they resist the Grace grieve the Spirit turn from the Way of the Light and are in a State of Death God hath been frequently pleased to move in the Hearts of the Obedient to visit the Rebellious that the Inward Strivings of the Holy Spirit might be the more Efficacious by its Strivings through some Outward Instruments but still it is the same Light Grace or Spirit of God Nor is the Light within any whit the more Insufficient to reclaim the Rebellious if minded for it is the same Light with that which moves in the Hearts of the Obedient to bear Record for God against their Ungodly Deeds Only Mens Minds being far strayed from that Holy Light or Word in the Heart and gone abroad into the wide World of Lusts and Vanities it hath pleased God to visit Mankind so degenerated by those who have been Obedient Children to the End they might be the more easily gained to a Subjection unto the Holy Light in themselves so that all Conviction and Conversion are to be ascribed to the Light Grace and Spirit of God whether immediately in the Creature or mediately by any Instrument Only take this by the way that whatsoever is Efficacious mediately is not to be understood simply of another Man's Measure of Light or Grace but in Conjunction with what God hath given and may be at work in the Party convicted and converting for every Mediate Conviction gives and Addition of Life and Strength to the Immediate Conviction that is wrought by the Operation of that so long neglected Measure of Light Grace or Truth in the particular Conscience We appeal then to every Impartial Person that reads us if we own not the Scriptures in that very Sense he would have People believe that we deny them to wit That God may and doth speak to People through the Writings of the Holy Prophets and Apostles which are commonly call'd Scriptures and consequently we do not deny the Scriptures to be any means by which we may come to know God Christ and Our selves so often as it shall please the Eternal God to reach into the Hearts of Men by any of those Truths therein declared of CHAP. VIII His Charge of our denying the Scriptures any means by which God does enable Men to resist Temptations and that we say they are Dangerous to be read rejected His Proofs Lame The Scriptures are believ'd to be a means c. The true Knowledge of them Divine No Knowledge of Divine Things but upon Experience It does not destroy Faith W. Penn's Words safe and sound The Priest a meer Shuffler Learning a Servant to Truth Christ the Word of God Faith by our Adversary prefer'd before Scripture The Scripture ought to be Read Believ'd and Obey'd § 1. HE further charges us with denying the Scriptures to be any Means whereby to resist Temptation and that we say That they are Dangerous to be read For Proof of which he quotes a Book called Love to the Lost and mine Entituled The Spirit of Truth Vindicated The first is this For those only are Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God to whom they who were led by the Letter were Enemies From whence he concludes That we account it a very dangerous thing to read the Scriptures Now if this Passage hath any relation to his Charge or Conclusion no Man ever saw the like the whole Scope of which is but this That there are Children of the Fleshly Literal and Historical Knowledge of the Scriptures and Religion who are Strangers to and therefore Persecutors of the Children born of the Spirit And that in all Ages there hath been more or less of this among Inward and Outward Jews and Christians and let J. Faldo deny it if he dare How Wicked then is he to extort indeed invent an Inference so forreign to the Matter and then charge it upon the Quakers in general and as if it were prov'd by that Passage in particular which can no wayes be concern'd in any such Unrighteous Doctrine I perceive it is as impossible for our Adversaries to do any thing against us without they have the Making of our Consequences as we are sure to find them mis-shapen enough by that time they get clear of their Hands but blessed be the Name of our God who has given us an Understanding and Boldness both to search the Reins of our Enemies Cause and defend his which he has put into our Hands in this our Day § 2. But hear him further if it may be worth while That this Abominable Tenet is the Quakers Take one Instance more out of their Famous Author W. P. or William Penn. But I will assure them they shall grope in the Dark till they come into the dayly Obedience of the Light and there rest contented to know only as they experience and not from a ravening comprehending Brain that would in its Unregenerated State grasp at the clear Mysteries of the Kingdom into which Fleshly Comprehensions and Notions can never enter but all must be as Unlearned from their first Birth Education and Traditional read Knowledge as he is unman'd that is again become a little Child before the Secrets of God's Work come to be made known Spir. Truth Vind. p. 23. Upon which hear his Comment That W. P. of all others should talk at this rate is most Ridiculous What! Know only as they experience know what God is no farther then they experience Can we experience his Omnipotency What! Know the Death of the Man Christ Jesus the Life to come and judging of all Men by the Lord Jesus only by Experience Where is Faith all the while If none but Believers are Saints such as W. P. are professedly none If Reader we are got beside the Matter charg'd against the Quakers to wit that they deny the Scriptures to be any Means whereby to resist Temptation our wandring Adversary who led me thither is only to be blam'd But since I am here I shall endeavour to clear the Truth and My self before we return to the Point in hand It cannot be so ridiculous in W. P. to assert the Impossibility of any Man 's Knowing God or the Things belonging to his Everlasting Kingdom but by Experience or as God hath been pleased by the Inspiration or Illumination of his Light or Spirit to demonstrate or discover unto Mankind as it is Impious and Antichristian in J. Faldo to assert the Right Knowledge of God obtainable any other way then by Experience And this Reader choaks J. Faldo and the rest of his Partners more then they are willing their Followers should know who for all their Cries against us as Overturners of a Gospel and Establishers of a Legal Righteousness dread the Consequence of having their own Strivings Runnings Willings and Literal Knowledge laid aside in which their Life Faith Worship and whole Religion mostly stand and of being reduced to the very Alphabet of Inward and Experimental Religion where the Righteous Judgements of
of private Spirits and not rather of the Holy Spirit of God and such only as were conformable to it § 11. His other Cavil confirms the Truth of my former Argument and his own great Ignorance or Baseness My words are these If God sends forth his Spirit into the Hearts of his Children then are they not without an Infallible Spirit grounded upon that Scripture Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts Gal. 4. 