An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…

and it is your great sin now to impute the cause of his sorrow, distress, and anguish, to his hearing the Word in our societies, when as it was the natural fruit of his rash and sinful separation, or of those positions, whereupon his separation was builded, wherein if he was not first instructed, he had been built up by you. Let false Churches be shops of wickedness, and the shambles of the Saints: In our societies the doctrine of faith and piety is soundly and purely taught, our adversaries being judges: a thousand thousands can testify by experience what oule-ravishing comforts, and sweet communion with God may ⟨p. 139⟩be had therein. When you wrote these things, you had just cause, to take shame and sorrow, that you had brought a poor soul thus into the snare of your seducements: but to take occasion thereby to encourage others, harden your self in an evil way, and to revile and slander the heritage of the Lord, is an argument of how great perverseness? You are confident he is with Christ in paradise, and I will not go about to lessen your confidence therein. But if you may be confident of him, may not we be confident of the Martyrs, who dyed cheerfully for the testimony of the Lord Jesus, being professed members of our societies? Infallible knowledge of another's salvation we challenge not, but what you can pronounce confidently of one, we may with equal or greater confidence pronounce of many, who laid down their lives for the truth of God. And therefore the reason drawn from the practice of the Martyrs, professing against Antichrist, who lived and dyed members of our Societies, and are received into glory, to prove that our societies are not Antichristian, idolatrous, false worship, is neither absurd nor childish, howsoever you are pleased to spurn and kick at it. Peruse your own manner of arguing implied here, ¹and then speak of your answer to the other: be not rash and partial.

and it is your great sinne now to impute the cause of his sorrow, distresse, and anguish, to his hearing the Word in our societies, when as it was the naturall fruit of his rash and sinfull separation, or of those positions, whereupon his separation was builded, wherein if he was not first instructed, he had been built up by you. Let false Churches be shops of wickednesse, and the shambles of the Saints: In our societies the doctrine of faith and pietie is soundly and purely taught, our adversaries being judges: a thousand thousands can testifie by experience what oule-ravishing comforts, and sweet communion with God may