_Answ._ 1. They fill their own minds with a multitude of causeless scruples, which on their principles can never be resolved, and so will give themselves no rest.
2. They make themselves a religion of their own, and superstition is their daily devotion; which being erroneous, will not hang together, but is full of contradictions in itself; and which being human and bad, can never give true stability to the soul.
3. Hereby they spend their days much in melancholy troubles, and unsettled distracting doubts and fears; instead of the joys of solid faith, and hope, and love.
4. And if they escape, this their religion is contentious, wrangling, censorious, and factious, and their zeal flieth out against those that differ from their peculiar superstitions and conceits.
5. And hereupon they are usually mutable and unsettled in their religion; this year for one, and the next for another; because there is no certainty in their own inventions and conceits.
6. And hereupon they still fall into manifold parties, because each man maketh a religion to himself, by his misinterpretation of God's word; so that there is no end of their divisions.
7. And they do a great deal of hurt in the church, by putting the same distracting and dividing conceits into the heads of others. And young christians, and women, and ignorant, well meaning people, that are not able to know who is in the right, do often turn to that party which they think most strict and godly (though it be such as our quakers). And the very good conceit of the people whom they take it from, doth settle so strong a prejudice in their mind, as no argument or evidence scarcely can work out; and so education, converse, and human estimation breedeth a succession of dividers, and troublers of the churches.
8. They sin against God by calling good evil, and light darkness, and honouring superstition, which is the work of Satan, with holy names.[386]
9. They sin by adding to the word of God; while they say of abundance of lawful things, This is unlawful, and that is against the word of God, and pretend that their Touch not, taste not, handle not, is in the Scriptures.[387] For while they make it a rule for every circumstance in particular, they must squeeze, and force, and wrest it, to find out all those circumstances in it which were never there; and so by false expositions make the Scriptures another thing.
10. And how great a sin is it to father Satan's works on God, and to say that all these and these things are forbidden or commanded in the Scripture, and so to belie the Lord and the word of truth.
11. It engageth all subjects against their rulers' laws and government, and involveth them in the sin of denying them just obedience; while all the statute book must be found in the Scriptures, or else condemned as unlawful.
12. It maintaineth disobedience in churches, and causeth schisms and confusions unavoidably; for they that will neither obey the pastors, nor join with the churches, till they can show scriptures particularly for every translation, method, metre, tune, and all that is done, must join with no churches in the world.
13. It bringeth rebellion and confusion into families, while children and servants must learn no catechism, hear no minister, give no account, observe no hours of prayer, nay, nor do any work, but what there is a particular scripture for.
14. It sets men on enthusiastical expectations, and irrational, scandalous worshipping of God, while all men must avoid all those methods, phrases, books, helps, which are not expressly or particularly in Scripture, and men must not use their own inventions, or prudence, in the right ordering of the works of religion.
15. It destroyeth christian love and concord, while men are taught to censure all others, that use any thing in God's worship which is not particularly in Scripture, and so to censure all true worshippers in the world.
16. Yea, it will tempt men at last to be weary of their own religion, because they will find it an unsatisfactory, uncomfortable, tiresome thing, to do their own superstitious work.
17. And they will tempt all that they draw into this opinion, to be weary of religion also. And truly had not God's part, which is wise, and good, and pleasant, prevailed against the hurtfulness of men's superstition, which is foolish, bad, and unpleasant, religion had ere this been cast off as a wearisome, distracting thing; or, which is as bad, been used but to delude men.
18. Yea, it will tempt men at last to infidelity; for Satan will quickly teach them to argue, that if Scripture be a perfect, particular rule, for forty things that were never there, then it is defective, and is not of God, but an undertaking of that which is not performed, and therefore is but a deceit.
19. And the notoriousness and ridiculousness of this error, will tempt the profane to make religious people a scorn.