from the Spirit how comes it to pass that the Spirit never moves them as it did in the Apostles days to pray and prophesy in unknown Tongues When we shall see in their Assemblys as the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles did in the Primitive Christians Meetings that they have the Gift of Tongues and the gift of interpreting thereof when together with the Gift of Tongues we shall see that they have as the Christians had all the other miraculous Gifts when we shall see that they shew themselves to be Prophets and spiritual in receiving what this Apostle hath written in particular that a Woman should not speak in the Church as the Commandments of God And lastly when with all this they shall preach no other Doctrine than what the Apostle hath preached and the Catholick Church received then we will believe if they be lawfully baptized that it is the Spirit which is speaking in them and that God is in them and among them of a truth but till then we must believe them all to be Impostors or Enthusiasts or Blasphemers of the Holy Ghost Thus he enough to silence all their pretences to immediate Inspiration Calv. adv Libertines c. 2. which has been the common Stalâ— of each fanatical Party to influence the People by so the Libertines would boast of their Intimacy with God and all See Rutherford's Sâ—â—vey of the Spiritual Antichrist cap. 9. p. 55 56 57 c. their talk was de Spiritu of what Communications they had from the Spirit as Calvin notes Henry Nicholas the first nominated Elder of the Family of Love pretended to Visions and Revelations and Conferences with Angels and said He was raised by the highest God â—anointed with the Holy Ghost godded with God in the Spirit of his Love Caspâ—r Swenkefield pretended to the Spirit and Enthusiastical Dreams called for spiritualness and the Spirit and the Rutherf cap. â— p. 15 16 c. Id. Part 2. p. 211. internal Word revealed his fancys to Luther who sharply rebuked him but to no purpose Pertinacy cleaving to the Plague of Heresy says our Author his Errors are there recited they were condemned by a Synod at Norimburg Anno 1554 and by the Confession of the Divines of Mansfield 1555. who tell us he had vexed the Church thirty years That American Jezabel as she is called Mrs. Hutchison deceived and drew away many boldly asserting that her peculiar Revelations about Events to fall out were as infallible as any parts of Scripture and that she was as much bound to believe them as the Scripture for the same Holy Ghost was the Author of both It were endless to recite what is said of this sort of People who all deluded the World with the Pretence to Visions Revelation and immediate Teachings from the Spirit which was the shield they laboured to secure themselves by when assaulted by the Ministers of the Gospel and therefore we have great reason to caution our People against itching Ears and the being fond of new things but more especially to avoid those who pretend to new â—ights and Revelations as being but Wolves in sheeps clothing remembering that 't is recorded to the great praise of the Bereans that upon St. Paul's preaching they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them which shows that this ought to be their rule to try all Doctrines by CHAP. VI. Of the SCRIPTURES G EO FOX in his Piece stiled News coming out of the North written See Brief Discov p. 9. from the Mouth of the Lord c. saith Your Original is Carnal Hebrew Greek and Latin A learned Man reading this wondered and well he might how Latin came to be an Original and we cannot guess unless it be to make a court to the Church of Rome which has decreed the vulgar Latin to be as infallible and authentick as the Greek and Hebrew and had he brought in the Latin Service as well as the Latin Bible we had been Al-a-Mode Roman Who knows tho not he yet his infallible Successors may one day make that authentick too Oh this Infallibility can do strange feats when it pleases But he goes on Your Word is carnal the Letter and the Light is carnal the Letter their Original is but dust which is but the Letter which is Death and their Gospel is but Dust Matthew Mark Luke and John which is the Letter To this Geo. Whitehead answers here That the Letter it self is not made up of spiritual Matter or of lasting materials but of such as will decay and turn to dust A wonderful discovery That your Gospel Matthew Mark Luke and John are not printed with never-failing Ink and upon immortal Paper he tlls us in Innocency Triumphant p. 17. they mean no more than the Writings abstractly considered as in Paper and Ink and false Ministers dead preaching and commenting on them Well George if thou hadst but as much honesty as wit tho in that there is but bare measure thou wouldst not abuse us with such a trifling Answer Was ever any thing properly called Carnal that was not capable of being made spiritual Carnality being only the want of Spirituality in a Subject capable And 't is as improper to say Ink and Paper are carnal as a Stone is blind would it not be a wise business for one to discourse of a carnal Dog a carnal Horse a carnal Tree or a carnal Block as if there were those that could be spiritual But further who ever thought the innocent Letters of the Alphabet and the Scrivener's Bottel should be accused as carnal or Hebrew and Greek should have the fortune to be censur'd as carnal Languages and not French Spanish or Italian unless it was because Hebrew and Greek were the first Languages whereby the Doctrine of Salvation was conveyed to the World without the least mention of Light within unless with a note of infamy if the Light in thee be darkness O! 't is this carnal Hebrew and Greek which has done us all the mischief that has chok'd us with this Serpents meat But Fox tells us We Dogs Serpents Swine feed upon the Letter which is Death tho we think 't was never heard that ever any fed upon the Letters of the Alphabet and a Bottle of Ink and took them for his dinner or how Pen Ink and Paper should kill any unless he were such a Fool as to choke himself by swallowing his Bible No no Quakers are not so silly tho wicked enough to think so there 's no question but 't is somewhat conveyed to us by their Letters and Languages they have their spight at as appears further by what he saith here Your Word is Carnal and your Light is Carnal your Gospel is Dust Matthew Mark Luke and John which is the Letter Sure our Word our Light our Gospel our Matthew Mark c. are somewhat
