guide teach and instruct the Sons of Men as the other neither can teach Men except God immediately inspire them You see by this how these divinely-inspired Men esteem the Scriptures of Truth See the joint Consent of two of their chief Guides Fox and Hubberthorne Truth 's Defence p. 101. they say The Scriptures are no standing Rule and that it is dangerous for the ignorant People to read them Surely if they had bin brought up at St. Omers they could not more positively have denied the Scriptures I hope the Reader will remember how these chief Guides amongst the Quakers agree with the Account in the Pamphlet see pag. 29. of Mr. Hicks's Dialogue One Thomas Holbrow a great Zealot among the Quakers as appeared by the Journey he took to deliver a Message to one James Nobs which he said was immediately delivered to him from the Lord But it so unhappily fell out that James Nobs was forty Miles off when the said Holbrow came to the Meeting so that either the God that sent Holbrow did not know Nobs or else at least was ignorant that he was gone from Home at that time for he delivered the Message to a wrong Person This I have had testified to me as a Truth by several in those Parts And in p. 27. Dial. But this is not what I intend for afterwards Tho. Holbrow having some Reasonings with James Nobs and his Wife the said Nobs urging many Scriptures against Holbrow the said Holbrow replied What dost thou tell me of Scriptures which are no better to me than an old Almanack It is like when Humphrey Smith's True and Everlasting Rule came in date the Scriptures became no better than an old Almanack The brevity of this short Discourse will not admit me to draw the proper Inferences that would naturally flow from these Premises These are the Men that in their Pamphlet profess so high an Esteem for Holy Scriptures See James Pernell's Book Christ Exalted p. 4. Christ is the Word the Scripture is not Christ is the Light the Scripture is not he is the Ruler Guide Teacher and Judg the Scripture is not And thus he goes on like a Cloud carried with the Wind. It is like from the Title of his Book he concludes from these Expressions to exalt Christ when indeed he casts the greatest contempt upon him Christ saith If any Man love me he will keep my Word What are the written Words of Christ but Scripture But more of this hereafter Dialog 1. p. 24 25. Christian is it then ingenuous and honest for you to deny the Scriptures to be a Rule to others tho at the same time but by misinterpreting it you make it a Rule to your selves Are you not ashamed of this Deceit and self-condemning Partiality Quaker Thou mistakest us we own not the Scriptures to be our Rule and whereas thou hast said many things to render us guilty of condemning this in others whilst we our selves seemingly allow it to be so which is but thy own Imagination for when we make use of Scripture it is only to quiet and stop their Clamours that plead for it as their Rule but for us had the Scriptures never been we could have known what is therein contained I hope the Reader by this may perceive the Reason why the Quakers talk so much of Scripture in their Paper observe We own not the Scripture we seemingly allow it but our End in this is only to stop their Clamours that plead for it as their Rule You see here the condescending Spirits of these Men that they should allow the Scriptures to others ay and make use of them to please others and yet not own them as a Rule themselves but their End is to stop clamorous Tongues But here is their great disadvantage the old Birds will not be caught with this Chaff their seeming Allowances will not pass for Christian Principles When the Mask is taken off as Westfield said concerning Christ you are not able to bear what we have to hold forth concerning him should we deliver what we hold concerning Jesus Christ we should be stoned in the Streets Westfield a Quaker Dialog p. 74 75. And indeed should they hold forth in their Teaching what hath dropt from the Pens and Mouths of their chief Guides at some times they would draw but few in their right Minds into their clouded Delusions But observe what is before said As for us had the Scriptures never been we could have known what is therein contained This I have also heard from their own Mouths Then I desire the Quakers to resolve me in these two Questions it is said John 21. 25. And there are also many other things that Jesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books c. Again it is said John 8. 6 -8. when the Woman taken in Adultery was brought to Christ that he stooped down and wrote with his Finger on the ground c. Now let the Quakers resolve me by their immediate Inspirations what those things were that Jesus did that are not written and what were the Contents of that Writing on the Ground or else let their proud Boastings of immediate Inspiration be condemned to perpetual silence and Shame cover their Faces And waiting for their Resolve herein I proceed to examine the Suffrage of great George Fox who thinks he doth the business effectually see his Difference of Ministers pag. 1. he discants upon John 1. 1. Thus John did not say the Declaration was the Word but saith in his Declaration the Word was God and he that saith the Letter is the Word is a Deceiver and errs The Argument lies here because Christ is called the Word the Scriptures must not be so called John said the Word was God then the Scriptures cannot be the Word except they be God also It seems by the Quakers Logick they are Deceivers and err that call the Scriptures the Word of God the Reason is because Christ is so called Why then let us see 1 Cor. 10. 4. Israel in the Wilderness drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ But are there not other Rocks properly so called A Rock is a hard congealed heap of Stone John 10. 1. God is called an Husbandman but are not Men that plow and till the Ground properly so called Christ is called a Vine a Door and a Shepherd but are there not other Vines Doors and Shepherds in a proper sense Sure the Quakers will grant there are Christ is called the Light of the World and yet Mat. 5. 14. he tells his Disciples they were the Lights of the World We own Christ to be called the Word of God and yet the Scripture is so called in a true and proper sense Christ is the only begotten Son of God Joh. 3. 16. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Eph. 4. 5. But he hath more words than one Mat. 4. 4. a Scripture from Deut.
