said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Which shews his inward sense of Mind But the Apostle Rom. 7.9 is large in the account of the Work of his Regeneration and he does acknowledge he was alive without the Law once But when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died Which plainly shews the Command was inward and it was hard for Paul to kick against this Command which did thus slay him as in the 11th verse Our Adversary does acknowledge that the Pricks there are to be understood the Power of Christ. And this Power it was Acts 2.37 That prickt them at the heart who were witnesses of the sheddings abroad of the Spirit at the time of Pentecost And of this Power David speaks Psal. 73.21 Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins Whence thus in short Paul a zealous Man and a Persecutor is by the Power of Christ let see that he was opposing his Power in his Saints by such Persecution At this in the Apostle's language Sin revived i. e. the sense of it whereby he saw his guiltiness and then he died from any further Life in it And whether this be not a heart work all experienced Readers may judge Ibid. p. 12. Besides they are in great confusion and contradictions amongst themselves concerning their Notion of the Light within denying and affirming backwards and forwards as you may see in Mr. Tho. Crisp his just and lawful Tryal of the Foxonian Quakers Reader This is one of those Instances wherein the great Injustice of this adversary appears in that he takes this false Charge from a Book writ against us by an open Enemy and takes no notice of any reply by us Which was largely and fully given to this Adversary by our Friend Ed. Penington And if after the same manner I should object and say The Church of England are in great Confusions and Contradictions amongst themselves in their Notion of the Trinity which has been abundantly treated of here of late affirming backwards and forwards and recommend for proof of this some Book disowned by that Church the Proof were much the same Or if I should object and say They are in great confusion and contradiction in their Notion of any other Article and bring for proof Harding Stapelton or any of the Romish Church who being Adversaries have so affirmed having no regard to the disallowance of the first or answers to the last I might deservedly be accounted a confident and prejudic'd but not a fair or reasonable Man Yet Reader this is the practice of this Snake with us SECT II. Shewing that we do not make our Souls of the same Person and Substance with God nor aspire to an Equality with him I Shall here consider and reply to his Second and Third Sections together the Charge being the same and the distinction unnecessary For in his mode of speaking a Sameness of Person and Substance imply an Equality concerning which before I procede to the Quotations in the Snake I shall observe to thee Friendly Reader That having in the beginning of the foregoing Section given a brief but real and true account of our Scriptural Belief concerning The Light of Christ in Men. Shewing that the Soul of Man being subjected thereunto he may by the guidance and assistance thereof without it he cannot attain unto Salvation I say having shewn thus much concerning our belief herein it is impossible that we so believing as we do should make our Souls to use his phrase of the same Person and Substance with God or Aspire to an Equality with him Our Friends according to Holy Writ have frequently said and writ and may safely That those who by walking in the Light are become Children of it are such for whom our Saviour Jesus Christ did pray to his Father John 17.21 22 23. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee That they also may be one in us That they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me This Oneness in the Holy Spirit our Friends have pressed and contended for in Opposition to the hurtful belief that had too much prevailed upon Men of an imagined Distance of God from Man at this Day and that Man was now no more to expect the Revelation of the Holy Spirit without which our Saviour hath testified Mat. 11.27 And no Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him This testimony of Jesus Christ with many more to the same purpose do shew the certainty of Revelation as in many others the absolute necessity of it is shewn First By our Saviour who saith John 12.50 And I know that this Commandment is Life Everlasting and the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates And for our acknowledging to and witnessing of the truth of these Testimonies declared in Holy Writ have we met with great opposition and misrepresentation of which Reader there follows now divers instances in these Sections of the Snake's which he thus begins p. 13. Thou sayest says G. Fox to his Opponet Great Mystery p. 247. Christ doth not dwell in them Personally Doth not Christ dwell in his Saints as he is in the Person of the Father the Substance Reader This our Adversary gives for a quotation from G. Fox his Great Mystery and that we might see at what he carps he puts it in Large Black Characters which yet are not blacker than his Envy and Injustice which will appear thus First In that he hath left out the Priests Words which are unsound and unscriptural Secondly In that he hath left out the beginning and end of G. Fox his Answer For thy more certain knowledge of which I subjoin first the Priest's Words and then G. Fox his Answer Priest The Scriptures are the Word except yâ—u dare to deny Christ is God Let the Word of God meaning the Scripture dwell in you richly To this G. Fox thus Answers So he makes the Scripture Christ and God and he doth not say Let Christ dwell in you but means the Scripture and God dwells in you The Apostle saith Let Christ Dwell in your hearts by faith and God will dwell in you But thou sayst Christ doth not dwell in Them Personally Doth not Christ dwell in his Saints as he is in the Person of his Father the Substance And are they not of his Flesh and of his Bone Here Reader thou mayst see that the plain meaning and drift of G. Fox's words are to assert and maintain that Spiritual Oneness of which I have been speaking and shewing that Christ prayed that his Followers might witness and not to make the Soul of the same Person
send them forth in the Work of the Ministry their Degrees of Immediate Revelation are much higher than that Degree of Immediate Revelation which I have above spoken of And in these higher Degrees of Revelation God may give One to Prophesy or foretell things to come and send Another with a Message as shall seem good in his Sight and all this by the Immediate Revelation of the same Holy Spirit which reproves the World of Sin tho' in a Higher Degree and by the Higher Degrees of this Immediate Revelation it may please God by his Servants for God hath not in his revealed Will declared that he would not to work Miracles But as his Ministers at this Day have no New Gospel to Preach so it is not necessary that the Work of the Ministry should be commonly attended with such external Credentials if so I may call Miracles Ibid. p. 28. And to this G. F. pretended even to Outward Visions and Revelations as in his Blasphemous Journal particularly upon a High Mountain in Yorkshire where he tells of his receiving Commission to Preach That G. F. had Visions and Revelations some of which might be Outward and did receive a Commission from God to Preach he hath given more â—nd better Proofs than the Snake hath that G. F's Journal is Blasphemous For of this I find no Proof but the Snak's own confident averring of it But among the Proofs of G. F's having received Commission to Preach none of the smallest are the many who instrumentally by him were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God To which Power of God as they did attend and grow up in they were the Living Seals of his Ministry And for the Visions and Revelations which G. F. hath declared he had there are none of them that are repugnant to the Holy Scriptures but are consistent with and agreeable to the special Manifestations of God to his Children mentioned therein which nothing that is Blasphemous can be Nay further God hath promised Joel 2.28 That in the pouring forth of his Spirit He would give Prophecy Dreams and Visions and that it is fulfilled in the Gospel Dispensation the Holy Apostle Peter hath testified Acts 2.16 Ibid. p. 21. Fox does plainly distinguish betwixt the Ordinary Experiences of the Inward Operations of the Spirit of God upon our Hearts and the being sent Immediately from God with such a Message as the Prophets and Apostles had And this plain Distinction of G. F's is warranted from Scripture it being wholly in the degrees of Operation but the Holy Spirit which does so diversly Operate is the same The Faith of the Woman cured of a Bloody Issue Mat. 9.20 was begotten in her by a degree of the Operation of the Holy Spirit and by a much greater Degree of the Operation of the same Holy Ghost Philip was bid Acts 8.29 Go near and joyn thy self to this Chariot And abundance of Instances of these kinds might be produced in Holy Writ which do as plainly distinguish as any of us can betwixt the Ordinary and Extraordinary Inward Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts yet both truly and properly Immediate Ibid. p. 29. These are his Words And shew plainly what he meant by Immediate Revelation and how it distinguish'd him from the Professors Yes Snake it is very plain what G. F. meant by Immediate Revelation when he asked Four or Five Priests Journal p. 83. Whether any one of them could say he ever had the Word of the Lord to go and speak to such or such a People viz. that this is a Higher Degree of the Inward Operation of the Holy Spirit than that by which it Reproves the World of Sin This Higher Degree of Immediate Revelation none of those Priests could say they had had and therefore might well be deem'd such of whom the Prophet says They run and the Lord never sent them And to G. F's Question foregoing the Priest made no proper answer when he said He could speak his experiences Because every operation of the Holy Spirit does give some experience to the Heart in which it works And if a Man thereby reproved of Sin be obedient to that reproof he shall witness a forsaking that for which he was so reproved And this is a good Degree of Experience But this Experience barely is no call to the Ministry To which those whom Christ doth Choose Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualifie as it is by a higher Degree of the Inward and Immediate Operations of His Holy Spirit so it does distinguish them from those who can only speak of Experiences as is above declared Ibid. p. 29. And he Vouches this by a company of Vile and Sensless Miracles to which he pretends in his Journal How shews the Snake that the Miracles mentioned in G. F's Journal are Vile and Sensless They are not therefore so because an Enemy says it And yet he has given no other reason And now having gain'd what he meant by Revelation and Immediate Revelation I will shew you that he attributes it not only to his own Worthiness but to the Quakers in General They are says he in his Great Mystery p. 242. in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in There is no dificulty to gain either what G. F. did mean or any of us do mean by Revelation it being in short this 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth no Man but by the Spirit of God And whosoever doth know and understand the Gospel of Christ which is Rom. 1.16 The Power of God unto Salvation must receive that knowledge and that understanding by Immediate Revelation from the same Spirit from which the Apostles had theirs The Apostles have declar'd that themselves did receive their Knowledge of the things of God by it and that without this Spirit no Man can know them Yet we do not from hence say nor hath G. F. said that the Gospel of Christ is not to be understood but by the same Degree of Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation which the Apostles were in or that himself or any other Quaker as the Snake does falsly suggest are in that same Degree in which the Apostles were The Apostle Peter was in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation when he gave Testimony to the Divinity of our Saviour Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God in which he was when he said Acts 2.22 23. Ye Men of Israel hear these Words Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know him being delivered by the Fore-knowledge and Counsel of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain c. But I suppose the Snake will hardly affirm he was in the same Degree of Power c. And after all it is false in
our Hearts he knoweth that our earnest Endeavour since a People hath been to direct to the Holy Spirit to which as the World comes to be obedient it will certainly raise in them a just value and esteem for the Scriptures and a love and desire to be conversant in the reading of them by which through Faith they may receive comfort as we can abundantly testifie we have found And therefore the Insinuation is false and envious that we have ever sought either openly or secretly to discard them or to set up the Inspirations of any instead of them Ibid. p. 91. They have taken upon them not only to abrogate the most express Ordinances of the Gospel But to set up and institute new ones as Womens Preachings directly contrary to 1 Cor. 16.35 and the Prelacy of the Womens Meetings an Invention never heard of in the World till G. F. Cobled it out 'T is false that we have abrogated any Ordinances of Divine Institution And it is also false that we have set up and instituted new ones For under the Law and in the Apostles days there were Women Prophetesses and Fellow-helpers in the Gospel As for the Prelacy of Womens Meetings we know of no such thing but for the good ends of looking after the Poor and seeing after such things as are Comely Decent and of Good Report do they meet as the Holy Women in ancient times did And as it is no discouragement to us so it will not be of weight with the Sober Reader that this practice is profanely said by the Snake to be Cobled out by G. Fox Ibid. p. 92. The Scripture remains of no Authority with them because if what the Scripture command be a-new required by their Spirit they are bound to obey it because required by their Spirit But if the Scripture command the thing they are by their Principles not bound to obey it unless it is required by their Spirit a-new None may at this day upon the Authority of Scripture walk naked as Isaiah 20.2 3. nor go to the King's Chappel as Amos 7.13 nor do any of these special and particular things which many of the Prophets by the Special Command of God did do unless they are thereunto commanded and required by the same Holy Spirit which did require them This is what Edward Burroughs had formerly said and which W. Penn repeats and maintains though very falsly quoted by the Snake who injuriously quotes W. P. in his Reason against Railing p. 150. in the following manner That what was a Commandment to any Servants of God in Old Time That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new But W. P's words as they lye in the Book and Page quoted are thus From our asserting that what was a Commandment to any Servant of God in Old Times is not so to us because so to them that is such as Going to Pharaoh as Going Naked Going to the King's Chappel as Moses Isaiah and Amos did as also those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed for a season and to pass off That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new It is not a little his endeavour unrighteously to infer that those Moral Perpetual and Eternal Holy Precepts here W. P. mentions the Laws of the First Table are not binding upon us c. Here Reader behold the subornation of the Snake who by a most unjust practice bites out so much of a Quotation as is not for his purpose and brings the remainder to speak against the sense of the Writer Ibid. p. 94. Thus it being Objected to G. F. that one of his Quakers had pretended to an Immediate Call from Heaven to commit Theft Robbery and Sacriledge in taking out of the Church an Hour-glass c. It is false it was not objected that any Quaker did commit Theft or Robbery or Sacriledge Nor does it appear by the Priest's words that the Hour-Glass was taken away That which appears from the Priest's words is That some Quaker had signified to the Priest that the Glass which he made the limit of his Carnal Preaching ought to be removed and that the Holy Spirit was only that by which they that spake from the Lord ought to begin and end their Preachings and G. F's answer is to the same purpose So that herein the Snake is egregiously abusive by perverting both the words of the Priest and G. F. and also in his false and scandalous insinuations concerning what he calls the Communion Plate Ibid. p. 95. Have they not by the same Light rebelled from Episcopacy Not unless it be prov'd by the Holy Scriptures that Episcopacy at this day be in the same Spirit and Government which the Apostles were in Ibid. p. 95. It is true indeed the Church cannot subsist without Government But it is as true that the Quakers pretence to the private Light in particular Persons as a principle over-ruling Scripture and all outward Ordinances is Inconsistent to the Government either in Church or State It is false that we have ever pretended that the Particular Manifestation of the Light of Christ in any of us did over-rule the Scriptures or Ordinances There cannot be Contradiction in the Spirit of God By the movings whereof it was that the Scriptures were given forth 2 Pet. 1.21 Nor do the Movings of the same Spirit privately working in particular Persons at this day over-rule or contradict what it did give forth as above And as the Light and Spirit of Christ is thus agreeable to it self So it is well consistent with the Government of the State in that it leads all that obey it to be loving and peaceable not Seditious or Tumultuous It leads to give Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's This it hath taught us to be our Duty and our Practice hath been agreeable of which the whole Kingdom are our witnesses And it is not less consistent with the Government in the Church when the Government in the Church hath its beginning and foundation from it as described p. 135 136. foregoing But it cannot be consistent with Government in the Church when the Church is not govern'd by the Spirit of him whom she says is her Spiritual Head Ibid. Or any Security from all the Dismal and Enthusiastical Murthers Rapines and Outrage of the Zealots among the Jews who went upon the same principle The Holy Spirit of God which by the coming of Jesus Christ is given to Men is the Principle that we profess and is the most effectual Security that can be against wickedness and violence of all sorts because where that is obeyed it will finish Transgression and make an end of Sin Now did the Zealots among the Jews go upon the same Principle No no more than the late Horrid Assassines in Communion with the Snake and with him in Separation from the Church could be said to do Murthers Rapines and Outrage are the
and Orthodox p. 25. q. 18. Seeing the Apostle speaks of purifying the Heavenly things themselves Heb. 9.23 It would seriously be enquired into and the Lord waited on to know what nature these Sacrifices must be of which cleanse the Heavenly things whether they must not of necessity be Heavenly If so then whether was it the Flesh and Blood of the Vail Heb. 10.20 or the Flesh and Blood within the Vail John 6.53 Whether was it the Flesh and Blood of the Outward Earthly Nature first quoted or the Flesh and Blood of the Inward Spiritual Nature last quoted Whether was it the Flesh and Blood which Christ took of the first Adam's Nature or the Flesh and Blood of the second Adam's Nature Thus he and is very sound according to the Doctrine of our Saviour who saith John 6.53 Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Of this many of his Disciples said John 6.60 This is an hard saying And therefore our Saviour expounds it to their weakness v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life From all which this is the Sum of I. P's Question The Soul of Man is of Heavenly Extraction which being fallen through Sin is not to be cleansed therefrom but by the Spirit of Christ which is shed on Mankind and univerâ—â—lly tender'd to them by Jesus Christ having offer'd up as a Propitiatory Sacrifice his Body and through the Vail that is to say his Flesh hath opened to the Kingdom in the Apostle's phrase A New and Living Way Ibid. p. 131. The Snake makes a Quotation from C. Atkinson's Sword of the Lord drawn p. 5. Your Imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly denied To say this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lie Here the Snake hath made a false Quotation that it might not fail to answer his purpose which yet when set in its true Light speaks quite otherwise it standing thus in that Book Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your carnal Christ which you would make appear through your Heathenish Philosophy is utterly denied and testified against by the Light which comes from Christ. Now if the Snake's God and Christ can only be made appear through Heathenish Philosophy this he says is utterly deny'd And it is certainly true that the Light which comes from Christ does utterly deny all Vain and Carnal Imaginations The words from the break are a position of his Opponents to which he does not barely reply It is a Lye but adds He is not divided from what he was before the Foundations of the Hills were laid c. Ibid. p. 131. quoted from Great Mystery p. 250. The Devil was in thee says G. F. to his Adversary Christopher Wade Thou sayest thou art saved by Christ without thee and so hast recorded thy self to be a Reprobate Ibid. p. 132. From Great Mystery p. 183. Such as have Christ in them they have the Righteousness it self without Imputation the end of Imputation the Righteousness of God it self Christ Jesus Thus the Snake first picks up bits to make Quotations and then packs them on heaps that by this his false and confused jumbling of things together they might speak his own mind not the mind of the Writer As to the first where he brings in G. F. saying to Christopher Wade The Devil was in thee c. It was because he had given Testimony of it as this Snake has done by stuffing as G. F. says his Book with Lies And tho' the Snake may think it is no complement yet I can tell him it is Truth in much plainness and agreeable to the Sentence of the Lip of Truth to the Jews when he told them Ye are of your Father the Devil John 8.44 and the lusts of your Father ye will do c. So that where we find Murderous and Lying Works it shews them to be of the Devil As to the latter part of the first Quotation Thou say'st thou art saved by Christ without thee c. It does plainly contradict the Doctrine of the Apostle and upon the Authority of that G. F. or any other may safely declare that such who know not Jesus Christ in them are Reprobates and if Chr. Wade declared himself such G. F. was no more to blame than any other may be if the Snake now do the same To the last Quotation from p. 183 it is near all of it Scripture for Christ is declared the Righteousness of God and is the end of Imputation to all that believe which as G. F. there says Is owned and this Imputation is within for he that believes is born of God Ibid. p. 132. Quoted from Saul's Errand p. 14. Christ says he that is The Light within is the Substance of all Figures and his Flesh is a Figure To shew the Reader this more clearly it being not long I will give it intire as in that Book from whence the Reader may judge of the Orthodoxy of the place and the Malicious Parenthesis of the Snake It was a Query propounded to G. Fox Whether Christ in the Flesh be a Figure or not and if a Figure how and in what To which he answers Christ is the Substance of all Figures his Flesh is a Figure for every one passeth through the same way as he did who comes to know Christ in the Flesh There must be a Suffering with him before there be a Rejoycing with him Christ is an Example for all to walk after and if thou knowest what an Example is thou would'st know what a Figure is to come up to the same fulness Thus G. F. and is according to these and other Scriptures John 13.15 1 Pet. 2.21 Rom. 8.17 Heb. 2.9 Ibid. p. 132. The Snake in like manner minces the words of E. B. only quoting from p. 149. of his Works The very Christ of God is within us leaving out what follows We dare not deny him and we are Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bone as the Ephesians were Eph. 5.30 Ibid. p. 132. He does pick from Isaac Penington's Question to the Professors p. 27. Doth not the name Christ belong to the whole Body and to every Member of the Body as well as to the Head And has left out what follows which are the Scripture Proofs Are they not all one yea all one in the Anointing was not this the great desire of his Heart to his Father John 17.21 23. That they all might be one even as the Father and Christ are one And so being one in the same Spirit 2 Pet. 1.4 one in the same Life one in the same Divine Nature even partakers of God's Holiness Christ is not ashamed to call them Brethren Heb. 12.10 nor is the Apostle ashamed to give them the Name of Christ together with him c. Heb. 2.11 The Snake