Illumination without any special enlightning much more without immediate Revelation from Heaven But this is their general Sentiment and Opinion Geo. Fox says the same with Whitehead not only here but in his Journal p. 22. and Pen in his Answer to Faldo p. 58 64. Now for the honour of the Scriptures that they may not ly under the Popish Imputation of so great obscurity we shall prove that they who are not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in may yet understand the sense of the Scriptures in things necessary to Salvation The Scriptures are plain in themselves a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Paths Psal 119. 105. and their Words manifest their Sense to us as other Writings do if we have but the use of rational Faculties and the common Illumination of the Spirit of God And it were contrary to the Goodness and Justice of God to enact Laws and make our Obedience to them necessary to Salvation and yet propound them so darkly and obscurely that none should be able to understand them unless they enjoyed the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven with the Apostles which to be sure the greatest part of those they wrote unto viz. the Romans Corinthians Galatians Ephesians and others never did Besides the Scripture obliges all to whom they are delivered to believe and obey and therefore to understand both the Promises and Precepts thereof tho they have not attained to the same Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven which the Apostles had nay wicked men who are far from any such Knowledg and Revelation c. are yet bound if they have the Scriptures to understand them since they sin if they do not Mat. 22. 19. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures says Christ to the Sadduces and the consequence is evident because God never obliges to an Impossibility Besides they will not sure deny but we may understand the Scriptures of St. Whitehead St. Pen St. Fox and St. Burroughs without the same degree of the Spirit the Apostles were acted by and why not of St. Peter and St. Paul who sure were able to speak as clearly and intelligibly as the former We understand well enough what the Friends mean when they say Infant Sprinkling is from the Devil and the Pope when they say the Priests are Devils Dogs Beasts Hirelings and many more such Characters drawn to the life by those Artists in Railing See Fox Hubberthorne Truth 's Defence and many more And if we cannot understand your Scriptures why are we invited to read them who are carnal destitute of the Spirit of the Spirit we hope they were wrote by Again Did not Julian Celsus and Lucian understand the sense and meaning of the Scriptures and many Articles of our Faith contained therein Did they not scoff and jeer at them not sure at Ink and Paper dead Letters but the sense they imported They knew the meaning of those words well enough A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and laugh'd at them as an impossible Fiction They well understood the sense of that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. even better than William Pen who has allegorized away the literal meaning to a spiritual Resurrection and therefore scoffed at it as a Romantick Dream And Celsus who as Origen tells us boasted that he knew all the Christian Doctrines derided both the Holy Virgin asking if God were in love with her Beauty and the descent of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove the Voice from Heaven the coming of the Wise men c. as may be seen l. 1. p. 30 31. Orig. contr Cels These sure were not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in and yet by a very common Illumination could discern the sense and meaning of many Scriptures But we may instance in one more and he a great Quaker too that certainly was not in such Power and Understanding c. the Apostes were in and yet understands the Scriptures well enough to his cost the Deviâ— we mean for he believes them and trembles The Scriptures he brings p. 18. parag 5. prove nothing but what we have owned before Mat. 11. 27. No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him and hath not the Son revealed him to every one of us by the Scriptures To the same purpose is that place 1 Cor. 2. 9. And the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God By the common Illumination of the Spirit he is enabled to understand the sense of that Revelation and by a more special one to understand it savingly i. e. to believe and obey it and all this without the same Power Knowledg Understanding and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in And we are taught of God and by the Spirit John 6. 45. Isa 54. 13. Jer. 31. 33. when we are taugh by the Scriptures they being the means used for our instruction which is all that is observed in the Margin of the old Bible in Q. Elizabeth's days by hearing of his Word and inward moving of his Spirit the Spirit cooperating with those means And the following Note upon Jer. 31. 