Thirty Copies and all differing in fine there are many Thousands of various Readings Now let 's Dialogue a little upon Supposition only Quaker If by Interpretation who shall interpret Meer Man Anabaptist No. Q. The Light within A. No. Q. The Spirit A. No. Q. The Church A. What Church Q. Shall Right Reason interpret A. Yes sayes T.H. Q. I Query Which of them is the Rule And when that 's found out and determined then let T. Hicks prove that it is unquestionably true and has remained Uncorrupted through every Generation And by that time he has done all this he shall have done a great deal towards our Satisfaction But what is this Right Reason A. 'T is a Faculty in Man rectified Q. Very well But who has this rectified Faculty A. Thomas Hicks say Q. Has none it but he A. Yes Q. Have none Right Reason but such A. It was an old Saying Dip or Damn but Interest has taught us more Discretion Q. Well then Others may have Right Reason that are not dipped A. We say so whatever we think among our selves Q. What 's the peculiar benefit of Dipping A. Much every way Q. But which way A. We are brought into Church-Fellowship Q. Are you brought into Fellowship with God by it A. No I cannot say so Q. No! what 's your Fellowship worth then the Saints Fellowship was in the Light and the true Church-Fellowship was in Spirit What do you receive when you are dipt A. Nothing Q Are you no better A. No. Q Why I once thought you received the Holy Ghost out of hand A. I thought so too but was Mistaken Q. Why wert thou dipt then A. To fulfil the Scripture Q. But what led thee to it A My own desire Q. Is not that Will-Worship A. What to do as the Scripture exhorts Q. How knowest thou it exhorted to it A. I thought so Q. Is that enough Where 's your being lead by God's Spirit But to our Business Q. How shall I know Tho. Hicks has this Reason before mention'd A. He loftily sayes so Q. But is that sufficient Well but where is this Right Reason A. In Men. Q. Is it so Then it seems that which gives the true Knowledge of the Scripture is in Man But tell me honestly Do ye believe this Right Reason may Err A. No For then it were not Right Reason if it could be Wrong Q. Well argued But if a Man Errs is it not the Fault of Right Reason A. By no means Q. Thou speakest honestly But why then does T. Hicks charge the Light the Quakers profess with every short-sighted imperfect Saying or Action of this or any other Generation A. Does he Q. Yes it is the great Drift of his Books A. Truly that 's not fair Q. Honestly said But if this Right Reason cannot Err then Man cannot Err A. No that does not follow for Man may not submit to it Q. Why may Man have something in him that cannot Err and he not be Unerrable A. Yes Q Rightly said But why then does T. Hicks conclude so of â—â— A. It is unfairly done Q. Very well But you say that this Right Reason is part of Man's Soul or I am mistaken see Dial. pag. 32. If so then Man's Soul must be Infallible A. Oh Infallible that word affrights us What Infallible Pray what 's Infallible Q. Poor Man I see it scares thee indeed Why Unerrable and Infallible are all one Yea Right Reason is Infallible by the same Reason that it cannot be Wrong A. But the Popes talk of being Infallible are not you like them Q. Never the more like them for that Talking and Being so are Two Things Men should not deny the true Christ because of an Imposture nor any fear Infallibility because the Pope makes Market with such Pretences If thou art not certain of what thou believest thou hast not that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints for that was Certain and therefore Infallible A. Why Is Certain and Infallible all one Q. Yes Certainty and Infallibility is the same But what think'st thou of the Light in this Case under Debate for either it is the Rule or it is given to understand use the Rule or else it s given for nothing A. 'T is not the Rule we are taught to say and yet we cannot conclude it to be given for nothing Q. Very well then it must be given in order to understand and use the Rule Now supposing the Scriptures be the Rule that which informs me of my Rule and teaches me how to use it must be greater then my Rule in that it teaches me to know and do that my Rule cannot do of it self I query then If this Light be not my Rule how and which Way I come to understand and use this Rule So that it is eminently the Rule because of its Present Immediate and Certain Direction and Knowledge and the Scripture at most but a kind of Declaratory and Secondary Rule and therefore subject to the Holy Spirit in the Apostles and primitive Christians who took not Measures by it when it distinguisht the Ceremonial from the Moral Precepts so intermixed in the 19th of Leviticus and other places but their Minds being exercised and guided by that Holy Living Rule they left off or continued for a time several Jewish Observations as there might be a Service therein signified to them from that Living Rule The Light and Spirit of God then is both THE Rule of Faith and Guide of Life superior to the Scriptures and That by which only they can be rightly known believed and fulfilled A Doctrine Evangelical and not disowned by those first Protestants who testified that no Man could understand the Scriptures given forth by Inspiration