Numerical Body that was the Natural for so the Natural and Spiritual Body are the same But suppose J. Faldo's relative It to hold I do utterly deny that this Text is concern'd in the Resurrection of Man's Carnal Body at all I will recite it with the 5 following verses as they are in our English Translation Here W. P. at length gives the 44 45 46 47 48 49. Verses which I omit for brevity and then continues I say this doth not concern the Resurrection of Carnal Bodies but the two States of Men under the first and second Adam Men are sown into the World Natural and so they are the Sons of the first Adam but they are raised Spiritually through him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are the Sons of the second Adam the Lord from Heaven a quickning Spirit The very words of the Apostle undeniably prove this to be the Scope How else could the first Adam's being made a living Soul and the second Adam a quickning Spirit be a pertinent Instance to prove Natural and Spiritual Bodies Upon which follows that the Natural was first that is the first Adam and then that which is Spiritual which is the second Adam the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven who came to raise up the Sons of the first Adam from their Dead to his Living from their Natural to his Spiritual Estate But perhaps it will be objected that the 47. v. The first Man is of the Earth Earthly And part of the 49. v. We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Seem to imply a Bodily Resurrection but let the whole verses be considered and we shall find no such thing The first Man is of the Earth Earthly the second Man is the Lord from Heaven Who sees not that this is rather spoken of earthly Mindedness than of the earthly Body of Adam It was mentioned to shew the great Disparity p. 371. that is between the Nature and Qualification of the first and second Adam The following verses puts this Interpretation out of doubt As is the Earthly such are they that are Earthly and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly For those words We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly I cannot see how they should relate to the Resurrection of the Carnal Bodies of Men for the Image of the Heavenly is a renewed State to God through the Operation of the Spirit and Power of Christ The first part of the verse clears it And as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall or rather let us bear the Image of the Heavenly as Ambrose and Theophylact read it and 6. or 7. Copies besides have it which is as much as to say As we having born the Image of the God of this World by becoming his Children so may we bear the Image of the true and living God by being redeemed from a vain Conversation having our Consciences sprinkled from dead works and being born again of the Incorruptible Seed by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever Thus far W. Penn both with respect to the Resurrection of Carnal Bodies and in his Defence of his Interpretation of the 1 Cor. 15. to all which he adds from p. 374. to 380. some Testimonies from H. Moore T. Collier Farellus H. Hammond and Jerome were not all these Members of the Catholick Church against the Gross conceit of his Opponents of a Carnal Resurrection To which I may subjoyn that what efforts so ever our Enemies shall make against us concerning the Identity or Numericalness of Bodies in the Resurrection with those of Flesh and Bone which we lay in the Grave We shall content our selves with answering them not in the modes of Philosophy but in the Language of Holy Writ and esteem it our Duty as well as Wisdom in a Question so Mysterious not to be wise above what is Written And when our Adversaries can produce any farther declaration herein which they shall prove to be of equal Authority with what is so already declared we will not be backward in our hearty acknowledgement of it Snake p. 162. When I urged to a Quaker-Preacher towards a proof of the Resurrection of Bodies That Text Matth. 27.52 53. He made Answer that that was not meant of the Litteral or Earthly Jerusalem that any Dead Body arose there But of the Spiritual Jerusalem which John saw coming down from Heaven And others told me they heard the same exposition in a Quaker Sermon at one of their Meetings That any Quaker-Preacher so acknowledged by us did so tell the Snake I find cause not to believe on his bare word knowing his readiness both to pervert words rightly spoken and to tell false Stories of things that never were as is before shewn And what others told him we are little concern'd for but if it may be worth his while to produce better proofs and be more clear in his Charge he will not want an Answer Ibid. p. 162. Here we have Spiritual Graves Spiritual Dead Bodies Spiritual Jerusalems Spiritual Resurrection and Spiritual Christ whenever any Text pinches them Pray what Text pincht the Prophet when speaking from the Lord Ezek. 37.13 14. Ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your Graves O my People and brought you up out of your Graves and put my Spirit within you c. Did any Text pinch our Saviour When he bid his Disciple Matth. 8.22 Follow me and let the Dead Bury their Dead Or the Apostle Eph. 2.5 6. Even when we were Dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Nor was John the Divine more pincht when in the Apocalyps he saith 3.12 The Name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God Thus would I be large herein I am not pinch'd for Examples which do abundantly shew that Sin and Iniquity hath been term'd a Grave and they who are securely a sleep herein have been accounted Dead and when they have witnessed the Power of God to break that false security they have seen that Grave and Death they were in and many in this State have cried to God that he would make them partakers of his Resurrection from their Sin and Death which came by it God in Mercy and great Compassion hath heard and answered and hath raised and is raising many who through the Spiritual Power of Christ in them are measurably made to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus This without being pinch'd we freely own before God and Men and do as freely own that there are in Scripture spoken of Outward Graves and Dead Bodies an Outward Jerusalem and a Resurrection of Bodies to General Judgment and that Christ hath a Body glorified in Heaven yet is Spiritually in his People Ibid. p. 163. These
Ordinances c. When the Apostle Paul decry'd the abrogated Priesthood and outward Ordinances did he thereby carry on the design of the Devil From the Rise of Popery all along the Apostacy to the time of the Reformation beginning did the Devil labour to beat down the Priesthood and outward Ordinances or to keep them up Ib. Knowing that Religion must needs fall with them What Religion must that be This shews the Religion the Snake contends for is built upon the Priesthood and outward Ordinances else it could not necessarily fall with them He has another Notion of Religion than the Apostle James as well as another Religion and according to him James 1.27 must be read Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To keep up the Priesthood and outward Ordinances for if they fall Religion will fall with them Such as is his Religion such the Government also and Order he contends for viz. a Government that depends upon saying You to One calling Men Lord or Master who are not so taking off the Hat and Bowing For not to do these things is with him Pref. p. 15. a dissolving of all Government and order the Relations of King and People Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Which Notoriously False and Childish Assertion deserves to be Hiss'd out of the World For in the Instances of Government disolv'd in the Relation of King and People pray Reader consider have they been dissolv'd and run down by Thee and Thou not saying Master or Lord by not pulling off the Hat or Bowing or have they been run down and dissolved by Men who Practiced contrary to these things The Author of that Treasonable Piece in answer to Dr. King now Bishop of London-Derry in Ireland can say You to One can call Men Lord or Master who are not so can pull off his Hat and Bow yet has given a fair Specimen of his design to dissolve the Relation of King and People by running down the present Government And for the Instances of Relation between Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants never was one of these Relations dissolv'd or run down through Obedience to the Precept of our Saviour but always by the Iniquity and Disobedience of those in these Relations who have Dispised the Precepts and cast off the Yoke of Christ. Ibid. That the Quakers at first left their Houses and Families to run about and Preach and cried down Riches when they had none Is notoriously false For the Quakers never left their Families to shift for themselves but always took due care of them which is evident in this in that their Families have not offered themselves to the care of the Parishes where they dwelt but on the contrary have defrayed their own Charge and paid their Lot in the Assessments for the Poor of the Church which our Adversary pretends Membership in But if I should examine how many Priests have spent their exactions in Pride Luxury and voluptuous Living and have left their Families to shift for themselves or to the Alms of their dissenting Neighbours the Number would not be very small Nor did the Quakers ever cry down Riches but the immoderate desire after and abuse of them This we practised then and the same now Pref. p. 24. The Quakers dispute against these viz. the outward Sufferings and Death of Christ and place the Merit and Satisfaction in the allegorical Sufferings and Blood of their Light within inwardly shed c. This Assertion of the Snake is not allegorically but litterally a Lye for we acknowledge the satisfaction made by Christ to his Father but we do deny that groundless and dangerous Notion of his having paid and his Father exacted that strict and rigorous Satisfaction by undergoing the self-same Punishment and Pains that the Damned suffer in Hell We own the Merit of his outward Death and Sufferings but dispute against the misapplication of that Merit to ungodly Men continuing impenitently in their Sins We own and believe that Men by continuing impenitently in their Sins do press as with sheaves the holy Spirit and by such their despite to the Spirit of Grace do grieve the good Spirit of God which he hath shed abroad upon the Hearts of Men in order to their Regeneration But have never said or believed that the Satisfaction made by Christ to the Father and the Merit thereof consisted in any allegorical Suffering and Blood of the Light within inwardly shed We own and believe that Men through obedience to the Spirit of Grace may come to have their Consciences sprinkled from dead Works to serve the living God and may thro' the Blood of the everlasting Covenant be made perfect in every good Work to do the Will of God through 〈…〉 But have never placed or believâ—◠〈…〉 thereof did consist in such allegorica◠〈◊〉 and Sufferings as the Snake does insinuaâ—â—â—â—ainst us no more than the Apostle in theâ—â— and other places of holy Writ where he directs Men to the word Christ in Them can be supposed to undervalue the outwaâ—d Death and Sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem And to place the satisfaction he made to the Father and the Merit of it to consist in these his spiritual appearances by the holy Spirit in the Hearts of Men. Pref. p. 29. George Fox was much more inconsiderable than Aâ—â—onia Bourignon and got none at the beginning to follow him but from among the poor and most ignorant of the Herd who have since swell'd to a rich numerous and a potent People overspreading these three Nations and stocking whole Plantations abroad And their Succors have taken Root both in Holland and Germany O! Excellent beginning tho' not enough desired increase Yet both beginning and increase doth in his shew the Servant like his Lord against whom it was objected John 2.48 Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees the Rich Great or Learned believed on him but this People who know not the Law and are cursed Herein the Snake shews his unity with those Blasphemous Opposers of Christ and also gives a Testimony for us that in beginning and increase we are like the Primitive Times of increasing Christianity Which tho' it is beyond the common Rule of Judging yet it is certainly true that by the things which are not God will bring to nought things that are And the mean and low who keep so in his Fear them he will exalt and them who seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness of it shall not fail to have all convenient things added for being Lord of Heaven he is the same over Earth and disposes it at his pleasure This many have experienced after all the fleecings and tearing to pieces of Estates and Families which we have suffered by the cruel hands of such who pretended love to our Souls So that we have none to whom to attribute our Riches Numbers or Might but the Secret Hand of divine Providence which first gave us being
says we are in pag 3. he says We speak Sense and English have in a great measure reform'd from the Errors of the Primitive Quakers Thus as his Mood Humor and Occasion Changes we are with him either Subtile or Simple speak Sense or Non-sense Blasphemous to the hight or in some measure reform'd But after all the Ipse Dixit of an Enemy is neither good Argument nor Conclusion as will hereafter appear in the examination of the several Heads of Doctrine P. 3. Many of them have really gone off from that hight of Blasphemy and Madness which was professed among them at their first setting up in the Year 1650. and so continued till after the Restauration Anno. 1660. What the Snake doth acknowledge is at present Sober and Christian in us is really no other than what he calls at our first setting up the hight of Blasphemy and Madness for the colourable Pretences of these are only the spurious Brood of his own ill-forming Fancy and as bad joyning Fingers which have been imploy'd in Mangling the Books of our Friends in his phraise not unlike Rats and Moths Ibid. p. 3. Therefore they endeavour all they can to make it appear that their Doctrine was Vniform from the beginning and that there has been no alteration And that endeavour has not been in vain it having been often made so to appear Ibid. p. 4. I would perswade them openly and above-bord to Renounce George Fox and their first Reformers and all their Blasphemous and Heretical Doctrine Before this be done two things are necessary First to examine whether what our Adversary calls Blasphemy and Heresie be so or not and then to know what he would perswade us to for the first hard names are no Proof For in the Way which some called Heresie the Apostle did Worship God and our Saviour himself The Green Tree was call'd a Blasphemer And for the Last it 's not Good or Safe to be at all much less easily perswaded to forsake Truth for Lying Vanities Ibid. p. 5. And I must say it they give the same Proof for their extraordinary Inspirations as the Quakers do that is none at all but their own confident averring of it And I must say that our first Reformers from Popery having urged for their Separation the Authority of the holy Spirit and being asked for Proof of that Authority could give no other but what in the Language of our Adversary is none at all but their own confident averring of it The Apostle Paul when questioned by the Corinthians for a Proof of Christ speaking in him did not evade the question nor direct to an impertinent Solution of it when he advised them Search your selves try your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 This Proof the Quakers also give and that with reason for the publick Spirit of God privately working in the Hearts of Men is only able to give those in whom it does so Work evidences of its proper effects The Apostle is positive to the same purpose 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth no Man but by the Spirit of God And all Inspiration of the holy Spirit will I doubt not be owned to be some things of God and of these no Man can make a right Judgment but by the Spirit of God Which who want it is no wonder that by such this be call'd as by the Snake no Proof but a confident averring of it Though I doubt not but the Sober Reader will have another sense of this Matter Ibid. p. 5. Now I would beseech Mr. Penn who has more Wit than all the rest of his Party to let us know what ground he had for leaving the Church of England more than Muggleton What Muggleton's ground was is not now our Business to examine and what W. Penn's was he hath often declared many Years ago which yet if I should here repeat the Snake might possibly mistake in Judging of it as it is possible he may also in the judgment he pretends to have of Wit Nay supposing it true that W. P. hath more Wit than all the rest of the Quakers yet this Snake not having had distinct Knowledge of every Quaker and of every Degree of their Wit was not capable of more herein than to give some Testimony of his Confidence not Judgment Ibid. p. 5. Why should we trust the Light within him or G. Fox rather than the Light within Lodowick Muggleton W. P. and G. F. did never direct or desire Men to trust the Light within them but have constantly directed Men to trust in the Light of Jesus Christ which is given to each Man for himself and is a sufficient Guide to the true Knowledge and Worship of God notwithstanding all that Men may speak against it Ibid. p. 5. Has Lodowick wrought no Miracles to prove his Mission No more hath G. Fox or W. Penn. To which I may add No more hath the Church of England nor the Snake in the Grass unless we account that for one Miracle in the Snake when he at Billingsgate run away from the Messenger Of which more in its place Are they G. F. W. P. very sure that they are in the right So is Muggleton If the Snake be not very sure that he is in the right he hath but an intention to deceive when he calls others into Communion with him Are they Schismaticks So is he And so is the Snake and by the Snake's Doctrine so is the Church of England as I have shewn p. 15 16 17. foregoing Are they above Ordinances If they be I know not but that we the Quakers are not I know For we own and use Preaching and Praying which the Snake owns to be Ordinances Is he against distinct Persons in the Godhead So are they Distinction in the Godhead we own according to Scripture but think the word Person too Gross to express it Is he against all Creeds So are they It it false we own the Matter contain'd in the Creed called the Apostles Does Muggleton deny all Church Authority So do they So does the Snake that does not please him But that we do not the Snake hath disprov'd himself as see Pagâ— 61. Yet does he require the most absolute Submission to what himself Teaches So does thâ— Snake But we do not so but like the Apostles commend our Testimony to the Conscience c. 2 Cor. 4.2 Does he Damn all the World and all since the Apostles So do they So does the Snake counting all others as the Spawn of the Viper Does he make a dead Letter of the Holy Scripture and resolve all into his own private Spirit So do they 'T is false we reject all private Spirits acknowledge the Scriptures to have been writ by Divine Inspiration and to contain a Declaraion of the Will of God and do refer to the publick Spirit of God for the understanding of them Ibid. p. 6. These are Twin
p. 23. Fox having produced so particular a Charge of Gross and Abominable Blasphemies against himself and Partners did it on purpose that he might the more exactly and in terms most express and plain Renounce and Disown them The end for which G. Fox did in that Book entituled Saul's Errand c. set down the Petition of some Priests and others of the County of Lancanster to the Council of State together with the Crimes mentioned in their Schedule was indeed that he might fully answer them in shewing the Quakers Belief in opposition to those false Charges And this is done in that Book in terms so express and plain as leaves no room for doubt unless to such whom nothing will satisfie For to each particular Objection he gives a distinct Answer and that in Scriptures quoted for that purpose But this same Adversary seems to be dissatisfied with such Answer as no doubt he would have been with that of our Saviour to the Captious Jews Mark 11.33 and 12.17 and with many others of the like kind which he may be pleased to say are not in terms sufficiently express and plain Ibid. p. 24. Nay he down-right owns and justifies the greatest part of them as their preternatural Convulsions and Quakings Foamings and Swellings of their Bellies which seiz'd them at their Meetings even Little Children who could not counterfeit It is an unaccountable degree of Impudence for a man with so much assurance as this Snake does to say G. Fox owns and justifies Preternatural Convulsions Foamings and Swellings of Bellies and that of Little Children When G. Fox has not in that Book one such word That I may not herein impose upon the Reader as the Snake has done I will here give intire G. Fox's Answer to that Objection and then the Reader may find whether I or the Snake be the Lyar the page the Snake quotes is p. 5. of Saul's Errand which is thus Answ. The Meetings of the People of God were ever strange to the World for it was as though some strange thing had happened to the Saints as we read in the Scripture Psal. 71.7 1 Pet. 4.12 Which shews they are in the same Generation wondring and stranging at the Work of the Lord despising and casting Scandals Slanders and false Reports upon them And where the Works of God are now Acts 13.41 they think them strange things now as was then who are alive in the Flesh. It would be a strange thing now to see one fall down as Paul fell down and trembled and as Daniel fell down and trembled Dan. 10.9 And to see one as Habakkuk his Belly to tremble and his Lips to quiver Hab. 3.16 And as David to lye roaring all the Day long who cryed till his sight was grown dim and his Flesh fail'd of fatness and till he could number his Bones And to see one as Isaiah to rent his Garment and his Mantle and to pluck his Hair off his Head and off his Beard and sit down astonished And would it not be strange to see such an Assembly as came to Isaiah Isa. 66.5 Which had all trembling Hearts Hear the Word of the Lord all ye that tremble at his Word work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Before their faces the people shall be much pained all faces shall gather blackness Joel 2.6 The Prophets and Ministers of God have all one Spirit according to measure and did encourage those that did tremble Wherein it shews that you have not the same Spirit but seek to persecute and fix Scandals and accuse them falsly Here Reader thou mayst see the injustice and falshood of this Adversary in so boldly asserting what there is not a word of tho' he says p. 24. The Matter of Fact Fox owns p. 5. Thou hast here G. Fox's answer from p. 5. Pray see if it be as the Snake says it is The Snake has one Hiss more In this Section with which he concludes it and that is at James Milner of whom I have reserved to speak in answer to the Snake's 21st Section As I have already hinted p. 66. Wherefore I now come to the Snake's 4th Section of the Quakers Pretence to a sinless Perfection SECT III. We do own and believe that it is our Duty to press on to Perfection which by the assistance of the Spirit of God we believe it possible to attain unto REader I have already shewn thee in Sect. 1. p. 43. what we mean and understand by the Light within viz. Jesus Christ as testified of in Holy Writ where the Apostle testifies 2 Cor. 5.19 That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and we say that as Man through obedience to the Holy Spirit comes to witness a being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ he will more and more witness a growing into that Holy Oneness that Spiritual Union and Communion which our Saviour hath prayed his Disciples might witness as is already shewn Sect. 2. p. 64. tho' misinterpreted by our Adversaries to be an aspiring to Equality c. with God And all who in their several degrees of growth in Grace do witness the going on of this Work of Reconciliation must witness a going on to Perfection And I cannot see any absurdity in this Scriptural Doctrine For if I through the Power of Christ have witnessed a Being by him set free from one vile Affection or one inordinate Lust. Have I not good reason to hope that he that hath began this good work is able to finish it and so of the rest of Humane Infirmities which cannot be overcome but by the assistance of a Divine Power which being altogether Perfect in it self will lead on to Perfection all who are obedient to it Yet this Plain and Scriptural Doctrine professed by us from the first hath met with great opposition and perversion as now by this Snake Snake p. 25. After having shewed the Quakers claim to an Equality with God to be part of him of one Soul Being Person and Essence with him It may seem a saying less and going backward to say that they pretend to a sinless Perfection How idle and false is it in the Snake to say we pretend to be one Person with God when we reject the word Person as too gross to be applied to God or Christ or the Holy Spirit But after having shewn the falsity of that Charge as is plentifully done in the foregoing Section I shall go forward to shew also as is above hinted that the Sinless Perfection we contend for is only in the Holy Spirit and no further ours than we come into obedience to it and through obedience to it 't is possible 2 Pet. 1.4 To be partakers of the Divine Nature But because our Modern Quakers are abated somewhat from the Loud Blasphemies to which they at first pretended c. Here Reader Is an Instance of the Hypocrisie and Confusion of this Man He had charged us Sect. 1 2 3. that at our first setting up
