abounding grace of God is plain in the 17 18 and 19 verses where the Apostle lays his argument for grace and righteousness through Christ in its similitude to the influence of Adam's sin by imputation For if by one mans offence death reigned by one verse 17. Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men verse 18. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners verse 19. much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ verse 17. so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life verse 18. so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous verse 19. And further to clear this truth if clearer evidence may be possible the consideration of verse 14. will contribute a good measure Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam ' s transgression who is the figure of him that was to come There are two respects wherein at least many of those over whom death reigned from Adam to Moses did not sin after the similitude of Adam's transgression First They did not sin against a revealed Law which Adam did in eating the forbidden fruit and there was no revealed Law or Covenant of life expresly given from God after Adam's time before the fall untill Moses Secondly They did not all sin actually and in their own persons as Adam did yet death reigned over Infants who were in respect of actual sin Innocents And by what Law did Infants suffer death if not as they were included in Adam the first man and his offence becoming theirs thereby according to those words 1 Cor. 15. 22. For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive So that if it were not by the imputation of Adam's sin Children or Infants suffered a penalty without all Law which is contrary to the Apostles words Rom. 5. 13. But sin is not imputed when there is no Law But there was a Law then in force viz. the penalty of Adam's sin which by imputation reached to his posterity And in this very respect Adam was the figure of him that was to come viz. Jesus Christ So that if the righteousness of Christ of that one man Christ Jesus be not imputed to justification of all his children by faith or that are considered by God in Christ the whole frame of the Apostles arguing is but trifling and concludes nothing of what it seems to aim at which is not to be admitted by a Christian There are four Objections among others I have met with against the evidence of these Texts to the Doctrine I have vindicated Object 1. Christ was our example and therein did answer to Adam as his figure for sin came into the world by Adam's example and so righteousness by Christs Answ This is an old error and what error so old and rotten that the Quakers will not embrace who live in error as their element The Texts I have quoted have not the least appearance of sin entring the world by example and the Infants over whom death reigned were not capable of sinning by example Object 2. There might be a derivation of Adam's corrupted nature to all his posterity and so all of them might be guilty of sinfull dispositions and habits in their own persons yet by generation from Adam and not by imputation of his sin committed in his own person so the righteousness that justifies may be derived in spiritual regeneration whereby the soul is disposed and enabled to work righteousness by that spiritual life and vigour it receives from him as its root Answ That cannot be the meaning for then the condemnation spoken of would be by all and every one which though it be true that dispositions to sin are derived from Adam by natural generation and dispositions to holiness by regeneration from Christ yet cannot be the meaning of these Texts for the emphatical word which as upon the hinge the whole argument turns is the word one by one mans offence by the obedience of one whereas if the Objection did hit the meaning the Apostle must rather have said So by all or every mans offence condemnation came upon all But there is no mention of that middle thing mans corrupt disposition to knit condemnation to Adam's sin as a more original and remote cause Also it should then be in or into all and not upon all Object 3. The condemnation that came upon all and that reigned from Adam to Moses was but temporal death and what is that to eternal or to bear a proportion with justification to life spiritual and eternal Answ It is more than you prove or can prove that it was but corporal and temporal death and we can prove that it was the guilt of eternal death if we go no further to fetch the proof than from what is opposed to it in the last verse of the Chapter righteousness to eternal life And temporal death is not remitted or discharged to those who enjoy the benefit of the grace by the second Adam Jesus Christ Object 4. The Apostle James saith What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have no works can faith save him Was not Abraham our Father justified by works c. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only To the first Instance in the Objection I answer The saying a man hath faith is not sufficient to render him justified or to justifie him Secondly A dogmatical or historical faith cannot justifie or so act on the promise and Covenant as to put us under the imputation of justifying righteousness for such a faith the Devils have and there is a vast difference between believing the History of the Gospel and believing in Christ And this is the dead faith the Apostle speaks of verse 17. To the second Instance Abraham's works though they justified his faith yet they did not justifie his person And the History of his offering up his Son doth give evidence for this Exposition Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me And I will shew thee my faith by my works To the third Instance which seems to joyn works with faith in justification that is our works I answer That although justifying faith is not without works yet faith justifies without works as a man cannot have seeing eyes if he have not lungs and heart and brains which are essential to life and the living motion of every member yet the eye only sees and not the lungs or brains c. but if you should pluck the eyes out of the head they would so alone be to little purpose So works are essential to the being of justifying faith yet faith alone is in the act
