possibly can be which he makes them but to be § 9. In short either the Scriptures are not obscure a thing we daily see or if so yet sufficient which is impossible or they must have a Judge which is most true and necessary and what Judge but the Spirit of Truth which leads into all Truth And so far are Decrees from determining because written that they are therefore determinative of Controversie because of that Conviction the Power from whence they came works upon the Conscience So that though what is true in it self is not the less so because written yet is not the Writing subject to an hundred Casualities nor Matter therein declared as there eminently the Rule much less the Judge after our Adversaries Notion of a Judge But that Living Powerful Spirit which gave it forth and who are made spiritual Men by it For the spiritual Man judges all things Such Writings may be declaratory of the Mind and Determination of the Living Rule or Judge I grant but also I utterly deny that the Writings themselves are that Rule how People are to believe them and a Judge how to determine of the Difficulties and Obscurities within themselves A meer Begging of the Question and a thing altogether absurd We cannot end this Chapter without an Acknowledgment of the Goodness of God in Opening things so clearly to the making known his Divine Light and Truth and manifestly Discovering the great Darkness and Blindness of its Opposers CHAP. VI. We deny the Charge His Proof no Proof but against himself We Own Believe and desire to Obey the Scriptures they afford Comfort and are as Lights in the World but not that True Light The Light and Spirit Superior to them § 1. THe next Charge he brings against us is a Consequence of his already mistaken Judgment and untrue Assertions concerning us viz. That we take People off from Reading the Scriptures and Looking into them for Instruction and Comfort to prove which as he thinks for none else can that is not either as deeply Ignorant of us or as Malicious against us as J. Faldo shows himself in almost every particular he brings out W. Smith speaking thus in his Catech. pag. 95. And this is the Meaning of our Doctrine to bring People to the Everlasting Word of God in themselves O Ungodly Man What Evil Spirit hath possest J. Faldo into this wretched and impious Consequence Certainly he is grosly blind or he has sinned against the Light of his own Conscience if he hath Conscience enough to think it a Sin which I profess I doubt when the Malignity Frothiness Envy and Impious Unjustice of the Man are set before me For 1 let any tell me if it be a Sin to bring People to the everlasting Word of God in themselves though he Dirts us not a little for so doing 2 If we do hereby take Men off from reading and looking into the Scriptures I do affirm against this Ungodly Priest and that by Authority from God the Scriptures Reason and the first Reformers too that no Man on Earth can understand them but by being first brought to the Everlasting Word of God nigh in the Heart by which the Lord speaks forth his Will to the Creature and the Scriptures themselves direct to this and never said that of themselves some over-doing Priests assert concerning them whose whole End is this that by Exalting the Letter and Excluding the Spirit they may lock up all Knowledge in their own Areanum and plead the Impossibility of Knowing the things of God any other way then by their literal Ministration for should Men be but turned to the Certain Witness of God in their own Consciences there placed of the Lord their whole Trade Power and Reputation would fall and their Deceits be made manifest in the View of the World which God the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth is now accomplishing § 2. But he says that J. Parnel censures such that draw Peoples Minds from the Light within to the Light without putting the Letter for the Light c. Shield of Tr. pag. 10. And what then Because we say that he who inlightens all Men God that is the Sun and Fountain of all Divine Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all is greater then the Scriptures therefore will it follow that we take People off from Reading or Looking into them Behold your Priest you that hear him Is this Man to be accounted of as a Minister of the Gospel that thus unrighteously deals with us But God will recompense upon his Head in the Day of his terrible Vengeance for all his Hard and Ungodly Sayings against us We do say and that rightly Whoever puts the Letter in Opposition to or above the Spirit is an Idolater For there can be no Comparison rightly made between them the Heavens don't excell the Earth more then the Spirit does the Letter and the Power the Form But if we do not therefore deny the Form of Godliness because we prefer and press more earnestly the Power neither do we exclude the Scriptures because we prefer and press the Everlasting Word of God nigh in the Heart And this I will tell him that to busie the Minds of Men with the Depth of those Truths the Scriptures declare of by reading and exercising their Minds in Meditating thereon before they have been turned unto the Measure of the Light or Grace of God in the Heart to believe and obey that in its secret Discoveries Reproofs and Strivings is to set Men about Images to conceive a God a Christ a Salvation a Damnation an Heaven an Hell by which the Inward Work of God is overlook't and they become Rich in Notion whilst most barren in Obedience and of all People that live upon the Earth the Greatest Idolaters because they bow down to their own Imaginations for real Truths And this is the State of every Opposer to the Sacred Light within how full soever of the meer Literal Knowledg of the very Scriptures themselves for indeed who knows the new Birth though the Scriptures declare of it but who really experience it § 3. But J. Story he thinks has Contributed much to prove his Assertion in this Passage And although the holy Scripture without and the Saints Practices are as Lights in the World yet far be it from all true Christian Men so to Idolize them as to set them in Esteem above the Light which is sufficient to guide or to esteem them Equal with the Light and Spirit of God within J. S. Short Discourse Pag. 2. To this he objects that J. S. confesses them to be as Lights but not a Light and that our Commendations of that Idol the Light within are such that if they were true he were a stark Fool that would direct his Eyes to the Scripture But here the Priest fail's egregiously For if the Scriptures are as Lights I cannot see how they should be denyed to be as in the