33. has only reference to that more plentiful effusion of the Spirit in the days of the Gospel than was afforded under the legal Ministration which tho no body ever denied or yet by granting shall need to render less useful and necessary the preaching of God's Ministers or the reading of the Scriptures The Priest had said Thou dost not speak in that degree of the Holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles did that spoke forth Scriptures To which George Fox answers p. 213. Gr. Mystery Thou canst not know Scriptures but by the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had But p. 19. l. 14. Whitehead seems to boggle at this expression saying Now the Scripture i. e. the whole Scripture cannot be truly known 't is like he means all the dark Visions Mysteries and Revelations which no private Christian is concerned to understand but by a high degree of the Spirit if not the same but presently comes to confession that the true knowledg of the Scripture must be obtained by a degree of the same Spirit Instead of the same degree of the Spirit it is now a degree only of the same Spirit which all know to be vastly different and yet thus the words should have bin wrote at first for they were so intended says this excellent Vindicator had not Fox's Infallibility nodded whilst he was writing and so mistakingly wrote the same degree of the Spirit for a degree of the same Spirit And now for a close of this Head 't is a thing much to be lamented and ought by all sober Christians to be seriously laid to heart that such persons as both the Foxes Parnello Eccles and
a great many more of the Gang who can scarce speak or write good sense should dare to challenge Inspiration and immediate Revelation from Heaven equal with the Apostles themselves a thing not to be claimed without the greatest certainty in our selves and the highest evidence given to Mankind since the Glory of God the Authority of the Scriptures the State and Welfare of human Societies as well as the Interest of the Christian Religion and the Souls of so many thousands easily intangled by such pretences are deeply concerned therein May we not Sleidan ' s Comment 5th and 10th Books Ross ' s Appendix to his View of all Religions Casaubon of Enthusiasm Spencer ' s Vulgar Prophecies Rutherford ' s Surve of the Spiritual Antichrist Short History of the Anabaptists in Germany be convinced from the accounts given us by many learned and impartial Writers mentioned in the Margin that evil Designs inward Heats melancholy Fancies Satan's Suggestions nay the want of good Arguments have frequently taken sanctuary under this sacred Cover It were easy to make good this by Instances some from Hereticks in the primitive times others from the Enthusiasts amongst the Romanists and very many from the Sectaries of late days both at home and abroad as the persons cited and others have largely done The Anabaptists flew high with this Claim and it was Rutherford p. 6 7 8. their Blind to carry on every design Their Founder Nich. Storke boasted of Dreams and Visions rejecting the Scripture as being a carnal and literal Rule saying God spake to him by an Angel and revealed to him his Will in Dreams promising him the place of the Angel Gabriel and the Empire of the World See the Short History of the Anabaptists of High and Low Germany chap. 2. p. 6. His Follower Tho. Munster pretended the like Communications from God and would fain have gained Luther to his side but he wrote to the Senate of Mulhaysen a famous Town in Thuringia to beware of that Wolf John Becold a Taylor afterwards called John of Leyden carried on all his Designs by a pretence of immediate Revelation from Heaven and the great Mischiefs caused thereby are abundantly known above a hundred thousand being kill'd by occasion of these bloody Inspirations John Matthiz or Matthias the Baker of Harlem had Secrets reveal'd to him which God had not reveal'd to others he being Enoch the second High Priest of God and was in effect perpetual Dictator at Munster Yea Herman the Cobler profess'd himself a true Prophet Hist of the Anabapt chap. 3. p. 21. and the true Messiah These with Knipperdolling Tuscocurer the Goldsmith and many more of that Sect pretended Inspirations from Heaven for all they did and said and at all turns made known their Revelations to the People which betraved them to Ruin and Destruction which made Melancthon severely censure them saying These Fanatical Dotages are accursed And we in opposition to such who assert new Revelations are to be expected from Melanct. de numero sacrament God do declare that God out of his infinite Goodness having revealed his Will to us in the Gospel other Revelations are not to be expected And 't is evident Revelation has been pretended for very ill purposes among the Quakers themselves one of them replying to his Creditor 'T is revealed to See Christianity no Enthusiasm pag. 125 126. me that I owe thee nothing Thus Mary Gadbury pretended a Revelation to get some Cloth from Mrs. Woodward And there were two Quakers near Stukely in Yorkshire whose Consciences bidding them destroy Original Sin they apprehending their Mother was the Fountain thereof went and murder'd her Agreable to the Practices of some of the Anabaptists beyond Sea who being drunk with Enthusiasm the spiritual Lunacy of this Schismatical Age as a Dr. Hicks Short History of the Anabaptists p. 51. Learned Man calls it committed many such wild Freaks One of their Sect being in his prophetical mood call'd his Father Mother Brother and Sisters to him and commanding his Brother to kneel down cut off his Head with one Blow crying out The Will of God is done Thus John of Leyden led by his prophetical Spirit wrote several Conclusions which he commanded the