the Apostle which he quotes Heb. 9. 23. which is the Apostles most forcible and plain argument to prove the efficacy of the offering of Christs flesh and bloud For if the bloud of those beasts as they were shadows and types of Christ were so effectual how much more the true sacrifice shadowed out by them But we may with pity and horror behold the wofull shifts men are put to and bewildred in who forsake the plain paths of the Lord in his Word and are resolved to lay hold on any fancy and foolish imagination rather than let go the lye in their right hand And this we witness who through the Lamb our Saviour do reign above the world death hell and the devil but none can witness this whose eye is outward looking at a Redeemer afar off and still live in sin As for the qualification of living in sin they frequently express it to put a blind before the Readers eyes and are far from the true meaning of that phrase in the Scripture for whereas the Scripture intends it of the unconverted and those who are not sincere in their hatred of sin and obedience to God the Quakers will needs have all to be such as live in sin who have any remains of sin in them or whose lives are not totally free from the stains of it But nothing is more plain than his utterly disowning the Christ without and faith that looks at him to have any thing to do in the victory over death and hell c. and that the man Christ Jesus who lived and died as far off as Jerusalem is not the Lamb their Saviour Let us hear one more that it may not pass for only one two or three of their Doctors opinions And conclude to themselves a belief in Christ and apply his promises what he did for them in the body that suffered without the gates of Jerusalem and by his death and offering all things is accomplished for them and no sin shall be imputed to them though they live in it And through his mediation and intercession for them as he is at the right hand of God at a distance from them they believe that they have access to God and are accepted of him and yet they neither know God nor Christ nor the place where they say he sits at the right hand of God and being in their mind perswaded that Christ hath satisfied and hath reconciled them to God though they be yet sinners Those he calls sinners and condemns are all that repair not to the light within as their Saviour by his teaching and power within them as is the scope of his Book I should but cloy you to cite more for this purpose It is their opinion That Christ did what he did in the flesh which he took of the Virgin Mary and what he suffered therein also as our Example and no more SECT II. The influence of Christs transactions without us above 1600 years since into the Justification and Salvation of Believers asserted and vindicated I shall not need to be voluminous in the agitating this subject many far more able and worthy having wrote on it at large And although amongst persons who deserve not only the name of Christian but Venerable in the Church of God there is not the same prospect into some of the more curious parts of it yet that the transactions of Christ without us and before we were born are the merit of our Justification and Salvation they are so firmly agreed in that they may as soon be perswaded to condemn and throw away their Bibles as to be of a contrary belief I shall therefore consider Christs Obedience as active and passive and prove them to have in them the efficacy denyed by the Quakers and answer some Objections I shall then shew you what Righteousness they profess Salvation and Justification by The righteousness of Christs active Obedience without and before us considered And he received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also The righteousness here spoken of is in a compleat sense and unlimited to this or that particular case 't is a righteousness without stain of sin or unrighteousness And indeed there is no such thing as a compleat righteousness in the sight of God that hath any the least crookedness obliquity or fault in it 'T is that righteousness of the Covenant of grace or thereby expressed for Circumcision the seal of this righteousness was a seal of that Covenant The imputation of it is according to this Text a reckoning it to a person verse 10. How was it then reckoned verse 9. Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness not as James Nailor saith And with him his righteousness is freely imputed or put into the creature as if imputing were a putting in It was imputed to James Nailor that he was a blasphemer was it then and thereby put into him to be a blasphemer A very fit Expositor of mysterious Scriptures However he hit right of the Quakers mind and therefore it must be no more but put in to this day But to return it being reckoned and that as a grace of the new Covenant it was not the righteousness of Abraham by him wrought or wrought in his own person as the subject of it for then it had not been any grace or favour from God to reckon it to him therefore it was a righteousness of another that was reckoned to him not his own Whose righteousness it was then may be gathered by the title of the imputed or reckoned righteousness verse 11. A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Well then this consideration may lead us to the truth of imputed righteousness if we consider faith as being an act of the soul and therefore not the righteousness imputed for so far as that is righteousness in obeying the command of God it is our own act The just shall live by his faith His faith is accounted for righteousness It must needs then be the object of faith or that which faith acts on or looks to and this is no other but The Lord our righteousness the great subject of the promise and Covenant and is therefore called The promise the Covenant and frequently The righteousness of God as being the worker of that righteousness in his own person which is of Gods appointment to justifie a poor believer which is not a believers but as it is reckoned or imputed to him A second ground of this Doctrine of imputed righteousness is in Rom. 5. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That this righteousness of Christ is imputed to Justification and therein the
lighteth every man that cometh into the world The Exposition of these words I shall give according to what the Lord hath enabled me with and refute what the Quakers give as the meaning of it and conclude from thence We shall not question that the Relative that hath for its Antecedent and is to be understood of the Word which was in the beginning which was with God which was God by whom all things were made the light of men c. The special Character of this Word who was God and Creator that was the true light I thus explain Light is taken properly for that which doth manifest or discover any thing so Christ is light But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel The meaning is That that salvation eternal which God had purposed to give to his people which could not be seen in the purpose of God as such is by the appearing of Christ in the flesh and therein transacting and declaring this salvation and eternal life abundantly discovered For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And as light properly is that which makes manifest so metaphorically it is that which comforts and rejoyceth and as the first is put in opposition to ignorance or the absence of the means of knowledge so the other is put in opposition to affliction grief distress which are so frequently called darkness in Scripture that I need not turn to their Instances And I do not in the least doubt but Christ the Word is here called light in both respects and that eminently for as he discovers the gracious thoughts and purposes of God for the salvation of man it hath in its open hand the light of comfort they are glad tidings and gladding tidings And this I take to be the import of the 4th Verse In him was life and the life was the light of men That is the salvation and life eternal of poor sinners was