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A65854
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The Christianity of the people commonly called Quakers vindicated from antichristian opposition sincerely tendered in behalf of the aforesaid people and their ancient friends by some of them.
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Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing W1912; ESTC R27067
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25,012
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34
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shape or Figure of a Man See the difference in Crit. Sacr. and the Translation of the Church of England In Phil. 2.7 Of Christ its expresly said and found in Figure as a Man as Dr. Fulk against the Papists has it He was also said to be made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them under it Gal. 4.4 He was Circumcised presented to the Lord with an Oblation Luke 2.21 24. He eat of the Passover c. and thus came under the Law to fulfill it in these Things which were figurative and shadowy yet was the Substance and End of them Charges 10 and 11. Against an Actual keeping of the Law of God so as to avoid all Sin though he grants such a Perfection as imports Sincerity Integrity and Constancy in our utmost endeavours perfectly to keep God's Law entirely to avoid all Sin c. which Perfection he confesses to be requisite to Salvation Yet contrariwise chargeth one of our Friends for saying He had proved by manifest Scriptures that some were perfect in this Life even without Sin and that our Sanctification is Christ himself 1 Cor. 1.30 And another Friend he charges for saying In your Vnbelief you judge that none can live without sinning Obs. Now take the Doctor as believing the contrary thus viz. Though 't is our Duty sincerely to use our utmost endeavours perfectly to keep God's Law and entirely to avoid all Sin yet none were ever so perfect in this Life without Sin and that our Sanctification is not Christ and that 't is our belief to judge that none can live without sinning Thus faithless is this great Doctor how contrary to the Faith of Christ and true Christians is his belief herein And such endeavours for such a Perfection as never attain it but still fall short are not in the true Faith nor so sincere as they should be for Christ said Whatsoever ye ask in my Name believe that ye shall receive it and the same shall be given you Mark 11.24 Luke 11.9 10 11 13. John 14.13 14. and 16 23. Mat. 7.7 And by Faith in Christ comes the Heart to be purified Acts 15.9 And Christ is of God made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 And blessed are the undefiled in the way c. Psal. 119.1 2 3. And seeing the Son of God is manifest for this very purpose to destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3. Why then should Sin which is the Devil's Work be thus Preach'd up or contended for by any who profess Faith in Christ Jesus Their's must needs be a faithless Preaching who when they have told People 't is their Duty to use their utmost endeavours entirely to avoid all Sin yet contrarywise tell them That none can live without sining With what Faith or Sincerity can this Man or any of his Brethren engage Childrens God-Fathers and God-Mothers as they call them by Promise and Vow that they shall forsake the Devil and all his Works and yet endeavour to perswade them 't is impossible for them so to do i. e. to live without Sin or to avoid all sinning wherein they obey the Devil and do his Work And note that this Doctor S.F. has in this Point also contradicted the said Doctor Stillingfleet his now Bishop See his Sermon Preach'd before the King March 13. 1666 7. Wherein he does not only plead and argue it as our Duty to obey God's Laws and Commands but the Possibility thereof through the Assistance of his Grace and good Spirit against them who charge God with laying impossible Laws upon Mankind c. and puts the Question What then is wanting but only setting our selves with a serious obedience to them to make his Commands not only not impossible but easy to us Now that this Priest S.F. who styles himself D.D. has apparently contradicted his said Bishop the Contradiction being between the Impossibility and Possibility of living without sining or avoiding all Sin Charge 12. Against some of our ancient Friends for asserting that he calls main fundamental of all our Religion namely The Light and Christ within us and that this Light is in its own being no other than God himself the Christ of God and Saviour of the World the living Principle of God of the Divine Nature c. Obs. And we do not believe this to be either Unchristian or Antichristian as he has rendered it by his Title over it which is no Proof but his own bare Affirmation and Charge wherein he imposes still we preach no other Light but what is Divine of the divine Nature and Being and manifest by degrees in us God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and hath shined in our Hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 1 John 1.5 And Christ saith I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not abide in Darkness John 8.12 and Chap. 12.46 And he saith Believe in the Light that ye may be the Children of the Light John 12.36 And his Apostles Preached not only Christ as without but also Christ as within in Spirit and so did Christ himself John 14.20 and 15.4 and 17.23 2 Cor. 13.5 And therefore our Adversary is far out and shews himself Unchristian in opposing such ancient Christian Doctrin as this of the divine Light and Christ within c. Rendring it both Unchristianity and Antichristianity The Lord deliver poor Souls from such ignorant dark and unchristian Preachers and Doctors who neither know the holy Scriptures nor Jesus Christ nor his divine Light or power of God within them Charge 13. Is about the Holy Scriptures that one said They are not the Word of God not the Rule and Guide of Faith and Life to the Saints but the Spirit of God that gave them forth the Covenant of Life and Peace That a Man may lawfully deny the Scriptures to be the Foundation of Faith and Rule of Life c. That another Friend said Faith is the Ground of the Scriptures and of the Scriptures the Ground of Faith c. With more of like Nature in his Charge elsewhere Answered and Explain'd in our Friends Books quoted by him Obs. Where any of our Friends have said or writ such things it was so far from undervaluing or slighting the Holy Scriptures that the matters here charged as unchristian are agreeable to the very Doctrin of Christ and his Holy Apostles as First That the Word of God is Christ. In the Beginning was the Word John 1. His Name is called The Word of God Rev. 19.13 Secondly That the Spirit of God and Christ is the Saints Guide and Rule of Faith to lead and guide them into all Truth as Christ Jesus promised John 16 â—3 Thirdly That Christ is the Foundation of the Saints Faith and not the Scriptures No other Foundation can any Man lay than that which is laid which is Christ. Fourthly That Faith is the Ground of the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Ground of Faith