Preachers to teach the People the sum of which was That men are not tied P. 24. to one Wife but may have as many as they please and he had fifteen for his share which when they refused he declared the Doctrine was revealed to him from Heaven and commanded the first Opposer thereof to be beheaded which was done presently These and the like Extravagancies made a Learned Man declare That Dr. Hicks ' s Spirit of Enthusiasm exorcis'd p. 37 38. it was a dangerous Principle to assert That immediate Revelation or Inspiration is not ceased but is a standing and perpetual Gift in the Church of Christ and that this Spirit is not like the Spirit in the Primitive times to be tried by the Scriptures and Reason but both of them are to be tried by it as Barclay in his Theses asserts And he very well observes further That amongst all the miraculous Gifts taken notice of in the New Testament there is no mention made of Heroical Impulse by which men were sometimes irresistably moved from the Spirit under the Jewish Oeconomy to execute Judgment P. 39. in an extraordinary manner upon the Enemies of God for God being the Political King and Legislator of the Jews did as other absolute Monarchs do in some special Exigencies send men with extraordinary supra-legal Commissions to do present execution upon great and dangerous Offenders without staying for the ordinary process by Law but our Saviour one end of whose coming was to put an end to the Jewish Oeconomy and who came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them gave no such Gifts unto Men There is to be no Fire from Heaven nor no Phineas's under the Christian Dispensation accordingly the first Apostolical Ages of Wonder were utterly ignorant of killing Impulse and Zeal And let us saith he P. 40. a little more particularly reflect upon that blasphemous Doctrine of the Quakers concerning a spiritual Ministry and spiritual Worship whereby they pretend that the Holy Ghost now comes down upon their Assemblies as it did in the Apostles time and moves them to preach and pray by inspiration without any regard to Condition or Sex Hence when they meet together they sit hanging their heads in a silent dumb manner till the Spirit as they pretend shall move some body it is indifferent be it Man or Woman to preach or pray Accordingly they call their Preaching Prophesying and precariously say that they have the Spirit of Adoption by which they call God Father and that the Spirit in the inspired Minister maketh intercession for them with unutterable Groans that they groan sufficiently we grant for sometimes in their Meetings they do nothing else but if their groaning or vocal Devotions be
and the same end to make Disciples from what he had appointed before to make Disciples by had he intended so he would certainly have given some caution being about to institute a Baptism of another kind lest we should mistake this new and more glorious Baptism of the Spirit to be no more than that other elementary one he had commanded before and they had been used to to that very hour He repeats the Command again because the first Commission would not serve his purpose seeing he was to ampliate and inlarge the Terms having just now laid down his Life for all the Nations of the World he puts a Clause into their Commission now to instruct all Nations in the Rudiments of his new Religion and then baptize them that they may be the more capable of the benefit of his Sufferings 3 ly The next Text proving Water-Baptism to be instituted of Christ is Act. 10. 47. Can any one forbid Water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Here are several Arguments to prove Water-Baptism was an Institution of Christ 1. The Holy Ghost was received before as preparatory to this Baptism so that the Baptism in the Text could not be the Baptism of the Holy Ghost therefore of Water 2. Can any one forbid it If any of these Gentlemen had been present would he not have started up immediately Can any one forbid Good Sir tell us who ever commanded us when or where were we bidden to dabble the Disciples with a little Popiâ—h Holy-Water you an Apostle of Christ and peremptorily inforce things upon the Disciples that are not now in force as our dear Brother W. Pen hath testified to offer up such a carnal Cainitical Sacrifice to God and tell People 't is an Ordinance of Christ behold we stand up here in the Power and the Spirit of the Lord God to witness against thee And we know not what St. Peter could better have replied to them than St. Paul once said to the Corinthians What I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you and it being a Command of our Lord and Master you are impudent Servants to forbid it if the practice had been nothing but an exercise of Liberty and pure Condescension as W. Pen P. 127. l. 20. says in his Reply to the Answer to his Key if it had not been settled by Authority 3. St. Peter issues out an Authoritative Command that they should be baptized v. 28. he commanded them to be baptized The imposing such a Command upon the Disciples would have been an usurpation upon their Christian Liberty as the practice of it would have been superstitious enough if he had not had Divine Authority for his Warrant 4. He commands them to be baptized not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Matth. 28. 19. and Acts 19. 5. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by the Authority of Jesus and the Holy Ghost by varying the Expression here from that in those Texts seems purposely to countenance this Interpretation to command a thing to be done in the Name of a Person was ever thought to be by his Authority 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have judged in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver c. In the Name and in the Power and Authority are here all one 4 ly Another Text is Acts 22. 