Repentance a Christian Life or Duty Christ who knew them the best speaks otherwise John 17.6 7 8. they have kept thy word they have known they have believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost apud Theop. in locum having known by my words and by my Doctrine The Apostles were as certain knowing Witnesses of Christ as we can be of any matters of Fact and the Christian Religion was entertained upon their Testimony that they had been with seen heard and known Jesus God would not send that Religion into the World which was to be the perpetual Rule of all mankind and command others to trust the bringers upon their inward manifestations which would have exposed rather than have propagated Truth but what they spoke they attested as matter of Fact and Knowledge all the twelve having had personal converse with Jesus upon whom the Holy Ghost visibly descended audible voices were heard his Doctrine was delivered before multitudes of Witnesses men were perswaded by outward sensible even bodily evidences and not barely left to internal suggestions in which there may be great danger of Delusion And not only the Apostles Preached but all the Pen-men of the New-Testament wrote upon their certain knowledge S. Mathew S. John S. James S. Peter and S. Jude had personal Conversation with and attendance on Christ were able to testify both what they saw and heard S. Luke wrote part from his own knowledge and part from certain Information The like Antiquitie testifyeth concerning S. Mark S. Paul had that want of personal attendance and acquaintance supplyed by Christs appearing and speaking to him Acts 22.14 Cateches 10. 15. 26.16 and in many other places Hence Cyril of Jerusalem rationally infers That the Testimony of Paul being an Enemy and Persecutor before must needs be undeniable though some suspicious person should alledge that Peter and John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Familiars and Domesticks yet the Testimony of Paul first an Enemy to Jesus and then a Martyr for him cannot be denyed And this he assigns as the Reason why Paul wrote more Epistles than the rest because being a Persecutor before his Doctrine could not be doubtful but commanding of our Belief and therefore when Quakers think there may be new Inspired Books now That the closing up the Ganon of Scripture is a limiting God from moving or Inspiring any men Quakerism no Popery p. 62. in any Age of the World to come to write any Book or Books which may be of equal Authority with the Scriptures They proceed upon gross mistakes for unless Christ converse on Earth again and Ellwoods Monstrous fancy of Repetition prove a real Certainty there can be no such Inspired Books as the new Testament gives us to be written in these Ages or unless there be another Dispensation viz. that of the Spirit yet to commence which Dream is the most of all Destructive to Christianity Thus was Christianity made known and settled in the World not by Philosophy or Rhetorick or any Humane Art but by two such Methods as Heaven and Earth cannot afford greater which S. John calls the Witness of men and the Witness of God the Witness or Testimony of men is this already given And Religion being entertained upon that Account to tell us of new Revelations now is a renouncing of the Faith of Christ which doth command Belief not only by inward teachings but outward proofs But lest this Witness of so many men might have been rejected as proceeding from Delusion or Design the Witness of God interposed in so Publick visible and audible ownings both of Christ and his Religion that the World was not capable of receiving more unexceptionable and convincing proofs And further as for the Teachings of the Spirit which T. E. only mentions they were of a different Nature from what he drives at the supervening of the Spirit was not to evacuate or obliterate what Christ on Earth had spoken The Testimony of the Apostles and the Spirit are conjoyned John 15.26 27. he conferring extraordinary gifts to engage men to believe what they delivered from their own personal or certain knowledge and where there were inward teachings there were outward powers to testifie thereof to others and still the Spirit did but pursue Christs teachings acted in his Name took of his and shewed it to them opened such things as they understood not re-called to remembrance such as they had forgotten and instructed in such things as before they could not bear as about the Sabbath Circumcision Christian Liberty and the like Though I think that Christ in our Nature in discharge of his Prophetick Office Publickly and Audibly made known all the Essential Eternal Duties or all the parts of Everlasting Righteousness And possibly in strict speaking that Inspiration which the Apostles had ought not to be called Immediate especially not in every thing Because it was conferr'd but in pursuance of what our Lord had before orally delivered in matters of Duty for certain knowledge destroys not Inspiration nor Inspiration certain knowledge Nor is the use of former helps rejected but taken hold of by the Spirit Thus were the Apostles instructed thus was our Religion settled thus must our Saviours Prophetick Office be secured and his and the Spirits workings must not be confounded And T. Ellwood's Method of the Apostles coming to the knowledge of the Gospel is not the Method of God's making And let it be further considered if herein Satans policy do not appear what he cannot effect by Atheism and Prophaneness he attempts by Enthusiasm under the pretence of an higher Religion to root out the old one so Divinely and firmly settled for the taking away the rational motives to Faith and the sensible grounds of Religion And devolving the belief and understanding of Sacred things upon their pretended Revelations Witnessings and Experiences renders Religion both uncertain and indemonstrable And while Men observe the Differences Contradictions and Ungroundedness of such Claims they will be apt to entertain the like prejudices against the Christian Religion it self Supposing that it relies upon such grounds as their Witnessings and invisible Inspirations for so they bear the World in hand Fox love to Mankind p. 11. What the Apostles said we do by the same Power and Spirit And in a little time by such Arts Religion will be in danger to be fatally undermined all being rejected together as relying upon a like bottom But if T. Ellwood's Castle in the Air be erected it is not material though Christianity be blown up and if his Dreams be admitted he seems not concern'd what disservice is done to the other though blessed be Gods goodness he hath rooted his Gospel in a different manner as if purposely to prevent Satans transforming himself into an Angel of Light and those pretences to Inspirations which he hath all along fomented But though there were real Revelations now yet T.E. is the unlikeliest Person to be favoured with them For he first
