Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n
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A58145
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Robert Bridgman's Reasons for leaving the Quakers, (upon examination) proved unreasonable being only a demonstration of his envy. By W. Rawlinson.
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Rawlinson, William.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing R370; ESTC R217967
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22,497
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49
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prove that they were Figures R. B. might have saved his Quotation to prove that for G. W. acknowledges it so says R. B. The Martyrs intended one thing and G. W. would make them to intend another May I not say O pertinent Logician Is there not divers Texts in holy Scripture that one and the same Text holds out two or more Principles of Faith And what because one of these Texts is brought to prove one of these points if one offer it for proof of another must it be accounted a Perversion I hope not His next Charge is That the Faith of the Body of Christ now absent in Heaven is lost among us I believe he here speaks Truth of us against his will and saves himself telling a great Lye thereby for that Faith is indeed lost nay it never was received by us That the Body of Christ is now absent in Heaven we have always and still do believe it to be there present These are fit Reasons to shew his leaving us was out of Envy for I hope I have made it already manifest that we believe the Existence of the Body of Christ in Heaven as really as any Christians whatsoever As to his hopes and dependance on the outward Baptism and Supper as two such Pillars and Supports of the Christian Faith I may advertise him that suppose they were what most Protestants account them to be yet if he have not regard to something beyond them he may find himself mistaken in the end and the Army of Abaddon may compass him about To conclude what I have to say concerning them at present is That as many as do practice them out of pure Conscience to God believing the same to be their Duty we are charitable towards them hoping in time they will come to see further as they continue true Seekers of God His next is he saith It is a specious pretence the Quakers have made to the Vertue and Efficacy of the inward Principle as having therein an Art of Extraction by which they perform as by one single Still all that can be proposed from the variety in a Laboratory This specious pretence as he calls it rightly stated will stand all Winds and Weathers For this Principle in it self as held by the Quakers is no other than the Word God in whom was Life and the Life the Light of Men John 1.4 Tho' the Quakers are no such ill Distinguishers that if R. B. will be so barbarous as to divide the particular Measure or Manifestation from the fulness and the purchase of that Blessing tho' that is a Presumption the Quakers dare not attempt because God as Father Word and Spirit is present therein to say That that particular Measure and Manifestation so divided is sufficient Tho' they do boldly say This inward Principle not divided but conjunctly taken as aforesaid is able to effect whatever is needful yet this doth not lead us to slight any of the least means appointed of God as helps in the Work of our Salvation for there are many things very useful and highly needful towards an End yet cannot be said to be absolutely necessary and yet who so unwise as to reject them At the same rate R. B. might find fault with St. John who told the Believers of his time That they had received an Unction from the Holy One and they knew all things and that they needed not that any Man should Teach them but as the same Anointing should Teach them of all Things Tho' the Apostle no more than we intended hereby to lay waste Gospel Means or outward and instrumental Helps appointed by God What he adds of William Penn's Ranting at an unreasonable rate and disparaging the Reputation of our Principles I must say doth not become him if he had only regarded Civility it would have taught him better Language Doth he think his going to Church will priviledge him to abuse by Authority Nay surely many of them are Men of better Temper and more Honour Nor can I think he cares how much W. P. disparages our Principle tho' the Truth of his Heart may be that he thinks him too great an Honour to it neither can I believe that the repute of our Principles affords him any great pleasure His charging G. Whitehead with irregularity of Practice without producing proof doth not bespeak him a Man of Honour for a Person of worth would abominate to impeach Men of Note without producing some good Ground for so doing P. 9. He has more cause to reflect upon his own Incivility for exposing in Print part of G. W's private Letter to his Father-in Law unduly intercepted together with his own angry Resentments and Defamations against G. W c. I am sure saith R. B. no Principle of Truth ever taught W. P. to advance such a Notion of the Composition of Man as he delivers in p. 71. of his Primitive Christianity Man says W. P. as I said just now is a Composition of both Worlds his Body of this his Soul of the other World If R. B. has a better Notion of the Composition of Man to advance I should be glad to hear it tho' a truer I am confident he cannot so that I cannot but tell him he is mistaken in so rashly judging W. P's Notion Is it not apparent that our Bodies are of this World Yet where is the Person that believes that the Soul is a created immortal and invisible Spirit that can be so gross as to believe it is of this World too If not of this then of some other World of this it cannot be for this World is Visible Material and Corruptible but the Soul is Invisible Immaterial and Incorruptible Truly I should think R. B. cannot be so gross as to think otherwise if he believes Man to have an Immortal Soul He goes on adding more words of W. P's viz. By the Body the Soul looks into and beholds this World and by the Word it beholds God the World without end Upon which R. B. Comments thus So that the World without end and God are with him Terms Synonimous which by the way is falsly inferred and of this endless World it 's with him a part of Man's Composition his Soul is of its Essence and beholds its being a-kin to God not only by a Relation but in Substance Oh! false Comment and notable Reason for leaving the Quakers it is much that Men will expose their Envy so apparently Let us consider W. P's Words and then without any difficulty we shall discern the disingenuity of this Adversary and the falseness of the Comment First let us observe tho' W. P. do say Man's Soul is of the other World yet he doth not say The other World is God or that God and the other World are one and the same thing so that except R. B. can make it appear that W. P. believes the other World and God to be one and the same he argues to no purpose and all the fine Gloss and
