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<DATE>2014-08-27</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140522.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">L1768</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]12179453</BIBNO>
<VID>197084</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A LETTER VVRITTEN To a friend, <HI>DECLARING HIS</HI> OPINION, Being &s;uch tenents, as are contrary to the doctrine of the Church of England, and of all the Reformed Churches; yea, and the Univer&s;all Church in all ages: which opinions are worthy of learned mens Con&s;ideration and Confutation.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Mat. 13.25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>While men &s;lept, the Enemy came and &s;owed tares among the wheat.</P></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>2. Tim. 3.13.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Evill doers &s;hall wax wor&s;e and wor&s;e, deceiving and being deceived.</P></Q>
<P>Printed in the yeare, 1643.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="2">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Deare Brother,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_COncerning that late conference that I had with you about &s;ome Papi&s;ticall doctrines, maintained by the Engli&s;h Pre|lates, and yet &s;omewhat doubted by weaker bretheren (though they be not many) but is not to be wondred, for as the profane proverb &s;aith, Rome was not built in a day, &s;o neither will their doctrines bee &s;uddenly rooted out of mens minds: For indeed the&s;e are part of tho&s;e very doctrines, that are the very whore of Babilons wine, with which &s;hee hath made Nations drunke, and therefore it's no marvell, though mens heads bee &s;o intoxica|ted, that they go &s;taggering up and downe, and know not where nor how to &s;tand &s;teddie in the faith, and be you a&s;&s;ured till you leave her abomi|nations, you cannot be &s;afe from the wrath of God, and therefore bee ad|vi&s;ed by a brother who will advi&s;e you in his brother <HI>Pauls</HI> words, 2. <HI>Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> 6.17. <HI>Come out from among them, and bee ye &s;eperated, &s;aith the Lord, and touch no uncleane thing, and I will receave you;</HI> And therefore till ye &s;epe|rate from the doctrines as yee do from her ceremonies, ye cannot be &s;afe.</P>
<P>Now the fir&s;t doctrine that I give you warning of, is about the bapti|zing Infants, of which I &s;omewhat doubt, becau&s;e it is derived from Rome: for as Ma&s;ter <HI>Lilborne,</HI> when hee was on the Pillory, very worthily &s;aid, that Epi&s;copacy being derived from the Pope of Rome, was from Antichri&s;t, and that the&s;e Mini&s;ters which exerci&s;ed their functions by power received from the Bi&s;hops, did it by a power from Antichri&s;t, from which I think may &s;afely be concluded, that our Bapti&s;mes received by that power is from Antichri&s;t; be&s;ides I know no difference betweene a fal&s;e Church, and no Church, a fal&s;e Chri&s;t and no Chri&s;t, a fal&s;e Bap|ti&s;me (which mo&s;t of our bretheren &s;ay, the Bapti&s;me received in the Church of England is) and no Bapti&s;me: And therefore con&s;idering from whence we had our Bapti&s;me, the goodne&s;&s;e of it may very well be doubted of; be&s;ides for the Baptizing of Infants, I know not one plaine &s;cripture for it: Moreover if we do but con&s;ider what a hurt it doth, for it's a meanes to keepe men from good lives, becau&s;e mo&s;t men think they were made partakers of Chri&s;t in Bapti&s;me, and being by our be&s;t Mi|ni&s;ters
<PB REF="2"> in their Sermons, exhorted to get Chri&s;t, their an&s;wer is, that by a covenant in Bapti&s;me, they were made partakers of Chri&s;t, and are &s;o bold that they will &s;ay Mini&s;ters ought not to preach to them, as if they were Pagans, and we now to become Chri&s;tians, and to get Chri&s;t: but &s;ay, that Mini&s;ters &s;hould per&s;wade them to the keeping of that Covenant and teach them how to keepe it, and &s;o they &s;hall be &s;ure of Chri&s;t, but this is fal&s;e doctrine, fal&s;e in the very ground, though the Jewes made a cove|nant at the Circumci&s;ion to keepe the Law, <HI>Galat.</HI> 5.3. yet we Chri&s;tians have no &s;uch direction from Chir&s;t, and therefore Godfathers and God|mothers that in the Childs name make a covenant, and &s;ay, that they be|leeve the Articles of Chri&s;tian Religion, and promi&s;e to for&s;ake the world, fle&s;h, and divell, to doe this by way of covenant, in the Childes name is without warrant, and they that procure Godfathers and Godmothers for this end, do erre, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of Chri&s;ts death; which is not layd downe for men conditionally, if they &s;hall be|leeve and repent, but ab&s;olutely without any conditions; And therefore I beleeve the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Godfathers and Godmothers is a very fooli&s;h ceremony: For the Cro&s;&s;e in Bapti&s;me, &s;ome &s;ay, that was to the old Chri&s;tians a Monitory, &s;ign or figure, to put them in mind of their promi&s;e made to God in Bapti&s;me, in the Infancy of the Church, for want of the Spirit: it may be &s;o, but what need we &s;uch Monitors; have we not the ho|ly Spirit which is our Monitor, therefore away with &s;uch needle&s;&s;e cere|monies: And therefore for the form of words in Bapti&s;me u&s;ed by the Prelaticall Church, <HI>viz.</HI> I in the name of the Father, Sonne, and holy Gho&s;t, Bapti&s;e thee.</P>