Rich Benefices full and stately Livings many of you grew dry again were turned to Pillars of Salt my Soul wandered for Rest and at last found it in that Tender Holy Pure Principle of Life and Righteousness which had been wont from a Youth to attend me mollifie my Heart allay my Affections and preserve me out of gross Pollutions which whilest such of you in some Measure kept that are now manifestly gone from it there was another Kind of Spirit that rul'd in you And 't is to this First Love and Works we desire your Return such of you whose Day is not utterly past over your Head And what any shall think of me as this uncharitable Adversary hath expressed himself as that I should seek Credit a Party c. I heed not for what I am at this Day I am by through and to God Almighty the Righteous Lord of Heaven and Earth alone It is basely done of any Man that is a Professor who pretends to some Acquaintance with tender Conscience and those Tryals that attend it to censure another Man's Change and Afflictions for Counterfeit and meer Designe Oh! The Righteous God will reckon with such Uncharitable Disingenuous Perverse Spirits in the Day that hasteneth to Try all and then will he recompense this ungodly Censurer of an Innocent Stranger to him who were I upon my Tryal at the Bar of his own Party there be of them enough to give Evidence of another Spirit then that of vain Glory or Self For where none of these things have induced but Sharpeness and Severities have met me there has been a Faithful Answering of Convictions to some of their knowledge who I believe to be better Men then to refuse me a ful Testimonial if sought for But as I shall not think my self so deeply engag'd or my Reputation so shaken in the Minds of Thousands as to need or desire it by any Power or Force J. Faldo can attacque me with so shall I leave the Concern of God's Truth the Innocency of his People in General and my own in Particular to his Holy Wisdom and Providence who we are well satisfied will plead our Cause in the Consciences of Ten Thousands to the Shame and utter Confusion of all our Obstinate Adversaries A KEY Opening a Way to every Common Understanding whereby to discern the Difference betwixt the Quakers Faith Doctrine and Practice and the Pervertions and Traducings of their several Adversaries Reader THere is not any thing more Indiscreet then for People to deny what they do not understand It has been our Unhappiness far more then all that our Adversaries have been able to say against us that hitherto we remain unknown by those who yet stick not to condemn us I will confess that our Principles as disguised and mis-represented in the World have given Offence or rather those who have so besmear'd them nor indeed can we be displeased that People should refuse them Entertainment under those frightfull Vizzards some make them to wear But it will be the Business of this little Key to explain the Difficulty and give Entrance into so clear and plain an Understanding of the Quakers Principles from the Priests Perversions as I doubt not but with Impartial Inquirers it may be an Ending of much of that Controversie which is now on foot between us and our Opposers Priest THe Quakers hold That the Natural Light in the Conscience of every Man in the World is sufficient to Save all that follow it and so overthrow Salvation by Christ Quaker This is false For our Belief and Assertion is that Christ who is the Word that was with God and was God and is so forever hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World with his own Light as he is that true Light or such a Light as there is no other to be compared to him which is the Meaning of the Emphasis True and that such as follow the Reproofs Convictions and Leadings of that Light with which he enlightens the Understandings and Consciences of Men shall not walk in Darkness but have the Light of Life which Life is a State of Salvation for which End he was given I will give him for a Light to lighten the Gentiles and for my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth So that we assert the Light of Christ Sufficient not a Natural outward Light which may be properly so called in opposition to Spiritual nor yet that bare understanding Man hath as a Rational Creature Priest The Quakers hold the Light within them is God Christ and the Holy Spirit so that every Quaker has whole God Christ and Spirit in him which is gross Blasphemy Quaker This is also a Mistake of our Belief We never said That every Illumination in the Hearts of Men was whole God Christ or the Spirit whereby to be guilty of the gross and blasphemous Absurdity they would fasten on us But that God who is Light or Christ who is Light the quickning Spirit and God over all blessed for ever hath enlightned Mankind with a saving Measure of Light So that the Illumination is from God or Christ but not therefore whole God or Christ There are no such harsh and Un-scriptural Words in our Writings it is only a frightfull Perversion of our Enemies to bring a Scandal upon our Faith yet in a sense the Scriptures say I in them and they in me Christ in us the Hope of Glory Unless Christ be in you ye are Reprobates I travel again a second time until Christ be formed in you If they who deny'd his Coming in the Flesh though high professing Jews were Anti-Christs What must they be reputed who as stiffly disown his Spiritual Coming Formation and Dominion in the Soul Certainly though call'd Christians yet no whit less anti-Christs then the obstinate Jews of old Priest By the Quakers Doctrine every Man must be saved for every Man is savingly enlightened Quaker I deny that For though the Light or Grace of God hath and doth more or less appear to all Men and that it brings Salvation to as many as are taught by it to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Soberly and Righteously and God likely in this present evil World yet it no way follows that Men must obey and learn so to do whether they will or not God tenders saving Light or Grace to all he strives and pleads with all but if they will not hearken his Spirit Grace or Light is clear of their Blood In short Though Men are Lighted or Visited with a saving Light or Grace yet we never Concluded nor is rightly Concludable that such Men must necessarily be saved whether they obey or Rebel Priest By the Quakers Light or Spirit they may be moved to Murder Adultery Treason Theft or any such like Wickedness Quaker This never was our Doctrine For herein know we the Spirit of God and Motions of it from the Spirit of this World and its Fruits that it condemns all Ungodliness