6. To which he sayes Your Adversaries have not so little Knowledge of the Spirit of God as to say the Spirit of God is Fallible nor yet so Ignorant of your Spirits and of the Scripture as to say you are Infallible Now I have two things to desire of the Ingenuous Reader First to find me out so much as one Syllable in my Argument that infers or concludes the Spirits of such to be Infallible into whose Hearts God has shed abroad his Infallible Spirit whether they are led by it or not or that I could intend a concluding of the Spirit of Man Infallible because God has given his own unto Men that is unquestionably so I am sure such a Thought never entred my Mind as fruitful of them as our Adversary may be Adversary I may well say not only because he is one but that he acknowledges to me as much which let him know however I am not such to him The Second thing I have to desire of the Candid Reader is that he would weigh with himself how Unjust this Man is to me to infer Infallibility to Men from my Affirming it to belong only to the Spirit of God And as if he fear'd I should not be as Heterodox as his Envy would have me to conclude on my Account from what I urged to prove That God's Children in all Ages had an Infallible Spirit to Judge Rule and Guide them the Affirmative of the very Question debated that is God's Spirit That every such one was Infallible in and from his own private Spirit Oh Monstrous Perversion I would impute it to his Mistake of me it being far better to be Ignorant than Dishonest but he will not let me who a little below has Impudence enough to write but we are NOT IGNORANT that your Principles make no Difference or Distinction between the Spirits of God's People and the Spirit of God manifestly intending not that they are at variance for so we should esteem his Charge a piece of Justice but that the Spirit of the Creature and the Spirit of God are but one Spirit An Absurdity that never fell from us How many times hath J. Faldo been guilty in his Discourse of plain Forgery and Dishonesty against us So certain as there is a God in Heaven terrible will his Judgment be in that great Day of Inquest if he repent not § 12. He makes a great Stir about my Checking the late Socinian for making Christ the Head of a Fallible Body saying If Christ be Head to none but the Infallible Wo to the poor Saints who have trusted hitherto they had a Head in Heaven who hath Pitty on the Ignorant and those that are out of the Way and I am sure Christ is then none of your Head We have enough and leave his very Ill Language out 1. It is granted to us that Christ is Head to a Fallible Body or at least to Fallible as well as Infallible I charge him to give us one Scripture for this or he is gone for all his idle Puns Shifts and scoffing Flings at us 2. That a Man may be a Saint which if we take it strictly is one of that Number the Apostle prayed the Churches might be of I mean those which were sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit I say that a Man may be such a Saint and yet be Fallible or Erring 3. That the Saints are Ignorant and out of the Way Truly this Doctrine very well becomes J. Faldo I had rather it should be his then mine I will venture them in the Scale of Truth without thinking I run an Hazard in the Matter especially when if I err that hinders not from being a Saint Member of Christ But J. Faldo can a Man be a Saint and yet Ignorant of so much of God as is requisit to constitute him such Or can he be such and yet out of that Way which renders him a true Saint It is the first time that I ever heard in so many words that a Man might be a Saint and out of God's Way Oh Doctrine of Devils No Marvel so many Unclean Fowls flock to this Carkass What! Saints and err from God's Way Strange Saints and ignorant of God's Mind It seems then that neither Ignorance nor Erring from God's Way indispose any to be Saints If this be not a plain Contradiction to the whole Record of Scripture none ever was is or shall be esteemed such to the End of the World How many how grievous and how sharp have God's Complaints been against those who have left the Right Way of the Lord which has been the Way of Light and Righteousness the Just Man's Path through every Generation No Wonder that such Doctrines are hoth greedily received and furiously maintained that sooth up People in the Belief of such Pernicious Soul-murdering Doctrines And the Truth is and I do boldly affirm it and that in the Counsel of the Eternal God it is our striking so constantly and earnestly at this and such like Sin-pleasing Principles that makes the Devil thus bestir himself in his ready Agents to raise up and bespatter us with such heavy Calumnies as almost every one produceth against us But we lose not an Inch of Ground nor a Dram of Courage our Godly Resolution redoubles with our Adversaries On-sets and whatever may befall us here as our Hope so our Reward is from God in that high and heavenly Place which is above the Reach of Time and every Assault of our Implacable Adversaries § 13. He tells me He might proceed to my fallacious Arguing from the Spirit 's Teaching indefinitely expressed that is by Scripture Visions Providences c. means our Adversary to its Teaching peculiarly frequently in my Pampblet pag. 18 29 c. that is to the Spirit 's Teaching Men and Women by its daily and Inward Discoveries Motions and Operations But he will not the Reason is he dare not For if the Spirit be not an Immediate Living Teacher and works not as such to the Information Conviction and Conversion of Men to God in these dayes let him for Shame relinquish all Pretence to Gospel or an Evangelical Dispensation of which it is the peculiar Promise and Priviledge § 14. Though for want of better Language he is pleased to bestow upon this Godly Proposition the Term of Beetle-headed Saying and affirms that the Scripture knows nothing of it For which I may more reasonably affirm that He knows nothing of it For can this Man be
and none such had ever yet come to my hand But upon my sober Perusal of the Matter I found this to be the Upshot That the Quakers Deny them to be the Word of God therefore they deny them altogether Whence I take good Heart to show his Ignorance or great Dishonesty § 3. I will allow to him without going any farther that the People called Quakers do deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God and therefore shall take for granted what he quotes out of J. N. F. Howgil J. Parnel and W. Smith But that we do consequently Deny the Scriptures we shall oppose we hope to the Death § 4. I do declare to the whole World that We believe the Scriptures to contain a Declaration of the Mind and Will of God in and to those Ages in which they were written being given forth by the Holy Ghost moving in the Hearts of holy Men of God That they ought also to be Believed Read and Fulfill'd in our Day being Useful for Reproof and Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect And that they have been and are Instrumental to great Good upon the Spirits of People by the secret Power of God which often strikes and presseth home to the very Conscience the weighty Truths declar'd therein yet We do Deny them to be the Word of God ascribing that alone to Christ himself and that not without Scripture and Reason § 5. First It is granted on all hands that Christ is expresly called in Scripture the Word of God but no where that the Scriptures are so styled Secondly That though I should allow it to be a Figurative Expression and therefore says our Adversary Improper yet because a Word among Men conveyes the Mind of one unto another and that Christ is the great Word of God that in all Ages hath convey'd or spoken the Mind of God unto Mankind and so the Author of all good Words he only may by way of Right and Excellency be so styl'd of Us. Thirdly I shall easily grant to him that one Word may stand representative of many and that the Ten Words were not Ten Numerical Words because each Word contained many yet this I will say that Word in Scripture is taken for Commandment and they have an equivalent Signification as in Deuteronomy may be seen And since that was the Import of the Ten Words to wit Ten Commandments each Word has its own Commandment Therefore it is no more against us to allow those Ten Words to be more then Ten Words then Ten Commandments to have more then Ten Words And whatever our Adversaries may say or think of us We therefore Decline to call the Scriptures the Word of God because we believe It to be a Title only due to that Living Quickning Word by which God vouchsafes to disclose his Mind and Will unto Man-kind Christ the Way to the Father § 6. But sayes our Adversary to this Argument The Word was God therefore the Scriptures cannot be the Word because they are not God Let me tell you that the Scripture may be the Word and Christ the Word also and yet though Christ be the Word of God the Scriptures the Word may be quite another thing Certain I am this is quite another thing then good Doctrine How can the Scriptures be the Word of God and Christ the Word of God too Are there two Distinct Words of God the one quite another thing from the other O shameful Arguing If he had said Christ is the Word of God and the Scriptures a Word of God he would