once owing to the Father These Reader are some of those Consequences which W. P. shews do naturally follow that strange and rigid Notion That it is altogether Impossible for God to remit or forgive without a plenary Satisfaction and that God could not by any other way obtain Satisfaction or save Men without inflicting the Penalty of infinite Wrath and Vengance on Jesus Christ. And if the Consequences are Blasphemous it is owning to the Doctrine not W. P's natural deducing of them from it any more than the Glass that is truly Cut and Ground can be in fault to reflect the Deformities that are set before it But whether true or false the Snake says p. 151. His Arguments are the old Socinian Job-trot But if in the reverse the Job-trotting proves the Non-jurors W. P's Arguments may be good still and I think it will hardly pass for sufficient reason that Arguments are therefore bad because either Socinian or Non-juror may have used such like to other purposes If this be so then why not further and reject all the true Articles which they may believe as well as the Arguments which they may use And if the Snake is resolved to keep at this distance from us and disbelieve an Article because we believe it he must resolve to deny God and Jesus Christ and all hopes of Salvation by him Together with all the Holy Doctrines which the Scriptures teach and which we firmly Believe But how shy soever he may be of us herein yet himself is a notable Job-trotter for that his Arguments his Accusations his Stories and numerous Perversions are no other than what have often from Adversaries of many Names been objected against us and as often answered by us Yet as false and as often rebuffeted as this Job-trot has been The Snake hath licked it up and improv'd it as is commonly observed Lies do improve by carrying Ibid. p. 153. But upon the Socinian and Quaker Scheme one of God's Attributes must fight with and conquer the other And his Justice must quit the Field to his Mercy This is great Nonsense as well as Blasphemy and utterly inconsistent with the first Notions of a God 'T is true that they who believe and say that God's Attributes combate and conquer each other do believe and say Nonsense and Blasphemy because all Jarr and Strife is utterly inconsistent with the Unity of his Being But that the Quakers have ever so believed or said is false and does yet remain to be prov'd Which it can never be for we as well as the Snake p. 152. do say That God's Justice is greatly exalted in that it did require and accept the full and compleat Satisfactory Offering which Christ did give of himself to offended Divine Justice And that God's Wisdom and Mercy is also greatly exalted in finding out and affording that means And we say also That these are fulfilled Infinitely in the wonderful Oeconomy of our Salvation in that compleat Satisfactory Sacrifice All this and more to the like purpose we believe as well as the Snake But the Snake tho' with his false Glossings he would represent W. P. and the Quakers as deniers hereof yet does not declare himself to believe the Article as it was propounded by Wâ— P's Opponents and opposed by him Tho' insinuatingly and Snake-like he says p. 151. W. P. denies the Satisfaction What Satisfaction Why The Satisfaction Which the Snake has not declared himself to believe That it is altogether impossible for God to remit c. as above p. 231. Now Reader Whether exceeds in Impudence the Snake in this his liberal Character and Charge that we deny this most Fundamental Doctrine c. or himself in refusing them same terms which are the matter of his Charge This shews the Snake did by his own practice make that Judgment which he hath falsly given of us p. 143. They He it must now be read can upon a pinch subscribe the whole Creed and not mean one word of it c. For the present we have done with his Charge from Sandy Foundation shaken c. and the Snake next quotes p. 154. a passage from W. P. but names neither Book nor Page it is I suppose from Reason against Railing c. p. 91. If it is our Duty to forgive without a Satisfaction receiv'd and that God is to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction totally excluded That is such a Satisfaction as his Opponents contended for Yet of this the Snake declares He hath exposed the poorness of this Argument in Satan Disrob'd A poor shift that his Reader must take his word But to shew that W. P's Argument is not so poor as the Snake does suggest Please to take some more of W. P's Argument which the Snake has by a poor cunning left out It is thus Christ farther Paraphrases upon that part of his Prayer v. 14. For if you forgive their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you Where he as well argues the Equity of God's forgiving them from their forgiving others as he encourages them to forgive others from the Example of God's Mercy in forgiving them Now if this Exposer can also shew the poorness of our Saviour's words not only in this of Mat. 6.14 but also in that of Mat. 18.23 to the end of the Chapter he may then be deem'd a thorough pac'd Exposer Till then I must think that his Exposing is much more poor than the Arguments which W. P. does shew do arise from Christ's words The Snake's last Quotation from our Books in this Section he makes from Serious Apology p. 148. in very false and injurious sort he thus says and quotes p. 154. W. P. speaking of our Justification by the righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us But here the Snake hath left out these words in a Parenthesis wholly without us which is all that W. P. did oppose in the place above refer'd to in these words And indeed this we deny and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which does now deluge the whole World Yes Exposer it is still true that we do deny and boldly affirm it to be the Doctrine of Devils That Men are justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us And for our so denying and affirming we have the warrant of Holy Writ wherein is abundantly testified of the Spirit of Christ in Man to which he must be obedient in order to his Justification and the Apostle in express words speaking of the Righteousness which is of Faith which is Christ's saith Rom. 10.8 The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy Heart that is the word of Faith which we preach And to the same purpose see Rom. 3.24 28. Rom. 5.1 Tit. 3.7 Then not wholly without us Ibid. p. 155. See this further enlarg'd upon in