whom the Money was and is due But how clever any may think this Simile we will prove it Lame and Defective For the Change was not of the Body any further then as the Soul govern'd it after a new Way of Living I cannot think that J. Faldo will dare to say that a Man's Body is rendered ever the less Corruptible by any the best Change the Soul can make in this World The Question is about what that Change must be which makes a Corruptible an Incorruptible Body I mean not by Corrupt Sinful but that gross Elementary Matter which is subject to those Impressions Influences Mutations and Passions which we see all Sublunary Bodies are subject to Either the Resurrection of the Body must be without that Matter or it must not If it must then it is not that same Numerical Body and so their proper and strict taking of the Word Resurrection they must let go If it must not be without that same gross Matter it dyed with then I affirm it cannot be Incorruptible because it will carry with it that which will render it Corruptible ad Infinitum And what can be more Unreasonable then that Bodies compounded of this Elementary World which sayes our Adversary shall and must by Nature have an End should out live their own Matter and which is more never end I say we cannot see how that which is of Dust should be Eternal whilst that from whence it came is by Nature but Temporal And that which is yet most of all Irreconcileable with Scripture and right Reason is that the Loss and Change of Nature from Corruptible to Incorruptible Natural to Spiritual should not make it another Body In vain do such dispute against the Popish Transubstantiation as an Absurd and Impossible Thing who themselves are guilty in a Case of the like Nature The Romanists affirm a Change in the Sacrament though our senses tell us it is the same thing that ever it was Our Adversaries in the Point of the Resurrection boldly affirm that it is the same Body and yet Transubstantiated from Natural to Spiritual or chang'd from what it was to something it never was For my part I think the Last not less Impertinent and the Former more expresly Scriptural But because such things run Men into Unprofitable Questions various Searches and a Philosophical Way of Discoursing no wayes tending to God's Honour nor the Soul's Profit and Comfort I will Conclude this Head with our Confession That every Seed shall have its own Body and that such an one as it will please Almighty God to give and Thou Fool belongs most rightfully to him who acquiesceth not in an humble Contentedness with the good Will of God and that manner of Body he shall give And I think it would make more for Love Peace and Good-Will if our Enemies would leave those things with God quicquid supra nos nihil ad nos whose Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven § 3. To the Second Head of the Charge to be consider'd in this Chapter to wit Our not Professing of Eternal Rewards needs no other Answer then That none ever read so He quotes no such thing nay he says that he has searcht but to no Purpose and I challenge him to name one Person reputed by us to be of us that has ever affirmed so gross a Thing Well then may I call this the Last great Lye of his Second Part of Lyes and Slanders too such as he will be found much to weak to defend before the Tribunal of our God where we have whereof both to Answer and justly Accuse him before Angels as well as that we have now plainly refuted him before Men. But he makes this a Consequence of Denying the Resurrection which is obviously weak since whatever we have scrupled of the common gross Notion of the Resurrection of this Corruptible Body we have ever held an Eternal State of Recompence But so mean are his Proofs for this Conjecture if I may give them that Name that they show far more of his Ignorance and Malice then our Faith in that Atheistical Opinion However hear them R. Farnsworth said he was not saved by what Christ did at Jerusalem therefore says he already saved But can any in their Wits think he meant saved from Sin here to be the whole of Salvation and Blessedness O weak Man Well but I Pennington says Who forget God are to be turn'd into Hell What Hell says J. F. only in this Life A very Lye and Infamous Slander J. Faldo's Book against us unrepented of will prove we believe that Eternal Wo and Vengeance shall be the Wages of that Hellish Work We say That in this Life Men have an Earnest of Heaven and Hell and some Sence of both States as they are Good or Bad but never did we affirm Men to enjoy that full Measure of Joy or Torment they shall have as their Eternal Reward or Recompence hereafter But E. Bourrough the Day he died said he was now putting off this Manner of Person and returning to his own Being Those are not his very Words but what then Is this to prove we deny an Eternal Recompence to produce his own Testimony to an Everlasting State of Blessedness that he Himself was just entering into But W. Penn vindicates an Heaven within after his fashion against the Author of the Spirit of the Quakers tried And what is this to denying an Eternal Heaven for the Righteous Did not the Saints enjoy Heavenly Places in Spirit when on Earth O Carnal Man Be-nighted by the Power of Darkness whose Understanding the thick Fogs and Mists of Ignorance Malice and Revenge have over-cast that thou call'st Good Evil and Evil Good Light Darkness and Darkness Light § 3. I shall here after his Example resume the Question and collect all that has been said and made evidently to appear on the behalf of True Christianity and the Apostolically Professors of it I mean the People of God call'd Quakers and so end this Discourse respecting the main of the Book If QUAKERISM so call'd be not another Dispensation then that of Christ preached and settled by the Apostles If it deny not the Scriptures If it deny not all nor any of the Ordinances of the Gospel If it deny not any Influence of Christ's Transactions above 1600 Years since into our Justification and Salvation as he phraises it If it deny not Jesus the Son of Mary after the Flesh otherwise God over all to be the Christ of God If it own not false Gods and be not Idolatry If it deny not the true Resurrection of the Dead If it doth affect an affected Expression of our Adversaries or rather hold forth a future Blessedness or Misery in another World according to the Deeds done in this Then Quakerism in our Adversary's account must be Christianity But all these things are true and have been proved of Quakerism so called Therefore Quakerism so call'd is true