16. Ananias said to Paul Arise why tarriest thou and be baptized for c. Ananiâ—s leaves it not here to Paul as a matter of Liberty or Condescension to the Jews here 's a peremptory Command as in the foregoing Citation Arise and be baptized and that quickly too why tarriest thou And this must be Water-Baptism for he must arise and put himself into a posture to go to some place of conveniency as a Brook or River to be baptized in and not tarry in the least he should not need to have got up and travelled in such haste for the Holy Ghost who is not limited to any place or time Again this was a Baptism he had in his own Power as that was in the Power of the Disciples in the former Citation or else they would not have been commanded to have been baptized it had been both a folly and injustice to command them what they had no power to do now the Baptism of the Holy Ghost was not in their Power they could not give themselves that Baptism nor St. Peter nor Ananias neither and if it had been the Baptism of the Holy Ghost that was spoken of in this Text it had been a more proper method for St. Peter Ananias St. Paul and the Disciples to have fallen upon their knees to God and have prayed that he would bestow that heavenly Gift upon them rather than bid them be baptized and take it themselves as Peter and John had done Acts 8. 15 16. they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost 5 ly Another Text is John 3. 3 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and the Holy Ghost c. Whatever be the sense of being born again we are sure that Water is Water and not the same in this place with the Spirit of God if it were so the words would have this ridiculous sense Except a Man be born again of the Spirit and the Spirit further if they were the same thing a Copulative were needless which ever uses to join two different things together and not the same thing to it self and if it be Water-Baptism it must be of Christ besides there would never have been affixt such a Reward to it if it had not been a Duty 2. We have a great many Scripture-Instances for the Practice of Water-Baptism besides those before named sure they will not say but that the Apostles baptized as Christ commanded them in Jâ—h 4. and Maâ—ih 28. 1. The first Scripture is 1 Cor. 1. 14. Crispus and Gaiuâ— were baptized with Water for St. Paul would not have thanked God he baptized so few of them with the Holy Ghost and those many other Corinthians Acts 18. 8. can't be supposed to have been baptized any otherwise than those their Fellow Citizens 2. The second Scripture is Act. 19. 3 5. Unto what were ye baptized He does not ask whether they were baptized with Water he did not doubt of that noâ— by what but unto what They answer Unto John's Baptism As soon as they were better instructed they were baptized agen into another and better Service into the Name of the Lord Jesus by such Water as they had been baptized with before For he scâ—upled not the Water they had been baptized with but only asks into what Discipline or Society John's or Christ's 3. The third Text is Acts 8. 38. the Eunuch was baptized with Water for Philip and the Eunuch went both down into the Water In the same
Chapter v. 1â— Simon himself believ'd viz. seemed to do so and he was baptized too they will not say sure such a Wizard as he was baptized with the Holy Ghost In ver 1â— 16. he prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baâ—tâ—â—ed into the Name of the Lord Jesus We think we shall not need to prove that Water Baptism hath been the Practice of the whole Christian World to this day 't is sufficient we have shewn several Commands out of Scripture for Water-Baptism and also several Instances wherein it hath been practised in the Apostles times but not one single Instance can we give in the Scripture where it s said Go and baptize or be baptized with the Holy Ghost not one Text where the Baptism practised in Scripture is called the Baptism of the Holy Ghost It would have been a very gracious Condescension to our Weakness if by the Baptism of Water so often mentioned in Holy Scripture there had been nothing meant but the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to have delivered it to us in more plain and express Terms and called it in some place or other the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and told us 't was not Water-Baptism was commanded or practised since we poor ignorant Creatures are so apt to take Water for Water and a Command for a Command and had always been accustomed to that of Water Besides such a continued Chain of Practices from Christ's Ascension to this day must needs inser either Christ's Institution or their gross Superstition We have shewn before that this Baptism was not John's and if the Apostles were the Authors and Beginners of such a Practice we would be glad to know whether it were in their own wills or no whether they had a Revelation and Command in themselves from the Spirit of Christ within Edw. Burrows says For you to go P. 47. without the moving of the Spirit in your own wills and strength God hares this and upon this is his wrath And Whitehead says To baptize preach and pray P. 22. l. â— they that perform these Acts in their own wills without the moving the Spirit they are not accepted therein but rejected of God We hope they will not say that the apostles baptized in their own wâ—lls and it was but a carnal Câ—â—nitical popish Sacrifice they offered herein If they had not a Command in themselves supposing they had had none from without they were Will-worshippers and if they had they must have it from Christ Again here was such a Privilege annext to this Water-Baptism Regeneration Remission of Sins Titus 3. 