wisdom of the flesh and therefore it is by inspiration immediate Let such know that they must shew somewhat more then palpable errour gross ignorance and unparallel'd confidence ere they gain credit with any but those simple ones in a silly sense who believe every word A third Difference is that Apostolical illuminations and immediately inspired are not habitual they are not the more constant frame of the soul but have their fluxes not as Springs or running Rivers or Tydes which have their ebbings and flowings yet the chanel alway plentifully supplied but as bourns and flouds that sometimes rise high yet the grounds they cover for a while are sometimes and ordinarily a long time dry and no appearance remaining of those inundations The Apostles and Prophets had not such a Well and Spring of this sort as alway run or out of which they might ordinarily give advice and teachings of this kinde Whereas the Spirits most ordinary illuminations common to all Saints do in their several degrees and measures in-dwell in their souls and are as qualities adhering to their subjects their mindes and faculties being so united to them as Sugar being melted in the Wine its sweetness is constant and abiding thereby And hence it was that the Apostles though they could alway teach from the habits of light and knowledge they were blessed with yet in some cases at some times could not speak as inspired by the Holy Ghost witness Paul who in the body of his Epistle to the Corinthianâ— makes this distinction 1 Cor. 7. 6 12. to the end of the Chapter But I speak this by permission ver 6. but to the rest speak I not the Lord ver 12. Now concerning Virgins I have no â—ommandment of the Lord yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 25. But she is happier if she so abide in my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God The same Apostle gives instruction concerning the Choice of Bishops that they be such as are apt to teach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies both the habit or faculty and also a promptitude and readiness to imploy it And to Timothy to be instant in season and out of season that is not only at necessary times in a constant course but occasionally and he could not so preach the Word as became it and an Evangelist but from habitual illumination Mat. 13. 52. Then said he unto them Therefore every Scribe which is instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth of his Treasure things new and old A fourth Difference the inspiration of the Spirit doth not grow and increase gradually and according to time and industry Samuel had as elegant and powerful an inspiration or revelation when a Childe as when he was old And the Apostles on the sudden at the effusion of the Spirit in that way of ministration had as eminent inspirations as ever afterward But the illuminations where with God doth usually by the efficlency of his Spirit bless his people doth ordinarily grow at least is capable of it Some to whom John writes were grown to be Fathers For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers Heb. 5. That is ye might have grown to such a degree of illumination if you had stood in the way wherein the Spirit of God doth usually bless there with as to have been able to teach others Yea the Lord Jesus Christ himself as man did increase gradually in these habitual illuminations Lake 2. 45 46 47. Jesus grew in wisdome and in stature And that it was meant of divine light or light in divine things Read the 46 47 Verses where he is said to be disputing with the Doctors and that his answers were astonishing to the Hearers Fifthly Apostolial inspirations were intended by the Spirit foâ—a divine and authoritative Obligation to the Faiâ—â— Order Life and Consciences of others and are therefore rightly placed among the Scriptures or wâ—…tten Word If any man think hinself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write are the Commandments of the Lord. But the teachings of the Spirit to the Saints as Saints are no such obligation any farther than they agree with and have their authority from the minde of God revealed in the Scripture Sixthly Apostolical teachings and inspirations were of authority to constitute a now order and polity of the Church to which the former though of divine authority in their season were to give place Yea those Doctrines and Promises so revealed to them by God and by them declared as such are binding to our faith and practice although we cannot discern any of the like import in the Scripture before written But the teachings and illuminations by the Spirit of the Saints as such do not add to or change any thing of the Doctrine or Order established by Christ and his Apostles neither are they contrary to the written Word nor in point of Doctrine beside the sense of it or beyond it To conclude The teachings of the Spirit and its Motions in the Saints which are most purely divine and immediate in ourdays are the bringing to remembrance explaning to the understanding imprinting on the affections the matter contained in the Scripture and directing them to understand providences to act in their occurent occasions suitable to his will revealed in the Scripâ—…re and moving their wills to a compliance with his out are all to be triâ—d by the Scripture and not the Scripture by them Some I believe will reply How did the Prophets and Apostles when they received immediate revelations and were inspired of God know it was no delusion and if they knew it being men as we are why may not we I dare not attempt to pry into the most secret ways of God and undertake to give you a history and description to the full of the Spirits workings on the Souls of his Prophets in conveying his will to them and satisfying their judgments and Consciences that they were the inspirations of God Yet I shall say so much of them as may satisfie any willing Reader to be informed that they had more to evince it than any have now and we have enough to convince us that they were inspired First Whoever they were that were givers forth of the Law or the Covenants in their first promulgation had the Testimonies of God for them by Gods outward Call to that as their special Office and his promise of guidance in the discharge thereof signs and wonders wrought either by God immediately or by their hands as the Apostles Jesus Christ Moses Secondly All the Prophets have a Testimony of their being inspired of God by Miracles which they wrought or by the quoting Scripture out of the Books written by them or bearing their names in the New Testament by Christ or his Apostles Thirdly For the Historical part
in the Scriptures to be but vain janglings of men contending who should hit that white which when done would not be a Prize of a half-penny value yea when it concerns those prevailing Errors which would blot out and strikes directly at Christianity and would render Heathenism divested of its more noble and rational parts the highest perfection to be aimed at by mankind in this world and the life to come a fancy dwindled away to a just nothing It must be more than justifiable in the eyes of all men except theirs whose Sceptism or indifferency in matters of a Religious concern is arrived to that perfection as to have them all equally doubtful or acceptable to them The Doctrines of Christianity common to men called Episcopal Presbyterian Congregational Anabaptists are no farther here concerned than vindicated And for Worship and Order nothing is here agitated to the reproach or displeasure of any who are not against all things called by some reproachfully and as ignorantly Forms To be contentious is an offence the Scripture condemns with no little keenness whiles it exhorts to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints from which I conclude that though I contend against Quakerism with some symptoms of zeal I am not therefore contentious neither can I esteem it the part of a Neighbour to look on the deplorable estate of those wounded both in head and heart with this disease and like the Priest and Levite in the Parable pas by on the other side as unconcern'd nor yet to stand gazing with a seeming amazement and all the help I afford to them to be only to cry out Unclean Unclean whiles they who hear these clamors and whose soul-humours prepare them for the infection are not thereby one whit the more startled at their danger I have observed that of the sort last mentioned are those Professors especially whose Judgments are very weak and their Conceits very strong who have obstinately resolved into many sins and especially those of omission as attending conscientiously on the Ordinances of Christ Family Worship and serious Instructions of those under their Charge contrary to the plain mind of God revealed in his Word the serious and importunate solicitings and intreaties of their Teachers and the checks of their own Consciences to salve all have faln into Quakerism whereby their pride conceit