now in order Snake p. 165. That is say they with Hymeneus and Philetus till his coming Spiritually in our Hearts I have in p. 255. foregoing briefly observed already concerning these Men part of whose error was and which is only taken notice of by the Snake their saying the Resurrection was past already That they do not seem by the Character the Apostle gives of them of being profane and vain Babblers such who had put away a good Conscience and shipwrack'd Faith I say they do not seem hereby to be such who did contend for the Spiritual Coming of Christ in their Hearts Profaneness is Immorality and what has that to do with the Coming of Christ in the Heart It is in direct opposition to it And the Apostle could not have made their Character as above had they so contended for Christ because it was what the Apostle declares himself did follow after Phil. 3.10 11 12. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death If by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Reader Think'st thou that Hymeneus and Philetus those profane and vain Babblers who shipwreckt Faith and a good Conscience in themselves and did overthrow the Faith of some did do all these things and expound that saying of theirs That the Resurrection was past already in such manner as the Snake says Spiritually in our Hearts No it could not be they were gone from the Spirit of Christ in them when they went into profane Babbling and what degrees soever they might have known while in obedience of the Power of Christ's Resurrection Yet that they quite lost when they shipwreckt Faith and a good Conscience So that the Snake's explanation is not only arbitrary but contradictory to the Apostles character of them He goes on with great assurance and pretence of familiarity with the Holy Apostles and of the purest Primitive Christians and Blessed Martyrs and affirms of them all in his frothy manner Ibid. p. 165. None of them dream'd of the time being thus expired For the observance of what he calls the Sacraments but that they did think them obligatory to the end of the World the litteral Resurrection at the last day It can be no small acquaintance which this Snake pretends to have had with this variety of Persons who dare so boldly affirm of them all while sleeping that they did never dream of their Expiration and while waking that they all did think these Ordinances always were to continue I suppose the observing Reader will with me be apt to question how he came by this great Intimacy and desire him to give some proof of the truth of what he hath so affirm'd But if we should suppose that he could prove which he never can that none of them did so dream that would not be ground sufficient to us to prove that the time of their continuance is not expired For the Question being concerning Ordinances said to be appointed by Christ we are not to look to Dreams but to consider the Appointment of Christ for from thence can only be truly learn'd both the things appointed and the time for which they were appointed And here of a sudden the Snake hath much abated of his pretence to know what was not Dream'd by the Holy Apostles purest Primitive Christians and Blessed Martyrs and comes to lay his pretence upon the Commission given by our Saviour to his Disciples mentioned Mat. 28.19 20. And this Commission he gives by piece-meal so as that it might if possible be so large as to take in the Addition which he makes to it For first He would have it to be a Commission for Water-Baptism next He would have it to express the Continuance of the Water-Baptism to the end of the World And having in disjoynted sort thus given it he draws this Pithy Conclusion p. 166. For if this be the time during which Christ promised to assist his Commission it must doubtless infer the like continuance of the things required in the said Commission We say so too But the Question is concerning something said to be required in the Commission which the Commission does not express therefore we say not contained in it And that this has been our frequent Objection to our Opposers in this particular the Snake could not but know and therefore if he would have established his addition Water to the Text he ought to have refuted our objections to the addition and then to have given his better reasons for it but none of this is done But he goes on begging the Question and taking that for granted which we deny viz. That when our Saviour saith Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost He doth herein Command them Disciples to Baptize with Water If the Snake had given us some reason why we ought to take this his Addition of that wherein the Text is silent that reason might have been considered And it will be yet of greater force if he can prove from Scripture that our Saviour is here giving to his Disciples Commission concerning John's Baptism with Water and not his own which is with the Holy Spirit But of this the Snake says p. 167. The Holy Ghost is his Christ's Gift only It is true that the Holy Ghost is originally Christ's Gift yet it is as true that Men prepared fitted and quallified by the operation of his Grace have Instrumentally as Ministerial Ofcers given the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Thus the Apostle Rom. 1.11 For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some Spiritual Gift And the same Apostle tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.15 For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel And he declares that his Commission was Acts 26.18 To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God Now strictly speaking it is only Christ by the Gift of the Holy Ghost who does these great Works of which the Apostle speaks The Apostle herein was Instrumentally made the Minister of those things wherein God did appear unto him And at this day those who are of God made Ministers of those things wherein he does appear by his Spirit unto them such he fits furnishes and quallifies Instrumentally to be able to impart Spiritual Gifts and to beget People to God by turning them from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to the Power of God Thus Spiritual Baptism and Teaching mentioned in the Commission of Christ continues to be assisted by Christ and will be so to the end of the World Now this teaching with respect to the sound of words may be said to be
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
Ordinances c. When the Apostle Paul decry'd the abrogated Priesthood and outward Ordinances did he thereby carry on the design of the Devil From the Rise of Popery all along the Apostacy to the time of the Reformation beginning did the Devil labour to beat down the Priesthood and outward Ordinances or to keep them up Ib. Knowing that Religion must needs fall with them What Religion must that be This shews the Religion the Snake contends for is built upon the Priesthood and outward Ordinances else it could not necessarily fall with them He has another Notion of Religion than the Apostle James as well as another Religion and according to him James 1.27 must be read Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To keep up the Priesthood and outward Ordinances for if they fall Religion will fall with them Such as is his Religion such the Government also and Order he contends for viz. a Government that depends upon saying You to One calling Men Lord or Master who are not so taking off the Hat and Bowing For not to do these things is with him Pref. p. 15. a dissolving of all Government and order the Relations of King and People Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Which Notoriously False and Childish Assertion deserves to be Hiss'd out of the World For in the Instances of Government disolv'd in the Relation of King and People pray Reader consider have they been dissolv'd and run down by Thee and Thou not saying Master or Lord by not pulling off the Hat or Bowing or have they been run down and dissolved by Men who Practiced contrary to these things The Author of that Treasonable Piece in answer to Dr. King now Bishop of London-Derry