Divinely Inspired or to be led by the Spirit of God in writting to write by an Infallible Spirit as the Prophets and Apostles did who were the Amanuenses of the Holy Ghost 2. Though she durst not speak it out in plain Terms that she acclaimed no less than such a Spirit as the Prophets and Apostles had lest the Readers at the first sight had cryed fy upon her for Blasphemie but goes on in Clouds and Darkness never declaring in what Sense she was Divinely inspired yet I say on the matter she acclaimed no less for these Reasons 1. First because when it was objected to her by Divines that she had not such Knowledge as the Prophets had and wrought no Miracles she shifted to give any direct answer but slily strived to diminish their Credit and of the Holy Scriptures also alleadging that the Prophets knew not all things which they wrote that all of them wrought not Miracles that the Devil had opened the eyes of the blind and raised the Dead and that the Lord himself was mistaken I tremble relating it anent the Fig Tree Mat. 11.19 L. W. pt 1. p. 136. Ap. p. 168.203.204.205.206 and 222.223 All which Calumnies might be easily refuted but I leave that Task to those who are writting against them more Copiously 2. The very Title of her Book is Blasphemous to wit The Light of the World which is the Epithite given to CHRIST and his Apostles and in assuming that Title she equaliseth her self to them tho injuriously 3. It is evident that she pretended to such a Spirit as the Apostles had when she affirmed that she could write such a Book as the New Testament L. W. pt 1 p 133. Now if she could have so written then she could have done it either by a fallible or infallible Spirit if only by a fallible Spirit then it could not have been such a Book but if by an infallible Spirit then she acclaimed such a Spirit as the Apostles had which the Objector denyes Many more Instances might be adduced to this purpose but these may suffice 3. Thirdly I answer to the grand Objection that she pretended not to write a New Canon or Rule of Faith but only to expound the Scriptures giving but not granting that her pretensions did run no higher that same is too high The Quakers acknowledge that their Spirit is somewhat inferiour to the Prophets Quakerism no Popery p. 32.33 Mr. G. K. The learned Author whereof is no Quaker now Yea the Roman Church it self would be offended if any man should say that they coine new Tenets in Religion or that they did more by their Dogmatising then to expound the Scriptures and dispense the Churches Traditions but by a Prophetical Light and Divine influence as their doctrine in this point is well collected by Amyrald in Thes Salmur de aut Script n. 15.16 So for A. B. to pretend Divine Conduct to expound the Scriptures better than all others is too great Arrogancie Q. Will you not allow A. B. to have had more of Divine Conduct than you have done alreadie that possibly she had it only in some things which she did and taught as ordinarily every Godly Person hath in what he does aright A. I have granted enough in the said Terms and more I cannot because it is sufficiently proved that she was not Divinely inspired as the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures were either to add to the Canonical Books or to interpret Scripture infallibly as they did neither was she led by the Divine Spirit as an ordinary Officer in the Church to interpret and apply the Scriptures which is Preaching since she was not fitted for that end by the means of Gods appointment nor yet observed the Rules thereof Neh. 8.8 Ezra the Scribe with the Priests and Levits read in the Book of the Law distinctly and gave the sense and made the People to understand the reading Timothy the Evangelist was enjoined Reading 1 Tim. 4.13 and since his Days all Holy and Wise Men who interpret the Scriptures pray to God for the Direction of his Spirit which indyted them that they may Prophecie according to the Proportion of Faith Rom. 12.6 They compare Scripture with Scripture and look to the Scope of the place they study the Languages in which the Scriptures were first written Histories likewise and Customs of several Countries Proverbial Speeches and famous Writters of them which are often cited and frequent Allusions made thereto in the Holy Scriptures they read the Creeds Confessions of Faith Catechisms and Systems of Divinity of the Orthodox Churches both Ancient and Modern they search for Truth by the Literal Sense of the whole Scriptures pondering well whether or no the speech be in Terms proper to the things treated of or borrowed from other things which is called a figurative Speech By these and the like means the settled and ordinary Teachers and Expositors of the Scriptures doe begging the blessing of God Humbly and Assiduously endeavour to be fitted for the great and Sacred function of labouring in the Word and Doctrine But A. B. does not so much as pretend to use these means nor yet to expound the Scriptures by the true Rules but on the Contrary she laid by the Scriptures and contemned all Systems of Divinity and other helps of Learning Therefore she was not fit or qualified to expound the Scriptures even as an ordinary Teacher So since A. B. was not led by the Spirit of God to write her Books and expound the Scriptures either in an Ordinary or