the Law that doth not infer it must be so under the Gospel for those Prophets brought in Light by degrees and prepared the way for Christ but then Prophecy lay Silent for about 400 years before his appearing a sign that he came to fulfil and Seal up all and when God himself took the chair and in our nature discharged his Office it fastens Imperfection on him to maintain a Series of Prophets to explain what he spoke or relate what he omitted The new Testament foretells of false Prophets but no where promiseth a succession of new ones Nor is it possible Christianity being entertained upon their Personal knowledge of Christ and the Visible Evidences of the Spirit which also inwardly inclined men to search into to approve and chose what the Apostles c. outwardly proposed and now Learning and Meditation supply to us what the Spirit Immediately vouchsafed to them In Epistle ad Paulinuim as St. Hierom saith quicquid enim aliis exercitatio quotidiana in lege meditatio tribuere solet ist is hoc Spiritus sanctus suggerebat Thomas Ellwood makes some attempts of proof about the Reformation as from Tindal p. 273 but neither renewed Immediate nor Expository Revelations are therein owned nor doth it concern Notional about which our debate is but Practical knowledge he deals very unfaithfully with Bishop Jewel who proves from the Antients That many things are easy in the Scripture p. 393. and he strikes in with Harding about the darkness of Scriptures and the understanding of them not by reading but by special Revelation and Miracle p. 394. And that which the Bishop calls Help and Prompting Thomas Ellwood transforms into Inspiration and Revelation of the Divine Spirit p. 275. Without humane Learning Study or natural abilities and the Answer of Alphonsus the Spanish Fryar to Mr. Bradford becomes Thomas Ellwood's Mouth You must be as it were a Neuter as one standing in doubt Pray Fox his Mart. Vol. 3. p. 299. and be ready to receive what God shall Inspire for in vain laboureth our tongue to speak else But none of his Proofs concern Perpetual Immediate Inspiration for the Spirit giving assurance of the Scriptures is a thing of a different nature The sence of the Reformers is discerned from the Homily in the Exhortation to the reading of the Scriptures which requires our humility and diligent search and often reading And John Olde a Famous Divine in Edward the sixths days declares how they proceeded in interpreting Scripture Touching the Interpretation of the Scriptures it must be expounded according to the Proprieties of the Tongues in which it was first written In Dr. Holdsworth praelec Theolog. p. 435. and by dilsgent Weighing of sayings that go before and that follow after withall the Circumstances and also according to other places that are more plain or like or contrary and where the Fathers the Doctors of the Holy Church have Interpreted the Scriptures after this manner and have in no wise blanched or swerved from this Rule there we do with heart and good will acknowledge and take them for faithful and diligent Interpreters of the Scriptures and honorable Instruments of the Holy Ghost whose painful labours and Industryes our Lord God hath used in the Church to the Glory of his own Name and the profit of his flock c. this was Printed 1554. CHAP. XII Of their hearing the Voice of God and some other Claims THomas Ellwood to all these Superadds other Priviledges as first their hearing Gods Voice blessed be the Lord we have heard the Voice of God and when the Lord hath spoken in us p. 249. Implying in a Distinct Articulate Voice spoken within and heard by them a most dangerous Delusion and contrary to Gods manner of Proceeding who rarely or never spoke to men without some internuntius or medium his Voice being dreadfull no man can hear it and live Exod. 20.19 Deut. 18.16 So that either Angels or God Incarnate signifyed his Pleasure The Motions and Whispers of the Spirit are not an audible Voice the manner of Gods speaking is related thus Univ. Grace p. 87 88. The Word of God speaketh forth it self at first simply in Power Vertue Light and Life rather than in words and afterwards words are given and that very Distinctly beard and apprehended So that the Quakers Inspirations come rather at first by signs and Symbols than Words and that is a darker way of Expression Im. Re. p. 171. 58. For the Plainest words cannot give the knowledge of the things and words even the best cannot give the knowledg of God c. that must be strange which words cannot express though they pretend to receive it from the Mouth of the Lord or vivâ voce from him Q. no Christ p. 121. 272. New Law 96 Parnels shield 38. Im. Rev. 14. Q. spi Court p. 7. but they may questionless hear his Voice for they can see the Invisible he sees his maker and lives in the light some of them have had appearances of God the Saints have an intuitive knowledge of God in this life so that though Fox in the Divine Light could never see Angels nor Spirits yet they can see and hear God and they succeed several herein Theod. Eccl. Hist l. 4. c. 11 Dr. Cansabons Enth. p. 103.161 163 164. The Messalians did behold the Trinity with their eyes God did talk with Ignatius Loyola and the Holy Maid saw God Heaven and Hell and the Soul of Christ in its Purity And that strange Enthusiast in Acosta talked of conversing with God and the Alumbrados or Spanish Quakers said They might see God Visibly in their Ecstacyes 2. They receive the Gospel by the Gift of God p. 245. from the Divine Power it self p. 232. not once naming in this regard that great Prophet who in the days of his flesh taught us but these are two general words technically to Imply the manner of Inspiration for every good and perfect gift comes from God and yet it is not handed down by Revelation 3. Divine Revelation consists in opening discovering or expounding Teaching the true sence and meaning of Scriptures by opening discovering and making known the Will of God therein exprest this is Revelation for whatsoever is discovered or made known is Revealed p. 255. a new Notion by which the Apocalypse must be the easiest book and the Revelation of John must be the Exposition of John but he useth the word doubly sometimes properly as p. 238. for Gods conveying such a Message unto a man at other times he takes it loosly for the understanding the Message so brought Whereas Divine Revelations do not depend upon our right understanding them but upon Gods conveying them unless he be of the Jesuits mind that the Scripture not being understood is no Scripture and if discovering be Revealing then every Artist or Inventer is a Revealer So Dr. Harvey was a Revealer of the Circulation of blood Pecquet the Revealer of
