the Government of our Life in all Estates are not the Rule which the Holy Spirit useth as his Instrument to Guide us in all parts of our Duty But he might have told us some of those Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our plain and distinct Rule whereby to know either our Duty to perform it or what is prohibited that we may avoid it though we have the inward assistance of God's Spirit to enlighten our Minds and set before them on all necessary occasions and emergencies such Scripture Precepts and Prohibitions as suit with the present occasions But if the cases be of things in themselves simply indifferent i. e. neither commanded nor forbidden either by any Precepts of God or Just Precepts and Laws of our Superiors we are left to our choice according as our rational Faculties and Christian Prudence shall direct us a due regard over all being had to the Glory of God and that whatever we do be done in the Spirit of true Love and Charity which are general Rules plainly given us in the Holy Scriptures the particular application of which in all particular Cases whither in relation to Superiors Inferiors or Equals the Holy Spirit by his special Illuminations in our Hearts will teach us as we faithfully pray and wait for them without the need of any other general or particular Rules than what already are given us in the Holy Scriptures Therefore in opposition to this extravagant and rash Assertion of W. P that there are a Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our plain and distinct Rule I affirm that there is not one Case respecting our Duty either towards God our selves or our Neighbours but plain Instructions and Precepts are given us in the Holy Scriptures concerning the same but we still need the Grace and Guidance of God's Holy Spirit to give us the Spiritual discovery of them and to enable us rightly to practise them Surely David had a far better and greater esteem of God's Laws Precepts and Testimonies even as outwardly delivered by Moses and also by himself than W.P. hath concerning which he said Psal 119.24 Thy Testimonies also are my delight and my Counsellors Though David was a Prophet yet as King over the People of Israel he was commanded of God to write him a Copy of the Law of God in a Book which was to be with him and he was to Read therein all the days of his Life that he might learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of that Law and these Statutes to do them c Deut. 17.18 19 20. And yet David was highly illuminated and inspired far above W.P. or any of his Brethren but the written Law was to be the Rule of his Actions as well as of other Men. Nor could David have excused himself from taking the written Law to be the Rule of his Life because he had it in his Heart and if it could be no excuse to David nor can it be to any Christian now King or Subject that because they have the Law writ in their Hearts and the Spirit put in their inward parts according to God's promise in the New Covenant that therefore the Laws of God both of the Old and New Testament that are of a Moral concern even as outwardly delivered do not bind them which is in very deed to take away the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and make void the Prophetical and Kingly Office of Christ yea and the Office of the Holy Spirit also who inspired the Holy Pen-men to commit them to Writing And it is no less extravagant and rash in W.P. to assert that there is not laid down in Scripture any general Rule how to answer before Magistrates and to act in times of Sufferings for though no particular words are given us limiting and determining us what to say yet the general matter of our Duty is plainly laid down in Scripture what and how to answer before Magistrates as that of Peter and John Acts 4.19 How that it is better to obey God than Men and that of the three Children to King Nebuchadnezzer Dan. 3.17 18. And how to act in Times of Suffering we have both excellent commands and examples in Scripture as Mat. 10.28 1 Pet. 2.20 1 Pet. 4.16 Luke 23.34 Acts 7.59 60. But seeing he doth so peremptorily require a general Rule to suit all Cases as well as all Persons of Mankind otherwise it could not be general which yet he will have it to be what those dictates or Revelations of the Light in every Conscience are of Jews Mahometans and Christians that can give such plain directions to all Persons in all Cases which the Scripture cannot give I desire him to tell at least some of them If he doth not it is a sign he cannot and that consequently his Argument is vain for the Light or Spirit abstractly considered without all Revelation can be no Rule Section 13. His fourteenth Argument which he calls his eighth answered Page 120. AFter he has given Thirteen Reasons and all false ones enough as I think I have sufficiently shewed he comes to that he calls his eighth reason after his former Thirteen at least Why the Scriptures cannot be the Rule under the New Covenant which is this Christ the Spiritual Leader of a Spiritual Israel writeth his Spiritual Law in the Heart as Moses the outward Israel's Leader writ the Law upon Tables of Stone This was God's Promise and the priviledge and blessing of the New Covenant that as the outward