idleness covetousness and disrespect have been adopted into and made a part of their Religion it self and thereby they have secured themselves from those batteries which were before somewhat wounding and grievous to them And it is no less matter of lamentation that the far greater number of men and women are so grosly ignorant in the things of God and regardless of their eternal concernments that brutish sensuality and the examples of a sottish benighted world are the only Compasses they steer the course of their lives by So that when they are by any means prevailed with to be serious and to consider the things of their everlasting Peace they know not which way to turn themselves the way of God is dark before them in which they are so little instructed that they know not their right hand from their left They are easily convinced that the way to Heaven lyes not thorow drunkenness swearing lying uncleanness injustice and such plain and reproachful Vices Religious they must and are willing to be but without the special and almost miraculous guidance of the good Spirit of the Lord they are most likely to fall in with the grossest delusions and mend their conditions at no better rate than removing out of one quarter of the Devils Kingdom into another far more dangerous and wherein they may more peaceably and confidently go down to the Chambers of death And when this is done Satan and they are agreed all is quiet again and the poor betrayed vanquished Souls triumph as the only Victors And it is no wonder that those should have undisturbed present peace who know no God above that they call the Light in their Consciences whiles they comply with its dictates how leud and erroneous soever they be Let such seriously weigh these two Texts of Scripture But if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Those Histories that have derived to us the knowledge of those Errors and Heresies that sprang up among professed Christians in several places and ages have not been accounted superfluous nor their respect worn out in many hundreds of years continuance how much more concerned should we be to have the knowledge of those born in our own age and which is more dolorous brought forth in our own bowels the Land of our birth and abode but worst of all one such a Monster which hath devoured almost all the rest and digested them into one body with a vast addition a Monster whose description must alway be concluded with an caetera as Geographers leave a space for the Terra incognita And I believe that this piece is as full a compendium of the Quakers Tenets as any that have come forth with the like Proofs out of their own Authors which hath cost me more pains to collect and understand and digest into some order than their confutation Though I suppose who reads the Book thorow will find somewhat of advantage more than meerly concerns Quakerism I confess the Book hath exceeded in bulk my first intentions and indeed I found after I had launched a little into the work that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps I was launched into such an Ocean for vastness and saw so many Rocks in my passage that I could not satisfie my own Conscience to send this into the world without clearing the difficulties which for all my honest Narrative and downright Confutation might wrack the Faith of many a Soul I should be glad to see so publique a Christian Spirit as to be at the Charge of Printing many thousand small Pieces of four or five sheets fitted to the genius of the meanest capacities and distributed over the Nation gratis which might discover the Principles of the Quakers to the securing of many who being entangled with their outward appearance and profession in words of the great and main Principles of Christianity are soon ensnared past recovery without an extraordinary good hand of God And I doubt not some will be found who are well acquainted with their Tenets and evasions who will willingly undertake by Gods assistance the writing of what might be serviceable that way By this course have the Quakers more encreased in the Country than by all others for where you shall find one sheet against them you may find a hundred of their Pamphlets which are generally put into their hands
determined and commanded they ought exactly to obey without further Enquiry From whence he argues that the Pope is the Infallible and right Determiner of Controversies Charranza is a little beyond him saith he the High Priest under the Law was a certain Rule in things pertaining to God but the Evangelical High-Priest must much rather be certain in such things By the Evangelical High-Priest he means the Roman-Bishop Bellarmin de verbo Dei lib 4 argues at large for the Popes Infallibility only restrains it a little with an ex Cathedra docens to what he saith out of the Chair or as Pope which doth more then a little suit with the Quakers who if those persons among them accounted by them infallible be manifestly proved to erre in faith or practice so as they dare not deny it their refuge then is that they did not follow the light but if they had acted or believed according to the teachings and motions of the light within they had not erred But as t is a very hard matter if the Pope were allowed to be infallible in what he determines ex Cathedra to know what he doth as Pope and what as a fallible man so it is no less difficult if the Quakers light were such as they pretend to know what comes from the light and what from the foolish ignorant dark corrupt and fancy-full man Isaac Peningtons salve will cure the sore no more then the Papists who say the Pope is infallible notwithstanding the contradictions of one Pope to another and one and the same Pope to himself the doing the same thing the thinking ehe same thing the speaking the same thing this doth not unite here in this state in this nature but the doing or thinking or speaking of it in the same life yea though the doings or thoughts or words be divers yet if they proceed from the same principle and nature there is a true unity felt therein where the life alone is Judge a strange reconciliation of certain and manifest contradictions and an ascribing that to the light within which is impossible to an Omnipotent God who cannot deny or contradict himself and yet be the true God Carranza speaks boldly in the behalf of Papal Infallibility The general Ordinary and lawful Judge of all Controversies whatsoever which may arise in the businesse of Religion is the Romane Bishop whether he define any thing alone or with a General Council he is alway an infallible Judge when he doth it ex Cathedra or as pope as the chief Bishop liable to no errour The Quakers out-go the Papists far in this Fundamental of Infallibility Now he that is not infallible in his counsel and judgement and advice is not he in errour And are not the Ministers of Christ the Ministers of the Spâ—rit And are they Ministers of Christ that are fallible The Papists are herein more modest then the Quakers for they acknowledge only the Pope or Pope with his Council or the Church Catholick to be infallible but the Quakers affirm it of every one of their Ministry both men and women yet he stops not here but extends it to every Quaker And you that have not that which is infallible to judge in you know not the Spirit of Christ neither can you judge of persons or things that have not the infallible judgement nor have the spiritual man neither have you the Word of God in your hearts nor Christ which is eternal and infallible all which the Quakers have to judge persons and things Thus I have shewed you that the Papists and Quakers have pretended Infallibility for their Foundation But if the Quakers shall object that they differ in that the Roman Bishop subjects all others to his sole Infallibility but the Quakers are each one infallible for themselves I answer the ground is the same only every Quaker hath a Pope in him or her self and so there are among them more Pope John's and Pope Jean's then ever were at Rome And it is apparent that G. Fox hath arrived by this pretence to a more absolute power over the Quakers in twenty odd years then the Bishops of Rome in some hundreds over professed Christians SECT VIII For the third Fundamental common to the Papists and Quakers viz. immediate revelations and divine Inspirations Dr. Stillingsteet in his Fanaticism of the Roman Church hath abundance of instances to whom I am beholden for the most of what follows on this Head Revelations have been pleaded by them the Papists in matters of doctrine such I mean which depend upon immediate impulses and inspirations since the Canon of Scripture and Apostolical Traditions Anselm mentions a divine Apparition to an Abbot in a storm whereby he was admonished to keep the Feast of the Conception of the blessed Virgin Which Revelation Wadding tells us is publickly recited in the Office for the day Another Revelation was made to Norbertus the Founder of the Praemonstratenses