have a little better hit the Mark But to assert Two General Comprehensive Words of God sounds Harsh and Inconsistent I would fain know in Case we should admit this absurd Assertion how he would distinguish between these Two General Comprehensive Words For my part I think it as good Sense to call a King's Letters King or an Ambassador's Credential's Ambassador O no says our Adversary you Mistake Christ is called a Light a Rock a Lyon will it thence follow that there are no other Lights Rocks or Lyons I Answer There is no other Light Rock or Lyon then Christ with respect to That for which He is so call'd Neither is there any other Word then Christ with respect to that for which he is so styl'd to wit God's Living Powerful Word And this decides the Controversie and plainly adjudges us the Matter against the utmost Force of our Adversary to the Contrary For if he is therefore a Light because he only can and doth Discover the Unfruitful Works of Darkness a Rock because whoever build on Him is Safe and a Lyon because the King of all whose Utterings are able to Terrifie all Destruction from his Walks but what he brings upon his Adversaries and therefore there is not another Light to inlighten Man's Soul or Rock for Christ's Church to be built on neither any other Lyon to secure them from the Devourer consequently because he is the Living Spiritual Powerful Word of God there is not another that 's The Word of God § 7. But he further says That the Word of God is so exprest in Scripture as it must needs be understood not of Christ but the Scriptures He that regardeth not the Word of the Lord. He that feared the Word of the Lord Stand thou still a while that I may shew thee the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God And the Cares of the World choak the Word and it becometh Unfruitful Mark 4. 19. which saith he cannot be understood of Christ or God and that a little Skill in the Original would free us from these Mistakes and to that Purpose To which I answer that the Word of the Lord mention'd in Exodus and Samuel are properly to be understood of the Living Spiritual Word of God which spoke to the People through those Servants of the Lord For who Received or Rejected the Mind of that Word exprest in many Words received the Word and it had a place in their Hearts or else rejected it and it had no place in them This makes nothing against us in the least For that Passage in the Ephesians Beza whom he quotes I suppose as embracing his Judgment has determin'd the Matter for he has it the Spiritual Sword Then let us read the Words thus The Spiritual Sword is the Word of God or The Word of God is the Spiritual Sword For Christ is as truly a Sword an Ax a Fire which the Word of God is call'd as a Lyon a Rock a Door And for the last Passage out of Mark which seems to carry most of Weight in it for our Adversary it may rightly be understood of that Truth which Christ the Word livingly sows in the Hearts of Men Women the Word of Advice Reproof Instruction and the like But of the Scriptures it cannot be understood as neither can any of the other places For first those
of God in the Hearts of Men Consequently not the Scriptures but the Light was is most properly The general Rule The middle Proposition only to be excepted against is clear in that before the Scriptures were writ and since where they have not been known Men have been are Convinc'd Reprov'd Inclined Taught Order'd and Ruled by the inward Appearance of God's Light in the Conscience And among those who are called Christians let them be just to God and their own Souls and they must confess that there is something very near them when the Scriptures are quite remote both from their Persons and their Thoughts which upon any Miscarriage is as a swift Witness to smite and upon the approach of Temptation is as quick to warn and diswade the Mind from falling into the Foulness of it Is not this then more Living Immediate and General that neither Sea nor Land Day nor Night nor any condition but a Seared Conscience can exempt People or deliver them from the secret living and sensible Touches of this holy Witness whether they be to Counsel Justifie or Condemn This searcheth the Heart this tryeth the Reins of which David said It had made him Wiser then his Teachers who read and expounded the outward Law unto him § 4. And indeed it is unworthy of the Excellency of the Administration of Life it self more glorious then that of Condemnation the State of the Law that an outward Book though declaratory of never so much good and not the Good it self should be the sole general Rule of such as are under it What is it but to subject the Spirituallity of the Gospel to the Letter of the Law And thus much worse that then it self they had either the daily Living Voice of God or a Law engraven on Stone whilst the Scriptures which they call the present Gospel Rule are but in Paper But can any true Christian think that God is so wanting to his Promise who promised to Write a Law in the Hearts of his People as to bound them by meer Literal Prescripts No surely but much rather that the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which he promised to write in the Hearts of Men and Women should be the Rule of this Administration which is a Living Powerfull Rule present upon all Occasions and in all straights and ready to assist with Counsel Wisdom and Knowledge all who act agreeably to the Mind of God who will reward every Man according to his Works So that J. Parnel and W. S. their Expressions are clear'd For J. N's the last of the three it was not written in Derision of Scripture as is unworthily suggested but to prove that God is not limited to Instruments God whose holy Spirit is the living substantial Rule may appear after divers Manners either by bringing into the very Conscience the Truth of some weighty Passage in the Scripture or by a Ministry or any other Way yea by Balaams Ass to Balaam and that without Blasphemy or Prophaneness For by whom or what may not the Almighty direct the Sons of Men still it was not so mean a Creature as an Ass which God spoke by to aggravate the Stupidity of Balaam and greaten the Miracle No Nor the Apostles themselves much less their Writings but the Word of the Lord that was as a Fire to the Workers of Iniquity and Sanctification and Reconciliation to them that believe it That was the True Rule wherefore said the Prophet Hear the Word of the Lord. What Word that nigh in the Heart which Moses and Paul preach'd Still the outward Instrument is not the Rule the Prophet is not the Rule the Apostle is not the Rule much less are their Writings being they are but all external Instruments And this I will abide by against all the Insults of our Enemies by God's Assistance that both they are but such Instruments and that such Instruments are not the Gospel-Rule but that Light Life Power or Spirit which useth them and who attributes that Honour to the Instrument which is due to the chief Mover in it or by it commits down-right Idolatry Therefore what is flung upon the Quakers by their Adversaries is more justly chargeable upon their Adversaries But we cannot help it if that People will not work through the Outward to the Inward the Writings or Persons to the Light Life and Power that employ them for any Use or Service in the World Nor shall we ever be condemned of God that we therefore decline to attribute those Titles to the Scriptures otherwise worthy above all Books which are only due to that which gave them forth especially since what we believe in the Matter is with an holy Fear and Reverence towards our God and Good-Will towards all Men. § 5. But he Objects 1 That what is therein affirmed by the Lord we ought to believe proved from Christ's Words O Fools and slow of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luk. 24 25. 2 That what is thereby commanded not being repeal'd by the coming of Christ it is our Duty to obey Deut. 5. 34. 3 That the holy Scriptures do in their kind determine or discover to us whether we believe and walk or practice aright or not proved hence All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be Perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works and herein all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets do I excercise my self to have a Conscience void of Offence 2 Tim. 3. 