not very much that is New in their Opinions and yet there is but little of the True Old Christianity neither Satan we may reasonably think hath long ago canvassed every word in the Sacred Book from thence to form Heresies and having run his round he doth oft new dress old Obsolete ones turning them into other shapes by some slender Additions to make them be the less discernible but whosoever will compare the Doctrines of the Quakers with many of the rotten Condemned Hereticks with some Fancies of the Monks in later times of the Anabaptists Familists c. about the Reformation of the Seekers Antinomians Ranters Dellists and those other swarms of Locusts in this Kingdom will be forced to acknowledge that not only their Foundation is the same but that also many of their Opinions even their Phrases Words and Tearms proceed from the same Fountain Learned men do look upon them as so unreasonable and others do esteem them so Obstinate that either they are not worth medling with or that the attempts will prove fruitless But the Interest of true Religion and the good of those Souls for whom Christ dyed are so Sacred that no Endeavours to justify the one and to save the other ought to be Discouraged And whereas Hereticks have one while questioned about God at another time about Christ or the Holy Spirit sometimes the Holy Scriptures sometimes the Church the Sacraments or single Articles have been debated Quakers doly under those sad Circumstances of having licked up the Vomit and imbibed the Errors about most of those Denying the Trinity and yet dividing the Godhead Denying Christs Body and Bodily Presence now in Heaven and our Redemption by him Confounding Christ and the Holy Ghost ingrossing Christianity to themselves so as to Paganize all other Christians and instead of them taking in the Heathen World to fill up those Vacancies they have thrust us from they being much more favourable to them as having Christ within them looking upon the Scriptures as dead Letters not the Rule either of Faith or Manners that they signify nothing to us without a new Revelation to impose them and a further one to Expound them With many the like Prevarications in the most Fundamental Articles of Religion and such Poysonous Doctrines require Warning and Antidotes from all hands This I have Related to shew the Occasion of this Tract and shall more particularly address my self to such of the Quakers as are well-meaning Persons like Absaloms men 2 Sam. 15.11 in the Simplicity of their Hearts following their Leaders but yet in Preparation of Mind being ready to embrace the Truth when fairly proposed and as I hope abhorring those Abominations which ly concealed under their Doctrines or are the direct Consequents of them The great prejudice those poor Souls ly under is That they are kept under with an Implicite Faith and scarce permitted to read Tracts against them which are supposed to be but Temptations to remove them from the Truth But if any such well designing Quakers shall meet with this I desire them seriously to lay to Heart these few following things which are not here set down to anticipate but either Briefly to represent what is proved in the following Papers or what might be more fully shewed especially in reference to that dangerous Delusion That the Light within every man is the Lord Jesus 1. That other Sects whom you Disown and Condemn have given out themselves to be Inspired as much as you do have spoken as well have continued as long have been as numerous have given as convincing Proofs as you can do and yet have been first Wandring then Fallen Stars and have come to nothing If you say That theirs were Counterfeit but yours True Lights that is a pittiful Begging the Question or If you say that their Light at first was Right but that they mistook in its use this still concludes nothing by what Arguments you would confute your Corrivals by the like we may confute you they falling as forcibly upon your selves as upon any others else 2. Consider that great Disservice which your trifling Expositions attempt to do unto Religion a tast of which we may take from your Inspired Allegorical Interpretations Recorded in Chapter the 8th The Everlasting Gospel The Tabernacle of David God Christ The Angels The Devil The Bottomless Pit The Beast with seven Heads Babylon The Mystery of Iniquity The Man of Sin The Mystery of Godliness Michael and the Dragon Fighting Antichrist The Third Heavens The Father of Lyes c. All these are made internal things so that a Quaker is well provided having within and carrying about with him all those certainly he must be an empty House that can entertain so many both things and persons and such a mixt Assembly 3. That other Nations have had their Enthusiasts there being a kind of Circulation of Errors Germany had its Anabaptists c. In the last Century and its plenty of Revealers in late times France had its Libertines Holland its Familists and what not and other Countryes had their share but the Scene at present of Fanaticism lies most in England for the Inquisition and Edicts suppressing as t is likely the Alumbrados or Quakers in Popish Countryes they were I mean their Doctrines transplanted hither where in a Soil at that time well prepared for their reception and increase they took good Root and thence shot forth their Branches into other Nations nor must we think that Quakerism is the last Sect for though the very Dregs of many of the former are squeezed into it yet their own Divisions perpetual Changings the doating of some persons upon Novelties and the Craft of the great Enemy give us Reason to suppose that when men are grown weary of this he will prepare a new one for them 4. That you would Consider your own Alterations generally observed both in point of Doctrine and Behavior for they are a clear acknowledgment that you were mistaken at the first to challenge Divine Motions for many things and yet in a few years to recede from those Commands reflects upon the Spirit as changeable or your selves to have been Imposed upon but if you were truly Wise it would engage you unto a strict Examination both of your Foundation and the several things erected on it The old Marcionites changed thus Cottidie Reformant illud Tertul. l. 4. adv Marc. prout à nobis cottidie revincuntur daily altered their Opinions as the Arguments of the others discovered their weakness and indefensibleness So do you daily lick and new mold many of your Doctrines as you are beaten from Hold to Hold though you continue still enthralled in the main 5. That you would throughly examine the Truth or even Possibility of those two by you called Fundamental Principles 1. How your Light within can be the Christ the Savior of the World for it destroys the Reality and Truth of his Humane Nature and hereby you proclaim your selves to be
Obscurity and Darkness The Romanists make it difficult to be understood Fiat lux Cap. 3. Sect. 15. p. 192. Sure footing in Christianity Sect. Dis p. 12 13. G. Keith Immed Revel not ceased p. 34. p. 96. and dangerous to be read to make way for the Proposals and Expositions of their Infallible Head And the Quakers do use the very like Expressions and Exceptions giving great Reason to suppose that they both are Hammer'd on the same Anvil We find it to hurt and weaken and deaden us to think any thoughts even from the Scriptures but as the Life and Spirit of God influenceth and concurreth If any time we do it we find our selves rebuked and chastised by the Lord for it And elsewhere Scripture words are but as a sounding brass and Tinkling Cymbal a killing Letter it is onely the words that Christ himself speaks that are Spirit and Life and they who seek Life in the Letter seek the Living among the Dead for it declares of the Life but it is not therein but in him Among others Thomas Ellwood in a late Book which he calls Truth prevailing and detecting error c. makes it his profest business Chap. 8. To draw a Veil and obscurity over the Scriptures questioning and at last denying the Bible to be the Word of God p. 249. calling the Bible a dead thing the Scriptures dead letters p. 250. whereas they dare call their own Printed Works Living Divine Testimonies And T. E. The Works of William Smith upon his Principles cannot give