out of that Sense in which they were given forth and to an other End then that for which they were given forth which proves to us that the Sense and not the Words shows the End of their being so given forth The Scriptures are a Sealed Book to all but those who know them by the same Hand which Originally gave them So that however Common they may be in the World they are Strangers to them that understand them not And though Old respecting the Time when they were revealed to the Saints yet New to every Age so that we assert not a Revelation of New Things but renewed Revelation of those Things God made former Ages Witnesses of otherwise Men are no more benefited by them And to be benefited they must be made ours by the Spirit which made them the Holy Ancients § 7. In short No Man can understand Spiritual Things but the Spiritually Discerning None can so be without the Inspiration of the Almighty or Spirit of God This is Scripture Now the Author of those Queries and J. Faldo also Denying Inspiration they consequently deny themselves to be Spiritually Discerning and for Men not Spiritual to Judge of Religious and Spiritual Matters much less to Write of them and bid their Writings go and throw down Self-Will and exalt the Truth is Vain and Idolatrous For the Scriptures themselves consider'd meerly as such are unable much less Writings founded on the Authority of Self Will for it is the alone Priviledge of God's Power and Spirit and no Writing whatever distinct from it can perform that Great and Mighty Work in Man § 8. And for Equaling our Writings with the Scriptures because we assert Inspiration and that what we have received and do declare of the Things of God is from the Revelation of his Spirit in our Hearts it is a Foolish Inference Truth was and is Truth all the World over and there was and is but One Way to come to it in all Ages I mean Inspiration The Scriptures are True and our Writings are True but will it therefore follow that we bring them upon a Vie Is this your Disputant But to determine this Case He should first have prov'd if he could what Power God gave to the Ancients and what to Us. How much of his Spirit to those Ages and what to This or else he loseth himself If he can Experimentally tell what were their Discoveries and Experiences and what are Ours he would be a Proper Judge But to think to run us down by Exalting them or to lessen what we are by Increasing their Praise is an old Artifice of the Devil and Sober Men will be more True to Themselves and Just to the Matter then so to censure us Cannot one Man be another Man's Brother and not the Elder Brother Doth it follow that because God has made what we know our own by his Holy Inspirations and Operations that therefore we put our selves upon the Comparison with the Ancients If true Christians fill up or add to Christ's Sufferings yet behind why should their Writings be shuffled out of all Relation to the Scriptures There may be a Relation where there is not an Equality much less a Preference and that we do assert against all Opposers § 9. But now let us see what he says of our setting the Scriptures beneath our own Writings and I will take his own Way to do it The Characters of the Scriptures given by the Quakers as says J. Faldo Characters of their own Teachers Writings and Sayings given by them Feeding Death with Death The Letter which Killeth Declar. from the Minist of the Word p. 7. The Voice of the Son of God was utter'd forth by him by which the Dead was rais'd F. H. Life of E. B. p. 20. Seeking the Living among the Dead J. Parn. Shield His Words Ministred Grace to the Hearers Fox jun. Life E. B. A Mistake for he dy'd before E. B. Reconciliation Death is a State without the Living Experimental Knowledg of God and his Work in the Heart And that State will talk of the Fame of Wisdom as saith the Scripture and that from the Scripture that is from or in the words of Scripture being Ignorant of the true Sense of the Scripture thinking there to have Life which Literal Knowledg it feeds upon and contents it self with where Nations have lain Apostatized from the Life of God and Power of Godliness The Letter Killeth that is the Literal Knowledge or rather their Imaginations from the Letter not being Divinely Inspir'd so as to understand it by which Men buoy and lift up themselves as Christians in the World and yet are Strangers to the inward sensible Work of God And it does Kill the Soul with respect to that true Life the Spirit and Power of God begets in all right Christians through whom the Voice of the Son of God has does and will utter it self to the Ends of the Earth for the Raising the Dead in Trespasses and Sins as that worthy Servant of God did which is now with his Lord. This disreputes not the Scriptures but those who make a wrong Use of them nor is there any Comparison betwixt Reading what God's Spirit requires immediate Hearing his Voice and being sensible of his present living Touches upon the Soul Writings are but holy Things at second hand a Living Ministry is the very Life Power and Spirit present and more immediate In short the Testimony of F. H. we prefer not before the Testimony Luke gives of holy Stephen We prefer the Scriptures before all Writings but before God's immediate Power we dare not do Paper Ink and Writing the same pag. 7. A Shield of the Truth Title J. P's Book Reconcil What 's this to the purpose We say that the Scriptures or the Writings not the Things written of mark that are Paper Ink and Writing which was spoken abstractively and upon a Comparison of them with the Word of God that was with God and was and is God over all blessed for ever Doth any Man think that we believe greater things of J. Parnel's Book By no means He call'd not his Book consisting of so much Writing Ink and Paper a Shield of Truth but that of which it treated was the Truth and with respect to the Controversial part of it as it was writ in Defence of the Truth it might be tearm'd a Shield in which sense the Scriptures by him urged have the upper-hand of his Writing by whose greater Authority with Men he abets and maintains the Doctrine contended for Shews you I suppose the Light your own Faces which the Scriptures cannot do Scorned Quak. accounts p. 20. A Spiritual Glass opened Smith ' s Cat. c. Morn Watch. Reconcil This can be no way hard to reconcile For when we say the Scriptures cannot show Men at all Times and in all States their Conditions but the Secret In-shining Light of God alone we are not so unworthy as to intend that any Book of