we were to the Height Blasphemous and Mad. For the proof of this G. Fox's Great Mystery is quoted oftner than any other Book But the Modern Quakers are abated c. and for proof of this G. Fox's Great Mystery is quoted oftner than any other Book So that the same Book shall answer contrary purposes and it is only owing to his Viperine Love or else from that Book he might have attempted to prove us any thing but what we are But his Malice is seen and dispised Ibid. p. 26. I have before quoted Mr. Penn upbraiding the Church of England as opposers of perfection and rediculing us for confessing our selves Sinners and imploring God's mercy And I have in answer to it p. 41. shewn that W. Penn neither upbraids nor ridicules the Church of England for confessing of sin and imploring God's mercy But he speaks against sinning and confessing confessing and sinning and so to go on from seven to seventy this He and this all good Men must speak against because it is against the Law and Will of God Ibid. p. 26. Now hear G. Fox 's Great Mystery p. 101. It is the Doctrine of Devils that preacheth that Men shall have sin and be in a Warfare so long as they be on the earth What can it be other than that Because we know not only from what was promised but by the fruits of true Faith that it giveth victory over the World And it 's impossible for any Men to be Victors over Sin while they are in bondage to it Ibid. p. 26. A quotation from Great Mystery p. 111. They that pretend coming to God and Christ out of Perfection they be in Error And it is doubtless true for there is no coming to God through Christ whilst in sin and according to this God by his Prophet calls to the House of Israel to put away their sins Then come let 's reason together But he would not reason with them while they were led captive with the Love of their Iniquities Ibid. p. 26. From Great Mystery p. 231. All who come to Christ they come to perfection 'T is very true for out of Christ I am sure there is none Ibid. Great Mystery p. 231. They attain to perfection in the Life of God There is no other way to attain it than through that Life which is the Light of Men. Ibid. Great Mystery p. 271. For who are sanctified have perfect Unity perfect Knowledge perfect Holiness Who are sanctified are in Christ in the Apostle's phrase have put on Christ and who have him have perfect Unity Knowledge and Holiness Ibid. Great Mystery p. 281. The Life of the Saints is Christ not sinful at all The Evangelist hath testified of the Life of Christ that it is the Light of Men And the Apostle says when Christ who is our Life c. Col. 3.4 And this Life Christ is not sinful at all And I do hope that the Snake will not be so impudently Blasphemous as to say of this Spiritual Appearance and Life of Christ in Man as the Jews said of him while he dwelt on the Earth John 9.24 As for this Man we know that he is a Sinner Snake p. 26. William Shewen a great Quaker Preacher in his Treatise concerning Thoughts and Imaginations Printed 1685. p. 25. represents a Quaker as Meeker than Moses Stronger than Samson c. The Snake does here grosly pervert W. Shewen's words which by the comparison he uses are only to shew How that a Christian by following of Christ the Light the Saviour of the World and Captain of Salvation may be brought to the Stature of a perfect Man in Christ. And least the Comparison should stumble or offend any he adds Least thou should stumble at these sayings consider that John was the greatest Prophet born of a Woman yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Matt. 11.11 Ibid. p. 26. Their great Scribe T. Elwood in his answer to G. Keith 's Narrative 1696. p. 202. takes upon him to justifie G. Whitehead for denying that there is continual need of Repentance upon this ground that the Quakers are free from all Sin and therefore have not continual need of Repentance It is false he did not justifie G. W. upon this ground Tho. Ellwood's words are these G. W's meaning only was that there is no continual need of Repentance from a necessity of continual sinning for where true Repentance is wrought and the Fruits of it brought forth it is attended with a real forsaking of Sin and Transgression and this is unto Salvation never to be repented of Ibid. p. 26 27. Edw. Borrough's the mighty Pillar of the Quakers next to the Old Fox determines positively p. 32. of his Works Printed 1672. That God doth not accept of any where there is any failing or who do not fulfil the Law and doth not answer every demand of Justice I suppose a main reason why the Snake is offended with E. B's so saying is because himself has so many failings does not fulfil hardly any part of the Law and answers few or no Demands of Justice But be that as it will E. B. for his so saying hath produced good Authorities viz. 1 John 3.8 1 Pet. 2.9 which if the Snake can refute let him Ibid. p. 27. I could heap up many more Quotations to the same purpose but these will suffice till answered That 's now done and thy deceit and falshood in perverting and mangling our Books is herein in some measure detected and laid open and therefore shall proceed to his 4th Section SECT IV. Concerning our Belief of Immediate Revelation BY what I have already said in the foregoing Sections concerning the beginning and progress of the Work of God in Man how that it is wrought by the Operations of the Holy Spirit It may be well seen what Immediate Revelation it is of which we speak and what we mean by it viz. the Influences and Operations of the Holy Spirit which the Snake dare not deny but owns that in some sense they may be called Revelations and immediate too p. 27 28. which according to the Apostle's Doctrine Col. 1.27 Is Christ in you the Hope of Glory And we do say that the first appearances of Christ immediately by his Spirit in Men is as himself hath said John 16.8 to reprove the World of Sin c. This as it is truly and properly Immediate Revelation So in this degree it is universally given to Men during the day of their visitation in order that they might know the Masters Will. Snake p. 28. But the Holy Prophets and Apostles had Revelations of a much higher Degree than this viz. To foretell things to come to work Miracles to go with particular Messages from God 'T is very true their Degrees of Revelation were much higher but differ'd not in Nature and so it is at this Day For such whom Christ doth now Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualify with and by his Holy Spirit and
contrary now to what they were then But if the Doctrine be true now how comes G. Fox to be blame-worthy for asserting it then and telling them then that such who denyed it were ravened from the Spirit of God And after all the Daubing Hypocrisie of this Snake let him shew if he can that such who deny this Doctrine which is essential to Salvation do not thereby shew themselves ravened c. Ibid. p. 30. Quoted from p. 30. of G. Fox's Answer to the Westmoreland Petition If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power The Liberty which this Adversary takes to himself is very great sometimes supplying to our words what he is pleased to think they want as at other times to bite and curtail them And to shew thee Reader what Supplements he gives to our words take the place as it is in G. Fox's Answer c. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own them which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And it is very true for whosoever shall write from the movings of the Spirit and grace of God upon his heart tho' in the least manifestation thereof them Writings so written cannot fail of being acknowledged in their Degree By all who through the Spirit of God are led to own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles And the Reason is plain because every Member partakes of the same Spirit by which the whole Body and Church of Christ is kept living And it is impossible for the Holy Spirit in one Member to contradict the same Spirit in the rest of the Body Thus Reader thou may plainly see that that Sinless Perfection maintained in our Books which the Snake carps at misrepresents and wilfully lyes against is no other than the Perfection of the Holy Spirit and which is no further Ours than we walk in obedience to that Spirit by Obedience to which the Apostle hath testified 2 Pet. 1.4 That by escaping the Corruption that is in the World through Lust we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature It were a foul and false imputation upon this Doctrine of the Apostles to suggest that he hereby advised the true Believers to pretend to any such equality of Perfection as that of God who in his Wisdom and Power c. is Infinite God hath promised to his People I will dwell in them and walk in them 2 Cor. 6.16 And all who do witness this Holy In-dwelling of God must of necessity say and confess that he is able to give a perfect Deliverance and Freedom from Sin But have not nor cannot say That they are God or they are Christ because of the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit never did any of us so say as falsly suggested by the Snake which in reply to the foregoing quotations doth I think evidently appear Wherefore I now proceed to his 6th Section of the Quakers Infallibility SECT V. Shewing that Infallibility is by us placed in the Holy Spirit and only is ours as guided by that THis Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box and you may expect to see Rarities The Snake is the Jugler and this Section or rather his whole Book the Box. The Rarities which the Reader may expect to see will no doubt be agreeable to such a Jugling Undertaker Before I come to open his Box this Section I will shew thee Reader his Jugling Artifice on the Lid of it Ibid. p. 31. This Section may seem needless as being included in the former That it is included in the former is true for who claims to be equal of the same Being and Substance with God Such doubtless claim to be infallible as he And then why this needless Section Why the Jugler doubting to put the matter of Charge upon that Issue multiply'd this Section tho' needless and drew it to a length near twice that of all his foregoing Sections that he might indeed Jugler like blind the Readers observation in the length of it And with respect to us the Jugler might hope it should by its length be admitted as Billa Vera rather than any should examine its Contents and detect its Lyes But to begin with the Snake's first head of Distinction Ibid. p. 31. 1. This their Infallibility was palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome That the Snake may not palm this Story upon the World without proof I do on the behalf of the People called Quakers deny the Assertion and put our Adversary upon the Proof of it which if he cannot do he is hereby registred for a Lyar. Ibid. p. 31. Of which They were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by wholesale and would have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome used to defend themselves As we did not receive from the Church of Rome or any other Society of Men our True Principle of the Infallibility of the Spirit or Grace of God so neither did or do we want any of those Cautions which the Romanists may have and use in their claim of Infallibility That this may appear more plain to the Sober Reader I will shew the vast difference between us and them herein The Papists how much soever they differ among themselves in placing of Infallibility in their Church as whether in the Pope and in him Simply or in him in Cathedra or with his Conclave or him in General Counsel or in such Counsel without him or in the Church diffusive yet they do all agree herein that this Infallibility is possessed by Original Grant made by Jesus Christ to one or other or all of them in the Person of the Holy Apostle Peter and doth descend by Ordination in a continual Succession not alienable This I doubt not will be allow'd to be the declar'd sentiments of some of that People in this point and which do abundantly differ from what hath been always professed by us herein which in Brief is to the following purpose viz. First We have constantly said that the Holy Spirit of God is Infallible and that through the Mediation and Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ a Manifestation of this Infallible Holy Spirit is given to every Man to profit with Secondly We have constantly said that whoever is obedient to the Convictions and Leadings of this Infallible Holy Spirit as they are tendred to their Souls during the day of their Visitation shall thereby be Infallibly lead into all Truth necessary to Salvation both in Principle and in Practice for it doth not only Teach sound Doctrines but also teacheth to deny all ungodliness and hath no fellowship with the Vnfruitful Works of Darkness Thirdly We have constantly said that of such as through their working together with the Grace of God are thereby become Strong in the Lord Of these I say As Christ doth now Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualify with and by his Holy Spirit those whom
Spirit because none of them had this Spirit of Discerning To the first That all are excluded c. Every Member of the Church of Christ must necessarily have a measure of the Spirit of Christ else they are none of his Rom. 8.9 And this Spirit of Christ the Holy Ghost as in its fulness it is Infallible so every even the least measure or manifestation of it is Infallible To the second This Infallible Holy Spirit being of the THREE in the Godhead searcheth the Heart and trieth the Reins Jer. 17.10 But tho' this Holy Spirit can discover unto one the Heart and Thoughts of another as of Ananias to Peter Act. 5. Yet as that is not usual so neither is it necessary nor is it that which we pretend to nor hath G. Fox in the fore-quoted places pretended to it But that which G. Fox means and which we pretend to is That such who minister in and by that Holy Spirit which hath an Infallible Discerning of the Hearts and States of all the Persons ministred to This Holy Spirit doth direct the ministry accordingly that it may be suitable to the states of the Auditory Which they who pretend not to be led guided and assisted by that Infallible Holy Spirit in their Ministry cannot pretend to And as to his Objections that the Quakers did not discern G. Keith F. Bugg and other wicked Apostates There was a time when those Men I in Charity think were truly Quakers as they pretended and to have discerned them Apostates before they were such had not been true discerning There was a time when Demas walked with Paul was owned by Paul to be a Fellow-Labourer with him in the Gospel Col. 4.14 Phil. 2.4 There was a time when through the Love of the World he forsook the Apostles 2 Tim. 4.10 so I may say of these and others there was a time when they walked with us and now is the time when through the Love of the World and other things they are departed and fallen from that Unity and Fellowship they once had with us Ibid. p. 37. quoted from Great Mystery p. 105. We says he the Pope and you the Protestants whom he calls Professors are apostatized from the Infallible Spirit that the Apostles was in in which we are come For who witness these conditions that they were in that gave forth the Scriptures they witness Infallibility an Infallible Spirit which is now possessed and witnessed among those called Quakers Glory to the Highest for ever I shall first detect the Snake's base practice of mangling this as other places by setting down G. F's words as they lie in that Book and then shew plainly their Scriptural meaning The first viz. the Quotation And we say the Pope is not Infallible neither though he be your Father the Ancient Yet we say he and you are Apostatized from the Infallible Spirit that the Apostles was in in which we are come with which ye are seen and judged so not to have the Spirit of Christ Jesus not to have the Spirit of the Prophets and Apostles not to be led by the Spirit of Truth into all Truth not to be in the Spirit not to speak as ye are moved of the Holy Ghost But to be such as ravened from the Spirit of God inwardly and have gotten the Sheeps Cloathing ye and the Pope and so have devoured Nations for this many hundred years so have all been like ravening Wolves For who witness these conditions that they were in that gave forth the Scriptures they witness Infallibility an Infallible Spirit which is now possessed and witnessed among those called Quakers Glory to the Highest for ever This the Snake says Ibid. p. 37. Is Dreadfully Astonishing but gives no reason why it is so but that his practice is astonishing there are several reasons to prove it First In so basely picking and mangling Books that they may thereby be suborned to speak what the Writer never intended Next In his wilful perverting the plain and known sense which they carry and which their Writers had And upon Sober Inquiry what in this can be astonishing That the Pope is not Infallible I suppose the Snake will allow And that the Spirit of Truth doth see and judge such who apostatize from it the Scriptures teach And if the Snake doth account it astonishing that the Quakers should possess and witness according to Holy Writ the manifestation of the Holy and Infallible Spirit of Christ he shews his Ignorance therein tho' all who are truly sensible of these manifestations can in deep Humility of Soul give Glory to the Highest Yet to him must be applied that of Hab. 1.5 For it is a Work that God hath wrought in this day whether he will believe it or not Hitherto Reader pray Observe that tho' the Snake as quoted p. 88. foregoing hath said we placed Infallibility in every single Quaker confine it not to Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things in the World by their inward Light Yet the Charge is notoriously false and that the colourable pretence which he had for this his false assertion was owing to his own false quoting curtailing and mangling of our Books of which I have shewn eminent instances since that assertion of his in p. 88. And that our Books in the instances produced speak according to Scripture I shall leave with the Impartial Reader to Judge only adding that the Forms of Speech Try all things Teach all things Know all things and Judge all things which are frequently found in the New Testament cannot without great perversion be applied otherwise than to that Trying Teaching Knowing and Judging which are the proper effects of the Operations of the Holy Spirit in the Hearts of all that are obedient to it And that in order first to their own Salvation and then to the Service of God in his Church In this sense G. F. E. B. and others have used these Forms of Speech in this sense the Woman of Samaria testifies of the Messias our Saviour John 4.25 He will teach us all things In this sense our Saviour promised John 14.26 That the Holy Ghost should teach us all things In this sense John the Beloved Disciple testifies of the Believers 1 John 2.20 Ye know all things And in this sense the Apostle testifies of the Spiritual Man 1 Cor. 2.10 He judgeth all things And in this sense the Beloved Disciple 1 John 4.1 adviseth to try the Spirits whether they be of God Now these forms of Speech in these and many more places all things are truly as E. B. p. 137. foregoing hath said All things that pertain to Salvation Redemption and Eternal Life needful for Man to know all this was discovered revealed and made known to us by the Light which was in us which Christ had Lighted us withal Ibid. p. 37. But I was much more surprized to find the otherwise Ingenious Mr. Penn laugh at his Adversary for not being Infallible It is no surprise to find
that he is not Almighty Yet when Man does fall it is no plain Conviction that he could not have stood by an Almighty assistance We have never placed Infallibility in Persons otherwise than by the assistance of the Holy Spirit to which if Men are obedient it will infallibly guide them to Heaven and so safely protect them that as our Saviour saith John 10.29 No Man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand But when Men depart from the Grace of God They may as Samson when he had lost his Strength Judg. 16.20 say I will go out as at other times and shake my self And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him But their weakness will soon discover they are gone from their Guide Thus it was with the People of the Jews and thus with all those Persons whose failings the Holy Spirit has recorded in the Scriptures when they departed from the Lord they left their Strength and fell some very fouly Yet what less than Blasphemy is it to say That the Holy Spirit had they been obedient could not have preserved them as well as there are Instances it did restore several of them And it is no breach of the Oath of God made to Abraham and his Seed nor any argument of the Shortness of his Arm as the Prophet's phrase is That they are become a Desolation because they refused to hear and obey And should it which God forbid come to pass that the Defection of the People called Quakers from the guidings of the Holy Spirit should be as general as is now that of the Jews who sometime were the People of God Yet the Holy Spirit of Christ were not at all the less infallible or sufficient in it self to be the Author of Salvation to all that do obey it His first Story p. 44. is of one Christopher Atkinson who he calls in ridicule p. 43. a Precious Brother in p. 44. a Bright Lamp with other such marks of Scorn insulting over his Miscarriage in the Lust of the Flesh And this Story the Snake makes a twofold use of one to reproach the Memory of the Person who fell and the other to reproach the Principle and Practices of those with whom the fallen Person had walked To both I shall say somewhat To the first I know of no good use which can be made of raking in the Crimes of the Deceased unless for Cautions to the Living But then their Crimes are not to be dressed in the Scornful Garb of a merry Andrew Because tho' that may raise more Vanity yet it can raise no Reformation on such as are guilty or be any means of Preservation to those that are not yet so And therefore we find that the Holy Spirit in recording the failings of Noah Lot Moses David Solomon Peter and others hath done it in Language proper to these purposes And there is not a truer mark of a mean and base as well as an unchristian Spirit in a Man than only for the Glory of Insult and Liberty of Ridiculing to call back to the minds of the Living the Crimes of the Dead To the Second it can be no fault in the Holy Spirit of God that Men are disobedient to it nor is it any argument that the Infallible Spirit of God does not preserve any because I or another may fall but it is certain the Holy Spirit will teach and will preserve all who will keep in Subjection and Obedience to it and they who do so keep have a Godly Jealousie and Care that the Practice of those who make Profession of the Guidings of the Holy Spirit be according to it in all the Fruits of it and accordingly Richard Huberthorn and some others who were then at Norwich did wait for the Counsel of God that in his Wisdom they might search out this evil which C. A. had wrought and by their dealing with him did bring him so to a sense of his Naughtiness that he did confess it and condemn it And further that it might not be supposed that such Naughtiness was tolerated and allowed by a Society professing Christianity it was communicated to the Publick that the guilty Person might bear his own Iniquity and the Holy Truth he had made profession of be cleared The like Laudable Practice tho' call'd by the Snake p. 45. A not regarding the Sacredness of the Seal of Confession was practised by the Prophet Nathan towards King David and the Apostle Paul towards his Brother in the Apostleship and also by others recorded in Holy Writ and yet the Holy Spirit is not at all the less Infallible Ibid. p. 46 47. There was much more tender regard shewed to some Young Women who had given a Confession in Writing to John Bolton of their frailty in the Flesh as is told in the Spirit of the Hat but it was hush'd up because it touched many eminent Ones in the Ministry who from day to day resorted unto them and giving them these appellations Innocent Lasses and Daughters of Sion This Charge and Story upon nameless Persons is Reader another Instance of the Injustice of this Adversary in that he hath taken it out of a Book written against us and Printed Anno 1673. and which was answered in the same Year as the Snake well knows and hath not been since reply'd to and what is an aggravation of the Snake's Injustice herein is that in the Answer to it there is a Certificate under the hands of John Bolton and Sam. Newton testifying to the contrary of this very Charge and of this the Snake could not be ignorant because he makes Quotations from the same Book and in or near the same Page in which this Certificate stands which I shall here set down as answer sufficient to this nameless Charge Whereas the Author of the Spirit of the Hat Insinuates that our Ministry is guilty of Vncleanness Whoredoms and such like beastly Practices under a feigned commendation of us under written as prosecutors of such Persons that they may be brought to Judgment We do declare in the Fear of the Everlasting God that tho' we abhor with our whole Souls such unrighteous Practices and if such things were we should we hope clear our Consciences for God and His Living Truth and People Yet we do declare in the Uprightness of our Hearts that we know of no such nor can acknowledge any such to be either of our Ministry or our Body much less eminent among us as hath been wickedly suggested by the Author of The Spirit of the Hat whom we have found painful and faithful to God his Truth and People Therefore to say we were hindred from bringing them to Judgment whom we never went about to charge neither can we is a wicked envious and false suggestion of the Adversaries of the Truth and this in God's Fear we testify to the World John Bolton Sam. Newton Ibid. p. 47. Instances can likewise be given of some of their She Preachers whom they call