wrapt up in Christ as God who being so qualified was capable of working it and this consideration of God manifest in the flesh for those ends is matter of strong consolation as being an adequate and sufficient foundation for faith to build on The qualification of this light the true light comes next under consideration True is taken in opposition to false but so we are not to understand it here True is taken in opposition to types and shadows so Christ is the true light which all the types and shadows in the Mosaical dispensations were not no more than the picture and pourtraiture of a man drawn with the dark lines of Charcoal are the man they so express or the figures for a thousand pounds in a Bond or Bill are the money And this is the true Exposition of the 23 d. Verse of the 4th of John God never accepted in sincere and hypocritical worshippers under the Old Testament dispensation But the question being of worshipping at Jerusalem or Mount Gerazim he tells her as his sense that question was now almost out of date for that the Temple being but a shadow and figure of Christ and Gospel-worship they were now shortly to use those shadows no more Christ being come and the Gospel spiritual-worship which they were but prefiguring of Again The true light is to be understood of the light eminently considered and so though John was a true light and by Christs own testimony a burning and a shining light and so the Prophets were true lights yet Christ excelled them all in light as the Sun doth the Stars The brightness of his Fathers glory and express image of his person So that while they gave a more dim and imperfect light Christ shined as the day-light In the Text last mentioned he is to be understood of Christ in the flesh before his ascension Lastly By true light we may understand his being that light to whom and of whom all the Prophets bare witness as Isaiah did not speak those things read out of him by the Eunuch of himself but of Jesus Christ as Philip expounded them to him I now proceed to the efficacy of this light wherein lies a great part of the controversie Which lighteth It is not to be doubted but this light doth give light both in respect of manifestation which may be of that which is matter of terrour and also of comfort to a miserable world by sin and its effects But I pray how will it follow from hence that Christ is within those whom he lighteth Truly no more than the Sun in the Firmament is within every one it affordeth light unto But it is the scope of some Pages in William Pen's late Piece to prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendered not lighteth but enlightneth But by this I perceive he is as very as those Physicians who impose severe abstinence on others but they themselves will take their Cups off and their good cheer to wantonness and giddiness I return to the business in hand and grant that most Translators render it enlightneth But what helpeth it 'T is never the more the Quakers light within for a seeing faculty can do nothing alone no more than the best eyes in the head without a light without as a medium by which to discern objects And this faculty of mans understanding is enlightned by Christ so as that by his light it is made capable to discern the face of God shining on sinners according to the import of the Covenant of graâ—… and that enlightning may be no more Two Scriptures will evidence First That concerning Jonathan And dipt it in an honey-comb and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes were enlightned See I pray you how mine eyes have been enlightned If the light within be no more in the conscience than the honey was in Jonathan's eyes it will make little for the Quakers notion of the light in the conscience to be very Christ and not only his manifestations which are his acts and influence not himself The other Text is more plain to the purpose His lightnings enlightned the world the earth saw and trembled If by the earth be not meant the men on the earth and by the world the men in the world lightning was not likely to be seen by or help them so to see as to effect trembling unless you will say the meer animals were intended Well then the world was enlightned by Gods lightnings that were totally without them whether their seeing by those lightnings have respect to the objects of their bodily eyes or to God the object of the eye of the mind who is in a good measure made known by his mighty and terrible works But if you will needs have
to save me from my sin Answ All Power in Heaven and Earth is in it To shut up this particular hear one of their prime Ministers who speaks plainly his minde and not in Parables I will make you know that I the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld that all through me should believe am the true eternal God which created all things that by me the light all things are uphâ—ld and that there is not another besides me can save And I will purge out all your iniquities and forgive all your trespasses and I will change your Natures and I will make you new Creatures if you will hearken to me and obey me the light in you VVhat I have here written is the words which the Father who is one with Christ the Son gave me to write in which words the true Christ is renewed and a Testimony given of him and no other But enough and too much of this Blasphemy I need not take pains to ravel into it for it s so plain that none but those who shut their eyes and are wilfully blind but may see it in an unexpressible deformity SECT III. I now proceed to the fourth proof of their equalling their sayings writings and light within and preferring them before the Scriptures I place them in this Order that you may behold them at one view in their not only disproportion but opposition The CHARACTERS of the Scriptures given by the Quakers CHARACTERS of their own Teachers Writings and Sayings given by them Feeding Death with Death The Letter which killeth Declaration from the Ministers of the VVord p. 7. The Voice of the Son of God was uttered forth by him by which the dead was raised F. H. Life of E B. p. 20. Paper Ink and VVriting Declar from the Ministers of the VVord p. 2. A Shield of the Truth Title of James Parnels Book A dead letter The old letter Seeking the living among the dead Parnel Shield to the truth Naylor love to the lost His words ministred grace to the Hearers Fox jun. life of E B  Forcible and very pleasant as apples of gold in pictures of silver This in the freshness and quick sense of life Penington quest c. 41. Leave men in the dark and confusion Frequent Passage A clear Discovery Title of Smiths Prim.  