Flesh and Blood the Birth that persecutes the Son and Heir Graven Images Morn Watch p. 22 23. It would amaze sayes he a Christian to read what is contain'd in the two Pages quoted of vilifying Reproach to the Scriptures and the Doctrines from them received If this be not Opposing the Spirit of God to the Scriptures and rendering them advers to each other the Devil himself must dispair of Inventing Words to express it by And now Reader it is time for me with a Soul full of Grief to make my Appeal to the Righteous Lord God of Heaven and Earth and his equal Witness in thy Conscience if ever Quakers writ or said any such thing of the Holy Scriptures O far be it from us and very great and heavy will the Damnation of J. Faldo be in the Day of the Lord unless he shall unfeignedly Repent because of these detestable Lyes that he seems wilfully to fasten upon our Writings What William Smith said reflected not in the least upon the Scriptures nor yet those Doctrines which were truly received thence No such words can be produced by our Adversaries had W. S. written any such thing he that adds so much that was not we are to suppose would not have omitted mentioning of that if it had been But W. Smith addrest himself to that Adulterated Spirit which had defiled Nations that nevertheless were under the Profession of God Scriptures and Religious Worship though in Works they deny'd God and as concerning Scripture and true Worship grosly err'd not knowing the Power of God nor how to Worship him in Spirit and in Truth not that he ever durst to entertain so Blasphemous an Apprehension of those Holy Writings or those Doctrines that are truly received thence as is suggested by our most unfair Adversary And is it not the height of all Unrighteousness to our Neighbour that when he condemns the Degenerated Spirit Knowledge and Worship of any People however professing the Scriptures and it may be pretending to believe accordingly as W. Smith does all Apostate Christians J. Faldo should infer that his Neighbour calls the Scriptures themselves and not a wrong Knowledge of them Will-Worship Corruption Rottenness Deceitful Whore's-Cup Apostacy Earthly Root Graven Images c. and that he should intend nothing less then Opposition betwixt the Spirit and its own Scriptures There needs no further Confutation then the gross and black Envy of our Adversary about this one Passage Be it known to all we do affirm the Scriptures never did jarr with the Spirit nor the Spirit oppose himself against the Scriptures and thus much our Writings can plentifully prove to all sober Enquirers § 3. But he offers another and the last Proof of his Charge from J. Naylor That of this sort are they false Prophets as I suppose he means who have their Preaching from Study and other Men's Mouthes and not from the Mouth of the Lord. From which he infers that what we have in the Scriptures is not from the Mouth of the Lord and queries I would know saith he of the Quakers what they will make of the Mouth of the Lord It was said to Jeremiah Jer. 15. 19. Thou shalt be as my Mouth Our Meaning is still over-look't by this disingenuous Adversary and a quite contrary thing substituted The natural Purport of the Words can be no more then this That though the Things declared of in the Scriptures were the Word of the Lord to the holy Ancients and Jeremiah as God's Mouth not his Mouth therefore to the People of Israel yea and much of it the Word of the Lord to us too yet for Men to say any part thereof by wrote especially if they add their own Comments and Glosses fraim'd from Study to any part of the Scriptures and cry Thus sayes the Lord or Hear the Word of the Lord and not in the same living Sense nor upon the like Commission every such one doth Rob his Neighbour and Steal his words And He is no more a True Prophet for so doing then a Parrat is a Man because he can talk If then no such Creature is therefore to be reputed Rational nor what he says Reason as to him though so in it self because it proceeds not from the Root and Principle of Reason but by meer Imitation and consequently a Prater in no case to be minded Neither is he a true Prophet nor that the Word of the Lord with respect to that Prophet who has not received what he delivers from the immediate Word of God himself but by Hear-say or meer Imitation No he is but a very Babbler and begets People no further then into meer Words and Imaginary Glosses which is the Ground of that Uncertainty that is in the World about Religion The Scriptures then are to us oblieging as the Things they declare of were the Word of the Lord to several Ages Temporal Commands excepted and they are not without a Mouth yet they and Jeremiah too are Inferior to the Mouth of the Eternal Word which speaks in this Evangelical Dispensation the Will of God unto Mankind after a more living and immediate Manner as was prophesied of old And I may thus far gratifie our Adversary's Curiosity about God's Mouth and tell him that the Word of God is the Mouth of God and the true Prophets and Apostles in all Ages have been the Mouth of the Word of God and the Scriptures are the Writings of those holy Prophets and Apostles as they were the Mouth of the Eternal Word revealing God's Will in their Hearts that they might declare it whether by Word of Mouth or Writing to the People and this is the true Order and Descent of things § 4. But he has one Kick more at us before he gives up the Ghost in his Mis-representation of us concerning the Scriptures The Quakers hold it is a sin and the sign of Idolatry to Believe and Live according to the Instructions and holy Examples expressed in and by the Scriptures except we have them by immediate Inspiration and at first hand as the Apostles received them And now says he I am come to the highest Round of their Ladder Indeed those Rounds of Ladders are very dangerous places I will not say how often nor for what an Army Chaplin might deserve to be so high exalted but since his eager pursuit after an Innocent People has brought him actually thither and it falls to my Lot to be his Executioner I shall take all the care I can to acquit my self well of my Employment I will warrant him for ever coming down the same way he went up In order to which let us first hear what kind of Speech he will make us to the Point in hand William Dewsbury in his Discovery of Mans Return pag. 21. All People may search the Scriptures and see how you have been deceived by your Teachers who have caused you to seek your lost God in Carnal and Dead Observations which they have not any