Jew had an outward Law for a directory the inward Jew should have an inward Law for his directory and as the outward Jew had an outward Priest at whose Mouth be ought to seek the Law so the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit has an inward and Spiritual High-Priest whose Lips preserve knowledge at whose Mouth he is to receive the Law of Life The King Ruler Judge Law-giver High-Priest Law Rule are all Spiritual so the Scriptures inform us My Kingdom said Christ is not of this World Again the Kingdom of God is within Luk. 17.20 21. I will write my Law in their Hearts They shall be all taught of me Heb. 8.10 quoting Rev. 21.3 Joel 2.28 Tit. 2.11 12. Job 32.8 Rom. 1.19 And here again he falsly quotes the words Whatever may be known of God c. Gal. 5.16 1 John 1.7 Isa 2.5 Rev. 21. 23. Gal. 6.15 16. as also he quotes unduly 1 Cor. 12.7 putting a measure of the Spirit for a manifestation of the Spirit Answ 1. If the Light within be a general Rule to Mankind then the outward Israel had it as well as the inward Israel Where is then the distinction and difference betwixt the one and the other 2. If the Rule of the inward Israel be within and the High-Priest within then as the inward Israel has no Rule to be the Rule of their Faith and Life but the Light in the Conscience so they have no High-Priest
without them but only within them that is the Light in the Conscience and so there is no High-Priest without us nor no Heaven without us into which the Man Christ Jesus is gone nor King Christ without us but only within us for to say he is both without us and within us also will spoil W. P's Argument altogether and mar his Analogy betwixt the Law without under Moses and the Law within under Christ the High-Priest without then and the High-Priest within now If he grant there is a High-Priest without us and who is also King as well as Priest and that he is more without us than within us as all true Christians believe who have not the fulness within them but receive of his fulness and Grace for Grace and therefore that fulness is in the Man Christ without them he must also grant that the Law and Rule of Faith is as well without us as within us and so his Argument is spoiled but that he will be loth to grant for then the fundamental Principle of him and his Brethren is pluck'd up by the Roots by confessing to the Man Christ a High-Priest without us or King without us which will necessarily infer the Law and Rule of Faith delivered us by Christ without us is not within us only but without us also as Christ the Law-giver is Thus we see for Love of their supposed Rule of Faith only within them W.P. and his Brethren who approve his Book abandon and reject utterly any Christ High-Priest or King without them as also he has done in his Christian Quaker where he will have P. 97. The Lamb without in the Passover to shew forth the Lamb within to wit the Light in the Conscience but not the Lamb Christ without as he was outwardly slain And yet W.P. for all this hath said in his late answer to the Bishop of Cork That the Quakers differ little in Doctrine from the Church of England setting aside some School Terms And in his answer to the Bishop of Cork P. 97. he saith We i. e. he and his Brethren plainly and intirely believe the Truths contained in the Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed But possibly some fallacy is latent here also as if he had said they believe the Truths Contained in the Jews Talmud or Turks Alcoran for doubtless there are some Truths contained in them both but many Falshoods and so he may think there are in that Creed for all his seeming fair Confession to it and I offer to prove they have disbelieved them all But how this consists with their having only their High Priest King and Prophet within them as they have the Law and Rule of their Faith only within them as W.P. here doth Argue I leave to the intelligent to Judge and whither this palpable contradiction bewrayes not their great disingenuity considering that they will not grant that they are in any one point changed in their Faith or Doctrine from what they were ever since they were a People but as God and Truth is the same so his People to wit the Quakers are the same as they have in so many express words lately Printed in the Book called the Quakers Cleared c. 3. As concerning the several places of Scripture quoted by him that he brings to prove the inward Teachings of God Christ and the Holy Spirit and God's writing his Laws in the Hearts of the Faithful all this is granted by all Sound Christians but that is not the true State of the Controversie betwixt the People called Quakers and their Opponents But the true State of the Controversie is this whither the inward Teachings of God of Christ and of the Holy Spirit come to believers without all outward means and without all outward Ministry and Service of Men or Books and whither the Law and Rule of Faith that Believers have in them put in them yea and writ in their Hearts by the Lord himself is without all outward Instruction and Teaching or Service of Men or Books or whither the Law and Rule of Faith and Practise within in respect of all the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion be not