keeping God's righteous Statutes How is there Remission and Justification by the Merits of Christ according to their Profession in their Pamphlet when it must be by the perfect and exact Performance of the Law of God in the Creature Lawson's Book p. 18. affirms That the offering of Christ's Body to be broken and his Blood to be shed avails not so as through Faith therein to set free from Sin What is this but a plain denying Remission of Sins by the Blood of Christ And seeing we have Instances enow or too many why should we spare them Will. Pen speaks out See Apolog. p. 148. Justification by the Righteousness of another or which Christ fulfilled for us in his own Person wholly without us we boldly affirm to be a Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which doth now deluge the World See also Mr. Pen's Sandy Foundation p. 25 30. It is a great Abomination to say God should condemn and punish his Innocent Son that he having satisfied for our Sins we may be justified by the Imputation of his perfect Righteousness O why should this horrible thing be contended for by Christians O and why should the Quakers be such grand Deluders as so plainly pretend to believe it and say he died for your Sins and rose again for your Justification when ibid. p. 16. Mr. Pen saith That the Consequences of such a Doctrine is both irreligious and irrational And why should they believe Justification by Christ's Righteousness since Tho. Lucock affimed That he was as perfect without Sin as God is and blames others because they say with the Apostle In many things we offend all and this Doctrine of Perfection that is a Sinless living is the known Doctrine of the Quakers But let not Christians say they are without Sin lest they deceive themselves as the Quakers do 1 John 1. 8. And let us believe that the Lord laid upon Christ our Redeemer the Iniquities of us all Isa 53. 6. And as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5. 18. 3. They profess to believe Redemption and Salvation by Christ Let us examine what they intend by Redemption First Not Redemption of their Bodies from the Graves of the Earth for this is positively denied by them tho all Christians own it as a great Article of the Christian Faith Secondly Then what is to be redeemed and saved not the Soul for George Fox saith that is part of God without Beginning or End surely then it needs no Redemption and God did not send his Son to redeem himself Take the natural sense of what is exprest Great Mystery p. 29 and p. 90. See further what George Keith saith Christ came to save that which was lost and that which was lost is still in Man's Heart and there it must be sought for it remains still in the House that is Man's Heart this is the thing to be sought for this Christ came to seek and to save and all his Ministers preached People to this the Lost in Man that it may be found a lost God a lost Christ this was the sum and substance of their Doctrine G. Keith Immediat Inspirat p 75 76. May we not think G. K. to be inspired by the Prince of Darkness or that he had lost the very Light of Nature to talk of a lost God and a lost Christ to be sought and saved O were ever God and Christ in a lost Condition But poor Man was and we believe he came to seek and save Sinners who had lost the Image and Favour of God You may see more to this purpose Fox's Great Mystery p. 100. at large Neither do they believe any other Salvation than what they are in the Enjoyment of already see Lawson's Book p. 9 19. see two Passages in Nailor's Book Love to the Lost p. 47 48 30. There is a Seed to which the Promise of Redemption is which Seed is that which only wants Redemption p. 30. he saith Christ is the Election and Elect Seed Fox's Great Mystery p. 224. tells us The Seed to which the Promise is is that which hath been laden as a Cart with Sheaves by Sinners which Seed is the hope Christ The natural Consequence of this Doctrine is that Christ came to redeem Christ a lost God and a lost Christ as before said Might not the Heavens blush and the Earth tremble at such blasphemous Absurdities But I shall not in this short Discourse trace them in their gross Contradictions of Truth and each other about the Light within the Seed Christ and the Word But let this suffice to confute and unmask their pretended Belief aforesaid V. They profess to own and believe the Divine Offices of Christ in his Church that he is both King Priest and Prophet to and over his Church and People I shall proceed to examine the Truth of this Profession which if it were true were very comprehensive of a great part of the Christian Religion But what hath been made appear already shews us that by no means their word must be taken First How do they believe the Kingly Office of Christ are they not mistaken Let us examine some Appellations that they have taken from Christ and given to Geo. Fox senior See a Book entituled Tyranny and Hypocrisy detected