O how certain a sound did his Trumpet give Life of E. B p. 2. Part of it the words of the Devil and wicked men Wisdom of words Nayl Love to the lost c. 21. VVritten from the Spirit of the Lord. title page Parnel shield of truth  The Voice of the Son of God Life of E. B. 20. My upright desire to the Lord for you is that he would strip you if all your knowledge of the Scriptures according to the flesh Pennington quest p 12. And now Childe hear Instruction and be wise Treasure it up in thy heart that thou mayest lay up for thy self a good foundation Smith Prim. p 56. Shews you in a Glass your own faâ—es which the Scriptures cannot do Scorned Quakers Account p. 20. A spiritual Glass opened Title of Smiths Cat. and part of the Title of his Morn-watch Precept and Traditions of men Morning-Watch p. 18. Truths Principles Title of Crooks Book That light is in the â—criptures prove that or tell me what one Scripture hath light in it Lip of truth c. p 7. Light risen out of darkness Title of Farnworths Book Natural Lawson Carnal Letter Shield of the truth 10. God is at liberty to speak by them the Scriptures if he please and where they are given by Inspiration he dâ—th so and so he is at liberty to speak by any other created thing as to Balaam by his Ass James Naylor light of Christ c. p 19. Earthly Root Morn Watch. 22  Worship and obedience as to its direction The Harlots Child Morn watch p. 23  Hagar and Ismael Mother and Child after the Letter Penington Mysteries of the Kingdom Preface He proclaimed liberty to the Captives in the Power and Authority of God F. H. of E. B. p. 15. Letter without Swine feeding on the husk The shadow Parnel shield of Truth p 10. Let this be sent to be read in the fear of the Lord in the Holy Assemblies of the Church of the first-born where she is scattered to the ends of the Earth W. D. Doting on the Scriptures Parnel Christ exalted p 4.  Betrayed into the words Smith prim p. 30.  Dangerous to feed on them Sm Cat. 36.  SECT IV. I having sufficiently proved that they equal their writings and sayings with and prefer them before the Scriptures it is not fit I should let them pass without contradiction I shall therefore review their Grounds for so doing and discover them to be but swelling words of vanity And I shall begin with their Infallibility I am confident that G. Fox the Ring-leader of the Sect understands not what he saith nor whereof he affirms It is one thing not to fail another to be infallible for that is to be without all possibility of failing or erring Again it is one thing to be infallible with a restriction to something another to be universally infallible and without limitation If G. Fox understands so much he is a non-such for confidence and being void of reason that affirmeth as he doth let us examine but that one passage before-cited How can ye be Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter if ye be not infallible Here he puts Ministry of the Spirit and of the letter in opposition which Christ and his Apostles joyned hand in hand as loving companions and meet helps each to other And there was delivered unto him the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the Book he found the place where it was written the Spirit of the Lord is upon me c. verse 21. And he began to say unto them this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears and all bare him witness and wondred at the gracious words c. was not Christ then a Minister of the Spirit it is by him said this day this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears viz. the Spirit of the Lord is upon me And was he not also a Minister of the Letter why he opened the Book and found where it was written and no doubt read it out of the Book to his Auditors or else it would have been very impertinent to tell them This Scripture is fulfilled for they must have divined or not known what Scripture he intended And I suppose none will doubt whether that which is written in a Book be written in Letters Well then either George Fox is fallible yea and hath grossely failed or Jesus Christ was not a Minister of the Spirit and which of these you who call your selves infallible Ministers of the Spirit will admit of I know not but I am sure every true Christian will abhor a
above half dead and benummed with the Opium of Quakerism Yet this is as agreeable to their main principle as the same thing is to its self I wonder we hear it not more frequently from them that all power in Heaven and Earth is in every one of them yea in each of them yea in each drunken Sot and the silliest prophane person This is as certainly their Tenet as that God Christ Spirit are within them and all other persons in the sense they hold But if they should say that openly which they believe and speak among themselves they would be the most ridiculous to say no worse people that breathe above ground SECT III. Thirdly They affirm the Scriptures to be within If so it is a great vanity to read them out of a Book and when I am perswaded to be herein of their mind I assure them so long as that shall last I will not be at the fruitless pains of looking into a Bible as my Monitor Fisher the best Scholar that ever professed Quakerism asserted this Ye have Moses and the Prophets within you Not in Latine I dare be confident neither had his Book mentioned in the margin been so besprinkled with that Language of the Beast for all his inspirations if it had not been first knockt and whipt into him it may be by some wicked tyrannical Pedagogue Yet here by the way observe that such a wicked thing may furnish with the gift of Tongues while the Quakers divine Spirit must be confined to speak in plain English or be dumb Another of the same mind is Parnel of whom I must give this commendation that he speaks his opinions openly and not in parables as the most of them who are afraid or ashamed that their opinions should behold the light any further than the interest they have obtained may secure their Authors but of all men Hypocrites are the most odious and dangerous for the Scripture is within and was read within before it was read without I would not wrong the Quakers as bad as they are and it is pity they should be wronged who wrong themselves more than enough if they mean by the Scripture the sense by them expressed I wish they said true and if within be in the heart i. e. not only known and readily produced out of the heart and men as a good man brings forth from thence good things but also esteemed loved with understanding I am sure they would be no Quakers It is a blessed thing to have this Word hid in the heart as David practised and as God commands but if by the Scripture they mean the dead Letter Ink and Paper as they call them when they list they would be but a bad and troublesom Inmate I do acknowledge with all my soul that to have the Scripture within in the sense of them yea and the words too is an inestimable blessing such a one as young Timothy and eloquent Apollos were crowned with and few of the Saints there are who have not the Scripture within in some good measure but alas memory is so weak and frall it will not hold all and so confused ever and anon that it is necessary to go to the Scripture without not only to get in more but also to repair decayed and broken notions of them and to be sure that our crazy imaginations by brooding upon the frame of them within have not hatched something of its own and adopted it Scripture which the Quakers are not a little guilty in But while I am commending the first part of their Tenet viz. that the Scripture is within supposing it taken in as good a sense as it may be I must not forget the latter part which hath the dregs and poison viz. and was read within before it was read without If by reading it within before without they intended it only of the Penmen of the Scriptures I would join with them and say so too but they intend nothing less but that in the light which every man hath within him there is the Scripture all and every part at least that may be of use if it had never been without I would willingly be resolved of a few things by those that are of this mind Wherefore did the gracious God expose the Prophets and Apostles to so many difficulties dangers and deaths for declaring the matters contained in the Scriptures if they were read and might be read by all men within Why did God with his own finger write the Ten Words or Commands and cause other of his Servants to write both them and the other parts of the Scripture Why doth he command to read the Scriptures and by reading and studying them to get them into the heart memory understanding Deut. 17. 