so many Meetings and so great stir among theâ— For G. Keith was not so much as accused for Preaching any thing else but this But now Snake who mumblâ—â—â—â—istles was not he accused of very many Turbulent and Indecent Actions and Expressions as is at large seen in The State of the Case which I have above quoted and which the Snake also quotes with perversion as I have before shewn Snake p. 67. Here is a many forked and involved Infallibility one Meeting Justifying another Condemning G. Keith and all for the very same Doctrine Ibid. p. 68. This will not only overthrow the Infallibility in each particular Person but even of their Churches or Meetings That particular Persons may make Defection from the Guidings of the Spirit of Truth and may Apostatize from that Union and Fellowship which they had once with the Friends of it I have already largly shewn and what particulars may do Assemblies made up of such particulars may also do Floods and Parties as the Snake expresses it may Apostatize as well as particulars nay a whole Community may Apostatize and yet the Infallibility of the Guide of any one particular Person who continues Faithful and Obedient to the Holy Spirit remains firm and sure Thus 1 Cor. 10.4 The Apostle testifies of the Jews They all Drank the same spiritual Drink for they Drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. Now this Rock could have as Infallibly preserved the whole Tribes of Israel from Egypt thro' the Wilderness to the promised Land had they been Obedient to it as it did Caleb and Joshua who were the only two of all the Thousands that left Egypt and entered in But further that Assemblies or Churches may Apostatize and Backslide the Holy Spirit is sufficient Warrant by the particular reproofs or cautions it gives to the seven Asiatick Churches mentioned Rev. 2.2 and 3. And sure the Snake will not be so hardy as to say that the Holy Spirit was able only to give Reproof and Caution suitable to their wants and defects but not to have preserved them blameless and to have guided them Infallibly in that way he appointed them to go Ibid. p. 68. Besides this first proof in Pensilvania there is yet another more express and positive called The Barbadoes Judgment c. And besides the detecting the Snake's false conclusion in that I have to say to this that according to his usual Injustice he herein makes use of an Adversary's Book Babel's Builders c. without taking notice of the Answer which was published to it Intituled A Babilonish Opposer of Truth reproved c. By S. C. I. P. and R. R. as he also passes over in Silence tho' mentioned in that Adversaries Book a Letter of G. â—'s and others writ to Barbadoes concerning this very thing wherein they are shewn their cause is not right that they had taken which Letter and the matter it relates to is fully spoken to in our Answer above mentioned wherein is also S. E's condemnation of his rashness in those words spoke by him to J. S. mentioned p. 125. foregoing Ibid. p. 69 70. I was told by one present at the Quaker Meeting at Ratcliff on Sunday the 17 th of February 1694 5 That Mr. Penn having Preached and after G. Keith rising up and expounding some Scripture in another manner than Mr. Penn had done Mr. Penn stop'd him and solemnly denounced these words against him In the Name of the Lord I pronounce him an Apostate over the Head of him Vpon which occasion I have these few Questions to ask Q. Whether this was a Sentence from Mr. Penn himself or from their Church Whether by an Ordinary Commission of Succession to Christ and the Apostles Whether by an Extraordinary Commission such as the Prophets and the Apostles had To the first W. Penn being in Unity with the Church declared this of one who had broken Unity by making defection from that term of Union which in time passed he had declared he was by the Light of Christ in him led to profess and believe Secondly All who are kept living by the Spirit of Truth in that bond of Union which that did at first lead into such have ordinary Commission therefrom to testifie against Apostates And this not by such falsly pretended Succession as the Papal Chair or others may pretend to from the Apostles But by succeeding in a measure of that same Light and Holy Spirit which they were in To the Last W. Penn tho' then knowing G. K. to have broken Union as is before expressed he might at that time in the Openings of the Spirit of Truth have a larger and fuller Sight of his Apostacy and so a Warrant to Declare it And for this there needed no new Credentials viz. Miracles it being no more than what hath been confirmed by those the Apostles wrought Ibid. p. 72. But for the present I only apply it to the point of their Church Authority over the Light within particular Persons their original and great pretence The Light within particular Persons is as much our Characteristick now as ever and we have no Church Authority over it or repugnant to it and that in the case of G. K. no such Authority was used Consider the following Lines G. Keith hath often Printed and Declared that he did believe and profess the same Doctrines and Principles of Faith with us and that he was led so to do only by the Light of Jesus Christ shining into his Heart Through and by which Light he did profess to have true union and fellowship with us and accordingly he so was denominated and distinguished Now the Light of Jesus Christ is not contrary to it self and if by the inshinings thereof and his obedience to it it was that G. K. did profess as above Then it naturally follows G. K's innovation to the contrary of what he hath so professed cannot proceed from that Light of Jesus Christ from which the above profession of Unity and Fellowship did Therefore to give Judgment against G. K. is not to give Judgment against the Light of Jesus Christ but agreeable to it even in G. Keith against himself The like is to be said of J. Story c. and others who have innovated and made defection as these did whose Works being bad the issue is the same with what Gamaliel shews Acts 5.28 They are come to naught And therefore after all the Boast which the Snake makes about Separation and Faction We may concerning all of them now declining and towards their end hope and have ground to believe that as many as are yet in a Spirit of Separation in whom are any true desires towards God for his guidance in the Truth such he will restore to the Fold they have strayed from And he will scatter them whose end is not his Honour agreeable to what the Psalmist said concerning the Wicked Psal. 37.36 He is gone I sought him but he could not be
says we are in pag 3. he says We speak Sense and English have in a great measure reform'd from the Errors of the Primitive Quakers Thus as his Mood Humor and Occasion Changes we are with him either Subtile or Simple speak Sense or Non-sense Blasphemous to the hight or in some measure reform'd But after all the Ipse Dixit of an Enemy is neither good Argument nor Conclusion as will hereafter appear in the examination of the several Heads of Doctrine P. 3. Many of them have really gone off from that hight of Blasphemy and Madness which was professed among them at their first setting up in the Year 1650. and so continued till after the Restauration Anno. 1660. What the Snake doth acknowledge is at present Sober and Christian in us is really no other than what he calls at our first setting up the hight of Blasphemy and Madness for the colourable Pretences of these are only the spurious Brood of his own ill-forming Fancy and as bad joyning Fingers which have been imploy'd in Mangling the Books of our Friends in his phraise not unlike Rats and Moths Ibid. p. 3. Therefore they endeavour all they can to make it appear that their Doctrine was Vniform from the beginning and that there has been no alteration And that endeavour has not been in vain it having been often made so to appear Ibid. p. 4. I would perswade them openly and above-bord to Renounce George Fox and their first Reformers and all their Blasphemous and Heretical Doctrine Before this be done two things are necessary First to examine whether what our Adversary calls Blasphemy and Heresie be so or not and then to know what he would perswade us to for the first hard names are no Proof For in the Way which some called Heresie the Apostle did Worship God and our Saviour himself The Green Tree was call'd a Blasphemer And for the Last it 's not Good or Safe to be at all much less easily perswaded to forsake Truth for Lying Vanities Ibid. p. 5. And I must say it they give the same Proof for their extraordinary Inspirations as the Quakers do that is none at all but their own confident averring of it And I must say that our first Reformers from Popery having urged for their Separation the Authority of the holy Spirit and being asked for Proof of that Authority could give no other but what in the Language of our Adversary is none at all but their own confident averring of it The Apostle Paul when questioned by the Corinthians for a Proof of Christ speaking in him did not evade the question nor direct to an impertinent Solution of it when he advised them Search your selves try your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 This Proof the Quakers also give and that with reason for the publick Spirit of God privately working in the Hearts of Men is only able to give those in whom it does so Work evidences of its proper effects The Apostle is positive to the same purpose 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth no Man but by the Spirit of God And all Inspiration of the holy Spirit will I doubt not be owned to be some things of God and of these no Man can make a right Judgment but by the Spirit of God Which who want it is no wonder that by such this be call'd as by the Snake no Proof but a confident averring of it Though I doubt not but the Sober Reader will have another sense of this Matter Ibid. p. 5. Now I would beseech Mr. Penn who has more Wit than all the rest of his Party to let us know what ground he had for leaving the Church of England more than Muggleton What Muggleton's ground was is not now our Business to examine and what W. Penn's was he hath often declared many Years ago which yet if I should here repeat the Snake might possibly mistake in Judging of it as it is possible he may also in the judgment he pretends to have of Wit Nay supposing it true that W. P. hath more Wit than all the rest of the Quakers yet this Snake not having had distinct Knowledge of every Quaker and of every Degree of their Wit was not capable of more herein than to give some Testimony of his Confidence not Judgment Ibid. p. 5. Why should we trust the Light within him or G. Fox rather than the Light within Lodowick Muggleton W. P. and G. F. did never direct or desire Men to trust the Light within them but have constantly directed Men to trust in the Light of Jesus Christ which is given to each Man for himself and is a sufficient Guide to the true Knowledge and Worship of God notwithstanding all that Men may speak against it Ibid. p. 5. Has Lodowick wrought no Miracles to prove his Mission No more hath G. Fox or W. Penn. To which I may add No more hath the Church of England nor the Snake in the Grass unless we account that for one Miracle in the Snake when he at Billingsgate run away from the Messenger Of which more in its place Are they G. F. W. P. very sure that they are in the right So is Muggleton If the Snake be not very sure that he is in the right he hath but an intention to deceive when he calls others into Communion with him Are they Schismaticks So is he And so is the Snake and by the Snake's Doctrine so is the Church of England as I have shewn p. 15 16 17. foregoing Are they above Ordinances If they be I know not but that we the Quakers are not I know For we own and use Preaching and Praying which the Snake owns to be Ordinances Is he against distinct Persons in the Godhead So are they Distinction in the Godhead we own according to Scripture but think the word Person too Gross to express it Is he against all Creeds So are they It it false we own the Matter contain'd in the Creed called the Apostles Does Muggleton deny all Church Authority So do they So does the Snake that does not please him But that we do not the Snake hath disprov'd himself as see Pagâ— 61. Yet does he require the most absolute Submission to what himself Teaches So does thâ— Snake But we do not so but like the Apostles commend our Testimony to the Conscience c. 2 Cor. 4.2 Does he Damn all the World and all since the Apostles So do they So does the Snake counting all others as the Spawn of the Viper Does he make a dead Letter of the Holy Scripture and resolve all into his own private Spirit So do they 'T is false we reject all private Spirits acknowledge the Scriptures to have been writ by Divine Inspiration and to contain a Declaraion of the Will of God and do refer to the publick Spirit of God for the understanding of them Ibid. p. 6. These are Twin