5. Joh. 3. 2 5. Acts 2. 38. and 22. 16. as proves it to be more than the dabbling the Face with a little common Water as they profanely scoff a Privilege cou'd never have been joined to it but by Christ's Authority Again however it might have been practised in compliance it could not have been imposed upon the Churches by Command he commanded them to be baptized of any Authority less than Christ's without great Superstition Further we prove that all the Scripture Instances can't be meant of Baptism with the Holy Ghost because Baptism with the Holy Ghost in some measure was always preparative to that Baptism no doubt there were further improvements of the Measures afterwards that were the Gifts of the Holy Ghost accompanying Water Baptism and they were to expect the Holy Ghost in the falled and most ample measure after Christ's 〈◊〉 some measure of the Holy Ghost was always required to sit and 〈◊〉 Men for it And when it is said Acts 8. 16. as yet be was fallen upon none of them it can't be meant the Holy Ghost was not come upon any of them in any measure at all before the Quakers themselves will not say so sure who tell us the Light and the Spirit are in every one that was evidently spoken as appears in the 2 Uses following of the Gift of Miracles that Simon so ambitiously affected See Act 8 12 〈◊〉 they believed they were baptized 37. If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 2. 41. Tâ—â—y that gladly received the Word were baptized Act. 16. 14 15. Lydia as soon as her heart was opened was baptized 33. The laylor and his whole House as soon as converted were baptized streightway all this could not be without some previous Gift of the Holy Ghost to them to put all out of doubt See Acts 10. 47. Can any forbid Water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Farther Baptism was appointed as a means whereby the inward Baptism of the Holy Ghost was given and therefore the Scripture-Baptisn was not the Baptism of the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 38. Be baptized and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost as also Fphes 5. 26. that he might saâ—ctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water c. and Joh. 3. 5. Farther Water Baptism was appointed by Christ as an initiating Sign whereby Believers were to be admitted into Christ's visible Church and no Man can be admitted into a visible Society by a Sign that is invisible as Baptism with the Holy Ghost is By Baptism we list our selves into Christ's Company take the Milâ—ary wath of Fidelity to him and being baptized we are reckoned Christ's Soldiers and Seâ—vâ—â—â—s Joh. 4 1. He baptized and made Disciples made them visible Disciples by baptizing them which could not be by Baptism with the Holy Ghost which is altogether secret and invisible the â—fâ—e as sâ—on as ever Men were converted they were baptized Acts 22. 16. Why tarâ—â—est thou c. So Lydia as soon as her heart was opened Acts 16. 14 15 so he Jailor ver â—3 〈◊〉 Baptism was the outward Sign Mark oâ— Character appointed by Christ whereby the Sâ—câ—eâ—y of Christians are known and distinguished from all other Societies in the World It were strange if any Society should be distinguished and known from an their by that which is invisible as Baptism with the Holy Ghost is 1. 'T is evident the Church must be a visible Society being a City upon an Hill Matih 5. 14 The Quakers themselves are a Society distinguished by some Marks and Characters oâ— how should we kâ—â—w who were of the Quaker Church and who not Thâ—y have their Marks I say but far from Christ's Appointment they are yeaing and â—â—ying and loudly decrying the outward visible Marks of Châ—â—â—â—s Institution The Disciples of Moses as they were distinguished by their Circumcision and therefore they were called by Horace Curti Judaei so by their Baptism and John's Disciples by their Baptism and Christ's by his This was the Badge and â—â—very the Christians wore to let the World know whose Servants they were and that they were not ashamed of their poor Master that gave it them therefore when they were baptized they were said to put on Christ Gal 3. 17 and when
disclaimed by them which had been the only fair way of vindicating Truth and themselves But no such matter our Adversary denys not but they are quoted truly but only says they are perverted and mistaken or else maimed and imperfect which is the usual Artifice of this sort of People as if we did not understand the sense of common English words and know not what is meant by equal or infinite by a part or the whole Sure we are that passage of a plain-dealing Quaker had been a more proper answer who says They are no Blasphemers because 't is impossible Shewen ' s Treatise of Thoughts p. 14. they should be so they have not erred because 't is impossible they should being infallible But 't is pleasant to hear them cry out we put a wrong sense upon their words whilst we have not offered to give any sense of them at all but barely recited them as we find them in their own Books And had we quoted every word he charges us to have designedly concealed we should still have been deafned with their clamours of disingenuity and unfairness of Citations there might always have been a pretence of something left out unless we had transcribed whole Leaves which would have been infinitely tedious to any but especially to so august an Assembly as the Brief Discovery was tendred to But for all our Charge of their being guilty of blasphemous and seditious Words they mean as honestly as you can desire but we pretend not to know the meaning of their Authors but of their Words We had always thought Words