in Ireland can say You to One can call Men Lord or Master who are not so can pull off his Hat and Bow yet has given a fair Specimen of his design to dissolve the Relation of King and People by running down the present Government And for the Instances of Relation between Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants never was one of these Relations dissolv'd or run down through Obedience to the Precept of our Saviour but always by the Iniquity and Disobedience of those in these Relations who have Dispised the Precepts and cast off the Yoke of Christ. Ibid. That the Quakers at first left their Houses and Families to run about and Preach and cried down Riches when they had none Is notoriously false For the Quakers never left their Families to shift for themselves but always took due care of them which is evident in this in that their Families have not offered themselves to the care of the Parishes where they dwelt but on the contrary have defrayed their own Charge and paid their Lot in the Assessments for the Poor of the Church which our Adversary pretends Membership in But if I should examine how many Priests have spent their exactions in Pride Luxury and voluptuous Living and have left their Families to shift for themselves or to the Alms of their dissenting Neighbours the Number would not be very small Nor did the Quakers ever cry down Riches but the immoderate desire after and abuse of them This we practised then and the same now Pref. p. 24. The Quakers dispute against these viz. the outward Sufferings and Death of Christ and place the Merit and Satisfaction in the allegorical Sufferings and Blood of their Light within inwardly shed c. This Assertion of the Snake is not allegorically but litterally a Lye for we acknowledge the satisfaction made by Christ to his Father but we do deny that groundless and dangerous Notion of his having paid and his Father exacted that strict and rigorous Satisfaction by undergoing the self-same Punishment and Pains that the Damned suffer in Hell We own the Merit of his outward Death and Sufferings but dispute against the misapplication of that Merit to ungodly Men continuing impenitently in their Sins We own and believe that Men by continuing impenitently in their Sins do press as with sheaves the holy Spirit and by such their despite to the Spirit of Grace do grieve the good Spirit of God which he hath shed abroad upon the Hearts of Men in order to their Regeneration But have never said or believed that the Satisfaction made by Christ to the Father and the Merit thereof consisted in any allegorical Suffering and Blood of the Light within inwardly shed We own and believe that Men through obedience to the Spirit of Grace may come to have their Consciences sprinkled from dead Works to serve the living God and may thro' the Blood of the everlasting Covenant be made perfect in every good Work to do the Will of God through 〈…〉 But have never placed or believâ—◠〈…〉 thereof did consist in such allegorica◠〈◊〉 and Sufferings as the Snake does insinuaâ—â—â—â—ainst us no more than the Apostle in theâ—â— and other places of holy Writ where he directs Men to the word Christ in Them can be supposed to undervalue the outwaâ—d Death and Sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem And to place the satisfaction he made to the Father and the Merit of it to consist in these his spiritual appearances by the holy Spirit in the Hearts of Men. Pref. p. 29. George Fox was much more inconsiderable than Aâ—â—onia Bourignon and got none at the beginning to follow him but from among the poor and most ignorant of the Herd who have since swell'd to a rich numerous and a potent People overspreading these three Nations and stocking whole Plantations abroad And their Succors have taken Root both in Holland and Germany O! Excellent beginning tho' not enough desired increase Yet both beginning and increase doth in his shew the Servant like his Lord against whom it was objected John 2.48 Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees the Rich Great or Learned believed on him but this People who know not the Law and are cursed Herein the Snake shews his unity with those Blasphemous Opposers of Christ and also gives a Testimony for us that in beginning and increase we are like the Primitive Times of increasing Christianity Which tho' it is beyond the common Rule of Judging yet it is certainly true that by the things which are not God will bring to nought things that are And the mean and low who keep so in his Fear them he will exalt and them who seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness of it shall not fail to have all convenient things added for being Lord of Heaven he is the same over Earth and disposes it at his pleasure This many have experienced after all the fleecings and tearing to pieces of Estates and Families which we have suffered by the cruel hands of such who pretended love to our Souls So that we have none to whom to attribute our Riches Numbers or Might but the Secret Hand of divine Providence which first gave us being
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
said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Which shews his inward sense of Mind But the Apostle Rom. 7.9 is large in the account of the Work of his Regeneration and he does acknowledge he was alive without the Law once But when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died Which plainly shews the Command was inward and it was hard for Paul to kick against this Command which did thus slay him as in the 11th verse Our Adversary does acknowledge that the Pricks there are to be understood the Power of Christ. And this Power it was Acts 2.37 That prickt them at the heart who were witnesses of the sheddings abroad of the Spirit at the time of Pentecost And of this Power David speaks Psal. 73.21 Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins Whence thus in short Paul a zealous Man and a Persecutor is by the Power of Christ let see that he was opposing his Power in his Saints by such Persecution At this in the Apostle's language Sin revived i. e. the sense of it whereby he saw his guiltiness and then he died from any further Life in it And whether this be not a heart work all experienced Readers may judge Ibid. p. 12. Besides they are in great confusion and contradictions amongst themselves concerning their Notion of the Light within denying and affirming backwards and forwards as you may see in Mr. Tho. Crisp his just and lawful Tryal of the Foxonian Quakers Reader This is one of those Instances wherein the great Injustice of this adversary appears in that he takes this false Charge from a Book writ against us by an open Enemy and takes no notice of any reply by us Which was largely and fully given to this Adversary by our Friend Ed. Penington And if after the same manner I should object and say The Church of England are in great Confusions and Contradictions amongst themselves in their Notion of the Trinity which has been abundantly treated of here of late affirming backwards and forwards and recommend for proof of this some Book disowned by that Church the Proof were much the same Or if I should object and say They are in great confusion and contradiction in their Notion of any other