p. 18 19. Sol. Eckles celebrates Geo. Fox thus Blessed be the Man that came out of the North blessed be the Womb that bear him and the Breasts that gave him Suck and ibid. p. 19. a Letter written by Josias Coal a Quaker from Barbadoes to G. Fox 21 day 12th Month 1658. Dear George Fox who art the Father of many Nations whose Life hath reached through us thy Children even to the Isles afar off to the begetting of many again to a lively hope for which Generations to come shall call thee Blessed whose Being and Habitation is in the Power of the Highest in which thou rulest and governest in Righteousness and thy Kingdom is established in Peace and the Increase thereof is without end Now what is more apparent than that by these Appellations the Scepter is wrested out of Christ's Hands and given to G. Fox Now this Letter was not judged by the infallible Spirit of the inspired Elders to be a transported Flash of a misguided Zeal For G. Fox and his Peers ordered it to be recorded amongst things worthy to be register'd tho the Contents of it would make a modest Heathen blush and tremble Take the Contents particularly 1. He doth expresly ascribe to him a Kingdom Thy Kingdom c. and thou rulest and governest Now he that rules and governs in his own Kingdom must of necessity be an actual King 2. He describes to us the Subjects of this Kingdom who next to himself are Josiah Coal and the Elders or Peers whom he calls us thy Children and remotely those to whom the Life of G. Fox hath reached through the Elders
in the Quakers Answer to this Petition they deny not swelling foaming and quaking See their Book p. 35. But they deny Saucery and Blasphemy They justify quaking and trembling as being used by the Saints of old Heb. 12. 21. Jer. 33. 9. Acts 9. 6. Ezek. 12. 18. These Texts are urged by Ja. Nailor p. 16 17. of his Book called The Power and Glory of the Lord shining out of the North He takes pains to prove their Name and justify their Practice for saith he search the Scriptures and holy Men of God do witness Quaking and Trembling This is true and the same may be said of wicked Men and Devils Acts 24. 25. James 2. 19. and Luke 9. 39. we read of him that was possessed that he foamed when the Diabolical Spirit did tear him I shall say no more of their Name it is of their own procuring and defending tho no discriminating Character of Christianity or Saintship 2dly As to their Profession for ought that ever I could gather from their own Tongues or Pens is a Labyrinth of Confusion or a great heap of Contradictions tending to the Subversion both of the Foundation and Fabrick of Christianity being a Compound of Heresies having Affinity with the Sadduces as Mr. Brown notes in the discovery of the Leaven of the Sadduces hid among the Quakers p. 5. which Sect was divided into two Branches Epicures and Stoicks these encounter'd St. Paul Acts 17. 18. calling him Spermologus which our Translation renders a Babler because he preached Jesus and the Resurrection and with the Heresy of Hymeneus and Philetus 1 Tim. 2. 18. who said the Resurrection was past already and had overthrown the Faith of some and they have Affinity with the Gnosticks who say that Christ did not take Flesh really but in a Figure so have the Quakers said as will appear See Saul's Errand to Damascus compare Epiphanius Heres 26. And they have Affinity with Seleucus a great Heretick who denied the Humanity of Christ and Water-Baptism he lived in the time of Theodosius Magnus See August lib. de Heres Both which Errors are maintained by the Quakers repugnant to the holy Scriptures Testimony Again They have Affinity with the Papists in their Master-veins of Popery for as the Papists do introduce all their vain Conceits by this Maxim That the Church cannot err So the Quakers usher in their Dreams that they are perfect and so cannot err And as the Papists make the Writings of their General Councils equal with the Scriptures so do the Quakers their lying Pamphlets nay prefer them above the Scriptures as will appear And they have Affinity with the Muggletonians who utter their execrable Imprecations Curses and Sentences against their Opposites And I must leave them in this Deluge of Errors and Heresy and proceed to examine their Pamplet in its respective parts 1. In the first Head being part of the first and last Articles professed in their Pamphlet they profess to believe holy Scripture-Testimony and that the holy Scriptures contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament do contain all matters of Doctrine and Testimony necessary to be believed and practised in order to Salvation and Peace with God and that they desire to live in the Faith Knowledg and Practice of them c. in all things appertaining to Life and Godliness Holy Scripture being given by Divine Inspiration is profitable for Doctrine Correction Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good Work able to make the Man of God wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus Indeed there is a present occasion for this plausible-Profession for the Promoters of it have now set up a Meeting in Deptford a place where their corrupt Notions have had but little footing and it is also a place where the Word of God hath for many Years been faithfully and powerfully preached so that except they appear in Sheeps Clothing they cannot draw Disciples after them It is said of the Oracles of the Heathens that they were made to look with two Faces that they may the better effect their Deceits It is not easy to conceive the many Meanings and Reserves that lie couched in this Paragraph But not to trace them into all their equivocal Reserves I conceive the best way to understand the Quakers