so to speak a Transcript or Copy from the Law and Rule of Faith without us as delivered in the Holy Scriptures which therefore may be called the Original as to us though that Original Law and Rule without us came from an inward Original in the Holy Prophets and in the Man Christ and his Holy Evangelists and Apostles which yet had a higher Original to wit the Archetypal Law as it was in God before the Copy or Transcript of it came to be in the Prophets and from them committed to writing outwardly and from that outward writing transferred and transcribed into the Hearts of the Faithful where it becomes an inward Law or Rule in them And thus the Faithful have the Law and Rule of Faith both without them and within them first without them in the Holy Scriptures next within them put in them by the Lord in their Hearts by means of outward Instruction as Preaching Reading c. And if the Question be asked Whither is best to have it without them or within them I answer to have it both ways is very necessary for in God's ordinary way of working we cannot have it within us if we had it not first without us no more than we can have Food within us if we had it not first without us for as our outward and bodily Food that nourisheth our Bodies comes into our Bodies from without us by the Door so to speak of our Mouth so the wholsome Doctrine of eternal Salvation by Christ our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer by means of which our Souls and inward Man are nourished being accompanied with the Divine Influences of the Grace and Spirit of God and of Christ comes into our Souls by the Door of our outward Hearing and Reading in the Holy Scriptures Again though there be ever so good Food and ever so Plentiful without us yet if we receive it not within us it neither doth nor can nourish us And as the clean Beasts under the Law did chew the Cud of what they did eat for their Nourishment so the Faithful what they outwardly hear and read of God's Word in the Holy Scriptures must meditate upon inwardly for their Spiritual Food Thus the great necessity of having the Law and Word of God both without us and within us the Rule of our Faith and Life is evidently apparent so long as we live in these mortal Bodies And therefore God hath appointed and Christ hath given an outward Ministry together with his other Gifts and Graces to his Church to continue to the end of the World and to his last coming But again if it be asked Is there not an Internal word Voice or Teaching of Christ distinct from the outward word Voice and Teaching that outwardly soundeth in our outward Ears I answer There is but in God's
c. Which saith he could not be without the Light of his Son shines in Man's Conscience therefore the light of Christ in the Conscience must needs have been the General Rule c. Answ His Consequence is again denied which he doth not prove it has the same defect with his foregoing proofs that he confounds the Author and Efficient cause of Faith with the Rule which is the instrumental Cause thereof But let it be further considered what the following words are not mentioned by W.P. here and let them be compared with the foregoing words Ver. 7. Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first born for my transgression the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul Ver. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God And it will appear that the words at least have a Comparative Sense as intimating that Justice Mercy and Humility or Humble walking with God are more acceptable to God and the greater things of God's Laws than all outward Sacrifices were But doth it therefore follow that God did not require those outward Sacrifices then to be offered up or that God did not require Faith in the People of Israel that he did Command them And if such a Faith was then required of them which the common dictates of the light in every Conscience did not teach them but special Revelation by the like reason it can be proved that the Faith of Christ the great Sacrifice as he was outwardly to be offered up of which all the outward Sacrifices were Types was also required by the Lord from that People the which Faith all the faithful then had and by which Faith they received the remission of their Sins according to Acts 10 43. But seeing the Light within every Man gives them not this Faith nor teacheth it them it evidently follows that the Light within every Man is not the Rule of the Christian Faith it may be further said that the words Micah 6.8 9. if they were to be understood with respect to meer Heathens and Gentiles who have not the External Word might imply that no more is required of them than those general things which the Law or Light in them doth teach them and is the only Rule they have but these words seem not to be spoke with respect to meer Gentiles but rather to them that were by Profession the Church of God and though neither Faith nor Repentance nor many other Evangelical Virtues and Duties are there expressed yet without doubt they are implyed as well as where Faith is only exprest in many places of Scripture Love and other Virtues are implyed And indeed by the like Fallacy W.P. might infer that our whole Religion consists in