Infallibility of all and every one must be a Deceit because the Infallibility is asserted to belong to every one of them FestÃna Lentè may be a useful Caution to one that makes such hasty and false Conclusions The Infallibility of all and every one is the Holy Spirit and if every one that make profession of it should fall from it and turn from the Grace of God into Wantonness or Delusion yet the Holy Spirit would be no Deceit I will give that Memorable Instance of the two Prophets mentioned 1 Kings 13. where both of them had true Prophesies yet by giving way to Error both fell the first ver 24. lost his Life And of the last it 's said ver 18. He lyed Yet it cannot be but falsly and wickedly concluded that because the Prophesy of one of them was false and the other thereby led into Error therefore the Infallible certainty of all and every one of the Prophesies of the Prophets in the Old and New Testament was a Deceit Nay from hence Holy Writ does not conclude against but confirm the Prophesies of them two Prophets which they delivered in their Obedience to God This brings me to his 8th Head of Distinction of Prophesies which he says are false VIII But here in this place let me give two or three instances to shew their false and wicked pretence to Infallibility And I will not travel far for an example But I will be as merciful in exposing them as I can I will see the Instances before I make the like Conclusion The first instance is of as he calls him a Quaker Glover in Cheapside The Snake did tell us he would not travel far for an Example This is some small hint that he Sculks about the City But if in his next he will be more particular as to his place there is a Poor Man formerly the King's Messenger would gladly speak with him but at present to return to the Mercy of the Snake in Exposing Mercy when properly spoken I know what it means but when it proceeds from an Adversary so Profane Unjust and Hypocritical as is this Snake it cannot have fewer alias's added to it than hath his proper name it may be alias this or alias that but that it is not Mercy in the true Signification of the word will in a few words be seen The Snake calls it Mercy in that he spares names but that it is no such thing may be seen by this he calls one p. 51. Prophet John and there was no such Person of that name and the true reason why he forbore others was because he might err as much in them But be all this as it may the Relation and Story is false and to shew that his Mercy is rejected the Quaker Glover speaks for himself and subscribes his name The Glover replies for himself thinking it no favour to have his name conceal'd under a true state of the Case and minds his Author it is not safe nor warrantable to publish by hear-say for his account is almost in every part false containing at least twelve plain mistakes at best A natural consequence of being over officious and medling in other Mens affairs which he is the readier to let him know that if he will please to appear Face to Face and hath two Ears may be better inform'd by him who is willing to joyn Issue with him in his great many more instances as he saith Nat. Markes Reader I have transcribed this out of G. W's Antidote which he wrote in Answer to the first Edition of the Snake that I might not want an Answer to a Story pompously tho' falsly set out in 3 or 4 Pages His second Story of Prophesies is p. 54. of Solomon Eccles who he says did denounce concerning John Story that he should Dye within one Year and that he meant it of a natural Death The Snake who Glories in the miscariages of them that fall does apply this to the whole Body tho' it can be with no more Justice or Strength of Argument so apply'd than the Lye of that Prophet 1 Kings 13.18 which he spake in the name of the Lord can be apply'd to all the Faithful Prophets in the Messages which from the Lord they did in faithfulness deliver But further S. E. did himself find his words his Burden and did under his own hand condemn that Hastiness Anger and Darkness of Spirit in which he does confess he spake those words and it is not unlikely but the Snake hath either seen or heard so much and if he hath either it is a manifest Lye in him to lay that to the Quakers which they then did deny and which also the Person offending did truly and justly take to himself His Words are these in Babylonish Opposer c. p. 8. As I was sitting waiting on the Lord on the 29th instant these things rose in my Heart that I should acknowledge my Offence to all the Brethren in London and thereabouts and Bristol and to all the Brethren North and South that had been witnesses against the Spirit of Separation and am to let you know that it doth truly Repent me and sorely Grieve me that you that do bear a faithful Testimony for God should have any Prophesie thrown at you which I spoke to John Story in an angry Spirit I do therefore acknowledge as I have signified in my last Paper about two Years ago that I have had little rest Day nor Night at times ever since I spoke these words to John Story That it was the word of the Lord that he should dye that Year which were mine own words and soon became my Burden and were spoken in the Dark and Darkness was upon my Spirit and so under a strong Temptation which I was suffered to fall into I not standing in the Counsel of God for which I bore God's Indignation But I soon saw I should have gone to him in a meek Spirit to beseech him to be reconcil'd to his Brethren But I do judge and condemn that hasty Spirit that set a time for his dying and called it the word of the Lord. And do desire this may go as far as where-ever it may have a service for Truth Solomon Eccles. His Third Instance is p. 55. A Prophecy of W. Penn 's against one Tho. Hicks So sure as the Lord liveth and I testifie to thee from the Lord 's Living Spirit If thou desist not and come not to deep Repentance the Lord will make thee an example of his Fury and thy Head shall not go down to the Grave in peace Ibid. p. 55. Now Tho. Hicks did go down to the Grave in Peace and no Visible Example of God's Fury was shewn upon him And which the Snake has not mentioned Tho. Hicks did desist and did not as I have heard as the Snake falsly says he did p. 56. remain to his Death an Opposer of the Quakers which was the terms of the Denunciation So that the Quakers may
that can be nam'd that have Apostatized While they were led by the Spirit of Truth were by that Infallibly led and it was no Delusion to affirm so much of them or others while in their obedience to that Infallible Guide But G. Fox c. did never say that any were or could be Infallibly led but by the Holy Spirit Therefore G. F. c. were not herein led by the Spirit of Delusion but by the Spirit of Truth Ibid. p. 63. The Infallibility of the private Spirit or of each particular Quaker is now damned by their Church and their Infallibility is now reduced by them to that of their Church 'T is a notorious Falshood that ever Infallibility was by us placed in the private Spirit of any or every Quaker as it is by this Snake asserted or that it is now reduced to the Church Infallibility is now by us placed where it ever was that is in the Infallible Spirit of God privately or particularly working in the Hearts of Men. Ibid. p. 64. All I am concerned for at present is that their Churches have censured these Separatists and given Judgment against the Light within particular Persons which was the Original Pretence and only Infallible Guide of the first Quakers And upon this only ground they exclaim'd against any Church assuming Authority over any Man 's private Spirit or his Light within as Anti-christian and Diabolical and gave this as the reason of their Separation from the Church of England One but not the only reason and ground of some that separated from the Church of England might possibly be Her Hierarchy and Government or assumed Authority over Conscience as she in her turn made it part of the reason for her Separation from Rome as see Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae printed 1617. But that bond of Union and spiritual Fellowship which united us to be a People was First and Principally The Light of Jesus Christ shining into our Hearts whereby through obedience we had and have Unity with all who in any measure are turned to it and walk in it and by this Union of Spirit we were gathered into one Body of external Fellowship and Society in matters of Doctrine and Discipline and being so gathered into particular Assemblies or Churches with respect to place at unity The Authority which these our Assemblies do claim towards them that do so declare themselves Members and who do believe and profess the same Doctrines and Principles of Faith and are so distinguish'd and denominated is grounded in this That every such Member is gathered as above and not by any external constraint or outward respect but only by the real force of Truth upon their Understanding And of such as do profess to be so gathered into Unity and Fellowship with us If any shall Innovate in Doctrine and Discipline and make Defection from the Spirit of Love contrary to that Belief and Profession which by the force of Truth and Convictions of God's Grace on their Hearts they did make and declare at their coming into Unity and Fellowship with us Such the Church or Assembly hath Power to declare Separated from the Body because by this their Innovation and Defection they have dissolved that bond of Union by which they became Members and when censure is denounced against these who are thus separated It cannot be accounted or esteemed A giving Judgment against the Light within particular Persons Because the Light of Jesus Christ is not contrary to it self and if by the inshinings of that it was that they through obedience came into Fellowship and did profess and declare to believe as above it does necessarily follow that their Innovation and Defection must proceed from being darken'd and decay'd from that Life of Righteousness in themselves which was the first Principle of true Union And when we have declared against any Church assuming Authority towards any Man and that Light of Grace which is in him it hath been because such Church hath assumed that Authority without that previous bond of Union which is above declared Having thus briefly but truly stated the Ground and Nature of that Government which is among us and the reason of our refusing Church Government not so constituted it will serve to dispatch all the Objections of the Snake upon this head with greater speed I shall here in fit place acquaint thee Reader that the Snake takes up a considerable part of the following Pages in this Section and some in that concerning Tithes particularly about G. Keith and our Controversy with him I shall take little more notice of them than as they relate to Government that being what the Snake says p. 118. foregoing He is chiefly concerned for Besides that Controversy which Books may be had of Tace Sowle in White-Hart-Court Gracious-Street is in such hands as I doubt not are still ready to maintain the Justice of that Cause they are concerned in if G. K. or the Snake for him shall think fit to reply to what they have written that is yet unanswered by him and also the compass of this Tract will be too short to allow room for a matter so much controverted as that has been Therefore what I shall chiefly say concerning him and what the Snake is most concern'd for will be as above with respect to his quondam Society and Fellowship with us and to shew that the Judgment given against him was not against that Light of Jesus Christ which he once acknowledged for his sufficient Teacher The like for brevity sake I would be understood concerning John Wilkinson John Story Bugg and others who may have Separated or Apostatized as these have done From p. 64. to 68. The Snake is wholly imploy'd on G. K. giving in them some short and false bits of Stories relating to that difference with him in Pensilvania which I should have wholly passed by but that in one Instance the Snake is remarkably false That is p. 66. G. K. was accused for Preaching two Christs i. e. a Christ without besides the Christ within This Sam Jennings after their manner of mumbling Thistles will not confess but dare not deny That G. K. was so accused Sam. Jennings does deny so far as it came to his Knowledge but the Snake carps at S. Jennings because he does not affirm or deny upon such incompetent Authority and Evidence as himself uses which has as I have already shewn and may hereafter shew led him into notorious Lyes and false Stories For S. Jennings says State of the Case p. 6. In the Judgment given forth against him G. K. by Friends they say W. Stockdale denyed the words so spoken as in the Charge above and Ibid. p. 7. which I have heard him W. S. often solemnly to deny Is this mumbling of Thistles or does it not rather shew that S. J. took care to speak Truth to the utmost of his Knowledge and is a full denial of G. Keith's Charge Snake p. 66. Why was this the business of
as it is not contrary to the Scriptures So it does not cut them off from being useful as before declared viz. for Doctrine Reproof Correction c. For tho' the Holy Spirit is as infallible now as ever and it is the same Holy Spirit manifested in the Hearts of Men at this day by which the Holy Men did write the Scriptures yet the manifestations thereof to them being in greater degree we justly give them the priority this with respect to the Writings of any faithful Servant of Christ at this day But with respect to the Holy Spirit that being as I have just now said as infallible now as ever it must of necessity also follow that whosoever through obedience follows the guidings of it must have as sure because the same rule as the Prophets and Apostles had And this is no more contradictory than the Parable of the Talents Matt. 25. In which our Saviour shews the different proportions of Trust of the same Treasure And the one Talent had it been imployed in the same way which the five were it would as certainly have gained Profit Thus they who through obedience improve their Talent and are in the Apostles Phrase 2 Cor. 6.1 Workers together with Christ they shall witness a growth in his Grace and who do so grow have the same sure rule of the Holy Spirit to read and understand the Scriptures by even the same sure rule which the Prophets and Apostles had when they writ them Hence it is that he that hath and obeys the least measure of this sure Rule the Holy Spirit in himself will easily and readily acknowledge and consent to the further Degrees of the revealed Will of the Holy Spirit recorded in the Scriptures of Truth Ibid. p. 85 86. But because the Scriptures are often brought in crontradiction to the Quaker-Light therefore they have made it their business to depreciate and undervalue them nay sometimes to run them down as hurtful and pernicious That Light of Jesus Christ which we profess cannot be in contradiction to the Holy Scripture and therefore when so brought it hath been by such who as our Saviour saith Matt. 22.29 Do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God Nor did we ever depreciate undervalue or run them down The Charge is false as will more manifestly appear by the instances he brings Ibid. p. 86. To make them false in many things that we may believe them or trust to them in nothing To make their Authority Doubtful by disputing their Pen-Men and raising all the evil Suggestions that can be against them The Quakers Refuge Printed 1673. p. 17. States this as truly owned by the Quakers The Book Quakers Refuge does not State this as owned by us that the Scriptures are false in any thing Nor does it raise evil Suggestions nor dispute the Pen-Men of them That there have been very many Questions raised concerning them and the Pen-Men of some Books or Epistles the many Treatises on them Subjects are sufficient Evidence But it not being profitable here to remember them I pass them by in Silence Now several of these Questions the Author of The Quakers Refuge numbers up and concludes p. 17. It is not the Subject of my Argument at this time But that which he therein declares to be the Subject of his Argument is The Authority of the Holy Spirit in Judging or Discerning the Mind of God in the Holy Scriptures This he saith Is as truly stated as owned by us and he declares it to be the concern therein under most Serious Consideration This Reader is the true import of the Author's words which the Snake hath as Injuriously perverted as before I have detected him p. 144 145. perverting W. P's words and the Advantage he will get is much the same because I must hereupon shew thee Reader that what seems to be the occasion of the Snake's Cavil and Perversion is because we assert the Authority of the Holy Spirit in Judging or Discerning the Mind of God in the Holy Scriptures Which Truth as it obtains upon the minds of Men will rather incline them to wait for the sensible experience thereof in themselves than to depend implicitly upon the guest Opinions of any who deny the possibility of such certain guide at this day Ibid. p. 87. Whitehead says that there were some Priests in the North in and before the Year 1653. when those Books which Bugg quoted were Printed who were thus Ignorant And that this was the reason for those expressions in the Quaker Books First this had been no reason for these Barbarous Expressions if it had been so But Secondly I will joyn Issue with G. W. upon it that there never were such Priests in the North or any where else that were so Ignorant No George This is an Arrant Lye without all doubt did any Man ever think or say that the very material Paper and Ink and Letters wou'd endure for ever That there were in the North c. Priests Scandalously Ignorant herein I will presently shew and if they were reproved herein in such manner as they might account contemptuous The Expressions are not therefore Barbarous because so called by the Snake as I may also shew from Authority of Holy Writ and the Practice of them esteem'd by the Snake the Fathers as that expressions which seem contemptuous are not therefore so being in their end directed to rectify the evil Practices of Men related by John Daille To the First viz. the Authority of the Holy Scriptures we know that the Sacrifices Oblations and Offerings mentioned in the Levetical Law had a Divine Sanction and the promise annexed Lev. 18.5 Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and Judgments which if a Man do he shall live in them I am the Lord. These tho' they had the Promise of this Life yet the Jews thro' their Disobedience made these their Sacrifices not delightful to the Lord their Oblations were Vain and their Incense an Abomination and New Moons and appointed Feasts his Soul hated Isa. 1.11 13 14. And by their continuance in Disobedience while in performance of the Letter of the Ceremonial Law the same Prophet 66.3 tells them from the Lord He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol These in the Judgment of our Adversary must be very Barbarous Expressions of these Ordinances and which there was no reason for tho' the People were departed from that true use to which they were at first appointed Tho' this be an abundant Testimony that through Mens misuse of things appointed by God to a determinate purpose he hath been pleased to shew and declare his dis-esteem of them Yet I shall not to confirm this Testimony for it needs it not but for the Readers Satisfaction also shew the Practice of the Fathers herein as testified by John Daille in his Right use
Throne c. Rev. 3.21 And John says he saw Thrones and they who sate on them Rev. 20.4 And after all the Exception that the Snake may take at it it is true that as many as through the Power and Authority of the Spirit of Christ in them do follow him in Regeneration they shall sit upon Thrones metaphorically speaking that is in the Power of God over that which heretofore while in Disobedience they were in Captivity to Ibid. p. 113. The Snake quotes part of a Letter said to be writ by G. F. but for any proof that he has given it may either be adulterated by the Snake or some Apostate or forged by them If they were G. F's why did not the Snake give the whole Letter To what purpose hath he made a break in it And what is left out at it The Editors of the Journal had no Reason why they should have left out or altered as p. 114. he says they have those words My Kingdom is not of this World and those words who is the Son of God which need not have given offence if they had been in For they whom Jesus Christ hath washed from their Sins in his own Blood are by him made Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 and to them it is their Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom Luke 12.32 which is not of this World And for those last words said by the Snake to be omitted and instead of which he says are added I set my Name what room or place was there for all that to come after his Name was set which the Snake hath given and omitted with a Ibid. p. 114. In a Book called News coming out of the North p. 15. G. Fox says I am the Door that ever was the same Christ Yesterday to Day and for ever Reader if now upon view of G. Fox's words they shall plainly appear to be by him spoken of Christ thou wilt I doubt not agree with me that the injustice of this Adversary must be very great who hath of set purpose traduced and perverted G. F's words insinuating that he spake them of himself when in truth it is no such thing This will best appear by giving the Quotation with the Marginal Scriptures from the page quoted by the Snake and is as follows P. 15. Now to all dear Ones and dear Hearts I speak The same Seed which is Christ the same Spirit takes upon it now as ever was the same World is now as ever was the same Temptations and the same Devils and the same Worship of the World twining into one another Form and Colour And Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life he is the Door that all must pass through and he is the Porter that opens it I am the same Door that ever was the same Christ Yesterday to Day and for Ever Look at the Captain Jesus Christ who hath passed before who was tempted the Captain of our Salvation and the same temptation to Worship the Devil and if thou wilt Worship the Devil thou shalt have the Glory of the World but if thou wilt not bow down and Worship the Devil thou shalt have none of the Worlds Glory but be called a Devil as Christ was and be called a Mad-man as he was This Reader with much more of the like Import which I have omitted G. F. does there speak concerning the Power of Jesus Christ to preserve Men out of Temptation and the workings of the Devil to destroy Men by them Yet this by the Snake is accounted part of the Quakers Idolatry The Snake's Quotation from the Introduction to G. F's Battle-Door I have already reply'd to p. 149. and therefore need not say more to it here The Snake 's next Quotation p. 114. is from The Title Page of News coming out of the North from whence he insinuates and charges G. F. with saying of himself that he was prophesied of His Quotation is this Written from the Mouth of the Lord from one who is Naked and stands Naked before the Lord Clothed with Righteousness whose Name is not known in the World risen up out of the North which was prophesied of but now is fulfilled here the Snake leaves off but G. F. continues The Army is coming out of the North against you Terrible Ones whose Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual G. F. Now from G. F's words it is plain that those words which was prophesied of relate to that Prophecy of Jeremy the 31.8 and not to himself or any Person and are only an allusion to those Prophesies of the H. Prophets concerning the Armies of the North which were to fight against and overcome the Jews and other Nations for their Disobedience and Wickedness Which as they litterally did do so by a usual allusion the People fulfilling this Prophecy Jer. 31.8 will through the Assistance of God's Grace their Weapons being Spiritual not Carnal go on in the Warfare of the Gospel-Day The Snake's next Quotation p. 114. is from Several Petitions answered c. p. 60. And he gives it thus My Name is Covered from the World and the World knows not me nor my Name G. F. Now who would not take this to be either all that G. F. had here spoken or else the words last delivered But Reader it is neither of these for G. F. is subscribed at the bottom of several lines more than these the Snake hath given and are continued by G. F. thus The Earthly Name the Earthly Man knows and he is afraid of Reproach and cannot bear it upon the Earthly Name he that overcometh hath the New Name and knoweth it Now Reader what is this but the sense of those Scriptures 1 Pet. 4.14 Rev. 2.17 and 3.12 which whether this Adversary did not know or had wilfully omitted to consider are yet sufficient to shew the falsity of his Charge of our Idolatry herein The Snake's next Quotations are from an Adversaries Book which was answered Yet such is his Injustice that he takes no notice of the Answer but objects as if they had not been reply'd to wherefore it deserves not to be taken notice of till he shall have reply'd to that Answer and disprov'd it And any Man may with equal Justice quote the Books of the Romanists to prove the Church of England Schismatical Heretical c. without taking notice of the Answers written to them Charges But whether such practice would be reasonable or not not only the Agrieved Party but all impartial Men can readily determine One of these Quotations is from part of a Letter writ by Josiah Cole to G. Fox and which had been formerly objected against by John Faldo and other Adversaries to which Objections W. P. did Answer in two several Books one Entituled Judas and the Jews the other Entituled The Invalidity of J. Faldo 's Vindication Of the first of these Books the Snake takes so much notice p. 115. as to say that W. P. does in p. 44.