the same Title to the Book of God which he gives to his own viz. Truth prevailing c. He further tells us that the Scriptures are not sufficient to Salvation p. 241. nor the Rule ibid. and the like Contempts are most subtilly insinuated Withal he disbands humane Learning from all Religious Concerns affirming that the Bible is a sealed Book needs the same Revelation to understand it that the Apostles had to Write it And all this is designed to usher in his partyes pretended immediate Inspirations as the only certain means of understanding any thing in Holy Writ This seeming Dishonorable to God Disgraceful to his Word Dangerous to Souls and the quiet of Kingdoms and the whole being wrongfully stated by him I have herein endeavoured an Examination of his Notions concerning this matter G. The Quakers plainness detecting fallacy p. 71. Whitehead acquaints us concerning the Quakers Writings That some of their Titles have not been strictly but figuratively placed upon their Books a Confession which if pursued gives us great Latitude he neither naming what those Books nor Figures are a rare Art of Equivocation in the Frontispiece what figures may he pretend their Books to have within and by this sleight they may evade the most pressing Arguments And should I by this figure call Ellwoods Book Falsehood prevailing and protecting Errour I should do no Injustice for it is but a pursuance of their own Concessions But to new a while his self pleasing title why it is not less Humble than Truth prevailing is this given strictly or figuratively or imposed by his so much boasted of Inspiration The World is too wise to be gull'd with a book that bears a feather in its top it is truth we look for within not anticipating Titles without Modesty and Reason go further than a hundred such sounding Brasses or tinkling Cymbals Truth prevailing c. so sound some other of their works Truth exalted and Deceit abased Truth lifting up its head above scandalls c. But he may know that enemies to God and truth have given such titles to the Creatures of their Brains which he doth to his Work Antiphon the Philosopher writ a Book against the very Providence of God Orig. Con. Cels Lib. 4. p. 176. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he denyed and attempted to take out of the World and yet he had the Confidence to call it a Discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning Truth Celsus that bitter Enemy of the Christian Religion wrote a tract against it which he named The true word or saying Idem Lib. 1. p. 14. 31. In his Fragments out of Eusebius p. 26 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocles also no mean person composed one against the Christians which he intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lover of Truth So that bad lying Books may through confidence wear good names and yet all these three concerning Truth the True word the lover of Truth are more modest than Truth Prevailing alias Rampant but it is well Books can get Titles for T.E. is shy in giving them to men his new Heraldry and learning orders they must now have Epithetes and Adjuncts p. 45. By Thomas Elwood why Thomas he doth dis own his Baptism why hath he not changed that name which is the memorial of it why nothing but Thomas Ellwood one while they were at another pass * In the plain Answer to his 18 Queries called of the World John Whitehead ‡ In his Answer to the 15 New castle ministers by one whom the World calls James Naylor †A shield of the Truth Lib. 2. Refert nosse ingenium mores ejus eum quo velis congredi written from the Spirit of the Lord by one who is known to the World by the name of James Parnell of late such alias's are omitted for they continue changing and are but yet going on unto perfection It is a Rule in the Recognitions ascribed to Clemens to know quibus sit moribus quibus artibus c. To understand the temper of that Person with whom you have to deal which must be observed and I desire the freedom of inquiring a while into the Quakers particularly into our present Author by way of Introduction and then shall address to the main Concern His Repeated Immediate and Expository Revelations and his other Notions of the like Mold For the Quakers in general two things are not unfit to be considered Their Original or standing And their Temper First for their Original It may seem more difficult to discover where Sects are not called from their Founder but some property c. It may be harder to trace them to their Head The Quakers Original In 1652 their beginning is supposed and then abouts they were so called and known but they themselves raise it four years higher In Mr. Faldoes Q. no Christi Discourse bethe King and Hub. p. 3. p. 16. John Whitehead fixes it in the year 1648. and Hubberthorne in 1660. told the King that they were then twelve years standing In that black year to these Kingdoms their pretended light appeared Considering these things I am inclined to affirm them an off-set of the Levellers and anon shall tender strong probabilities for it proposing them to such whose Age Experience or Circumstances have qualified them for a further Discovery onely premising somewhat which seem'd preparatory towards their appearing In the North parts of
Inspired I shall sin in so tame an assenting to your naked Proposals and God who Commands us not to believe every Spirit but try them will never damn me for searching and Examining what is pretended to come from him He that Injoyns us to search his own Revelations will not be displeased if we use the severest Caution about others he who questions must needs be in a safer state than he who easily believes and he that compares and weighs will be freer from Errour than he who waits and Entertaines the first comer Their two Principles of Christ the Light and Immediate Teaching are either Inconsistent or the one is superfluous for in making but one Essential they Invalidate one of their two Principles How do they understand their great Text. John 1.9 that Christ is a saving Light in every man if by Immediate Revelation then the light doth not discover all things but needs another to discover it self If the Light Interpret it in Reference to it self as most Properly it should all Power in Heaven and Earth being given unto it Then something is known without Inspiration Immediate If he makes them both one then he confounds Keiths two Principles Hath any Quakers known the Idioms Customs Proverbs Rites Histories c. of Scripture by an Instant Discovery I think that they are least learned and most Inspired men either could not expound or would sadly differ if an Experiment was made of their Ability an Externall Proposal hath hitherto been the means of conveying Christianity If any Heathen did suddenly become an Inspired Christian this might befriend them but their English'd Hai Ebr Yokdan was not so And the Quakers are men who read and hear and withal fancy and so form their Notions Whither may not a man hit upon those sences by Study for which they Challenge Inspiration to single out Doctor Hammond as the fittest because he hath Premised a Discourse to his Annotations on the New Testament in Opposition to their very Pretentions Is there not one True Paraphrase or Interpretation in that book Say so and you Confute your selves for Doctor Hammond Expounds the seventh Chapter to the Romans to be understood of a man in an unconverted Estate and Keith owns that as the Right sence using the same term metaschematismos O no Popery p. 39. 