practiseing the Duties of the 2d Table from James's words Pure and undefiled Religion is to visit the Fatherless and the Widow and to keep unspotted from the World And that Consequently he that doth this though he practise none of the Duties of the First Table he has Religion enough yea though he have no Faith in God no fear of him nor Love to him if he be Charitable and temperate as it has been reported some Atheists have been Page 5. His next Argument is It was by this Law that Enoch Noah Abraham Melchisideck Abimilech Job Jethro c. walked and were accepted as saith Jreneus and Tertullian they wâ—re Just by the Law written in their Hearts then was it their Rule too and in that Just State Answ This Argument hath several defects in it 1. To argue from a Law or Rule of Moral Justice to a Law or Rule of Faith in Christ the promised Messiah without which Faith there is no promise of Eternal Life and Salvation in all the Scripture Secondly That he Jumbleth Abimelech and Jethro none of which were prophets with Abraham and others that were Prophets and had extraordinary Revelation concerning the Messiah Thirdly That he makes no distinction betwixt what the Light or Word did reveal commonly in all Men by the common Illumination and what that same word did reveal to the Prophets and by them to the Faithful by special Revelation and Illumination And indeed all his Arguments are in great part built on this Fallacy of not distinguishing but confounding the common or general Illuminations given to all Men from the special and extraordinary given to some That the common Illumination of the Divine Word was to the Patriarchs Abraham Noah c. a Law or Rule of Justice is granted but that it was to them a Law or Rule of Faith whereby they believed in the promised Messiah is denied for that was a special Revelation that was the Law or Rule of that Faith and not the common Illumination though both common and special were and are from the same Divine Word yet this hinders not their Distinction as all the Creatures of God have one Creator and Author of their Being yet this hinders not but that the Creatures are widely distinct one from another Section 3. His first and second Arguments that the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith and Life Answered Page 5. IN the next place he pleads that the Scriptures cannot be the Rule arguing thus Arg. 1. How can they be the general Rule that have not been general Answ He is still guilty of confounding and jumbling things that ought to be distinguished 1. None saith that the Scriptures are a general Rule If by a general Rule he means a Rule actually obliging all Men whomsoever for the Scripture obligeth none but such who either have them or at least can by some possible means have them 2. It is granted that the Law or Illumination that is in all Men is the general Law or Rule of Justice and Morality to all Men. But what then will it follow that Christians have no other Rule but that of moral Justice 3. He ought to have distinguished betwixt the general Law or Rule of Justice given to all Mankind and the general superadded Law and Rule of Christian Faith and Practise given in general to Christians but for want of this distinction he deceives himself and seeks to deceive others with fallacious Arguments Page 6. He brings an Objection thus But granting that the Light within were so viz. the general Rule before Scripture was extant yet c. Answ He supposeth that to be granted which ought not to be granted viz. That the common Illumination before Scripture was extant was the Rule of the Faith of all the Faithful who lived and died in the Faith of the promised Messiah by whom they believed to have Remission of Sin and eternal Life This is altogether denied for this Faith they had not by the common Illumination but by special Revelation given to some by Prophesie and to others by means of their Prophesies Page
places of Scripture quoted by him touching the Rule as Gal. 6.16 Phil. 3.16 2 Cor. 10. 13 15. none of them all say either that the Light within or the new Creature is the Rule of Faith and Life nor doth he give any proof by any true Consequence that it is And here by the way W.P. should be put in mind to prove what he asserts by plain Scripture without Consequences which his Brethren commonly allow not of but when any of their Opponents argue with them by Consequences however so fair they will not allow of them And yet throughout this whole Treatise of W.P. he brings not one Argument from express Scripture to prove his Matter but proceeds all along by Consequences not one of which is fairly and truly inferred as will appear in the thorough Examination of them The Rule mentioned Gal. 6.6 hath a plain and easie reference to the Proposition laid down by the Apostle in the foregoing Verse which is this That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature This Proposition laid down by the Apostle in so many express words is an excellent Rule and one of the many excellent Rules appertaining to the Christian Religion the intire body of which Rules is deservedly called the Rule and well might the Apostle say As many as walk according to that one Rule which is very comprehensive Peace be upon them for he that duly