but by a measure of the same Spirit To conclude Historical Faith Scripture is a Rule of but Doctrinal and Saving Faith the Light and Spirit of God can only be the Rule of for that which giveth Faith is only that which rules Faith 3 But says he how could you have known that Swearing in any Case were Vnlawful if it had not been written Swear not at all Is not then that Scripture your Rule in this Case But this shews both the Ignorance of T. Hicks in the Writings of the best Gentiles and his Acknowledgment of the Light 's Sufficiency in case we are able to prove Swearing disallowed and dispractâ—ised before Christ's Coming in the Flesh The Seven Wise Men famous among the Greeks and Contemporaries above five hundred years before Christ came in the Flesh esteemed Swearing but a Remedy against Corruption in Evidence To be sure they both believ'd and exhorted People to that State which needed it not Socrates plainly sayes that there is a Life more firm and unquestionable then an Oath Consequently Swearing not the best State And Xenocrates was had in that Veneration in Athens for his exceeding Virtue that the Magistrates thought it a questioning of his Honesty to offer
Bread and Wine They were both Shadows and both Elementary and Perishable And though the Letter were more immediatly fore-running and introductory of the Substance it self yet not to be perpetuated For a Continuance of them had been a Judaizing of the Spiritual Evangelical Worship The Gospel would have been a State of Figures Types and Shadows which to assert or practise is as much as in such lies to pluck it up by the Roots The Appellation Ordinances of Christ I therefore renounce as Unscriptural and Inevangelical Besides a Spirit of Whoredom from God gross Apostacy into Superstition and Idolatry yea a Spirit of Hypocrisie Persecution and Murder and all manner of Wickedness has got them and covered It self with them Jezebel-like the old Enemy of God's Faithful Prophets and People And we can testifie from the same Spirit by which Paul renounced Circumcision that they are to be rejected as not now required neither have they since the False Church espoused and exalted them ever been taken up afresh by God's Command or in the Leading of his Eternal Spirit And the Lord will appear to gather People out of them but never to establish or keep People in them no they served their time and now the False Church has got them yea the Whore has made Merchandize with them and under such Historical Shadowy and Figurative Christianity has she managed her Mystery of Iniquity unto the beguiling Thousands whose Simplicity the Lord has and will have tender Regard to But they Baptized after the Holy Ghost was poured out True And they also would not eat the Flesh of things Strangled nor Blood They Circumcised and Purified themselves in the Temple and had Vows after the Pouring forth of the Holy Ghost By which we may learn that Condescension Practice are quite differing things from Institution else Paul would never have said He was not sent to Baptize i. e. with Water whose Commission doubtless went as far as any of the rest But they brake Bread and Paul received it from God True But Paul never enjoyned it He said As often as ye do it c. which is very wide of any Institution Again Read the Chapter fore-going 11. or 10. where he tells the Wise Men of another Bread then that he spoke to the Weak of who eat and drank to Excess not discerning the Lord's Body Further Let it be considered that no other Apostle recommends these things nor Paul himself to either the Romans the Corinthians in his first Epistle the Galatians Ephesians Philippians Collossians Thessalonians Hebrews if his nor to Timothy Titus and Philemon when he set down the Order of the Churches What an Over-sight might one then say according to T.H. was it in him not only not to press and charge but not to mention the Sacraments of the Church necessary to Salvation as they are called and esteemed Would it not have been accounted a great Neglect and Defect in Calvin if he had been silent to any Church instituted in his Time and Form or to say He thanked God he baptized none but such and such Yet how full are his and their Epistles of Divine Exhortation Information Reproof Instruction and the like Is it not very Wicked then in T. Hicks to tell the World of our Denying to keep God's Commandments in general because we Refuse to practise these Shadowy Temporary Perishing Things especially at this time a day after such an Abuse of them and that the Gentile-Spirit has troden them under â—oot so long being part of that Outward Courts of Religion given to them which were left out at the measuring of the Evangelical Temple of God Rev. 21 Besides what Authority have these Men for Using them To do as Men would be done to concerns all in all Ages but to practise Figures and Shadows in Religion we know does not A Church cannot be without one yet without the other Would it not be Ridiculous in any Man to adorn himself either as some eminent Commander or other Officer because it is required by Office or Place of every such one that really is so The Apostles baptized therefore must T. H The Apostles anointed with Oyl therefore should T. H Nay Christ washed his Disciples Feet telling them they ought or it was