19. And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them It was not to be with him as you commonly phrase it in him there is no such it in the Text but the Relative it hath for its Antecedent in the Verse next before he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites it shall be with him c. Why did Christ himself read out of the Book if it were within them Why did not God chide Josiah for not doing according to the Law as being guilty of wilful neglect before he found it in the Book why did God commend and reward his tenderness of heart in fearing when the Law was read out of the Book if he were so hard hearted as not to hear the Law within Why did Jesus Christ never rebuke the Jews for not heeding the Scripture within while he oft rebuked them for not heeding and believing the Scripture without these are enough and to spare to discover the vanity of this conceit The truth is the Scriptures were written with respect to us first without then within I would gladly hear any of the Quakers make a report of any of the Gospel truths contained in the Scriptures which you could assure me you never heard or read without or that you could all agree without conferring together in a Narrative of those Traditions which the Thessalonians were taught by word 2 Thess 2. 15. and of those many other things which Jesus did or some of them spoken of John 21. 25. which were not written this would be somewhat of conviction to us But you are unworthy beyond all men of the holy Scriptures who by such means as these not only take off others from reading them for their instruction but also deny the mediate and visible instruments and means of those notions you make such a noise and jingling with in the ears of men as if they were but home-born things SECT IV. Fourthly They affirm that there is no light in
light within in this spiritual war you cannot prosper nor prevail against him I have lighted on a proof of the latter part of my Charge before I was aware viz. for then it is dangerous to read the Scriptures lest you should be tempted to try some of those inviting Arms which that Magazine is stored with and so spoil all your prosperity and prevalence in your spiritual Warfare SECT II. However this shall not prevent the producing my intended proofs of the danger as the Quakers say that attend reading the Scriptures But seeing as the Quakers say we must try the Spirits by the Spirit let us try William Smith's spirit by Isaac Pennington's who speaking of knowledge gained by the Letter of the Scriptures speaks thus Making him wise and able there in his head to oppose truth and so bringing him into a state of condemnation wrath and misery beyond the Heathen and making him harder to be wrought upon by the light and power of truth than the very Heathen By opposing truth we must needs understand it of the Quakers truth and if reading the Scriptures and getting knowledge from or by them puts us into a bad condition both as rendring conversion difficult and our misery and condemnation great beyond the Heathen I scarce know what is more dangerous than reading the Scriptures But the comfort is it doth but render us harder to be wrought on to entertain the pernicious Guide and Saviour the Quakers light within and therefore is exceeding safe and necessary It follows in the same Author My upright desire to the Lord for you is that he would strip you of all your knowledge or wisdom of the Scriptures after the flesh Their meaning of after the flesh is that which comes not by immediate inspiration For those only are the Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God to whom they who were led by the Letter were ever enemies So Naylor doth as certainly say 't is dangerous to read the Scriptures to be led by them as it is truly dangerous and evil to be Enemies to the Children of God SECT III. That this abominable Tenet is the Quakers I know it sufficiently and that they look upon our adhering to Scripture light as the greatest adversary in the world to their adored light within But I love not the Quakers way of demonstration viz. we witness this and that but if you would know how they witness it it is only their own experience which is a dumb kind of witness while they can make no proof or testimony of it to another nor will ordinarily attempt it and so their witness is to themselves alone But my witnessing of what I here charge them with shall have more light in it that all that read it may be convinced of its truth Therefore take one instance more out of their famous Author W. P. or William Pen. But I will assure them they shall yet grope in the dark till they come into the daily obedience of the light and there rest contented to know only as they experience and not from a ravening comprehending brain that would in its unregenerated state grasp at the clear mysteries of the Kingdom into which fleshly comprehensions and notions can never enter but all must be as unlearned from their first birth education and traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned that is again become a little Child before the secrets of Gods Work come to be made known That W. P. of all others should talk at this rate is most ridiculous What! know only as they experience know what God is no farther than they experience Can we experience his Omnipotency his infiniteness which is not within the experience of all finite beings put together What! know the death by Spear and Nails of Iron or Steel and Cross of Wood of the man Christ Jesus which he suffered above 1600 years since only by experience What! know the life to come the judging of all men that are ever were or shall be by the Lord Jesus only by experience where is faith all the while what credit hath God with W. P that he will know him nor any thing he saith no further than he sees feels in his experience If none but Believers be Saints such as W. P. are professedly none if he know not that objects of faith and experience are contradistinct things he is very unfit to assure who they are that grope in the dark and is very unlikely to mend his confused scribling I shall not comment on his ravening comprehending brain a most affected phrase amongst the Quakers nor his clear mysteries as clear a