is very plain I believed and therefore I have spoken Psal. 116.10 2 Cor. 4.13 And there were many true Believers before the Scriptures were writ who wanted not a true Foundation or Rule 'T is wonderful strange this old great Doctor should represent such Doctrins as these either Antichristian or Unchristian The Lord teach him better and humble him unto Repentance for his unchristian and uncharitable Opposition Charge 14. Against E.B. for saying All who go before the moving of the Spirit their Prayers Preaching and Ordinances I deny c. We own the immediate Spirit of God which was before the Scripture was written to be the Rule of our Conversation And against G. Keith viz. We are to wait for an immediate Call Motion c. to preach pray or give thanks and forbear till it be given Charge 15. Against being infallibly guided by the infallible Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures and speaking from the Mouth of the Lord. Charge 16. Against that which was spoken from the Spirit of God in any being of as great Authority as the Scriptures or greater and our Friends pretending to speak or write by one and the same Spirit according to measure by which Christ and the Apostles and Prophets spoke Obs. We do not perceive any Antichristianity or Unchristianity either justly chargeable upon these Passages but rather on this Doctor for so judging them all From which it naturally follows 1. That he is for praying and preaching before or without the moving of the Spirit of God and so runs when the Lord never sent him contrary to the true Prophets Christ and his Apostles Doctrin and Christians Practice Jer. 23.21 22. 1 Pet. 4.11 2. He does not own the immediate Spirit of God and Christ to be the rule or guide of his Conversation contrary to Christ and his Apostles Doctrin 3. Nor waiting for any immediate Call or Motion from God to preach pray or give thanks so that he promotes only a Will-Worship which God never accepts 4. Though we always confess the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament to be given by divine Inspiration and prefer them before and above all other Writings or Books and in no wise question the Truth of them yet we must needs allow the holy Spirit from whence they came the preference and its immediate Teaching and Speaking in the Soul as of greater Efficacy Power and Authority to that Soul than the bare writing or Scripture without or only reading thereof though it contain the same Words immediately taught And so Christ and his Apostles living and powerful preaching in and from the powerful motion of the holy Spirit as being of greater Efficacy Power and Authority than the outward Writing or Scripture it self simply or abstractly considered as distinct from that Spirit tho' the Words preached and the Words written may be the same For the Gospel as livingly preach'd came not in Words only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1.5 For the real Authority Efficacy and Service the Holy Scripture has upon a Soul is from the holy Spirit or Word of Life giving the true Belief and right Understanding thereof But we may suppose that our Adversary's Charge in this Point is from his not owning the immediate teaching of God or preaching by the immediate motion and guidance of his blessed Spirit in these days but only by Tradition his Acquirement by reading and study of other Mens Works and Lines made ready to his Hand and therefore that he wants divine Power Authority and Efficacy in 's Ministry And then he might be more ingenuous to lay aside his Trade of Preaching and leave the People to read the Holy Scriptures without his meanings or private Interpretations upon them Charge 17. In this he accuses our Paper asserting our Christianity with a Tedious and Obscure Harangue under pretence of enjoying the spiritual Part of Baptism and the Lord's Supper but neither Refutes nor Answers what we have writ in that Case both of our Christian Experience and agreeableness to holy Scripture so the less notice need be taken of his Charge against our Friends for Asserting the Baptism of the Holy Ghost Charge ibid. And that the Bread and Wine being no other than a Figure of a spiritual Thing which is the Substance which being witnessed the Figure or Shadow is not obliging being ended i. e. In the New Covenant Charge 18. Against some of our Friends telling them That they set up their Carnal Ordinances in Christ's stead calling them their Means and not witnessing the immediate Appearance of Jesus Christ in their Souls drawing them in his Life and Testifying against the beggarly Rudâ—ments of the World and their Carnal Observances Obs. What more than a Figure does this Doctor suppose the Bread and Wine which they minister to be in the Sacrament so called Does he think them to be the Substance which is Christ If not then 't was very unadvisedly and uncharitably done to charge our Friends as Antichristian or Unchristian either in this Point for calling the outward Elements of Bread and Wine c. A Figure only as Protestant Martyrs esteemed them Vid. Dr. Cranmer Disp. at Oxford c. 3. v. Mar. In opposition to the Papists affirming them to be the Substance Christ. Let him therefore tell us what he esteems them if not a Figure For the Spiritual Substance is Christ he is that One Bread John 6. 1 Cor. 10. and his Spiritual Baptism is The one Baptism Ephes. 4. and in him the Shadows and Figures are ended Charge 19. About the Resurrection That W.P. said To assert the same Body that falls shall rise is inconsâ—stent with Scripture Reason c. And against another Friend for saying The Seed of God is hid in thee c. Obs. He having not wherewithal justly to charge us with denying the Resurrection it self for that we never did but always believed it of both the Just and Unjust and that they shall come to Judgement every Man for himself Now our Friends are charged because they believe a Spiritual Resurrection in opposition to their Adversary's asserting a Carnal or Sameness of Bodies to rise wherein this Adversary's Charge reflects upon the Apostle's Testimony in this Case as well as on our Friends as Unchristian For the Apostle answers such Fools Questions by way of Allusion plainly And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that Body that shall be c. God giveth it a Body as it pleaseth him and to every Seed his own Body There is a natural Body and there is a spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15. ch and 35 36 37 44 Verses c. Which is no other than what our Friends believe and hold Charge 20. Of Christ's second coming to Judgment against this Question i. e. Where proves he that Christ's second coming without Sin to Salvation is a Personal Coming Obs. And where proves he that it is Unchristian to ask such a Question to any that holds it Or that