their Duty so to do one to the other therefore should T. H The Believers sold their Possessions and had all things Common but will T.H. either imitate or enjoyn this upon his Hearers But since T.H. and his Adherents do not several such things once done and enjoyned to as Blood Things Strangled Anointing with Oyl Washing of Feet c. why are they not to be as much blamed as we are for omitting that of Bread and Wine Or why should not they rather desist Practising of those with the rest and that upon the same terms I will warrant T.H. for going to Synagogues Decrâ—ing Hirelings Preaching Freely Exposing himself to all Hardship for the Gospel's sake which the Apostles did To conclude God never condescended to use such Things to lead to and hold forth the hidden Substance that People should rest there and much less in a Way of Opposition to the Substance it self such an Use of them has caused God to loath them and enjoyn us to testifie against them Remember the Instituted Brazen-Serpent of old c. what became of them in the like case We would be glad to see more Honesty Meekness and Godly-mindedness in our Opposers though there were less of this Imitation They are for such Commands as they call them which Hypocrites Apostates the False Church yea the Devil himself can come into but as for those that concern the Daily Cross and Victory over Sin they can Wickedly plâ—â—d a kind of Liberty from at least to their Unconquerable Infirmities as they are willing to believe them But we testifie against the False Church whose Faith Worship stands not in the Life Power and Spirit of God however deckt with the ancient Attire of the True for her finest Forms out of the Life and Power of God we renounce and as becomes the true Evangelical Church we assert That he is not a Jew or Christian who is one Outwardly neither is that now the Circumcision Baptism and Supper which is Outward but he is the Jew or Christian that is one Inwardly and that is the Circumcision that is of the HEART that the Baptism which is of the HOLY GHOST and FIRE and that the Supper which is of the BREAD THAT COMETH DOWN FROM ABOVE which gives Eternal Life to as many as eat thereof and that is of the WINE WHICH IS TO BE DRUNK NEW WITH CHRIST IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN Luke 17.20 Much might be said in this matter but I refer the Reader to the Book entituled Quakerism a new Nick-Name for old Christianity However let it be noted that our Adversary is for Will-Worship and not the Quakers For we affirm that no Sacrifice nor Performance can be acceptable with God to
and in which his Holy Spirit leads not by the which only Self is abas'd kept under and in perfect Obedience to and watchfull Observance of God's Holy Will But Tho. Hicks makes this a Strange and Dangerous Doctrine insinuating that we perform nothing but upon a kind of Spiritual Compulsion as if that God required Man to do all his Commandements without his holy Spirit alwayes ready to incline and help them either to begin or perform any such Duty or that there were no Difference between waiting for the natural Springs of Divine Power to assist and being compell'd to worship But this shews his great Ignorance of God's Spirit its dayly Movings upon the Heart of Men either as a Reprover or Comforter for Good for were he better acquainted with its Dealings it would not be so uncouth to him to hear of our Waiting to feel the holy Stirrings of it in order to every Religious Performance wherefore let not his Ignorance be any Argument against our holy Gospel Practice The Saints of old had a Warrant in themselves for what they did They were not wont to run into the Imitation of former Generations as to any External Appointments because then commanded and practised as proper but consulted the Anointing they had receiv'd about the Continuation or Dis-use of such Figures or outward Services and as they receiv'd Wisdom and Counsel therefrom either to use or decline the Practice of them they acted and no otherwise making good the Apostles Saying that as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Are we led by It in ALL things then in and about God's things Had it not been for this how could the Apostles have preach'd down the whole Ceremonial Worship of the Jews The meer Letter of Scriptures could never have been their Rule in the Case If any say they were extraordinarily Inspired I answer how did such as then believ'd know that if not from an Inward Testimony Nay what Rule had the many Thousands then to worship God by The Hebrew Bible was little or not at all known to the Gentiles The Scripture tells us that whole Churches were setled in the Faith before the Epistles were writ And it is hard to think when they were writ that they could be suddenly collected and when collected that every Individual could get a Coppy that to be sure ought to have a Rule for Printing was not so early in the World and Transscribing must needs have been to Irksome for every Person to obtain a Coppy for his or her peculiar Benefit But because we are taught to believe that they wanted not True Rule of Faith and Practice and that the Scriptures especially of the new Testament could not be all that to them our present Adversaries conclude to make the great Rule let them not be