40. an usual figure the Apostle Rom. 7th from verse 14 to 25 describing not his present Condition but the Condition of others and himself as they were in the strugling c. Whence it follows that either a man may attain to the true sence of the Scripture without Inspiration or may have it though he do not know but Disown and Write against it which is not likely the Impression of the Spirit in such matters being strong and curious but in either way we are sufficiently secure and God will not damn any for want of that which floweth meerly from his Grace I cannot discover how I can understand the Quakers Books for though they seem to use inferences so that I may consult my Reason yet they being usually writ from the Spirit of the Lord I need an Inspiration to understand them as much as any Verse in the Bible and another to ascertain them to be Divine and so all the former difficulties recur a Papist is much more modest for though he make his Church or its Head Infallible yet he will confess his single self Fallible and Infallible claims needing Infallible Evidences we can never be certain of your Inspirations without Publick outward Demonstrations of them Truth loves calmness and the still voyce Lo here or there is Christ are not its Watch-word modest demands go furthest when backed with strong Proofs I have the Liberty to try and judge rational Expositions whereas your Inspired ones impose upon me but the Design is erafty it is a kind of Sacriledge to Dispute that which saith It comes from God So that this pretence insconces them rendring those moving Oracles Sacred and Venerable and 'T is better to buy their Divine Living Testimonies than a dark Lettered Bible But I am at a loss to know whether their Receits are for their own use or to Benefit and Oblige mankind Other Quakers made the Spirit the Judg the Instructer the Rule the Guide c. Thomas Ellwood hath got him a further Office to be the Expositor but can his Inspirations which die if he do not speak or write them be plainer than those in Scripture which are given to all and have the advantage in Design in Continuance in so many Expositions already upon them some of which must be Divine by T. Ellwoods Doctrine Peter was sent to Cornelius Ananias to Paul c. There was a mistake certainly in such outward conveyances and attestations the shortest and the safest cut had been to direct them to within it would have saved charges their vitious Circle also intangles me for I cannot discover whether they know the Spirit or the Scriptures first they say They know these to be the Scriptures by the Spirit but then how do they know there is a Spirit that they must not prove from those Scriptures whether do they believe the Scriptures before the conferring these Expositions or no if before then they believe they understand not what nor wherefore if after then the gloss is conferred before the Text Secret things are made known to Infidels and Pearls are thrown before Swine But T. Ellwood doth not walk in that way he prescribeth others to instance in two or three which fall short of Inspired Expositions p. 35. may not improbably refer to that great Persecution raised upon Stephens Death p. 40. Goodwins Antiquities produced about the Pharisees who the Elect Lady was p. 47. in what Relation John stood to her or how far her Temporal Power might extend does not appear In a Discourse of Inspiration as sole Expositor he is faln to it may not improbably does not appear and borrows some Aegyptian Jewels let him blot these out for they cut the throat of his Book Universal free Grace p. 75. Keith is more sober these plain Testimonies of Scripture needs no explication nor application of mine what more plain and evident can more emphatical and significant expressions be used by men and he gives some good ways of interpreting Scripture used by us that general Maxime of understanding Scripture Idem p. 15. is That its words are to be understood in their whole Latitude and extent where no Cogent Reason moves to the contrary they pass from the sence which the words plainly import p. 31. and seek out another sence to the words not from any necessity but because it pleaseth not their Corrupt Judgment plain and full Scripture Proofs p. 39. there is abundant matter in the words or before or after to evince the truth we are to take the most usual and proper signification of the word p. 43. p. 15. 46. 53. 61. 68. 101. 102.
unfit for the Work of Gods Ministry whereof they have rendred themselves unworthy and so put a stop to their Proceedings therein And if they Submit not to the Judgment of the Spirit of Christ in his People then ought they Publickly to be declared against and Warning given to the Flock of Christ in their several Meetings to beware of them and to have no fellowship with them that they may be ashamed and Lambs and Babes in Christ preserved 5. And if any man or Woman which are out of the Unity with the Body of Friends Print or cause to be Printed or published in Writing any thing which is not of Service for the Truth but tends to the Scandalizing and reproaching of faithful Friends or to beget or uphold Division and Faction then we do warn and Charge all Friends that do love Truth as they desire it may prosper and be kept clear to beware and take heed of having any hand in Printing republishing or spreading such Books or Writings And if at any time such Books be sent to any of you that sell Books in the Country after that you with the Advice of good and serious Friends have tryed them and find them faulty to send them back again whence they come And we further desire from time to time faithfull and sound Friends may have the view of such things as are Printed upon Truth 's account as formerly it hath used to be before they go to the Press that nothing but what is sound and Savory and that will answer the Witness of God even in our Adversaries may be exposed to publick Vieu 6. We do advise and counsel That such as are made Overseers of the Flock of God by the Holy Spirit and do Watch for the good of the Church Meeting together in their Respective Places do set and keeep the Affairs of it in good Order beware of Admitting or Encouraging such as are Weak and of little Faith to take such Trust upon them for by hearing things disputed that are doubtfull such may be hurt themselves and may hurt the Truth not being grown into a good understanding to judge of things Therefore We exhort That you who have received a true sence of things be diligent in the Lord's Business and keep the Meetings as to him that all may be kept pure and clean according to that of God which is just and equal We also advise That not any be admitted to order Publick business of the Church but such as have felt in a Measure of the Universal Spirit of Truth which seeks the Destruction of none but the General good of all and especially those that love it who are of the Houshold of Faith So Dear Friends and Brethren believing your Souls will be refreshed in the Sence of our Spirits and Integrity towards God at the reading of these things as ours were while we sate together at the opening