now in order Snake p. 165. That is say they with Hymeneus and Philetus till his coming Spiritually in our Hearts I have in p. 255. foregoing briefly observed already concerning these Men part of whose error was and which is only taken notice of by the Snake their saying the Resurrection was past already That they do not seem by the Character the Apostle gives of them of being profane and vain Babblers such who had put away a good Conscience and shipwrack'd Faith I say they do not seem hereby to be such who did contend for the Spiritual Coming of Christ in their Hearts Profaneness is Immorality and what has that to do with the Coming of Christ in the Heart It is in direct opposition to it And the Apostle could not have made their Character as above had they so contended for Christ because it was what the Apostle declares himself did follow after Phil. 3.10 11 12. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death If by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Reader Think'st thou that Hymeneus and Philetus those profane and vain Babblers who shipwreckt Faith and a good Conscience in themselves and did overthrow the Faith of some did do all these things and expound that saying of theirs That the Resurrection was past already in such manner as the Snake says Spiritually in our Hearts No it could not be they were gone from the Spirit of Christ in them when they went into profane Babbling and what degrees soever they might have known while in obedience of the Power of Christ's Resurrection Yet that they quite lost when they shipwreckt Faith and a good Conscience So that the Snake's explanation is not only arbitrary but contradictory to the Apostles character of them He goes on with great assurance and pretence of familiarity with the Holy Apostles and of the purest Primitive Christians and Blessed Martyrs and affirms of them all in his frothy manner Ibid. p. 165. None of them dream'd of the time being thus expired For the observance of what he calls the Sacraments but that they did think them obligatory to the end of the World the litteral Resurrection at the last day It can be no small acquaintance which this Snake pretends to have had with this variety of Persons who dare so boldly affirm of them all while sleeping that they did never dream of their Expiration and while waking that they all did think these Ordinances always were to continue I suppose the observing Reader will with me be apt to question how he came by this great Intimacy and desire him to give some proof of the truth of what he hath so affirm'd But if we should suppose that he could prove which he never can that none of them did so dream that would not be ground sufficient to us to prove that the time of their continuance is not expired For the Question being concerning Ordinances said to be appointed by Christ we are not to look to Dreams but to consider the Appointment of Christ for from thence can only be truly learn'd both the things appointed and the time for which they were appointed And here of a sudden the Snake hath much abated of his pretence to know what was not Dream'd by the Holy Apostles purest Primitive Christians and Blessed Martyrs and comes to lay his pretence upon the Commission given by our Saviour to his Disciples mentioned Mat. 28.19 20. And this Commission he gives by piece-meal so as that it might if possible be so large as to take in the Addition which he makes to it For first He would have it to be a Commission for Water-Baptism next He would have it to express the Continuance of the Water-Baptism to the end of the World And having in disjoynted sort thus given it he draws this Pithy Conclusion p. 166. For if this be the time during which Christ promised to assist his Commission it must doubtless infer the like continuance of the things required in the said Commission We say so too But the Question is concerning something said to be required in the Commission which the Commission does not express therefore we say not contained in it And that this has been our frequent Objection to our Opposers in this particular the Snake could not but know and therefore if he would have established his addition Water to the Text he ought to have refuted our objections to the addition and then to have given his better reasons for it but none of this is done But he goes on begging the Question and taking that for granted which we deny viz. That when our Saviour saith Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost He doth herein Command them Disciples to Baptize with Water If the Snake had given us some reason why we ought to take this his Addition of that wherein the Text is silent that reason might have been considered And it will be yet of greater force if he can prove from Scripture that our Saviour is here giving to his Disciples Commission concerning John's Baptism with Water and not his own which is with the Holy Spirit But of this the Snake says p. 167. The Holy Ghost is his Christ's Gift only It is true that the Holy Ghost is originally Christ's Gift yet it is as true that Men prepared fitted and quallified by the operation of his Grace have Instrumentally as Ministerial Ofcers given the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Thus the Apostle Rom. 1.11 For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some Spiritual Gift And the same Apostle tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.15 For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel And he declares that his Commission was Acts 26.18 To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God Now strictly speaking it is only Christ by the Gift of the Holy Ghost who does these great Works of which the Apostle speaks The Apostle herein was Instrumentally made the Minister of those things wherein God did appear unto him And at this day those who are of God made Ministers of those things wherein he does appear by his Spirit unto them such he fits furnishes and quallifies Instrumentally to be able to impart Spiritual Gifts and to beget People to God by turning them from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to the Power of God Thus Spiritual Baptism and Teaching mentioned in the Commission of Christ continues to be assisted by Christ and will be so to the end of the World Now this teaching with respect to the sound of words may be said to be
Sacrament of Baptism as Carnal and Hurtful And it may be asked how he would have censur'd the appointing for Institutions and Sacraments what was not so appointed by our Saviour himself or any of his Brethren the Apostles Ibid. And let me here seriously mind these Quakers and admonish others how their Neglect of the Outward Ordinances and Signs has lost to them the Reality and the Thing signified This Snake hath as before shewn pretended great Charity for us yet here sticks not to damn us all See Reader his Hypocrisie he pretends to object against us and hath made a particular Section on that Head That we damn all but our selves of which in its place Yet here in great Charity and as himself says seriously we have lost the Reality and the Thing signified which he will say is Christ then necessarily Salvation which is only by him But it is well for us that this Snake whether serious or scoffing whether profane or arrogant and at times he is all these is still wrong and false For we can in deep Humility of Soul thank God that thro' the Manifestations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts we are kept in fresh and living Remembrances of the Love of God in Jesus Christ to us ward and as we open at his Voice we do witness him to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 I will come into him and sup with him and he with me Ibid. For it had been impossible for any who had been kept in the constant use and practice of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to have forgot Christ's outward Dying and Shedding of his Blood And is it not as much impossible for those who witness Christ to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 in them to forget his outward Crucifixion and shedding of his Blood I think it is not less impossible and I am very sure it is not less Beneficial for a Man to witness the Spiritual Supper of Christ in and with him than it is for a Man without such Spiritual Knowledge to have only the Outward Remembrances of Christ by outward Bread and Wine Now if the Snake will say and prove that it is impossible for all such who have the Outward Ordinances to miss of the Spiritual Knowledge of Christ that might be somewhat to the purpose but the Contrary is too plain Yet it is absolutely and always impossible for all those who do Spiritually Sup with Christ as mentioned Rev. 3.20 while they do so Sup with him to forget him No it cannot be but that Daily Bread which he breaks to those who seek him will preserve the Soul which does receive it alive to bless and praise his Name Ibid. p. 70. The Devil having stoln from us the Body or Outward Part of Religion the Soul soon disappeared If the Devil has done so by this Snake it is otherwise than we may observe he commonly does by Mankind For it was the Complaint of God by his Prophets against the Jews of old that they had lost the Soul of Religion while they kept the Body or Outward Part. The like Complaint our Saviour made of the Pharisees who had clean outsides The like Complaint was made against the Romanists by our first Reformers viz. that they had the Body or Outward Part of Religion but the Soul of it was disappear'd And for all the Snake's suggestion the Devil holds the same Course And he may have as Gay an outside as he will while he continues so deceitful within as he is Ibid. Religion can no more live and be preserved to us here while we are in the Body without outward and corporal means than the Soul can live to us here while we are upon the Earth without our Body and hence the Corporal Service Rom. 12.1 The Snake has here as in many other places advanced a false and dangerous Tenet little if any thing differing from the opus operatum of the Papists which he would shrowd under the Patronage of Rom. 12.1 which Scripture is directly opposite to his Assertion as we shall presently see He hath asserted Religion cannot be preserved without Corporal Means Now it is an undoubted Truth that true Religion cannot be begotten in the Heart of Man by other means than the secret and inward influences of the Holy Spirit and as this only and alone can beget it so it is this only and alone that can preserve it When it is thus begoten inwardly in the Heart it is indeed the means of those outward services being acceptable to God But outward services cannot be the means of it for we cannot present our Bodies a Living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service Rom. 12.1 By any other means than by having our Souls and Spirits subjected to the Guidance and Influences of the Holy Spirit and therefore it was that the Apostle advised Timothy 1 Tim. 4.8 For Bodily exercise profiteth little but Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And to be sure this Godliness must be first inward before it appear outward And it is the means of all our outward reasonable Service but outward Service cannot be the means of inward Obedience But further When the Apostle advises Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service He is not bidding the Romans take the Corporal Means of Bread and Wine no such matter But is directing them to an Inward Work for he says vers 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your Mind And if this Corporal Means Bread and Wine did thus transform and renew the Mind this Snake with many others who partake of it could not be so wicked as they are Ibid. This is so necessary and plain a Truth that those who take upon them to abrogate the Outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up others of their own as has been before observ'd of the Quakers Institution of Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings Concerning Womens Preachings and Meetings hath been sufficiently spoken therefore need not repeat it here But to his Argument that they who abrogate the outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up new ones c. I have this to say That if from the Commission Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. must of necessity be understood Baptism with Water and that Infants must be understood to be within the Limits of it It may be convenient for the Snake to shew without taking to himself the liberty of a Despotick and Arbitrary Interpretation why Infants are not within the limits of 1 Cor. 11.25 26. and that they must not communicate of the Bread and Wine If the Snake will take a liberty so differently to interpret places of Scripture and
say they do appoint Institutions tho' the Matter of One viz. Water and the Manner of Both as now used is not therein exprest why has not another as much liberty If what he contends for be not the Text as it is not but an exposition of it what medium will he use to assure me his exposition is right since all Outward Means lye under the same Objection which his own particular Exposition does and they are not a few For I may object to his understanding to the Interest he is in and to the accidental means by which he came so to conclude And thus Men may grope in the Dark concerning the Mysteries of Religion and the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven while they have only Outward and Corporal Means for which the Snake does so much contend for their Guide But if Men would once come to implore the Assistances and wait for the Guidance of the Holy Spirit That as it illuminated the Holy Men of Old to deliver in Writing a Declaration of the Deep Things of God's Kingdom so it would illuminate their Minds to see and know the Meaning of the Holy Ghost in that Declaration By other means than this there can be no certainty herein But this means the Snake depends not on and would represent us as Criminal because we do Wherefore we justly refuse his Expositions for being Inventions which whether set up new or of old standing makes little difference And while the Snake is contending for Inventions set up he does abrogate if not to use be so as the Snake will have it be an Outward Command of Christ delivered in at least as plain if not plainer terms than either of the foregoing for here is both Matter and Manner recorded I instance in the Command of Christ to his Disciples to wash one anothers Feet John 13.14 15. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your Feet ye also ought to wash one another's Feet For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Yet here neither the Example nor the declared Intent of it is interpreted to mean an Outward Institution But it is an Allegory and the Command fulfilled while the Sign is disused if we walk humbly before God and serve one another with Love We say so too yet if practical Obedience is here the intent of an Outward Command Why might not Spiritual Baptism and Communion be the intent of Outward Commands Had there been any such which those before mentioned are not As before I have shewn Ibid. p. 170. Vpon this poor pretence that Baptism is not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience c. 1 Pet. 3.21 Which Text they so understand as that the Outward Baptism is thereby disanulled because the Inward Baptism is preferred before it and not reckoned perfect without it This which the Snake calls a poor pretence is but poorly assaulted by him and does remain to be a clear and very plain account of that Baptism which Saves In the Description whereof the Apostle is very particular First Negatively shewing what is not then Affirmatively defining what it is viz. The like Figure or Anti-type as it may be truly rendered whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And according to this account of that Baptism which Saves it cannot be the Baptism with Water because that is putting away the filth of the Flesh but it is the Answer of a good Conscience towards God Now outward Water cannot give this answer for as the Apostle saith 1 John 5 6. It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth And nothing but this Spirit which is Truth can wash and purify the Soul from its Corruptions and Lusts and having so purified it can give to it the justifying Answer of a good Conscience towards God and therefore with great reason it is to be preferred to John's Baptism with Water which cannot add to the Perfection of Christ's Baptism with Fire and with the Holy Ghost Ibid. p. 170. And so it was in the Institution of Circumcision under the Law The Outward Circumcision of the Flesh was not the chief thing meant by it but the Inward Circumcision of the Heart as the Apostle speaks Rom. 2.28 29. Will it follow hence that there were no Outward and Litteral Jews Or that there was not an Outward and Litteral Circumcision under the Law But though the Outward Circision was not the Circumcision i. e. not that alone unless the Inward did accompany it yet the Outward Circumcision was commanded and that under pain of Death Thus both Baptism and the Lord's Supper c. As the Circumcision under the Law was Outward so it was the Sign of an Outward Covenant Gen. 17.7 8. And I will establish my Covenant between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee And I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a Stranger all the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting posession and I will be their God The Apostle who was a Minister of the Spirit and of the New Covenant does in this Epistle to the Romans shew the Jew that his Outward Dependance was not Good for he tells him Rom. 2.17 21. Behold thou art called a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thus the Apostle having here reproved that Spirit in the Jew which our Saviour had before reproved in them when they told him We are Abraham 's Seed c. and the dependencies which they had because there was in their Flesh the Sign of that Covenant which God made with Abraham The Apostle brings the matter nearer from the Type to the thing typified from the Outward Jew and Circumcision to the Inward Jew and Circumcision vers 28 29. For he is not a Jew who is one Outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is Outward in the Flesh But he is a Jew which is one Inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God The Apostle is here speaking what the Spiritual Jew is not what the Legal Jew was for of him the Apostle had spoken before and in the like manner it may be spoken of them who have dependence upon the Outward and Decreasing Baptism of John and the Outward and Temporary Commemoration of Christ's Death by Bread and Wine and wait not to know the purifying and strengthning of their Hearts and Spirits by the Holy Spirit of God Thus the Apostle shews the necessary Duty of Christians in the Gospel Dispensation which is to witness the Inward Circumcision
of the Heart and Spirit this work the Law could not perform because as the Apostle says Heb. 7.19 The Law made nothing perfect Nor can Outward Water or Outward Bread and Wine That can only be done by the Inward Operation of the Spirit of God upon the Heart and Spirit This is that which is as useful and indispensable to Christians as the Outward Law was to the Outward Jew To which Outward Law Christ who was greater than Moses having put an end He hath established not another Outward Covenant but the Inward Dispensation of Grace and Truth which comes by Him Ibid. p. 171. Only let me tell the Quakers That their Objections which are answerd in that Treatise a piece writ by the Snake particularly upon this Subject are mostly the same which the Socinians have set up And let me tell the Snake that if the Socinians Arguments herein were sound and according to Scripture it can be no Objection to ours if they were not only mostly but altogether the same And it does not follow that they who err in some things are therefore right in nothing But if what the Snake tells us of our Arguments being mostly the same herein with those of the Socinians It will I hope be of as good purpose for me to tell the Snake that his Objections which are answered in this Treatise are mostly the same which the Romanists did make to the Reformation And then his Witty Remark may be of use to himself To see out of whose Quiver those Arrows came which he hath shot against us Ibid. p. 171. Thus the Socinians having thrown off or slighted the Sacraments have lost the true Faith in the Divinity of Iesus and have rejected him from being the Christ or Word of God which they say only dwelt in him or inspired him but was not Personally united to him Thus say the Quakers What the Socinians have thrown off and lost is not now my business to enquire But that the Quakers have not Thrown off or Lost the True Faith in Christ either as He is the Divine Word or as he was truly Man and dwelt on Earth I have already abundantly shewn in the Section foregoing wherein is particularly treated of and owned the Divinity and Incarnation of Jesus Christ. SECT XIII That Popish Emissaries did not first set up Quakerism in England as is said by the Snake THE Snake that he might be compleat in all the parts of his false and abusive Attempts against us having before by many ill practices in vain endeavoured to make us Heretical in points of Faith would here shew that our Original and Rise was from Popish Emissaries But in this I hope to shew his falsity and abuse as I have already done in those In order to which I desire my Reader to observe that the Snake's first Argument is drawn from the time of our Appearance which he makes to be about 1650. and 1654. And of these dates of time he says P. 187. Then it was that Rome was reaping a plentiful Harvest which they had long been sowing by setting up in that Universal Toleration Multitudes of Various Sects on purpose to Divide and so Confound their only Substantial Adversary the Church of England And here let it be observed that he imposes upon his Reader and would have it taken for granted upon his bare Word that about them Years there was a Vniversal Toleration and that during that time of Toleration there were by Romish Emissaries set up Multitudes of Various Sects Neither of which is true in Fact but contrary to the Faith of the History of them times and also to the Experience of many who are yet living who were eye witnesses of the Transactions of them and some who were Sufferers in them But first to the Toleration which the Snake calls Vniversal I doubt not but upon second thoughts the Snake will allow that at that time the Church of England was in Exile so that it was not Vniversal And as to the Quakers then Beginning they were not included in the Vniversal Toleration As our Testimonies easy to be produced of Imprisonments Blows Fines c. which our then few Friends suffered and underwent can testify These Instances I give to which others it's like may add more to shew that there was no such thing as a Vniversal Toleration Now to his Multitudes of various Sects which he says were then set up It is only a Romantick Story of his own Brain which has no truth in it For should it be supposed that there were in them Years People gathered into Religious Societies under Twelve distinct Denominations tho' I know not of one quarter that number What Multitudes can Twelve be called It may be he may say that Multitudes is an Hyperbole And indeed so it is for it so far beyond Truth that the Expression has nothing of Truth in it And now having briefly hinted at his falsity both with respect to his Toleration and Multitudes I shall proceed to shew That had there then been that Vniversal Toleration and such Multitudes of various Sects as the Snake hath falsly alledged Yet it doth not follow that these Multitudes or various Sects were set up by Rome Because there were various Dissents from the Church of England even from the first Reformation And it was objected to Her by the Author of an Apology for the English Seminaries Printed 1581. That there was Contention and Dissention among themselves This was not in 1650. but in 1581. at such time that if there was not Vnviersal Toleration yet the Church at least was Tolerated and who sowed the Dissentions then And if the Snake will not be angry with me as he is with Josiah Cole p. 189. for Reprinting something of a Papist's which he calls a Sensless and Bitter Libel though it is his practice often to repeat part of our Adversaries Bitter and Sensless Libels against us for which it may be he would have us thank him I will briefly quote that Apology Printed 1581. p. 60. His words are these We charge them with rebelling against Christ's Church Laws and Ordinances with disobedience to their Lawful Pastors with contempt of Holy Councils Fathers and Doctors with falsifying corrupting denying divers Books and Places of Holy Scripture With Contention and Dissention among themselves Disturbances of Kingdoms and Countries desire of Liberty and Novelty in-constant and daily change of their Opinions Presumptuous Arrogance and Vaunting of their Knowledge above all Antiquity with Singularity Sacriledge Apostacy c. Thus he And now what Reader but would take this to be the Snake's Declamation against the Quakers were it not for its Title and Date of Print And that we know it to have been a Papist's Declamation against the Church of England So like the Snake it is that to use his words we see out of whose quiver his Arrows came But as we have now to this Snake's so the Church of England did to this and such like Charges of
