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A58145
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Robert Bridgman's Reasons for leaving the Quakers, (upon examination) proved unreasonable being only a demonstration of his envy. By W. Rawlinson.
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Rawlinson, William.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing R370; ESTC R217967
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22,497
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49
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Robert Bridgman's REASONS For leaving the QVAKERS Upon Examination Proved Unreasonable Being only A Demonstration Of his ENVY By W. Rawlinson Rom. 1.22 23. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts was darkened Professing themselves to be Wise they became Fools London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-hart-court in Gracious-street 1700 R. B's Reasons Unreasonable IT was our Saviour's Doctrine Mat. 7.18 20. that a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit neither can a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit. Wherefore by their Fruits ye shall know them And it stands true for ever so that upon certainly knowing the Fruit we may infallibly know the Tree whether it be Good or Evil. Now in all good Actions Love is a chief Ingredient and in most evil Actions Envy doth much Influence Hereby we may make a pretty safe Judgment both of Men and their Actions whether they be Good or Bad for Love is of God and seeks the real Good of all as Envy is of the Devil and seeks their Hurt and Ruin It might be of good use to instance some Presidents of each sort though my intended Brevity will not admit thereof at present So in a general way do say That the Practice of all in whom the Love of Christ prevaileth is To seek the Good both of the Souls and Bodies of all even of their Enemies and never can by any Provocation whatsoever be prevailed upon to Detract Calumniate and Misrepresent their greatest Enemies much less thereby to endeavour to Influence the Civil Magistrate against them that so they might come to suffer either in their Bodies Estates or Liberties being of the Mind of the good Houshoulder who would not admit his Servants to pull out the very Tares from among the Wheat till the Harvest Praying for our Enemies and doing unto all Men as we would have them to do unto us was the Doctrine of him whom we all pretend to follow That my present Adversary has been in this his Undertaking acted by this sweet and amiable Virtue which is the true Characteristick of a true Disciple and Follower of the blessed Jesus doth not appear tho' the contrary it 's very evident hath too much prevailed upon him which hath been the Cause he hath so grosly misrepresented us Not to say any thing of his abusive Language And if so as I doubt not but what follows will make evidently appear then I hope we may be satisfied what place all his endeavours will have with all sincere Christians so that the Pit he digged for his Neighbour he is fallen into himself He begins his Paper with a very sad Account viz. It has been matter of Sorrow and Shame unto me and many others that have now left the Quakers Communion that we so long professed the Christian Religion whilst we remained so ignorant of the Fundamental Principles of it The Doctrine of the Trinity or Three Persons of one Nature and Substance in the Godhead The Incarnation of the second Person or Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ The Satisfaction and Atonement made unto God the Father by his Obedience and Death upon the Cross The Resurrection and Ascension of his Body and Person into Heaven His remaining in our Nature at the right Hand of God in the Glory of his Father our Head High-Priest and Intercessor The Faith and full perswasion of his Second Last and Outward Appearance and Coming again to Raise the dead Bodies of the Saints and of all Men in the great Day and solemn Assize of all Nations in which a final and infallible Sentence will be passed upon all according to the Deeds done in the Body agreeable to the plain and positive Sense of divers Texts in holy Scripture Truly I am of his Mind that to remain so long ignorant whilst under a Christian Profession of these great Doctrines and Principles of the very Christian Religion is Cause sufficient both of Sorrow and Shame but what is that to the Christan Society or Societies he has joyned himself with For except he can make it appear those Societies he hath belonged to were Ignorant of them then and not else they also may come under the same Reflection but till then both the Sorrow and the Shame is like to lie solely at his own Door Let not R. B. think hereby to Charge the Quakers and render them Guilty of being defective in their Christian Belief of these Doctrines offering that as his Reason for leaving them if he do I doubt not but to make the contrary very evident to the blasting all his vain Hopes First Let us suppose tho' not grant what he insinuates to be true would not this bespeak him a great Ignoramus or worse first to joyn with such a People and then to continue so long with them but that which doth aggravate his Ignorance is that when his now Friend D. S. did Calumniate us in Print he should appear in our Vindication and wrote an answer in our Defence to that scandalous Pamphlet as he then called it not thinking I believe then which was but in 1694. that he should now write one a great deal more Scandalous himself all which tends little to his Reputation indeed if he were a Man that wanted Bread it were something and he not being educated a Quaker his ignorant Education cannot reflect on them and how much it was the Fruit of Humour I will leave to him to reflect on Since this were a heavy Charge if true That we did not sincerely believe these great Doctrines of Christianity enough to offend any Christian Ear. I shall therefore be more particular in my Answer being sorry that That which R. B. accounted the blessed Truth in 1694. should be so grosly Calumniated in 1700. because I believe it to be the blessed Truth still This at most is but R. B's insinuating Charge without the least Proof so that my single Testimony is of equal Authority I do therefore say I was brought up and educated in this Way and therefore must be granted to know their Principles as well nay better than R. B. if there be any thing in Education and I am well assured that we do sincerely believe all these above-mentioned Doctrines as to the Matter and Substance of them and do only differ with the Church of England in some few Words and Terms and why we should be blamed for that when we believe the same things and the more seeing these Terms are such as the Holy Ghost did not see meet to express these Mysteries by in the Holy Scriptures tho' I do say if we did not differ with the Church of England about weightier Matters than these Words or Terms I do not think it were worth our while to Dissent from Her Yet let us hear what G. Keith hath taught on this Head Way cast up p. 88. And saith he it is well known that these