to withstand this his Day of Visitation in the reproofs and discoveries of this Light it must of necessity once come to pass as to the Jews that it will be hid from their eyes and in this final impenitency they will according to Isa. 5.20 call good evil and evil good and of such the Apostle testifies Ephes. 4.18 They are strangers from the life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their hearts And that 2 Thess. 2.11 They are given over to strong Delusion to believe a lye because they received not the Love of the Truth that they should be saved But they were not given over to strong Delusion till they had refused the Truth and they could not refuse the Love of it unknowingly To the Second Quaere Whether a Man may sin while he follows the Light It may be safely answer'd no! Because it is affirmed by the Apostle Ephes. 5.9 The fruit of the Spirit or Light is in all goodness righteousness and truth And the Christians were advised to walk in the Light that they might become Children of it And if they are Children of it they must of necessity bring forth the fruits of it for that it is sufficient to make Men able so to do these Scriptures among many others testifie Luke 9.21 22. Phil. 4.14 2 Cor. 12.9 And as what is said herein is agreeable to the Gospel so it is not contrary to the Law Because as the Apostle testifies Acts 17.30 In the times of Ignorance God winked But now he willeth all men every where to repent And Heb. 7.19 Tho' under the Law which made nothing perfect there were expiatory Sacrifices for the Sins of Ignorance yet now there needeth not for as much as by the Gospel the bringing in of a better hope made perfect For the several Texts urged by our Adversary as Luke 23.24 where Christ speaking of those who crucified him saith They know not what they do It is no wonder they should be so stupidly blind when we consider the Testimony of Stephen concerning them Acts 7.51 Ye always resisted the Holy Ghost And in John 16.2 where Christ foretels his Disciples the time shall come that whosoever killeth you shall think they do God service But the Snake has left out the reason of that Ignorance which in the next verse as our Saviour says is Because they have not known my Father nor me The like curtailing of the Text the Snake hath practised with that of 2 Thess. 2.11 where he only quotes the words They should believe a lye but left out the reason of it which the Apostle says was because they received not the love of the Truth The Snake's Perversion of that Text Mat. 6.13 is very remarkable where he quotes That the Light which is in some Men is Darkness When our Saviour said no such thing But is here shewing of us How that by Sin and Evil Man becomes Darkned and that a continuance herein leads into great Darkness and thus words it If thine Eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of Darkness wherefore if the Light that is in thee be Darkness how great is that Darkness The Eye is the Organ for Light That being blinded the whole Body is in Darkness so in the Mind with this addition of unhappiness that in this Blindness they think they see and therefore call good evil and evil good But our Saviour hath no where taught That tho' Men should fervently humbly and sincerely pray for the Gifts of his Grace Light or Spirit that it will still be so much a Guess so much in uncertainty as to be possible for these so sincerely seeking To take the Devil for God and his wicked Spirit and his bad Acts for the Holy Spirit and Innocent Life of Jesus Christ. No! It is a most abhorred imputation upon the Doctrine of our Saviour either to suppose it contradictory to it self or that he who according to Mat. 28.18 Has all power in Heaven and Earth given to him should yet be so short in his Power or in his Good Will that he hath not afforded to Man a most certain and infallible Guide to that Glory to which he calls him But further If herein Man can without a Crime be ignorant or disobedient The whole tenour of the Gospel is overthrown the New Covenant Joel 2.29 is of no force and we may with the Apostle in another case conclude 1 Cor. 15.14 Preaching is vain and Faith is vain For if the Light of Jesus Christ is not an Infallible Guide to Salvation Men are in utmost uncertainty of what concerns them most nearly viz. the Salvation of their Souls and are herein more at a Guess than they would care to be in the state of their Healths or the titles of their Estates But now if for Guide and Certainty for it is necessary Men should herein be certain he will turn us to the Holy Scriptures Traditions Councils Fathers Ordinances We shall find all of them declared even by Men of that Church this Snake says he is of such as are not void of uncertainty for that through ignorance iniquity and false pretences all these have been abused So that it remains of absolute necessity for all that would have an Infallible Guide to Salvation to attend the guidings of the Spirit of God which only can infallibly witness to their Spirits Rom. 8.16 thâ—â— they are the Children of God Ibid. p. 11. It would make one merry were therâ— not too much of tragedy in the miserable and distrâ—â—ctive error to see what pains G. Fox takes to strugglâ— from under this Objection If G. Fox's pains could make this Man merry the Priest's pains ought to make him laugh out because they were the greater of the two foâ— G. Fox hath answer'd 26 words of the Priests bâ— 25 of his own As for the Tragedy Misery anâ— Destruction which the Snake supposes in what hâ— calls our error there is nothing in it The Destructiâ—on c. will be eminently so to them that sell pretended Spiritual Ware and among them it will make havock for when Men come to feed upon that substantial Food John 6.35 48. The Bread of Life They will no longer give their Mony for that which is not Bread nor their labour for that which profitteth not Ibid. p. 11. He G. Fox repeats the Professor's objection against him in these words The Apostle Paul thought to do many things against the Church and thought he ought to do so and the Light within did not inform his Conscience To which G. Fox replies in these words did not Christ say that it was hard for him Paul to kick against that that prickt him and was not that within him that prickt him The Snake crys out against this Answer Ibid. p. 11. saying it is manifest perverting of Scripture when indeed the Answer is sound and true as appears by the verse immediately following Acts 9.6 And he trembling and astonished
contrary now to what they were then But if the Doctrine be true now how comes G. Fox to be blame-worthy for asserting it then and telling them then that such who denyed it were ravened from the Spirit of God And after all the Daubing Hypocrisie of this Snake let him shew if he can that such who deny this Doctrine which is essential to Salvation do not thereby shew themselves ravened c. Ibid. p. 30. Quoted from p. 30. of G. Fox's Answer to the Westmoreland Petition If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power The Liberty which this Adversary takes to himself is very great sometimes supplying to our words what he is pleased to think they want as at other times to bite and curtail them And to shew thee Reader what Supplements he gives to our words take the place as it is in G. Fox's Answer c. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own them which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And it is very true for whosoever shall write from the movings of the Spirit and grace of God upon his heart tho' in the least manifestation thereof them Writings so written cannot fail of being acknowledged in their Degree By all who through the Spirit of God are led to own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles And the Reason is plain because every Member partakes of the same Spirit by which the whole Body and Church of Christ is kept living And it is impossible for the Holy Spirit in one Member to contradict the same Spirit in the rest of the Body Thus Reader thou may plainly see that that Sinless Perfection maintained in our Books which the Snake carps at misrepresents and wilfully lyes against is no other than the Perfection of the Holy Spirit and which is no further Ours than we walk in obedience to that Spirit by Obedience to which the Apostle hath testified 2 Pet. 1.4 That by escaping the Corruption that is in the World through Lust we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature It were a foul and false imputation upon this Doctrine of the Apostles to suggest that he hereby advised the true Believers to pretend to any such equality of Perfection as that of God who in his Wisdom and Power c. is Infinite God hath promised to his People I will dwell in them and walk in them 2 Cor. 6.16 And all who do witness this Holy In-dwelling of God must of necessity say and confess that he is able to give a perfect Deliverance and Freedom from Sin But have not nor cannot say That they are God or they are Christ because of the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit never did any of us so say as falsly suggested by the Snake which in reply to the foregoing quotations doth I think evidently appear Wherefore I now proceed to his 6th Section of the Quakers Infallibility SECT V. Shewing that Infallibility is by us placed in the Holy Spirit and only is ours as guided by that THis Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box and you may expect to see Rarities The Snake is the Jugler and this Section or rather his whole Book the Box. The Rarities which the Reader may expect to see will no doubt be agreeable to such a Jugling Undertaker Before I come to open his Box this Section I will shew thee Reader his Jugling Artifice on the Lid of it Ibid. p. 31. This Section may seem needless as being included in the former That it is included in the former is true for who claims to be equal of the same Being and Substance with God Such doubtless claim to be infallible as he And then why this needless Section Why the Jugler doubting to put the matter of Charge upon that Issue multiply'd this Section tho' needless and drew it to a length near twice that of all his foregoing Sections that he might indeed Jugler like blind the Readers observation in the length of it And with respect to us the Jugler might hope it should by its length be admitted as Billa Vera rather than any should examine its Contents and detect its Lyes But to begin with the Snake's first head of Distinction Ibid. p. 31. 1. This their Infallibility was palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome That the Snake may not palm this Story upon the World without proof I do on the behalf of the People called Quakers deny the Assertion and put our Adversary upon the Proof of it which if he cannot do he is hereby registred for a Lyar. Ibid. p. 31. Of which They were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by wholesale and would have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome used to defend themselves As we did not receive from the Church of Rome or any other Society of Men our True Principle of the Infallibility of the Spirit or Grace of God so neither did or do we want any of those Cautions which the Romanists may have and use in their claim of Infallibility That this may appear more plain to the Sober Reader I will shew the vast difference between us and them herein The Papists how much soever they differ among themselves in placing of Infallibility in their Church as whether in the Pope and in him Simply or in him in Cathedra or with his Conclave or him in General Counsel or in such Counsel without him or in the Church diffusive yet they do all agree herein that this Infallibility is possessed by Original Grant made by Jesus Christ to one or other or all of them in the Person of the Holy Apostle Peter and doth descend by Ordination in a continual Succession not alienable This I doubt not will be allow'd to be the declar'd sentiments of some of that People in this point and which do abundantly differ from what hath been always professed by us herein which in Brief is to the following purpose viz. First We have constantly said that the Holy Spirit of God is Infallible and that through the Mediation and Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ a Manifestation of this Infallible Holy Spirit is given to every Man to profit with Secondly We have constantly said that whoever is obedient to the Convictions and Leadings of this Infallible Holy Spirit as they are tendred to their Souls during the day of their Visitation shall thereby be Infallibly lead into all Truth necessary to Salvation both in Principle and in Practice for it doth not only Teach sound Doctrines but also teacheth to deny all ungodliness and hath no fellowship with the Vnfruitful Works of Darkness Thirdly We have constantly said that of such as through their working together with the Grace of God are thereby become Strong in the Lord Of these I say As Christ doth now Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualify with and by his Holy Spirit those whom