walks according to that Rule will be careful to walk according to all the other Rules appertaining to the Christian Religion whereof that one is a main But let it be granted that in some sense the new Creature may be allowed to be a Rule as I see no hurt to allow it in some sense and a Law to him or them in whom this new Creature is wrought or brought forth for even those Gentiles which did the things contained in the Law are said by Paul Rom. 2. to be a Law to themselves Which did shew the Work of the Law writ in their Hearts Then surely much rather every regenerate Person by reason of his new Nature may be said to be a Law or Rule to himself according to that saying of Boetius de Consol Phil. Quis legem det amantibus Major lex amor est ipse sibi The love of Virtue is greater than any Law that can be expressed or laid down in words But how as Law there is understood not properly a Law or Precept informing the Understanding but Metaphorically as it is an inward power having a mighty impulse upon the Will of a good Man even as the love of Vice is a mighty Law that acts with a mighty impulse on the Will of a bad and vicious Man Hence as the one may be understood to be even in the Scripture sense the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus so the other may be understood to be the Law of Sin and Death LAW in both these respects being understood not properly but Metaphorically as when we commonly say God Almighty the great Author and Creator of Nature hath given a Law to the Nature of every thing as weight to Stones and Metals whereby they are moved downwards and levity to Fire whereby it is moved upwards but whither these Motions proceed from an inward or external Cause in these natural bodies is not the proper matter of Debate here only the instance is given to shew that LAW hath commonly a Metaphorical Sense as well as proper and so hath the word or term Rule And I suppose W.P. though perhaps not much acquainted with School-distinctions hath heard of the distinction of a Rule into Regula regulus and Regula regulata i. e. the Rule ruling and the Rule ruled at least of the primary and secondary Rule for he hath allowed in this Treatise that the Scriptures may be called a Secondary Rule at least in several parts of them And why may not much rather the new Creature or work of Sanctification be called a Secondary Rule and the Doctrine of the Christian Religion consisting of many excellent Precepts and Promises and other Gospel Truths the Primary Rule Yea that it is so is evidently proved because the new Creature it self to wit the Work of Regeneration and Sanctification in the Souls of the Faithful is instrumentally wrought by the Form of Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures the Spirit of God working by and with the said Form of Doctrine being the principal Agent and Efficient according to Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the heart that Form of Doctrine which was delivered unto you or as the better Translation is out of the Greek unto or into which ye were delivered the word translated Form is Type signifying Pattern Mould or Frame according to the Fashion of which a thing is made as when a piece of Clay is formed by the Potter by the Frame to which it is applied or Wax receiveth the Impression of the Seal or a Vessel of Brass Tin or Silver is framed by the Mould into which it is cast Now as the Mould or Pattern whereby any Vessel is framed is prior to the Vessel and the shape or fashion of the Vessel is posterior to the Pattern or Exemplar according to which it is framed even so the new Creature is posterior to the Form of Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures and this evidently proves that the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures being the same that was extant in the Church of God before it was committed to writing hath the precedency and priority in point of a Rule to the new Creature so that the Doctrine to wit the doctrinal Word and Words of God given by God and Christ to the Holy Prophets and Apostles and by them to other Men who by means thereof are converted and inwardly renewed regenerated and sanctified through the Operation of the Holy Spirit as the principal Efficient is the Rule to the new Creature and not the new Creature the Rule to the Doctrine Hence it is that the Word of God to wit the doctrinal word or word of Doctrine is by a Metaphor called Seed in Scripture for of Seed Plants Trees and Animals are produced And seeing according to Scripture Faith is wrought by hearing the Word outwardly preached in God's ordinary way and that Word is the Doctrine of the Christian Religion given originally by God and Christ to the Prophets and Apostles and by them to us it evidently follows that Faith or the new Creature is not a Rule to the Doctrine but the Doctrine is a Rule to the Faith and consequently the Doctrine is the primary Rule of Faith and Life but not that Faith and Life is the primary Rule or any Rule at all to the Doctrine even as in natural Generation the Seed is before the Birth and Fruit so is the Doctrine before the Faith and before the Person that is the Believer or Saint and regenerated Person as such and before the Church for the