in which the Virgin Mary appear'd and commended her veneration to him and gave him a white Garment in token of her original innocency Which Revelation is believed by all of that Order and taken as the reason of their habit S Brigit had not one or two but many to this purpose and the latest were of Joanna a Cruce But S. Katherine of Siena had it reveal'd to her as Antonius and Cajetan say that she was conceived with original sin How often have visions and apparitions of souls been made use of to prove the doctrine of Purgatory witness the famous testimonies to this purpose out of S Gregories Dialogues and Bede s Hist which latter is recited in the late great Legend of Mr Cressy a Popish Confessor under the name of a Church-History c. We need not go so far back as Gabriel Riel to shew that the doctrine of Transubstantiation hath been proved by the appearance of a child in the Host Bellarmin very doughtily proves auricular Confession by a certain vision of a tall and terrible man with his Book in his hand which blotted out presently all the sins the humble Thief confessed vpon his knees to the Priest Upon this ground of Revelations and Inspirations most of their Popish Festivals which we call Holy-days were erected The Religious Orders were instituted among them by Enthusiastick persons upon the credit of their visions and revelations the most celebrated Orders at this day in the Roman Church are the Benedictines Carthusians Dominicans Franciscans and Jesuits It is a very fair way towards the proof of it that Bellarmin confesseth concerning the four first and that of Romoaldus that they were at first instituted by St. Benedict St. Romoaldus S. Bruno S. Dominick S Francis by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost and for Ignatius Loyola if he do not appear as great a Fanatick i e. Enthusiast as ever hath been in the World we shall be contented to be upbraided with the
able to defend our selves against the most ignorant nonsense that the meanest of your votaries can attempt us with But the God above and the Scripture without hath taught us better things I am not unwilling though I hope few need it to quote a few Scriptures that people may have them in a readiness against these untruths of the Quakers Put on the Armour of light c. the Scripture makes it day in the World but especially in and with the Saints for it makes manifest abundantly There is your defensive Arms. The Word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two edged Sword c. There is an offensive Weapon Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench c. 17. and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God A Sword of the Spirits making and is effectual when of the Spirits managing Observe faith in the 16. ver is preferred above the Word of God in the 17. verse therefore it is not Christ the Word but the Scripture the Word for Faith is not above Christ Jesus Christ who had less need of the Scriptures than any of us all resisted Satans temptations by the Scriptures it is written it is written and what was written being opposed to Satans temptations silenced and confounded him But it seems since then he hath gotten more confidence Consider that the Quakers will allow the man Christ to leave us a perfect example CHAP. X. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be read to any profit any further than they are before hand experienced by those that read And they put the Spirit of God and the Scripture in opposition SECT I. THey may as well say that hearing the word preached is to no profit neither any farther than it is experienced before hand for there is the same reason of the one as of the other But this is a strange Doctrine that at one blow cuts off both hearing and reading the matter contained in the Scriptures by men unregenerate For what I pray you have they experienced who are according to your notions stark blind and utterly without sense of the things of God Quest But if there be not another way to God c. Answ Why Child all that are faithful to God in what he makes known unto them they are not judged This is pretty charitable but hear farther the reason he gives why they that read the Scriptures profit not in the knowledge of God c. is but they read in that book notionally before they have passed the judgment experimentally Again p. 30. For people wanting the life and power of Christ in themselves they are betrayed into the words c. And such were the Scribes who were ever scraping in the Scriptures to find God and his life yet never knew him at any time nor saw his shape because they heard not his voice nor heeded not his word within themselves John 5. 37. What a vile insinuation is here of the Scriptures and the study of them as if the Scriptures were but a dunghil and every unregenerate person at least which all are with them who adore not the Light within as Christ did but the part of a Brute which scraping implies in searching the Scriptures to know the things of God For his blasphemous insinuation that God hath a shape and that they who heed his voice within themselves see it I am too sensible of the invisible Majesty of God to work my thoughts on such a horrid subject yet he dares quote John 5. 37. to countenance it which so far as it reaches it doth deny any such thing to be seen To reprove this evil Spirit of worse than errour read and understand these Scriptures wherein there is not any great difficulty Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have life I have known more than a good many of the men of this controversie expound this Scripture as if Christ rebuked them for searching the Scripture and having such a fallacy in their opinion as to think eternal life were to be had by searching of them and instead of and which gives the absurdity of their searching the Scriptures to find the true Christ by their testimony and its testimony being so plain and clear that Jesus of Nazareth he that then talked with them was he they have read it but you will not c. as if the one was exceeding opposite to the other viz. searching the Scripture whereas the true sense is it condemns you as irrational men that you should think to have eternal life in the Scriptures and will not believe their testimony I must remember to tell you that I do not take the Scriptures to be able to give eternal life to all that have them in their houses or heads or that do barely search them and not set their hearts according to its direction to find eternal life It were ten to one if I had not said so much some or other of them would have had a fling at me as making a Christ of the Scripture By what hath been produced you may be sure there is the best profit by Gods blessing on an honest reading of the Scriptures Young Timothy was bred up from a Child in the Holy Scripture and it was the commendation of his Mother and Grand-Mother for so educating him but can you think he experienced all he read before he read it some of them are prophetical of things to come Can any of you alll experience things that never yet had an existence or being And should the Gentiles and Jews have been reproved for hearing Paul and Peter and Christ himself preach the Gospel and the Mediatour of it because they did not experience it in themselves But why should I use many words about such a cause the willing to understand may see its grossness and for those that will be ignorant means signifie little to their cure CHAP. XI The Quakers put or render the Scriptures and the Spirit of God in opposition to each other SECT I. I Could produce a thousand instances of this crime against the life and being of the Scriptures committed by the Quakers as their principle and duty This wickedness is their open high-way and beaten road If the Scripture had not been the word of the Spirit of God the revelation of his mind and will whose holiness and authority had its being from God its author the frame of it agreeing to the nature and will of God we would not think it worthy the name of Scripture in that peculiar sense which it hath obtained among Christians But if once we knew it opposite and an adversary to the Spirit so far at least that it must come to a parting and they that cleave to the teachings of the Spirit must forsake being taught comforted