contradiction as it is nor fleshly comprehensions as much untruth and nonsense as according to their meaning of it it comprehends for I have not room to spread all his rubbish What is to my present purpose is in the last part of his saying all must be as unlearned from their traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned c. Sure the Scripture knowledge being read knowledge or knowledge that comes by reading as one means is a most hateful thing to God that he will impart none of his secrets to those that will understand any thing by his written Word How came God to fall out at such an irreconcileable rate with his own off-spring his expressions of his mind contained in the holy Scriptures how can you have the face to call them holy Scriptures and yet make knowledge attained by reading them so nauseous to God that they shall be none of his Children that learn any knowledge by that Book or forgo it not all Did God write and cause it to be written and yet never intend we should read it or that reading it we should not believe a word on 't nor understand nor be the wiser for it Shall they be judged by the Law who lived under it and yet the knowledge of God thereby be a sin and hindrance to their salvation To what a height of wickedness and folly do they quickly grow who are poisoned with that abomination of holding the light in every mans conscience to be God Father Son Spirit Christ Scripture all But Mr. Pen what means your Latine and Greek your foreign Authors your attempted though mishapen Logick your quotations of so many Scriptures though some of them in a pitiful manner all to a bad end Did you learn all those things by immediate inspiration Had you them not by reading and tradition Could you tell that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies light rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies thick darkness but by tradition and reading But I smell your design you would have us throw away all the knowledge we have by reading or tradition 'till we come to be regenerate that is Quakers and then you are out of its danger But in the mean time you would have us without the Armour of light for whatsoever makes manifest is light that we may not be
understand the whole written Word as written that is the body of the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament Law and Gospel without distinction and by the Spirit the inward immediate teachings of the Spirit of God they are in both mistaken For it is as certain as that the following words are truth that by the Letter here is meant the Law as given forth by God from Mount Sinai and by the Spirit the Covenant of Grace especially as expressed in the New Testament under the administration of the Redeemer But if the ministration of death written and engraven on stones was glorious c. for if the ministration of condemnation be glory c. All these passages express and explain the same thing called the Letter in the 6. Verse and that it was the Law given forth by God before it was written not only as written the matter and manner of which was glorious but in terribleness insomuch that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake and it was death for any to touch the Mountain yea the Israelites were ready to dye with fear at the appearances of God on that Mount Sinai at the giving forth of the Law And as the manner of giving it forth by God so the matter of it was mortal nothing but death was written in the forehead of it going alone The Law worketh wrath That is the Law of meer Commandments And the Commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death for sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it slew me Thus it is plain what is meant by the Letter the Law of meer Commandments as given forth on Mount Sinai That by the Spirit is to be understood the Covenant of promise in the hand of the Mediator is as certain and not of the Scripture or written Word in general for in the 6. Verse it is opposed to the Letter of the New Testament not of the Letter that is the Gospel not the Law and it is called the Spirit in three respects First As the New Testament or Covenant of promise especially in the hand of Christ promiseth and conveyeth soul-quickning grace in a good measure to sanctifie and enable and dispose the soul to keep the Laws of God Secondly As by the New Testament or Covenant life and spirit comfort and refreshment is put into the hearts of poor drooping sinners under the sense of the severity of the Law and their liableness to the punishment of it Thirdly And chiefly the intent and mind of the Spirit in the terrible dispensation of the Law of Works was by discovering mans woful estate to make the promises of the Gospel or the new Covenant sweet and welcome and to put souls on embracing the redemption through Christ So that the matter of the pure New Testament or Covenant in the hand of the Mediator was that which God especially aimed at to promote by the Letter or the meer Law of Commandments in which alone there was not the least appearance of mercy or mans welfare implied CHAP. XII The Quakers hold it is a sin and the sin of Idolatry to believe and live according to the instructions and holy examples expressed in and by the Scriptures except we have them by immediate inspiration and at first hand as the Apostles received them SECT I. I Am now come to the highest round of their Ladder and I know not what one step of sin beyond it except the unpardonable one they could charge those with who walk by the light of Scripture day Samuel whose rebuke to Saul for his sin in the matter of the Amalekites was expressed in the keenest and highest terms compared his sin but to Witchcraft Iniquity and Idolatry And if this charge againstus were as true as it is that they so charge us it is high time to serve the Scriptures as Hezekiah served the Brazen Serpent And brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the Children of Israel did burn Incense to it and he called it Nehushtan that is Brass nothing of a Deity in it but a little piece of Brass So it were fit the Scriptures should be demolished as having nothing of divine authority stamped upon them When I have established this Charge by the mouths of two or three Witnesses it will be time to leave off pouring in more where the measure is already running over All people may search the Scriptures and see how you have been deceived by your Teachers who have caused you to seek your lost God in carnal and dead observations which they have not any Scripture for Who this lost God should be except Jesus Christ who is ascended above the visible Heavens is not to be imagined by those who are acquainted with the Quakers Tenets and Phrases as will appear more plainly where I treat on their Idolatry and if so as there is reason to believe there are two grand parts of Idolatry we are charged with in complying with the Scripture Precepts and Institutions as in Preaching Prayer Church-order Baptism Lords-supper The first is a false object of worship which all of them that ever I met with in print or otherwise will not deny that to be which is given to the man Christ Jesus who was