of them and that you will be one with us on the behalf of the Lord and his Pretious Truth against those who would limit the Lord to speak without Instruments or by what Instruments they list and reject the Counsel of the Wise-men and the Testimony of the Prophets which God sanctifyed and sent among you in the day of his Love when you were gathered and would not allow him liberty in and by his Servants to appoint time and place wherein to meet together to wait upon and worship him according as he requireth in Spirit and calling it Formal and the Meeting of Man We say believing that you will have Fellowship with us herein as we have with you in the Truth we commit you to God and the Word of Life which hath been Preached to you from the beginning which is neither limited to place nor time nor persons but hath Power to limit us to each as pleaseth him that you with us and we with you may be built up in our most holy Faith and be Preserved to Partake of the Inheritance which is Heavenly amongst all them that are Sanctifyed Richard Farnsworth Alexander Parker George Whitehead Josiah Coale John Whitehead Thomas Loe. Stephen Crispe Thomas Green John Moon Thomas Briggs James Parkes The Summ of the Particulars handled in the preceeding Treatise DIvisions are no argument against the Truth of Christianity p. 1. The Holy Scriptures are by some thought too plain and by others too obscure p. 2. Quakers give better names to their own Books than to the Scriptures p. 3. Their beginning was in 1648. p. 4. Winstanley the Leveller was their Father p. 5. 6. They have a great resemblance to Rome p. 7. 8. The many disadvantages in Treating with them p. 9. Their unchristian temper in Controversies pag. 10. 11. They misapply Scripture words as the old Hereticks did p. 12. 13. T. Ellwood's Ignorance and Impudence about St. Basil p. 14. About St. Greg Nazianzene and Sosiades p. 15. And in calling the Martyrs our Godly Martyrs p. 16. 17. Quakers deny themselves to be Protestants p. 16. Thomas Ellwood's sauciness towards the King p. 18 19. Quakers have dangerous Doctrines about Kings and Magistrates p. 19 20. Their degrading of the Nobility p 20. And contempt of other Orders of men p. 21. Thomas Ellwood's manner of claiming Inspirations concludes as much for others as for themselves p. 22. God affords sufficient means of Conviction p. 23. Immediate Revelation should be attested with Evidences p. 24. Revelation is a more easy thing than studying p. 25. The various Claimers of Infallibility confute each other p. 26. Quakers Challenge the Internal work of the Spirit but deny the External p. 27. Thomas Ellwood and his party 's high demands p. 28. His seeming Concessions p. 29. Christ was the Apostles Instructer before the Spirit p. 31. Quakers make Christs Prophetick office to signify nothing p. 32. Or confound Jesus and the Spirit p. 33. The manner of the Apostles Instructions recited p. 34. Quakers differ about the Apostles knowledge p. 35. The Apostles were certain Witnesses of Christ and the Writers of the N. T. wrote upon their certain knowledge p. 36. No new books of Scriptures can now be written 37. The Holy Spirit did inwardly pursue what Christ had outwardly delivered p. 38. Enthusiasm destroys the settled grounds of Religion p. 39. Quakers called themselves Apostles and Prophets p. 40. They make the Apostacy to begin with the second Century p. 41. They are very unlike the Apostles p. 42. Successours cannot receive like predecessours p. 43. The first settling a Dispersation must not always continue p. 44. God is not prodigal of Miracles p. 45. Quakers Inspirations must be as unintelligible as those of St. Paul or others p. 46. The Texts produced by T. Ellwood prove against him p. 47. What was promised to the Apostles should not be inlarged to all p. 48. Quakers like Celsus and the Gnosticks pretend much knowledge p. 49 Thomas Ellwood borrows Renewing of Revelations from George Keith p. 51. Their damnable Essential of Religion p. 52. 53.
Their great slighting of the Canon of Scripture p. 54 55. Repetition of Revelation reinforces the Law of Moses p. 56. destroys the Reality of History p. 57. and the determinateness of Prophecy p. 58. Confound the Revelations of Men and Women p. 60. The Spirit doth not repeat what was spoken by himself or by other ways before p. 61. 62. Quakers pretend Revelations for Wordly matters p. 64. Gods Dispensations are Regular and Orderly p. 65. Quakers lose themselves in a Circle p. 66. The light within and Inspirations from without are too much for one man p. 67. Growth is not consistent with Immediate Revelation p. 68. Enthusiasts have out gone Quakers p. 69. Satan would counter-work God with Inspirations p. 70. Such appeared in the Apostles days p. 71. Several pretended to it as the Gnosticks p. 72. Corinthus p. 72. Elxai p. 73. Marcus p. 74. The Valentinians p. 75. The Montanists p. 75. The Messalians p. 76. Aetius an Arian p. 77. Donatus p. 78. The Church of Rome a favourer of Revelations p. 79. St. Hildegardis and others spoke much like Quakers p. 80. 81. The Council of Lateran defends them p. 82. The Anabaptists pretended Inspirations p. 82. The Libertines p. 83. Casper Swenckfeild p. 84. The Familists p. 85. Jacob Behmen p. 86. G. Fox his Mystical Language p. 88. The English Enthusiast as Seekers p. 89. Antinomian p. 89. Levellers p. 90. Ranters p. 92. Fifth Monarchy men p. 92. Franklyn and the Hamp-shire Revealers p. 94. Muggleton p. 95. Anna Trapnel p. 96. The Gifted Brethren p. 96. The Considerers p. 97. Any of these Competitours deserve as much regard and credit as the Quakers p. 98. Some English Enthusiasts from their Spirit condemn the Quakers p. 100. The late German Prophets do the like p. 101. The numerousness of Quakers is no proof for them p. 102. They confess themselves to be not always Inspired p. 103. The danger in trusting them upon that account p. 104. Their many Contradictions in Doctrine p. 105 110. Their strange ways of confuting one another in case of such differences p. 110. 111. Their boldness in rescinding and altering Revelations p. 112. Inspiration is by them made Requisite to other professions p. 113. The Debate about the Hat considered p. 114. Their Constitutions inquired into p. 115. The unreasonableness of their newest Doctrine that the body of antient Friends is to be the tryer of Inspirations discovered p. 116. 