Jesus was Christ Acts 18. 28. He had put the Sadduces to silence Mat. 22. 3. viz. by Scripture Neither the holy Scripture nor the holy Spirit speaking by the Scripture is the supream and general judge of matters of Faith   Beccanus item Gretserus Jesuitae in Colloquio Ratisbon   It is impossible for the Scripture to be judge of doubts concerning Faith and the Christian Religion   Lorichius Jesuita in fortalitio Matthew Mark Luke and John is not the Gospel The beginning of the Gospel of Christ the Son of God Mark 1. 1. The Gospel is not Scripture it was commanded to be preached but not to be written  Carranza Jesuita in colloquio The light within every man is the rule and guide and not the Scriptures and this light is infallible and will teach you all things If the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Mat. 6. 23. The Tradition of the Church i. e. Roman is the first chief certain and infallible rule from which any thing may be known to be true and certain to be held in matters of saith and Christian Religion  Vain man would be wise though man be born like a wild Asses Colt Job 11. 12. Carranza Jesuita in prima controversia The Tradition of the Church is the very rule of faith and piety Pighius The Spirit was before the Scripture therefore we must be led by the Spirit not by the Scripture the Spirit with the Quaker is the light within All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. We say that the Church is a rule before the Scripture and more known than the Scripture   Carranza in secunda Controversia The Scriptures are the Traditions of men Holy men of God spake the Scriptures as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. Traditions of the Church to be preferred before the Scriptures Frequent among the Papists Light without must be guided by light within Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures Mat. 22. 29. The Scripture is to be ruled by the Church not the Church by the Scriptures  I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee Psal 119. 11. Carranza in secunda Controversia The Scripture is a dead Letter carnal Letter Ink and Paper The words that I speak unto you are spirit and life Joh. 6. 63. The Scripture hath no voice it cannot pass judgment viva voce  For the Word of God is quick and powerful Heb. 4. 12. Beccanus Gretserus in Colloquio Ratisbon The Scriptures are but dumb judges Pighius controversia tertia The Scriptures may be burnt The Scriptures cannot be broken John 10. 35. All the Scriptures in the common and native tongues are to be burnt by a Law  Write this for a memorial in a Book c. Exod. 17. 14.  The light within was the rule from the beginning and not the Scriptures The Scriptures were a rule so soon as they had a beginning The Fathers of the Church were expert in the Traditions of the Church from the beginning as being more effectual than the Scriptures Pighius Jesuita in Colloquio Dry cavelling Letter-mongers Scraping in the Scriptures An eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18. 24. These Lutherans and Hugonots are all for the Letter  And Paul as his manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures Acts 17. 2.  He that prefers the Scriptures before the light within is blind in darkness To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because they have no light in them Isa 8. 20. He that shall say the Scripture is to be believed rather than the Church is to be condemned as a Heathen and a Publican and a Stranger to Gods people Noguera lihro secundo de Ecclesia They are Idolaters that act by Scripture examples not having their rule by inspiration immediate from God Whatever things were written were written for our examples They are Hereticks and to be condemned who take the Scripture for their rule without the authority of the Church Be ye followers of us and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example  The Scriptures do not give light nor are they binding any further than they come by inspiration and are received in Spirit Let us break his bands asunder and cast his cords from us Psal 2. The Scripture not being understood is no Scripture Lorinus Jesuita in Psalmum 119. 105.  They that are under the Law shall be judged by the Law The Scripture without the authority of the Church not binding The Gospel of Matthew no more than the History of Titus Livius Surdisius Cardinalis in Chatechismo No more to be valued than an Aesops Fable Papists Prelats Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists all fly to the Scriptures To the Law and to the Testimony Isa 8. 20. Most of the Hereticks if not all take refuge in the Scriptures Gretserus Jesuita All that are unconverted that is not Quakers must be shut out of the Scriptures I have written to him the great things of my Law but they accounted them a strange thing The Scriptures are neither necessary fit nor profitable for the common people to read Harding Jesuita Petrus Lizetus Scriptures prophaned by their reading All the false Religions this day take their rise from the Scriptures The words of the Lord are pure words Psal 12. 6. Every word of God is pure Prov. 30. 5. All the Hereticks pretend to the Scriptures and will seem from thence to fetch the venom of their Heresies Hardingus Jesuita Bellarminus PART II. CHAP. XIII The Quakers deny and subvert all the Ordinances of the Gospel SECT I. THe Ordinances of God are those means in which God and his creature Man do hold and maintain a professed and mutual converse and communion wherein all men are as their duty to draw nigh to God in their express worship and acknowledgements of the divine Being and therein to expect from God his gracious presence with them and his blessing them both with spiritual temporal and eternal blessings And although God be not tied to this or that way wherein to shine upon his poor creatures by his manifold goodness yet he is far from being bound to the loose and wanton humours of men And having commanded some things to be done by us as means in order to our being so blessed and thereto annexed many great and gracious promises of being so found of us it is an affront of no mean nature to the divine Majesty and contempt of our own welfare yea an implicite denial of our dependance on him to neglect much more to deny most of all to disdain those his Ordinances and to cast reproach and scorn upon them The eternal
which you had a mind should be grafted on this Stock but as the Text will not impart its Sap to your Proposition so your Proposition is as dry to your Consequence but that 's no matter if they will not grow one upon another you 'l make them hang together right or wrong Ay and if the Spirit do but strive it must be how you will have it and for what ends you please or you 'l rack the letter for it but there 's no cruelty to a dead letter But Mr. Pen if your conscience have any eyes I intreat you make use of the light here afforded you to compare the Text and what you lay at its door and see how alike they look Your Question is of the Spirits teaching among men c. indefinitely and your proof speaks of the Spirits striving with wicked men Your aim is to prove it an immediate and peculiar Teacher c. of Gods people the Text speaks of neither If I affirm the Spirit strove with them by providential Chastisements ominous presages of Calamities at hand by his goodness which leads to Repentance by the Ark which Noah built moved by faith and fear and by which he condemned the unbelieving besotted World by his Preaching righteousness I can prove my being guided therein by the unerring Spirit of God at another rate than you can your contradiction But your wandrings from truth and reason can hardly have a higher instance and evidence than that you should be so infatuated as to conclude from a Text which saith my Spirit shall not always strive with man that it doth now teach c. and God hath not left his people in our present nor will in future ages without his Spirit to teach them immediately and solely which is in your Question or your prosecution of it and should have been expressed there if you had had so much ingenuity Instead of being angry that I have shewed your vanity and made your folly in this argument such a spectacle to the world you have reason to give me thanks that I examine it no further SECT III. However before we part I will try you at another weapon which you forge out of Neh. 3. 19 â—0 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness the pillar of the Cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way c. This part of your quotation is not onely no friend to your affirmation and principles but an invincible adversary No man in his wits will say the pillar of the cloud and fire were the Spirit of God and if God led his people by them they were not led onely and immediately by the Spirit of God It may be the latter part of your citation may do more for you Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them This good Spirit was mainly the Spirit of God which he put upon Moses and Joshua and some other their chief Persons by Gods appointment as is evident from these Texts And I will take off the Spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them and they shall bear the burthen of the people with thee Num. 1â— 17. And the Lord said unto Moses take thou Joshua the Son of Nun a man in whom is the Spirit and lay thy hand upon him Num. 27. 18. Thou leadest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron Psal 77. 