the denial of 2 Tim. 2. 17. Who concerning the truth have erred saying that the Resurrection is past already and overthrow the Faith of some We therefore who are taught and believe the written Word of God and make that the Rule of our Faith and Manners do own and profess a Resurrection of our mortal bodies at the last day when Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God whom the Heavens shall contain till in his own good time he shall think fit to put an end to the Generations of men and the frame of this visible World shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and having called the dead from their graves shall visibly distinguish the righteous from the wicked taking them up with him into Heaven to join with his glorious Host of Light and sentencing these into everlasting fire which heavy doom and vengeance shall presently be executed upon them for through the stupendious Operation of the Son of God the Earth that now is with all the works therein shall be on fire and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and all wicked men and devils shall be plunged into that Lake that burns for ever Knowing therefore these terrours of the Lord the Ministers of the Gospel perswade men by a speedy repentance to turn unto God to mortifie and subdue all their carnal lusts and corruptions and to be regenerated and born again in the spirit of their minds to cast off the old man with his deeds and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness because God will bring every man into judgment and they must look to give an account after they are dead of all that they have done in the body whether good or bad But it is a very great argument to me that these Familistical Quakers believe none of these things in good earnest because I find these arguments of the Immortality and future subsistence of every mans Soul of the satisfaction and death of Jesus for the sins of men upon the Cross and his intercession for us now in Heaven of the Resurrection of the Body and the general day of Judgment at the end of the World either not at all made use of by them or but lightly touched and that in a mystical and allegorical way Whereas the holy Apostles did in their Sermons most commonly make use of some or more of these general heads according to the capacities or needs and necessities of their Auditors As for example what can be more effectual for the begetting sincere holiness in men than to press upon them the consideration of the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ who out of meer good will gave his life a ransom for the sins of all the world and that he is now an Advocate and Intercessor in Heaven for those that believe on his Name And if they will not be moved by love and kindness then to advise them to look to their Interest and Advantage forasmuch as all men must give an Account to God at the general Day of Judgment for all their Actions and shall receive either Reward or Punishment as they have been either good or evil and therefore since their Souls are immortal and live after their Bodies are dead it behooves them to provide for them in time and secure them a happy Entrance and Admission into the other world Would not this be much better than to make a long Harangue and nonsensical Story of the Light within and coming to the Witness within which their Auditors understand nothing of in the way they propound it and at last concluding like mad People with downright railing against every man that is not of their mind which way of Preaching the Gospel is very much different from the manner of the Apostles and such as the true Ministers of God in England desire never to be guilty of Learning I have now made it more than a probable Conjecture that although these modern Familists the Quakers make a great noise about Christ within them and the Light of God yet they are mere Sadduces really denying the Immortality and Life of the Soul after the death of the Body and therefore so much more carefully to be avoided by every man that tenders his Happiness in the other world for though they beguile the simple and unwary yet the more prudent and understanding person who is able to dive into the bottom of their Errors and Heresies will undoubtedly confess it to be a piece of beastly sottishness undermining the very foundation of all Religion in the World CHAP. V. That the Quakers are dangerous Enemies of the Civil Magistrate WE have seen their Opposition to the Church and their Disaffection to the Ministry of the Gospel let us now see if they are any better-natur'd to the Civil Magistrate And here you shall find them dissembling their Opinions and because something must be said as well to satisfie the minds of the common People whom they delude as to keep themselves out of the reach and cognizance of the Laws of the Land they pretend a kind of a partial subjection and obedience which when strictly examined is indeed no obedience at all And herein they shew themselves as in all other things excellent Proficients in the School of H. N. who in his Exhortat speaks thus That his Instructions of the upright and Christian Baptism his crying voice c. These may be confessed among the adulterous and sinful Generation and the false hearts of the Scripture-learned for so he calls all that are not of his way but says he ye shall not talk of your secrets or utter your Mysteries openly or nakedly in the hearing of your young Children or Disciples but spare them not in the ears of your Elders which can understand the same or are able to bear or away with the sound thereof In like manner the Quakers conceal the Depth and Mystery of their way from their new-made Proselytes and when they must say something for satisfaction of the world they speak so doubtfully that their Expressions seem not to mean what they carry in them But to descend to some Particulars They are dangerous Enemies to the Civil Magistrate 1. Because their Principles tend to the exciting of Sedition and Rebellion In the Book called The Principles of Truth p. 58. they say thus Such Magistrates who be proud and lofty who rule not for God but for themselves who love the praise of men c. such Magistrates they deny and testifie against This at the first looks very innocently and harmlesly but let the Reader beware how he swallows it for there is Death in the Pot. The Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. commands thus Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and