the Sealing his own Testament with his Blood For if he had then all who are not in Communion with the Jews at this Day are Schismaticks and which is worse the Snake says it is from the Devil Ibid. p. 59. And the Apostles after our Saviour frequented the Jewish Temple Luke 24.53 And observed their hours of Publick Worship Acts 3.1 This Adversary would here falsly and Hypocritically insinuate as if the Apostles hereby joined in Communion with the Jews which was against the whole Scope of their Commission The Business of the Apostles in the Temple and wheresoever else their Lots were was to preach up Faith and Salvation through Repentance in and by that Jesus whom the Jews had Crucified For this purpose they went to the Jewish Temple and no wonder they went at the hour of Prayer because then they might find the People together That this was the Reason why they went at the hour of Prayer is fully seen by the Sermon of Peter Acts 3.12 to the end of the Chapter Ibid. p. 60. But the Quaker-notion of the Light within and their pretence to Infallibility as consequential to it does totally root up and destroy all Church Covernment and Order For if the Light within be God it must be self-sufficient and not to need the Rules and Directions of any other The Apostles it 's allowed were infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost God in them yet this was so far from rooting up and destroying all Church Government that they by the Directions of the Holy Spirit did give Rules and Directions for Discipline in the Churches where they laboured to bring the People to be partakers with them of the same Promise which was Christ in them the hope of Glory Ibid. p. 60. Vpon this Ground the Quakers broke off from the Church and refused to be under the Government of any outward Authority 'T is false the Quakers broke not off upon this Ground but rather to carry on that Reformation which the Church of England began here when she broke off from Rome Neither did the Quakers ever refuse to be under the Government of any outward Authority for we always for Conscience sake have been Obedient to Authority by actively doing what in Conscience we could or by passively suffering for what in Conscience we could not do Let the Snake say so much for himself if he can and prove it Ibid. p. 60. And thus they stood several years in the Infancy of their State till they began to grow numerous and rich 'T is false we never were even when first a People without Government and Discipline such as might answer the good end of the Gospel of Christ. But that there may be occasion as the Community enlarges to add some points of Discipline for the same good end for which the first were appointed Holy Writ does sufficiently justifie The Disciples while in their Infancy had Acts 2.44 and 4.32 All things common afterwards particular Churches made Contributions for the Poor c. When they grew more numerous the Question of the Circumcision began to trouble the Churches in Syria Antioch and Cilecia concerning which the Apostles sent a Determination by Paul and Barnabas Acts 15.25 And in after times as the Churches and their Necessities did increase the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 8.4 and 10.25 27. did yet enlarge the Borders of that Discipline which was before setled And to other Churches according to their Necessities such was their prescribed Discipline Thus at first while the Professors of Christianity were few there necessities were so too but as their Numbers increased so did their Necessities and the Apostles and Overseers of the Church did provide accordingly that they might in all things adorn the Doctrine of Christ Tit. 2.10 who is a God of Order And as the fullest state of their Discipline was no contradiction to their few first Precepts so neither was a contradiction to the infallible Spirit of God Tit. 11.12 to the Guidings whereof the end of their Preaching was to bring People I come now to his Tenth and Last Head of Distinction Concerning that Church Government which is among the Quakers Ibid. p. 61. The Quakers pretence to Infallibility has been disproved First In particular Instances of several of their Prophets Secondly In whole Floods and Parties for F. Bugg and many others have come openly off from their Communion c. The particular Instances which the Snake hath brought have been above sufficiently disproved being either falsly or insufficiently by him pretended But had they been all such as the Snake hath pretended yet then they couâ—â— not have answered his purpose to overthrow the Infallibility of the Spirit of God as is also largely before declared Secondly That whole Floods and Parties have left us F. Bugg is with the Snake an Instance and indeed a particular single weak one But had the Floods and Parties been much greater than ever yet any were that did Apostatize and backslide from us They may indeed be Instances of such Backsliders as those mentioned 2 Pet. 2.22 but no Argument that the Holy Spirit of God is not Infallible for as by the power of that in times past these backsliders were in some degree washed so had they continued under its Guidings it would have made them altogether clean Whereas by deserting it they are returned to wallow in the Mire again This Through Disobedience hapned to many in the Primitive times Nay so general was the Defection and Backsliding of that People that the Holy Spirit expresseth it by the Church going into the Wilderness For Darkness and Apostacy did overspread all Lands Ibid. p. 62. Now if their above-told pretences to Infallibility do hold then it will follow that these their former Opinions which the Separatists now condemn were true Then and false Now. Nay that they are both true and false even now because some Quakers do hold them to be true A fine Conclusion and spakes thus much If the Declared Claim of the Church of England to Loyalty do hold then it will follow that that Declared Claim which the Snake and other such Separates now condemn was true then and false now Nay that it is both true and false even now because that Church doth still declare that Claim Thus Reader thou seest the folly of this Snake's reasoning and it cannot be otherwise when Men shall attempt to prove by the precarious and evil practice of Particulars the Unsoundness of Principles Good Principles do always abide the same whatsoever the Practice of their Professors may be Thus the Grace and Spirit of God continues Infallible let whosoever will backslide from it and Loyalty continues to be Loyalty still if the Snake never practice it Ibid. p. 62 63. But if Keith and Bugg were true Quakers then true Quakers are not Infallible And then G. Fox c. who said they were Infallible were led by the Spirit of Delusion and not the Spirit of Truth Keith and Bugg with whosoever else
our Hearts he knoweth that our earnest Endeavour since a People hath been to direct to the Holy Spirit to which as the World comes to be obedient it will certainly raise in them a just value and esteem for the Scriptures and a love and desire to be conversant in the reading of them by which through Faith they may receive comfort as we can abundantly testifie we have found And therefore the Insinuation is false and envious that we have ever sought either openly or secretly to discard them or to set up the Inspirations of any instead of them Ibid. p. 91. They have taken upon them not only to abrogate the most express Ordinances of the Gospel But to set up and institute new ones as Womens Preachings directly contrary to 1 Cor. 16.35 and the Prelacy of the Womens Meetings an Invention never heard of in the World till G. F. Cobled it out 'T is false that we have abrogated any Ordinances of Divine Institution And it is also false that we have set up and instituted new ones For under the Law and in the Apostles days there were Women Prophetesses and Fellow-helpers in the Gospel As for the Prelacy of Womens Meetings we know of no such thing but for the good ends of looking after the Poor and seeing after such things as are Comely Decent and of Good Report do they meet as the Holy Women in ancient times did And as it is no discouragement to us so it will not be of weight with the Sober Reader that this practice is profanely said by the Snake to be Cobled out by G. Fox Ibid. p. 92. The Scripture remains of no Authority with them because if what the Scripture command be a-new required by their Spirit they are bound to obey it because required by their Spirit But if the Scripture command the thing they are by their Principles not bound to obey it unless it is required by their Spirit a-new None may at this day upon the Authority of Scripture walk naked as Isaiah 20.2 3. nor go to the King's Chappel as Amos 7.13 nor do any of these special and particular things which many of the Prophets by the Special Command of God did do unless they are thereunto commanded and required by the same Holy Spirit which did require them This is what Edward Burroughs had formerly said and which W. Penn repeats and maintains though very falsly quoted by the Snake who injuriously quotes W. P. in his Reason against Railing p. 150. in the following manner That what was a Commandment to any Servants of God in Old Time That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new But W. P's words as they lye in the Book and Page quoted are thus From our asserting that what was a Commandment to any Servant of God in Old Times is not so to us because so to them that is such as Going to Pharaoh as Going Naked Going to the King's Chappel as Moses Isaiah and Amos did as also those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed for a season and to pass off That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new It is not a little his endeavour unrighteously to infer that those Moral Perpetual and Eternal Holy Precepts here W. P. mentions the Laws of the First Table are not binding upon us c. Here Reader behold the subornation of the Snake who by a most unjust practice bites out so much of a Quotation as is not for his purpose and brings the remainder to speak against the sense of the Writer Ibid. p. 94. Thus it being Objected to G. F. that one of his Quakers had pretended to an Immediate Call from Heaven to commit Theft Robbery and Sacriledge in taking out of the Church an Hour-glass c. It is false it was not objected that any Quaker did commit Theft or Robbery or Sacriledge Nor does it appear by the Priest's words that the Hour-Glass was taken away That which appears from the Priest's words is That some Quaker had signified to the Priest that the Glass which he made the limit of his Carnal Preaching ought to be removed and that the Holy Spirit was only that by which they that spake from the Lord ought to begin and end their Preachings and G. F's answer is to the same purpose So that herein the Snake is egregiously abusive by perverting both the words of the Priest and G. F. and also in his false and scandalous insinuations concerning what he calls the Communion Plate Ibid. p. 95. Have they not by the same Light rebelled from Episcopacy Not unless it be prov'd by the Holy Scriptures that Episcopacy at this day be in the same Spirit and Government which the Apostles were in Ibid. p. 95. It is true indeed the Church cannot subsist without Government But it is as true that the Quakers pretence to the private Light in particular Persons as a principle over-ruling Scripture and all outward Ordinances is Inconsistent to the Government either in Church or State It is false that we have ever pretended that the Particular Manifestation of the Light of Christ in any of us did over-rule the Scriptures or Ordinances There cannot be Contradiction in the Spirit of God By the movings whereof it was that the Scriptures were given forth 2 Pet. 1.21 Nor do the Movings of the same Spirit privately working in particular Persons at this day over-rule or contradict what it did give forth as above And as the Light and Spirit of Christ is thus agreeable to it self So it is well consistent with the Government of the State in that it leads all that obey it to be loving and peaceable not Seditious or Tumultuous It leads to give Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's This it hath taught us to be our Duty and our Practice hath been agreeable of which the whole Kingdom are our witnesses And it is not less consistent with the Government in the Church when the Government in the Church hath its beginning and foundation from it as described p. 135 136. foregoing But it cannot be consistent with Government in the Church when the Church is not govern'd by the Spirit of him whom she says is her Spiritual Head Ibid. Or any Security from all the Dismal and Enthusiastical Murthers Rapines and Outrage of the Zealots among the Jews who went upon the same principle The Holy Spirit of God which by the coming of Jesus Christ is given to Men is the Principle that we profess and is the most effectual Security that can be against wickedness and violence of all sorts because where that is obeyed it will finish Transgression and make an end of Sin Now did the Zealots among the Jews go upon the same Principle No no more than the late Horrid Assassines in Communion with the Snake and with him in Separation from the Church could be said to do Murthers Rapines and Outrage are the
meer say so As the story may prove false so till it be shewn that it be not so it needs now no further Answer than that it is none of our Doctrine nor approved of by us Ibid. p. 126. And G. F. says That if there be any other Christ but he that was Crucify'd within he iâ— the false Christ quoted from Great Mystery p. 206. This Christ that was Risen and Crucify'd within Devils and Reprobates make a talk of him without It is Reader horrid Injustice in this Snake so fouly to pick and pervert a Man's words as he here does G. F's as if he did by these words deny that Christ Jesus who was Crucify'd at Jerusalem which that he did not I produce both the Priest's Words and his Answer and offer them to thy consideration Great Mystery p. 206. Priest It is a Scripture of the Devil 's making to apprehend this Crucify'd Christ within G. F. Now I say if there be any other Christ but he that was Crucify'd within he is the false Christ And the Scripture holds forth this and the Devil never made it but he and his Messengers are against it And he that hath not this Christ that was Risen and Crucify'd within is a Reprobate tho' Reprobates and Devils may make a talk of him without Thus G. F. and his Words are sound and as himself says according to Scripture for it is not another but the same Christ who was Crucified by the Jews and is now by his Spirit in the Hearts of Men reconciling them unto God and in as many as obey he is Christ in them the Hope of Glory And them who rebel do crucifie unto themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame Heb. 6.6 Rev. 11.8 Ibid. p. 126. And he G. F. disputes against those who say that the Man Christ that was Crucified his Body is now in the presence of his Father or that Christ is absent from them the Quakers as Touching his Flesh Great Mystery p. 210 211. G. F. does warrantably dispute against and oppose those Priests who declared Christ was absent from his People because he is present with them in Spirit And as G. F. in the pages last above quoted doth say That the Apostle declares of Christ that he is the Head of the Church and are of his Flesh and Bone and sit with him in Heavenly Places and Christ saith they must eat his Flesh and he is in them If the Snake will oppose this Scriptural Doctrine let him do it Ibid. p. 136. The Snake makes his Quotation from Great Mystery p. 254. They that profess a Christ without them and another within them here is two See Reader the falsity and perversion of the Snake