20. Now God is said to give them his good Spirit to instruct them by bestowing it in such a way and measure on their instructers and guides though I deny not but every true Israelite had the Spirit also dwelling in him yet they were never the less but the more submiss to the conduct of their mediate or if you will men-teachers and guides for that SECT III. Your third chosen Scripture for your service is But there is a Spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding I shall explain this text by another which carries the full sense of it and almost the same words For the Lord giveth wisedome out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding But doth this incourage men to cast off all external means and the use of their reason Nothing less It is given as an encouragement to the use of the means expressed in the four first verses which are made conditional of being blessed with that knowledge and wisedom which comes from the Lord. If thou searchest If thou triest It will now be more easie to take in the right sense of your cited Scripture There is a Spirit in man that is a rational soul say some yet knowledg and understanding doth not so depend upon its improvement as to shut out the breathing and blessing of God from the chief efficiency A young man as Elihu may attain a measure by that divine blessing beyond the aged and more experienced If you can prove that those holy men who carried on that debate of which the Book of Job is a history did neglect the external means which the Lord afforded them for informing their judgments about divine and spiritual concernments upon the grounds of the inward teachings of the Spirit of God Eris mihi magnus Apollo and unless you can do that your arguing from this Text is but meer trifling beating of the air and contending for what is granted on all hands but nothing at all to your purpose who are very busie at doing nothing And it is not beside the purpose to consider that those holy eminent Saints who contended with Job were rebuked by God for not speaking rightly of God as Job did and Job did not pass free without a chiding also for his miscarriages and presumptions Job 42. vers 7. and forward To conclude this Argument you talk at a miserable lame rate to say that because the inspiration of the Divine Spirit giveth understanding therefore it is not from the strength of mans reason memory or utmost creature-abilities that his knowledge of religious and heavenly things comes but from the revelation and discovery of the inspiration of the Almighty Let me tell you once for all that if reason memory and humane abilities have nothing at all to do in the search and understanding of Divine things a meer animal or such an ideot as Jack Adams may know as much of the Divine and Heavenly mysteries as W. Pen but if I should say such a one is as able a Teacher or Writer as you I doubt not but you would take your self to be not a little affronted And it is as lame arguing to conclude because some men had Divine inspirations and teachings of some Divine truths when there was not one Book of the written Word in being as I dare undertake to prove and they who had those inspirations made use also of their reason to know Divine things by all external means within their reach therefore all Gods people i. e. Quakers have in
asserting we are like to have no better evidence and he that is so silly as to believe on so feeble a ground I am sure his faith stands not only below the power and wisdom of God but the right reason of man And this must needs be a human faith in the most sordid sense which hath not any divine evidence for its support We can by the grace of God give a reason of that hope in us which is grounded on Scripture-verity because we can prove that it is the Word of God which was sent from him by the Messengers by him appointed and furnished to that end Acts 19. 13. Jesus we know and Paul we know but who are ye Fourth Character of the Apostles inspired The Apostles as they were commissionated to teach all Nations so they were furnished with Tongues and Languages in a supernatural way by which they could speak to the understandings of any Nation or people to whom they were sent Acts 2. 8. And how we hear every man in our own Tongue wherein we were born And it is remarkable that the Apostle Paul was gifted this way above all or most he being the Apostle more eminently to the Gentile-world and travelled more foreign Countries than any of the other that we read of I cannot but wonder at the blindness of the Quakers who give it as a mark to the true Ministry denying and disdaining all others not to be confined to a certain place in the ordinary exercise thereof but as the Apostles to have no less than the Universe for their Bishoprick while it is apparent that they do not more out-strip others in pretences of Spiritual and supernatural Gifts than they come short of them in visible qualifications for the ministerial imployment especially the knowledge of the Tongues and who ever among them understand any Tongue or can speak or write it besides their native Mother-tongue let them say it if they dare that they came not by it by natural and ordinary means And if God had given them an Apostolical Call and Gifts surely this of Tongues would have made some signe and noise of it for God never calleth to any Gospel-Office and work immediately where he doth not afford abilities for the discharge of it If the Quakers had the Gift of Tongues who direct their Pamphlets to all Princes and Potentates to every Creature and all Nations in the World surely some of them by that Gift would have preached their Doctrines to foreign Nations But some have attempted it and sped so ill as to become dumb preachers in other Countries Others have learned more wit than to make the adventure yet their Writings are full stuffed with the bold asserting of their Apostolical Call Gifts and Inspirations SECT IV. Having given you some Characters of the Apostles who were called to that Office and were inspired by the Holy Ghost I shall take some pains to give you an account of inspiration it self as it is distinct in its very species and kinde not in degrees only from those teachings and illuminations of the Spirit which are ordinary and common in some measure to all the Saints The right understanding of this will keep not only in the Controversie before us but in many other cases that may occur I shall before I enter on the differences between the Spirits inspirations and common illuminations of the Saints by the Spirit prove that there is such a difference and that the one is not in any degree or measure the other All the Saints have the saving and sanctifying teaching and enlightnings of the Spirit yet not all of them nay but a very few of them had the extraordinary enlightnings of the Spirit by way of inspiration Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his 1 Cor. 3. 16. So that every Babe in Christ hath the Spirit of Christ in its saving manifestations and operations or effects though but a few were immediately inspired And God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. The Apostle Paul doth plainly express this specifical difference or difference in the very kind of the Spirits teachings in and to his own person But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 7. 40. The Apostle doth in the case there agitated give his advice as a Saint who had the Spirit of God in the same kind of enlightning which other Saints had or all the Saints had but in an eminent measure yet this enlightning and teaching of the Spirit was not by way of immediate and Apostolical inspiration but by enlightning his judgment and enabling his natural faculty of discerning to pierce into and rightly decide the difference For if the Apostle had received what he here expressed by Divine inspiration or the Spirit of the Lord immediately inspiring it would have been not only unnecessary but very much injurious to the infallibility and authority of the Spirit of God to have made his judgment bear a part with it Yea it had been an usurping on the Divine Spirit which an exercise of our judging faculty concerning its truth or falshood must needs be where it is evident that the Spirit of God doth its part by way of immediate inspiration to which ready and full credit ought to be given without hesitation SECT V. Characters of Divine Apostolical Inspirations distinguishing them from all other Instructions That Divine inspiration whereby the Apostles and Prophets as such were illuminated came in without the use of the bodily senses as receptive of outward Objects and carrying them to the rational and considering faculties to make conclusions from them and this is properly immediate Divine inspiration or revelation But Divine Truths received by the Saints as Saints ordinarily are received by such means as are Objects to the bodily senses as significative sounds to the ear visible Objects to the eye c. let the Quakers or any other shew me if they can that the knowledge of God comes ordinarily to men by any other way without these Faith comes by hearing that is ordinarily for a Babe may have the habits of saving faith whose hearing ferves little to that purpose or by reading that knowledg of God which the Heathen had or might have had without the Word revealed handed to them as to us it was by considering the works of God's Creation and Providence which were the Books wherein God wrote to them many Lessons concerning him and their duty So that in few words persons being illuminated by inspiration it was first within them others have it first from without them at least in the premises from whence the understanding assisted by God infers Truths The great Objection of the Quakers against