not Finite but Infinite And this is another proof much to the same purpose that is to no purpose of answering the Title and for any relation the Section has to it he might have Entituled it a Relation of his Escape from the Messenger at Billinsgate or a Relation of his being seized by him at Lidd in Kent or any thing else in the World which had no Relation to the Matter treated of The Snake next makes a Quotation from the Spirit of the Hat concerning G. F's Marriage and says That G. F. did say concerning his Wife then somewhat in years She must not be Barren but wou'd as Sarah bring Forth an Isaac in her Old Age. To which I first answer that that Book from from whence the Snake quotes as above hath been many years since answer'd But in this the Snake is here silent that he might evade to reply to it And I might after his Example be as silent to his Objections from the Spirit of the Hat as he is to the Answer in the Books Spirit of Alexander the Copper Smith and Judas and the Jews But for the Readers satifaction I shall further answer and say that upon inquiry of those who are most likely to know whether G. F. did say so or not such as his Widow and other Relations I am assured by them and they do say it is utterly false But the Snake to corroborate one Lie he adds another and says that She Margaret Fox growing big p. 192. The Midwife attended several Weeks in the House till Belly fell the Figure was spoiled and the Quakers disappointed of their Isaac That Margaret Fox when in years beyond the ordinary time of Child-bearing should grow big as if with Child is nothing strange nor singular for that the like doth often happen by means of Flatulencies and Humours collected in the Abdomen which in their beginnings and progress sometimes both the Party affected and the Physician have been in doubt to determine and instances of these Kinds are frequently met with in the Writings of Physicians So that it is foolish as well as false to make any such mistake a Legendary Story as it is also false where he says a Midwife attended several Weeks because there was no such thing Ibid. p. 192. This their presumptuous pretence to Miracles and Foolish Legends is another instance wherein they have imitated and outstript the Roman Catholicks This the Snake's great impudence in calling the mistake of a Woman concerning her Pregnancy in which Questions many Women and also Physicians have been mistaken a presumptuous pretence to Miracles and Foolish Legends is another instance of his Malice or Folly For could he enumerate Ten Thousand such mistakes of Women amongst us would this be good proof that we have imitated or outstript the Roman Catholicks in Miracles and Legends I think it would not For besides the many Legendary Volumes which the Romanists have and which were calculated for to feed their Superstition of which we have none should it be allowed that the mistakes of Women in this Question is a pertinent instance May it not naturally follow that that Communion or Society in which are the most Women may not be likely to have the most of these Miracles and Foolish Legends And if so it may then behove the Snake to clear the Communion in which he pretends Membership from such like Presumptuous Pretences SECT XIV Shewing that We do not Damn all the Christian World but our Selves THE Uncharitableness of them Principles which Reprobate and Damn all besides their Professors must needs be very Obvious both in their own Declaration and also in the Lives and Practices of their Professors as influenced by them and need not the wiredrawing of strain'd and perverse Constructions to prove it Because at first sight it appears in the very Complexion and Tendency of them But the Principles and Doctrines which are believed and taught by us have a direct opposition in their Declaration and are of quite another tendency and purport than that Damning of which the Snake speaks For as opposite as Salvation is to Damnation so opposite is that our Known Principle of free and universal Grace to that of Damning all but our selves And to as many as have read our Books or shall hereafter be incited to read them they know and will find that it is and hath been by us constantly declared that the Saving Grace of God doth appear unto all Men affording them a day of Visitation wherein through obedience to the Drawings of the Spirit of Grace upon their Hearts they may escape Damnation And the Work of our Ministry hath been to call Men into obedience to this Grace and Spirit of God declaring to them that if the Day of their Visitation and the tenders of the Love of God through the Spirit of his Son shall come to an end through their Impenitency that then they will have cause to say with them whom the Prophet Personates The Summer is ended and we are not saved But this Principle of free Grace and this Work and Labour of our Ministry to call into Obedience to it concludes not that we Damn them who fall short through Disobedience any more than Moses the Prophets our Lord Jesus and his Apostles could be said to Damn the People to whom they declared their Iniquities and the consequents of their Impenitent abiding in them which was That they should Perish and be Cut off in their Sins And as this is the Doctrine which hath from the first been Believed Preached and Writ by us so our Conversations and Practice Influenced by this Principle hath been agreeable to it And I do appeal to all who have Knowledge and Acquaintance with us whether they have not found us constantly declaring and shewing forth great good will to their Welfare and to our Power promoting it and often Warning and Admonishing against those things that might hinder it Nay the Snake himself is so far Evidence against himself that he hath declared He never received in all his whole Life any sort of Disobligation from any of us But it would have been a Disobligation in some sort if the Quakers with whom he hath convers'd had told him he was Damn'd On the contrary he testifies of the Generality that they are Honest and well Meaning Is it any good meaning to Damn all but our selves I think there is not much in it And I see not how the Snake can reconcile that Character to the Title of this Section I say the Title because this Section in the Body of it does no more answer its Title in the matter charged in it than the last Section did Ibid. p. 192. Having equall'd themselves to Adam in his Innocency as above is shewn they must needs prefer themselves to all since the Fall But if this were true which I shall shew it is not must they therefore needs Damn all since the Fall What the Snake by his Title was to speak to
above-mentioned p. 45. made a Quotation from T. E's Further Discovery p. 99. thus In comparing the Books of Friends to the Books of them called the Greek and Latin Fathers He has not done as a Friend and Brother but as an Enemy in supposing Friends Books to have been written by no better Guidance or clearer Sight than theirs who lived and wrote in those dark Times Upon this G. K. remark'd to his Auditory You see how modest they are here At this Remark G. K. says his Auditors gave a Shout signifying as he says Their dislike that the Quakers Books should be preferred so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the Days of the Apostles To all this T. Ellwood in his Answer to G. K's Narrative as above in p. 177 178. replies One might wonder here at the cause of his Auditors Shouting For such of them as could understand what was meant by Greek and Latin Fathers one might expect should be Men of greater Wisdom and Gravity than to Shout in such Assemblies and for the Vndiscerning Mobb it was a subject so much above their Capacity and Pretences that it cannot be supposed they should Shout at that if they had not been excited thereunto by some little Antick Gesticulation from him But to the matter They shouted he says signifying their dislike that the Quakers Books should be prefer'd so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the days of the Apostles These are not my words I did not refer to the Times next to the days of the Apostles But my words were Who lived and writ in those Dark Times Must those Dark Times needs be next to the Days of the Apostles See what an unfair stretch is this Thus T. Ellwood And yet as unfair as G. K's stretch was the Snake has stretch'd beyond him and pronounces They the Quakers run them down by wholesale But whether it be so or not I leave with the sober Reader to judge and shall observe by the way that how jealously tender soever he is of the names of them he calls Ancient and Holy Fathers Yet Bishop Jewel being prest with some Authorities brought from them by his Opponent Harding the Jesuit makes no scruple to do what this Snake calls run them down by wholesake for applying to his Reader he says That Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World were brought against him And the Bishop then queries Who would not be afraid to see such an Army come against him Howbeit gentle Reader be of good Cheer all this is but a Camisado These be but Vizards they be no Faces they are brought in like Mummers for a Shew and say nothing Jewel against Harding p. 6. Printed 1566. What will the Snake think of the light Character given of Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World And were it proper in this place I could add plenty of Instances that many of the Reform'd have made so bold with those this Snake calls Ancient and Holy Fathers as to run them down If to discover their Errors and slight their Authority as incompetent when offered in Contradiction to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit which gave them forth be so Ibid. p. 194. But now what Quarters shall we have If the Snake ask for himself the answer is ready if it be such as he deserves it will be none of the best For one who tells Lyes for Bread and can pawn all the pretences of Religion upon the Score of Malice and base Design may easily guess what value is to be put upon such an Undertaking Ibid. p. 194. How shall we be able to stand before them It is a Question the Snake may well ask concerning himself after so many Injuries of divers sorts and so great Injustice as he is guilty of towards us the weight of which may well be some pressure upon a Spirit that is at all on this side Obduration Ibid. They damn us all together to Hell i. e. all Christians It is false we Damn none no not the Snake much less all Christians Ibid. But they are more favourable to the Heathen whom they think Worshippers of the same Light with them and not led to Outward Things by the Belief of an Outward Christ and Faith in his outward Sufferings Death c. This Snake has an unusual degree of Impudence for he is not contented only to suborn our Books and pervert our Words and forge Lyes but he does bely our very Thoughts and say we Think what we never declared we did Think For we have never declared That the Heathens indefinitely speaking were obedient to the Light of Jesus Christ But we have often said according to the Apostle Acts 10.35 In every Nation he who feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him And concerning the Heathen in particular with the Apostle Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves Which sheweth the work of the Law written in the Heart And of such Heathens who do thus shew forth the Work of the Law written in their Hearts we may say when considered and compared with meer Nominal Christians who have not known the Inward Vertue of what they believe Christ did Outwardly Suffer as our Saviour did say concerning the Pharisee and the Publican Luke 18.14 I tell you this Man departed to his house justified rather than the other For a Man may have a Historical Faith of all the Outward Things which are recorded in Holy Writ that Christ did and suffered Yet through disobedience to the Holy Spirit which Reproveth for Sin John 16.18 he may never know that Faith begotten in him which gives victory over the World Yet hence it 's not to be concluded that such who are obedient to the Holy Spirit in its Reproofs for Sin do therefore slight much less disbelieve any part of what Christ outwardly did and suffered No they cannot but must and do highly value and esteem It knowing the Benefits that we receive by it and do bless God that it is our Lots to have the means of the Knowledge of what Christ did outwardly do So that the Snake is most injuriously Abusive in his false Insinuations to the contrary The Snake now turns again to G. F's Great Mystery from whence not unlike the Quacks of the Town who of their pretended Panacea's boast they will cure all Diseases he pretends to fetch proofs for every Charge tho' contradictory to themselves but how falsly I have at least in some measure shewn As that the Quakers at first setting up pretended to be equal and of the same substance with God And it must also prove that the Quakers now abated from that and do now only claim to be Infallible as Prophets and Apostles Again Great Mystery must prove that there was a time when there was no God p. 122. And also that not the
in your high Nest of Liberty in the Lust and Pride and Filthiness of the Flesh. And in like manner he goes through many of the then Parties into which the People were divided and faithfully tells them their Trangression and admonishes to Repentance that so their then impending Destruction and which did come might have been averted And this is so far from being the effects of a Cursed Spirit or Hellish Thundrings and the opening of the Infernal Pit that it hath many Examples in Holy Writ in which God by his Prophets hath denounced and foretold grievous Desolations and Destruction which should come because of Transgression Thus the Prophet Amos 8.11 Jeroboam shall die by the Sword and Israel shall be led away Captive out of their own Land And the treatment he met with was much such as the Snake gives for we read in the 10th vers Then Amaziah the Priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel the Land is not able to bear all his words Thus Amaziah and our Snake are of the same Mind who when a Prophet from the Lord declares his Will concerning the Disobedient these will have such a Prophet to Approve of and Glory in their Destruction Which horrid Imputation cannot appear in any thing to be more false than that these same Men with many of the Prophets of the Lord who have been concerned in like Messages have called in the Word of the Lord to Repentance and Amendment by which the Impending Judgments that they foretold should come might have been turned away and that there was need of Repentance King Charles in the Declaration before-mentioned has abundantly testified but of that I care not to be more large at present The Snake p. 208. next carps at a Book Entituled Good Council and Advice but mentions no more of the Title lest it should betray and destroy the purpose he quotes it for and testifie that the Writers of it were true Prophets it is thus Rejected by Disobedient Men. And the days of Oliver Cromwell 's Visitation passed over and also of Richard Cromwell c. Printed 1659. From which Book p. 27 36. the Snakes quotes thus and begins Oh Oliver arise and come out which is an abuse and false Quotation for these words in that Book do stand twelve Lines assunder and begins thus Oh Oliver hadst thou been Faithful And of this the Snake declares they did blow the Trumpet to Oliver effectually But it is very false for from the Title of the Book their Visitation passed over and from the event viz. Oliver's Death and Richard's being Cast out it appears otherwise Ibid. p. 208. And he further charges Oliver not to turn Sober Men and True Hearts out of his Army And a very good Charge it was Ibid. So it seems they esteem'd Fighting a Lawful and a Good Thing in a Good Cause because they thought it consistent with Sober Men and True Hearts According to what I have before observed p. 138. God not having disarmed himself of the Outward Sword he may and often hath for Causes seeming Good in his Sight put the Sword into the Hands of such whom he hath appointed to be the Ministers of his Anger against wicked Men and among these his Ministers we believe there very often is and hath been Sober Men and True Hearts according to those Discoveries of the Will of God which they have had And this we also know that if Sober Men and True Hearts who have been raised up by the Lord and made Instrumental in his Hand by the outward Sword to Castise His and His Peoples Enemies do humbly wait upon God to have further discoveries of his Will and thereby come into greater degrees of Obedience to the Holy Spirit of Christ the Peaceable Saviour they may at length come to see concerning them against whom God raised them up as Joshua in the word of the Lord recounts to Israel concerning their Enemies Jos. 24.12 And I sent Hornets before you which cast them out before you even the two Kings of the Amorites and not with thy Sword nor thy Bow For it is certainly true that those 〈◊〉 do come to that Spiritual Marriage with the Lord spoken of by the Prophet Hosea 2.9 they will witness the compleating of that Prophecy mentioned in the 18th verse of this Chapter And in that Day will I make a Covenant for them with the Wild Beasts and with the Fowls of the Heavens and with that that creepeth upon the Earth And I will break the Bow and the Sword and the Battle out of the Earth and will make them to sleep safely Ibid. p. 209. But since 1660. it is an Antichristian Doctrine Before and since 1660 even ever since we were a People it hath been our Principle and Practice not to use the outward Sword Ibid. One of the Orders given forth by their Yearly Meeting 1693. Commands that none should carry Guns in their Ships Our Yearly Meeting did never give forth any Commands but in Brotherly sort hath caution'd against those things which are not consistent with our Holy Profession of which this is one Ibid. p. 209. They presented G. K. as endeavouring to Subvert the Government which by their Law is Death because that in the 9 th and 10 th Articles of a Paper there Published called an Appeal from the 28 Judges c. he queried whether it was consistent with their Principle against using the Carnal Sword c. That it was not Because he Queried c. as the Snake falsly says he was presented but because of his indecent and tumultuary Behaviour the Declaration of the Sessions it self will best shew which I shall here quote from S. J's State of the Case p. 50 51. Their words are these Therefore for the undeceiving of all People we have thought fit by this Publick Writing not only to signify that our Procedure against the Persons now in the Sheriffs Custody as well as what we intend against others concerned in its proper place respects only that part of the said Printed Sheet viz. The Appeal which appears to have the tendency aforesaid that is Sedition Disturbance Subversion of the Government or aspersing the Magistrates and not any part relating to Difference in Religion c. Ibid. p. 210. But it is plain that they are not against Force of Arms when they like the Quarrel for they did not only encourage Oliver c. but they fought themselves against the King if you will believe G. F. who complains of many Quakers being Disbanded out of the Army and that for being Quakers tho' they were good Fighters It is false G. F. does not complain that any Quakers were disbanded much less that they were disbanded for being Quakers That which G. F. does here complain of is the Pride and Haughtiness of them to whom he writ and as an instance of their Apostacy from that tenderness towards Religious and