in this Quotation by the following true one Great Mystery p. 254. They that profess a Christ without them have a Christ without them and another Christ within them here is two For if it be not the same Christ that ended all Types and Figures and Shadows if it be not him that is within they have not the Possession the Substance nor the Comfort of the True Christ. What plainer can be spoken to shew that is the same and not another Christ who suffered at Jerusalem and thereby ended the Law and is now by his Spirit in the Hearts of his People Ibid. p. 126. Robert Gourdon was the first among them that I find who taught the Orthodox Faith in this Point of the Divinity of Jesus Whether owned or not the Snake finds not because he seeks amiss and I am sure he did not seek right when he pretended to find R. Gourdon the first amongst us For R. Gourdon tho' once in Unity or Fellowship with us Apostatiz'd and with this Snake became an Adversary to us But the Orthodox Faith in this Point of the Divinity of Jesus hath been Testified by us ever since a People And from this R. Gourdon the Snake according to his usual Injustice transcribes in p. 127 128 129. divers false and abusive charges but takes no notice of the Validity or Invalidity of the Answers of our Friends to that Adversary's Book He is indeed so triflingly just as to say p. 127. Against this wrote G.W. with three other Quakers but what they said or how far they did disprove R. G's false Charges the Snake takes no notice wherefore I shall take no further notice of what he so quotes from him than to acquaint the Reader what relates to S. Eccles Quaker Challenge p. 6. is answered before in p. 188 189. as are also many of the other Bits of Quotations which here as mentioned by the Snake have neither Book nor Page to distinguish them Ibid. p. 129 130. The Snake borrows from himself out of Satan Disrob'd and saith of W. P. that he will not have the true Christ to be a Person but only a Principle c. and refers to that Book wherein he says it is more at large discussed with the Defences of Thomas Elwood I shall not run back to that Book Satan Disâ—ob'd it having already been somewhat spoken to by G. Whitehead since which there hath been no additions to it But so far as it lies here I shall reply and shew that W. P. in that Book of his Christian Quaker from which the Snake does so charge him will have and does acknowledge and confess to Christ both as God and Man which will fully refute what the Snake hath alledged To this purpose Reader consider the following Quotations from W. P's Christian Quaker From p. 104 to 114. W. P. there makes a Confession to Christ's Redemption Remission Justification and Salvation distinguished into nine several Heads or Parts of Discourse It would be too tâ—dious for my Reader to have transcribed them 〈◊〉 hither tho' all worthy of notice wherefore I shall only transcribe the first and seventh Heads or parts of Discourse which are as follows P. 104. First We do confess that tho' the Eternal Power Life and Light which inhabited that Holy Person which was born at Nazareth Bethlehem it should be was and is chiefly and eminently the Saviour For there is no Saviour besides me saith God Hos. 13.4 Yet that it was instrumentally a Saviour as prepared and chosen for the Work which Christ had then to do in it which was actually to the Salvation of Some and intentionally to the Salvation of the whole World then and in Ages to come suitable to that Scripture Lo in the Volume of the Book it is written I come to do thy will O God a Body hast thou prepared me c. Heb. 10. P. 107. Seventh But there is yet a further Benefit that accrueth by the Blood of Christ viz. That Christ is a propitiation and redemption to such as have Faith in it For tho' I still place the stress of particular Benefit upon the Light Life and Spirit revealed and witnessed in every particular Yet in that general Appearance there was a general Benefit justly to be
outward But the end of that teaching was to the Soul the inward Man and against Spiritual Wickedness in high places Eph. 6.12 And this outward Teaching in its end and in its continuance is that it may bring People in their several Generations to witness the Spiritual Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost whereby they may be brought to witness that they are begotten to God Ibid. p. 168. This outward Baptism with Water was an Ordinance instituted as a means of Grace whereby the Inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost was conveyed This is saying but not proving We deny that Baptism with Water was Instituted as a means of Grace for then had the far greater number of those who were converted to Christianity by the Ministry of Paul wanted the means of Grace Because they were very few as himself testifies that he did Baptize with Water And to them whom he did so Baptize is was not the means of Grace Because if it had been so it must have perpetually attended his Ministry in that Grace and Truth which comes by Jesus or otherwise the Apostle Paul was not compleatly as the rest of the Apostles a Minister of the Spirit which I think this Snake will hardly venture to affirm But himself declares it did not perpetually attend his Ministry 1 Cor. 1.17 For Christ sent me not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel Ibid. p. 168. Vpon all which accounts it was necessary even where the inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost was already attained as St. Peter said Acts 10.47 If where the inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost be attained the Outward Baptism with Water be still necessary because the Holy Apostle Peter commanded Acts 10.48 Cornelius and his Family to be Baptized Then why is not Circumcision also necessary because the same Apostle did compel the Gentiles in general to be Circumcised and concerning which at that time when Cornelius was Baptized it was not determined whether they should be Circumcised This sufficiently shews that the Apostles words in this place cannot be understood to Intend or Command Outward Baptism with Water to be a standing and perpetual Ordinance in the Church Ibid. p. 169. It is very Observable that among those things wherein St. Paul was instructed thus immediately from Christ he tells us 1 Cor. 11.23 That one was the Institution of the Lord's Supper Vpon which he lays so great stress that he charges grievous Diseases sent among the Corinthians and Death it self vers 30. upon their Neglect and Abuse of this Holy Mystery It is very observable that this Snake by begging every matter in question takes them for granted which we deny And then in usual assurance runs on in his Doughty Manner without so much as offering at any Authority to prove what he says or disprove what we have often said upon this Subject Thus he will have the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.23 delivering to that People the Institution of the Lord's Supper Yet has not proved from the words that they are any Institution at all The words of the Apostle are these vers 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread These words of the Apostle are plainly a Narration of somewhat done by our Saviour but contain not any Institution or Command as the observing Reader may find And had the Apostle herein intended to deliver an Institution or Command of something that was to be perpetually obligatory in the Church and not to deliver singly an account of matter of Fact he had no doubt deliver'd it in words whose import could not be questioned But he saith not For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you That as the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was deliver'd took Bread So c. The Apostle saith not thus but the contrary and when he repeats the imperative words of Christ to his Disciples on this Head he seemeth of set purpose so to have placed them that they do not import any Command For he saith vers 25. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me vers 26. For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come These I say do not import any Command or Institution which because the Snake will have that they do let him shew wherein If he thinks the words as often to have some imperative force let him see if he can prove that that imperative Force is more than if one should say to him As often as thou goes to Westminster call upon John Thompson late one of the King's Messengers I easily think the Snake will conclude the imperarative Force of these words none at all and will go as occasion calls to Westminster and not think himself obliged to make that Visit. But the Snake goes on with wonderful assurance and will have the Apostle lay so great stress upon this Institution That he charges grievous Diseases sent among the Corinthians and Death it self vers 30. upon their Neglect and Abuse of this Holy Mystery But from the place it self it does not appear that the Apostle lays any such stress upon it For first as I have already shewn the Apostle makes a narration of Fact Tells what our Lord did do that Night in which he was betrayed but gives no Command does not declare it to be instituted makes no Mystery of it as the Snake would suggest Secondly The Apostle redargueth the Corinthians evil practices of Drunkenness and Unseasonable Eating even then when they were pretending to have in remembrance the Death of Christ. And queries of them vers 22. What! have ye not houses to eat and drink in or dispise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not What shall I say unto you Shall I praise you in this I praise you not Thirdly The Apostle does in the 30th verse shew them some of the Consequences which had attended their Irreverent Greedy and Drunken practices and tells them For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep And a very natural Consequence it is and nothing strange that Intemperance should bring Weakness and Sickness and finally Death But the Snake would put the Apostles words upon the Tenters and stretch them to signifie grievous Diseases All Weakness and Sickness may in some sense be said to be grievous But when we say Grievous Diseases are sent among a People it does at least imply something more than the common Infirmities which usually our Nature is subject to by way of Eminence as a Judgment This the Snake seems to suggest but offers not to prove neither can he or that those Corinthians were more Weak and Sickly c. than what might be the natural effect of the Intemperance above spoken of Ibid. p. 169. How then would he have censured the Preaching down this and the other
of the Heart and Spirit this work the Law could not perform because as the Apostle says Heb. 7.19 The Law made nothing perfect Nor can Outward Water or Outward Bread and Wine That can only be done by the Inward Operation of the Spirit of God upon the Heart and Spirit This is that which is as useful and indispensable to Christians as the Outward Law was to the Outward Jew To which Outward Law Christ who was greater than Moses having put an end He hath established not another Outward Covenant but the Inward Dispensation of Grace and Truth which comes by Him Ibid. p. 171. Only let me tell the Quakers That their Objections which are answerd in that Treatise a piece writ by the Snake particularly upon this Subject are mostly the same which the Socinians have set up And let me tell the Snake that if the Socinians Arguments herein were sound and according to Scripture it can be no Objection to ours if they were not only mostly but altogether the same And it does not follow that they who err in some things are therefore right in nothing But if what the Snake tells us of our Arguments being mostly the same herein with those of the Socinians It will I hope be of as good purpose for me to tell the Snake that his Objections which are answered in this Treatise are mostly the same which the Romanists did make to the Reformation And then his Witty Remark may be of use to himself To see out of whose Quiver those Arrows came which he hath shot against us Ibid. p. 171. Thus the Socinians having thrown off or slighted the Sacraments have lost the true Faith in the Divinity of Iesus and have rejected him from being the Christ or Word of God which they say only dwelt in him or inspired him but was not Personally united to him Thus say the Quakers What the Socinians have thrown off and lost is not now my business to enquire But that the Quakers have not Thrown off or Lost the True Faith in Christ either as He is the Divine Word or as he was truly Man and dwelt on Earth I have already abundantly shewn in the Section foregoing wherein is particularly treated of and owned the Divinity and Incarnation of Jesus Christ. SECT XIII That Popish Emissaries did not first set up Quakerism in England as is said by the Snake THE Snake that he might be compleat in all the parts of his false and abusive Attempts against us having before by many ill practices in vain endeavoured to make us Heretical in points of Faith would here shew that our Original and Rise was from Popish Emissaries But in this I hope to shew his falsity and abuse as I have already done in those In order to which I desire my Reader to observe that the Snake's first Argument is drawn from the time of our Appearance which he makes to be about 1650. and 1654. And of these dates of time he says P. 187. Then it was that Rome was reaping a plentiful Harvest which they had long been sowing by setting up in that Universal Toleration Multitudes of Various Sects on purpose to Divide and so Confound their only Substantial Adversary the Church of England And here let it be observed that he imposes upon his Reader and would have it taken for granted upon his bare Word that about them Years there was a Vniversal Toleration and that during that time of Toleration there were by Romish Emissaries set up Multitudes of Various Sects Neither of which is true in Fact but contrary to