Sentiments about the Scriptures is to have recourse to their own Construing Books And I shall begin with Humphrey Smith a forward Asserter of Quakerism see his Book called A true and everlasting Rule p. 29. he affirmeth in the Face of Men and Devils That there are no other Rules Ways or Means by which Men shall ever come to walk with God but by that which is manifest of God in him and that it is sufficient to guide in all the Ways of God without Scripture or any other outward Rule Doth not this tend to make null what is before professed If that in Humphrey Smith be a sure Guide and his Book be a true and everlasting Rule how then are the Scriptures necessary and wherein are they profitable for Doctrine Instruction c. since all things necessary may be taught without them See also James Nailor's Answer to the Jews p. 4 22 25. It 's Blasphemy for any to say the Letter is the Word of God it is the Devil that contends for the Scriptures to be the Word of God c. Here you have the Sentence of one of their great Prophets passed against the Scriptures George Whitehead being asked Whether they esteem their Speakings to be of as great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible He affirms in his Apology p. 49. That which is spoken by the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scripture yea and greater What can appear more clear than that the Quakers Inspirations are of as great if not greater But why do I mince it ay and greater Authority than the Scriptures Let us add to this James Parnell's Testimony Shield of the Truth p. 19. he also that saith The Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon Husks and is ignorant of the true Light c. By this Man's Verdict the Scriptures are condemned as Husks or a false Light Could either Papist or Atheist more plainly oppose the Holy Scriptures But since we want no Evidence to detect these Impostors let us add a few more from their own Pens see James Naylor's Light of Christ p. 19. God is at liberty to speak to his People by the Scriptures if he please and where they are given by Inspiration doth so and he is also at liberty to speak by any other created thing as to Balaam by his Ass I think I do not wrong them if I infer from hence that the Sons of Men may as well expect Teachings and Rebukes from an Ass as from the Scriptures one hath as much Authority essentially in it self as the other one hath in it self as much Authority to
8. 3. to oppose the Devil's Assault Man lives not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God Prov. 30. 5. Every Word of God is pure Jer. 23. 36. the Complaint is The false Prophets had perverted the Words of the Living God A great Evil and too common in this day But would the Quakers have the Word always to intend Christ Mark 4. 19. The Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other things entring in choke the Word Will the Quakers say these things entring in choked Christ Surely no. By all this the judicious Reader will see the Endeavours that have been used by the Quakers to explode the holy Scriptures not only to rob them of their Nature Use Power and Efficacy but also of their very Name But let all Christians learn to prize them and carefully improve them and be thankful to Divine Providence by which they have been preserved through all Times and against all Tyrants Psal 19. 7 8. David sets forth the worth of them The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart the Commandments of the Lord are pure enlightning the Eyes 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. They are able to make wise to Salvation Soul thou needest not fear miscarrying if thou makest the holy Scriptures the Rule of thy Faith and Guide of thy Life This short Treatise will not admit me to enlarge I shall leave this short Scheme by which the Reader may judg what an Esteem the Quakers have for holy Scriptures they so much pretend to in their Pamphlet The Names they give the holy Scriptures Scriptures no standing Rule it is dangerous for the ignorant to read them No better than an old Almanack neither Rule Guide Light nor Teacher A dead carnal Letter They are Precepts and Traditions of Men. Paper Iak and Writing The Letter without Swine feeding on Husks Obedience to Scriptures is the Harlot's Child You may as well expect God to teach or rebuke by any other Creature as the Scripture as he did Balaam by his Ass The Names they give their own lying Pamphlets A true and everlasting Rule The Royal Law and Covenant of God Love to the Lost News out of the North written from the Mouth of God The pure Language of the Spirit A Salutation to the Seed of God The Lip of Truth The Spirit of Truth A Trumpet from the Lord sounding out of Zion A true Prophecy of the mighty Day of the Lord. The Word of the Lord and a Word from the Lord p. 13. of the Mighty Day of the Lord. Blusn O Heavens and tremble O Earth at the Pride and Ignorance of these Impostors I shall add but two or three Passages more concerning their Contempt of the Scriptures see Tho. Lawson Vntaught Teacher p. 6 7 8. The Scriptures are not a Rule whereby Men may know the Will of Christ And in Pag. 2 and 3. of the same Book he denies that the Ministers of Christ endowed with the Spirit of Christ ought to minister or preach from Scripture Add to this what is said in Cloud of Witnesses a Book of theirs p. 1 3 4. But the Priests of England the blind Guides they do teach the People and say Hearken to the Word of the Lord as it is in such a Chapter and Verse Now is it not a sign that the Quakers are untaught Teachers indeed but let the Word of God be true and these Men Liars Did not our Lord make use of the Scriptures in teaching Mat. 21. 