<P>Let mee bee bold to &s;hew you a my&s;tery, that when in a Sacrament a forme of words become a &s;tumbling blocke, and that the truth may bee (without prejudice to the originall) expre&s;&s;ed in other tearmes, then to avoid &s;tumbling into other errors, the old forme may be changed, and a|nother forme of words that doth not occa&s;ion the like &s;tumbling, may be u&s;ed, as for example of this of Bapti&s;me, out Prelaticall Mini&s;ters &s;ay, that they have a power from Chri&s;t, for the comfort of di&s;tre&s;&s;ed penitent Soules, in the name of the Trinity to pronounce ab&s;olution from &s;inne: For ju&s;tification of this Popi&s;h act; the Prelates alledge their forme of Bapti|zing, and &s;ay, it is no other then is there expre&s;&s;ed; For as in the one place
<PB REF="3"> he &s;aith I, in the name of the Father, Sonne, and holy God, Ab&s;olve thee. So in the other, in the &s;ame name, Baptize or dip thee, for &s;o the words &s;ig|nifie, into Chri&s;ts bloud, of which they &s;ay, the water is a &s;igne, by which my&s;ticall action, they &s;ay, the &s;oule there Baptized, is clean&s;ed from a<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters"> &s;inne. And moreover they &s;ay, that as a Con&s;table in the Kings name, doth execute an office, &s;o doe the Prela<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es in the name of the Trinity, clean&s;e the Baptized, and Ab&s;olve the truely penitent, all which is plaine Popery: and therefore I judge it (and &s;o do many of our bretheren al&s;o) very law|full and convenient to change the forme of words in Bapti&s;me, and &s;ay, I Baptize thee into the Union or Unitie: By which forme is demon&s;trated, that the faithfull &s;oul is made one with the Father, Sonne, and holy Gho&s;t, which is mo&s;t comfortable, and abundance of &s;olace doth en&s;ue to all the elect &s;o joyned: For this union can never be broken; and be&s;ides the ex|cellency thereof doth &s;o overwhelme the inferme actions of all &s;uch as are righ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly &s;o Baptized, that &s;uch a Soule, notwith&s;tanding &s;ome infirmities, appeares before God like the woman, <HI>Revel.</HI> 12. <HI>All clothed with the Sonne, the Moone under her feet, and a Crowne of</HI> 12. <HI>Sarres upon her head.</HI> So glo|rious in the &s;ight of God, that <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;aith, even as Chri&s;t is, &s;o wee in this pre&s;ent world 1. <HI>Iohn</HI> 4.17. This is the right Bapti&s;me of the holy Gho&s;t, that as the body is dipped into the water, &s;o is the &s;oule into the Union, E&s;&s;ence or being of God; but this my&s;tery I advi&s;e you not to di&s;cover to &s;uch as be carnall, lea&s;t ye ca&s;t pearles before &s;wine: and as &s;ome &s;ay this is the very &s;eedplot of Famili&s;me; I an&s;wer, the Spirit a&s;&s;ures us this is a glorious &s;eedplot for truth. I have beene the larger becau&s;e I would have you well in&s;tructed in this principle.</P>
<P>Another thing I would have you to beware of, that you be not married by a Mini&s;ter. The Papi&s;ts make marriage a Sacrament, and therefore in|joyne a Prie&s;t to performe it. And our Engli&s;h Prelates treade in their &s;teps, for they mu&s;t have a hand in joyning men and women together, el&s;e our fooli&s;h people thinke them&s;elves not rightly married; but I advi&s;e all that fear God to ab&s;taine from all appearance of evil, e&s;pecially in mariages have nothing to do with the Prelates; let us take our beloved for a faithfull yoak-fellow in the pre&s;ence of our brethren, God requires no more.</P>
<P>As for churching of women, I hold it utterly unlawfull. And to ab|&s;taine from our wives after child-bearing a full month is meere Judai&s;me;
<PB REF="3"> the new Te&s;tament injoynes no &s;uch thing; and what ever is not of faith is &s;inne.</P>