had been the best Interpreters of our meaning and that these ought to be taken according to the common and customary usage of them in our Nation and if so we are sure they import Blasphemy and Sedition 't was not our work to inquire into the meaning of the Men but of the words Here thou hast shewed saith Geo. Fox to his Adversary that the Quakers have a Spirit given to them beyond all the Forefathers which we do witness since the days of the Apostles in the Apostacy and they can discern who are Saints who are Devils and who are Apostates without speaking ever a word they that be in the Power and the Life of Truth Great Mystery p. 89. We have heard indeed that the Quakers have such a Spirit of discerning as can tell us Mens thoughts and meanings without their speaking a word but we pretend to no such unerring Key but judging by their words we must declare them monstrously blasphemous and seditious Again we are told there are other words in the Authors we have cited which were able to have sweetned the Expressions we blamed into Truth and Orthodoxy But why may not those seemingly Orthodox Expressions be as well interpreted by these we have quoted as these be expounded by them especially since one who was lately of their own Communion and so best knows their meaning has averr'd that notwithstanding all their palliations and seeming agreeableness they do not truly and rightly believe one Article of the Creed according to the Scriptures and the true universal sense of sound Christians in all Ages see G. Keith's Postscript to the Serious Dialogue between a Churchman and a Quaker Thus like the Hereticks of old tho they used the same words with the Orthodox in the Articles of their Belief yet they meant differently yea sometimes quite contrary to them as Ireneus complains l. 3. c. 19. ult Similia loquentes fidelibus non solum dissimilia sapiunt sed contraria But supposing this were so will Orthodoxy in one place be an excuse for Heterodoxy in another 'T is not their having spoken like Loyal Subjects yesterday will clear them if they speak Treason to day It must be acknowledged that G. Whitehead of late has attain'd a notable skill in the Art of Chymistry if you send him not only both the Foxes Burroughs Howgil and the rest but even Julian Porphiry and Celsus the keenest and most venomous Revilers of Christianity by the same methods he has here used to clear those he may correct the poison of their Writings and extract wholesom Doctrines from the most pestilent Expressions for let him take but the liberty as he has done here of three things and what should hinder it 1. To blot out part of a Sentence as in p. 10. where Fox says He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God Now says Whitehead He that hath should be left out and then indeed the Sentence is very Orthodox viz. The same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God 2. To say they are confusedly misplaced as p. 6. or the words Brief Discov pag. 5. are to be transposed as p. 19. Sol. Eccles tells us It was said of Christ That he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not So it may be said of this true Prophet Geo. Fox whom John said he was not c. These words saith Whitehead whom John said he was not we disown in that place they are confusedly misplaced to be sure he was in great confusion how to bring him off from being guilty of Blasphemy for saying Fox was he whom John the Baptist said he was not i. e. the Christ And p. 19. Geo. Fox had said to the Priest Thou canst not know Scripture but by the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had No saith Geo. Whitehead it must be by a degree of the same Spirit the words before cited should as I suppose be so transposed Who sees not a vast difference between saying We must have the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had to know Scripture and a degree of the same Spirit Or 3. that such a part of the Sentence is to be put into a Parenthesis and so left out if we think fit as p. 25. when Fox had been charged by the Brief Discovery p. 12. for saying The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within and not another for the other is the Antichrist And he that hath not this Christ that was risen and crucified within is a Reprobate Geo. Whitehead to vindicate him says that these Expressions wanted their due Points and so puts the words that was crucified in a Parenthesis thus The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within and he that hath not this Christ that was risen and crucified within is a Reprobate Thus altering the great intendment of Fox which was to set their whole value upon Christ's being crucified and risen within us as is evident by many other Passages in their Writings and believing sure that no Person would ever look this Passage in Fox's Great Mystery where 't was objected against the Quakers as their deluding poor Souls to hold forth a crucified Christ within risen within ascended within which indeed he answers in the next words orthodoxly enough tho nothing to the purpose of