42. saith Christ Did ye never read in the Scriptures The Stone that was set at naught by you Builders and Mat. 22. 29. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures Surely they will not deny Christ to have the Spirit and he proves the Resurrection of the Dead by Scripture Exod. 3. 6. Surely Peter had the Spirit yet he proves Christ to be the great Prophet Acts 3. 22. from Deut. 18. 15. And will they deny Philip to be endowed with the Holy Ghost Acts 8. 35. he preacheth Jesus to the Eunuch from Isa 53. And Acts 17. 2 11. Paul reasoned and preached out of the Scriptures and the Bereans searched the Scriptures to try whether Paul's Doctrine was true or not The Reader may see from hence with what an open Face these deluded Impostors will assert apparent Falshoods From all this it appears the Quakers are great Enemies to and Contemners of holy Scriptures and that what they say in their Pamphlet is a great Falshood II. I proceed to examine the other part of their first Article professed in their Paper Article Our Belief is That in the Unity of the Godhead there is Father Son and Holy Ghost being those three Divine Witnesses that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the holy Spirit This Profession looks like good and Orthodox Christianity but yet when it comes to be weighed it will be found wanting I shall only examine what Heaven this is the Quakers intend not in the glorious Heavens above beyond the Clouds and starry Heavens no by no means it 's ridiculous to speak of an imagined God beyond the Stars it is the Heaven within thee where these three Divine Witnesses are you will hear their severe Rebukes by and by if you will have any other Heaven to be meant as their Residence See James Parnell's Book Satan's Design discovered p. 19 25. he affirmeth They that confess not Christ to be come in their Flesh are the Antichrist and also affirmeth That by preaching of Christ in Heaven the Devil gets his Work done on Earth Pray what is fairly to be inferred from hence why the Heaven they intend is no where else but within their Mortal Corrupt Bodies or else Christ is not one of those three Divine Witnesses they speak of in the Paper for they will allow of no other Christ but what is in every Man And see further Tho. Lawson in his Book against William Jeffery calls him Thou Image-maker thou Cockatrice hatching Eggs Vulters Eye c. because William Jeffery had said that Christ was ascended into Heaven with that Body that was raised from the Dead And they intend no other Heaven than what is within them and thus they must be understood in their Pamphlet for see Lawson's Book p. 9 and 19. they say that they have eternal Life now really in Possession But would you have it more plain that the Quakers Heaven is within them take a Testimony out of Edward Burrough's Works Pag. 9 149. a chief Guide among them therefore you may take his word for it We say he that was slain upon the Cross is the very Christ of God and the very Christ of God is in us Tho Lucock being ask'd several times before many Witnesses where that Heaven was that Christ did ascend into and now was in he answered clapping his Hands
without the Gates of Jerusalem that died was buried and rose again Luke 24. 39. saith Christ It is I my self Behold my Hands and my Feet handle and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as you see me have This I say is the Christ of God as Peter testifies Acts 2. 36. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ I pass this and leave what hath been said and the Opinion of the Quakers about the Humanity of Christ to impartial Consideration But lest any should suppose the Quakers do not own such blasphemous condemning and railing Answers as Edw. Burroughs gave to the twenty Questions before hinted at some of which being about the Person or Humanity of Christ and Place of his Residence you have Mr. Penn warranting this Answer from God and by the sense of the Eternal Spirit for he declares It was the Portion and only fit Answer to be given to those trapanning Questions and saith he had Edw. Burroughs gone into a familiar opening unto his vulterous unclean serpertine Eye all the deep Things of the Spirit of God and Mysteries of Holy Kingdom who was in that nature that crucified the Lord of them Edw. Burroughs had brought the Wrath of the Eternal God upon himself instead of the Priest Will. Penn's Reas against Railing p. 164. IV. They profess in their Pamphlet That they believe and expect Salvation and Justification by the Righteousness and Merits of Christ and not by their own Righteousness or Works and that they believe Remission of Sins and Redemption through the Death Sufferings and Bloodshed of Christ This they make a plenary profession of in their Answer to their third and fourth Questions propounded I must now examine whether they believe what they have here so plausibly professed And there are three things to be enquired into which together with the circumstances and Concomitants will unfold their meaning in what they have here professed 1. What do the Quakers intend by the Death and Blood of Christ They do not believe in that Blood that was shed upon the Cross for Robert Ruckhill a Quaker saith in his Paper sent to Tho. Grantham That the Blood of Christ or Blood of Sprinkling never mortal Eye beheld And in pag. 11. of the same Paper he condemns all Professors that know no other Blood of Sprinkling than that which the Jews saw So that the Blood that our dear Lord shed upon the Cross they do not intend for John 19. 