the Faith of the History of them times and also to the Experience of many who are yet living who were eye witnesses of the Transactions of them and some who were Sufferers in them But first to the Toleration which the Snake calls Vniversal I doubt not but upon second thoughts the Snake will allow that at that time the Church of England was in Exile so that it was not Vniversal And as to the Quakers then Beginning they were not included in the Vniversal Toleration As our Testimonies easy to be produced of Imprisonments Blows Fines c. which our then few Friends suffered and underwent can testify These Instances I give to which others it's like may add more to shew that there was no such thing as a Vniversal Toleration Now to his Multitudes of various Sects which he says were then set up It is only a Romantick Story of his own Brain which has no truth in it For should it be supposed that there were in them Years People gathered into Religious Societies under Twelve distinct Denominations tho' I know not of one quarter that number What Multitudes can Twelve be called It may be he may say that Multitudes is an Hyperbole And indeed so it is for it so far beyond Truth that the Expression has nothing of Truth in it And now having briefly hinted at his falsity both with respect to his Toleration and Multitudes I shall proceed to shew That had there then been that Vniversal Toleration and such Multitudes of various Sects as the Snake hath falsly alledged Yet it doth not follow that these Multitudes or various Sects were set up by Rome Because there were various Dissents from the Church of England even from the first Reformation And it was objected to Her by the Author of an Apology for the English Seminaries Printed 1581. That there was Contention and Dissention among themselves This was not in 1650. but in 1581. at such time that if there was not Vnviersal Toleration yet the Church at least was Tolerated and who sowed the Dissentions then And if the Snake will not be angry with me as he is with Josiah Cole p. 189. for Reprinting something of a Papist's which he calls a Sensless and Bitter Libel though it is his practice often to repeat part of our Adversaries Bitter and Sensless Libels against us for which it may be he would have us thank him I will briefly quote that Apology Printed 1581. p. 60. His words are these We charge them with rebelling against Christ's Church Laws and Ordinances with disobedience to their Lawful Pastors with contempt of Holy Councils Fathers and Doctors with falsifying corrupting denying divers Books and Places of Holy Scripture With Contention and Dissention among themselves Disturbances of Kingdoms and Countries desire of Liberty and Novelty in-constant and daily change of their Opinions Presumptuous Arrogance and Vaunting of their Knowledge above all Antiquity with Singularity Sacriledge Apostacy c. Thus he And now what Reader but would take this to be the Snake's Declamation against the Quakers were it not for its Title and Date of Print And that we know it to have been a Papist's Declamation against the Church of England So like the Snake it is that to use his words we see out of whose quiver his Arrows came But as we have now to this Snake's so the Church of England did to this and such like Charges of
he has left us to guess who set it up in England For he having enumerated some Instances in which Enthusiasm is owned in the Liturgy and Offices of the Church Does declare p. 317. There is not one Book of Devotion used among us that does not tell us the same What Same Why the same Enthusiasm or Inspiration p. 119. Full as much as any sober Quaker can mean by the Light within Now if this same Enthusiasm came chiefly from Rome and Labade a Jesuit set it up in Holland he will be yet more particular if he can help us to his Name and Character who set it up in England But the Snake says R. B. was tinctur'd with it in his younger Years in the Stotch Convent at Paris What it was R. B. tinctured with If with the same Enthusiasm that he says is allow'd and own'd in the Church full as much as any sober Quaker can mean by the Light within Can there be any fault in that And that it was not the same Enthusiasm he has no where prov'd nor attempted to do it no more than he has attempted to prove that it was the same Enthusiasm with which R. B. as he says was tinctur'd and which Labade set up in Holland But the Snake's Argument has yet another Branch to shew that Popish Emissaries set up Quakerism c. viz. John Vaughton and William Southby formerly Roman Catholicks are now Preachers one in London the other in Pensilvania Therefore c. Reader It may be worth thy while a little to consider the unconcluding Rodomantade of this our Adversary in this point Enthusiasm came chiefly from Rome Labade a Jesuit set it up in Holland Therefore Popish Emissaries first set it up in England Robert Barclay when Young was at the Scotch Convent in Paris J. Vaughton and W. Southby were formerly Roman Catholicks tho' neither of them were more than Infants if born when Quakers first appear'd in England yet he will have it hence follow that Popish Emissaries first set up Quakerism in England Besides that his reasoning is false I take it to be foolish for if all the Religious Societies of Men in England who have in their Communion Persons formerly Roman Catholicks were set up by Popish Emissaries it will be harder for the Snake to shew which of them Popish Emissaries did not set up than which they did because there is hardly any Community in which there is not one or more who have formerly been Roman Catholicks And to carry his Folly to its full length he might with as great force of concluding say That the Quakers set up the Church of England for Francis Bugg formerly a Quaker is now a Member of that Church Ibid. p. 188. But God has punished them by sending the same Spirit among themselves and has made a Great Fraction in the Church of Rome Here is a Soloecism could Rome dress Enthusiasm in several Shapes and set it up in Holland before they had it among themselves I think they could not But as much a Novelty as the Snake would insinuate Fraction to be in the Church of Rome If he will rub his Eyes and look upon the Church of England's Apology afore quoted p. 21. Art 50. He will find her there to object against the Romanists Vix enim unquam inter se conveniunt nisi forté ut olim Pharisaei Sadducaei aut Herodes PÃlatus contra Christum They scarce ever agree among themselves unless perchance as the Pharisees and Sadduces or as Herod and Pilate against Christ. This Character was given by at least as good an Authority as is the Snake's and that long before Robert Barclay was at Paris or John Vaughton and William Southby were Preachers nay indeed many years before they were born Ibid. p. 188. The Quaker-Infallibility was contrived on purpose to bring Men back to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome It is both false and impossible that there should have been any such contrivance because they stand in direct opposition to each other For that Infallible assistance of the Holy Spirit of which we speak we say continues not with any Man or Men longer than they continue subject and in obedience to the workings of it But the Infallibility to which Rome pretends is from the Person of the Holy Apostle Peter by a Continual Succession or by Ordination not Qualification not alienable from the Church Concerning which I have more largely spoken in the Section particularly treating of Infallibility Ibid. p. 188. First the Infallibility was placed by G. Fox and all the Primitive Quakers in every single Quaker And all the Modern Quakers do continue to say with the Primitive ones that not only every single Quaker but every single and individual Person hath given him from Christ a manifestation of his Grace Light or Holy Spirit to which as People come to be obedient it will infallibly guide them into all Truth in all those things that pertain to Salvation Redemption and Eternal Life This tho' the Snake in his profane manner calls a Ridiculous pretence yet it is a Gospel Truth and will continue when his Profane and Ridiculous Attempts against it shall vanish Ibid. p. 188. And now there is but one step behind and that is to dispute the Infallibility betwixt the Two Churches that of Rome and that of the Quakers Yes there is one step more behind and that is the Infallibility of the Snake which is also to be disputed For it cannot be doubted but he too set up for Infallible certainty because of the frequent great assurance with which he delivers himself in Matters utterly false If the Snake had not an Infallible certainty that what he calls the Qua-Quaker-Infallibility was contriv'd on purpose to bring back Men to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and that it was impossible it should be so contriv'd I have shewn what confidence must it be in him to affirm that to another of which he hath no such certainty himself Ibid. p. 188. And the Issue of this who does not see when their Succession and other Marks of the True Church come to be compared together The Issue may with more certainty be seen when the Dispute is ended and the Comparison made Tho' for the present I can see that if the Snake be the Manager Rome will not lose in any Question with any Protestant Dissenters whatsoever Ibid. p. 189. Of all the Dissenters now in England the Quakers have come nearest to the Church of Rome They only have taken the pretence of Infallibility unless they will bring in Muggleton for a Third Man none other except Papists and Quakers do set up for it Neither any of the Dissenters nor the Church of England do hold more Negatives in Doctrine to Rome than do the Quakers for we do not only hold all the Negatives which any of them do hold but also more And in the Doctrine of Infallibility as held by Rome there is not any manner of
was not to whom the Quakers did prefer themselves but whom they did Damn The Snake is not herein shorter in his Proof than he is false in his Charge when he says They have equalled Themselves to Adam in his Innocency as is above shewn The Snake hath indeed as is observed p. 290. foregoing said that G. F. Wrote but where he hath not told us That he was beyond the State of the First Adam that Fell But if G. F. hath so Writ it follows not that he hath equalled himself to Adam in his Innocency Cannot the Snake see a Difference between the State of Adam in the Fall and before the Fall Beyond the State of Adam in the Fall it is the Duty of all Men to come else they cannot witness the being born again by the Power of the Quickning Spirit the second Adam the Lord from Heaven This I say is our Duty and Interest and they who measurably do witness this Regeneration do not therefore Equal Themselves to Adam in his Innocency nor prefer themselves to all Others since the Fall Ibid. p. 192. Thus while they themselves pretend to Infallibility of Discerning and Infinity in Righteousness as shewn before they Arraign the Apostles of Gross Error and Delusion even where they speak from the Mouth of the Lord and in his Name That Infallibility Discerning and Righteousness which we own and contend for is that which is of the Operation of the Spirit of God and which he gives as pleaseth him to all those who through Obedience follow on to know his Will And which may be a strange thing to the Snake they are necessary to Man's Salvation For First Our Saviour speaking of his Faithful Followers John 10.4 5. They know his Voice and a stranger they will not follow But they could not thus chuse to follow Christ and not the Devil if there were not an Infallible Evidence in the Voice of Christ to testify that it is his Voice but such Evidence there is and they who persevere to be Workers together with the Grace of God shall by the Infallible Evidence of the Holy Spirit have a true Discerning between the Voice of Christ and the Voice of the Evil One And as they shun the one and follow the other they will come to witness a being clothed in their Measure with the Righteousness of Christ which is Infinite The Snake is not more false in his Charge concerning Infallibility Discerning and Infinite Righteousness as is above declared than he is grosly abusive and false in saying we Arraign the Apostles c. as will be seen by examining the Instance which he brings It is this P. 192 193. When St. Paul said 1 Thes. 4.17 We which are alive shall be caught up in the Clouds c. tho he said vers 15. This we say unto you by the Word of the Lord Yet T. Elwood in his Answer to G. K 's Narrative c. p. 162. supposes that St. Paul expected to be caught up in the Clouds himself and that the day of Judgment would come in his time while he was Alive And that the same was the meaning of St. Peter when he said The End of all Things is at Hand 1 Pet. 4.7 This Reader is the Snake's Instance that the Quakers do Arraign the Apostles of Gross Ignorance But that there is nothing more in the Charge but this Adversary's Gross Lye what follows will shew G. K. had in a piece of his Entiuled Gross Error and also in the Narrative of 1696. said in opposition to G. W. The Apostles using the word We there We that remain is an Enallage Personae putting We for They like that of James Therewith Bless we God and therewith Curse we Men James 3.9 To which Tho. Elwood replies Though he G. K. delivers it Possitively and like a Dictator yet I see not why he must needs be believed Why might not the Apostle speak in the first Person We As supposing that great and extraordinary Appearance and Coming of Christ the certain time of which no Man knew Matth. 