Extraordinary way It remains then that she performed these things by no other Faculty but by Guessing and vain Divination nor can I add a Fourth Member to this Tripartite Division tho possibly the fertile Brain of a new Ap. will gender one shewing how one can be led by the Spirit of God to write not by an Infallible Spirit nor as an Ordinary Teacher nor yet to be a Meer Guesser or pretender to it which as the Roman Proverb was Let the credulous Jew believe not I. To put a Period to this long Section I shall produce all the pretended Reasons which the Ap pt 3. p. 240 and 241. Alleadgeth for proving A. B. to have been Divinely Inspired and shall answer them severally as if they had been Objected against my Conclusion on this Head Obj. 1. Her Doctrine was conform to the Scriptures therefore she was Divinely Inspired A. 1. Denying the Antecedent for her Doctrine was mostly contrary to the Scriptures as God willing shall be Manifested in the next Section 2. I deny likewise the Consequence because a persons Doctrine may be conform to the Scriptures who had no extraordinary Inspiration Obj. 2. She was Unlearned and yet exceeded the greatest Divines A. 1. She exceeded them only in Vanity 2. George Fox was unlearned so he gave it out that all his Divinity was revealed to him among the Hils of Lancaster And Jacob Bhemen the pretended illuminated Sutor wrote seventeen Books
like that a Preacher wrote the Ap. for else he had not accused all others of dryness 3. As the pretended inspired A. B. is most vain glorious that she only had discovered the Love of GOD to be the great end of Religion so is she no less proud of the means that she had attained to obtain it namely such a penitence and self denyall as merited remission of sins and which should be added to the Sacrifice of Christ Lae. Temoing de verite pt 1.59.61.64 and Ap. pt 2. p. 91.99 But we have not so learned Christ Rom. 6.23 Pardon of sin and eternal Life are none of our merit but GOD 'S free Gifts procured by Christs merits Eph. 2.8 whereof possibly more afterwards 4. You have hitherto narrated such instances as convince my self of her ignorance in the main point of Religion whereto a fourth shall be added which probably will abait the fondness of her admirers if it doth not altogether break her party if they consider it aright who noticed not before what doctrine she taught and that is that every good Christian must abandon Riches and Honour and take no more of them but what is simply needful for the sustenance of Nature and that of the least and meanest sort for the strain of the Doctrine which her Party cryeth up runeth thus A good Christian seeks to attain to the Love of GOD in perfection which to do we must renounce self love and love of the Creatures and none can doe that but they who renounce Riches and take meat and cloathing only to sustain Nature S. V. pt 1. p. 58. 59. L. W. pt 1. p. 121. Ap pt 1. p. 66. 67. Now let all that have doted upon Borignianism prove themselves to be her true Proselites by this plat form of her levelling which ere they doe I am of Opinion she will have but a very small Train of either Sex As Henry Martin said in the Rump Parliament in England when it was proposed to purge it quite of Immoral Men purge it also said Martin of all Knaves and Fools and then we shall have but a thin House NUMBER V. Of the Holy Scriptures IT is doubtless of the Essence of Religion to have right Sentiments of the Holy Scriptures which are the word of GOD and the Rule of Religion But many of A. Bs. and the Aps. Sentiments are wrong in this matter for First she perverts most of the Texts which are cited in her Books whereof one pregnant instance is already shown anent Gen. 3.15 N. 2. another is of Mat 5.45 He maketh his Sun to shine on the Evil and on the Good from which A. B. inferreth that the Wicked have the true Grace of GOD L. W. pt 1. p. 43. whereas the words import only that Worldly things such as the Suns light are common both to good and evil People 2ly They derogate from the Authority of the Holy Scriptures which is altogether Divine and Infallible the Ap. pt 2. p. 179 Approves Teresa a Spainard a pretended inspired Teacher who when she was urged with that Text 1 Tim. 2.12 I suffer not a Woman to Teach did answer that GOD bid her not to be directed by one passage of Scripture for there was a twofold falsehood if not rather a lie in the answer of Terese for there is a parallel Text to the foresaid purpose 1 Cor. 14.34 And GOD bids us be directed by his Word as well as when it is found in one passage of Scripture as if it were in twenty so it was the Devil and not GOD that suggested such an answer to her As Tertul long since wrote that all Hereticks Strive to derogate from the Scriptures and whosoever doth deprave any part of the Scriptures he rejects all because they are all from the same Authority Adversus Heres de prescrip c. 49. 