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where he had put off the body of sin, and contrary to Christ, who saves and cleanses from all sin by his blood, and blots out all sin. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin.'

P. He saith, that Christ is in heaven in his humanity, therefore not to be seen, not to be heard, not to be handled by us or any others that live upon earth, and they cannot give their own assurance,' &c. page 19. A. So shows that they were never made ministers by him, who never saw him, nor heard him, so never handled the word of life from the Father nor the son, nor saw it, nor heard it, so are the pastors that spoil the flock. And he is the earthly Adam and humanity, but Christ the sccond Adam is the Lord from heaven.

P. He saith, that Timothy was commanded to preach, and yet had not heard, nor seen, nor handled any thing of Christ,' &c. page 20.

A. Contrary to the apostle, who bid him to stir up the gift in him, and told Timothy he was in the faith, and he was to be strong in the grace of Christ. And whosoever hath faith, knows Christ to be the author of it, and knows something from Christ; and so thou hast confuted thyself.

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P. He saith, that the saints do not see Christ, for the heavens contain him,' page 20.

A. The apostle saith, they sat with Christ in heavenly places;' so he is contrary to the apostle. And Christ was in them, and walked in them, and God dwelt in them, and Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates."

P. He saith, The whole mind and will of Christ and God is left them in letters,' page 21.

A. The apostle saith, it is past finding out; the unsearchable wisdom, and the secret things belong to God, and are revealed by the spirit, and no man knows them but by the spirit.

P. And he saith, The gospel is the letter,' &c.

A. The apostle saith, it is the power of God; and the letter kills, and many may have the form, and deny the power, and so stand against the gospel, which is the power of God.

P. And he saith, The devil shows his spite and spleen in them who say they have the word, as it was in the beginning, against the scriptures,' &c. page 22.

A. That is not so; for they that have the word that was in the beginning, own the scriptures, and are not against them, but are in that which fulfils them.

P. He saith, that all the saints receive the spirit of Christ, yet never heard his voice.'

A. This is confusion, for the sheep of Christ know his voice.

P. He saith, They are uncovered,' when commonly they have two

caps on their heads: and the people are covered when they have hats on their heads,' &c. page 29.

A. This is according to thy deceitful teaching and learning.

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P. He saith, The scriptures is the voice of Christ to them,' &c.

A. And Christ said to the Pharisees that had the scriptures, they never heard the voice of God at any time. John v. For they were not put forth amongst the sheep. But the sheep heard the voice that gave forth the scripture, and came to the life, and Christ the end of them.

P. And he saith, "There is an immediate voice which speaks within, which we have never heard, nor do we know it within ourselves experimentally, and we believe and hope that we never shall know it,' &c. page 30.

A. And so shows, that they never knew the spirit of the Father speaking within them, but follow their own dreams and spirits, and stop their ears against that of God in them; and that immediate voice within, which is the spirit of inspiration, and the word of God in their hearts, which men should obey, they call the voice of the devil, and pray to be delivered from.

P. And he saith, To say Christ is within them, doing all immediately and infallibly within them, and so say it is Christ and the spirit within them, and not they.'

A. Now this he calls a spirit of delusion. But the apostle saith, I live, yet not I, but Christ in me.' And, 'He works all in us, and for us, after his own good pleasure.' And this was not a spirit of delusion in them. And this thou art reprobated from, and found in thy own works.

P. And he said, 'that which was within them, was not eternal and infallible,' when the Quakers asked him, whether it was or not. He said, Nay; that which judged in them was not eternal and infallible;' and saith, they assert no such thing as that concerning themselves." And he saith, Though all the saints have the spirit of Christ dwelling in them, which is eternal and infallible; yet that this spirit should do all that saints do, and should say all that saints say, and should judge for them both of persons and of things after an infallible manner; and that they should neither say, nor do, nor judge any thing by any understanding of their own, but the spirit, all this we deny.' These are his words, page 31.

A. Which is contrary to the apostle, who saith, As many as are the sons of God, are led by the spirit of God.' And Christ acts all in them, and for them; and the fruits of the spirit,' &c. and the spiritual man judgeth all things.' And that is it which leads the saints to divide and discern all things, both temporal and spiritual, the spiritual wisdom of God which gives them a spiritual understanding, which men must rule withal, but not with their own, that comes to nought. And you that

have not that which is infallible to judge in you, know not the spirit of Christ, neither can you judge of persons or things that have not the infallible judgment, nor the spiritual man. Neither have you the word of God in your hearts, nor Christ which is eternal and infallible, all which the Quakers have, to judge persons and things.

P. He saith, that children are of the seed as to the church privileges, and external ordinances of a spiritual nature.'

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A. (Mark his confusion.) But Christ saith, Ye must be born again, or ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven,' and such be of the church.

P. He saith, If they can but destroy all forms, the power will fall with it; for the form preserves the power,' page 37.

A. Contrary to the apostle; many have the form, but deny the power.' The power preserves the form, sees the end of forms, and destroys them, and brings to see before forms were, where forms are not. For the apostles who lived in the power, denied the Jews' forms, and Gentiles' both, as we do now deny the Popish forms, and yours which you have invented and set up.

P. And an immediate teaching (he saith) of the spirit, and to wait for secret inspiration of God, is to subject men to satanical delusions,'

&c. page

40.