34. the Souldier pierced his Side and Water and Blood came out of his Wounds in the piercing of his Hands and Feet this the Souldiers and his Crucifiers saw But this is not the Blood intended see Tho. Lawson's Book pag. 18. I suppose they will not deny him to be a thorow-paced Quaker he saith The offering of Christ's Body to be broken and his Blood to be shed avails not so as through Faith therein to set free from Sin but Blood in a Mystery and a Body in a Mystery which we know not what it is saith Lawson But saith Pennington's Questions pag. 33. this we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ That is in plain English that Body of Flesh that they can never call Christ Pennington in another Page of the same Book asks Can outward Blood cleanse the Conscience we witness the same Christ that ever was now manifest in the Flesh This Isaac Pennington was an approved Quaker Now if this be not the Mystery of Iniquity I know not what may be called so and it this be not to bring in those damnable Heresies denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1. prophesied of by Peter what is for the Blood shed upon the Cross is not available say they Now why should these Impostors talk of the Blood of Christ and labour to perswade the World that they expect Justification Redemption and Salvation and the blessed Effects of his Suffering and Dying even Salvation See Pennington's Questions pag. 25. Can outward Blood cleanse the Conscience can outward Water wash the Soul clean What plainer denial can there be of the Efficacy of the Blood of Christ shed on the Cross E. Burrough's Trumpet c. p. 17. All the Presbyterians and Independants with their feeding upon the Report of a thing done many hundred Years ago Thus they deridingly speak of such as believe in the Death and Sufferings of Christ upon the Cross I shall conclude this Confutation of their pretended Profession of Faith in the Blood of Christ Now if the Quakers will assign some other Blood of Christ besides the Blood of the Man Christ Jesus crucified on the Cross that is of this redeeming Nature and Efficacy then I shall be inclined to turn Quaker and not before But let Christians believe in Christ's Death and Blood-shed upon the Cross for Justification Sanctification and Redemption and let the Word of God be true and these Men Liars Rom. 3. 25. Rev. 1. 5. It was this Christ Jesus that was crucified upon the Cross that loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood Heb. 9. 14. Col. 1. 14. We have Redemption through his Blood Heb. 13. 12. Wherefore Jesus also that he may sanctify the People with his own Blood suffered without the Gate c. See Rom. 5. 9 10. Col. 1. 20. Let us believe that Christ's Blood shed upon the Cross was to reconcile us to God Let us for ever admire God for this unspeakable Gift of his Son to die for us that he by the Grace of God should taste Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. Again Let us believe love and obey so dear a Lord that so freely gave his Body to be broken pierced and mangled in that shameful manner to redeem sanctify and justify such that lay hold upon him Let the Love of Christ constrain us to be followers of God as dear Children and walk in Love as Christ hath loved us 2. Under this fourth Head they pretend to believe and expect Justification and Remission of Sins by the Righteousness and Merits of Christ and Redemption by him I shall now examine whether they do believe and expect Justification and Remission of Sins by the Righteousness and Merits of Christ Now if you will believe their Writings you will see this their Profession to be but a painted and deceitful Flourish for Justification and Remission of Sins by the Righteousness of another is not by them believed See Edw Burrough's Works in Answer to the 14th Query p. 33. God doth not accept any where there is any failing or who do not fulfil the Law and answer every Demand of Justice This were there no other Instance confutes their plausible pretence to Justification and Remission by the Righteousness and Merits of Christ But see Will. Pen's Sandy Foundat p. 25 c. Justification is not from the Imputation of another's Righteousness but from the actual performing and
Confidence with a witness because Christ put an end to Circumcision and other Ceremonies of the Law as Paul teaches therefore by the Spirit of Delusion and gross Ignorance in the Quakers E. B. will renounce and put an end to Christ's Ordinances Surely these Men have learned to put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness for what can be a more effectual way to pluck up Gospel-Worship by the Roots than to make null and renounce Gospel-Ordinances But the wickedness of this deluded Man lies chiefly in patronizing his notorious Falshoods to the same Spirit that Paul had which was the Spirit of Christ What is this but blaspheming the Holy Spirit See Pernell's Shield of the Truth p. 12. where he calls Water-Baptism A formal Invention and Imitation of Men and so a meer Delusion Smith the Quaker's Primmer pag. 39. Thy Baptism Bread and Wine rose from the Pope's Invention I shall only bring in the Verdict of Robert Ruckhill see Mr. Grantham's Christianismus Primitivus Book 4. Treat 11. See how Ruckhill condemns the Baptized Churches for keeping the Ordinances of Christ as they were delivered to the Saints c. O ungrateful Men saith he unworthy till you repent and loath your selves the Name of Christians hath the afflicted persecuted Church been banished into the Wilderness for many hundred Years and now at her return when she is expecting a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory both Inward and Outward which her great Afflictions have wrought for her will you now I say allow her no better Ornaments but these very same she wore 1600 Years ago which also for many hundred Years have been revelled in and