burden of it But what is this to immediate infusions and inspirations in Prayer SECT V. Now as for Baptism it is no wonder if they throw that by as a useless carnal Ordinance for they rejecting the Gospel of Christ Jesus and pretending one of their own by immediate Revelation do but follow the conduct and guide of their own Opinions in denying Obedience to a positive Command of that Lord whose Rule and Dominion they have cast off and disallow They that refuse and despise the Governour will not stick to slight his Laws and these men undervaluing and contemning the Person of Jesus Christ the Son of God and Judge of Men and Angels will easily contemn and vilifie his Commands as things of no value and moment But the Christian Church has always looked upon Baptism as a rite of Initiation into a Religion and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ finding it in use among the Jews adopted it into his Religion and made it subservient to holy and blessed purposes under the Gospel And being a Ceremony neither burdensom nor offensive he has commanded it to be used by every one that professes Christianity whereby we enter and are admitted into the Church of Christ and we know of no other door set open under the Gospel for Salvation but this Matth. 28. 19. Go and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost So Saint Mark Chap. 16. 15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believes and is baptized shall be saved but he that believes not shall be damned And Christ says expresly Joh. 3. 5. That Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God When therefore the Apostles had received this Commission from the Lord Jesus they baptized every one that desired to enter into Christs Religion and lest these Deceivers should apply this Baptism to a mystical sense the Acts of the Apostles will furnish us with Examples enough that the Apostles baptized with the outward element of Water Acts 2. 41. They that gladly received his word were baptized Acts 10. 47. 48. Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Mark here they were baptized with the Spirit and yet needed the Baptism of Water And he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord. Acts 8. 36. See here is Water says the Eunuch to Philip what hinders me to be baptized And v. 38. They went down both into the water both Philip and the Eunuch and he baptized him And this Custom of admitting men into Christs Family and Religion by Baptism hath been used successively in the Church of Christ in obedience to his Command and conformity to the Apostles Practice without any Interruption from their time to this very day And because 't is likewise necessary that every good Christian be furnished with knowledge to defend his Religion against the Adversary I shall answer what they bring to seduce the ignorant People from this Institution of our Saviour Jesus Christ And though what the Quaker urges for himself be nothing to this purpose yet because it will manifest to the world that there is nothing in Quakery but Folly and Cavils I will produce it He says therefore that Baptism is a Figure or Type and therefore now not to be used and for this he brings 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto even Baptism also doth now save us Which place does very much confirm the use and practice of Baptism for the Apostle speaking of Noah and his Family being saved in the Ark from perishing by Water answerable to which Baptism says he now saves us not only the external sign or washing with water but the answer of a good Conscience the being baptized into the Death of Christ and rising with him to newness of life Now if the washing with water together with the answer of a good Conscience save us then it ought still to be used For if the Apostle had here denied the baptizing with water there had been no Analogy or correspondence in his speech but he expresly says that as Noah was saved by Water so answerable to that are Christians by Baptism But these Heretics would fain separate the sign and the thing signified which the Apostle does not SECT VI. By the same Diabolical Spirit wherewith they are possessed they lay aside the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as a thing too carnal for such high flown and conceited Spiritualists as they are But I desire those that are not yet taken in their snares nor bewitched with their enticing and subtle words to look back to Christs own Institution and if they have any fear of God or love to that Saviour who redeemed them to consider seriously with what confidence they can deny so plain a Command and cast off a Duty to the practice o which not only Christ Jesus the great Law-giver but their own particular needs and necessities bind and oblige them In Matth. 26. v. 26. 27. we have Christs Institution of this holy Sacrament how that He took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body Then he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it St. Mark Chap. 14. repeats the very same and says They all drank of it But St. Luke Chap. 22. 19. and St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 24. add these words Do this in remembrance of me the full importance of which words is First a Commission given by our Lord Jesus to his Apostles to continue this Ceremony now used by him as an holy Ceremony or Sacrament in the Church for ever Secondly a Direction that for the manner of observing it they should do to other Christians as he had now done to them i. e. Take bless break this Bread take and bless this Cup and then distribute it to others settling this on them as a part of their Office a branch of that Power left them by him and by them communicable to whom they should think fit after them Thirdly a specifying the end to which this was designed a commemoration of the Death of Christ a representing his Passion to God and a coming before him in his Name first to offer our Sacrifices of Supplications and Praises in the name of the crucified Jesus as of old both among Jews and Heathens all their Sacrifices were rites in and by which they supplicated God And secondly to commemorate that his daily continual Sacrifice or Intercession for us at the right hand of his Father now in heaven It is not my purpose to make here a Discourse of the Sacrament but to shew that Christ by his Institution of it intended it to continue in his Church till his coming again to Judgment and that