A. Contrary to the apostle, who said, 'Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghost;' and they were to wait for its revelation, as in Peter; and all are in the satanical delusion that are not in the immediate teachings from the spirit; and every one that hath this spirit, and the leading of the spirit, hath that which is immediate.

P. He saith, The prophets and apostles drew people to an outward word,' &c.

A. Now, is that which lives and endures for ever, outward? And did not they bring them to Christ the power of God, which is the end of words, which is immediate?

P. He saith, Is not the gospel an external way,' &c.

A. No; the gospel is a living way, which is revealed within, and is the 'power of God to salvation.'

P. Are not they seduced (saith he) who are drawn off from the external means, by which the spirit is given and faith wrought, to wait for the receiving of the spirit without any word to convey it to them? which spirit, when they have it, is not the spirit of truth, but of delusion,' &c. page 41.

A. The spirit and faith are not conveyed to any man without the word, and they are seduced that rest in the external from the eternal; and the spirit is not given by external means, neither is faith so wrought. P. And he saith, They need not any man's teaching them, but as

the spirit in the scriptures teaches, and they need not that any teachings of man should be added.'

A. And so by this he hath thrown out himself from being a pastor, and all other such pastors and teachers. The spirit is not in the scriptures, but was in them that gave them forth. And the spirit which gave forth the scriptures, and which was in the saints, opens the scriptures again, and leads into all truth.

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P. And he saith, There is an excess in that scripture which saith, "Ye need no man to teach you, but as the anointing teacheth you."' A. And here he speaks as if John did not mean as he spoke, and would make John, who spoke truth, as false as himself.

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P. And the apostles' saying to the saints, And ye know all things,' he calls an excessive speech, for no one knows all things but God,' page 42.

A. So contrary to John, the minister of God, and would make him a liar. So he is in the false spirit gone out into the world. Contrary to 1 John ii. who know all things.'

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P. He saith, Outward teaching is the way and the means whereby the deep, and profound, and necessary truths of scripture come to be understood, but not immediate,' page 44.

A. So he hath denied the spirit to open the scriptures, immediate inspiration by the spirit, and it teaching; and set up an outward in the room of it. Here his spirit is tried again, gone out into the world. For salvation is immediate, and the means that bring to it, and none know the scriptures by outward teaching, but immediately by the Lord God.

P. And he saith, Ministerial gifts are not now to be found in the world, such as the ministers of the gospel had in the primitive time.'

A. Therefore no such ministerial work now as was then, nor any such officers as pastors, teachers, &c. as were then! He hath proved himself to be one of the false spirits which went forth from the apostles into the world: and yet he saith, Christ is with them to the end of the world.' And yet saith there is no hearing of his voice, nor seeing him, nor handling him; so he hath confounded himself, and showed to all that he hath quenched the spirit.

P. He saith, that the apostle was silent in that point, that men must be endued with extraordinary gifts.'

A. The apostle's epistles prove to the contrary, who saith, Without faith ye cannot please God;' which is a gift, and an extraordinary gift; and saith, He that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his,' which is an extraordinary gift. So you are another ministry, and other pastors and teachers; and that which is another gift than the apostle's, is not the gift of God.

P. He saith, 'How comes the apostle to raise up a living to some

persons for preaching, when he saith, that "they that preach the gospel, must live of the gospel," &c. page 48.

A. It was contrary to the apostle, to preach to raise up a living for preaching; for he saith, they were not to preach for filthy lucre's sake.' But they that preach the gospel, live of the gospel;' that is not as you raising livings, who make a trade of the form, denying the power, which is the gospel.

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P. Here he cries out against gifted men's preaching, and saith, 'Paul prophesied against them,' page 49. and names them to be such as have itching ears.'

A. As he is gone out from the apostles, so he cries up his imagined gifts, and disowns those gifts which the apostles did not cry against, but said, every one must minister that had received a gift; and thou art one of the itching ears gone out from the apostles.

P. He saith, that their synagogues (commonly called churches) were not ordained for any spiritual uses, as for serving God in them,' &c. page 51.

A. Which is contrary to all the professed teachers in the nations, who say they are ordained for the use and service of God, and call them churches: but to this I believe he will call his words back again.

P. And Pharisee-like, he teaches to break Christ's command, Be not of men called master,' and calleth it a civil honour.'

A. And here he hath proved himself not to be a guide of the way, and the governor of a man's life, for that title, master, belongs to Christ, and not to any man. These are his words, and the signification which he gives of that title there; (see page 52.) And yet he dare presumptuously take it, and plead for it, (which Christ denied in the Pharisees,) and so impudently break Christ's command; and so hath showed that he walks out of his doctrine, and is a transgressor, and no minister, but an antichrist.

P. He saith, The apostle never bred up any that they needed no man to teach them,' page 53.

A. And so giveth John the lie, who saith, 'Ye need no man to teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you.' And the prophet, who saith, 'Ye need not say every man to his neighbour, know the Lord,' &c. and denies the effectual work of the new covenant. But all shall know him from the least to the greatest.'

P. He saith, Paul denies perfection to himself."

A. Paul did not deny perfection to himself nor others; but his work was to the perfecting of the saints, but your work is to keep men from perfection, and that hath been the ministers' work since they apostatized from the apostles. And yet Paul judgeth him again, and saith, As many as are perfect are thus minded.'

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