but reviving that old and durable Ministration of the Spirit Therefore Blasphemous Derogations will return to our Adversary as unduely charged upon us with a Charge upon him of base Derogation from the Truth of our Belief But he thinks that Humph. Smith has made much for him in thus Querying Whether should People be led in these dayes by Moses according to his outward Ministration or the Person of Christ limiting it to his Visible Appearance or the Spirit of Truth which he promised to pour out after his Ascension which contains the Substance of what he quotes out of H. Sm. to which he thus answers There is no sober Christian can read this Passage without Anger and Disdain to see such wicked Wretches scoff and fleeringly insult upon the sacred Person of our Lord Jesus The whole History of whose Life and Death in the Letter of it they esteem no better then one of Aesop's Fables Answ But our Adversary will not so easily escape the Hands of the Just God whose is Vengeance for these Ungodly Defamations as he well knows he may do ours Anger Disdain and Lyes become him and it is little to be wondred that he should be guilty of them all against a Quaker If H. Sm. had asserted that Moses could not be our Leader neither the Visible Person of Christ but the Spirit of Truth he had not exceeded the Warrant of Scripture nor the very Judgment of this Reviler It is not two pages off that he quoted Joh. 16.14 He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Which if I understand any thing imports thus much That those things which they knew not whilst Christ was with them after his Ascension the Holy Ghost should reveal unto them as these two preceeding Verses fully prove I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come Nay Christ himself sayes in the 7th Verse Nevertheless I tell you the Truth It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you And in the 14th Chapter he speaks thus I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter 〈◊〉 will abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth So that the personal Ministration was manifestly transient and temporary but That of the Spirit was to abide for ever But I would not any should think it to be less Christ's Ministration because the Ministration of the Spirit for the Lord is that Spirit as his own Words manifest Again I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Yet a little while and the World seeth me no more but ye see me Because I live ye shall live also For he that dwelleth with you shall be in you At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And that this Comforter is Christ in his Spiritual Coming and Appearance let it be further observed that the same Word for Comforter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in John 16.7 is the Word used by the same Apostle in the first Verse of the 2d Chapter of his first Epistle for Advocate when he sayes We have an Advocate with the Father Christ Jesus the Righteous In short the Dispensation of his Visible Appearance was but Temporary It is expedient for you that I go away But his Ministration who so appeared then dis-appeared and after re-appeared in a Spiritual and unalterable Ministration Lo I am with you to the End of the World And truly thus much our Adversary in Contradiction to himself grants us that the Ministration of Christ was indeed the Ministration of the Spirit Now what Scoffs Fleerings or Insults against the sacred Person of our Lord Jesus any can see in this Doctrine to incite a sober Christian to Anger and Disdain I leave to any but such an Angry and Disdainful Enemy to judge I cannot forget his horrible Ly of us concerning the Scriptures stolen probably out of an Anabaptists lying Dialogue lately printed against us Prelaticks and Sectaries can sometimes agree against Quakers Aesop's Fables have more worth in them then all the Books that ever were written against the Quakers I do not at all doubt but there are Twenty Fables in Aesop that well considered would have taught them more Discretion and it should have been their own Fault if not more Honesty too then any or all of them have shown in their utmost Endeavours against us But that we have no more Regard to nor Belief in the Holy Scriptures of Truth then in Aesop's Fables is a Story more prophane and fabulous then any Fable in Aesop and God will recompence with a Vengeance this Defamer of an Innocent People unless diverted by his unfeigned Repentance §. 2. Of Revelation He tels us the second thing wherein the Familists and Quakers are all one is the Pretence of Immediate Revelation Dav. Geo. and H.N. both pretend to receive their Doctrine from the Angel Gabriel And W. Gibson the Quaker sayes that the Gospel which they preach they have not received it from Men nor from Books nor from Writings but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in them and then denyes the Scriptures of the old and new Testament to be the revealed Will of God Answ After what manner D.G. and H.N. received their Commission I know not but sure I am that W. Gibson's Assertion is sound Take away Revelation and the Gospel ceases of course Christ is put besides the Dignity of his Prophetical and Priestly Office the Promises of God will be broken and the most excellent part of the Scriptures God's Traditions made void Who was it said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me Him shall ye hear in all things There is a Spirit in Man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding As for me This is my Covenant with him saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed's Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever I will REVEAL unto them the Abundance of Peace and Truth I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast REVEALED them unto Babes And no Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will REVEAL him No Man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him But God hath REVEALED them unto us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God If anything be REVEALED to another that sitteth by