<P>For the Sacrament of Chri&s;ts la&s;t &s;upper, I need not name &s;ome fopperies u&s;ed at the &s;ame, as kneeling upon your knees when you receive the bread and wine, (which you have already left;) as al&s;o the taking it in the morn|ing, a cu&s;tome without any warrant from Scripture. Let me in this be bold in Doctor <HI>B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;twicks</HI> words in his 14. page of a booke, intitled an an&s;wer to certaine exceptions made by a learned Gentleman, where reproving &s;uch as take it in the morning, who &s;aith to you it cannot bee called the Lords &s;upper, but the Lords breakfa&s;t. And &s;o it is indeed to them, for they eate up the Lord at a breakfa&s;t, and &s;wallow him downe whole, and make no bones of him, hee is to them but their mornings nuntioes: And after that they drink up his bloud, mo&s;t &s;weet Canniballs; an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> after this they can eate a &s;ufficient dinner. The&s;e fellowes &s;aith the learned Doctor mu&s;t needs have good &s;tomacks, therfore do not &s;ympathize with the Babell brats in eating their Lord in a morning: Neither do you put off your hat in time when yee e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">te the Lords Supper, for this I boldly affirme, for Chri&s;tians, to put their hats off to the bread is unlawfull, and no le&s;&s;e idolatry then to kneele to it: I know &s;ome will mince and make di&s;&s;entions about this point, but I &s;ay let the faithfull &s;ervants of Chri&s;t flee from all appearance of I|dolatry. To &s;it at the Lords Supper with hats on heads, in the&s;e times, is not only lawfull but nece&s;&s;ary, and that for the totall aboli&s;hing of all re|verence and &s;hew of bread-wor&s;hip; and wee that are the people of God have cau&s;e to prai&s;e him for manife&s;ting truths &s;o clearly to us; and if wee &s;hould negle<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the practizing therof, we &s;hould &s;hew our &s;elves ungratefull, and unworthy of &s;o great favours.</P>
<P>But for that opinion of &s;ome, that thinke we ought to &s;alute one the o|ther, with an holy ki&s;&s;e, at the time of eating the Lords &s;upper, though &s;ome doe like of it, yet I wi&s;h it might bee forborne for a time, le&s;t in the planting of our Church, &s;ome weake ones &s;tumble: And let us remember that &s;aying, all things that are lawfull, are not expedient. For going to their common meeting hou&s;es, remember I pray you our la&s;t di&s;cour&s;e; for the name of the place, by any meanes never call it a Church, it is but a meeting place made of lime and &s;tone: And for reverence, there is none due to it: And to &s;hew any reverence is meere &s;uper&s;tition: The
<PB REF="4"> place differs not from our common dwellings; and truly that difference of places were done away, I could wi&s;h, and I know that many are of my mind, that either the&s;e were imployed to &s;ome other u&s;es, and &s;o new meeting hou&s;es built; or at lea&s;t men were &s;uffered all the weeke to buy, &s;ell, or worke of &s;ome trades in them; for &s;o long as any hold a reveren|tiall re&s;pect in their minds of the meeting hou&s;es, even &s;o long a &s;uper&s;ti|tious relique of Antichri&s;t lodgeth in the heart, which to God we hold is abominable: And therefore I commend Ma&s;ter <HI>Samuel How</HI> the Cobler, and others that cho&s;e to be buried in the fields, and that by the highway &s;ide, rather then in the &s;eperated grounds: and for Ma&s;ter <HI>En<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ck Hewet</HI> the Glover, who buried a maid in his yard, hereby appeares the zeale of our holy brethren again&s;t &s;uch Idolized places. But for going to the&s;e hou|&s;es to heare the word, I am not as &s;ome of our brethren are totally again&s;t it: but if we doe go &s;ome caveats mu&s;t be ob&s;erved, as fir&s;t we mu&s;t not go in while their abominable Service is in reading. Secondly, when we do go in, let us be &s;ure to &s;hew no act of reverence, neither let us kneel down within their Church, (as they call it) nor when we come out let us neither bow nor put off the hat, nor u&s;e any other po&s;ture in token of reverence, that &s;o we may have clear con&s;ciences from any act of wor&s;hipping God in their meeting hou&s;es. In the third place let us have an eye to o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> thoughts, that we heare not the Preacher as a me&s;&s;enger &s;ent from God but as a man exerci&s;ing his gifts: And if we do ob&s;erve the&s;e caveats, I think you or another may go in &s;afely, and &s;ometimes do good, as <HI>Paul</HI> be|came a Jew unto the Jewes, if that by any meanes he might winne &s;ome. So we by hearing their doctrines may the better judge them &amp; confute them, and &s;o we may win &s;ome &s;oules from them; and truly for my part I judge this a better way, then totally to for&s;ake their A&s;&s;emblies.</P>