118. Their Viewing and Licensing of Books before that they be Printed p. 119. Their differences about their Ministery p. 120. A Pope like decretal Epistle of George Fox p. 121. That uninspired injunction observed p. 122. Their Blasphemous letters p. 123. Divine Revelations ought not to be altered p. 124. Inspiration pretended for bad Designs p. 125. Their Vnity consists in Diversities p. 126. Thomas Ellwood makes the Spirit to be the sole Expounder of Holy Scripture p. 127. And that desiring and waiting are the onely requisites on our part to receive those Expositions p. 128. The dangerousness of that Fancy discovered p. 129. other means requisite besides waiting p. 130. The style of the Scriptures is intelligible p. 133. New Revelations must proceed in Infinitum p. 136. The Letter and the Spirit are not contrary p. 137. Christ spoke so as to be understood p. 138. The Scripture being a Law ought to be intelligible p. 139. The Light and Revelation are too much p. 141. Vninspired men may expound rightly p. 142. The Quakers Circle p. 143. T. E. receedes from his own and his Friends Doctrine p. 144. Some of the Quakers Expositions presented p. 145. The Demonstration of the Spirit and Power explained p. 148. Quakers do undervalue Miracles p. 151. Miracles are necessary now to attest their Doctrine p. 152. The Quakers new Dispensation p. 154. Their Forefathers therein p. 155. Their inward Experiences reflected on p. 157. Religion not to be entertained upon that account p. 158. Others plead Experiences as much p. 159. Some of their Experiences instanced in p. 160 The Fathers expound Scriptures unlike the Quakers p. 162. The Reformers did not challenge T. E's Revelations p. 164. Quakers hear Gods voice p. 166. Receive the Gospel by Gods gift p. 167. Confound Revelation and Exposition p. 168. Thomas Ellwood mistakes the sence of Joel 2.28 p. 169. And of several other Texts p. 171. His rules of Expounding destroys the Scriptures p. 176. Inspired Expositions upon the Bible will be T. Ellwood's most convincing Employment p. 179. But he must give evidence of their Divine Original p. 180. The Quakers Testimony or constitutions p. 182. FINIS
with Humane Learning thus unsuccessfully and worse But his talk of Inspiration confutes it self and his own Example is the best proof that as yet it hath not advanced beyond a Dream But if that be pleaded which he suggests That in the Country for want of Books In the Preface he was forced to take some few Quotations upon Trust but yet using much Caution in his Choice It is Replyed that these are so gross and palpable that an easie Learning might detect them and in a matter of such moment which the poor Quakers do implicitely believe and hug he was obliged to the severest Caution nor to impose upon their tame and easie Credulity And as to us who know our selves fallible and in Gods extream account very imperfect it must be allowed for an excuse But as for him who defends perfection pleads for Immediate Revelation which his Master extends to many things which are not in Scripture so much as by Consequence Keith Im. Rev. p. 6. 2d Quib. p. 11. Others of them challenging Infallibility in all things and cases and he as a Believer pretending the Unction whereby they know all things p. 229. and yet in many discovering and in some confessing his Ignorance I know not p. 227. to him this Plea can be no Advantage it pulling down that very thing which he is building up For if there be such a standing perpetual Ordinance as Immediate Revelation Gods Veracity and Goodness is concern'd at that time to let them be Infallible when they are pleading and become the Advocates for it But it is a good Confutation when a Champion proves an Instance against himself 2. T. E'lwood's Courage As to his Courage and Confidence they are high enough shewing great dis-esteem to the Sacred Scriptures as will appear in a proper place by a Catalogue of his Rules of Exposition such certainly as the Sun never saw especially by such a pretended intimate of Heaven We shall onely now consider his Carriage to most Orders of Men in the Kingdom for he presumes to Tax our World like Augustus Caesar The King must be plainly Tâ—ou'd and the Head covered before him The Turkish Fashion they esteem most proper and the tuissare or thou'ing which in Erasmus's time was opprobious among the English is dubb'd into both Religion and Manners My Lord the King is no pleasing Dialect to these new Saints it is Old Testament Divinity Dread Sovereign and Sacred Majesty must not now be used p. 46. Who must have the Majesty then Not the King I 'le warrant you it is taken from Him to be appropriated to their own dear selves take a few of their Expressions having spoken against Magistracy and for the Destruction thereof he proceeds * Fire in the Bush p. 39. If you would find true Majesty indeed go among the poor distressed ones of the Earth †Parnel's shield of the Tr. p. 25. 27. Here is the ground of all true Nobility Gentility Majesty Honour No more after the Flesh but after the Spirit Quakers are sprung of the Noble Gentile Seed ‡ In his Noble Salutation to thee Charles Stewart from the Council and Nobility of the Royal Seed the Lion of the Tribe of Judah the Everlasting King of Righteousness who reigneth in George Fox the Younger In the Testimony from the Brethren The Quakers Ministers are the Dignities and Government and Dominion The King must not write in the Plural Number We p. 27. though he be a Publick Person and Act by Advice of his Council all that is sprung from Pride and Flattery Besides this he saucily and pragmatically medleth with the Kings Revenues the Office for first Fruits Tenths offends him p. 355. No Flower can be fair in an English Crown which was taken out of a Popes Mitre if nothing else could be said against it but that it once stuck in the tripple Crown that alone were enough to make it unworthy to be worn in an English Diadem It seems he hath more than this to Object against it such like things are frequent in their Books which stealing out into the World are apt to leaven mens Spirits with bad Principles One of them acquaints us * Parnel's shield of the Truth p. 19 25. What Magistrates they do not own but deny and testifie against and to make their Negative Power better Armed he saith The Kings and Nobles of the Earth shall be bound in Chains and Fetters of Iron This was Printed 1655. but lest it should be onely Serviceable in those times †Some Principles of the Elect People of God called Quakers p. 89. Isaac Pennington a Name deep enough certainly in Royal Blood to make it currant Quaker Doctrine now re-prints that Book in 1671. leaving out the beginning and end of it but he hath the Conscience and Confidence to re-print those very words out of what design let our Superiours Judge But lest since then so beloved a Doctrine of binding Kings should be forgot they keep up the Memory of it ‡ The true Christians Faith and Experience by William Shewen p. 136. Another Book Printed 1675 speaks home Christ Reigning in the heart gives Power to bind Kings in Chains and Nobles in Fetters of Iron This Honour have all the Saints To the like contempt of Authority write several of them Howgils glory p. 107. Kings and Magistrates as Christians have no Priority but as they stand in the growth of Truth that is in Quakerism I charge you all by the Lord Parnel's shield p. 41. Will. Smith passim Fire in the bush p. 21 22 23. to take heed of medling about Religion meddle with such Affairs as you are set about Meddle not with Religion keep within your bounds And Winstanley the Instituter of their Order speaks roundly to all Four Idolized Powers must down The Imaginary Teaching Hear-say Book-studying Power or the Ministry The Imaginary Kingly Power must be shaken to pieces in all Nations The Imaginary Law of Justice which is but the declarative Will of Conquerours and buying and selling the Earth and being enslaved one to another must all be destroyed at the Resurrection of Christ and that he saith was then beginning and therefore the pretence to Revelation looks a-squint upon the safety of Kingdoms had not the Magistrates the Sword they might meet with as Reproachful words as the Ministers and had some Persons strength their Principles might carry them to repeat the Munster Tragedy If this Measure be dealt unto the Prince what will not be unto the Subjects The Peers and Lords must expect the like treatment from these Levellers Ploughmen James Parnel's shield p. 24 25. Fisher-men Herds-men Shepherds are Noble-men sprung of the Noble Seed here the true Honour is no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit He that boggles at using Sirs p. 46. will stumble at higher Titles and if this new Critick may be credited Titles are to cease and Epithets and Adjuncts are