What Charge that upon us which our Practice gives the Lye to every day But when we urge this against him and such like Adversaries then it is not that he hath Mis-represented us but that we have Contradicted our selves But to clear the Point if it can yet be doubtful We do believe there is One and but One Universal Church the Ground and Pillar of Truth and that is in God anchor'd establisht and built upon him the Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations and as such neither is every Visible Society making Profession of Religion nor are all of them together that Church but such alone who are washed in the Blood of the Lamb and ingrafted into the True Vine bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness to the Eternal Honour Glory and Renown of Christ the Head who is over all God blessed for evermore And though there be a Mediate Preaching which is to say that the Spirit speaks by such whom he hath anointed to preach yet it cannot be strictly said that Man preaches or it is Man's Ministry but rather the Spirit by Man and that it is the Spirit 's Ministry and Man only a Mean or Instrument through which the Teaching is convey'd or Direction rather to the true Teacher the Light in the Conscience Not that the Lord doth not sometimes plentifully teach his Children without any such Means too who are turned to the Grace in the Heart and believe and walk in his Holy Light where God is to be found and an Access to this Holy Blessed Presence administred for he hath both promised it of old and perform'd it in our Dayes Thus the Apostles were Preachers not from Man nor by Man but by the Revelation of the Son of God declaring of the Mysteries of God's Everlasting Kingdom as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And so none are exempted for all may Prophesie one by one that the Church may be edified Yet I cannot but observe that 1 the Man implicitely denies that to be a True Church which is the Ground and Pillar of Truth for such the Quakers style a Gospel-Church 2 That he affirms the True Church to have other Teachers then the Spirit which is to say that the Primitive Churches were not led guided and taught by the Spirit of God only but by some other Teachers also contrary to express Scripture the Promise of God and very End of the blessed Gospel If he sayes that he meant the Apostles that were inspired I answer that was never deny'd by us because that was the Teaching of the Spirit by them which was very little less then if it had been immediately in them So that one of these two things must follow from his kind of Arguing Either the Apostles preacht without the Motions of the Eternal Spirit Or Preaching as they were moved of God's Spirit was their Preaching and not the Holy Spirit 's that so plentifully dictated to them what they were to say But in as much as neither can be reputed true by true Christian Men I conclude the Quakers sound and their boasting Adversary Heretical § 2. But he thinks he hath clearly got the Point of us about a Quaker's telling him they knew that one of the Dutch Nation spoke by the Spirit in a Meeting of ours though in that Language which was not understood by the Meeting because they all found Refreshings I will be faithful in giving his Observation upon it Of the unknown Language he sayes This was orderly according to the Popish Mass who read Prayers in an Unknown Tongue to the People but herein he wrongs us for though we do acknowledge that the pure and single Power of the Almighty may both strike Astonishment and give Refreshment where the words utter'd are not alwayes understood since he doth both frequently without them and that Understanding and Sence are two things for the Devil may speak the best words in the Bible and be an undiscover'd Devil still except by this Divine Light Power or Spirit he be inwardly manifested consequently a right Sence may be had where words may not be understood which is the One Tongue to the Children of the Light Yet we not only decry all design'd Obscurity by Praying and Preaching in unknown Languages but with the Apostle say that we choose rather by far to speak in a known Tongue that the People may understand our Words as well as have a sence of our Spirits Nor did ever any Quaker yet pretend to be moved to pray in an Unknown Language whilst he was Master of that which was well known to the People since then we don't affect such Obscurity the Case of all those Papists who pray in Latin rather then in their Native and vulgar Tongue he is very disingenuous in that reflection § 3. Upon the Quakers Reason why they knew that Declaration was from the Spirit of God viz. because they found Refreshings he bestows this Confutation so have Children many a time AT PUPPET-PLAYES What a pass are these People come to who yet deny all Teachings of Man But what a Pass may I rather say hath this Man 's implacable Spirit against the Truth of God brought him to who to his Dishonesty before adds Prophaneness joyn'd with Scoff and Impudence when he denies all Refreshment that comes not by sound of Words in a known Tongue to be any more Certainty from God's Spirit then the Pleasure Children take at Puppet-Plays though he could not but think the Person that spoak to him meant by Refreshings what came from God that there can be no Proportion or Comparison betwixt that Pious Answer and the Ungodly Sport of Puppet-Playes Ben. Johnsons ALCHYMIST which all good Men detest and himself dying abhorr'd hath nothing in it half so gross in Abuse of Religion I even tremble at the Thoughts of that Hand writing upon the Wall which this Man's Impiety is writing I fear with indeleble Characters against him who will receive a just and certain Recompence at the hand of the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth for all his hard Speeches against the Holy Way of the Lord. § 4. But let me not omit to show the Blow he gives his own Cause in this Expression since by the same Reason that we know no Refreshment to be any more of God without known Words then that of a Puppet-Play he knows not any more the Teachings of the God above p. 113. nor the Motions of the Holy Ghost or Dictates of the Grace of God within 2. Part. 9 10. known Words being excepted to be of God then that Refreshment little Children have in a Puppet-Play The Consequence of which Diabolical Comparison is nothing less then to overthrow all inward sence of God's Presence or that Refreshment which comes from it And then indeed we must confess we should be necessitated either to deny all Teaching or conclude with this Antichristian Priest That Man 's Teaching or Ministry ought to be adhered to Where if Puppet-Playes be