the later Position is from his Scripture Rom. 1. 19 20. because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him c. The words in them in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are either in or among them the later sense is to me the most probable because that while the far greater part of the Gentile-world were so brutish that they little regarded or understood any thing of God but were so besotted with sensuality that they understood and minded nothing but what might gratifie a blind and impetuous appetite some among them whose intellects were better imployed came by the knowledge of excellent things concerning God which they not only taught but left in writing as a witness to Posterity But to put all out of doubt the 20 verse speaks what I affirm plainly For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead c. Here you have an account what may be known of God by the Heathen who had neither revelation immediate to themselves nor handed to them from others by the Word heard or read viz. the eternal power and Godhead and that which they were condemned for ver 26. was not for not knowing or practising what had relation to the Mediator or not believing the word of promise which never was within the reach of their ears but for their miscarriages against God the Creator whom they might and ought to have known and acknowledged God is in his essential Being the invisible God but he was manifest among them How From the Creation of the World by the things that are made Take another Text for the confirmation of my Exposition of this Act. 14. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons c. They were not without witness concerning the Divine Being and Attributes of Mercy and Goodness yet if the rain and fruitful Seasons were without them the witness was without them before it was within them But for the Quakers pretences of their conceits of Divine things to be by immediate inspiration of the Spirit to them when we hear of Pagans and Heathen who never had the least notice of or from the Scripture talk of Jesus Christ a crucified Redeemer and the Promises and Covenant of God we may a little listen to them but for a people who live where the Scriptures are so much known to talk Scripture-phrases and Gospel-phrases and then tell us they had it all by Divine revelation immediate to themselves is as ungrateful and foolish as for those who were born and bred in England and have learned their Mother-tongue from their childhood after 30 or 40 years to affirm they learned every word of it by immediate inspiration or could have known it as perfectly if man had never taught them while in the mean time those forem Languages they never heard spoken they can neither speak nor understand one sentence of if it would save the world Again Those Gospel-illuminations for the matter which are by immediate inspiration are beyond the utmost reach of our natural faculties of the mind though sanctified to attain by their improvement and therefore it is said to be 2 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinely inspired It is not produced in the exercise of the rational faculties the Soul is purely passive or receptive therein and is to those illuminations as the wax is to the Seal according to 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted carried Some of them viz. the Prophetical part were so far from being attained by the use of natural faculties though sanctified that their very wills which are the first movers even in intelligent agents did not ordinarily so much as direct their understandings to the finding out the Truths which were revealed to them but when their thoughts in their present posture had no tendencie to any such particular things no more than a man in a deep sleep they were then moved by the Holy Ghost that whereas ordinarily they are fixed and bent to such or such ends by the humane will here the Divine will takes its place and doth all And for those Historical parts of the Scripture as of the Creation Fall of man written by Moses c. and the Doctrinal parts written by the Apostles c. although the things in general might be the scope and aim of their intentions yet the gale by which they were driven steadily and infallibly was not the utmost of their natural and sanctified and highest improved faculties but the supernatural guidance of the Divine Spirit whose product was like it self without the least stain or spot of humane frailty and weakness Whereas that illumination of the Spirit which in the kind of it is common to all Saints flows in by the Lords blessing on the improvement of their understandings and judgments whether on Creation Providence or matter divinely revealed without them originally viz. that contained in the Scripture which although their faith be resolved into and determined by yet the highest pitch of their spiritual understanding is raised by a right and sanctified ratiocination from those principles comparing spiritual things with spiritual And experience teacheth that though an idle loytâ—râ—r mâ—y grow giddy with empty swimming notions which are rather the disease of a spiritual pride and intoxication yet God doth mostly if not only bless those with high and solid illumnations who humbly wait on him and beg the concourse and assistance of the Father oâ— Lights and Spirit of Truth That God doth bless in such ways to the such illuminations of the Spirit is clear from this Scripture Heb. 5. 12 14. For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk c. It was their sin which was rebuked as the cause of their ignorance and what that should be but their slothful unfaithfulness in the use of advantages I know not But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age this must not be understood of number of dayes but measure of knowledge even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil They were thus illuminated by the Spirit in the way of the use and exercise of their sanctified natural faculties and the Ordinances of God for that end If any Quaker shall say True we are illuminated not by study and poring as they call it on the Scripture or any thing else but have our knowledge without such carnal toil and the
which hath a respect to the things done within their knowledge as men the Writers of that or those parts of the Scripture were either under the Testimonies of Miracles or were by some express Testimony of God rendred holy men and being so qualified they would not write more than they knew and could not easily be mistaken in matter of fact and being Scripture is said by Paul to be of Divine inspiration Fourthly All those Books of the Old Testament out of which somewhat is not quoted in the New as Scripture were received as Scripture by the Jews and then Church of God and that in the time of many Prophets to whom Divine Testimony hath been given and it cannot with any shew of Reason be supposed that those Writings should be faâ—â—â—y fathered on God or taken for authentique Scripture and the Prophets not discover and reprove it whereas far less haâ—nous evils than that would have been were often the subject-matter of their sharp reprehensions Let any Quaker of other give me or themselves the like satisfaction of their being immediately inspired and they shall have my leave to hold such an Opinion of it But for those inspirations which they say many had before the Scriptures were written the mention of their time will give full satisfaction it will be a poor Argument to prove men are now inspired as they considering they had not the revealed written Word at all and we have it so full that all things necessary for any to know are therein included and thereby expressed The second thing I must reply to is what the Quakers frequently Object viz. That we make the Scripture the judge of the Spirit whereas the Spirit gave forth the Scriptures I answer this is for want of judgment in the Objectors Far be it from us to bring the to-be-adored Spirit of God to any mans bar for judgment to be passed on it or any thing that is his immediate Work or Word all we profess in this matter to make the Scripture a judge or determiner of is whether this or that be the mind of the Spirit or no but if once it appear to be the Voice and Mind of the Spirit we profess it our duty to reverence and submit to it And we being certain that the Holy Scriptures