what a necessary work it is to yield our Love and Obedience to that Law and Light with which God instructs and enlightens our Nature and that without some Experience thereof it is in vain to pretend to any Religion Whether does he offer this as one Reason for leaving us or Digresses and gives it as Advice to his present Friends For it 's much but he may think himself notwithstanding all the pretences of Sorrow and Shame wiser than some Older and more Eminent Church-men He goes on and tells how dangerous it is To reduce all Religion and Faith towards God under a Profession and Experience of Light and Truth without any Distinction of common and special Illumination and Grace How far he intends this a Charge against us I am not like to know besides it is too general for him to expect a particular Answer let him Charge us but Honestly and do his worst We know that though there are Diversities of Gifts yet the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of Operations but the same God which worketh all in all 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. Next he chargeth us by Name for having ignorantly and blasphemously opposed this Work of Faith and Reformation and that if we contradict or deny it must bespeak great ignorance or obstinacy But seeing he has been so kind as to account us Blasphemers and Ignorant I will submit to be accounted Obstinate too before he shall pass without Rebuke and do therefore Deny his Charge and Dare him to prove it He now being upon the high Rope goes on insinuating we Reject the Institutions of Jesus Christ which as he saith is evident from our Writings constantly published from our beginning yet he offers not one Quotation of them all for Confirmation If what he says were true what must we judge of him as to joyn and continue so many Years with such a People since as he says It is evident from our Writings constantly published that we reject the Institutions of Jesus Christ to which he cannot pretend Ignorance I think he is mightily to blame thus to Reproach his old Friends and all without-Book it looks like as if he had left them rather out of Humour than real Conviction for real Conviction would have demonstrated it self with a more Christian Temper When I have added a little more of his of like Nature I shall shew from our Doctrine how opposite his Charges are to what we Believe by which his Envy will evidently appear he saith How under pretence of high Attainments and further Glory a Spirit of Pride and great Uncharitableness hath possessed us is sufficiently manifest by its Fruits in Censuring and Reproaching all other Denominations of profess'd Christians whom we set at a great Distance and account as the World which lyeth in Wickedness with some more of like nature As to this latter That we account all other Denominations of Christians as the World which lyeth in Wickedness our Charity is so far reverse to that that we blieve there may be even among Turks and Jews such as belong to the Catholick-Church hear what is said Barclay's Apology p. 400. of his Works viz. There may be therefore Members of this Catholick-Church both among Heathens Turks and Jews and of all the several sorts of Christians Men and Women of Integrity and Simplicity of Heart who though blinded in something in their Understanding and perhaps burthened with the Superstitions and Formality of the several Sects in which they are ingrossed yet being Upright in their Hearts before the Lord chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from Iniquity and loving to follow Righteousness are by the secret Touches of this holy Light in their Souls inliven'd and quicken'd thereby secretly united to God and there-through become true Members of this Catholick-Church Is not this very opposite to his false Charge And to his other Insinuations That we reduce all Religion and Faith towards God under a Profession of Life and Truth without any distinction of Common and Special Illumination and Grace and so Reject the Institutions of Christ See p. 405. of the same Book Secondly The Church is to be considered as it signifies a certain Number of Persons gathered by God's Spirit and by the Testimony of some of his Servants raised up for that end unto the belief of the true Doctrines and Principles of the Christian Faith who through their Hearts being united by the same Love and their Understandings informed in the same Truth Gather Meet and Assemble together to wait upon God to Worship him and to bear a joynt-Testimony for the Truth against Error Thus it is evident how notoriously False are his Charges and Insinuations against us what he observes of the Disagreeableness of what we Teach or Publish I should have thought the small Earnings his Friend G. K. hath made thereof for if we consider his Eminence and the great Number of Years he zealously preached and defended our Faith even nigh thirty Years which must be granted the chief of his natural Life and yet upon his Revolt should be able to draw off no more looks almost incredible might have given sufficient Check to his Calumny As to the oppositeness of our Principles to true Christianity is another gross Calumny without any manner of Proof however we are ready to vindicate them and shew their agreeableness with the Holy Scriptures either with this or any other Adversary And for our Quibling and Shuffling with dull and apparent Sophistry I ascribe to his want of Matter and the effect of Envy What he saith of our altering the Sense of our own and our Opponents Writings with more of the same kind is all of a piece with the former and deserves no other answer the poor Man being at a loss must vent his Envy some way As to those Sounds and Echoes he speaks of what he intends thereby is a little dubious but if he has tender Ears and cannot endure great Sounds I ought to pity him for as the saying is He is gone out of hot Love into red Fire Most of his ninth Page as far as I find is filled with his Resentments for our refusing G. K's Arbitrary Summons And since he mentions a Paper writ by our Friends on that occasion Titled A word to the well-inclined I shall for answer refer to that Paper which I doubt not but will give the Impartial entire Satisfaction As to the Spreading our Books can he or any else blame us Would any Christian Society do less if they were abused and railed on in Print by their Adversaries but use all lawful means to remove the Reproach and vindicate their just Case Would he have us Dumb that his beloved Keith's Scotch Eloquence might pass without Remark Then I doubt not but Printing would be accounted a more edifying Method than building Stages and drawing Multitudes of People together What he insinuates of the Increase of our Number doth not