THIS is for all the Priests, Professors and Prophane in Christendom, that say, The Scriptures are your Rule for your Doctrine, Faith, Life and Practice; who [...]se to brand the People of God, which you in scorn call Quakers, and say, That they deny the Scriptures, &c. and the Ordinances of God and Christ, which is false.

But let us see, whether you do speak truly, in saying, That the Scriptures are your Rule for your Doctrine, Faith and Pra­ctice, &c. and whether that which you call an Ordinance of God and Christ (which you say the Quakers do deny) be not an Ordinance, and Doctrine and Practice of your own Inventions, and not of God and Christ; neither can ye make it good by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa­ment.

For the Bereans, you will confess, were Noble, wh [...] [Page 2] searched the Scriptures daily, to see if those things were so, which the Apostles preached, Acts 17.11. For the Apostle said, He believed all things which were written in the Law and the Prophets, Acts 24. And what, must not we be as no­ble as the Bereans, to search the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, to see if those Doctrines and Ordi­nances (as you call them) be found written and expressed in the Scriptures? and they not being found in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as we shall prove hereafter, that these your Doctrines, Ordinances and Practices, are neither according to the New Testament nor the Old; then how can we follow you?

Concerning your Sprinkling of Infants, and your Fonts, and your signing them with the Sign of the Cross, and your Gossips, and God-Fathers and God-Mothers, &c. These things you cannot prove in all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, who say, The Scriptures are your Rule for these things. But let us see if the Quakers do not own and walk ac­cording to the Scriptures more than you, who cannot make these things good by Scripture.

Genesis 5. In the day when God created Adam and Eve, he blessed them, and called their Name Adam.

So here God, that made Man and Woman, gave the Name to Adam.

And you do not read, that there was any God-fathers and God-mothers then: it was not like; for he was the first Man, and Eve the first Woman.

And Adam said, This is Bone of my Bones, and Flesh of my Flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man; and she became his Wife.

And again, Adam called his Wife's Name Eve, because she was the Mother of all Living.

Now prove that Adam did sprinkle his Wife with Wa­ter when he named her, or signed her with the Sign of the Cross.

And did not Adam and Eve give Names to Cain and Abel without God-Fathers and God-Mothers, and sprinkling [Page 3] them with Water, and signing them with the sign of the Cross?

And Cain begat a Son, and called his Name Enoch; had he God-fathers and God-mothers? or did he sprinkle him with Water, or sign him with the sign of the Cross?

And Adam had another Son, and Eve called him Seth; For (said she) God hath appointed me another Son instead of Abel.

And Seth had a Son, and called his Name Enos, Gen. 4.

Now let all the Priests & Professors in Christendom prove that these had God-fathers, and God-mothers, and Gossips, and that they sprinkled them with Water, and had Fonts, or signed them with the sign of the Cross; or any of them in the Old World, though they were gone after Bad Marriages and their hearts enclined to Wickedness continually; so the Wicked did not practice these things that we read of, nor them that were Good.

And Lamech begot a Son, and called him Noah; and Noah had three Sons, and called them Shem, Ham and Japhet: and then after the Flood till Abraham's time, Gen. 11. where did ever any sprinkle their Children with Water, and sign them with the sign of the Cross, or had God-fathers and God-mo­thers, or Gossips and Fonts? prove this practice by plain Scrip­ture, who say, It is your Rule.

And the Lord said to Hagar, Thou art with Child, and thou shalt call his Name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy Afflictions: and Abraham called his Name Ishmael.

And God said unto Abram, Thy Name shall be called A­braham; and thy Wife Sarai, shall be called Sarah, Gen. 16, 17.

And Abraham had a Son, and he called his Name Isaac.

Now here you may see the Lord did give Names, and the Fa­ther and Mother did give Names to Children, without a Priest sprinkling them, or God-fathers and God-mothers, and without Fonts, or signing them with the sign of the Cross.

And Isaac had two Sons, and they called their Names Esau and Jacob.

And Abraham had many Children by Keturah, Gen. 25. and you read no Scripture that there was any Priest to sprinkle [Page 4] them with Water, or sign them with the sign of the Cross, or God-fathers or God-mothe [...]s.

And Lot's two Daughters bare two Sons, and they called one of them Moab, and the other Ben-ammj. But here is no mention of a Priest sprinkling of them, nor Gossips, nor God-fathers, nor God-mothers, nor signing them with the sign of the Cross, Gen. 19.37, 38.

And Jacob had twelve Sons and a Daughter, and you may see how Leah and Rachel gave Names to the most of them, Gen. 29, & 30. Chapters, without a Priest sprinkling of them with Water, and without God-fathers and God-mothers, and Gossips, and Commothers, and Fonts, and signing them with the Sign of the Cross. Yet Jacob saw Christ, and pro­phesied of him, and said, The Scepter should not depart from Ju­dah, nor a Law-giver from between his Feet till Shiloh come.

And Judah had Children, and his Wife called one Err, and another Onan, and another Shelah, Gen. 38. So you see how that sometimes the Wife named the Children, and sometimes the Man, without a Priest sprinkling of them with Water, or Fonts, or God-fathers and God-mothers, or signing them, &c.

And Joseph had two Sons in Egypt, and he called one Ma­nasseh, and the other Ephraim, Gen. 41. But no sprinkling with Water by a Priest, nor God-fathers nor God-mothers, nor Gossips, nor Commothers, nor Fonts, nor signing them with the sign of the Cross.