in you that was also in Christ Jesus who being in the Form of God thought it not Robbery to be equal with God And He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren Again They that are joyned to the Lord are One Spirit and He that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as He is Righteous To deny this is to deny the most Heavenly Benefit we have by Christ namely Unity and Fellowship we have with the Father and with the Son That it was an Unity not an Equality especially in the Sense he takes the Word the faithful Narrative of that Proceeding printed in the Year 1654. will further testify How great then must this Man's Miscarriage be who to render a good Man an Impostor turns Forger himself but God will reward him The next Pair he pitches upon to prove his Assertion is Maenander and James Nailer The one for affirming Himself to be sent from the invisible Regions to be the Saviour of Man-kind And James Nailer for asserting himself to be Christ and accepting Hosannah's and Divine Worship in the Streets of Bristol Answ What Maenander was I know not and it is hard believing a Character of any Man when it is given by his Enemy But sure I am that James Nailer never asserted himself to be the Christ of God Neither did he ever deny Him that appeard at Jerusalem to be the Lord 's Christ as his Writings plentifully declare especially one Paper written by him to the then Parliament when a Prisoner in Bride-wel Christ Jesus the Emmanuel of whose Sufferings the Scriptures declare Him ALONE I confess before Men for whose sake I have deny'd what ever was dear to me in this World that I might win him be found in him and not in my self whom alone I seek to serve in Body Soul Spirit night day according to the Measure of Grace working in me even to that Eternal Spirit be Glory and to the Lamb forever But to asscribe this Power Virtue to JAMES NAILER or for that to be exalted or worshipped TO ME IS GREAT IDOLATRY So having an Opportunity given with Readiness I am willing in the Fear of God the Father in Honour to Christ Jesus and to take off all Offences from every Simple Heart without Guile or Deceit His third Comparison lyes betwixt Photinus who is said to have denyed the Trinity and G. Fox as guilty of the same Error in his Account Answ I can find no such place in the Book so called Either our Adversary sets up for a New Controvertist or he dishonestly shunned giving us the Page But I am willing to believe that he took it as he found it in some other Adversary for any thing reported or printed against a Quaker is ground enough for an envious Priest to accuse him But what if G. Fox denyed the Unscriptural Expressions viz. The Trinity of distinct and separate Persons must it necessarily follow that he denyed the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father Word and Spirit We justly renounce those Barbarous School-Terms as not suited to God's Heavenly Manifestations but the dark Conceits of some Popish Doctors His fourth Comparison is made between Soâ—inus and James Nailer in that the one denyed the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ and look'd upon his Passion only as an Example The other in that he affirmed The End for which Christ did suffer was to be a living Example to all Generations Love to the lost page 56. Answ He has not truly delivered the Opinion of Socinus whose Books shew however mistaken about Christ's Divinity that he ever esteemed his Death and Passion to have more in it then a bare Example Nor has he faithfully dealt with J. Nailer in this Quotation For first I find not the Words as cited and next the Word ONLY is by himself omitted which alone renders the Passage heterodox Suppose then that J. Nailer writ that Christ was in his Suffering a living Example to all Generations Is there no Difference between Christ's being in his Death and Passion Only our Example which he charges upon Socinus and Christ's being our living Example in Suffering which he attributes to J. Nailer How can there be a Comparison where there is so great a Disparity The First is denyed by all that own Christ The Last is owned by all that do not deny Peter who thus writ to the scattered Brethren For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that ye should follow his Steps 1 Pet. 2.21 His fifth Comparison he makes between the Valentinians the Quakers The Former he sayes arrogated to themselves a Knowledge beyond Christ and his Apostles The Latter impudently throw away the written Word of God delude the credulous Vulgar with new fangled Revelations which he thinks he has prov'd by two Inances 1. That Th. Hollbrow a Quaker to One that urged Scripture answered What dost thou tell me of Scripture which is no more to me then an Old Almanack 2. That Fox and Hubberthorn in a Book called Truth 's Defence say The Scriptures are no standing Rule and it is dangerous for ignorant People to read them Answ To the first I say there is great Difference between one that was no Quaker and one that was or is a Quaker We have examined the matter and by all we can find both that Saying is not true as charged and it is of an ancienter date then the coming of any of our Friends into those Parts therefore not the Saying of a true Quaker To the second I return thus much 'T is true there is such a Book and it was written by G. Fox and R. Hubberthorn but he has not given us so much as one Page to direct us to the Passage So that either People must read till they find it or else take his Perversion for our Assertion Unworthy Man does he think us such Wretches that we deserve not common Justice Methinks Justice should not be denyed where so little Mercy is shewn But to answer the Instance Our Judgment about the Scriptures being the Rule we have already delivered And in what sense it is Dangerous to read them their own Book will declare 'T is dangerous say G. Fox R. Hubberthorn to read the Scripture in order to make War against the Saints to give carnal Expositions upon them Meanings contrary to them and to make a Trade of them but Blessed is he that doth read and doth understand them If this prove that Sleight to Scripture our Adversary would suggest them to be guilty of then let us be condemned But God's Witness in every unseared Conscience will acquit them and judge him for corrupt Citation and hard Speeches who dares to cry thereupon Are these not as Impudent Hereticks as the Valentinians whom he represents to have arrogated to themselves a Knowledge above Christ