the Christ or the Body of Christ onely I leave with Christ Scripture and Reason to determine Certain I am that this Principle must center in that senseless Dream of J. Reeve and L. Muggleton as well as that it makes a perfect Difference betwixt Him that was before Abraham and Him that said so Him that told his Disciples I will not leave you comfortless and Him that said I will come to you again Nay why should Christ say to his Disciples it was expedient he should go away since certainly if some more Excellent and Profitable Appearance of himself had not been to succeed at least as to them it had been far more Expedient he should in that Manner have remained amongst them And why did the Apostle speak of no more knowing Christ after the Flesh and of his being revealed in him and in the Saints as their Hope of Glory and that he was the Quickning Spirit and Lord from Heaven If that Body was the Intire Christ not rather the Body prepared for that Divine Power Wisdom and Righteousness to transact in and appear by and to the Sons of Men which with respect to that great Manifestation was denominated Christ or Anointed shall we dare think that he who so spoak and of whom the Apostle so testified was not the true Christ which to be sure was before that Visible Body God forbid Let that Sin lie at J. Faldo's Door § 2. But he offers to us Scripture And it was reveal'd to him Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he should not see Death before he had seen the Lord's Christ And he came by the Spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the Child Jesus then took he him up in his Armes and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation a Light to lighton the Gentiles c. and it is and will be granted that Simeon saw the Lord 's Christ But I hope J. Faldo will not deny unto that good Man who waited for Israel's Consolation that he had as well a Spiritual as Natural an Inward as Outward Sight of Christ For can he think that the Word which took Flesh was nothing of that Saviour and that the True Light which then appeared is to be excluded any Share therein Will J. Faldo or any Man that owns Scripture dare to affirm there was not something belonging to the True and Compleat Christ beyond what his outward Eyes could possibly see Certainly this Allegation from Luk 2. 26. will never prove the Body of Jesus which the Father prepared for him to be the Whole Intire Christ Saviour Light Salvation and Glory of Israel unless Christ under all these Considerations consisted or was made up of the more Outward Body that only was obvious to the Outward Eyes which to affirm were both to deny his Divinity and to conclude Simeon void of any Spiritual Sight or Intendment in these Words of the Lord 's Christ as a Light enlightning the Gentiles and God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Though still be it understood that we confess that Child as seen and understood by Simeon with respect to that great End of his Appearance to be the Lord 's Christ Nay J. Faldo himself sayes as much p. 70. otherwise there would be an exalting the Body above the Divinity nay an utter Exclusion of the Divinity with respect to the True Christ Let none then be so Ungodly and Unjust to us as to infer we deny the Lord 's Christ because we rather chuse to say the Body of Christ then Christ for sayes he Christ is God manifest in the Flesh see J. F. p. 72 77. § 3. And lest any should think that therein I contradict the inspired Saying of that Just Man when he said Mine Eyes have beheld thy Salvation the Words import no more then this Mine Eyes have beholden the Manifestation and Breaking forth of thy Seed and Heir who is come to visit the World and bruise the Serpent's Head Mine Eyes have seen him by whom thy Salvation shall be declared through whom thou wilt put forth thine Arm and work mightily for the Salvation of Man And this his other Scriptures prove at large for me the most Considerable of which I take to be this The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sin Act. 5. 30 31. which can no more be understood expresly stricktly and intirely so then it would be reason able for a Man to say that when Samuel died the Soul and Body which was call'd Samuel died and not rather the Body of him who was called Samuel And this is the Ground and Reason why the Socinians Muggletonians and several Anabaptists hold the Mortality of the Soul because otherwise those Words which speak of the Death of Christ could not be taken properly as they take and defend them I say then and that with Force of Reason and which at this time may be more to the Conviction of some the Suffrage of our malignant Adversary J. Faldo himself however contradicting to his fore-mentioned Sense the Words are thus to be understood The God of our Fathers who raised up the Body of Jesus from the Dead which ye slew and hung upon a Tree Him whose Body you so cruelly used hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sin To put this out of Doubt hear J. Faldo his own self Let not these Blasphemers of the Lord of Life and Glory delude People with a Fancy as if we believe and preach the FLESH AND BLOOD OF CHRIST TO BE CHRIST SEPARATED FROM HIS SOUL OF THE NATURE OF MAN's SOUL but undefiled OR THAT WE TAKE HIS MAN's NATURE TO BE CHRIST SEPARATED FROM HIS ETERNAL AND DIVINE NATURE One would think I had spent my Time in vain when I set about to prove that the Divine Light Life Power Wisdom and Righteousness were not unconcerned in the true Christ and consequently that the Body which only died was not the Entire Jesus or Saviour since our Adversary calls us Blasphemers and Deluders and I know not for what except it be for Teaching that Doctrine he recommends in the same Paragraph wherein he calls us those hateful Names § 4. But that his great Inconsistency with himself may be further manifest hear him again If Men be so blind as not to see the Error of Disowning Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary who was hanged on a Tree put into the Sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathia to be yet alive and the Christ of God by all these Scriptures the most considerable whereof are answerd it is a Blindness wherewith never any before the Quakers who professed the Scriptures to be a true Testimony were smitten