3ly They disregard and contemn the Holy Scriptures Diod. Sic. L. 14. reports that Theopompus a Pagan Historian when he had inserted some part of the Holy Scriptures into his prophane writtings did run mad I shall not say that A. B. was mad but probably she was Hypocondriack for writting as she did anent the Scriptures exhorting people to imitat herself in not reading the New Testament for twenty Years and affirming that she could write such a Book as it that it was not hitherto understood by any and only slightly allowing people to read the BIBLE that are not otherwayes taught S. V. pt 1. p. 120. Ap. p. 347. L. W. pt 1. p. 120. Whereas the Holy Spirit teacheth us to search the Scriptures daily Acts 17.11 The truely Divinely Inspired take their warrand from the Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.19 Though they were immediatly taught of God And it was a thing more impossible for A. B. for to write such a Book as the New Testament than to have joined the land of Flanders to England for she could have written such a Book either by a fallible or an infallible Spirit if by a fallible Spirit only then it could not have been such a Book which was written by men infallibly inspired and not by an infallible Spirit because she had it not as is proven Sect. 3. Hence may be espyed a piece of very goodly confidence in the Ap. pt 2. p. 179. affirming that none could vilifie A. Bs. way of handling Scriptures but they who have a secret disgust at it whereas on the contrary out of love to the Scripture I openly disgust her abusing it NUMBER VI. Miscellanies relating to the Essentials of Religion THere are many other heads of Doctrine nearly relating to the Essentials of Religion ill treated of in the writings of the Authors whom I deal with and abruptly brought in by them without any Logical order some of which shall be noticed in this last Number together as they have occurred to my observation in seven distinct points that this Subsection concerning A. Bs. Essentials may terminate in a certain method POINT I. Of GOD'S Decrees and the Doctrines depending thereupon AS A. B. hath not written right things of GOD about the Essentials of Religion so nor of the integrals thereof though there be sundry of the samen which have so near a relation to and connection with the Essentials that by sound Divines they are truely called Circa Fundamentals For her Tenets anent the high and mysterious Decrees of GOD and many Doctrines depending thereupon such as the Operation of Divine Grace upon the Will of Man and the Perseverance of the Saints they are in my Judgement both contrary to the express Letter of the Holy Scriptures and the interpretation thereof by the Orthodox Church For she frequently affirms in the general that GOD had no Eternal Decrees nor praescience of the Actions of free Agents and in special that He had no Eternal Decree of Predestination L. W. pt 3. p. 154. which is contrary to Psal 33.11 The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of His Heart to all Generations Acts 15.18 Known unto GOD
written sometimes be A. B. that Man can only be saved and justified by the merits of CHRIST but the contradiction of it is false which she likewise writes that we must add our own merits to CHRISTS Sacrifice This contradiction is not taken away by the subterfuge of the Ap. pt 2. p. 98. 99. Where he says her meaning was that we cannot be saved without mortification for mortification is our duty and not our merit for Mans merit with GOD is Chimerical a thing impossible In the end of the third Section it was shown how A. B. contradicteth her self anent the faculty of knowing Divine Inspiration And another of her contradictions was hinted in the former Number in answering the fourth Objection namly she says that she was Divinely Inspired to write all her Books if that saying be true then the contradiction of it must be false that she wrote the most part of them without Divine Inspiration which clearly follows from her bidding us let alone her Accessories which fill most of her Books To believe and not to believe a Doctrine is a contradiction but A. B. requires the belief of her Doctrine that fills all her Books because written by Divine Inspiration and yet requires us not to believe her Accessories or the most part of her Doctrines because she wrote them not by Divine Inspiration which is a contradiction I shall adduce two or three more of A. Bs. contradictions and then for the time let them alone 1. It is affirmed that many Heathens resigned their wills to God and were faithful to Him tho they had no laws whereby to know Him L W pt 3. p. 123. but herein she contradicteth her self in the very next page viz. 124. by affirming that those Heathens had Laws from GOD with the Doctrine of Jesus Christ 2. Man of himself is more inclined to Good than to Evil L. W. pt 2. p. 2. And yet she writes that our self-will is capable to move it self only to evil L. W. pt 2. p. 76. which is a flat contradiction 3. The Ap. approves A. Bs. crying down all Schools and Learning Pastors and Church-Government and that GOD calls no Man to a place in the Church and yet he says that he would not seperate from a lawful Bishop p. 349. Where are abundance of contradictions for to have no Church Government and yet to join with it is a contradiction so to seperate from those whom GOD hath not called and not to seperate how contradictious is it SECTION V. How Errours in Books shall be discerned IT is somewhat difficult to give certain Rules whereby any person not well versed in Divinity can distinguish Truth from Errour in reading Books except the Holy Scriptures in which there is no Errour at all but infallible Truth only Yet I shall give some helps to know what Truths are written in other