Commission from the Lord to pull down the Steeple-House And another in Sermon-time to pull down the Hour-Glass I must tell him That we know no such thing and if he were a fair Adversary he would have told us who this Gentle-man was and who the Quakers that we might have informed our selves of the Truth of the Matter though we have great Cause to conclude it a down-right Forgery For the other it is altogether as likely to come of the same Stock but if such a thing ever were I dare say the Priest was in a worse Taking then the Quaker however it was no Theft because they all saw it was done for that End And every Body knows the Priest can tell how to call for another Glass for the Truth is some of that Profession can hardly preach without them for they elevate them above his Quaker's Hypochondria That the Wife of one Williamson should call Ja. Milner the Eternal Son of God at Apleby is an arrant Falshood for we have particularly enquired and can find no such thing That a Woman at Weighton in York-shire of that Goatish Herd as he is pleased to call them went Naked to another Woman's Husband's Bed and bid him open his Bed to her for the Father had sent her is a Slander hatcht in Darkness We deny it in the Name of the Lord God And I charge this disingenuous Man if he has any Regard to his Reputation or those he belongs to to prove if he can the Truth of this Story And that he should at last call this A Taste of the Quakers deluded Dreams melancholick Phancies Impostures Injections everlasting Errors and Deceits is the top of what Impudence and Forgery Man can well be guilty of against his Neighbour But why our Goatish Herd above all others Unjust and Uncivil Man Look at Home for Shame How often are Quakers brought to Ecclesiastical Courts for Uncleanness We know they are too often summoned thither for Tythes It would be almost endless to tell the Stories of both Priests and People's Wickedness that follow them one would think that no Church of England Man that knew any thing of the present Age or that thought we did could believe that forging one unclean Lye against the Quakers should invalid their Religion who believes his own to be true notwithstanding those numerous Incests Adulteries Fornications Concupiscences Murders Lyes Perjuries Dissimulations Thefts Injuries and such like that have been and daily are committed by his Dear Fellow-Communicants The Sons and Daughters of the Church of England Let him therefore draw in his Horns and leave off pushing at us with his Forgeries and Defamations and Repent of this Ungodly Way of dealing with us that he may find Mercy to his Soul CHAP. IX Of Perfection I Perceive the Man would fain say something of every Controverted Head held by the Quakers â—hough as little to Purpose as may be There is but one thing commendable in his whole Chapter and that is its Brevity He stumbles at the very Entrance and never recovers himself to the End The Quakers talk much of Perfection from Sin in this Life and that they have already attained to it Quote he scorns his Word is Credit enough at least he would have it so but to let him go on This says he is the Pharise's Litany God I thank thee I am not as other Men are The Antinomian Liberty the Doctrine of Dell Saltmarsh Town all Antinomians and Familists And that Malice and Railing perpetually make up the greatest part of the Quakers Speaking to the People But what of Argument can be found in such meer Assertion and Reflection I leave with sober Men to judge He neither understands Antinomians Familists nor Quakers And truly I am ready to think him some raw unfledged ungraduate who by this Essay aims at that Proof of his Abilities as may induct him to some Fat Benefice or else One that thought we deserved no larger Testimony of his Ability Honesty and Discretion in his Endeavours against us In short A perfect Principle we plead for and press the Necessity and Benefit of Man's Conformity to it That though it be a little Leaven it is able to leaven the whole Lump That this Grace brings Salvation from Sin by the Power it gives them that obey it to mortifie Sin else what a Riddle would those Scriptures make that speak of Sanctification throughout in Body Soul and Spirit That He that 's born of God sins not Old things are done away behold all things are become new I write unto you Young Men because ye have overcome the Wicked One. Be ye Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect Unto a Perfect Man Let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord. The God of all Grace make you perfect c. Wherein not only a Perfection from Sin but the going forward to a perfect Man in Christ is exhorted to and prayed for therefore not inobtainable To conclude We do not teach People the Perfection of our Persons but the Principle of God and our Experience of its Converting and Translating Power Christ is stronger then the Devil And for this was and is he manifested To end Sin and destroy the Works of the Devil a Doctrine the Church of England teaches in her Baptism Nor do we say That every Man is perfect from Sin as soon as he is convinced of Sin No there is a great War a long Wilderness to travel through many Enemies to subdue and Difficulties to surmount and those Enemies are mostly those of a Man 's own House We therefore exhort all to wait for God's Arising that his Enemies may be scattered that witnessing a Victorious State over Hell and Death by the Power of Christ Jesus such may obtain the New Name which is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and promised to all that Over-come Which is far from that Ungodly Rantism he would fasten upon us and our Principles And I doubt not but Time Patience and our Blameless Conversation shall dispel those Mists Malice and Ignorance may have raised to darken and blemish the â—eputation of our Practice Persons and Principles in the World CHAP. X. His Ninth and Tenth Chapter of the Wayes and Arts that the Quakers use in gaining Proselytes with the Advantage their Way has over other Heresies honestly considered and briefly confuted THe first Artifice he sayes we use is To come in Sheep's Clothing Now what is this Sheep's Clothing sayes he but only the Innocence and Purity of the Christian Doctrine when as their main Purpose is to devour credulous Souls Answ If we have the Sheep's Clothing and if the Sheep's Clothing be the Purity and Innocence of Christian Doctrine then is our Doctrine Innocent Pure and Christian And since he avers the Doctrine of the Church of England to be so remote and opposite this Character must necessarily imply that her Doctrine is Hurtful