filthily polluted by that nasty Whore of Babylon Poor Bride must she now put on those old Clothes and rotten Rags again c. Will you deny this beautiful Bride the Lamb's Wife that Priviledg your own Wives will scorn to be denied by you O how weak are your Hearts saith the Lord God To which great and swelling words of Vanity Mr. Grantham gives a full and pathetical Answer But from all this you may observe that as Ananias and Sapphirah agreed to lie against the Holy Ghost so these against the Ordinances of Christ But the misery of it is altho their Design is the Death of the Object yet as the Testimonies of the two Elders against Susannah and the false Witnesses against Christ they cannot agree in their Testimony against the Gospel-Ordinances For saith Smith's Primmer p. 39. Thy Baptism Bread and Wine rose from the Pope's Inventions So saith Higgins's Warning p. 5. But Ruckhill saith They were the Churches Ornaments 1600 Years ago This he plainly confesseth Now either the former or the latter of these inspired Men with all their Infallibility are infallibly Liars for if they were the Churches Ornaments 1600 Years ago as Ruckhill confesseth then they were not invented by the Pope as Smith and Higgins pretend there being no Pope of that Antiquity So that I must leave you to clear your selves if you can tell how I proceed to examine R. Ruckhill's great and empty flourish and swelling words of Vanity 1. Here R. Ruckhill pretends much skill in the time of the Churches going into and returning out of the Wilderness But I suppose were he asked What this Wilderness is and the exact Time when the Church went in and came out of it he would give but a bewildered Answer 2. It appears from hence as I have before shewed that the Quakers believe the Eternal weight of Glory both inward and outward is to be received by the Church at her return out of the Wilderness and enjoyed here on this side the Grave in this mortal State 3. Here R. Ruckhill is forced to confess that the Ordinances of Christ were the Churches Ornaments 1600 Years ago but now they are a great dishonour and deformity to her therefore he disdainfully calls them old rotten Rags as though 1600 Years were time enough to rot all the Ordinances of Christ and wear them out to Rags 4. He disdains these Ordinances because the Whore of Babylon hath revelled in them and polluted them But for all R. Ruckhill's skill in the Churches Apparel there were also other Ornaments as the Belief of the Scriptures Faith Holiness Love Charity and Patience Mercy c. Now have not all these been corrupted and abused by the Whore of Babylon and counterfeit Ordinances counterfeit Scriptures counterfeit and feigned Faith Holiness Love Charity Patience and Mercy set up in the room thereof doth it therefore follow that all these Vertues must be thrown away because the Whore hath polluted them No surely the Quakers will not say so nor account Prayer Preaching c. old rotten Rags because the Whore hath revelled in them Was the Ark of God ever the worse for remaining some time in the House of Dagon Israel were sometimes a long space without the true Law true Worship and true God being involved in Idolatry and Darkness yet both Asah and Hezekiah were for returning to the true God and true Worship when that Darkness was dispersed 2 Chron. 15. 3. 2 Chron. 30. 5. Even so now the Lord having dispersed that Fog of Popish Darkness may not R. Ruckhill's Lamentation be taken up against the Quakers and others O ungrateful Men hath God dispersed these Clouds of Popish Darkness and discovered his Laws and Ordinances in their Primitive Purity and will you now reject and contemn them as old rotten Rags and rebel against the Light But R. Ruckhill would now by all means have the Church to have a new Coat her old Ornaments being worn to Rags And R. Ruckhill must needs have the Church to have new Ordinances as often as Mens Wives have new Clothes or else she must go naked But saith Robert Ruckhill in the forementioned Discourse We do not deny Baptism or any other Ordinance when the Spirit of the Lord leadeth to them It 's but fair to conclude that the Quakers have not the Leadings of the Spirit of God to guide them into this Gospel-Ordinance But R. Ruckhill would recal this again saying It hath appeared that the Spirit of the Lord leads forward not backward upward not downward and then he presumes to say else the Spirit may as well lead into Judaism as into the Ordinances aforesaid What profound Ignorance and gross Darkness is here to imagine that the Spirit of Christ promised John 14. 26. 16. 31. to guide into all Truth and to bring to remembrance the Doctrine Christ had taught might as well lead them into Judaism which Christ had and came to abolish by R. Ruckhill's Argument When Ananias is sent to Paul compare Acts 9. 17 18. Act. 22. 16 that he may receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost he said And now why tarriest thou Arise and be Baptized Might not Paul have said I am filled with the Holy Ghost already What must I go back to the Shadow to such a carnal thing as Water-Baptism