displeas'd if I infer from hence that a Measure of that Holy Spirit which was given to every one to profit with was their Rule and therefore ought to be our great Rule and Guide in all things relating to Faith and Worship And let it be remembred that Christ promised to send the Spirit of Truth to lead into all Truth as much as to say none are led into the Truth nor in the Truth but by the holy Spirit of Truth or that their Practice is a Ly or they are led into a Ly who are not led by the Spirit of Truth that alone leads into all the Wayes of Truth where by Truth is not to be understood the meer Letter of the Scripture which notwithstanding is True but the Living Powerful Truth Christ the Way the Truth and the Life of which the Scripture is but a Record or Declaration Many may run into a Practice of several Outward Things mentioned in the Scriptures to have been the Practices of the Saints of former Ages and yet not be led into the Truth for all that is but Will-Worship Imitation and Unwarrantable To be led into the Truth is to be led into God's Living Power Wisdom and Righteousness whose Fruits are Peace and Assurance for ever This is the Truth the Spirit leads and is all-sufficient to Certainly Christ intended This for the Great Evangelical Leader Rule Judge Law-giver and Guide through the whole course of Regeneration the only Way into the Everlasting Kingdom And all those who are not by this Holy Spirit prepared moved and assisted to perform Divine Worship unto God but run into that weighty Duty or any other supposed Ordinance without its pure Leadings which makes it a Spiritual and Living Worship they are but those anciently fore-told of LORD LORD-CRYERS whose Portion shall be that dismal Depart from me I know you not who has requir'd these things at your hands Let this therefore be a Warning unto all Professors in the Name of the Lord that they run no longer Vnsent nor think to be accepted for their many Words God regards the Heart that he has broken and is made contrite before him and which trembles at his Word 'T is not meer Worship but that which is Spiritual which he expects and accepts and to perform that Man must Cease from his own Spirit Strength Strivings and Imitations and become Dumb before the Lord and as a Man dead to Self-Performance and then will he breath into him the Spirit of Supplication and raise him up in the Newness of his own Divine Life whereby though but in Sighs and Groans a Spiritual and most Acceptable Worship shall be offered unto God in which his Soul will be well pleased and every such one come to be refresht and establisht in Righteousness For all Offerers and Vpholders of strange Fire of what sort of People soever they may be in the Great and Notable Day of the Lord God will he cause to lie down in Sorrow And because he thinks his Advantage is not small that he hath against us by basely inferring and aggravating such Consequences as this What of Duty we neglect we are to charge upon the Spirit 's not moving us to it or because we must not obey without a Motion we are acquitted from all Fault till then c. Let me tell him that he striketh himself and not the Quakers For they hold that God's Spirit ought to be daily waited for And that it is alwayes ready to inform and instruct Man's Soul and to move it to those Thoughts Words and Deeds with respect to God and Man as are Well-pleasing to the Almighty For we do not only teach that the Spirit of God is alwayes present to convince of Sin but to lead out of it and in that Way of holy Living which is well-pleasing unto God In short God's Worship stands in the Spirit and I testifie from the Eternal God all other Worship then what springs from a Mind touch'd sanctify'd and mov'd of his holy quickning Spirit is abominable to him His Righteous Soul loathes it And what else were their Sacrifices as theirs were who in my hearing said Pray
such are cleansed from all Vnrighteousness and yet the Light neâ—ther a Rule nor Saving then what else can be either a Rule or Saving But this Light says he could not tell any that Jesus should be born of a Virgin dye for Sinners and rise again But this is so great a Mistake that had he conversed with the Sibylls or other Heathen Writers he might in good part have informed himself to the contrary But here I distinguish of Faith There is an Historical and Saving Faith and there is an Historical and Saving Rule as the Faiths so the Rules differ If T. Hicks sayes that 't is the Scriptures that give the Knowledge of those Transactions I mâ—st then understand him to mean Historically if I assent which is not Saving for then all who believe those things to have been must therefore be saved the contrary to which is daily seen with our Eyes since who believes not that Report among those who are yet in great Wickedness But if we are to penetrate deeper and that T Hicks should hold as he seems plainly to do that what Faith we can have of the most weighty Truths declared of in the Scriptures is from it and not from the Light or Spirit within I must firmly deny it For Faith is God's Gift not the Scriptures Gift No so far is the Scripture from giving Faith that it is God's Spirit alone that gives both to understand and believe them The Scripture tells me of such Prophecies Histories and Epistles