<P>As for the &s;inging of P&s;almes with them, doe as you are per&s;waded, but know their P&s;almes are no other then <HI>Davids</HI> P&s;almes adulterated by men that were Poets, (yea perhaps Ballad-makers) and ye know how Poets are generally e&s;teemed of, and therefore our P&s;alms as they now &s;tand ver|&s;ified, are little-better then humane, and you know that all humane inventi|ons in wor&s;hipping are abominable to God. That the P&s;almes are not tho&s;e whereof <HI>Iames</HI> &s;peaks. <HI>Is any merry let him &s;ing P&s;alms.</HI> Jam. 5.13. plainly appears, for that the right P&s;alms are &s;pirituall Songs, <HI>Ephe.</HI> 5.19. of which
<PB REF="4"> the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.15. where the words are, <HI>I will pray with the &s;pirit and pray with the under&s;tanding al&s;o. I will &s;ing with the Spirt, and &s;ing with the under&s;tanding al&s;o.</HI> By which place it appeareth that book P&s;almes are no more lawfull then book prayers, which we all judge unlawfull. But as Doctrines, Revelations, Interpretations, and &s;trange tongues were by in|&s;piration from God by his Spirit; &s;o were P&s;almes al&s;o: for which &s;ee 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.26. Therefore I conclude it is not lawfull to &s;ing P&s;almes with|out the Spirits in&s;piration; but becau&s;e all our brethren are not thus mind|ed, I leave it to their di&s;cretions, till they be further in&s;tructed in this truth; In the mean time let as many as be thus minded walk by this rule, and peace be upon them, and upon the I&s;raell of God. I have &s;aid the more again&s;t this carnall P&s;alme &s;inging to move you to pre&s;&s;e on to more new truths, that you may &s;erve God in newne&s;&s;e of Spirit like a Chri|&s;tian, and not in oldne&s;&s;e of Letter like a Jew.</P>
<P>As for burialls of the dead, I need not &s;ay any thing of that, for your &s;elf is well &s;atisfied, how not any thing about it belongs to a Mini&s;ter, no more then to marriages, neither praying nor reading, nor ought el&s;e, there is no footing in Scripture for either: and therefore brother, be not di&s;mayed, at the jeeres and mocks of the I&s;hmaelites, that &s;coffingly &s;aid we bury our brethren as we burie dogs, cats, or &s;tinking carca&s;es of bea&s;ts, and that in open fields, tu&s;h, God knoweth our hearts, and we mu&s;t bear their &s;coffes till bodily ob&s;ervations, and Super&s;titious cu&s;tomes be done away, which I hope will be ere long; and that naked truths without Ceremonies &s;hall flouri&s;h: and &s;o be not ca&s;t down, you &s;hall &s;ee Satan in his in&s;truments &s;hortly troden under our feet, when we &s;hall be made Princes in all nations then we &s;hall bind Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of iron; &s;uch ho|nour the Saints &s;hall have, and that is it we hope and wait for.</P>
<P>As for the oath of Supremacy, <HI>(viz)</HI> that one &s;hould &s;weare the King is &s;upreme in cau&s;es Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, is a mo&s;t vile and unlawful oath, contra|ry to fundamentall truth, and the very nature of true churches, who&s;e &s;u|preme government re&s;t not in any one particular per&s;on, as Pope or King, but &s;olely and alone, joyntly in all the members of every independent con|gregation, and therefore we hope that oath will be altered, of which I &s;hall not need to write any more.</P>
<P>I have &s;ome other things to write of, as about the Scriptures, which is the
<PB REF="5"> right and which is not, and how they may be di&s;cerned by the Spirit, as al|&s;o about the Creeds as &s;ome call them, the Athana&s;ian &amp; Apo&s;tles Creed, neither of them good: the Athana&s;ian Creed hath no le&s;&s;e then bla&s;phemy in it, and the other palpable untruths. That which was made by Good|man <HI>Turner, viz.</HI> the Saints belief, is worth them both. So de&s;iring you to &s;trive on to the attaining of more new truths, I commit you to him that is able to make you perfect.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>Po&s;t&s;cript.</HEAD>
<P>IF you de&s;ire the Saints belief, made the la&s;t year by our brother <HI>Turner,</HI> it was printed for <HI>William Larner,</HI> and were to be &s;old by the Authour in Pauls chain: in which is intimated how Goodman <HI>Turner</HI> had been im|pri&s;oned by the Bi&s;hops near 14 years. O wicked Bi&s;hops to impri&s;on &s;uch a man, that in the fir&s;t yeare after the Bi&s;hops lo&s;t their power, made us a Creed. O how it vexed them when they &s;aw it, and heard that our three brethren the <HI>Blackwell-Hall</HI> men, that were impri&s;oned the la&s;t year in the We&s;tcountrey, for &s;aying there is bla&s;phemy in the Athana&s;ian Creed, and that they were pre&s;ently relea&s;ed: I warrant you, they even gna&s;hed their teeth for anger, but their wings are now clipped. <HI>Halleluia, Halleluia.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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