16. 17. Acts 24. 16. To all which I say we do with him acknowledge that whatever the Lord hath by his Prophets and Apostles who writ the Scripture affirmed and required taking in his Exception about Christ's Coming it is our Duty both to Believe and Obey so that there is no Difficulty in that Matter For the last Passage there is some sober Scruple in our Minds about it For there are manifest Contests in the World both about Faith and Practice They result not from the Scriptures I grant but that they proceed from Mens wrong Apprehensions of Scripture in a great Measure that I affirm and I know no Man so stupid as to deny Now I would fain know which way those wrong Apprehensions are to be rectified He says by Scripture I say Not for the Key is wanting What is that Key may some say The Spirit of Truth who gave them forth Who can explain any Man's Mind so well as Himself in a Matter wherein he is not rightly understood or it is hard to understand Him And if none but what is indued with Reason is capable of understanding a Rational Proposition Neither can any Man whatever understand spiritual Propositions or Propositions about spiritual Matters in the Scriptures but by the Illumination of the Holy Spirit in some Degree or other This is so clear that the Sun is
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
spin out the Hour-Glass I mean saying over the same things in other words yet that we may remove all Ground of Scruple I will lay down the several Charges of the remaining Chapters concerning the Scriptures and the best Proofs he brings for them and briefly examine both § 2. The Quakers affirm the Doctrines Commands Promises holy Examples expressed in the Scriptures as such not at all to be binding to us This sayes he is a Denying of the Scriptures and the Authority of the God of the Scriptures For Proof of this he brings out E. Burroughs Speaking thus That is no Command of God to me what he Commanded to another neither did any of the Saints which we read of in the Scripture act by that Command which was to another not having the Command to themselves I challenge to find an Example to it To this I answer briefly and plainly Edward Burroughs's Expression may be taken two wayes and both safe enough to the Honour and Credit of the Scriptures though not to the Charity or Honesty of J. Faldo No Command in the Scripture is any further oblieging upon any Man then as he finds a Conviction upon his Conscience otherwise Men should be engaged without if not against Conviction a Thing Unreasonable in a Man Therefore the Apostle when he wrote to the Churches exhorted them Not to do those things whereof they were ashamed to shun what was manifested to be Evil and affirms That whatever might be known of God was manifested Within for God had shown it unto them So that Conviction can only obliege to Obedience and since what works that Conviction is the Manifesting Light Universal Grace or Quickning Spirit in the Heart of Mankind it follows that the principal Ground for our Faith in the Scriptures and Reason of our Obedience to the Holy Precepts therein contained is the Manifestation Conviction and Secret Drawings of the Light or Spirit of God in the Conscience And thus E. B's Words are Sound and Scriptural for the Scriptures are chiefly believed to be true upon Conviction therefore every Practice therein and when any Man is convinced that what was Commanded another is required of him then and not till then he is rightly authoriz'd to perform it Again § 3. Such Commands are either relating to Ordinary or Extraordinary Cases By Ordinary Cases I mean such as chiefly concern Faith and Holy Life which are General Permanent and Indispensible and then I deny his Consequence By Extraordinary Cases I understand Moses ' s going to Pharaoh the Prophets several Manner of Appearance to the Kings Priests and People of Israel with other Temporary Commands relating to Outward Services c. And so we do say that what is Commanded one Man is not binding as such upon another But when the Lord shall say If thou Sinnest thou shalt Dye If thou keepest my Commands thou shalt Live Be ye Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy Also in case of Example as the Priest cites Whose Faith follow consider the End of their Conversation Leaving us an Example that we should follow his Steps For your selves know you not how you ought to follow us For after this manner in the old time the Holy Women also who trusted in God adorn'd themselves I say these Precepts and Examples are oblieging upon all Why because they more or less meet with a Conviction in the Consciences of all For I am perswaded none that has a reasonable Soul who has not out-lived their Day and on whom the Night is not come among the Indians themselves but would readily say These are true and weighty Sayings for Faith in God and an Holy Self-denying Life are necessary both to Temporal and Eternal Happiness Thus then are we clear from his Ungodly Consequence indeed Aspersion to wit That the Quakers affirm the Doctrines Commands Promises Holy Examples expressed in Scripture as such not to be binding But let 's hear another of his Consequences by way of Charge and see if he will acquit himself better then before § 4. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be any Means by which we may come to know God Christ and Our selves To prove this he quotes W. Smith's Primmer p. 2. Q. Is there not another Way by which we may come to know God Answ Nay Child there is not another Way for Christ is the Way To which he replies Christ saith I am the Way no Man can come to the Father but by me but he doth not say that there is no Coming to the Knowledge of God but by Christ For some Knowledge of God may be attained not only without Christ as the Means but without the Scriptures also Quoting that Passage in the first of the Romans For the Invisible Things of him are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made c. To all which I say 1. That greater Untruth Irreverence and Impertinency could not well have been exprest then in his saying That no Man can come to the Father but by Christ and no Man can come to the Knowledge of God but by Christ are two different things For it manifestly implies that Men may know God without Christ either inwardly or outwardly though no other Name be given and that to know the Father was to know some other kind of Being then to know God Or that when they did know the one they did not know the other 2. That it was never denyed by any Quaker that God might and sometimes does reach into the very Heart and Conscience by the Scriptures Shall I allow that a Man may be convinced of his Evil by reading one of our Books and shall I deny it to be as possible for any to be convinced by reading some Passages in the Holy Scriptures God forbid Neither did William Smith ever mean that Christ was so the only Way to the Father as thereby to exclude all Instruments for then he had both cut off all Benefit that could accrue to People by his Books and also from that Ministry God had given him to profit others with which was far from his Thoughts we may be sure So that the great Wickedness of this Priest is herein manifest without further Cost to know him for he argues from our denying that there is any other Way to the Father but Christ to our excluding the Scriptures and consequently our own Books and Ministry with them from being any way Instrumental of Good Reader what can be said to such a Man but that he is either Ignorance or Malice it Self I wish it were the former but his Book makes me fear the latter § 5. In short through all Instruments He who in time and with respect to that Manifestation was call'd Christ was is and ever will be the alone Way to the Father And though he may discover himself by divers Instruments yet it is but in order to incline Man to his Holy Voice in Man Some they hear and obey and live Others