Conscientious People which they once did profess to have He says thus p. 5. To the Council of Officers of the Army and the Heads of the Nation c. Many Justices of the Peace faithful to the Lord God to serve him in their Generations to keep Peace to do the thing that is Just and to keep down the Unruly and Rude you have put out whereby you have been the cause of letting all the Bruits upon them that matters not Religion nor Law That these Nations have been in many Places as though there were neither Law Government Teachers nor Ministers as tho' they never had God nor Scriptures taught among them And Here the Snake begins his Quotation many Valiant Captains Soldiers and Officers have been put out of the Army by Sea and Land of whom it hath been said among you That they had rather have had one of them than seven Men and could have turned one to seven Men who because of their faithfulness to the Lord God being faithful towards him it may be for saying Thou to a Particular and for wearing their Hats have been turned out from amongst you c. The Snake's remark upon this is p. 211. Here it is plain that they were Quakers while they were in the Army because by this they were turn'd off for being Quakers for saying Thee and not taking off their Hats And is it not here as plain that they were Quakers while in Commissions of the Peace But neither of them is plain as in the Snake's manner of suggesting Yet this is plain from the true natural meaning of the Words That as there then was an Apostacy in the Council of Officers c. from their first Religious Tenderness so there also was an encrease of that Religious Tenderness in the Hearts of many who in their Commissions of the Peace had well discharged their Duty And others who in their Martial Affairs had given proof of their Valour And some of both these had their Understandings so far opened as to see the Vanity and Evil of respecting Persons with Tongue or Hat tho such were not come so far as to see the evil of and deny Fighting yet they forthwith turned them out And if they were obedient to the Manifestation of God in these smaller things yet they were not therefore Quakers The noted Saltmarsh who never was nor pretended to be a Quaker refused from a Conscientious Tenderness to put off the Hat to Cromwell R. Eccleston used the plain Language to Oliver and was no Quaker and very many besides Quakers use the plain Language And therefore when G. F. says p. 6. as quoted by the Snake p. 211. Oh! How are Men fallen from that which they were at first when Thousands of Us went in the front of you c He does not nay it was impossible he should mean in them words Thousands of us Thousands of Quakers Because at the first of the War which is the time he speaks of which was 1642. there was no such thing as a Quaker spoke of or heard of for he who is willing on this occasion to make us as old as he can dates the first Rise of the Quakers 1650. therefore they could not be Quakers that then went in the Front of the Army Tho' 't is true that many of Them that at the First ingaged in that cause and were forward and zealous in it did afterwards come to be of Vs and so did some also that fought for the King and were as forward and bold in his Cause But as they came to be really of us they left off to Fight with Carnal Weapons as George Fox does plainly shew in the very next lines to those last Quoted by the Snake and which he maliciously left out they are these p. 6. Oh! The Lord's Truth the Lord's Power and the Lord's Arm is more dear to us than all who are not sat down in the Spoil of our Enemies who are come to the Lord who hath given us Victory and hath brought us to the Light that takes away the occasion and root of Wars Here G. F. shews plainly that those whose understandings God had opened and did grow up in Obedience to the Manifestations of God to them they did according to their gradual growth in his Grace first leave off one thing and then another And thus God discover'd his Will to Men not all at once that they might not be discouraged with the sight of too much work or too great difficulty Thus they refused first to set down in the Spoils to pull off their Hats or to use other than the plain Language And this their Conscientious Tenderness tho' despised by Men as they did continue in it it did please God to open their Understandings to see and know the peaceable Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. And by giving them Victory over their Sins did bring them into it whereby they could at last say The Lord hath given us Victory and hath brought us to the Light that takes away the Occasion and Root of Wars And indeed so it is for as many as through the coming of our Lord Jesus by his Spirit in their Hearts do witness their Spirits to be subjected to him So as not to be Angry with his Brother Not to resist Evil and to Love Enemies do know the Root and Occasion of Wars taken away Ibid. p. 211. But if you would know in whom they make it unlawful to use the Sword he tells p. 4. where he threatens that God will overturn the World and all the Powers of the Earth and all Sword-men that be not in his Power That is the King and the Cavaliers whom they damn to the Pit of Hell as I have shewn But Reader if thou wouldst know the greatness of this Adversaries Injustice Perversion and Falshood please to consider G. F's words immediately foregoing these last quoted by the Snake they are these But the Lord is risen who will plead the cause of the Innocent not by Sword nor by Spear but by his Power in which he will overturn the World c. What plainer Testimony could a Man give against his dependence upon an Arm of Flesh and his deliverance by it But further to shew the foolish Malice of the Snake in this false suggestion it could not be the King and Cavaliers that G. F. meant in those words and all Sword-men that be not in his Power because this was printed in 1659. and they were overthrown before that But the Sword-men here mentioned were those G. F. then wrote to who had once felt and known something of the Power of God with them but were then departed from it Ibid. So that instead of their disowning the use of the Sword their true meaning is that none have a right to it but themselves Upon all the foregoing the inference is Malicious and without all ground There is no mention in the Sentence of Vs or the Quakers or that the threatned overturn should be
that Spirit blinded the Kings Princes and Rulers and set them against the Lord and against his Anointed which prov'd in the Issue their destruction This is that the Bishops said of the Puritans to the Late King this is that which brought forth the Law in those days against their Meetings to seek the Lord upon pretence of Conventicles and with this the Late King they blinded and set him against these People which became the overthrow of Him his Posterity and Followers and of that Generation and of those that joined with them And this is that Spirit that is now blinding of thee viz. Oliver Cromwell who wast the Lord's Battle-Ax and Weapon of War to the cutting down of him and those whom after this manner it blinded and set against the Lord and his People and which is now setting Thee against the Seed of God which in this fulness of the Dispensation of times he is raising up to reign for ever and ever unto which Spirit if thou continue to hearken and to follow and to be guided by thou shalt be cut off the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it This is part of a Letter which is in that Book and which G. Bishop did send to Oliver as it is there dated the 16th of the 5th Month 1656. By which and much more such plain Dealing in the said Letter wherein he tells him p. 17. Because thou hast hardned thy Heart and turned against him He God hath turn'd from thee his Presence Wisdom from thy Councils Spirit from thy Men of War and Success from thine Vndertakings and is Stripping of thee of thy Fence and Guard and making thee naked and bare and is coming against thee c. It appears from all this according as our Friends in their Declaration to King Charles upon his Restauration had said That the Quakers even in the Days of Oliver c. were a People that did follow after those things that made for Peace c. in that they did faithfully warn the then Powers against that Spirit of Persecution which was as they had foretold their overthrow And that they did not fight but were redeemed out of all outward fighting and through the Vnspeakable Love of the Father were brought to the end of the Wars So that it is false and malicious in the Snake to say the Quakers were Beaten and could Fight no longer when they gave that Testimony in their Declaration that they did Deny and Bear their Testimony against all Strife and Wars and Contentions c. For had they been in that Warring Nature there was space and time when that Letter of G. Bishop to Oliver Cromwell before-mentioned was writ wherein he testifies that the Quakers did witness the end of the Wars it being near four years before the Restauration of the King But tho' there was time and space yet the Quakers did never joyn with them or fall in with them nor were they concerned in places of Trust or Profit under them but when those who were in such places or in the Army did in their own particulars come to be redeem'd out of all outward Wars and to be obedient to that Convincement they laid down such their Places or Arms which is more than can be truly said of many fawning Priests and Professors And what is more the Quakers from the first even all the time of those several Changes in Government before the Restauration were great Sufferers by them because of that Truth and Plainness which they witnessed forth both to Governors and Governed And thus G. Bishop not soothingly but plainly told O. C. in his time wherein his safety and danger stood Thus he told R. Cromwell in his time wherein his safety and danger stood Thus he told the General Council of the Army wherein their safety and danger stood Thus he told the then Parliament wherein their safety and danger stood Thus he also told the Council of State wherein their safety and danger stood viz. In Establishing that equal and just Liberty and Freedom of Conscience in matters of Worship which near all of them in their turns promised and engaged to do but did it not therefore were they as he shews overthrown And when the King was Restored George Bishop did also Warn Him and his Parliament as in his piece A Book of Warnings c. p. 2 it is seen where after having recounted the Mercies of God to the King and Them he says And now what doth the Lord require of you That you take not upon you to rule over his Kingdom or to prescribe to his Dominion whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion that which shall never have end that of him in the Conscience Thus Reader under the different Governments his Advice was that Persecution might be taken away and in great Plainness without Soothing or Flattering of any to whom his Messages were he did it appears deliver them Ibid. p. 232. But after all this Sweetness as soon as ever the King was Restored Anno. 1660. the Quakers stoutly deny that ever they had Complemented Oliver or they had forgot it What the Snake calls Sweetness that We the Quakers did shew to Oliver we take to be our Duty as required by the Lord to shew to all whom it shall please God come to have Government That is to Advise that they Govern for God and his Truth that all Profaness Immorality and all Wickedness may be discouraged in which the Blessing both of Governors and the Governed doth consist This O. C. was frequently admonished of but he rejecting his Vows to God his Pretences to Men and the Admonition which God by his Servants did frequently send Several of our Friends in great Truth and Plainness did foretel him of his Overthrow which none of those his Soothing and Flattering Priests did dare to do The same plain Dealing our Friends did use to the other Changes in Government and also to Richard Cromwell not Complementing nor Flattering any And when W. Caton in his Truth 's Character of Professors said that the Priests and Professors did Sooth and Flatter O. Cromwell and his Son and made great Promises to him the Proof was apparent by their Addresses to him which in that Book he does briefly give What less than Flattery was it when the Priests c. of Suffolk in their Address to Richard Cromwell upon the Death of his Father told him Although our Sun is Set no Night hath ensued And what less was it in the Priests of Norfolk who did solemnly Promise and Engage Faithfully to serve and obey his most serene Highness for so they then called R. Cromwell as his Leige People in the Defence of his Person and Government with their Lives and Estates It 's true they did afterwards so soften the terms of their Allegiance that they found themselves ready to embrace another Shelter when the Gourd was withered and thus they turn'd to the Rising Side But after all if all this was
we were a People And therefore where it is said p. 235 236. Such of us whose Principles were once so viz. for Fighting are chang'd c. the meaning is not as the Snake would pervert it that such were for Fighting though of us before the Restoration but are chang'd now since that but that such of us whose Principle was once for Fighting before they were of us are now since they came to be of us chang'd And whereas it is there also said We are all of that mind that in the Administration of the Gospel it is on all Occasions whatsoever Vnlawful to War and Fight with Carnal Weapons This respects those who are in and under the Gospel-Ministration of which I have already spoken and not those who are not yet come under it But the Snake thinks now he has a full Proof for he says p. 237 238. When a fair occasion seem'd to offer towards the Re-asserting the Good Old Cause in Monmouth 's Rebellion 1685. several of the Quakers in the West where he Landed took Arms and Fought Yet we heard nothing of their Repentance or that they were any way Censur'd for it by their Yearly Meeting or any other Authority of theirs That Seeming Fair Occasion as the Snake calls it for Rebellion was I doubt not he will own snatch'd at by many who did profess to be of his Communion but whether they were therefore Censur'd I shall not inquire it is sufficient for us that if any who had pretended to be of us did do so that they were therefore disown'd And if the Snake hath neither heard this or whether they Repented it had well become one who pretends though herein as well as in many more Instances it appears falsly to so much Charity to have Inquired Whether either of these had been But since it appears not that he has I will here subjoin concerning this Matter the Testimony against and Denial of such who were so concern'd and their Practices as given from our Friends in the Counties of Somerset Devon and Dorset and then Presented to Authority in the Terms following A Faithful Testimony from the Peaceable People called Quakers in the Counties of Somerset Devon and Dorset upon Occasion of the late Insurrection and Rebellion Humbly Presented to Authority WE whose Names are Subscribed do hereby Solemnly Testifie and Declare on behalf of our selves and the People of God called Quakers with whom we have Christian Society in the aforesaid Counties And that in the Presence of Almighty God who knows our Hearts and whom we Reverence and Trust in His Son Christ Jesus our Lord being our Foundation on whom we Build and Believe in Him for Wisdom and Power to inable us to do and suffer whatever He requires of us in whom is our Life and Salvation manifest by his Spirit Light and Grace given us in which we Worship God as Christ our Lord hath Ordained We being Taught to Deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to Live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present Evil World By the same we are taught to be Subject to that Government and those Governours which it hath pleased God to set over us To the King as Supreme and those in Authority under him Praying for them that they may so Rule in Mercy and Truth as God thereby may be Honoured and they Everlastingly Happy and we under them may lead our Lives in Peace Godliness and Honesty utterly denying all Plotting Sedition Contriving or Assisting in any Insurrection or Rebellion or to use any Force or Violence whatsoever to relieve defend or deliver our selves from any Suffering we lie under It being our Christian Persuasion and Principle to yield Active or Passive Obedience unto Authority without Resistance And if any particular Person or Persons under our Profession or Reputed a Quaker c. either as not being grounded in this our Peaceable Principle or through the Temptation and Subtilty of the Evil One or Unfaithfulness have been overcome to Join in the late Insurrection and Rebellion the same are wholly disowned and testified against by us and their Miscarriages and Evil Actions whatever they Profess ought no more to be charged on us who are Innocent than the Treachery of Judas on the Faithful Disciples of Jesus Christ. And further To manifest our Innocency as a Christian Society and People from having any Hand in the late Insurrection At a Publick Meeting of the said People called Quakers near Taunton the same Day that the late D. of Monmouth Marched with his Army thither it was Testified by the said People That whatever our Sufferings were we must not expect Deliverance by the Arm of Flesh but look unto the Lord from whom our Salvation comes and who will not Save us by Sword nor Spear but by his own Spirit And therefore our Friends were Warned not to concern themselves in this War and all Unanimously consented thereunto So that if any one hath followed the Counsel of his own Will or Instigation of Satan contrary to our peaceable Principle Profession and our Christian Advice and Counsel so openly given such a one hath excluded himself from our Society and Fellowship and must bear his own Burden whose Offence as it cannot be justly charged upon us as a People much less upon the peaceable Truth professed by us And moreover to manifest our Care and Innocency on this occasion it deserves to be noted That some of our Friends being Prisoners at Ivelchester for Conscience sake as they have been for several Years past a Party of the late D. of Monmouth's Horsemen on the 18th of the 4th Month last past Rid thither and turned out of Prison several that were detained on his account and also forcing out one of our Friends left him in the Market-place but he immediately returned to Prison again and though they strictly charged the Keeper no more to detain our Friends yet they took no Advantage of that Liberty but continues Prisoners as formerly which plainly shews they did not own that Authority nor accept of their Liberty in such an indirect way This Testimony and Account have we given forth in the Sincerity and Singleness of our Hearts in Vindication of Truth and the Lord 's innocent People to clear them from such Scandal and Reproach as may through Mistake Ignorance or Envy be cast upon them by any Person whatsoever and as much as in us lies to remove all occasions of Stumbling and Offence against our Principle or Profession committing all to that God that Searches the Heart and Tries the Reins and knows our Integrity herein with full purpose and resolution to Persevere in this our Peaceable Principle and Profession as before Declared through the Assistance of our God while we have a Being in these Earthly Tabernacles in full Assurance That when our Testimony is finished and this Mortal Life ended we shall have a Dwelling-place in that Kingdom of Glory which Christ Jesus hath prepared for us and purchased by his
Visions from God This Obliges us to look more narrowly into the Matter If the Snake by narrowly looking can prove to the contrary of what W. Penn wou'd persuade us then he will look to some purpose But if he Misses in judging of Revelations and Visions and that he may as well as Miss in Dividing and Applying the Word Then while he confidently calls G. Fox a Wizard he proves himself to be Possess'd with an Evil Spirit Ibid. p. 326 327. It is desir'd that Mr. Penn wou'd now Publish his Register of Quaker Prophecies or for ever after hold his Peace By whom is it desired The Snake To what purpose That we should contradict with respect to himself the Advice of our Saviour Mat. 7.6 But besides There are already Publish'd in the Journal and other of our Books so many that if the Snake can but prove them false he will go a great length to prevent the Credibility of all others Ibid. p. 328. When Tho. Ebbit another Prophet of theirs came out of Huntington-shire to London a Day or two before the Fire to warn them of it the Quaker Sanhedrim of their Elders at London took him to task and having Examin'd his Gifts rejected him c. That Tho. Ebbit did come to London a Day or two before the Fire and go through a great part of the City and declare of that Judgment which did so speedily follow is very true And it is also true that three or four Friends seeing the Man they did Caution him That if he had a true Vision he might not go beyond it The Caution was good and useful but it is wholly false that there was any such thing as a Quaker Sanhedrim or that they took him to Task or that they rejected him for that his Prophecy Indeed there was no room to reject the Vision which soon came to pass For the Man came to Town on the Sixth Day commonly call'd Friday Employ'd that and the next Day in going about the City and Publishing his Vision And the Fire broke out on the First Day Morning following commonly call'd Sunday and was indeed a dreadful Judgment Ibid. p. 328. But now to S. Eccles who I suppose is the Prophet Mr. Penn Points at I refer the Reader for a Taste of his Prophetick Talent to what is said before of him p. 52. And for Answer to this and such Objections I refer my Reader to p. 122 where they are already spoken to Ibid. In the mean time let all Impartial Men Judge betwixt that Sober and Christian Enthusiasm which is Profess'd Taught and Pray'd for in the Church of England and that Mad and Blasphemous Enthusiasm which is set up among the Quakers c. Impartial Men Judge What could the Snake mean when he said so For he has constantly carefully avoided their Judgment and been glad to run when in danger of being brought before it Impartial Men When they shall consider That this Snake was so sure of what we mean by the Light within and that we did agree with the Church of England p. 319. that he delivers it with a seeming Gusto I am Confident I say when this shall be considered Impartial Men must say he 's Impudent in p. 328. to say The Enthusiasm among the Quakers is Mad and Blasphemous when he has not so much as attempted to prove it so since he said directly the contrary SECT XXI His Falsly Entituled Impartial Comparison shewn to be Prophane and such as does equally affect the Church of England THE Snake as he saith p. 329. began this his Prophane Comparison in p. 5. of his Introduction In Answer to which so far as he there speaks of it I have reply'd to it p. 33 34 35. fore-going and shall here go in my Reply to what he saith further on this Head Ibid. p. 332. This was the first Instance we find of a Prophet who submitted to be cur'd of his Inspiration by Physick It is Prophanely False G. F. did not Submit to be cur'd of his Inspiration by Physick G. F. does in p. 5. of his Journal speak how that in his Youth for he was then in the 21th Year of his Age being in very great Affliction of Spirit he went to several Priests that from them he might have receiv'd some Spiritual Comfort But they were so far from being Spiritual Comforters that one of them was in great Rage with him because as they were walking in the Priest's Garden he accidentally set his Foot upon the side of one of the Beds in it Another would needs give him some Physick and did endeavour to let him Blood This G. F. mentions to shew how much they were estrang'd from that Work of God then in him And he there further speaks How that his Body was as it were dried up with Sorrows Grief and Trouble that he could have wish'd he had never been born And the reason which G. Fox there gives why he could have so wish'd was because of the Vanity and Wickedness and the Blaspheming of the Name of the Lord which was among the People And the Snake by his light esteem of this concern does shew That he is of them that glory in doing wickedly and does prophanely mock with those who did occasion the Prophet's Complaint Jer. 15.18 Why is my Pain perpetual and my Wound incurable which refuseth to be healed And from this same Cause proceeded the Complaint of the same Prophet Jer. 4.19 My bowels my bowels I am pain'd at my very heart my heart maketh a noise within me And notwithstanding the mockery of the Snake it is always Matter of Sorrow Grief and Trouble to the Righteous to see and hear the wickedness of the Wicked and more especially and eminently to those whom God doth immediately by his Spirit and Power call and lay a necessity upon to reprove and testifie against it Ibid. p. 132. And as he tells us p. 8. when all hopes in them Priests and in all Men was gone so that I had nothing outwardly to help me nor could tell what to do Here the Snake cuts off the next Words of G. Fox wherein he says Then O then I heard a voice which said There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy condition And instead of giving these Words which are of moment and are a sound Truth he does prophanely add In this most dismal of all Conditions quite over-run and given up to despair the blackest Fury in Hell So that it seems the Snake does by a most Blasphemous Implication account it the most dismal of all Conditions and to be quite over-run and given up to Despair to hear the Joyful Tydings to a weary Soul There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy Condition But to G. F. this was Glad Tydings of great Joy and as he gave up to learn of this Wonderful Counsellor Jesus Christ who does indeed speak to the Conditions of all Men He did as he relates p. 17. Come up in