crucified between two Thieves at Jerusalem The second is false worship for the matter which is Idolatry although it were intended to the true God as the object the sacrificing of Children was intended ultimately to the true God yet it was gross Idolatry And they have built the high places of Tophet which is in the Valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their Sons and Daughters in the fire which I commanded them not neither came it into my heart But you will say how is this charge for walking according to Scripture instructions and examples seeing he doth expressly exhort to trying by the Scriptures whether they do not thus I answer that they take not any thing in the Scripture to be obliging but what comes by immediate inspiration as the Scriptures were given to the Prophets and Apostles and whatever we do however consonant to the precepts there expressed is all contrary to the Scriptures with them as I have proved already if not by immediate inspiration and motion of the Spirit If this be not clear we shall pump clear by and by And this is Babylon the mother of Harlots viz. to read and practice as the Saints did and the Apostles in the Scripture of the New Testament and the abomination of all uncleanness That many Children have been brought forth of flesh and blood and of the will of man that is our choice and not passive obedience to the motions of the thing within which is the birth that persecutes the son and heir And not one of them must stand though ever so seemingly glorious for the day is come and the true birth is
may a little explain this last Instance Which obedience stands not in any thing seen from man or by man done thereby to imitate or do the like for that is two obediences That as the same Father calls for the same obedience in spirit so in the same spirit doth the believer offer up himself I leave you to brood on these wild and worse sayings I know their mystery and depth of Satan but to spread them all in the light will ask more Paper than I am willing to write out in this Book Another expression and quality of the Quakers justifying righteousness is That it is within them not without them Christ being within there is justification Now is the life the faith the obedience of the Son the thing which is of value in us And by this power in us all our works are wrought for us So that the righteousness which Christ wrought before we were born even in the dayes of his flesh is to the Quakers a dead thing and Christ was mistaken shrewdly when he tells his Father That he had finished the work which he had given him to do intending thereby the last scene of death which he was then just entering upon and therefore speaks of all as accomplished Another notion they have for the countenance of the opinion of justifying righteousness to be within them not without them and wrought in the time of their life not by Christ in the dayes of his flesh above 1600 yeares since is That because the Scripture speaks of justifying by faith and faith being within and wrought in the Saints in this life and in every individual believer therefore the justifying righteousness is within the believer This is abused by the Papists to prove that works justifie because faith is a work or act of the soul though that be false for all grace consists essentially in the habit and disposition not in acts for else a man must be graceless when he is fast asleep for then he is not in action nor grace in act But the Quakers though they embrace many of the Popish Tenets that are erroneous they want wit to manage them as they But to my purpose This justification is by the faith of Christ within for all the holy men of God were justified by their faith and that faith is in the heart For the right understanding of this we are to consider faith as a disposition and habit and therein a principal part of the new creature This disposition of trusting in relying on adhering to God hath its acts suitable to its self Now the acts of faith either respect its fruits and effects other parts of sanctification as love patience self-denial c. or its objects and aims Faith hath for its immediate objects the promises of God leaning trusting hoping according to them it is said to lean on the Lord trust hope in the Lord its aims and ends for which are the good things wrapt up in the Covenant of grace Now faith is not accounted for righteousness with respect to it self as a holy disposition or its acts as holy acts but as it looks on takes hold of and trusts in the righteousness of Christ It is no rare thing for the act to be denominated from the object Though faith which justifies justifies as it hath for its object Jesus Christ who is the righteousness of God and so though faith be within the righteousness of Christ which justifies is not within for faith justifies as it looks at somewhat without and above our selves Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud justified by faith in Jesus Christ Faith is the evidence of things hoped for Again Faith is made the condition of justification and that not only as it may be considered singly but as it includes the whole body of sanctification in some parts and measures of it But to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name So that faith is a receiving of Christ who is both Prince and Saviour Lord of life and Prince of peace and receiving him as such is conditional of this acceptation with God and so may be said to justifie as it performs the condition of justification on our part But if faith were the meritorious cause of justification it were a justification by works And if faith justified looking no further then its self as it is subjected in the soul it were a strange faith indeed that hath its self for its object and then a man should believe in himself I might entertain you longer than your patience will hold out in pregnant proofs out of their own writings That as Christs obedience so his sufferings upon which depend our justification are all transacted within the heart of a believer his agony his crucifying and death c. But I will give you but one Instance lest I leave too little room for what I am willing to be ample in the Subjects of the succeeding Chapters We believe that Christ in us doth offer up himself a living sacrifice to God for us by which the wrath and justice of God is appeased towards us This is instead of many though their Books do generally speak of the sufferings of Christ as propitiatory to be done over in every person before conversion And the maddest humour of all is That they make the seed or the light or Christ being crucified in the soul by the power of sin and lust to be the crucifying and death of Christ by which God is appeased Do not they which dwell there in spiritual Sodom put his flesh to pain crucifying it in and to themselves Penningtons Questions p. 29. Take one Scripture to guard you against all the fancies of this sort and to close this Chapter But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down at the right hand of God from thence expecting till his enemies he made his footstool for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified CHAP. XVI The Quakers disown and deny the Christ of God and set up a false Christ in his room and stead and attribute all to that false Christ which is due and pcculiar to the true Christ SECT I. THis is the grand and root-errour of the Quakers that great non-such lye which travels with and brings forth that Babel and confused heap of errours where with their Religion if they have any such thing is abounding First They disown and deny the man Christ Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary who was of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh who was nailed to the Cross and crucified at Jerusalem without the gates to be the Saviour of believers and he who wrought that righteousness and underwent those sufferings by which mans redemption was wrought This we certainly know and can never call the bodily