24.26 was so near at Hand that it might probably fall out in his Life time For as the Apostles accounted the Times they liv'd in the Last Days or Last Times and ordinarily called them so Heb. 1.2 and 9.26 1 Pet. 1.20 1 John 2.18 so they thought the End of the World was not far off What else made Paul when he had told the Corinthians that the things he had related were written for our Admonition add Vpon whom the Ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 Why else did Peter say The End of all Things is at Hand 1 Pet. 4.7 Thus Thomas Elwood whose Querying the Snake calls Arraigning tho' by a very Gross abuse in that the words have no such thing in them For T. E. does here Query Why might not the Apostle speak in the first Person c. What else made Paul when he had the Corinthians c. Why else did Peter say c. It would have been more to the purpose if the Snake had answered the Questions and shewn why the Apostle might not speak in the first Person c. why and what else than the conjecture offered by T. E. did occasion the Apostles so to express themselves as is above quoted But this he drops and stands at a distance from the Questions and for answer flings Gross Lyes Ibid. p. 193. And at a Meeting or Council of their Ministers about the Year 1678. which will be told hereafter Hereafter when the Snake shall tell the Story at Large I shall then particularly reply to it and for the present shall here only reply to his False and Scandalous Insinuations hereon where he says They the Quakers prov'd themselves greater than Abraham because Abraham was before John and that the least in the Kingdom i. e. the least of the Quakers was greater than John Here the Snake by an i. e. does in most abusive manner insinuate his Base and Viper-like Exposition of the Text Matth. 11.11 to be our sense of the place which it neither is nor ever was And I do Charge him with Forgery herein and notorious Falshood unless he be able to prove that the Quakers have said they were greater than Abraham or that the least of the Quakers were greatter than John Which they I am well satisfy'd have never said Ibid. p. 193. Now they having treated the Prophets and Apostles at this rate we cannot expect that they should pay any great respect to the Ancient and Holy Fathers of the Church no they run them down by wholesale Having hitherto detected the falsity of the Snake's Insinuations and Charges in that no such treatment is given the Prophets and Apostles as is by him suggested I shall shew he is not less false when he pretends to give an account of the respect pay'd to them he calls Ancient and Holy Fathers From T. Ellwood's Answer to G. K's Narrative afore-mentioned G. K. had in that Narrative
own Blood by whom we only expect to enjoy the same where we shall Rest from our Labours and Sufferings and give Glory to our God and to the Lamb who is worthy of Honour and Dominion for ever Amen Signed in the Behalf of the People called Quakers in the Counties aforesaid Will. Laurence Will. Reeve Manassah Orchard Roger Brown John Gannicliff Will. Gravett John Colsworthy John Chappel Robert Ford Peter Leman John Smith Thomas Powell Rich. Lincoln John Hopkins Thomas Martin Thomas Combe Jas. Batt Tho. Bagg Humph. Spragoe Edw. Collyer Samuel Sprake John Nicholls William Ellet William Ferris Edw. Gunning Will. Smith jun. Rob. French This Reader is in good earnest an Account of our Principle against outward Force and we do continue to think that it leads us to lay aside all War and Fighting of which the above Instance is a better Proof than the confident Imposing of the Snake by Lies and Perversions is to the contrary And tho' I wou'd not be tedious to my Reader upon this Point of our Non-Resistance by bringing in all the many Certificates which our Friends then had as Testimonials of their quiet and peaceable Behaviour from the Towns and Places then immediately concern'd in the War or adjacent to it Yet I will take leave to Transcribe one because it is amongst others Verbo Sacerdotis and that sure must be allow'd by the Snake It is as follows To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Certificate of us the Inhabitants of the Parish of High Littleton in the County of Somerset Humbly Certifieth to Your Sacred Majesty THAT the several Persons commonly called Quakers Living within the said Parish of High Littleton was not in the least manner Assisting Aiding or Abetting the late James Duke of Monmouth in the late Rebellion with Arms Ammunition or Money to the best of our Knowledge Witness our Hands this Third Day of August in the First Year of Your Majesty's Reign Phil. Marsh Vicar Sam. Jones Church-Warden Joseph Dando Overseers Will. Yourge Overseers James Carter Tithing-Man Edward Jones Thomas Rudduck Robert Langford The Snake next turns to William Penn and in hypocritical sort says p. 240. I do earnestly invite Mr. Penn to follow this Chase it is most incumbent upon him of any other because I think my self obliged to tell it him he is suspected by some of his Fellow-Quakers as favouring this Principle of using the Carnal Sword To which the Snake adds part of a Letter said to be sent from Philadelphia and says he will make no Comments but leave it to Mr. Penn himself to Own or Deny the Matter of Fact Whatsoever may be the Groundless Suspicions of some Apostatizing Quakers or the Forgery of the Snake herein it cannot be incumbent upon W. Penn to be accountable to Scandalous Nameless Libellers for what past betwixt him and so many Persons of Quality of the King's Council-Board His Demand was a plain Demand of Right and as such had their Concurrence the Registry whereof as it is his sufficient Justification so had not this Snake for his security the meekness of that Principle which he reproaches he might be corrected for his Insolent Sawciness to meddle with the Determinations of those before whom he would dread to pass an Examination Ibid. p. 242. I hope this dismal Prospect of the Birth and Growth of Quakerism will cure those Quakers of Honesty and Sense who have a just apprehension of the Heinousness of Schism in the Church and Rebellion in the State I hope that such who have a just apprehension of the Heinousness of those many Slanders Forgeries Lies and Perversions which are hitherto detected in the Snake will from that Prospect see that he hath neither Honour nor Honesty whatsoever degrees of Sense he may have To which I need here only add that by his Notion of Schism he has made the Church to which he pretends Schismatical and Rebellious But whether or no She be so He is both of which I have already spoken Ibid. p. 243 244. Let them Produce and Publish such their Condemnation of Fox Burroughs c. for their False Prophesies and Traiterous Abetting of Oliver and the Rump and that in the Name and from the Mouth of the Lord c. That the Prophesies of G. F E. Burroughs c. were False and Traiterous is not yet made appear nay the contrary is plain for they with others did truly and largely tell Oliver with all the other Governors during the time of the Common-wealth of which I have above given some proofs that for their Refusal to do Justice relieve the Oppressed and for their Pride and Exaltedness God would otherthrow them as accordingly it came to pass This for their Truth next for their Peaceable and Faithful Obedience though great Sufferers under all those Governments I have already so largely spoken of it as prevents the labour of saying more and therefore shall here close this Section which is already swell'd unproportionable to the rest and proceed to the next Section of Tythes SECT XVII Concerning Tythes Snake p. 244. THere is no Point wherein the Quakers are more Positive and Fierce than in Opposition to Tythes That 's for their Credit for Tythes as drawn by the Romish Church from the Levitical Law and Practice and by others taken from the Church of Rome along with other of her Errors and Superstitions is a Legal Right abrogated by Christ the Re-establishment whereof is an Implicit Denial that Christ is come in the Flesh which together with the Unreasonableness Inequality and Oppression thereof and the unsuitableness of Tythes to a Gospel Ministry is the true reason why the Quakers are so Positive and Zealous in Opposing of them But the reason which the Snake gives is not much for the Clergy's Credit which is Ibid. Because if they Tythes were once taken away the Clergy as they suppose wou'd sink of Course being depriv'd of their Subsistence and so the total ruine of the Church would follow This Supposition is either true or false If it be true it concerns the Favourers of that Clergy to consider what sort of Clergy that is how unlike the True Primitive Ministry of the Gospel and how unworthy to be held up which would sink of course if depriv'd of Subsistence by Tythes And also whether that is likely to be the true Church of Christ whose Total Ruine would follow for want of Tythes to support it The Apostles and first Preachers of the Gospel had nothing to do with Tythes The Gospel Ministry in the First Ages of the Christian Church medled not with Tythes had not their Subsistence by them yet these did not sink but stood upright and firm much better and faster than those that came after in those corrupter Ages wherein Tythes were hook'd in again The Christian Church was more pure in its Primitive Simplicity before Poyson to use the words of an Historian was poured into it by setling of Worldly Riches and Temporal Revenues upon
think that Outward Institutions were not necessary to Guard to Preserve and to Improve the Inward and Spiritual part of Religion That a Steeple-House cannot be God's House I have above-shewn to which I may add that 't is below Christianity and the Gospel-Dispensation to talk of and call one of these God's House now since the Legal Temple is forsaken and destroy'd The Saints are now his House 1 Cor. 3.16 and 6.19 so for Outward things dedicated to God's Service they did belong to the Legal Dispensation and if Christ had judged Outward Institutions necessary to Guard Preserve and Improve the Inward and Spiritual part of Religion he would not have abolished those which God had so Divinely and Solemnly Commanded The talking of Tythes and Tribute due to God now under the Gospel for which that affords no Warrant is a meer Artifice and Knack of Priest-Craft Our detecting and opposing of which is the chief Ground of the Priests pouring forth their Rage and Fury upon us and indeed it is no wonder for it is not easie for them to part with what the Snake calls the Baal of Tythes What he prates Ibid. of Sacrilege Robbing of God in this Gospel-Day seizing his Tythes and Tribute due to him c. Is only a noise of Words without Sense and the Course of his Jewish Expressions shew that he understands not the Gospel-Day They who were not to appear empty before the Lord were to bring Outward Sacrifices and Offerings Oxen Sheep Turtles Flower Wine Oyl c. If they must not now appear in that Sense empty before the Lord but must have something to offer must that be Outward as under the Law If so why not the same Pray where did Christ or his Apostles appoint any Commutation of those for these now in use as Easter Offerings Womens Churching as it is call'd with a whole Train of such Ceremonial Fragments from which there is no need to produce any discharge until he shall have shewn how they became obligatory in the Church at this Day And after all his Idle Tattle how little does or rather did he because of his Abdication or do too many of the Priests regard how empty of the Spiritual Sacrifice the People appear before the Lord provided they appear full-handed to them They may Sacrifice to the Lord that which cost them nothing if Prayers ready made and read out of their Book or repeated by rote may be said to cost them nothing so they do but offer to the Priest that which will yield him something if he may but have a Calf from the Stall it 's much better to him than the Calves of their Lips if he may but have the Sweat of their Brows it will serve such Priests turn tho God be not in all their thoughts Ibid. p. 263. No not so much as a tenth part tho' we acknowledge that to have been God's Tribute universally paid to him both before and under the Law That the Tenth was universally paid c. Is but begging the Question which never was nor can be prov'd Before the Law it was never paid nor but once given as appears and then expressy call'd a Gift Gen. 14.20 Heb. 7.2 4. Under the Law it was paid by virtue of a Legal Command for it which extended to none but those that were under the Law and to them only for the Tythes of Canaan and that only during that Law and Priesthood We can and have produced a fair and full discharge from it under the Gospel viz. Heb. 7.12 tho' there was no need of an express discharge for that which was instituted but for a certain time Ibid. Yet they are afraid of the Face of Man c. There is indeed little sign of it for had they been affraid of the Face of Man they had not been Quakers nor had ever been able to hold out in their Testimony against what he calls the Baal of Tythes as it 's well known they have done Ibid. It was said of Hannibal that he never Fought without an Ambush so the Quakers never write without a Reserve It is said of a Slanderer He that hideth Hatred with Lying Lips and he that uttereth Slander is a Fool Prov. 10.18 This Snake has made sure of that Title to himself for his Hatred has opened his Lying Lips to expose his Folly by uttering a Slander against the Quakers of such a nature as every Body that reads our Books may Convict him of nothing being written more plainly singly and free from reserve or double meaning than our Writings and that in the case of Tythes wheresoever they are treated of Ibid. p. 264. I see the starting Hole that they have left whereby to escape from what I have before quoted viz. That their Testimony against Tythes does rather affect a Popish Clergy than a Protestant Civil Government True it does so and yet affects both It does rather affect a Popish Clergy as 1st reputing every Clergy however otherwise denominated which exacts Tythes in that and so far Popish And 2 dly it affects the Clergy principally as those that have abused the Civil Governments and drawn them to Spoil their Honest and Peaceable Protestant Subjects for not feeding the Clergy with Tythes But that we never endeavoured to Smooth it to the Government as he words it or to persuade them that we refused Tythes to one sort of Priests or of Men only our constant practice in denying to pay Tythes to any and therefore Suffering does sufficiently disprove Ibid. They grievously accuse F. Bugg in that he most shamefully Quarrels with the Quakers for renewing and asserting his Wickliff's and other Famous Protestants and Martyrs Testimonies against the Corruption and Priests and Popish Imposition and Oppression of Tythes And not without very good reason for Wickliff's Testimony as ours is was against the Corruption of the Priest both in Life and Doctrine against the Imposition of Tythes or any forced Maintenance which he would have had left free Ibid. p. 265. But will the Quakers be ty'd to the Opinion of those Men in other things No surely Why then should they think to tye us to their Opinion as to Tythes This is extreamly Shallow will the Priests of any sort or this Snake himself who quote the Opinions of those they call Fathers as Origen Tertullian Cyprian Chrysostome Augustine Jerome c. be ty'd to the Opinions of those Men in all things If not why then should he think to tye others against whom they alledge the Opinions of those Men to those Opinions for which they alledge them Ibid. p. 266. Tythes were paid to Melchisedec long before Levi c. Tythes were not paid to Melchisedec but given that 's the word used both by Moses Gen. 14.20 and by the Apostle Heb. 7.2 4. and that but once viz. by Abraham Gen. 14.20 and that not of Corn c. but of the Spoil of War Ibid. The Evangelical Priesthood is after the Order of Melchisedec and therefore they claim