And Pharaoh's Daughter she call'd the Hebrew Child Moses, because she drew him out of the Water: Here was no Priest to sprinkle him, nor God-fathers nor God-mothers, nor sign­ing him with the sign of the Cross, though she was an Ae­gyptian.

And Moses had a Son, and he called his Name Gershon; here was no Priest to sprinkle him, nor God-fathers nor God-mo­thers, nor signing, &c. Exod. 2.

And all the time that the Children of Israel were in Ae­gypt, and all the time they were in the Wilderness, and all the time until Christ, you never read that any Priest [Page] sprinkled their Children with Water, o [...] [...] [...]o [...]t, or God-fathers or God-mothers, and Gossips or Commothers, or that they signed them with the sign of the Cross.

And Manoah's Wife bare a Son, and called his Name Samp­son, Judg. 13.

And Hannah bare a Son, and called his Name Samuel, be­cause, said she, I have asked him of the Lord, 1 Sam. 1.

And Phineas's Wife bare a Son, and she called his Name Ichabod, saying, The Glory of the Lord is departed from Israel, 1 Sam. 4.

And Ruth bare a Son, and the Women her Neighbours gave him a Name, and called him Obed; and Obed begat Jess, and Jess begat David, Ruth 4. And you cannot prove by Scrip­ture, that any of all these had a Font and a Priest to sprinkle them with Water, or sign any of them with the sign of the Cross, or that they had Gossips or Commothers, or God-fathers or God-mothers, that did promise and vow, that they should forsake the Devil and all his Works.

And Bath-sheba David's Wife bare a Son, and he called his Name Solomon, and the Lord loved him, 2 Sam. 12.

And the Wife of Machir bare a Son, and she called his Name Peresh, 1 Chron. 7. And many others you may see in this Chapter, how they named them; without a Priest sprink­ling of them with Water, and without God fathers and God-mothers, &c.

And the Mother of Jabez gave him the Name Jabez, be­cause, said she, I bare him with Sorrow, 1 Chron. 4. So here the Mother Named him without a Priest sprinkling of him, or God-fathers, or God-mothers, or Fonts, or Gossips.

And Hosea had Sons and a Daughter, and the Lord told him what he should call them, Hos. 1. But here is no mention of a Priest sprinkling them with Water, nor God-fathers, nor God-mothers, &c.

And Isaiah went to the Prophetess, and she bare a Son, and the Lord said they should call his Name Mahershallallhash­baz; and before the Child should have knowledge to cry [Page] My Father and Mother, the Riches of Damascus and the Spoil of Israel should be taken away, Isa. 8. But here the Lord speaks nothing of a Priest sprinkling him with Water, nor of God-fathers and God-mothers, &c.

And the Angel said to Zacharias, Thy Wife shall bear a Son, and thou shalt call his Name John, Luke 1. But the Angel saith nothing of a Priest to sprinkle him, nor God-fathers, nor God-mothers, &c.

And the Angel said unto Mary, Thou shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call his Name Jesus; for he shall save his People from their Sins. Behold a Virgin shall be with Child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his Name Emanuel, which being interpreted is God with us, Isa. 7. Mat. 1. But here the Lord and his Angel doth not say, that a Priest should sprinkle him at the Font, and sign him with the sign of the Cross, nor that they should have God-fathers and God-mothers, and they should promise and vow, that he should forsake the Devil and all his Works; neither do you read of any such things practised in the Apostles dayes.

And now you that say, The Scriptures are your Rule for your Faith, Doctrine and Practice; prove your Practice herein by Scripture, your sprinkling of Infants, and signing them with the sign of the Cross, or that they had God-fathers, or God-mo­thers, or Gossips, from Genesis to the Revelations. Make these things good by Scriptures, which you call an Ordinance of Christ; but if you cannot, then be not angry with us, that we follow not you in these things, which you cannot make good by Scripture: and acknowledge your Error, who say, that the Scriptures are your Rule for that which you cannot make good by Scripture: For we, like the noble Bereans, do search the Scriptures, and do find that your Practice and Doctrine here­in is neither according to the Old nor New Testament, and therefore we cannot follow you. But now do not say, that we deny the Baptism of Christ Jesus, into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, which we own, as the Apostles and primitive Christians did, Ephes. 4.

And in Col. 2. For there must be a burying [...] [...] tism, before there be a rising with Christ. And as saith the A­postle, So many of us as were baptized into Christ, were bapti­zed into his Death; therefore we are buryed with him by baptism into Death, that like as Christ was raised from the Dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in Newness of Life: For if we have beeen planted together in the likeness of his Death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection, Rom. 6.

For they that are Baptized into Christ, have put on Christ: For by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, Bond or Free; and have been made all to drink into one Spirit by this one Baptism, 1 Cor. 12.

And this is the Baptism of Christ with his Spirit, Fire and Holy Ghost, &c. which the Saints owned, and witnessed to Christ's Baptism, and saw the decreasing of John's; and were not to touch nor taste of the Commandments, Doctrines or Ordinances of Men.

For Christ said unto the Jews, In Vain do they worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men, Mat. 15.9.

So see and examine, if this hath not been your own Condi­tion, like the Jews: For your several sorts of Crossings and Sprinklings, and Washings with outward Water, that is used in Christendom by the Priests, which they call Baptism, doth not bring their People into one Body, no [...] to drink into one Spirit, as Christ's Baptism with his Spirit doth: Honour and Praise to God through Christ Jesus forever, Amen.