were given forth from God and that God is not opposite to himself we conclude that what is contrary to the Scripture cannot be the Word of the Spirit because then the Spirit should bear witness against it self and the word of the Spirit would be contrary to the word of the Spirit And moreover if any shall pretend to abolish by the Authority or inspiration of the Spirit those Ordinances and Institutions which were setled by Christ or Christ in his Apostles it would be unreasonable to credit them without the same Testimonials such Miracles as they wrought by which they were erected But the Quakers are far enough from shewing such a zeal for their pretended Ministry and Order And further we are obliged not to receive another Gospel and that by the Holy Spirit though an Angel from Heaven should preach it and we are warned not to believe any other as Truth Divine against it though many Wonders should be wrought for confirmation The third thing I must reply to is that our knowledge of the mind of God by the Scripture is uncertain I answer If you mean a knowledge of all Gods mind you are not to expect it it you mean all that is there contained it is not necessary and you may go to Heaven and do your duty without such a vast knowledge and if you endeavour it in your places and as God hath given you the means it will not be your sin much less your condemnation that you do not know it all Sure there are many Babes in Christ's Family yet they are Children and all are first Babes and that would be a Monster never yet seen in the Church of Christ a new-born Babe knowing the mind of God contained in the Scripture as fully as the most serious Christians of the longest standing Jesus Christ himself grew in wisdom and in stature and I intreat you be content to leave a little of the mind of God to be found out in the Scripture by the generations to come If you mean our knowledge of the mind of the Spirit is uncertain so far as it is necessary for our living in an acceptable manner to God soberly righteously and godly in this present world and to attain Heaven at last it is a great mistake for if pride lust and idleness stand not in our way there is no person that hath a few grains of Reason but may understand so much of the mind of God by the Scripture as is necessary for him to know to his eternal salvation But if you talk of the Scriptures being a dead Letter and not moving and teaching with a voice or impulse without our reading praying and applying it in the Lords strength you talk at a strange random as if God had given us our eyes and brains only to look after the world and the things thereof but in the knowledge of God we must be meerly passive A KEY TO THE Quakers Usurped and to most UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASES THere is not any thing in the Quakers Method of deluding which doth more tend to the insnaring of unwary Souls than their asserting their false Antichristian and Anti-Scriptural Tenets under Scripture-Words and Phrases and in those very Terms wherein are expressed the Truths of God while in the mean time they mean nothing less than their true import and what People who are not well acquainted with their Tenets suppose them to mean By this Artifice they beget a good Opinion of themselves and Errours with too many and by degrees so vitiate their Principles that in a short time they are prepared to embrance the grossest errors bare-faced I shall therefore as a work of no small use to such who are attempted by them or who have a Call or opportunity to deal with them for their convincing or confuting or the securing others who are in danger by them give you a true and candid account of their sense and meaning of a multitude of Scripture and Religious Phrases which they utter and apply to their falshoods and also of their new-coin'd Words and Phrases which are more peculiar to their Sect and Notions I dispose them Alphabetically for their more easie finding on any occasion A. Above NOt in locality but excelcie so Christ and Heaven they say are above i. e. excellent and may therefore be nothing but what is within them The Anointing The Light within Christ the Spirit essentially Assembling Meeting in Spirit Assurance What they feel in themselves not what they believe from the Scripture the inward witness viz. experience teachings of the light within B. Babylon All the Ordinances Worship Faith Obedience that have any thing of a form or visible in
Heaven to be injoyed by them as distinct persons but what they have within them in this world Hell The present torment and loss within Preaching for Hire Hirelings To have provision for the outward man as a maintenance or reward 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 those they preach to Holiness Obedience to the light within and that without any failing The womans Husband at home Christ the light in the conscience I. Idolatry Often for worshipping the man Christ Jesus who is at the right hand of God above or beyond the stars and visible Heavens taking the examples of the Saints and Churches in the Scripture recorded and doing likewise JESVS The light within the Word in the beginning not the Son of Mary who was made or created The Imaginations All conclusions how demonstrable soever which accord not with their Tenets or are not by immediate inspiration Inchantments Bewitchings A being perswaded and established by reason and Scripture but especially if humane arts or sciences have any hand in it Infidels All that obey not or do not place their salvation in the light within Workers of Iniquity All that live not without sinning against God The Judgment day of Judgment Sin being judged in the conscience by the light within in this life Justification Christ the light within obeyed K. Kingdom of God The rule and government of the light within and the peace and joy arising from thence Carnal knowledge All knowledge but what comes by the immediate inspiration of the light within L. The Law Christ the light within the law written in the heart Leadings in Spirit The motions of the light within immediate inspirations and teachings The Life Christ the light within The life of Christ The prevalency of the light within Eternal Life Being taken into God Saved by the Life of Christ A being saved by the prevalency of the light in the conscience The Letter The dead Letter The Letter that killeth The Scriptures or written Word A Lye Lying What is spoken though true in it self if not from immediate teaching or the light within The Light within Christ God Father Son Spirit the seed of Abraham and David according to the flesh Jesus the only Saviour The Law the Testimony The Gospel the Prophets The Advocate Righteousness Sanctification Justification The only Rule Guide Teacher Judge the Way the only way to the Father The Truth the Life The Power of God the Eternal God God Almighty that which pardons and conquers sin the Judgment the Lamb of God that is slain from the beginning the Word in the beginning the Creator of all things the end of all Books Laws and abundance more than can be crowded into many Pages The Lust All desires that accord not to the light within and proceed not from thence M. The Man Christ The Spiritual Body of Flesh Blood and Bones which they say descended from Heaven and dwelt in the Body of the Son of Mary and doth also now in every Quaker Cease from man do not bear man What the Faculties of Man have any hand in either by inventing working or expressing all that comes not purely from the light within Measure of God of Christ of the Spirit That degree of the power and inspirations of the light within  Something more or less of the very being and Essence of God the Father Son Spirit Meditate Not pondering or exercising the judgment and understanding on holy and divine Objects but a stilness and emptiness of all thoughts attending for the immediate impulses suggestions inspirations and motions of the light within In the Meekness In the light within Christ which is meekness in the abstract and between whom and their spirits there is no distinction Ministers of the everlasting Gospel Both men and women Ministers among the Quakers who declare from immediate inspiration not from the Letter of the Scripture Ministers of Antichrist Babylon Idol-Shepherds All such who have a mediate call from man or preach from the Letter of the Scripture Ministration of the Spirit The immediate teachings and motions of the Spirit exclusive of all forms in worship the will though sanctified in chusing and all premeditation and acting by the prescription of the written word Miracles Sometimes Miracles in Spirit invisible to bodily senses or humane understanding The Star of the Morning the Morning of the first day Christ the light within Moved by the Holy Ghost An inward immediate impulse of the light and power within From the Mouth of God Immediate teachings from the light within excluding all other Mysteries of the Kingdom Mysteries of God Such things as