God are known for Sin which they shake off on another mistaken Account and in this Mystery the Devil works most subtilly and vigorously against the Light of Christ within and its True and Holy Birth § 3. But says he How Know God's Omnipotency experimentally Very well say I against the Folly of this cavilling Priest Experience is Demonstration and the World without and the Redemption I know within which no Power but what is Almighty could ever have effected make up that Demonstration which is that Experience therefore I only know God's Omnipotency by Experience § 4. But is it thus that you know Christ died that there shall be a Judgment and an Immortality I answer not altogether thus One Part is Matter of Story and is believed first Historically upon the Credit of History and then upon the Account of Inward Conviction too The other is Knowable only upon Experience For we feel in our selves Rewards and Punishments for Good and Evil in this Life and receive them as Earnests of what will attend Man-kind in the next And we have an inward Sence of a never dying Life which as we are Gather'd into it and Grow up in it we shall Inherit Eternal Felicity and as there is an Erring from that Holy Spirit of Life the Wages of such Rebellion will be the direful Portion of Death and Misery to every Soul forever § 5. Nor does this clash with Faith whatever the Priest would suggest For Faith is a believing in or relying upon God with respect to a further Knowledge and Enjoyment of him which no wayes impugnes or withstands a Knowledge of God upon Experience so far as Men do experience wherein they simply believe they do not yet so perfectly experience which ends Faith yet it abides certain that when they do experience that further Revelation of the Goodness and Mercy and Riches of the Love of God as the End of their Faith then and not before they may be said to know those things Why then should we be denyed to conclude and that most rightly that to Know and to Experience are equivalent Terms No Knowledge without Experience no Experience without Knowledge And though Men may believe in a further Enjoyment of what they now have but an Earnest of yet that as such they know not consequently they experience it not And so much this insolent Vilifier of that serious Expression confesseth to us and disputes for as he thinks against us when he sayes where is Faith all the while and if none but Believers be Saints such as W. P. are professedly none Since then my Affirming no Knowledge of God without Experience strikes not at Faith because Faith says our Adversary is not a clear knowing but believing or relying upon God as to things not yet clearly known and enjoyed what has the Man been a doing all the while But here was his shameful Mistake and Contradiction That Knowing and Believing are one and the same thing and this I will make appear from his own Words and a Contradiction to himself at the End of it § 6. He quarrels my affirming all Knowledge to rest upon Experience and opposes to it this question Can we experience his Omnipotency as much as to say yet we know it else he queries impertinently If so then that God's Omnipotency may be known and not Experienced the purport of his Query it must be only by Faith and if by Faith then a Man may certainly know any thing to be what it is and yet at the same time only believe it to be so which he as earnestly withstands when he asks Where is Faith all the while c. I would then sain be resolv'd whether that Man suppose J. Faldo who says that Knowing and Believing are One and Knowing and Experiencing are Contraries be more ridiculous or W. P. who affirms that Faith which stricktly taken is but an Evidence of things not yet clearly seen experienc'd or known and Knowing are not one and the same thing and that experiencing and knowing can never be Contraries § 7. I would advise this Priest to be less conceited and better grounded the next time he has to do with us for even in those places where he seems most Insulting he appeares most Weak Reader what we experience we know and from hence are taught to believe that Fulness to be in God which we can never comprehensively Know so that our Knowing God from Experience does not weaken Faith but as Enjoyment is the End of Faith so from thence great Encouragement is to be taken to press on from Faith to Faith till there is an Arriving at the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ But he leaves not off here § 8. I shall not Comment on his ravening comprehending Brain a most affected Pharisee among the Quakers nor his clear Mysteries as clear a Contradiction as it is nor Fleshly Comprehensions as much Untruth and Non-sense as according to their Meaning of it it Comprehends for I have not Room to spread all his Rubbish I wonder not at his course Usage of me 't is like a Man of his Breeding Fury and Profession there is abundantly more yet behind some of which will be observ'd in a more proper place But to reply Ravening is a most proper Word and due to J. Faldo with his whole Tribe of Priests and if he will Raving too some few more moderate ones excepted for we commonly understand by a Ravenous Dog one that is Greedy Sharp-set that hunts hard for Prey that snatches and ketches at every thing it likes or may answer his hungry Appetite now whether this may relate to that greedy pursuit of the Priests after Hire the Bason the Box the Purse or that insatiable Thirst they have after Knowledge of those Religious Matters which were the dear-bought Experiences of ancient Saints whilst Strangers to the Fiery and Refining Judgments of the Lord through which alone it is obtained certain it is that the Word is most aptly used by the Quakers against that Ravenous Generation § 9. Comprehending Brain is compassing or mastering of any thing in the Understanding and where People are more studious to fill their Heads with Knowledge then to adorn their Hearts with Righteousness we use those Words in a way of Reproof Since having learnt of God what we know of him through the Operation of his Light in our Consciences it is our Testimony and our work in the World to beat down that Thirsting Spirit after much Head-Knowledge and press all to the continual Observance of an humble and constant Obedience to the Grace of God manifested in their Hearts that teacheth to deny all Ungodliness and Worldy Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godlikely in this present Evil World which is the Undefiled Religion Nor his Clear Mysteries as clear a Contradiction as it is It was not Clear but Clean in my Copy which I suppose I can produce and has been so corrected by me Ingenuous Men
is some thing more Immediate Living Spiritual and Inward and that brings Thoughts Words and Deeds to Light savours relishes discovers and accepts or condemns In short thus if whatever makes manifest is Light then because the Thoughts Words and Deeds of Men and Women have been manifested unto them in all Ages as well before Scritures were and where they have not been as since they were and where they have been it follows that they had Light and that the same Light cannot be the Scriptures though the Matter Written called Scriptures was manifested by that Light to the holy Pen-men before they were written which still makes for the Authority of the Light within The Priest exhorts us to that he endeavours to overthrow and with which holy Armour we have fairly foyl'd him in his own Field The same may be said of the Word of God though not of the Scriptures any further then the sharp-Word of God may speak or pierce through them into the Consciences for with good Reason do we affirm that the Scriptures or Writings are not that Sword but that from whence they came The word was a Fire an Hammer a Sword in the Prophets But the Words or Writings it spoke by were not that Fire Hammer nor Sword neither bad they any other Edge then what the Word put upon them To the same purpose may I argue against their being the Off spring of God properly for as such they could not be subject to Casuality God's Off-spring is more Living and Eternal that Word is to high for properly taken I mean as Writings they were the Off-spring of the Writers only but the Truth they declare