Article and bring for proof Harding Stapelton or any of the Romish Church who being Adversaries have so affirmed having no regard to the disallowance of the first or answers to the last I might deservedly be accounted a confident and prejudic'd but not a fair or reasonable Man Yet Reader this is the practice of this Snake with us SECT II. Shewing that we do not make our Souls of the same Person and Substance with God nor aspire to an Equality with him I Shall here consider and reply to his Second and Third Sections together the Charge being the same and the distinction unnecessary For in his mode of speaking a Sameness of Person and Substance imply an Equality concerning which before I procede to the Quotations in the Snake I shall observe to thee Friendly Reader That having in the beginning of the foregoing Section given a brief but real and true account of our Scriptural Belief concerning The Light of Christ in Men. Shewing that the Soul of Man being subjected thereunto he may by the guidance and assistance thereof without it he cannot attain unto Salvation I say having shewn thus much concerning our belief herein it is impossible that we so believing as we do should make our Souls to use his phrase of the same Person and Substance with God or Aspire to an Equality with him Our Friends according to Holy Writ have frequently said and writ and may safely That those who by walking in the Light are become Children of it are such for whom our Saviour Jesus Christ did pray to his Father John 17.21 22 23. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee That they also may be one in us That they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me This Oneness in the Holy Spirit our Friends have pressed and contended for in Opposition to the hurtful belief that had too much prevailed upon Men of an imagined Distance of God from Man at this Day and that Man was now no more to expect the Revelation of the Holy Spirit without which our Saviour hath testified Mat. 11.27 And no Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him This testimony of Jesus Christ with many more to the same purpose do shew the certainty of Revelation as in many others the absolute necessity of it is shewn First By our Saviour who saith John 12.50 And I know that this Commandment is Life Everlasting and the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates And for our acknowledging to and witnessing of the truth of these Testimonies declared in Holy Writ have we met with great opposition and misrepresentation of which Reader there follows now divers instances in these Sections of the Snake's which he thus begins p. 13. Thou sayest says G. Fox to his Opponet Great Mystery p. 247. Christ doth not dwell in them Personally Doth not Christ dwell in his Saints as he is in the Person of the Father the Substance Reader This our Adversary gives for a quotation from G. Fox his Great Mystery and that we might see at what he carps he puts it in Large Black Characters which yet are not blacker than his Envy and Injustice which will appear thus First In that he hath left out the Priests Words which are unsound and unscriptural Secondly In that he hath left out the beginning and end of G. Fox his Answer For thy more certain knowledge of which I subjoin first the Priest's Words and then G. Fox his Answer Priest The Scriptures are the Word except yâ—u dare to deny Christ is God Let the Word of God meaning the Scripture dwell in you richly To this G. Fox thus Answers So he makes the Scripture Christ and God and he doth not say Let Christ dwell in you but means the Scripture and God dwells in you The Apostle saith Let Christ Dwell in your hearts by faith and God will dwell in you But thou sayst Christ doth not dwell in Them Personally Doth not Christ dwell in his Saints as he is in the Person of his Father the Substance And are they not of his Flesh and of his Bone Here Reader thou mayst see that the plain meaning and drift of G. Fox's words are to assert and maintain that Spiritual Oneness of which I have been speaking and shewing that Christ prayed that his Followers might witness and not to make the Soul of the same Person
send them forth in the Work of the Ministry their Degrees of Immediate Revelation are much higher than that Degree of Immediate Revelation which I have above spoken of And in these higher Degrees of Revelation God may give One to Prophesy or foretell things to come and send Another with a Message as shall seem good in his Sight and all this by the Immediate Revelation of the same Holy Spirit which reproves the World of Sin tho' in a Higher Degree and by the Higher Degrees of this Immediate Revelation it may please God by his Servants for God hath not in his revealed Will declared that he would not to work Miracles But as his Ministers at this Day have no New Gospel to Preach so it is not necessary that the Work of the Ministry should be commonly attended with such external Credentials if so I may call Miracles Ibid. p. 28. And to this G. F. pretended even to Outward Visions and Revelations as in his Blasphemous Journal particularly upon a High Mountain in Yorkshire where he tells of his receiving Commission to Preach That G. F. had Visions and Revelations some of which might be Outward and did receive a Commission from God to Preach he hath given more â—nd better Proofs than the Snake hath that G. F's Journal is Blasphemous For of this I find no Proof but the Snak's own confident averring of it But among the Proofs of G. F's having received Commission to Preach none of the smallest are the many who instrumentally by him were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God To which Power of God as they did attend and grow up in they were the Living Seals of his Ministry And for the Visions and Revelations which G. F. hath declared he had there are none of them that are repugnant to the Holy Scriptures but are consistent with and agreeable to the special Manifestations of God to his Children mentioned therein which nothing that is Blasphemous can be Nay further God hath promised Joel 2.28 That in the pouring forth of his Spirit He would give Prophecy Dreams and Visions and that it is fulfilled in the Gospel Dispensation the Holy Apostle Peter hath testified Acts 2.16 Ibid. p. 21. Fox does plainly distinguish betwixt the Ordinary Experiences of the Inward Operations of the Spirit of God upon our Hearts and the being sent Immediately from God with such a Message as the Prophets and Apostles had And this plain Distinction of G. F's is warranted from Scripture it being wholly in the degrees of Operation but the Holy Spirit which does so diversly Operate is the same The Faith of the Woman cured of a Bloody Issue Mat. 9.20 was begotten in her by a degree of the Operation of the Holy Spirit and by a much greater Degree of the Operation of the same Holy Ghost Philip was bid Acts 8.29 Go near and joyn thy self to this Chariot And abundance of Instances of these kinds might be produced in Holy Writ which do as plainly distinguish as any of us can betwixt the Ordinary and Extraordinary Inward Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts yet both truly and properly Immediate Ibid. p. 29. These are his Words And shew plainly what he meant by Immediate