and of such Men as Moses Job David Isaiah Matthew Paul and John But what is it that gives me to believe the Things they writ of to be true Is it not the Testimony and most certain Amen in the Conscience and what is that there which seals to those excellent Truths Which way then can the Scripture be a Rule to me in believing the Scripture when that Faith is begotten of God by his Light and Spirit concerning the Scripture If the meer Scripture could give me Faith then it might be allowed to rule my Faith but when God by his Spirit alone begets Faith and without which I can neither understand nor believe the Scriptures tell me If God's Spirit be not the Rule of my Faith what how far and which way I am to believe them or the things believed Certainly they can never be my Rule How far and which way I am to believe themselves who of themselves cannot give me that Faith but it must be wrought by another thing so that what gives to believe rules the Belief and not the Thing believed Therefore the Scriptures cannot be the Rule of Faith Now as to this of Christ's Outward Manifestation I say so far as it is Historical the Scripture is that which furnisheth me with a Belief But I utterly deny that they give to believe it in that deep Sense which may be truly called a Saving Faith The Pharisees had the Scriptures and they pretended to admire Moses and the Prophets yet they crucified Christ and sought to countenance their Murder by Scripture Now had they believed and esteemed the Writings of Moses and the Prophets from an Inward Sence of Gods Spirit which the meer Scriptures could not furnish them with they had rightly understood them and not made so ill an Use of their Historical Knowledge as to crucifie the Lord of Life and Glory This shews that Men may have an Historical Faith and yet not the True Faith nor Knowledge of the Scriptures what then gives to believe aright now why truely that which did then the Light and Spirit of Truth no Man could call Jesus Lord without it that is truly so or upon good ground No Man could confess that Christ was come in the Flesh but whose Spirit was of God yet now nothing is more common yet nothing is more True then that Thousands of them are not of God but lie in Wickedness alienated from the Life of God c. what is the matter then why this Those who then confest that Jesus was come in the Flesh did it by Virtue of an Invisible Sight and through a Divine Illumination in their Souls For impossible had it otherwise been for them in any measure to have seen through the Vail of his Flesh into that Divine Life Power and Wisdom that Vnmeasurably filled it but having some inward Sence and Taste of that most excellent Being that was manifested in and by that bodily Appearance therefore did they confess to it and their Spirits truely reputed by John to be of God And as in that day it was Impossible for any truly and acceptably to confess to Christ without a Discerning given and Faith wrought by the Light and Spirit of God in the Heart which was the saving Faith so is it now equally Impossible for any to believe that Christ appeared and that he spake and did all these great things so as to be benefitted thereby and any wayes accepted of God therein but as the Light and Spirit of Truth open those Things to the Understanding and from a measure of that Divine Life which then immeasurably appeared for we have all received of his Fulness and Grace for Grace true Faith comes to be begotten in that Manifestation and a right Confession unto it In short He that calleth Christ Lord must now as then do it by the Holy Ghost that is from an Experience or Witnessing of his Dominion and Rule which through the Operation of the holy Spirit the Soul is to be subjected to so that who believes more then Historically that Christ came in the Flesh must do it by Virtue of the Divine Light and Spirit who alone gives to relish and savour the Truth Nature and End of that Appearance And though it may be allowed that the Scripture is a Rule respecting the History as it was to those of old in reference to the particular Prophecies fulfilled in Christ's coming yet as there was then a more Inward and Heavenly Sence of Christ which drew many after him and begot deep Faith in him so must there now be a more Inward Spiritual and deep grounded Faith of those things recorded in Scripture of Christs Appearance c. then the meer Letter is able to give And therefore that Light and Spirit which gives that discerning and works that deep Sence and Faith must needs be as well the Rule as Author of it and not the Scriptures For if the Scriptures be the Rule then either of Themselves or by Interpretation If of Themselves then either in their Translations or Originals Not in the Translations unless the Translators had been so inspired that they mist not a tittle which I am sure is not so and consequently none but Schollars have a Rule for the Unlearned are secluded therefore the English Bible is not a Rule If in the Originals of Hebrew and Greek Query In what Copies There are various Lections in Hebrew And for the New Testament so called there are no less then