this Office of Administring it was by our Lord Jesus bestowed and settled upon his Apostles and that they planting of a Church which should continue after their Death should appoint and ordain Successors to themselves to preside and officiate in that Church and particularly to administer this Sacrament to the People by way of Office to do as here Christ did And this not in a Mystical and Allegorical but Literal Sense so that though it be true that he that eateth not Christs Flesh and drinketh not his Bloud has no Life in him yet is this to be done by the partaking of the outward Bread and Wine and by our communicating of that according to Christs Institution we partake of his Body and Bloud in a Spiritual manner and all other benefits of his Death and Passion So that these Apostates and Heretical Persons by their Allegories and Mystical meanings would bereave the Christian World of the choicest Mystery of Religion in which we are confirmed and assured of the Pardon of our Sins and by Gods free remission the burdned and distressed Soul is refreshed and we receive further supplies and increase of Grace and the Spirit of God to enable us to do that which he will graciously in Christ accept at our hands i. e. to serve him in holiness and renewed Righteousness and to impower us if we be not wanting to our selves and to our own best hopes and Interests to continue and persevere thus to our lives end And now let all men consider seriously how heinous a thing it is Schismatically to separate from the Church and how grosly they are cheated and abused by these deceitful Quakers and imposed upon against the plain Sense and Current of the Holy Scripture and how they hope to look that Jesus with comfort in the Face at the dreadful Day of Judgment whose sacred Institutions they now vilifie and contemn Christ saith Eat this bread and drink this wine in remembrance of me and Saint Paul says that as oft as we shall eat this bread and drink this cup we do one to another annuntiate or proclaim the death of the Lord till he come again to judge us But these Fanatic Spiritualists would persuade us that this Communion is Heathenish and Abomination Now judge whom we are to follow in this matter whether Christ and his Apostles or these deceitful Whifflers For Christ and his Apostles did corporally eat and drink the material Bread and Wine and left command to his Church that it should so be done and that this Order was observed Saint Paul plainly shews 1 Cor. 11. where he sets down the manner of Christs Institution of this Holy Sacrament and rectifies some abuses the Corinthians were guilty of CHAP. III. Of the Holiness of Times Things and Persons under the Gospel BEcause the Church of God hath ever set apart some Times Things and Persons in a more immediate relation to God and his Service and that these seducing Familists persuade the People that all these are equally common with others and so no difference to be put between one day and another one thing and another or one person and another though in the nearest relation to God and his Service but that the Christian Sabbath is no more than another day the Church no more than a Stable or Barn nor a Minister or Euangelical Priest than another man as appears by their following many times their usual Imployments and Trades on a Sunday their despight and scorn cast upon the material Edifices or Churches wherein Divine Service is celebrated calling them Steeple-houses in derision and the reviling Gods Ministers by the names of Baals Priests Hirelings Serpents and whatever their black and impure Hearts and Mouths can think and utter I shall therefore for the sake of those ignorant People who are not yet drawn away nor bewitched with their Sorceries and Inchantments shew plainly and distinctly the Reasonableness of these things When God created Man he wrote this Truth on his heart that he was a Creature and therefore acknowledging Gods Sovereignty and Dominion over all the Works of his hands he must likewise confess that God has a Right and Propriety in every thing from his Sovereign Majesty and Dominion which can never be alienated from him or he ever dispossessed of Since then God by Royal Bounty has not only given Man his Being but likewise draws out this Existence which is the Time and Duration of it and enriched him with various Gifts and Benefits such as the free Use and Enjoyment of all earthly Creatures he is obliged and bound to pay some Service Duty and Fealty to this great Lord of the World and must return him back something of all that he hath given him But lest this should be left to the frail and mutable will of Man who being possessed of these Benefits might forget the Lord therefore God has expresly declared how and in what sort he shall hold and enjoy all these Blessings that is So that God the great Lord have a Rent or Portion reserved out of them to himself that thereby Man might still acknowledge Gods Sovereignty and his own Dependency upon him Now the Benefits God has conferred upon Man they are 1. The Time or Duration of his Life 2. The Place of his Habitation 3. The Means of susteining his bodily Life upon Earth Out of all these God must have his Honorary Part That is since God has given us our Beings and draws them out in length and continues our Life to us we owe in Justice some portion of this time to God So likewise since God has given Man so wide a place for his dwelling as the whole Earth he must allot some place some part of this great space for God And lastly since all Creatures are given Man for his own Use and Benefit 't is fit that God likewise have his Rent out of what we possess and enjoy SECT I. In the fourth Commandment God designed the seventh day for his Service and Worship For the Worship of Almighty God being once setled in all the Parts and Duties of it it necessarily follows that some time should be set apart for the more special performance of it And this Commandment being Moral as all the rest of the Decalogue are a Symbol of which was their being written by the finger of God in Tables of Stone to denote their eternal Permanency and Morality we are as much bound to the Observation of it as to its main Importance as to the sixth or seventh I say we are bound to the Observation of it as to the Equity and Morality of it And from this we conclude 1. That it is reasonable there should be a time set apart for Gods Worship For we being commanded to worship honour and serve God it is impossible to do it but within the Comprehension of some time or other 2. One day in seven is time little enough to be allotted for the more special Service of God