when he cometh shall find so doing A POSTSCRIPT TO THE QUAKERS SIRS You cannot be ignorant that those two great Articles of the Christian Faith viz. The Resurrection of the dead Bodies of Men from the Graves of the Earth and Eternal Judgment are believed as two Principles of the Christian Faith wherein your Belief hath been questioned and you profess your Belief in neither of them in your Paper But the contrary hath been manifested by your own Tongues and Pens for Tho. Lawson and John Slee both Quakers gave William Jeffrey a Paper under their own Hands wherein was asserted That nothing of Man that goes into the Grave shall rise again and one of your Friends with whom I was reasoning upon this Subject asked me If I were so ignorant as to believe that Bulk pointing at my Body should rise again from the Grave But upon occasion you will say You believe the Resurrection of the Body pray then what doth your Friend Turner intend by these Arguments 1. If the Bodies of Men rise again then there is a preheminence in the Bodies of Men above the Bodies of Beasts which is to give Solomon the 〈◊〉 Eccles 3. 19. 2. If the Bodies of Men shall rise again this is to give Job the Lie who saith The Eye that sees me shall see me no more Job 7. 8. 3. Flesh and Blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God who can suppose any other than that the import of these Arguments is to deny the Resurrection of the Body see Mr. Hicks's Dialogue p. 56. To which I answer That the Consequence of neither of these Arguments follows from the Premises for where Solomon saith that Man hath no preheminence above a Beast he shews in what respect he means vers 20. All are of the Dust and all turn to Dust again in this sense all go to one Place and so Man hath no preheminence But in Point of the Resurrection he hath for a way is devised 2 Sam. 14. 14. That Man shall not for ever be expelled from God And a Promise is made Hos 13. 14. I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death for Death and Hell or saith your Margin the Grave shall deliver up the dead c. Rev. 20. 13. And it is true the Eye that saw Job should see him no more not in this mortal State But see Job 19. 25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And altho after my Skin Worms destroy my Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and not another Mine Eyes shall behold him tho my Reins be consumed within me What is more manifest than that Job did believe in the Resurrection After Worms had destroyed his Body yet in his 〈◊〉 he should see his Redeemer Where upon the Earth when at the last or latter Day 3. His Argument from 1. Cor. 15. 50. is exploded the Argument is Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God To which I answer 1st Then let your Friend Tho. Lawson be ashamed of what he saith in his Book p. 9 and 19. where he affirms himself and Friends to be now in Possession of the Kingdom of God aforesaid and to have Eternal Life really in Possession Do you believe Tho. Lawson or any of you now living are not made of Flesh Blood and Bones 2dly We own that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God First Under a twofold Acceptation of the Word 1. Not carnal sensual and unregenerate Men for John 3. 3 8. Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh c. Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be born again or from above saith your Margent The carnal unregenerate Man is said to be in the Flesh and not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be in that State So that to be carnally or fleshly-minded is Death c. Know you not such unrighteous ones cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 2. Neither shall the fleshly Bodies of the Saints inherit the Kingdom of God till a change hath passed upon them 1 Cor. 15. 50. the following words give the Apostle's meaning Neither shall Corruption inherit Incorruption v. 51. this Change must be For ver 53. this Corruption must put on Incorruption and this Mortal must put on Immortality V. 54. Then will be brought to pass the saying Death is swallowed up in Victory Hosea 13. 14. Moreover it appears that Christ rose from the dead and ascended in his Body of Flesh Blood and Bones Luke 24. 39. he said to his Disciples Feel me and handle me a Spirit bath not Flesh and Bones as you see me have and he shewed them his Hands and his Feet that were nailed to the Cross c. Even so will he change our vile Bodies and make them like unto his own glorious Body Phil. 3. 20. Secondly But not to enlarge I could never yet understand by any of your Writings that you own any other Resurrection than the new Birth or Regeneration I shall cite two or three of your Authors Smith's Catechism p. 29. Quest But must Men pass through Death and rise again in this Life or whilst in this Body Answer Yes for except he be regenerated and born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God and therefore he must die to the first Adam's Flesh and be quickened and rise again in the second Adam's Spirit and so in the Resurrection and Life enter the Kingdom c. See James Nailor's Book Love to the Lost p. 3. Whereby saith he the Heart is freed from Corruption and made able to escape the Pollutions of the World and to run in the pure ways with delight which is the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God the Resurrection from the Dead Add to this the Skill that S. Fisher useth to make null this Article of the Christian Faith in his Velata quâ—dam Revelata Thus But if you will not be admonished nor perswaded by Moses and the Prophets within you neither will ye be perswaded by such of us who were once dead in Sin with you but are now risen to Life by the Power of God which is his Light and in the same sent to speak to you from the Dead The Text he seems to allude to is Luke 16. 31. but what an horrid Abuse this is to the words of our Lord and the Scope and Design of them the Christian Reader will easily see But from what hath been said by these your Leaders and I might enumerate many more of like import thus much may be farily concluded That you believe no other Resurrection but only Regeneration or a new Birth I own that Regeneration is set forth in Scripture under the terms of a Death Burial and Resurrection according to Rom. 6. 2 3 4. Col. 3. 1 4. and