the Propagation of that Inward Religion however their Form may be more scriptural the same Spirit enters them that reigned in their old Persecutors and they at last run back and end in that from whence they at first reformed So dangerous is it to rest satisfied with a finer Form which in Truth is but a better Covering for the old Enemy of God's Spirit and Power to act more disguisely and securely in But lest any should think that all this is said to justle the Scriptures out of all Use and Service read these few lines following with Patience and Impartiality Though we eminently account the Light or Spirit of Christ to be the Gospel Living and Immediate Rule as the great Promise of the Father and that without being ruled and lead or guided by there is no being a Child of God yet we do not thereby intend an Exclusion of the Scriptures from being Obligatory or as not Declaratory of those heavenly blessed Truths that are fit to be read believed and practised God forbid No we know better and practise otherwise and have good Satisfaction therein Nor do we say that those essential Things relating to Faith and Godliness mentioned therein are by us to be sleighted or contradicted or that the Light and Spirit we are led by doth or can lead to any such thing for by its Holy Discoveries and Convictions are we made acquainted with them and our Faith concerning them is firm and they are thereby made our Duty and such is their Correspondence and Agreement that from an INWARD ASSENT AND LIVING AMEN FROM GOD's LIGHT IN OUR CONSCIENCES do we testifie of their Truth Vse and Dignity And very vain is T. Hick's Objection If your Light be Sufficient why do you read them since we may return to him the same If the Scriptures be Sufficient why dost thou use other Means Though God's Grace be Sufficient of it self therefore is the Creature always in that Condition wherein he needs not Means And notwithstanding it be the Dispensation of Light and Life more Immediately then has been known to former Ages yet we deny not the Use of such Means as may be used of God's Light and Spirit as will be spoken more largly to elsewhere Man's Mind being Carnal and abroad Means in God's Power are us'd not as settl'd Teachers but as Instruments in God's Hand to testifie of and direct to that one Great Prophet and Living Teacher in the Hearts of Men that all may come thither and be taught of him CHAP. V. Of his Insinuations against us concerning the Scriptures BUt T.H. that he may be true to his Ungodly Way of perverting our Principles would insinuate First That we esteem the Scriptures no farther then as they were the Experiences of Ancient Saints thereby rendering the many Prophecies and Promises therein recorded not yet fulfilled Vnprofitable But to take off all Credit to this evil Suggestion let our sober Readers know that by the Light of Christ in our own Hearts and Consciences as to confirm what of the Scriptures we have experienced and press after the Compleatment of those Enjoyments therein expressed so are we taught reverently to believe those holy Prophecies and Promises yet unaccomplished to have been given forth by the Inspiration of the Almighty and that they shall be as certainly fulfilled as they are written Yet we dare boldly affirm and that in the Name of the Lord before whom we shall give an Account for every Deed done in the Body that the greatest Reason of our Belief concerning them is not from any Outward thing but that Inward Testimony Record and Heavenly Amen that we have frequently received from the holy Light within us to the Truth and Faithfulness of those Sayings And if any Quakers there be that are not thus minded they are to me unknown and I publickly renounce and protest against that Principle that would in the least derogate from those Holy Writings which leads me to his Second Insinuation viz. As if because we do deny the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Practice in Honour to that Divine Light which was the Author of them in the Holy Pen-men that we should therefore deny all those holy Precepts Commandments and Rules relating to Life and Godliness that are therein contained A Consequence so foul that God forbid any of us should ever give any Just Occasion for it For we both believe Men ought to livâ— up to them and that they are highly Reprovâ—able if they transgress against them But the Reason why is that Conviction they meet with from the Light in their own Consciences wherefore the Scriptures are so far from being the great Rule of Faith and Practice that the Light of Christ within is both our Warrant and Rule for Faith in and Obedience to them And let T.H. say if he can that the Waldenses Albigenses Loâ—lards Hussites Lutherans Calvinists and other Protestants made not the Testimony of God in their Conscience the chief Ground of their Belief of the Scriptures to say nothing of the primitive Christians and most uncorrupted Fathers who are many and positive on our behalf 3 ly He insinuates that we equal nay prefer our Books before the Scriptures because of the Titles we give our own Books viz. The Voice of Wisdom A Testimony for God c. and what we give the Scripture namely Letter c. This I have largely spoken to in my Answer to J. Faldo but not knowing whether ever that may be where this probably may come I shal say thus much If at any time we call the Scripture the Letter it is not that we mean thereby our Books are the Spirit or that