Revelation and how it distinguish'd him from the Professors Yes Snake it is very plain what G. F. meant by Immediate Revelation when he asked Four or Five Priests Journal p. 83. Whether any one of them could say he ever had the Word of the Lord to go and speak to such or such a People viz. that this is a Higher Degree of the Inward Operation of the Holy Spirit than that by which it Reproves the World of Sin This Higher Degree of Immediate Revelation none of those Priests could say they had had and therefore might well be deem'd such of whom the Prophet says They run and the Lord never sent them And to G. F's Question foregoing the Priest made no proper answer when he said He could speak his experiences Because every operation of the Holy Spirit does give some experience to the Heart in which it works And if a Man thereby reproved of Sin be obedient to that reproof he shall witness a forsaking that for which he was so reproved And this is a good Degree of Experience But this Experience barely is no call to the Ministry To which those whom Christ doth Choose Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualifie as it is by a higher Degree of the Inward and Immediate Operations of His Holy Spirit so it does distinguish them from those who can only speak of Experiences as is above declared Ibid. p. 29. And he Vouches this by a company of Vile and Sensless Miracles to which he pretends in his Journal How shews the Snake that the Miracles mentioned in G. F's Journal are Vile and Sensless They are not therefore so because an Enemy says it And yet he has given no other reason And now having gain'd what he meant by Revelation and Immediate Revelation I will shew you that he attributes it not only to his own Worthiness but to the Quakers in General They are says he in his Great Mystery p. 242. in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in There is no dificulty to gain either what G. F. did mean or any of us do mean by Revelation it being in short this 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth no Man but by the Spirit of God And whosoever doth know and understand the Gospel of Christ which is Rom. 1.16 The Power of God unto Salvation must receive that knowledge and that understanding by Immediate Revelation from the same Spirit from which the Apostles had theirs The Apostles have declar'd that themselves did receive their Knowledge of the things of God by it and that without this Spirit no Man can know them Yet we do not from hence say nor hath G. F. said that the Gospel of Christ is not to be understood but by the same Degree of Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation which the Apostles were in or that himself or any other Quaker as the Snake does falsly suggest are in that same Degree in which the Apostles were The Apostle Peter was in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation when he gave Testimony to the Divinity of our Saviour Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God in which he was when he said Acts 2.22 23. Ye Men of Israel hear these Words Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know him being delivered by the Fore-knowledge and Counsel of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain c. But I suppose the Snake will hardly affirm he was in the same Degree of Power c. And after all it is false in
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
found And of as many as keep in their first Love E. B. hath truly said with the Apostle Acts 4.32 And the Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul Ibid. p. 73. The very same Division is still kept up in the opposite Quaker-Churches of Harp-Lane and Grace-Church-Street 'T is false the Meeting in Harp-Lane is dropt Ibid. p. 75. There is yet a Fourth Church of the Quakers It is true they are disowned by all the rest but as much disowning them We have the Snake's Authority for it that they are none of us But however consider them a little further and see to whom they do belong P. 76 77. The Snake Relates how truly I know not a great many bad Tenets they hold and bad Actions that they do He says They Dance as well as Pray by the Spirit Their Ringleader whom he calls Tho. Case he says Preached in a Surplice By the Principles I could not tell to what Church this Case belong'd but for the Surplice we know what Church uses it Ibid. p. 78. And I can name one who reasoning with one of these concerning the outward Christ Oh horror to repeat it he bid that Christ kiss his And if so what relation hath that to us For the Snake had said just before that we disown them and they disown us so that he might as well have mentioned for any relation it has to us Julian the Apostates Blaspemies against Christ and insinuated Snake like that they were owned by us Ibid. p. 78. And it was not behind this which a Quaker Preacher now in London said to one I can produce who was endeavouring to persuade him that Christ was now a Man the Preacher replied The Man Christ a F rt The villany of this expression is indeed not much behind his last For I do deny that any Preacher own'd among us hath at any time so spoken and Dare the Snake to prove to the contrary if he can We have now another Quotation how fairly made the Reader shall see Ibid. p. 79. Quoted from Brief Examination and State of Liberty Spiritual Printed 1681. p. 11. He tells those Quakers who stuck to their own Light within rather than the Orders of G. Fox and his Church And this I affirm says he from the understanding that I have received of God that the Enemy is at work to scatter the Minds of Friends by that loose plea What hast thou to do with me leave me to my freedom and to the Grace of God in my self and the like Here the Snake makes a break leaving out three Lines and then continues a long Quotation The Snake says that W. P. speaks this to those Quakers who stuck to their own Light within Now whether he did or not pray Reader by the following Lines which the Snake left out at the Break as I have before hinted thou mayst observe they are thus And the like but this proposition and expression as now understood and alledged is a deviation from and a perversion of the ancient Principle of Truth Thus Reader thou sees what W. P. objects to them was that they did not stick to their own Light within but were in that Plea and explanation of it deviated from the Ancient Principle of Truth which in time past they professed So that the Judgment was not against the Light within but against the deviation and perversion This is great injustice Reader I doubt not thou wilt grant thus to curtail a Man's words but if greater may be here is an instance for thee The Snake by a horrid perversion quotes W. P's words to the direct contrary purpose to which he uses them Ibid. p. 81. But what if these Quakers whose Light within should allow them to take off their Hat or Bow c. appeared by all other circumstances to be Good Honest and Conscientious Men That would not do For Mr. Penn in his address to Protestants p. 245. says Holy Living is become no Test among us unless against the Liver The Tree was once known by its Fruits 't is not so now the better the Liver the more Dangerous unless if not a Conformist This Reader is the Quotation and the perversion is this If he be not a