to succeed in lieu Which Men are at Liberty to give or not to give according to their prejudicated or capricious fancies He quarrelleth at several things established by Act of Parliament as the Book of Ordination is spurned at by degrading the Clergy the Confessing of our selves miserable Sinners is Chastised by his Ferula p. 53. Tithes an Ancient payment of at least 800 years usage in this Nation Sir Edw. Sandrs his view of Western Religion Sect. 39. are Declared by him Popish whereas the non-payment of Tithes is grounded upon Papal exemptions And in Italy the Popes Countrey under his Nose praedial Tithes are not paid but their Clergies Maintenance consists in Glebes and Farmes which T. E. quarrels not at p. 323 324. so little is a Quaker offended with an Italian usage This Free-born Man also quarrels high that none can bind their Posterity with Tithes which strikes as fully upon Hearth-money or any descending Impositions The Judges and Courts and all Judicial proceedings lie in his way they sin and repeat sin and establish sin by Law An Oath of God must not be administred to end Strife but the Quakers Yea and Nay must be the Deciders and yet so uneven is their temper that for Interest they will take an Oath Witness the Cases of Mead Osgood and several so that their equivocating justly deserves that Brand Quakers can take an Oath and yet do not swear at all The Clergy as far as in him lieth are run down their Orders are taken away Chap. 1. Their Imployment Chap. 2-8 Their Maintenance Chap. 9. with stripes and buffettings all the way thorow Not so much as a Gentleman or stranger that ought to be called Master or Sir except in Law or Nature p. 43. but by his Model a breach of Gods Law is committed Thus is our Blessed Religion mis-represented such disservice is by Dreams done unto it excellent temptations do these propound to incline any to turn Christians when they would thus degrade and depress Men and set the Tenant on breast with his Landlord To draw Controversies to a speedy issue is good as hath been done in singling out the Romish Supremacy and Infallibility because upon the Fate of them lesser Differences depend so 't is not worth the while to stand upon thou'ing and such affected singularities the shortest cut is to examine their Revelations Infallibility Immediate Commission c. for the rest will stand or fall with these and it may prove most successful to shew that at the best they stand but on an equal level with other Men and what lower they may have depressed themselves by belying the Holy-Ghost and saying they are Prophets and are not deserves to be the matter of their sad and serious enquiry Taking then for granted That God hath revealed himself to Mankind That much thereof is committed to writing and is upon Record in the Bible as T E. owns p. 238. That the latest of these Books have been written upon 1600 years since I shall proceed upon this and the Principles of Reason and the Judgments and Practices of the Quakers themselves extracted out of their own Works and the Works of others whom we have all the reason to believe the things being matters of Fact Tyranny and Hypocrisie detect p. 48 49. and the Parties offering to make good their Charge before the Lord Mayor of London or any Alderman on the Bench or any one of the twenty Common Council-men And the Dispute being whether the Quakers have any real Divine Revelations or not I durst refer it to the Judgment of indifferent Persons though Heathens if they understood the concern as Debates between Christians and pretenders thereto have been so ended CHAP. I. The state of the Case and the manner of proceeding THomas Ellwood in the Name of his Party claims such Communications and Heavenly Visits as good Christians are not Conscious they receive nor dare tempt God in desiring The proofs thereof he fetcheth from Scripture wherein I neither read his Name nor that of Quakers but if they conclude for him they conclude as strongly for me I profess my self a Believer in that Jesus who made those Promises and whom T. E. strangely over-looks So that of the two I am the more likely to have the greater share And untill he hath proved me no Believer which to do will exercise his Faculty of discerning of Spirits I might set my Revelation to answer his and hereby his Cause reaps no Advantage His Ghostly Father from whom his Spirit hath received much light and yet he is not so ingenuous as once to acknowledge it Declares Keith's Universal Free Grace p. 48. no Man can be bound to believe in that which comes not in a sufficient way so that it is but reasonable we should be allowed to pursue that Rule and to demand an Evidence proportionable to their soaring Claims Where our Assent is required to any thing God is pleased to afford us means for our Conviction and is satisfied with such a degree thereof as the Evidences will carry When matters of Fact are concern'd the Testimonies of our own or other Persons sences conclude us When matters of Reason thereupon using our best Faculties such a measure of Assent is sufficient as those Reasons will enforce But when one tells me He hath received Divine Inspirations thereby I am Arrested for I must not dispute any thing that is spoken by God my onely enquiry is whether God hath really so spoken as is pretended Which being a matter of great moment God hath abundantly provided that we should not be imposed on by giving us both Caution and Security And the more diligent we are in examining and trying such Claims the more is he delighted with us and will bless that Industry Wisdom and Obedience The Old and New Testament give us many warnings about Dreamers false Prophets c. Command to beware of them not to believe but try them And for matter of Security God hath abounded in that by furnishing his Messengers with such extraordinary Powers that thereby mens belief was both Commanded and Secured Mark 16.20 as they Preached every where the Lord wrought with them confirming the Word with Signs following or accompanying Nor did it seem consistent with Gods Wise Dispensation to give Immediate Revelations and not to furnish the Receiver with such Divine Testimonials as might truly satisfie him that God spoke and also command Faith and Obedience from others Gods immediate Voice hath not used to come so precariously into the World to be mis-pent and wasted for want of Evidence and it might be an intangling thought to an Inspirado would he consider it why the former old Revelations should not at this day be as good to convey the Doctrine and meaning of Christianity as the former old Miracles were and are still sufficient to settle and seal its Truth or that Miracles should be set as Seals to confirm such revealed Doctrines and yet those Doctrines