we would irreverently set them below our Writings but upon a Comparison only betwixt the Scriptures and the Spirit that gave them forth and that I hope may be done without the least Disrespect though such whose Religion stands in Letter and Time and not in Spirit and Power be angry at it But that we should be thought to sleight the Scriptures because we bestow such Names upon our Books is a strange kind of Consequence Are not our Books mostly written in a plain familiar and Scripture-stile Do we not earnestly endeavour to confirm what we write by Scripture which not only renders it a Paâ—t of our Book but the most Noble Part too And shall we notwithstanding be reputed Sleighters of the Scriptures Certainly if our Books are called The Voice of Wisdom and A Testimony for God because from the Voice of Wisdom and God's Witness in the Conscience by good Reason must the Scriptures be interested therein who are both a part of them and such a one too as unto whom our Quotation implies a Manifest Preference His next Insinuation is that it is Dangerous for Ignorant People to read the Scriptures flinging those hateful Names of Jesuit and Romanist upon us This Doctrine he layes to the Charge of G. Fox and Rich. Hubberthorn in a Book called Truth
the value of a Thousand Pounds whilst he is not really or personally worth a Groat from the Imputation of another who has it all in his Possâ—ssion Dangerous because it begets a confident Peâ—swasion in many People of their being Justified â— whilst in Captivity to those Lusts whose Reward is Condemnation whence came that usual Saying amongst many Professors of Religion That God looks not on them as they are in Themselves but as they are in Christ not considering that none can be in Christ who are not New Creatures which those cannot be reputed who have not disrobed themselves of their old Garments but are still immantled with the Corruptions of the Old Man In all which I see nothing Unsober or Unsound But he thinks he has caught me fast in my Caveat against Popery where in distinguishing betwixt Grace and Merit I say Grace is a Free Gift requiring nothing and now ask sayes he was not Abraham Justified by Works and that Good Works may be said to procure deserve or obtain Apol. 198. Is this writ like an Infallible Dictator Thus far T.H. There is an old Proverb That some love the Treason but hate the Traitor No Man that writes rants it more imperiously then Tho. Hicks It is hard to say whether his Dishonesty or his Impudence be the greater I think I never used Tho. Hicks so ill or any of his Way as to deserve so many Scoffing Taunts Base Detractions and Down-right Scurrilities from his hand But let that pass To the Point Hear what I have said in the Caveat p. 12. Grace and Merit as stated by Calvinists and Papists are taken for Faith without Works and Works without Faith like the two Poles Doctrines the most opposite Now Rewardableness is neither but something in the middle and indeed the most true for Grace is a Free Gift requiring nothing Merit is a Work proportionable to the Wages Rewardableness is a Work without which God will not bestow his Favour and yet not the Meritorious Cause for that there is no Proportion betwixt the Work that is finite and temporary and the Reward which is infinite and eternal in which sense both the Creature obeyes the Commands of God and does not Merit but Obtain only and God rewards the Creature and yet so as that he freely gives too Now what Contradiction is there in all this I plainly distinguish the Word Merit in the strictest Acceptation of it from that which is truly Scriptural respecting us at least That I did not mention Merit in my Sandy Foundation Shaken the Book proves Is there no Difference between obtaining the Justifying Presence of God by the Fruits of the Spirit in our Heart and Lives and strictly meriting his Acceptance of us by Works and those of our own making too as what T.H. doth wickedlâ— suggest I say Abraham was justified in offering up his Son because he had been condemned if he had disobeyed But sayes T. Hicks He was Justified before And why was not his whole Life mention'd to his Justification But I must tell T.H. that as among Men the Will is taken for the Deed so the Lord finding Abraham right in his Heart that he believed and would obey he was as much justified therein as if he had actually done it We have cause to believe T. Hicks never knew what the Consequence of that working Faith and offering up an Isaac to God is Nor was it needful to recite the whole of his Life Measures are frequently taken by some eminent Tryal If he was accepted in that Obedience being the Condition where that was before he was before accepted no doubt But sayes he see the Caveat p. 12. and Apol. p. 198. How do they agree Truly very well For Grace is Free requiring nothing How Nothing at all By no means How then is it free Grace is free because it was the good Pleasure of God both to give Remission of Sins and Eternal Life to as many as should Repent Believe and Obey to the End and thereby come to be conformed to the Image of his Son But may T. Hicks say Is Repenting nothing Believing nothing Obeying nothing No T.H. not one jot of Merit in all that It is the great Grace of God to give us Eternal Life upon so small