Conformist in these things to pull off the Hat and Bow Holy Living is no Test nor is the Tree Known by its Fruits A sense as remote from W. P's Mind as any thing can be And what shews it plainer is the place it self as it lies in that Book where having numbred up six several causes of persecution he proceeds The Seventh and Last Cause I shall now assign for persecution is this That Holy Living is become no Test among us unless against the Liver The Tree was once known by its Fruit but now it is not so The better Liver the more dangerous if not a Conformist This has made way for Persecution There was a time when Virtue was venerable and Good Men admired that 's derided and Opinion carries it The Snake was in the wrong Box considering how much he is used to play when he brought to remembrance by his perversion this Quotation For the Persecution here spoken of was that managed by the Church of England and the Conformity then required was to her self the Test c. and was not a Holy Life for Virtue was then derided and Opinion carried it It is one of her Blemishes and if this rebellious Son had not herein been to her what Ham was to his Father Noah it might at this time have been covered for me Ibid. p. 82. But have they not worldly Coertion here Yes beyond what the Church of England or any other Church have in their Power For they being mostly a trading People and chiefly among themselves whoever is disowned By their Church does Ipso facto lose his Trade among them and there is not one of an hundred of them but must be thereby broke and undone We have not any Worldly Coertion either to whip Men into the Temple or keep them there for as is shewn p. 135 136 c. All who are truly Members of our Body and are in true Fellowship with us were gathered so to be not by Worldly Coertion or outward respect but only by the real force of Truth upon their Understanding and the Convictions of God's Grace upon their Hearts and we disown not any in their fallings away who have not first thus pretended But the Church of England much beyond this hath lately claim'd Power over all the Subjects of the Realm by whipping some into the Temple and some for going out and by her pretended Spiritual Excommunication hath deprived many who never were of her Communion of their Civil Benefits For one Excommunicate might not be an Executor receive a Legacy or sue for his Just Debts In fine it deprived him of his Property and put him out of the King's Protection Now Reader see whether this Worldly Coertion be not beyond our Power as
say they do appoint Institutions tho' the Matter of One viz. Water and the Manner of Both as now used is not therein exprest why has not another as much liberty If what he contends for be not the Text as it is not but an exposition of it what medium will he use to assure me his exposition is right since all Outward Means lye under the same Objection which his own particular Exposition does and they are not a few For I may object to his understanding to the Interest he is in and to the accidental means by which he came so to conclude And thus Men may grope in the Dark concerning the Mysteries of Religion and the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven while they have only Outward and Corporal Means for which the Snake does so much contend for their Guide But if Men would once come to implore the Assistances and wait for the Guidance of the Holy Spirit That as it illuminated the Holy Men of Old to deliver in Writing a Declaration of the Deep Things of God's Kingdom so it would illuminate their Minds to see and know the Meaning of the Holy Ghost in that Declaration By other means than this there can be no certainty herein But this means the Snake depends not on and would represent us as Criminal because we do Wherefore we justly refuse his Expositions for being Inventions which whether set up new or of old standing makes little difference And while the Snake is contending for Inventions set up he does abrogate if not to use be so as the Snake will have it be an Outward Command of Christ delivered in at least as plain if not plainer terms than either of the foregoing for here is both Matter and Manner recorded I instance in the Command of Christ to his Disciples to wash one anothers Feet John 13.14 15. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your Feet ye also ought to wash one another's Feet For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Yet here neither the Example nor the declared Intent of it is interpreted to mean an Outward Institution But it is an Allegory and the Command fulfilled while the Sign is disused if we walk humbly before God and serve one another with Love We say so too yet if practical Obedience is here the intent of an Outward Command Why might not Spiritual Baptism and Communion be the intent of Outward Commands Had there been any such which those before mentioned are not As before I have shewn Ibid. p. 170. Vpon this poor pretence that Baptism is not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience c. 1 Pet. 3.21 Which Text they so understand as that the Outward Baptism is thereby disanulled because the Inward Baptism is preferred before it and not reckoned perfect without it This which the Snake calls a poor pretence is but poorly assaulted by him and does remain to be a clear and very plain account of that Baptism which Saves In the Description whereof the Apostle is very particular First Negatively shewing what is not then Affirmatively defining what it is viz. The like Figure or Anti-type as it may be truly rendered whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And according to this account of that Baptism which Saves it cannot be the Baptism with Water because that is putting away the filth of the Flesh but it is the Answer of a good Conscience towards God Now outward Water cannot give this answer for as the Apostle saith 1 John 5 6. It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth And nothing but this Spirit which is Truth can wash and purify the Soul from its Corruptions and Lusts and having so purified it can give to it the justifying Answer of a good Conscience towards God and therefore with great reason it is to be preferred to John's Baptism with Water which cannot add to the Perfection of Christ's Baptism with Fire and with the Holy Ghost Ibid. p. 170. And so it was in the Institution of Circumcision under the Law The Outward Circumcision of the Flesh was not the chief thing meant by it but the Inward Circumcision of the Heart as the Apostle speaks Rom. 2.28 29. Will it follow hence that there were no Outward and Litteral Jews Or that there was not an Outward and Litteral Circumcision under the Law But though the Outward Circision was not the Circumcision i. e. not that alone unless the Inward did accompany it yet the Outward Circumcision was commanded and that under pain of Death Thus both Baptism and the Lord's Supper c. As the Circumcision under the Law was Outward so it was the Sign of an Outward Covenant Gen. 17.7 8. And I will establish my Covenant between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee And I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a Stranger all the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting posession and I will