what we assert and vindicate in each particular Snake p. 175. My Accuser presently shews his Prejudice and Enmity against me without cause As with a new Confession of Faith in such dubious and general Terms as may at first sight deceive the unwary Reader tho' I gave it in as plain and as much in scriptural Terms as I could and as the Matters concerned would admit of And I know my own Sincerity therein better than my Accuser who insincerely calls me Honest George whilst he is aspersing me and casting Dirt at me as Deceiving keeping off contradicting the Heart of the Heresie still preserving it safe and untouch'd and not only so but often with a slily insinuated Excuse and Defence of it So that my confessing Jesus to be the Christ and both his coming in the Flesh and in the Spirit according to holy Scripture-Testimony and also to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament namely the Holy Doctrine and Divine Precept therein as given by Divine Inspiration on which much of my said Confession against F. Bugg depends this hath no beter Acceptance or Resentment with my Accuser than as no Contradiction to the Heart of Heresie but as still preserving it safe and untouched and which is worse a slily insinuated Excuse and Defence of it Oh sad Stuff Whither will not Pride and Envy precipate some Men What scripturally to confess Jesus Christ and the holy Scriptures as above is this no Contradiction to Heresie But to preserve excuse or defend it What 's Heresie then pray Is it to confess Jesus Christ come in the Flesh c. according to holy Scripture-Testimony of him Oh! For shame leave off such blind Envy and blasphemous Abuse And now to come to the Point How or wherein have I slily insinuated Excuse and Defence of it i. e. of the Heart of Heresie as before p. 175. Thus saith my Accuser in his first Article he confesses Jesus to be the Christ even the same Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem c. I confess this is part of my Confession but cannot believe this is either not contradictory to the Heart of Heresie or that it is any Excuse or Defence of it Nor that our confessing God or Christ to be our Light can be any such Excuse or Defence Neither do we attribute the Name Christ to any much less to every one of our selves as we are often falsly accused as here whence he also most unjustly infers That then this will appear that this Confession of Whitehead 's is a meer Fallacy while it attributes no more to Jesus Christ than to G. W. Which is a very foul and absurd Falshood and notorious Lie in Fact and contradiction to my said Confession even so far as it is cited by himself as before which is 1. We sincerely own profess and confess Jesus to be the Christ even the same Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem in Judea Mat. 2. suffered Death upon the Cross without the Gates of Jerusalem was quickened and raised again by the Power of God and ascended into Heaven and Glory according to the Scriptures Now have I herein attributed no more to Jesus Christ than to my self as he saith Where did I ever attribute this to my self Where is the meer Fallacy Not in my Confession to Jesus Christ but in this Horrid Abuse and Gross Perversion thereof Did I ever say that I am Jesus Christ Or that I was born of the Virgin Mary Or that I suffered Death upon the Cross at Jerusalem c. Oh! For Shame who cannot see such Malice and Madness as my Adversary has vented against me in this Matter Again I find no Fallacy in my Confession to Christ as without nor is there any unless I had denied the Virgin Mary of whom Christ was born to be without or Bethlehem and Judea and Jerusalem to be without us nor doth Christ being without prove him not to be our Light within for the same Christ said I am the Light of the World therefore he is our Light yea the Quakers Light as he calls it they being included in the World Does not the Sun shine in our Houses because the Body and Fulness of it is without them My Accuser Quibbles and Quarrels with Art 10. of my Confession viz. Our Ministers do not Teach that the Name of Jesus and Christ belong to every Member in the Body or Church as amply as to Christ the Head And here he leaves out all the following explanatory part of the Article as he calls it and Scornfully descants upon the Word amply being in a different Black Character lest quoth he Ibid. you should mistake and think that George was Christ as amply as Jesus And then goes on scoffing That was modest indeed but then George thou art Christ as well as Jesus though not so amply Which is both a false Implication and foreign to my Intention The word amply in that place was only used and intended in direct opposition to F. Bugg's falsly saying The Quakers Teach That the Name Jesus and Christ belong to every Member in the Body as amply as to Christ the Head New Rome Arraign'd p. 47. But even in the same 10 Art quoted against me I do not allow any Member to be called Christ but expresly disallow it though I confess how Christians have some Interest in his Name but not to be called Jesus but Christians The explanatory part of my Confession in the said 10th Article disingenuously left out by this Scoffer is in these Words viz. But that the Divine Anointing to which Name Christ hath relation virtually is in some measure or degree afforded to every Member of his Body but not so amply as to him the Head nor for any Member to be called Christ but a Christian because Christ received the Anointing the Holy Spirit not by measure but in fulness and because he is the Head of the Body the Church And this very Matter is more fully explained in my Charitable Essay in Answer to F. Bugg p. 4. as before It was far from my Thoughts or Intention to imply any such thing as That I am Christ as well as Jesus for I have often written my self A Servant of Christ and so I am I Humbly Bless his Name that is above every Name Therefore I am still very unjustly accused Ibid. with Rank Sophistry Doging and Deluding and casting a Mist before the Eyes of Poor Deluded People or Leading them into the Mystery of Iniquity or of any Equivocation or Jesuitical Confession of Faith I have a Conscience towards God in what I confess and in good Conscience testifie That thou my scornful lurking Adversary hast cast manifold false and gross Defamations upon me and many others of my Christian Persuasion And in the true Sense of Scripture I have both confessed Christ's coming in the Flesh and as he the Word was made or took Flesh John 1.14 And more than
a Quaker's Book Intituled The Sword of the Lord drawn p. 5. viz. Your Imagined God beyond the Stars your Carnal Christ is utterly denied That Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lie To which he saith G. Whitehead does not deny the Quotation but says p. 145. We do not affect the Terms Then he adds Was not this a Terrible Rebuke a full Condemnation of the Author and such damnable Heresie p. 357. See how grosly Abusive and Partial this Snake Author is as if we do not affect the Terms were my whole Answer to those fore-going Expressions quoted by him wherein he appears as in many other things very unjust and injurious for I call them offensive Words in my Answer i. e. as quoted by him saying As to those Offensive Words your Carnal Christ your Imagined God c. we do not affect the Terms neither are they proper to the True Christ or Omnipresent God Antidote p. 145 146. but his Falacy in the Quotation I refer to the fore-going Treatise p. 204. I further add That an Imagined God and Imagined Christ is not the true God nor the true Christ which all meer Imaginations fall short of and of the true Knowledge thereof However I neither liked the said Offensive Words nor the Person that wrote them i. e. C. A. for he neither writ all he did in true Reverence toward God neither did he abide in His Fear or Council but was disown'd by us Therefore the Snake's Insinuation against me That he was a Friend in saying of them and had a good Intention as if I would so excuse him and his said offensive Words is utterly false for I never design'd to excuse or plead for him therein or in any other rash or irreverent Expressions And the Snak's Inferences against the Quakers in general As that all the World cannot excuse them from being the most Outragious and Blasphemous Heresie And that all Men must look upon the Quakers as Monsters and no Christians and their Ancient Friends with Blasphemies Heresies Treasons and damnable Doctrines c. p. 368. Thus concluding with a Storm of Railery when he has taken occasion to Calumniate and Condemn us all by Whole-sale from a few rash and offensive Expressions of one Person and perhaps from some other Words or Passages which many Thousands of us were never concerned in besides his many foul Perversions and partial and false Quotations and Citations And lastly he makes this Apology He must not surfeit the Reader with a Breakfast lest he lose his Stomach to his Dinner But should the Reader be so unwary as to make his Breakfast of such Cookery as the Snake's Railery Foul Abuses and dirty Stuff as he has Cooked against the People call'd Quakers 't would be enough not only to Surfeit but to Poison the Reader Now that I would not seem to conclude with harsh but mild Expressions as well as Matter of Moment I may a little farther take notice of his Profound Questionary Test to try if we are sound in the Faith viz. Whether they i. e. the Quakers believe in Christ as without them without all other Men Seeing our Adversary and his Confederates so much Insist upon the words without us Christ as without us and sometimes gives him the Character of an Outward Christ as if he were not an Inward Christ Inwardly Anointed I may take leave a little to follow them in their terms yet with a real Respect and Honour to the True Messiah the Very Christ the Anointed of God of whom all his Holy Prophets gave Witness Acts 10.4 namely we believe and confess that this very Christ of God the Only Begotten Son of God was conceived by the Holy Ghost and Born of the Virgin Mary without us that he was Born in Bethlehem of Judea without us that he liv'd an Innocent Sinless Life preached most Blessed and Excellent Doctrine without us that he wrought most Eminent and Wonderful Miracles without us that he went about doing Good without us that he was Crucified and put to Death by wicked hands without the Gates of Jerusalem without us that by the Power of God he revived and rose again the third day without us that after he was raised from the Dead he shewed himself Alive after his Passion by many Infallible Proofs unto his Disciples without us being seen of them forty days after which he Ascended into Heaven being seen to Ascend without us and a Cloud received him out of their sight who beheld him Ascend Unto whom it was said by the 2 Angels present This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Acts 1.3 9 10 11. and doubtless when he so comes and all his mighty Angels with him it will be in great Glory and open Triumph and he will in that day be greatly glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thes. 1.7 8 9 10. But now I must not stop here we must not leave this same Jesus Christ all without us we must humbly consider and own him as He is within us also As Christ is the Word of God that true Light which enlightens every Man coming into the World John 1.9 He is within us As in Him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men He is within us his Life as the Light of Men is within us John 1.4 As Christ is the Light of the World given to lead Men out of Darkness and to give the Light of Life to all who follow him John 8.12 He is within Men within us to lead us out of that Darkness and Corruption that was in us As Christ is given for the Light of the Gentiles and for a Covenant unto the People and to be God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa. 42.6 49.6 Acts 13.47 He must be known as such within them Seeing his coming was that we might have Life and that we might have it more abundantly John 10.10 This Life we must have within us Jesus said If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 which must be within us Abide in me and I in you saith Christ as the Branch cannot bring forth Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me John 15.4 Therefore if we abide in Christ he abides in us The Branches must abide in the Vine to partake of the Life and Virtue thereof in them to cause Fruit. John 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you said Christ. Ver. 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Therefore we must know Christ within us if we be his true Followers John 17.22 23. Where Christ saith And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me And Ver. 26. And I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them What 's more clear than Christ's own Testimony for his Being within us i. e. within all his true Followers especially 2. Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Therefore they who are not Reprobates but in the Faith know that Jesus Christ is within them Colos. 1.27 To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery which is Christ in you the hope of glory Therefore the Saints know Christ within them to be the Hope of Glory to them Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Son of God is therefore by his Spirit within us who are Sons of God Galat. 4.19 My little Children of whom I Travail in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Rom. 8.29 For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born in many brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In multis fratribus Therefore the Son of God is within them Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the door I will come In to him and will sup with him and he with me Was not this the Son of God the Faithful and True Witness who thus spake ver 14 And where is that Door that must be opened unto him Many more Instances might be shewn for the nearness of Christ with and In his Faithful Followers and Members And Blessed are they who truly Believe in his Name and follow him in the Regeneration FINIS Ibid p. 6. Acts 5.36 37. Josephus p. 426 532. Printed 1683. Great Mystery p. 224. Snake p. 31. John 10.3.14.6 Luke 22.28 Mark 1.13 Mat. 4.6 7. John 7.49 Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae p. 21. art 51. Foot yet in the Snare Printed 1656. p. 6. Jam. Nayler Vid. Hierom. Apol. adv Ruff. ad Pammach Marcel Ep. 141. ad Marcel
distinguish what he has taken as above in a different Character Pref. p. 7. of Great Mystery First The Lord brought us by his Power and Wisdom and the Word by which all Things were made to know and understand and see perfectly that God had given to us every one of us in particular a Light from himself shining in our Hearts and Consciences which Light Christ his Son the Saviour of the World had lighted every Man and all Mankind withal which Light in us we found sufficient to reprove us and convince us of every evil Deed Word and Thought and by it in us we come to know Good from Evil Right from Wrong and whatsoever is of God and according to him from what is of the Devil and what is contrary to God in Motion Word and Work And this Light gave us to discern between Truth and Error between every False and Right Way and it perfectly discovered to us the true state of all things And we thereby came to know Man what he was in his Creation before Transgression and how he was deceived and overcome by the Devil and his estate in Transgression and in Disobedience And how he is drove and banished from the presence of the Lord and the Sorrow and Anguish which he is in and to undergo And also by the Light in us we perfectly came to know the way of Restauration and the means to be restored and the state of Man being come out of Transgression and restored These things to us were revealed by the Light within us which Christ had given us and Lightned us withal What Man was before Transgression and what he is in Transgression and what he is being redeemed out of Transgression and also the Light which shined in every one of us as to it our Minds became turned and our Hearts inclined the perfect estate of the Church we came to know Her estate before the Apostles days and in the Apostles days and since the days of the Apostles And her present state we found to be as a Woman who had once been clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her Feet who brought forth him that was to rule the Nations but She was fled into the Wilderness and there sitting desolate in her place that was prepared of God for such a season which season in the very end thereof when the time of her sojourning was towards a full end then were we brought forth If any have an Ear they may hear So that all these things concerning Man and concerning the Times and Seasons and the changing and renewing of Times and all things that pertain to Salvation Redemption and Eternal Life needful for Man to know ALL THIS WAS discover'd revealed and made known to us by the Light that was in us which Christ had lighted us withal Thus E. B. The Snake's next Quotation is from E. B's Works p. 862. and his quotation is thus Every true Member of the Church hath certainty and infallibility of Judgment and discerning who are out of the Truth and in the way of Error and are Hereticks In this as in the last he hath abusively mangled E. B's words which are these Every true Member of the true Church hath its particular Measure of the Infallible Spirit of Christ whereby he is certainly persuaded of the way of Truth in which he walks and knows and believes the Infallibility of the Truth he professes and is certain and secure of the way of his Peace and Assurance in God which he hath received and believed and hath also certainty and infallibility of Judgment and discerning who are out of the Truth and in the way of Error and are Hereticks Such are infallibly known and discerned by the Spirit of God in the true Church of Christ. See here Reader the great perversion of words sound as can be deliver'd and which I dare the Snake to deny if he can for if he does he must of necessity thro' away all that Enthusiasm to which he says the Church in her Offices does pretend Ibid. p. 34. Quoted from E. B's Works p. 861 862. So both the Law-makers and the Judges of the Law must be infallible in Knowledge and Judgment in this case of Heresie otherwise the Law made for that purpose and the Judgment given by that Law are both false and unjust and not according to God and his Truth but are to be justly Judged and Condemn'd of the Lord God in his day and season This the Snake says dissolves our Laws Damns the Law-makers and infers necessarily the Quakers Opinion of their own Infallibility To this Charge let the Snake himself answer whether or no his refusing Swearing Obedience to the Present Government dissolves the Law which requires it of him Damns the Makers of that Law and does infer an Opinion of his own Infallibility Ibid. p. 35. Quoted from E. B's Works p. 198. where I have look'd for the words quoted by the Snake but find no such if he be mistaken in the page when that is rectified it may be answered Ibid. p. 35. Quoted from Great Mystery p. 107. Thou sayst that the Holiest Man is not able to give an Infallible Character of another Man Hast thou not in this discovered thy self to be no Minister of Christ or of the Spirit who cannot give an Infallible Character of another Man how canst thou minister to his Condition How canst thou see them that be turned from the Darkness and that be in the Darkness and distinguish the one from the other and an Holy Man from an Vnholy Man that canst not give an Infallible Character of any Man's Estate Ibid. p. 36. Quoted from Great Mystery p. 94. Have you given your selves a Name of a Church of Christ and is there not a Spirit of Discerning among you have you not manifested there that you are Harlotted from the Church of Christ the Apostles were of and how can you minister or teach People if ye do not discern their estates how they stand before God how can you commend your selves to every Man's Conscience in God's sight How can ye present the Souls of Men to God and see not their states how they are in his Sight How came ye to have fellowship in the Spirit How can you or any minister to the state and condition that people be in and see where they are and doth not see how they stand in God's sight From these two long Quotations he draws two Inferences or Conclusions which I will briefly repeat and then reply to them Here the Quakers have excluded all from the Church of Christ from having any fellowship in the Spirit who have not this Infallible Spirit of Discerning every Man's Heart Secodly It is evident they did not discern Keith and Bugg whom for many years they own'd as true Quakers thought them principal Pillars whom now they vilifie as Apostates Therefore by their own Argument all the Quakers are Harlotted from the Church of Christ have no fellowship in the