of is of God and that will abide forever § 12. But upon the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God he has a pretty Fetch Faith in the 16. verse is preferred above the Word in the 17. verse Therefore it is not Christ the Word but the Scriptures the Word for Faith is not above Christ But neither will this do his Business and a Shame it is that this Man should bring these Places to prove that the Scriptures are Means whereby to resist Temptation which concern them not especially this in hand unless he would have Faith to be the Scriptures or Word of God in his Sense which as it is absurd so it will by him be denied since he allows the Faith to be preferr'd above the Word of God therefore distinct from it and not Consequently the same with it And should we grant to him That Christ is not understood by the Word of God but the Scriptures yet observe the fatal Blow his Cause receives at his own Hand Every true Christian hath Faith that Faith is above the Scriptures therefore every true Christian hath some thing in him above the Scriptures Every true Faith overcomes the World and quenches the fiery Darts of Satan consequently Temptations therefore not so properly the Scriptures but true Faith which is preferred above them and resists Temptations and overcomes the World The just they live by Faith but Faith is above the Scripture Therefore the Just live by that which is above the Scriptures and of course the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith for how can any thing be ruled by that which is inferiour to it Thus much we get granting to him that the Scriptures are that Word of God But we deny that Gloss too For the Spiritual Sword as he says Beza renders it which is that Word of God must be at least of the Nature of that rest of the Armour mentioned in that Chapter I mean of an Invisible Spiritual Nature which the Bible as a meer Writing is not If any should say but the Truth it declares of I say so to and the very Words when by the living Word brought into the Conscience do Pinch Prick and Wound but then that Operation comes from the Power of the Word which through them reacheth into the Heart of the Creature and so the Words without and the Word within carry a double Conviction with them But said Christ to the Devil it is written what then therefore must the Quakers needs deny the Scriptures to be any Means to resist Temptation Or rather are they not such Means when God is pleased to use them which I am sure no right Quaker ever denyed Besides it was Reasonable that Christ should so answer set that Power aside which fill'd up those Words and chained Satan because the Devil used Scripture to prevail upon him as the place proves However we deny not but confess that where-ever God is pleased to speak by any place of Scripture to a tempted Soul the Scripture may be very well acknowledg'd to be a Means by which God scatters such Doubts and Dispondencies and gives Power over Temptations and that it may often so occur Yet we would not have People fly to them as what of themselves may be sufficient but rather have Recourse to that Divine Faith which the Scriptures testifie is able to Quench the fiery Darts and Overcome the Temptations of this World and which J. Faldo has largely confest is to be preferred above the Scriptures themselves § 13. The other part of his Charge to wit That they are dangerous to be read has been answer'd again and again We say Let them that read understand fear believe and Obey and then they will read worthily otherwise men read their own Condemnation and Destruction For the Holy Truths they declare of are not to be seen known or injoyed by every Prophane nor yet professing Person that reads them they are a sealed Book to all who err from and despise that Word of God nigh in the Heart which originally gave them forth and now bears living record to them Blessed are they that rightly Understand and Do them to such they are of great Price CHAP. IX That we do not put the Scripture and Holy Spirit in Opposition The Wickedness of the Priest in his Proof They accord and we acquiesce in their Testimony We do not say that they are not to be obey'd without extraordinary Apostolical Revelation as basely suggested His Proof fictitious and forg'd Such only are by us deny'd as are only Literal Formal Christians The Scriptures own'd and believ'd in by us according as they testifie of themselves § 1. TO close up his false Charges against us about the Scriptures though I thought not to bestow so much time about him be pleased to hear him and his Testimonies which he thinks sufficient to prove what he sayes of us to be true § 2. That the Quakers put the Scriptures and the Spirit of God in Opposition to each other To make this good he quotes W. Smith thus Traditions of Men Earthly Root Darkness and Confusion Nebuchadnezar's Image Putrefaction and Corruption Rotten and Deceitful all out of the Life and Power of God Apostacy the Whore's Cup the Mark of the Beast Babylon the Mother Bastards brought forth of
Let him find me says J. Faldo such a Scripture and I will be bound to turn Quaker I perceive the Man thinks he can turn Quaker much at the rate he can Pray I mean when he will but I will tell him so much that it is as hard a Task for him to turn True Quaker as to be a true primitive Christian a thing most difficult to be sure But to his Quibble about But that J. Parnel has told a I willfull Untruth in saying the Baptism is but One suppose it will be allow'd that there was one Baptism in the same sense that there was one Lord one Faith Now if there is but One Lord One Faith as it is to be supposed J. Faldo believes why should it be so Criminal to say there is but One Baptism If saying there is one Lord and one Faith be synonimous or equivalent with affirming that there is but one Lord and one Faith I cannot see how it should be an Untruth to say that there is One Baptism is one and the same thing wish our saying there is but One Baptism In short if there is more then One Baptism because the Apostle does not say there is but one Baptism then there are more Gospels Lords and Faiths because the Apostle did not say there was but one Gospel but one Lord and but one Faith consequently there may be many Gospels Lords and Faiths as well as Baptisms § 7. Enough of this Weakness His Strength follows Water-Baptism is the Sign the Baptism of the Spirit something but not all signified Now to call the Thing signifying and signified by the same Name doth not make them Two of that Name no more then there were two New Covenants because both the Matter contained in it Hebr. 8. 10. and Circumcision the Sign Gen. 17. 13. are called the Covenant I shall grant to him that the Thing signifying and signified are sometimes called by one and the same Name as Baptism But when distinguisht by Water and Holy Ghost I hope nothing that is not as blind or hardened as J. Faldo if yet he himself will say that therefore they are but One Baptism Christ himself distinguishes betwixt John's and his Baptism and himself and his Baptism And frequently his Apostles yea the Baptist himself seem'd to take all Occasions whereby to let People know that his Baptism was but that of Water and that the Baptism of Christ was not of Water but of the Holy Ghost as the Scriptures in the Margent plainly prove So in the Word Circumcision compounded of the same Letters and Syllables let it be used to express that of the Body or the Flesh or that of the Heart in Spirit Yet it is to be hoped that none will conclude there were not Two Circumcisions and so Two Jews the one Inward and the other Outward Though now he is no more a Jew that 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 § 8. And should we grant him what he desires as to the same Name being applicable to the Sign and the Thing signified yet Weak and Wretched must his Sophism appear to all clear-sighted Readers For if therefore the Baptism of Water and of the Spirit are One because the same Word is applicable to the Sign and the Thing signified and in that sense they are both of them One Baptism Then by just Consequence must the Circumcision outwardly in the Flesh and the