be their God The Apostle who was a Minister of the Spirit and of the New Covenant does in this Epistle to the Romans shew the Jew that his Outward Dependance was not Good for he tells him Rom. 2.17 21. Behold thou art called a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thus the Apostle having here reproved that Spirit in the Jew which our Saviour had before reproved in them when they told him We are Abraham 's Seed c. and the dependencies which they had because there was in their Flesh the Sign of that Covenant which God made with Abraham The Apostle brings the matter nearer from the Type to the thing typified from the Outward Jew and Circumcision to the Inward Jew and Circumcision vers 28 29. For he is not a Jew who is one Outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is Outward in the Flesh But he is a Jew which is one Inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God The Apostle is here speaking what the Spiritual Jew is not what the Legal Jew was for of him the Apostle had spoken before and in the like manner it may be spoken of them who have dependence upon the Outward and Decreasing Baptism of John and the Outward and Temporary Commemoration of Christ's Death by Bread and Wine and wait not to know the purifying and strengthning of their Hearts and Spirits by the Holy Spirit of God Thus the Apostle shews the necessary Duty of Christians in the Gospel Dispensation which is to witness the Inward Circumcision
not Finite but Infinite And this is another proof much to the same purpose that is to no purpose of answering the Title and for any relation the Section has to it he might have Entituled it a Relation of his Escape from the Messenger at Billinsgate or a Relation of his being seized by him at Lidd in Kent or any thing else in the World which had no Relation to the Matter treated of The Snake next makes a Quotation from the Spirit of the Hat concerning G. F's Marriage and says That G. F. did say concerning his Wife then somewhat in years She must not be Barren but wou'd as Sarah bring Forth an Isaac in her Old Age. To which I first answer that that Book from from whence the Snake quotes as above hath been many years since answer'd But in this the Snake is here silent that he might evade to reply to it And I might after his Example be as silent to his Objections from the Spirit of the Hat as he is to the Answer in the Books Spirit of Alexander the Copper Smith and Judas and the Jews But for the Readers satifaction I shall further answer and say that upon inquiry of those who are most likely to know whether G. F. did say so or not such as his Widow and other Relations I am assured by them and they do say it is utterly false But the Snake to corroborate one Lie he adds another and says that She Margaret Fox growing big p. 192. The Midwife attended several Weeks in the House till Belly fell the Figure was spoiled and the Quakers disappointed of their Isaac That Margaret Fox when in years beyond the ordinary time of Child-bearing should grow big as if with Child is nothing strange nor singular for that the like doth often happen by means of Flatulencies and Humours collected in the Abdomen which in their beginnings and progress sometimes both the Party affected and the Physician have been in doubt to determine and instances of these Kinds are frequently met with in the Writings of Physicians So that it is foolish as well as false to make any such mistake a Legendary Story as it is also false where he says a Midwife attended several Weeks because there was no such thing Ibid. p. 192. This their presumptuous pretence to Miracles and Foolish Legends is another instance wherein they have imitated and outstript the Roman Catholicks This the Snake's great impudence in calling the mistake of a Woman concerning her Pregnancy in which Questions many Women and also Physicians have been mistaken a presumptuous pretence to Miracles and Foolish Legends is another instance of his Malice or Folly For could he enumerate Ten Thousand such mistakes of Women amongst us would this be good proof that we have imitated or outstript the Roman Catholicks in Miracles and Legends I think it would not For besides the many Legendary Volumes which the Romanists have and which were calculated for to feed their Superstition of which we have none should it be allowed that the mistakes of Women in this Question is a pertinent instance May it not naturally follow that that Communion or Society in which are the most Women may not be likely to have the most of these Miracles and Foolish Legends And if so it may then behove the Snake to clear the Communion in which he pretends Membership from such like Presumptuous Pretences SECT XIV Shewing that We do not Damn all the Christian World but our Selves THE Uncharitableness of them Principles which Reprobate and Damn all besides their Professors must needs be very Obvious both in their own Declaration and also in the Lives and Practices of their Professors as influenced by them and need not the wiredrawing of strain'd and perverse Constructions to prove it Because at first sight it appears in the very Complexion and Tendency of them But the Principles and Doctrines which are believed and taught by us have a direct opposition in their Declaration and are of quite another tendency and purport than that Damning of which the Snake speaks For as opposite as Salvation is to Damnation so opposite is that our Known Principle of free and universal Grace to that of Damning all but our selves And to as many as have read our Books or shall hereafter be incited to read them they know and will find that it is and hath been by us constantly declared that the Saving Grace of God doth appear unto all Men affording them a day of Visitation wherein through obedience to the Drawings of the Spirit of Grace upon their Hearts they may escape Damnation And the Work of our Ministry hath been to call Men into obedience to this Grace and Spirit of God declaring to them that if the Day of their Visitation and the tenders of the Love of God through the Spirit of his Son shall come to an end through their Impenitency that then they will have cause to say with them whom the Prophet Personates The Summer is ended and we are not saved But this Principle of free Grace and this Work and Labour of our Ministry to call into Obedience to it concludes not that we Damn them who fall short through Disobedience any more than Moses the Prophets our Lord Jesus and his Apostles could be said to Damn the People to whom they declared their Iniquities and the consequents of their Impenitent abiding in them which was That they should Perish and be Cut off in their Sins And as this is the Doctrine which hath from the first been Believed Preached and Writ by us so our Conversations and Practice Influenced by this Principle hath been agreeable to it And I do appeal to all who have Knowledge and Acquaintance with us whether they have not found us constantly declaring and shewing forth great good will to their Welfare and to our Power promoting it and often Warning and Admonishing against those things that might hinder it Nay the Snake himself is so far Evidence against himself that he hath declared He never received in all his whole Life any sort of Disobligation from any of us But it would have been a Disobligation in some sort if the Quakers with whom he hath convers'd had told him he was Damn'd On the contrary he testifies of the Generality that they are Honest and well Meaning Is it any good meaning to Damn all but our selves I think there is not much in it And I see not how the Snake can reconcile that Character to the Title of this Section I say the Title because this Section in the Body of it does no more answer its Title in the matter charged in it than the last Section did Ibid. p. 192. Having equall'd themselves to Adam in his Innocency as above is shewn they must needs prefer themselves to all since the Fall But if this were true which I shall shew it is not must they therefore needs Damn all since the Fall What the Snake by his Title was to speak to