But I proceed to further proof He that will worship Christ in his fulness in the majesty of his glory dominion and power must learn to bow down at the lowest appearances of his Light and Spirit even at the feet of Jesus He calls it worship by Christ they all mean the light within and the lowest appearances must be bowed at which is the least measure of the light within Priest To say that Christ is within man is to worship angels and not to hold the head Christ this he makes the Priest to say but whether any did so or no it matters not to my purpose but his answer Answ Which none comes to witness Christ the head but who witness him in them that the angels must worship him that died and suffered at Jerusalem and they that worship him in them worship not the angels and they that are not worshiping him in them are worshiping Men Devils or Angels By the Christ that dyed and suffered at Jerusalem they intend nothing less than the Son of Mary I have already shewed they utterly deny him to be the Christ and they own Christ suffering at Jerusalem in no other sense than they say he died suffered or was crucified in every one of themselves and that you may be convinced of the truth of what I here affirm mark what followes They are false ministers who preach Christ without and bid people believe in him as he is in heaven above but they are the true ministers that preach Christ within C. This is a great difference in their doctrine for the one to pretend to preach Christ without and another preacheth him within Father Yes it doth make a great difference and hath no more fellowship together than the East hath with the West So that the Quakers Christ the light within is not only some part of the true Christ who may as Christ be without as well as within them but they are at such odds one with another that they can have no more fellowship than East and West and this is the Christ they worship and to worship any other as Fox saith is to worship Men Devils or Angels Thus I have made good my second argument and thereby proved them gross Idolaters And there is somewhat in their Idolatry that is not common Idolatry for it is apostatical Idolatry which is so earnestly and with such an emphasis exclaimed against by the Lord Hath aâ—â—tion Changed their Gods which are yet no Gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye Heavens at this be ye horribly afraid be ye verily desolate saith the Lord. And it is no less agravated in that while the Heathen who had not their means to know God yet were gross Idolaters and as Pen saith true enough worshiped as the Aegyptians an Ape a Crocodile yea herbs almost any thing these wretches for better they are not worship that natural conscience that Spirit of man which is not only a creature an ignorant creature but full of darkness error pride all manner of Sin and worst of all a blasphemer of the God of Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ the dear Redeemer But what now doth it boot them to say they worship and own the Creator and Christ and the Lord and only him and such like and what folly is it after such evidences for any to say sure they are not so bad their principles are of a more tolerable at least stamp they are civil zealous people for religion in their way how will nothing but drunkenness or robbery of men in their outward goods and such like vices render men wicked will not the highest affronts to Heaven must men be believed rather than God in his word which hath spoken of such persons to arise 1 John 2. Chap. and many other places See how God excused those in the second of Jer. in the 19 23 and 24. Verses Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast for saken the LORD thy GOD and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of hostes How canst thou say I am not polluted I have not gone after Baalim see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done thou art a swift dromedarie traversing her wayes A wild Ass used to the wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away all they that seek her will not wear themselves in her moneth they shall find her CHAP. XVII The Quakers deny the resurrection of the dead SECT I. I Doubt not but all who are not infatuated with the Quakers spirit to a perverting the genuine sense of almost all the expressions of principles of faith will understand by the resurrection of the dead the raising again to life and from the dust and corruption the bodies of men and women however disposed of after their natural death or dissolution The Quakers will deny their guilt of this Charge and come off with an Allegorical evasion They will tell you that they believe and own the resurrection of the dead yea of the dead body whereas in truth their opinion and meaning is quite another thing than the Ordinary acceptation of that doctrine as will appear by the instances following And hath no will nor wisdom nor reason left in him but all baptized down into the sufferings of Christ and there the power kills him and gives him life again and so man layes down his own life and takes uâ— life in Christ in which life he comes to be raised in the resurrection of Christ I must confess this account is like his who though he may have too much will is utterly void of reason But he that shall own no other resurrection of the body than what Smith expresses comes under that severe rebuke of the apostle who concerning the faith have erred saying that the resurrection is past already and have destroyed the faith of some The foresaid Author saith farther Quest But must man pass through death and rise again while he is in the Body Answ Yes for except he be regenerated and born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And therefore he must die to the first Adams flesh and be quickned and raised again in the second Adams Spirit And so in the resurrection and life enter the Kingdom as a little Child You see here plainly that their resurrection of the body is but their regeneration and this is fulfilled while they are in the body But above all that I have read of the Quakers Fisher is the best skilled in the allegorizing of the resurrection But if you will not be admonished nor perswaded by Moses and the Prophets within you neither will you be perswaded by such of us who were once dead in Sin with you but are now risen to life by