not however I hope to shew that we have more reason to question Water-Baptism than we have to question outward Teaching To that end that I may both briefly and clearly state the Case I will here present what all the Evangelists that takes notice of our Saviour's Discourse at that time when he gave that Commission says concerning it by which I have some hopes we may perceive whether outward or spiritual Baptism was intended by our Saviour and if it doth appear what Baptism was the Subject of our Saviour's Discourse tho not expresly mentioned in the Commission I hope it may suffice Luke has it thus And that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem and ye are witnesses of these things Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endued with Power from on high Luke 24.47 48 49. All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.18 19. And being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he you have heard of me For John truly Baptized with Water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence Acts 1.4 5. Go ye into all the World preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believes and is baptized shall be saved Mar. 16.15.16 Thus we have the Substance of what Christ spake on this Subject by all which in all reason it should remain no longer a doubt what Baptism was there intended as the the Gospel-Baptism upon all which I am willing to make these few following Observations First That these Relations of the several Evangelists relating to and being an Account of our Saviours Discourse concerning this Subject at his Farewel was therefore spoke at one and the same time Secondly That it is clear that the Baptism insisted on by our Lord was his own spiritual Baptism even that of the Holy Ghost and is so particularly expressed as well as confirmed by other Phrases and Terms Synonimous as the Power from on high the Promise of the Father c. Thirdly Since it is evident that the Discourse of our Lord relating to Baptism was not of Water but the Spirit which he then promised they should witness not many days hence and thereupon bids them tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued then bids them Go Teach all Nations baptizing them into the Name of the Father c. And we know most commonly the Name of the Father c. signifies his Power Life and Vertue nay always when it relates to more than a bare naming of him and it was this the Nations wanted to be baptized into even into a spiritual and heavenly Life and the true and proper Signification of the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is into and not in so it naturally followeth the Baptism in the Text was Spiritual Baptism Fourthly Seeing it was the Baptism of the Spirit our Lord was treating of there was no need when he came to give the Commission to express it afresh though I do say Baptizing into the Name of the Father c. doth signifie Spiritual Baptism it being the Subject of his Discourse at that Juncture tho' if he had intended Water there had been an absolute Necessity to have mention'd it because it had been an altering the Subject of his present Discourse even from Spiritual to Elementary Baptism Fifthly The very Nature of the Commission doth much press the necessity of spiritual Baptism since it was to the Nations that lay in much Wickedness and therefore needed that spiritual Baptism by which they might become Children of God and Heirs of Heaven Sixthly Seeing it was this spiritual Baptism the Nations wanted therefore it was our Saviour was so very particular and careful that the Apostles should tarry at Jerusalem till they were baptized themselves for he knew right well that those that were not baptized themselves could not so much as be instrumental to the baptizing of others for those that were not born again themselves could not be proper Persons to the begeting of others And because our Lord knew this to be an extraordinary work which he had commanded them to so he was equally encouraging telling them All Power in Heaven and in Earth was given unto him and he would be with them always Seventhly and Lastly How can we think our Lord intended Water-Baptism when at the same time he applies Water to John as belonging to his Dispensation saying John truly baptized with Water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost The very relish of these Words at this instant at giving this Commission is enough I should think to satisfie all that it was far from our Lord to institute Water when he applies it thus to John as a thing past And truly very Reason it self is on our side for how should that great Messenger of the Everlasting Covenant whose Dispensation should fulfil and end all preceding Dispensations and whom they all did but darkly represent that he should take up the chief Characteristick and Material part of the very preceding Dispensation were not this rather to adopt than fulfil and end And would not this be and remain as a Vail and Cloud upon his own Glorious and Spiritual Dispensation which is Spiritually and Substantially what the others were Outwardly Materially and Typically Glory to God for ever Well I must remember I am not writing a Treatise of Baptism but only answering an Adversary yet am willing to add a few words of G. K's out of his Presbyterian and Independant Visible Churches printed 1691. p. 182 183. And if any were raised up by the Lord as John was and could prove and instruct their being sent to Baptize with Water as he was these to whom they should be sent ought gladly to receive it but to do it by bare Imitation or a meer pretended Call which they cannot prove to be either Mediate or Immediate is great Presumption yea Superstition and to call that a Command of God which he hath given them no Command to practise is to set up the Precepts of Men in the room of God's Commandments as the Pharisees did of Old and is a taking of his Name in vain for which he will not hold them guiltless and they can never prove by all their Art and Skill that Water-Baptism is commanded by Christ Mat. 28.18 19. for all God's Commands and Precepts especially of publick Institution relating to the Church are express in so many express words and are not left to be gathered by uncertain and doubtful Consequences When God sent John to Baptize with Water Water was expressed but in the Apostles Commission to Baptize no mention is made of Water nor no words of Institution commanded to be used but the command