above-mentioned p. 45. made a Quotation from T. E's Further Discovery p. 99. thus In comparing the Books of Friends to the Books of them called the Greek and Latin Fathers He has not done as a Friend and Brother but as an Enemy in supposing Friends Books to have been written by no better Guidance or clearer Sight than theirs who lived and wrote in those dark Times Upon this G. K. remark'd to his Auditory You see how modest they are here At this Remark G. K. says his Auditors gave a Shout signifying as he says Their dislike that the Quakers Books should be preferred so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the Days of the Apostles To all this T. Ellwood in his Answer to G. K's Narrative as above in p. 177 178. replies One might wonder here at the cause of his Auditors Shouting For such of them as could understand what was meant by Greek and Latin Fathers one might expect should be Men of greater Wisdom and Gravity than to Shout in such Assemblies and for the Vndiscerning Mobb it was a subject so much above their Capacity and Pretences that it cannot be supposed they should Shout at that if they had not been excited thereunto by some little Antick Gesticulation from him But to the matter They shouted he says signifying their dislike that the Quakers Books should be prefer'd so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the days of the Apostles These are not my words I did not refer to the Times next to the days of the Apostles But my words were Who lived and writ in those Dark Times Must those Dark Times needs be next to the Days of the Apostles See what an unfair stretch is this Thus T. Ellwood And yet as unfair as G. K's stretch was the Snake has stretch'd beyond him and pronounces They the Quakers run them down by wholesale But whether it be so or not I leave with the sober Reader to judge and shall observe by the way that how jealously tender soever he is of the names of them he calls Ancient and Holy Fathers Yet Bishop Jewel being prest with some Authorities brought from them by his Opponent Harding the Jesuit makes no scruple to do what this Snake calls run them down by wholesake for applying to his Reader he says That Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World were brought against him And the Bishop then queries Who would not be afraid to see such an Army come against him Howbeit gentle Reader be of good Cheer all this is but a Camisado These be but Vizards they be no Faces they are brought in like Mummers for a Shew and say nothing Jewel against Harding p. 6. Printed 1566. What will the Snake think of the light Character given of Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World And were it proper in this place I could add plenty of Instances that many of the Reform'd have made so bold with those this Snake calls Ancient and Holy Fathers as to run them down If to discover their Errors and slight their Authority as incompetent when offered in Contradiction to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit which gave them forth be so Ibid. p. 194. But now what Quarters shall we have If the Snake ask for himself the answer is ready if it be such as he deserves it will be none of the best For one who tells Lyes for Bread and can pawn all the pretences of Religion upon the Score of Malice and base Design may easily guess what value is to be put upon such an Undertaking Ibid. p. 194. How shall we be able to stand before them It is a Question the Snake may well ask concerning himself after so many Injuries of divers sorts and so great Injustice as he is guilty of towards us the weight of which may well be some pressure upon a Spirit that is at all on this side Obduration Ibid. They damn us all together to Hell i. e. all Christians It is false we Damn none no not the Snake much less all Christians Ibid. But they are more favourable to the Heathen whom they think Worshippers of the same Light with them and not led to Outward Things by the Belief of an Outward Christ and Faith in his outward Sufferings Death c. This Snake has an unusual degree of Impudence for he is not contented only to suborn our Books and pervert our Words and forge Lyes but he does bely our very Thoughts and say we Think what we never declared we did Think For we have never declared That the Heathens indefinitely speaking were obedient to the Light of Jesus Christ But we have often said according to the Apostle Acts 10.35 In every Nation he who feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him And concerning the Heathen in particular with the Apostle Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves Which sheweth the work of the Law written in the Heart And of such Heathens who do thus shew forth the Work of the Law written in their Hearts we may say when considered and compared with meer Nominal Christians who have not known the Inward Vertue of what they believe Christ did Outwardly Suffer as our Saviour did say concerning the Pharisee and the Publican Luke 18.14 I tell you this Man departed to his house justified rather than the other For a Man may have a Historical Faith of all the Outward Things which are recorded in Holy Writ that Christ did and suffered Yet through disobedience to the Holy Spirit which Reproveth for Sin John 16.18 he may never know that Faith begotten in him which gives victory over the World Yet hence it 's not to be concluded that such who are obedient to the Holy Spirit in its Reproofs for Sin do therefore slight much less disbelieve any part of what Christ outwardly did and suffered No they cannot but must and do highly value and esteem It knowing the Benefits that we receive by it and do bless God that it is our Lots to have the means of the Knowledge of what Christ did outwardly do So that the Snake is most injuriously Abusive in his false Insinuations to the contrary The Snake now turns again to G. F's Great Mystery from whence not unlike the Quacks of the Town who of their pretended Panacea's boast they will cure all Diseases he pretends to fetch proofs for every Charge tho' contradictory to themselves but how falsly I have at least in some measure shewn As that the Quakers at first setting up pretended to be equal and of the same substance with God And it must also prove that the Quakers now abated from that and do now only claim to be Infallible as Prophets and Apostles Again Great Mystery must prove that there was a time when there was no God p. 122. And also that not the