Books 1. Consider well if what is written be Conform to the proportion of Faith Rom. 12.6 For false Prophets are known by their fruits that is their Doctrine and Actions Mat. 7.15 Luke 6.45 If they contemn wrest or gainsay the Holy Scriptures in the least they are Erronious 2. We are likewise premonished from the unerring Canon of the Holy Scriptures that the teachers of false Doctrine are very proud overveening of themselves and undervaluing all others in comparison of themselves and their partie Isaiah 65.5 Who say stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holier than thou these are a smoke in my nose and a fire that burneth all the day 2 Tim. 3.2.4 They are proud boasters headie and high minded so 1 Tim. 1.7 Desiring to be Teachers of the Law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm Thus Simon Magus gave himself out that he was Some great one Acts 8.9 and the following Histories of the Church have narrated that both Hereticks and Schismaticks still vented intolerable spiritual pride such as Manes Arrius Pelagius Novatus and Donatus And albeit St. Paul declared that he was not inferiour to the chiefest Apostles in vindication of his Office against the contempt cast upon it by false Teachers it were most impertinent arrogancie for any now to pretend to such praise since they have not St. Pauls infallible Spirit and an immediat call from GOD to preach and write Books 3. It is a good Rule which is written by Sir Thomas Brown in his Book of Vulgar Errours c. 1. That all deceivers write Sophistically so that any man who is acquainted with the Rules of Logick when he readeth erronious arguing let him try and he will finde it captious and peccant against the Rules of true reasoning either in the matter or the form or in them both where he also proveth clearly by instances from the Scriptures that the first Sophisms or fallacious way of argumenting had the Devil for the Author 4. All erronious writters usually hyperbolize too much through ignorance or self conceit still running unto extreams either praising or dispraising to an excessive degree as in dispraising avarice they commend Prodigality and contrariwise they cannot reprove Prodigality without perswading to penuriousness but liberality is the virtue in the midst So the Circumcellions of old thought that the only way to Heaven was by suffering therefore they wandred unwisely to and fro like mad-men seeking people to kill them and many writters have fallen into grievous Errours splitting on these Rocks or Shelfs unwarily like the Ships which steering too far off from the hazardous Shylla fall into Charybdis whereas the safest sailing is in the midst betwixt the two In like manner we see some writters in commending the Love of GOD to derogate from Faith and good works they call them merit whereas the writters of Truth aim always to give every thing its due praise or dispraise without declining from the just measure either to the extream of the excess or the defect SECTION VI. Q. If any should read the Books of A. B. An. THey who are well studied in the Systems of Divinity may profitably read some good things in very ill Books such as the Turks Alcaron Socinian-Books Hobs Laeviathan and the Pamphlets of Enthusiasts and still confuting Errours as they meet with them but I think that none can safely read the Books of A. B. excepting only those who can distinguish Truth from Errour according to the Rules given in the last Section because of the snake lurking in the Grass Obj. 1. You despise the writtings of A. B. because she was a Woman Ap. p. 146. A. I honour the Sex but am not bound to approve a Womans Erronious doctrine such excessive respect is not due to an Angel from Heaven Gal. 1.8 Obj. 2. A. Bs. Books are carped at as Philo the Jew and Celsus did with the BIBLE censuring half Sentences in sundry places not heeding the Scope or looking to what is said before or what followes after or is explained in other parts of her writtings A. That Challenge says nothing to one who Censures A. Bs. Books throughly hath taken to task her whose Hypothesis and proved that she was not Divinely Inspired and erred egregiously in her writtings both anent the Essentials of Religion and all the points thereof Obj. 3. She wrote well of Love to GOD. A. You may read other Books on that subject who have written far better and are free of errors Neither knew she well the Love of GOD who had not Charity to Man 1 John 4.20 SECTION VII If Borignianists be a New Sect. THe Ap. p. 349. denyeth that they are a New Sect because they provide no Orders for a new Society forbidding to join with any other I grant they have not done it formally but doubtless they have designed it when their number should increase since they defame all Christian Churches yet they would think it too severe a Censure to compare their pride to Erostratus who since he could not do any great thing that was good did burn the Temple of Diana at Ephesus only to get himself a name in the World I am of opinion that the followers of A. B. shall ere long vanish away as the Bhemanists have done whom I have known to make as great a figure as the Borignianists do now as St. Athanasius said of the Arrians a far more dreadful Party it will be but a little Cloud which will soon pass over in Latine Nubecula citò transitura AMEN