and the best of Modern Good Men do , from their own Experience , attest it , That this Spiritualizeth Religion , and renders its Enjoyments more Comfortable and Delicious , &c.

And a little after , he saith , I considered these weighty Things , and wondered at the Carelesness and Prejudice of Thoughts , that occasion'd my suspecting the reality of so Glorious a Priviledge . I saw how little reason there is in denying Matters of Inward Sense ; because our selves do not feel them , or cannot form an Apprehension of them in our Minds . —

And upon the whole , I believe infinitely , that the Divine Spirit affords its Sensible Presence , and Beatifick Touch , to some rare Souls , who are divested of Carnal Self , and Mundane Pleasures , abstracted from the Body by Prayer and holy Meditation , Spiritual in their Desires , and Calm in their Affections , Devout Lovers of God and Vertue , and tenderly Affectionate to all the World .

O that my Country-Men , of the Presbyterian Perswasion , would consider what a loss they are at , by doting upon Trifles , and running fiercely in the ways of Sect , being lifted up in the Apprehension of the Glorious Prerogatives of themselves and their Party , and scarring at all the World besides ! While they may see other Men , no less Wise and Learned than themselves , ( after a serious Enquiry ) confess their Mistakes , and acknowledge these Blessed Truths , for which we are hated and derided .

And now , seeing our Author begins with a Bishop , I hope he will allow me to end with one , &c. Doctor Burnet's Preface to the History of the Rights of Princes , page 49. Men are not Masters of their own Perswasions , and cannot change their Thoughts as they please : He that believes any thing concerning Religion , cannot turn as the Prince commands him , or accommodate himself to the Law , or his present Interests ; unless he arrive at that Pitch of Atheism , as to look on Religion only as a Matter of Policy , and an Engine for Civil Government . If the Sentiments of Humanity and good Nature be thus defaced , it is no wonder if those of Justice and Fidelity are of no great force .

I shall in fine earnestly Intreat my Antagonists , That if they write any thing more against me , that they will not stuff their Books with scurrilous Reproaches , malicious and bitter Sarcasms , which Grotius calls the spurious Issue of weak and effeminate Spirits ; but write candidly , not charging us with Lyes and Slanders . Bring forth your strong Arguments , from Scripture and sound Reason ; and if the Lord shall be pleased to continue me in Life and Health , I will promise you a suitable Return , ( thorow his Assistance ) and am truly

Your Well-wisher , John Robertson , FINIS .