thing which is of God and from God Now where is the Blasphemy I pray cries Whitehead 'T is strange he should ask when Fox asserts good men to be perfect as God and that as he is so are they in Equality with him had he said as G. Whitehead does here 'T is not for any Man or Men to be perfect God but perfect men true Men as their heavenly Father is true God tho these Expressions are far from being distinct and clear as we wish them and as their following words are Men after God's own Heart in sincerity and truth none of us would have quarrelled him for it But to oppose Men when they say That the Saints are partly sinful and falling in their best works as Fox did Mr. Cawdry P. 281. there and Phil. Langford for faâ—â—ing St. Paul was not freed from the Act P. 279. of Sin whilst in this Life and that tho Faith turns us from Sin yet we are subject to Sin the Act of Sin whilst in this mortal Body to oppose Men we say for speaking thus and tell them they are ignorant of Christ and this is not sound Doctrine speaks him a Pleader for absolute Perfection and a sinleâ—s state in this Life which we had Reason to censure as blasphemous When some Libertines broacht the same Doctrine and patronizâ—d it by the same Text Be ye perfect c. they were as severely brandâ—d by a learned Man who told Mat. 5. 48. them it was most impudently wrested to establish their most flagrant Wickedness Ad stabiliendam suam falsissimam impietatem impudentissime detorquetur herein And as to absolute Perfection which Fox assert in this and the following Quotations tho Whitehead would avoid the Odium of it we aver it not attainable by any mere Man in this state the Scriptures teaching us that in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. that there is not a Man that sinneth not 1 King 8. 46. and there is not a just Man upon Earth that doeth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7. 20. If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth Bez. in Mat. 6. 10. is not in us 1 John 1. 8. which made David cry out Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143. 2. and hereupon our Saviour teaches us not more humbly than truly whatsoever either Pelagians or Quakers think of it to pray daily Forgive us our trespasses But they have thrown this Prayer out of their Houses and Meeting-places as Apocryphal as an old Almanack out of date in this their new year of Revelation And we shall add another Proof from thy self George which will convince thee sure that there are failings amongst the best in this Life even amongst the Quakers themselves In thy Epistle to Friends 1689 thou makest a lamentable P. 7. complaint of Quakers Failings that few of them had their minds exercised P. 10. in Prayer and Meditation that too many had their Hearts taken up with these fading Objects that they were degenerated into Pride Height of Spirit and Apparel contrary to Gravity Modesty Sobriety Plainness Simplicity Innocency and Humility We should con thee thanks George for this plain and honest Testimony but only we are afraid it dropt from thy Pen unawares thou didst not consider sure What a Quaker and confess Failings in Friends Can Infallibility ever trip or stumble Thou didst not perhaps consider how thou hast here exposed the Friends to the Pit and the Lake for Brother Burroughs hath told thee that God will accept none of them who have any Failings or perhaps thou mayst think because Fox says that Perfection is given to every Quaker in particular that all these Imperfections don't hinder the Perfection of a Quaker or that in them they are no Faults or Failings and so tho thy Testimony be very true we have no reason to thank thee for it yet we should be very glad to hear that when thou prayest among thy Friends thou shalt make as frank and open confession of Friends Sins and Failings to God that you may obtain Forgiveness as you have done to men Now if after all this the Scripture in several places stile some Men perfect and exhort all thereunto it ought to be understood so as neither to contradict plain Experience nor other Testimonies thereof which assert no Man to be without Gen. 17. 1. Sin whilst he is in this state and therefore Divines well say that our Job 1. 8. Perfection in this Life either refers to Sincerity and Uprightness or to our Endeavours Psal 37. 37. and Strivings after it which cannot be an absolute Perfection since Additions Phil. 3. 12 13 14 15. may be made thereunto and yet such are there stiled perfect or to a ripe well confirmed and settled Habit of true Holiness when the Soul is established in 1 Pet. 5. 10. Faith Love and Hope The God of all Grace make you perfect establish strengthen settle you Or else 't is a Perfection of Parts not of Degrees with reference to which a Child is as perfect as a Man and Christians in this Life have the Seeds of all Graces planted in them by the Holy Ghost tho they are not grown up to the highest degrees Or else they are stiled perfect comparatively 1 Cor. 2. 6. with respect to those that are less so Or lastly our Holiness is the same Mat. 5. 48. for Kind and Quality with that of God's and Christ's and therefore said to 1 Joh. 3. 3. be perfect tho not for Equality These and the like Distinctions give us a true Notion of our Perfection in this State which is far different from that we 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. shall attain unto in the Life to come where the Spirits of just Men are said to 2 Pet. 1. 4. be made perfect and when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away And whereas G. Whitehead asks Was not Perfection of Holiness Righteousness and Purity the Apostles Doctrine Intent and End of their Ministry No doubt so far as that they pressed upon Christians a striving after the highest measures attainable in this Life because when they had done their uttermost there was yet a plus ultra a higher measure that might be attain'd to And a learned Man shews that when St. Paul exhorted the Hebrews to go on to Perfection he means nothing else by it but the state of Chap. 6. Manhood which consists in a well-settled Habit of Wisdom and Goodness This is plain first from ver 11 12. where he more fully explains his meaning We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance v. 11 12. of Hope unto the end That ye be not sâ—othful but followers of them who thro Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Secondly from the latter end of