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A54228 A testimony to the truth of God, as held by the people, called, Quakers being a short vindication of them, from the abuses and misrepresentations often put upon them by envious apostates, and mercenary adversaries. Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1699 (1699) Wing P1380; ESTC R220497 18,332 56

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Grace and Light for Light and that no Man can know God and Christ whom to know is Life Eternal and themselves in order to true Conviction and Conversion without Receiving and Obeying this Holy Light and being taught by the Divine Grace and that without it no Remission no Justification no Salvation as the Scripture plentifully testifies can be obtained And because we therefore press the Necessity of Peoples receiving the Inward and Spiritual Appearance of this Divine Word in order to a Right and beneficial Application of whatsoever he did for Man with respect to his Life Miracles Death Sufferings Resurrection Ascension and Mediation our Adversaries would have us to deny any Christ without us First As to his Divinity because they make us to confine him too within us Secondly As to his Humanity or Manhood because as he was the Son of Abraham David and Mary according to the Flesh he can't be in us and therefore we are Hereticks and Blasphemers Whereas we believe him according to Scripture to be the Son of Abraham David and Mary after the Flesh and also God over all blessed for ever So that he that is within us is also without us even the same that laid down his precious Life for us rise again from the Dead and ever liveth to make Intercession for us being the Blessed and alone Mediator betwixt God and Man and him by whom God will finally Judge the World both Quick and Dead All which we as sincerely and stedfastly believe as any other Society of People whatever may be Ignorantly or Maliciously Insinuated to the contrary either by our declared Enemies or mistaken Neighbours Deut. 15. 18. Mi● 5. 2. John 1. 1 2 3. Rev. 22. 16. III. Concerning the Holy Scriptures BEcause we Assert the Holy Spirit to be the first great and general Rule and Guide of true Christians as that by which God is Worshipped Sin Detected Conscience Convicted Duty Manifested Scripture Unfolded and Explained and consequently the Rule for Understanding the Scriptures themselves since by It they were at first given forth from hence our Adversaries are pleased to make us Blasphemers of the Holy Scriptures undervaluing their Authority preferring our own Books before them with more to that purpose Whereas we in Truth and Sincerity believe them to be of Divine Authority given by the Inspiration of God thro' Holy Men they speaking or writing them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost That they are a Declaration of those things most surely believed by the Primitive Christians and that as they contain the Mind and Will of God and are his Commands to us so they in that respect are his Declaratory Words and therefore are Obligatory on us and are Profitable for Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished to every good Work Nay after all so Unjust is the Charge and so Remote from our Belief concerning the Holy Scriptures that we both Love Honour and Prefer them before all Books in the World ever choosing to express our Belief of the Christian Faith and Doctrine in the Terms thereof and rejecting all Principles or Doctrines whatsoever that are Repugnant thereunto Nevertheless we are well persuaded that notwithstanding there is such an Excellency in the Holy Scriptures as we have above declared yet the unstable and unlearned in Christ's School too often Wrest them to their own Destruction And upon our Re 〈…〉 r Carnal Constructions of the 〈…〉 made Undervaluers of 〈…〉 But certain it is That as the Lord hath been pleased to give us the Experience of the fulfilling of them in Measure so it is altogether contrary to our Faith and Practice to put any manner of Slight or Contempt upon them much more of being guilty of what maliciously is suggested against us since no Society of Profest Christians in the World can have a more Reverend and Honourable Esteem for them than we have John 4. 24. and 16. 8. Rom. 1. 19. Luke 1. 1 2. Tim. 3. 16 17. 2 Pet. 3. 16. IV. Concerning Magistracy BEcause we have not actively complied with divers Statutes which have been made to force an Uniformity to what we had no Faith in but the Testimony of our Conscience against and because for Conscience sake we could not give those Marks of Honour and Respect which were and are the usual Practice of those that seek Honour one of another and not that Honour which comes from God only but Measure and Weigh Honour and Respect in a false Ballance and deceitful Measure on which neither Magistrate Ruler nor People can depend We say because we could not for Conscience sake give Flattering Titles c. We have been render'd as Despisers and Contemners of Magistracy Whereas our Principles often repeated upon the many Revolutions that have happened do evidently manifest the contrary as well as our Peaceable Behaviour from the beginning under all the various Forms of Government hath been an undeniable Plea in our Favour when those that also have Professed the same Principles of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience have Quitted their Principles and yet Quarrel with us upon a Supposition that we will in time write after their Copy which as nothing is more contrary to our Principles Faith and Doctrine so nothing can be more contrary to our constant Practice For we not only really believe Magistracy to be an Ordinance of God but esteem it an Extraordinary Blessing where it is a Praise to them that do well and a Terror to Evil-doers Which that it may be so in this our Native Land is the fervent Desire of our Souls that the Blessing and Peace of God may be continued thereupon Job 32. 21. John 5. 44. Acts 5. 29. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. V. Concerning Baptism BEcause we do not find in any place in the four Evangelists that Jesus Christ Instituted Baptism by Water to come in the room of Circumcision or to be the Baptism proper to His Kingdom which stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost we are therefore render'd as Contemners of Christ's Baptism Whereas the Baptism of Jesus Christ of which he was Lord and Administrator according to the nature of his Office and Kingdom is even by John the Baptist declared to be that of Fire not Water and of the Holy Ghost of which Water-Baptism was but the Forerunner and is by them that now Practice it called but the Outward and Visible Sign of the Inward and Spiritual Grace and therefore not the Grace it self which Grace as the Apostle saith is sufficient for us and which we Believe Profess and Experience to be come by Jesus Christ who is the Substance of all Signs and Shadows to true Believers he being no more a Jew or Christian that is one outwardly by the cutting or washing of the Flesh But he is a Jew and Christian who is one inwardly and Circumcision and Baptism is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the