the Fatherless and the Widow ver 29. And the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow which are within thy Gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest This is a brief Account of these Ceremonial Tythes and the manner of their Payment according to that Law from whence the Snake pretends to fetch his Authority for their continuance at this Day Now according to this Rule let me ask the Snake Whether the Tythes at this Day claim'd by the Priests be first offer'd as an Heave-offering unto the Lord which those in the Law were to be before they were given to the Levites And to offer these Tythes as an Heave-Offering does necessarily infer both a Sacrifice and an Altar without which the Tythes given by that Law were unholy 2. The Priesthood at this Day are under no Sentence of Deprivation from Inheritances in the Land as were the Tribe of Levi they may and do many of them acquire large Possessions 3. Do they let the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow to whom of Right they did belong as well as to the Priests and Levites partake with them of the Tythes Or do the Priests at this Day let the Persons with their Housholds from whom they exact the Tythes partake of them with themselves For to them that paid the Tythes it is said Numb 18.26 And thou shalt eat thereof before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou and thine houshold Indeed The Snake says p. 266. all their Arguments as to the Law and Levitical Priesthood being superseded operate nothing against Priests of a Superiour and more excellent Priesthood But they are not superseded for the Objections still remain and the Arguments heretofore offer'd by our Friends are Unanswer'd as are these I have here already given and more that follow So that they do operate effectually against the claim of Tythes from the Law and Levitical Priesthood upon the false and vain pretence of being Priests after the Order of Melchisedec to pretend to which Bishop Reynolds p. 528. says Is Most Sacrilegiously to Rob Christ of his Honour Ibid. And there being as Ancient mention of Tythes as there is of Priesthood in the World I have no manner of doubt but they are as Ancient as Priesthood it self that is as Adam â— have already observ'd That the earliest mention of Tythes in the World is in Gen. 24.18 concerning Abraham and Melchisedec less ancient than Adam by more than Two Thousand Years and therefore I have no manner of doubt which is Answer Sufficient to such Insufficient Arguing that the Snake is quite out in making Tythes as ancient as Adam But if Tythes were as Ancient as Adam who paid Tythes To whom were they paid And when were they paid That the Knowledge of Tythes as of Sacrifices and Priesthood descended from Adam Is Gratis Dictum much of Confidence and Assurance but no Proof That the one was the Maintenance the other the Office of the Priesthood and therefore one must be as Ancient as the other Is no true Consequent For in those elder times and before the Levitical Priesthood was Instituted every one was in a Sense his own Priest and offer'd for himself as appears in the first Recorded Instances of Sacrifice offer'd by Cain and Abel each in his own Person and so downwards whereas after the Institution of the Levitical Priesthood it was peculiarly the Priests office to offer the Sacrifices for all the People And till the Priesthood was settled in Levi's Tribe there was no need of a settled Maintenance nor does there any footsteps of any such appear Ibid. They were all alike received by the Heathen World by an Immemorial Tradition from the beginning Immemorial Tradition A Fable which in many things has been long and often falsly pretended in the Church of which in the lump hear Bishop Taylor in his Liberty of Prophecying p. 95. Printed 1647. To Dispute says he concerning the Truth or necessity of Traditions in the Questions of our Times is as if Historians Disputing about a Question in the English Story should fall on wrangling whether Livy or Plutarch were the best Writers And the earnest Disputes about Traditions are to no better purpose For no Church at this Day admits the one half of those things which certainly by the Fathers were called Traditions Apostolical and no Testimony of Ancient Writers does consign the one half of the present Questions to be or not to be Traditions Thus he which as it shews the light esteem and little dependence which is to be had on Tradition pretended Apostolical so necessarily it includes at the least as great if not greater uncertainty and as little if not less dependence on pretended Heathen Immemorial Traditions But for his more full Conviction herein I shall add one more Authority particularly respecting his pretence of Heathen Immemorial Tradition upon this Point of Tythes It is Richard Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Printed 1622. Book V. p. 427. Sect. 79. His Words are these And as Abraham gave voluntarily as Jacob vowed to give God Tythes so the Law of Moses did require from the Hands of all Men the self same kind of Tribute the Tenth of their Corn c. Insomuch that Paynims being herein Followers of their Steps paid Tythes likewise And that the Heathens were herein as in several of their Religious Performances borrowers from the Jews is not only the Opinion of this but many other Learned Men. Ibid. p. 267. God reserv'd the Tenth Part of our Substance as the Seventh of our Time to be paid as a Tribute and an acknowledgment to Him from whom we receive all c. Non constat No such Reserve ever was or can be made appear from Adam to Moses By Moses 't is granted God made a Reserve of a Tenth part not of our Substance but of some part of the Substance of his then peculiar People the People of Israel outwardly of the Increase of the Land of Canaan when they should come into the Possession of it And this Reserve he made as I have before shewn for the Maintenance of the Tribe of Levi the Poor Fatherless c. which Tribe he then Consecrated wholly to the Priesthood and excluded from their share of the Land at the Division thereof among their Brethren And as this is the only Reserve of the Tenth which it appears God did ever make So neither the Heathens at that Day nor the Christians in this were or are at all oblig'd by it or concern'd with it The Heathens were not oblig'd by it or concern'd with it because what the Law said it said to those that were under it Rom. 3.19 which the Heathens were not The Christians are not oblig'd by it or concern'd with it because the Tenth was appropriated to that Priesthood Worship and Oeconomy of the Jews which lasted no longer than till the time of Reformation Heb. 9.10 till
Christ was offer'd up the Author and Institutor of the Christian Religion And this by the way shews that Tythes are now so far from being a part of God's Worship that it is an Implicit Denial that Christ is come in the Flesh To which I may add that Tythes were so particularly restricted to the Land of Canaan that though the Jews had Substance before they came into that Land yet they paid no Tythes before they came into possession of it as they pay none since they were dispossessed of it Ibid. The Priests being made the Receivers because we cannot Pay them to God immediately is but a secondary Consideration And a third necessary Consideration is who made these Priests the Receivers If the Snake can for the Priesthood produce an express Commission from God to them to receive the Tythes as due to him now under the Gospel let the Snake do it He knows he can produce no such Commission no Warrant no Authority and therefore would Infer it from the Impossibility of paying Tythes to God immediately But the Inference is false for if it were granted that Tythes were now due to God which nothing but an express Reservation now as heretofore in the Levitical Law could make yet it would not thence follow that the Priests must be the Receivers unless God as expresly had Nominated and Deputed them thereunto The Divine Wisdom did not think such an Inference sufficient to make the Levitical Priesthood a Title to Tythes for having made a Reservation then of the Tythes of that Land to Himself Levit. 27.30 He transfer'd that Right to that Priesthood by express Donation in these Words I have given the Children of Levi all the Tenth in Israel for an Inheritance Numb 18.21 And this express deed of Gift extended no further nor to any other Priesthood but that which was to do and did the Service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation ver 23 Let the Snake who now claims Tythes for the Priests shew such a Deed of Gift make such a Title to Tythes for them if he can Ibid. p. 267. Therefore the Substraction of Tythes as of other Offerings is call'd a Robbing not of the Priest but of God Mal. 3.8 He should have said was call'd not is call'd as speaking of Malachy's time the time of the Law Tythes were then his peculiar Right by vertue of his special Reservation thereof for his Priests in that Dispensation But since that is ended by Christ once Offering of himself the Substraction of Tythes is no more a Robbing of God now than the Substraction of those other Legal Offerings can be so called Ibid. p. 268. It is invading what God has reserv'd peculiar to Himself that we may not touch it c. It was so after the Reservation of them was made which began with the Levitical Priesthood and it continu'd to be so so long as that Reservation continu'd which was as long as that Priesthood stood and no longer In the time of the Law the Offerings which were by God assign'd as a part of the Priests Maintenance were not to be touch'd not to be taken by the People from them any more than the Tythes from the Levites And it was as much a Robbing of God in with-holding those Offerings then as in with-holding the Tythes then For Tythes and Offerings are joyn'd together in Mal. 3.8 and the with-holding of either call'd Robbery then And it is no more a Robbing of God in with-holding the Tythes than in with-holding those Offerings now For as with respect to positive Command they both came in together so by the Abrogating that Law which requir'd them they both went out together that Dispensation being ended to which they were adapted and subservient Ibid. Of all the other Trees of the Garden we may freely eat The Comparing Tythes to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a whimsical conceit in the Snake The Fruit of that Tree was forbidden at the first and to all Mankind so that by his Comparison of Tythes to it the Priests ought not to eat of Tythes any more than other Men. Ibid. And this is the same Sacrilege as to tast of the forbidden fruit Was it Sacrilege then to tast of the forbidden Fruit Yes says the Snake That was the first sin It was Sacrilege A bold Fellow at Dogmatizing But how proves he that Is Adam any where in Scripture taxed with Sacrilege or only with the Sin of Disobedience in breaking God's Command that he should not eat of the Fruit of that Tree Or is the breach of every Negative Precept Sacrilege Ibid. And I am not afraid to say that all are Guilty of it who have seiz'd upon the Tythes of God and pay them not to his Priests Reader Here 's a Doughty Clerk who says he is not afraid yet is afraid to say it with his Name to it A Bold Fellow in the Dark while he may think no Body sees or knows him so as to detect him and can by Lurking keep out of danger But is this Man fit if we deserv'd it to tax us with Disloyalty who is so eminent herein as to have lost decent respect to the Government by thus impeaching all the Protestant Princes that have sat upon the English Throne since Henry the Eighth with being guilty of the sin of Sacrilege He begins p. 269. with Henry the Eighth whom he charges with instead of restoring Tythes to the Secular Clergy more Sacrilegiously impropriating them to the Laity And yet this was in the latter part of that King's Reign when for whatever reason at first he was less obsequious to the Church of Rome and gave some way to the Reformation Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth plac'd by History among the best of Princes as they went further than their Father in the Reformation so they persever'd in Impropriating to the Laity those Tythes which they found in the hands of the Popish Regular Clergy as they were then call'd or which from his time remain'd in the Crown Nor can any one Prince from Hen. 8. to this time escape the Snake's Impious Sentence of Sacrilege unless haply Queen Mary who is said to have at least desir'd and endeavour'd the restoring of Tythes may obtain his absolution as having perhaps in his sense thereby sufficiently atton'd for that Sea of Martyrs Blood which She shed But this high Impeachment stops not at the Throne No but takes in almost all Ranks and Degrees of Men. For what was done in taking those Impropriate Tythes from the Clergy had the Concurrence and Confirmation of both Houses of Parliament Nay he impeaches such of the Martyrs as were Bishops in King Edward's time as Cranmer Ridly and Latimer who as Members of the Upper House must be supposed to be then sitting and thereby Parties to those Acts of Parliament for Impropriations Nor does his Charge extend to the Men of that Age only but to all ever since whether Prince Lord or Commoner who hath or