the Holy Spirit but if it were more it was only so in point of Authority with their Adversaries Not that the Voice the Disciples heard in the Mount was less sure in it self or that Knowledge of God and Christ through the Operation of the Power of the Gospel in the Hearts of those Believers then the ancient Prophecies of the Prophets But perhaps they were not so effectual to perswade as the words of the ancient undoubted Prophets to confirm their Allegations Thus Christ in our Translation Search the Scriptures not that they were a more sure Testimony then what he himself livingly and immediately gave forth But they so reputing them whilst they opposed him his Direction to search the Scriptures was for Confirmation of the Truth they seem'd to gain-say from the Scriptures What then Shall we say that the Prophets are a more sure Testimony then what Christ the Living Word of God himself declar'd or the Saints became Witnesses of By no means But rather that the old Prophecies are also a true Prophetical Testimony like a small Light in a dark Night they do shew forth a Prophetick Light till the Day-Star of fulfilling them which some then knew and others prest after should arise in their Hearts which is that Blessed State of Witnessing J. Faldo and T. Hicks have bestow'd so many impious Scoffs upon To this agree many learned Men. I will begin with Erasmus If so be that the Prophets plain Oracles be in great weighty Estimation among you which Prophecy by figurative dark Shaddows of Christ of much more Gravity or Weight ought so evident a Declaration by the Father himself of his Son be They with their Prophecies prepare the Minds of Men to the Truth of his Gospel In that they Shaddow and covertly point out the thing that the Gospel doth preach The Prophets agree with the Father's Voice if a Man do rightly interpret them The thing that Men set forth by Man's Device may be perceiv'd by Man's Wit But the thing that is set forth by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost requires an Interpreter inspir'd by the like Spirit A severe Check to the Contra-Spirituality of J. Faldo and those other of the Carnal and Apostate Professors of Religion in our time who have forgot the Ground of their Fore-fathers Revolt from the Idolatry of Rome and Superstitions of a degenerated Prelacy as well as that is shows how much more Erasmus inclines to give the Preference if any there be to the Voice of God then to the Ancient Prophecies He also quotes Aug. to his Defence Beza not only renders it we have also a very firm Word of Prophecy shutting out all Comparison the Priests Break-neck but affirms if it should be accepted as a firmer Word of Prophecy it can only relate to such who might have entertain'd such an Extraordinary Belief of the Writings of the Prophets and not that in themselves they were a surer Word of Prophecy Vatablus in short tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or more sure is a Comparative for a Positive more sure for sure usual with the Greeks So sayes Clarius And Grotius that great Man thus renders this part of the Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sayes he the Writings of the Prophets have been alwayes in Credit and of Force with us But now much more because we have seen the Fulfilling of them by the Messiah and their Agreement with him Certainly then others besides the Quakers must needs have been Perverters of this place of the Scripture in J. Faldo's sense But he may hear from Grotius that the Scriptures are never the less valuable by those who witness their Accomplishment but the more A Notion very rife in J. Faldo's head Let it suffice that we have stated and Vindicated the true Christ to wit God manifest in Flesh That we have attributed to God manifested in that visible Body what we believe to be congruous and according to Scripture and sound Reason And lastly that those Scriptures which he thought to disinterest us in are fully and clearly vindicated from his false Glosses proving their express Design perfectly destructive of those Ends our Adversary endeavour'd to bend them to which were his own and not the Truth 's CHAP. XX. Our Adversaries Charges deny'd His Proofs fail him The Quakers are True Christians and Quakerism True Christianity We own and profess the only True God that made Heaven and Earth § 1 HE has hitherto charg'd us one would think as home as ever Man did for what is beyond Denying the Lord's Christ and that Love he manifested in the World for the Salvation of Mankind But it is our Happiness that his Proofs have been alwayes found as Weak as his Charge Desperate and the little Quarter promised us by the One more then made up by the faint Performances of the Other else how terrible would this Grim Character be to our selves and much more to others who do and yet will we hope believe better things of us viz. The Quakers are gross Idolaters and Quakerism gross Idolatry And he assures us if there be any such thing as Idolatry in the World he will prove us guilty in the highest degree The Way he takes to prove this heavy Charge is this Those which own and profess that to be God which is not are gross Idolaters but the Quakers do so The second Proposition the first being granted by all he endeavours to prove thus Who own and profess the Light within and the Soul of every Man to be God own and profess that to be God which is not God But the Quakers do so therefore Idolaters The making good this Charge will lie upon the Testimony he brings out of our Friends Writings since he pretends to no less Demonstration for every thing he has to lay against us I deny in the Name of all that abused People first that we ever own'd or profest the Light within every Man to be God though we say it is of God much less that we worship it as such And secondly we do forever renounce any such Principle As that the Soul of Man simply as such is the very Essence or Being of God If he fails in his Proofs he must fall with Infamy to the Ground The first Man he hopes to make sure with is G. Fox the Younger The words as he quotes them are these I will make you know that I the Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World that all through me should believe am the True Eternal God which created all things that by me the Light all things are upheld and that there is not another beside me can save Fox Young p. 53. Although sayes he in this Passage be doth not call it the Light within Pag. 50. You scorn me the Light in you p. 54. which will not own me the Light in them They he says that cannot from hence read the Quakers own and profess the Light within