Letter whose Praise is therefore not of Men but of God And this Baptism Christ Preferred and Recommended at his Farewel to his Disciples in Reverence and Duty to whom to say nothing of the abuse of Water-Baptism we decline the use thereof Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. John 1. 17. Acts 1. 5. Rom. 14. 17. Rom. 2. 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 12. 9. VI. Concerning Breaking Bread c. BEcause we also disuse the Outward Ceremony of Breaking Bread and Drinking Wine which is commonly called the Lord's Supper we are therefore render'd Deniers and Contemners of the Lord's-Supper whereas the Inward and Spiritual Grace thereby signified viz. that Bread which came down from Heaven which Christ prefers to the Bread the Fathers eat in the Wilderness which did not keep them from Death and that Cup which he promised to drink a-new with his Disciples in his Father's Kingdom we not only Believe but Reverently Partake of to our unspeakable Comfort which is rightly and truly the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who said Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you have no Life in you John 6. 53 63. For 't is the Spirit that quickens the Flesh profits nothing It was also his Promise to all those that would open at his Knocks viz. That he would come in and Sup with them which Inward and Spiritual Coming we have both known and testified to feeling the blessed Effects thereof in our Souls and knowing the outward Breaking of Bread and Drinking of Wine in the way commonly Practised is no more than it is declared to be viz. An Outward and Visible Sign Why then should any contend about it and render us Unchristian for disusing what themselves allow to be but an Outward and Visible Sign And that none can reasonably believe to be an Essential Part of Religion as is the Bread from Heaven of which the Outward is at best but a Signification But the Wine that Christ promised to Drink with his Disciples anew is such an Essential that without it none have nor can have Eternal Life Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 25. John 6. 41 50 51 58 63. Rev. 3. 20. VII Concerning the Light of Christ BEcause we Assert the Sufficiency of the Light within it being the Light of Christ viz. That if Men live up to the Teaching thereof in all manner of Faithfulness and Obedience they shall not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and Salvation and the Blood of Christ shall cleanse them from all Sin Our Adversaries from thence conceive that we undervalue the Rule of Holy Scriptures and all outward Means as having no need thereof since we have such a Means and Rule within us and that this leaves us without any certain Rule and exposeth us to many Blasphemies c. Whereas the Light within or Christ by his Light inwardly Teaching was never taught by us in Opposition to or Contempt of any outward Means that God in his Wisdom and Providence affords us for our Edification and Comfort no more than did that blessed Apostle who said You need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no Lye John 12. 46. 1 John 1. 6 7. 1 John 1. 2 27. VIII Concerning the Father the Word and the Spirit BEcause we have been very cautious in expressing our Faith concerning that great Mystery especially in such School Terms and Philosophical Distinctions as are Unscriptural if not Unsound the tendency whereof hath been to raise Frivolous Controversies and Animosities amongst Men we have by those that desire to lessen our Christian Reputation been represented as Deniers of the Trinity at large Whereas we ever believed and as constantly maintained the Truth of that blessed Holy Scripture Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that these Three are One the which we both sincerely and reverently believe according to 1 John 5. 7. And this is sufficient for us to believe and know and hath a Tendency to Edification and Holiness when the contrary centers only in Imaginations and Strife and Persecution where it runs high and to Parties as may be Read in Bloody Characters in the Ecclesiastical Histories IX Concerning Works BEcause we make Evangelical Obedience a Condition to Salvation and Works by the Spirit wrought in us to be an Evidence of Faith and Holiness of Life to be both Necessary and Rewardable it hath been Insinuated against us as if we hoped to be saved by our own Works and so make them the Meritorious Cause of our Salvation and consequently Popish Whereas we know that it is not by Works of Righteousness that we can do but by his own free Grace is he pleased to accept of us through Faith in and Obedience to his Blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 5. 9. and 12. 14. X. Of Christ's being our Example BEcause in some Cases we have said the Lord Jesus was our great Example and that his Obedience to his Father doth not excuse ours but as by keeping his Commandments he abode in his Father's Love so must we follow his Example of Obedience to abide in his Love Some have been so ignorant or that which is worse as to venture to say for us or in our Name that we believe our Lord Jesus Christ was in all things but an Example Whereas we confess him to be so much more than an Example that we believe him to be our most acceptable Sacrifice to God his Father who for his Sake will look upon fallen Man that hath justly merited the Wrath of God upon his Return by Repentance Faith and Obedience as if he had never sinned at all 1 John 2. 12. Rom. 3. 26. and 10. 9 10. Heb. 5. 9. XI Concerning Freedom from Sin BEcause we have urged the Necessity of a perfect Freedom from Sin and a thorough Sanctification in Body Soul and Spirit whilst on this side the Grave by the Operation of the Holy and Perfect Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of Holy Scripture we are made so Presumptious as to assert the fulness of all Perfection and Happiness to be attainable in this Life Whereas we are not only sensible of those humane Infirmities that attend us whilst clogged with Flesh and Blood but know that here we can only know in part and see in part The Perfection of Wisdom Glory and Happiness being reserved for another and better World John 8. 24 25. Heb. 13. 20 21. Heb. 6. XII Concerning Worship to God BEcause we say with the Apostle that Men ought to Pray Preach Sing c. with the Spirit and that without the Preparation and Assistance of it no Man can Rightly Worship God all Worship without it being Formal and Carnal From hence Ignorance or Envy suggests against us that if God will not compel us by his Spirit he must go without