Circumcision of the Heart in the Spirit be One because the Word of it self is equally applicable to both and Consequently they are both of them One Circumcision And here but must and will be allow'd us What Jew Living could have reason'd better for the Continuation and Perpetuity of Circumcision But because he has said nothing here for Baptism more then what may be said for Circumcision and that Circumcision is utterly exploded of the Christian Religion as a Sign whose Signification is come and therefore no more a Sign our Assertion of the One Spiritual Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost as onely upon the same Fundation proper to Christ's Kingdom doth remain fix and Immoveable against all the Batteries of our Adversary CHAP. XVI The Supper he says we deny not deny'd but fulfil'd The Scriptures Consulted No Perpetuity prov'd That it was a Sign And that Signs were done away in Christ demonstrated The present Practice in the Case not primitive Our Faith left with God in the Matter § 1. BUt the Quakers he says disown the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper to be now a Gospel-Ordinance for which he cites J. Parnel a Young Man often in his Eye now dead as he was grieveously so to J. Faldo's Brethren the Independents at Cogshall in Essex who by unparallel'd and never to be forgotten Cruelties murder'd him as may be seen in my Second part of our serious Apology pag. 185. 186. 187. His words as he quotes them are these For the Bread which the World breaks is Natural and Carnal so also the Cup which they drink and here is no Communion but what is Outward and Carnal Shield of Truth pag. 13. Also W. Smith thus They Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper are the Popes Invention His Primm pag. 39. To the first Citation I answer that the Bread and Wine being of an Outward Elementary Nature and Substance may with respect to what they signifie be very properly tearmed Natural and Carnal for so they are And the World that is those who are doing it upon meer Imitation and not from any Heavenly Commission they see no further and their Communion may well be said to be Natural Outward and Carnal To the second I do challenge J. Faldo to make it good and require it at his Hand in the View of the World to produce any such words out of W. Smiths Books and that he may not plead Mistake of Authors I will give him the Scope of all our Books Friends to prove that we ever call'd the Bread and Wine Christ blest the Invention of the Pope O ungodly Man What hast thou done that God should thus give thee up not onely to believe Lyes thy self but to endeavour to make others do the like Thy Book shall be a Milstone about thy Neck in the Day of the righteous and terrible Judgments of Almighty God We deny the Expression and lay the Slander at John Faldo's door § 2. But the Quakers main Objection says he is that Christ is come in Spirit to them and his Disciples were to do it in Remembrance of him till he came therefore this Precept doth not binde them J. Faldo pretends thus to answer But who would think that Christ in the Spirit was not come either in shedding it abroad miraculously as in the 2. of the Acts or as a
Sanctifier in the Hearts of his People when the Disciples and whole Church of Jerusalem were so frequent in this Ordinance and when the Apostle Paul tells us to the Corinthians The Bread which we break c. it was for those to whom Christ was come by a Spirit of Sanctification not those in a State of Sin unconverted to Christ That I may briefly and fully reply be pleas'd to observe 1 That we don't deny Bread and Wine to have been given and that by Command of Christ to his Disciples 2 That it was a Sign to them of that Life he would give for the World and which at that time they were weak in the Knowledge of 3 We believe the Life most eminently meant and which they were to do it in the Remembrance of was that Flesh and Blood that in the 6. of John he said Who did not eat nor drink thereof should have no Life in them and which 5. verses after he calls the Bread that came down from Heaven 4 'T is our Faith that this heavenly Bread and Wine and Flesh and Blood which such were to eat of that would have Life Eternal for which he came and of which the Disciples themselves were then so ignorant was the Thing signified by the Sign Christ gave his Disciples 5 That Sign is no longer of force in Point of Institution then till the thing signified is come so that who truly witness the Coming of Christ into their Souls and the Eternal Bread of Life or Flesh and Blood to nourish are rightly come to an End of the Sign and Figure 6 That Christ did so come is evident from many Scriptures There be some standing here that shall not taste of Death said he till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom I will not leave you Comfortless I will come to you Implying that he was the Comforter that should come to them after the with-drawing of that Outward Appearance which was expedient for them to be done He that is with you shall be in you and abundance to the same purpose 7 That the Practice of it after the Pouring forth of the Spirit is not neither can it be any Institution or so much as a Continuance of it upon an Institution any more then the Apostles forbearing several things lawful in themselves that were upon the Command of the Jewish Ceremonial Law forbidden The Circumcision of many Gentiles and above all the Apostle Paul's Purifying of himself at the Temple of Jerusalem after he had been near thirty years a Christian or Gospel-Preacher and consequently a Thrower-down and Demolisher both of the Temple and all its Ceremonial Worship 8 That every one who believed and were in some measure turned to the Christian Religion and were accounted Members of the several Churches because of such Profession did not presently come to know Christ after the Spirit or discern his spiritual Manifestation and whilst they were as yet Weak and Carnal in their Conceptions of Christ believing in him and accounting of him but after the Flesh a Knowledg of him the Apostle himself confesseth once but to have had the Outward Bread and Wine might be suitable to that sort of Belief and a Sign showing forth a more Spiritual Internal Bread and Cup which the Apostle in the same fore-going Chapter to the Corinthians expresseth thus FOR WE BEING MANY ARE ONE BREAD AND ONE BODY FOR WE ARE ALL PARTAKERS OF THAT ONE BREAD The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ I speak as to wise Men Judge ye what I say Which evidently imports a more Inward Heavenly Bread Fellowship and Communion both with Christ and one and another 9 It ought not to stumble any that it should last to that Day and yet be laid aside Now For Customs when once introduc'd and receiv'd are not easy to be relinquish't or left off and it having been the Token Christ gave to his Disciples in the time of their great Weakness Fear and Unbelief concerning him it was quickly embrac'd and imitated by such as believ'd especially Jews who just coming out of a Multitude of External Services were ready to make part of their Religion consist therein But as such came to grow into the true Jews State they saw beyond all Exteriour Signs and Services And that nothing which could be tasted or handl'd and that perisht with the Using and that could never clense the Conscience from dead Works but were the Shaddows only of Christ the Living Eternal Substance and Bread of Life could be a standing Ordinance of the Everlasting Gospel § 3. And truly when I have somtimes consider'd the Apostle Paul's Inspir'd Epistles to his beloved Timothy that among the many weighty plain and necessary things therein declared recommended for the Encrease of Godliness and good Order in the Church of Christ he should be wanting to express something about these two Points of Water-Baptism the Lord's Supper so call'd and insisted upon as the most weighty Ordinances of the Gospel in Comparison of which Praying Preaching good Life and such like the great Subjects of those Epistles J. Faldo reputes meer Heathenism I have concluded to me self that had his Value of them been equal with what some