it is not unfitly inquired c. I shall next Instance Peter Martyr of great Note in the Reformation who in his Common Places Clas 4. l. 13. De Magistratu § 18. says Primum debemus Intelligere Decimas olim pertinuisse ad Ceremonias idque tam in Melchisedech quam in Levitis i. e. First we ought to understand that Tythes did of old belong to Ceremonies and that as well in Melchisedec as in the Levites Then having shew'd how and wherein Tythes were Typical and having also declared that the Ministers now do not receive Tythes by the Ceremonial Law but upon a Moral Account as a Compensation for work he says Proinde Ministris sive persolvantur ex agris sive ex aedibus sive pecunia numerata sive in Decimis nil refert Modo non sordide sed honeste sustententur i. e. Therefore whether their Wages or Maintenance be paid out of the Feilds or out of the Houses or in ready Mony or in Tythes it is all one to the Ministers so they be maintained creditably not meanly To this he adds Retinent quidem alicubi Mercedes istae vetus nomen Decimarum in multis autem Locis non appellantur Decime sed Stipendia Salaria Et sane potius revera sunt Mercedes quae Laboribus Ministrorum debentur quam Decime i. e. In some Places those Wages retain the old Name of Tythes but in many Places they are not called Tythes but Stipends and Salaries And truly they are in reality rather Wages which are due for the Ministers Labours than Tythes Of all which this appears to be the Sum Peter Martyr tho' he thought Ministers Maintenance might be given them in that Proportion of a Tenth Yet he positively concludes Tythes as Tythes and in their own Nature to be a part of the Ceremonial Law abrogated by Christ. The third Witness from abroad which I shall bring is Zanchius Tom. 4. l. 1. c. 116. De Cultu Dei Externo Where distinguishing between the Quota and the Alliquota of Maintenance between Maintenance in General and Maintenance particularly by Tythes c. He says Considerari enim possunt omnes illae Leges de Primitiis Decimis Votis bifariam quoad Substantiam Accidentiam seu Circumstantias Ad Substantiam quod attinet ad nos etiam pertinent Nam summa finis illarum Legum haec erat ut Populus Gratitudinem suam erga Deum harum rerum Oblationibus declararet idque in utilitatem Ecclesiae Ministerii silicet Ecclesiastici Ministrorum Pauperum quemadmodum jam ex Legibus ipsis ostendimus Annon autem Lege Naturae jubeamur idem facere Ut Ministri sustententur sumptibus fidelium Ecclesiae demonstrat Apostolus non solum ex Lege Mosis sed etiam ex Lege Naturae Ut Viduae alantur Pauperes Perigrini passim Docetur in Novo etiam Testamento Nec minus liquet ex iisdem Libris conservandum esse totum Ministerium Ecclesiasticum Quomodo autem ista fiant Contributione bonorum sive sub nomine Primitiarum sive Decimarum sive Votorum sive alio nil refert Ergo ad Substantiam quod attinet finem harum Legum de Primitiis Decimis Votis illae Leges tanquam naturales at nos etiam pertinent i. e. All these Laws concerning First-Fruits Tythes and Vows may be considered in a twofold respect as to the Substance and as to the Accidents or Circumstances As far as concerns the Substance they belong to us also For the sum and end of those Laws was this That the People might declare their thankfulness to God by the offering of these things and that for the profit of the Church that is of the Ecclesiastical Ministry the Ministers and the Poor as we have now shewed out of the Laws themselves And are we not commanded by the Law of Nature to do the same That the Ministers should be sustain'd at the Costs of the Faithful Members of the Church the Apostle demonstrates not only from the Law of Moses but from the Law of Nature also that the Widows the Poor and the Strangers should be maintain'd is frequently Taught in the New Testament too And as clear it is from the same Books that the whole Ministry of the Church ought to be kept but how shall all this be done By a Contribution of Goods whether under the Name of First-Fruits or of Tythes or of Vows or under any other name it matters not Therefore as to what concerns the Substance and End of these Laws of First-Fruits Tythes and Vows those Laws as Natural belongs also to us Thus Zanchius who in all this pleads only from the Equity of the Law for a Sufficient Maintenance to the Ministers from the Faithful of the Church And of what Nature he accounts Tythes may be easily seen by his coupling them with First-Fruits and Vows which none I think doubt to have belong'd to the Ceremonial Law But if any shall yet suppose that he did not suppose Tythes to be part of the Ceremonial Law he puts it beyond doubt that he did so esteem them For he says At vero Circumstantiae considerentur illarum Legum Leges illae nihil ad nos ut qui Legibus Ceremonialibus Politiis istius Populi non Sumus Subjecti i. e. But if the Circumstances of of those Laws be considered those Laws do not at all belong to us who are not Subject to the Ceremonial and Political Laws of that People And treating further upon the same subject p. 485. he saith De Decimis etiam solvendis Mandatum certum est fuisse abrogatum per Christum i. e. Certain it is that the Law concerning the paying of Tythes also was abrogated by Christ. This with more to the same purpose the Inquiring Reader may find in him and which I omit not being willing to be too prolix And besides the Testimonies above cited I could also add from Oecolampadius on Ezek. 44. from Melancton De Libertate Christianae with others whose joynt Testimonies do overthrow the false and bold Assertion of this Snake who is so remarkably Eminent in a Confident Assurance as to say of Tythes They are no part of the Typical or Ceremonial Law And tho' to the knowing Reader it might seem superfluous to bring witnesses further to prove Tythes a part of the Ceremonial Law Yet I shall take leave to add one witness more if not for his Information in so known and received a Truth yet for the more full detecting of this our Adversary This Witness is the Snake against the Snake who in p. 267. says expresly They were part of the Offerings to God under the Law for which he cites Numb 18.24 as I have observ'd p. 403 404 405. Where they are indeed call'd an Offering and an Heave-Offering unto the Lord the words of that Textare But the Tythes of the Children of Israel which they offer an Heave-offering unto the Lord I have given to the Levites to inherit
false Prophets did also speak in his Name and say Thus saith the Lord when he sent them not Ibid. p. 281. This is the Prince of the Spirits of Delusion and this Prince they worship for God who mistake his Inspirations for God's Very well I say so too but that the Quakers are they who mistake his Inspirations for God's is Gratis Dictum 't is saying but not proving as more particularly will appear upon the several Instances which the Snake brings The first Instance in this Section is what he calls a Prophetical verse of George Whitehead's with which he says G.W. pursued George Keith after he was denied by us He gives it in these words Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast poured out great Contempt and Reproach upon my Servants and People I will assuredly pour out and bring great Contempt and Confusion upon thee Of this the Snake says p. 282. Copies were given out amongst the Friends that they might admire these Prophetical Gifts and if any thing unfortunate should in all George Keith 's Life-time befall him that it might certainly be esteemed as the Consequence of this Curse What Proof is this that what he calls G. W's Prophetical Verse did proceed from Rage Malice or Folly Or that G. Whitehead hath therein mistaken the Inspirations of the Prince of the Spirits of Delusion for God's See Reader how forward the Snake is to give hard words and how backward to prove them That G. Keith hath with great Contempt and Reproach treated the Quakers is very certain and not only so but hath Contemptuously and Reproachfully spoken many things of that way of Truth which they profess and which himself did also for many years profess with them which practices as it is an apparent mark of Confusion in him so it nâ—â—essarily draws after it Contempt upon the Actor from all Observing Men. So that the Prophetick Verse as the Snake calls it of G. W.'s carries with it many evidences of Truth which plainly shew he did not therein mistake the Inspirations of the Prince of the Spirits of Delusion for God's And which is further seen in that there is no proof given by the Snake that it did proceed from Rage Malice or Folly in G. W. as is falsly and maliciously suggested by the Adversary And as there can nothing more unhappy fall out to G. K. in all his Life-time than to continue and go on from one degree of Confusion to another so that Confusion is not the Consequence of what the Snake calls George Whitehead's Prophetick Verse But that Verse was the Consequence of Confusion began in G. K. Ibid. Mr. Penn did own before the Yearly Meeting That the Glorious Power of God which he felt did so transport him that he was carried beyond himself and knew not whether he was Sitting Standing or Kneeling when he pronounced that Sentence of Apostacy concerning G. K. This was like St. Paul's whether in the Body or out of the Body he could not tell Well! Suppose it is like it I would ask the Snake whether he dare affirm that at this day it is altogether impossible for the Spirit of God to influence any to that degree of Extasie or Rapture If he will deny that or which will answer the end of our Present Inquiry if he will allow that but deny this to be so it will then be necessary for the Snake to produce the marks by which he proves it to be what in p. 283. he hath so confidently said it is viz. the Violent Transports of Passion But if the Force of this Mad Spirit of Malice had not govern'd the Snake he might have seen that while he does acknowledge what he there says W. P. does speak of himself to be like the Apostle This was like says he St. Paul whether in the Body c. and calls W. Penn's words The force of this Mad Spirit of Enthusiasm He does then Intimate that the Apostles words proceeded from the like force And how far this may expose Religion and the whole Scriptures to Loose and Atheistical Wits may concern some to see who are more truly concern'd for the honour of both than he who while he is inquiring How great is the force of this mad Spirit of Enthusiasm Observes not how great is the force of the mad Spirit of Atheism in himself But further I do own with the Snake that this Extasie or Rapture of W. P's is like that of Paul Whether in Body or out of Body he knew not That is they are a-like in Kind but not Degree W. Penn's as the Snake says did relate to the Posture of the Body but the Apostle's was much higher even so as to forget the Body Ibid. p. 283. And he is thus far towards it that he must either make out his own Inspirations to be from God in as High a Degree as those which were given to the Prophets and Apostles or otherwise that he has no Authority to inscribe the name of God upon them as they did The Snake does here as before allow the Inspiration to be the same but falsly supposes W. Penn under a necessity to make it out to be in as High a Degree which he is not because the Operation of it on W. Penn the Snake says was not in so High a Degree as on the Apostle And while the Snake does falsly suppose that the Inspirations from God at this day must be made out to be in as High a Degree as those which were given to the Prophets and Apostles Or else his name is not to be inscrib'd on them Besides that the Snake does hereby overthrow what in Pref. p. 31. he calls The greatest Flights and Extasies of Devotion and which he there advises to let Rise as High as they can the Higher the better He does also overthrow all that Enthusiasm which he says the Church of England owns for these he hath acknowledged to be Revelations and in some sense immediate too Yet here he says they are not so to be inscrib'd unless they are in as High a Degree as those given to the Prophets and Apostles Which I think he will hardly presume to affirm But altho' this Adversary is thus Contradictory to himself by denying and affirming the same thing yet Truth remains unmoveable and the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit at this day in what Degree soever they are given are truly the same in kind with those given to the Holy Prophets and Apostles In that now as then God by the divers Gifts of his Spirit doth fit furnish and qualifie his Children and Servants to the several Duties and Services in his Church to which he calleth them Ibid. He must likewise justifie all the False Lying Prophesies before told or otherwise he must unherd W. P. is not obliged to defend False Lying Prophesies but deny them nor doth he Herd as the Snake scornfully speaks with any such Ibid. p. 284. Gives two Quotations one for G. F's Answer to The Westmerland