the faculties of man have no power to understand or express no not from or by the Scripture such things as are only sensated in the experience An allegorizing the Scripture N. Natural man Every man that is not a Quaker The natural man Every thing in man which is distinct from God or the light within The New man Christ the light within considered essentially They did by Nature the things contained in the Law By the new Nature which is Christ the light contained in the Law within the heart which is also Christ the light O. Obedience of Christ What is done by men by the power life and strength of of the light within them Obedience in Spirit Wrought by immediate impulses of the Spirit The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation The light within and its prevalencie which they call and that only the Kingdom of God is not obtained any way by the study or consideration of the Scripture or any thing without us Observers of times Such as keep any certain days as separated to holy use as the Lords-day or such as propose an hour or two to be spent in the Worship and Ordinances of God or any time with limitation Christ the Offering The light within Offering up of Christ The light within disobeyed or contesting with the lusts yea or the right reason of men Officers of the Church Invisible Officers and Overseers who do all their work in Spirit Gods Off-spring A part and measure of the very being of God continuing to be in a degree as good and divine as God himself  The Souls and Spirits at least of the Quakers which they say came out of God The Old man All that is disobedient or not conformable to their light within One-ness with God Christ Spirit Not relative nor by love or faith or mystical Membership but such an one-ness as leaves no room for distinction between God Christ the Spirit and such whom they say are one with Christ Openings of Life Springings of of Life Sudden workings to action or impressions on the mind and affections proceeding from within of their own accord and motion Overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony All amounts but to an obedience to the light within which Smith
saith was the Lamb of God whom John bid the Jews behold and the force of the light and life within which with them is the blood i. e. the life of the Lamb. P. Put Christ to pain Resisting the motions of the light within The painted Whore Not only the Papals with their irreligious Pomp but all the good words thoughts and actions of any sort of men who derive them not from the immediate teachings and motions of the light within yea all forms of Worship according with the precepts and examples of the Scripture and they are with them the most painted who come nearest to the Scripture as a Rule The People of God They and none but they who profess the light within every man to be Christ the only Saviour and Teacher and give up themselves to its conduct as such Perfect Perfection Not that which is sincere or a Perfection of Parts or sanctification throughout in part but a being without sin in the least remains or stains of it Persecution Not only a penalty or hurt inflicted on their Bodies or Estates but also a speaking or writing against their Principles in the most purely rational and Scriptural Authority The sâ—ed in Prison and Captivity and Bondage Pictures and Images The light within not obeyed as Christ and God  Not only those Images and Pictures that to the bodily-Eye represent Christ or God or the Saints and are adored with religious worship but all Worship Opinions Actions Words that are in imitation of the Examples and in obedience to the Precepts contained in the Scripture Mâ—n-pleasers They who comply with men though in things not only lawful but also to edifification Pollutions of the world Not only things in themselves sinful as drunkenness swearing lying c. but also what ever customs they dislike and decline As Cuffs Ribands putting off the Hat signes of respect c. which they say are from the Devil all recreations as bowling ringing though used seasonably and moderately The Power of God The Light within the Christ within Praying in Spirit Secretly or inwardly not with the voice by the immediate impulses of the light and power within without the exercise of so much as the conceptions of man Prayer Christ the light within is sometimes by them so called The presence of the Lord. The powerful influences and impressions of the light within either to terrour or peace and joy The pride of Man A not submitting to their light and especially receiving tokens of respect and wearing Ribands Cuffs and Lace The Priests A word of scorn put on all indifferently who are separated to the work of the Gospel-Ministry by men or that receive maintenance for their work The Worlds Professors All that are not Quakers Formal hypocritical Professors All that walk in the Ordinances of Christ commanded or prescribed in the Scripture or in the order of the Gospel Spirit of Prophecy Immediate impulses and inspirations False Prophets All that act not by immediate revelation Prophecying falsly How true soever in it self if not from their spirit Publicans and Sinners All that are not Quakers Walking in the pare Walking after the dictates of the light within Purifying the heart by the Bloud of Christ Acting and being disposed according to inward motions by the light and life of the Christ within them Q. Quenching the Spirit Resisting the motions of the Light within Quickned in the Life Stirred up by the power within R. Raised to life Conversion to Quakerisme Ravening brain Studying and following after divine knowledge or the knowledge of divine things Inwardly ravening from the Spirit A recourse to the Scripture or any thing else except their spirit for light and understanding in the things of God Carnal reasonings Reasonings of the Flesh All use of the understanding and judgment of man for searching and finding out truths about divine and spiritual things Received from the Lord. By immediate Revelation Reconciliation Giving up themselves to the light within The Word of Reconciliation Christ the light within The Lords Redeemed Those who are conformed to the light within Redemption A being reduced into the state of Adam in innocency not what was wrought by Christ in the Flesh 1600 years since The Redeemer Not that Jesus Christ who is ascended above and beyond the Stars but the light and power within every man as such Refreshings in Spirit Something they are pleased with they know not why and come by they know not how As the Quakers who were refreshed at the Dutch-womans declaring while they understood not a word she spake The New Man CHRIST The rest of the people of God A quiet and peace within though from a blind deluded conscience The Resurrection of Life Obedience to the light in this world Resurrection of the Body Resurrection of the light within to a dominion in the man for with them the body is Christ and Christ is the light within Also the Body which was a servant to sin being acted by the light and power within Revelations Not Scripture-Revelations but what come by immediate inspiration to them Righteous ones Such as are without sin Righteousness of Christ That which is wrought by the power and conduct of their Christ the light within The Root of Jesse The Light within The Royal seed Christ and every Quaker They who run and not sent All that teach the Gospel from the Scripture and not by immediate inspiration Reprobation Sin S. The Sabbath Every day the present Rest and Heaven of the Quakers The Sacrifice of Christ The light within obeying or they obeying in the light within Having Salt in themselves Having Christ in themselves The Salt of the Earth Christ the light within Salvation Conversion to the obedience of the light within Sanctification All one with Justification all one with Christ obedience to the light Building on the Sand. Making the Scripture a rule of faith and life The Saviour The light within every man According to the Scriptures By immediate inspiration as the Prophets and Apostles received the minde of God The Seed The light within or the Christ essentially within the Eternal Word that which was in the beginning with God The Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh The Eternal Word Christ as God  All that is not from the immediate motions within Self-righteousness Shadows All Forms and external worship  The Scriptures which Pen saith are as the shadow of the true rule viz. living touches Idol-Shepherds The Ministers who have a mediate call or teach out of the Scripture Shut out of the Scriptures Cannot understand them have nothing to do with them Signes and Miracles in Spirit No body can tell what All flesh must be silent Nothing must be said but what comes by immediate revelation from the Spirit for all else is the voice of man and of the flesh In the simplicity Without the use of humane understanding or if you will out of your wits To live in Sin Sinners Such as have any remains of