now adays put upon them he would not or rather the Holy Spirit have omitted a very peculiar Recommendation of them But though this be sufficient to dull the Edge of their Spirits who daily cut and hack us for our not Denial but Affirming the Fulfilling of them by the coming of a more Living Bread Yet our so knowing and witnessing a more Heavenly Table spread and the Presence of the Eternal God withdrawn out of that so abused Practice by the Idolatries Superstitions and Pervertions of several Ages and that Revenge Blood-shed and Destruction which have follow'd the several Contenders for it all without Commission as well as out of the Primitive Order is the chief Ground nor of denying it ever to have been in Use before its Abuse as is before exprest but of our letting fall any further Practice of it And this I hope will be accounted a Modest Sober and Christian Account of our Faith which we leave with God to weigh against the chaffy Flurts and vilifying Epithetes J. Faldo uses against us and which for Brevity sake I omit to transcribe CHAP. XVII His Charge of our Denying Christ's Transactions to influence into our Justification consider'd His Proofs not for him His Abuse of our Friends Words Justification distinguisht upon as Remission and as daily Acceptance The Transactions of Christ largely own'd by us The Scriptures confirm our Faith in Christ as a general and particular Saviour No Works of Man Meritorious § 1. I Am now come to that part of his Charge which affirms our Denial of the Transactions of Jesus Christ in the Flesh to have any Influence
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
the readiest nay the only Right Way to come to true Faith in Christ as he then appear'd and to receive any Benefit by him And it is not another then that Blessed Light Power Wisdom and Eternal Righteousness who then appeared by whom we have received any true Spiritual Benefit How then can our ascribing particular Salvation in this Age to him who thus now appears to our Souls render him no Saviour in that or invalidate his then Appearance whose Doctrine pierc'd whose Life preach'd whose Miracles astonish'd whose Blood atton'd and whose Death and Resurrection confirm'd his then Manifestation to be no less then God who is Light manifested in the Flesh Priest The Quakers set up Works and Meriting by Works like the Papists Whereby Faith in Christ is layd aside Quaker We say That True Faith in Christ cannot be without Works no more then a Body can live without a Spirit Nay by the Comparison if they were separable Works being compared to the Spirit would have the better The very Believing of any is an Act of the Mind and therefore a Work to God and no sooner is that Faith begotten but it falls to Working which is both the Nature and End of it Nor do we say that our very best Works proceeding from True Faith it self can merit No nor Faith joyn'd with them All that Man is capable of Believing or Performing can never merit There can be no Proportion as there must be in Merit between the best Faith and Works of three score and ten and Eternal Felicity Wherefore all that Man can do even with the Assistance of the Holy Spirit can never so merit but that Right Faith and Good Works which will follow it may and do obtain that blessed Immortality it pleaseth Almighty God to give and priviledge the Sons of Men with who perform that necessary Condition and that we groundedly and therefore boldly affirm So that we deny all Merit from the best of Works especially by such as the Papists are wont to conceive Meritorious But as we on the one Hand do stifly deny them so neither can we joyn with that lazy Faith which works not Let not Good Works make Men Papists because they make Men Christians I am sure Believing and not Working and conceiving a Salvation from Wrath where there is no Salvation from Sin the Cause of it is no whit less un-scriptural and abundantly more Pernicious and Damnable Blessed is He that hears the Word of God and does it The Blessing is to the Doer Priest They acknowledge no Resurrection nor Rewards to come Quaker In this also are we greatly abused We deny not the Resurrection but are cautious in expressing the Manner Are People angry with us for not Believing or Asserting what is Hidden and they know not themselves THOU FOOL is to the Inquirer We shall be contented with that Body God will please to give us and think it to be both our Duty and Wisdom to acquiesce in that For Eternal Rewards we not only own them but above all People have the greatest Reason so to do for otherwise who so Miserable Do we inherit the Reproach and Suffering of all that have separated from time to time That is Are the Out-crys that have been against the Protestants by the Papists and theirs against Puritans Brownists and other Separatists fallen upon us And shall we hold Principles inconsistent with an Eternal Recompence of Reward By no means It is our Faith and the contrary both a Malicious and Foolish Suggestion of our Adversaries J. Faldo's KEY Prov'd Defective I Was not willing J. Faldo's Key should go wholy Unconsider'd The greatest Part of which I here publickly acknowledge to have done us such Right that if his Explanation of many of our Words be not True I am not asham'd to pronounce that the Scriptures must be False so agreable to and consonant with Scripture has he spoken on our behalf And not only with Scripture but that Sense of it too which the Best Wisest and most Learned both of the Fathers and first Reformers have unanimously had and on which Foundation in some measure both Puritans and Brownists began their Building Low Meek Spiritual and Plain as is yet well remembred But how grosly he has mis-represented us in other Parts that the True may not give Credit to the False with any I will observe a few with what Brevity I may J. Faldo pag. 62. ASSEMBLING says he Meeting in Spirit W. Penn. This is not Ingenuous For with such as know us not nor our Practice it insinuates a Denial of Publick Worship which we ever own'd and hope shall to the End It is well known who have most shrunk from that Testimony And if J. Faldo means that they do not Worship in Spirit because he makes it Criminal in us we have Reason to say He and They are no Gospel-Worshippers For People must either worship in or out of God's Spirit If out of his Spirit then no Worship in Spirit and Truth but the Device of their own Hearts If in the Spirit then the Quakers assemble as they should do and J. Faldo is to be rebuk'd for little better then an Upstart Scoffer at Assembling in Spirit The once avowed Principle of the Ancient Brownists now call'd Independents J. F. pag. 69. THE WILL OF THE FLESH says he All that is chosen by Man though he be thereby disposed by the Will of God revealed in the Scripture W. P. This is false Many things may be and are daily chosen by Man that is not in the Will of the Flesh nor by his own Will much less when any should be disposed thereto by the Will of God revealed in the Scripture An Abominable Untruth and so Notorious that I need say no more only Challenge him to produce any of us in Proof of his Exposition if he can otherwise he hath Slandered us and our Principles For the Will of the Flesh is that which is quite contrary to God and inconsistant with the Good of the Creature J. F. pag. 69. STATE OF GLORY says he The State of Peace and Joy resulting from the Witness of the Light within in this Life W. P. It is true That Glory is revealed from Faith to Faith in this Life But to stint the State of Glory to the Peace and Joy of this Life only may justifie his wrong Opinion of us that we deny Rewards to come but it cuts off from our stedfast Faith in an Everlasting Mansion of Glory and Blessedness which from the Light within to all who obey it shall spring as a River and flow as an Inexhaustable Fountain And J. Faldo shall never know true Peace another way That is the Word of the Lord to him J. F. pag. 70. PREACHING FOR HIRE HIRELINGS says he to have a Provision for the Outward Man as a Maintenance for Preaching though no Bargain be made yea though such who receive it would Preach if they had never a Penny Reward in this World from