Conditions They obtain it but that is God's good Pleasure and no Purchase therefore Grace still All that is our Duty the Reward is Free God giveth it but chuses a Way by which to do it If T.H. will understand Grace as my Caveat condemns it I cannot help that sure I am I never writ such Doctrine as my Faith and therefore no Contradiction to my self whatever it may be to him But sayes he Your Apology speaks that good Works may be said to procure deserve or obtain c. My Apology as my self and other Books are not Apology enough for me and my Friends against such Envious Perverters as T.H. though I doubt not but they may be effectually such with more moderate Persons thus it speaks The Word Merit so much snarled at allows a two-fold Signification the First a Proportion or Equaliâ—y betwixt the Work and Wages which is the strictest sense and that which he S. Fisher least of all intended The Second something that may be said to procure AND IN SOME SENSE to deserve or obtain and so good Works do since without them there is no Acceptance with God nor Title to Eternal Life Where it is observable how basely he has left out both my absolute Denyal of the strict Sense of the Word MERIT and those qualifying and distinguishing Words which come after Procure and before Deserve namely AND IN SOME SENSE to deserve or obtain with the last Clause Certain it is that whatever sense I had T. Hicks took me in the worst he could invent yea in that very sense which all along I have most particularly refused and condemned A Baseness and piece of Forgery unworthy of any Man pretending to Good Conscience But he proceeds still much after the same manner he would have People believe That we assert the Ground of our Rejoycing and Acceptance to be not in and from the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us by Faith where observe that WHOLELY WITHOUT US is omitted to render us Denyers of Christ's Righteousness in any sense but only in a Righteousness inherent in us and done by us Which great Untruth he gives the Lye to in his own Book But because he pretends to fetch this out of my S.F. Shaken p 27. let 's hear what I have said But let every Man prove his own Work and then shall he have Rejoâ—cing in himself alone and not in another Be not deceived for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he reap If Rejoycing and Acceptance with God or the contrary are to be reaped from the Work that a Man soweth either to the Flesh or to the Spirit then is the Doctrine of Acceptance and Ground of Rejoâ—cing from the
contradictory and unscriptural as he could but that all lights upon himself and I doubt not but in the end it will appear that I have contended for the Justification of Life whilst his aimes will have been at nothing more in all his Bussle then to promote a Justification in a State of Death where the indwelling Life Power and Virtue of Christ which gives to live to God in the nearness of Life cannot be enjoyed nor known else what means his reputing that Assertion in my Sandy Foundation shaken so Erroneous namely without Good Works there is no Acceptance with God which without any Wrong to him causes me to believe that it is his Faith that Men may be accepted with God without Good Works and consequently that they are not necessary to Salvation I wish for his sake more then mine own he had been no more Injurious to me and the Truth I have defended then I have been to him in expressing but the natural Result and Tendency of his Doctrine I shall now be as good as my Word and that is to produce an Argument or two against the Common Doctrines of rigid Satisfaction and Justification as they have been opposed by me in this short Discourse and that out of my Book called The Sandy Foundation Shaken because it has been most in this Adversary's Eye That if he thinks fit to reply he may have something else to employ his Mind about then to write Dialogues filled with Lyes Shifts Forgeries Scoffs Impudence and Scurrility Of SATISFACTION 1. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger forever because he delighteth in Mercy Can there be a more express Passage to clear not only the Possibility but real Inclinations in God to pardon Sin and not retain his Anger for ever since the Prophet seems to challenge all other Gods to try their Excellency by his God herein describing the Supremacy of his Power and Superexcellency of his Nature that he pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his Anger for ever so that if the Satisfactionists should ask the Question Who is a God like unto ours that cannot pardon Iniquity nor pass by Transgression but retain his Anger until some-body make him Satisfaction I answer Many amongst the harsh and severe Rulers of the Nation but as for my God he is exalted above them all upon the Throne of his Mercy who pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his Anger for ever but will have Compassion upon us 2. And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Where nothing can be more obvious then that which is forgiven is not paid And if it is our Duty to forgive without a Satisfaction receiv'd and that God is to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction totally excluded Christ farther paraphrases upon that part of his Prayer v. 14. For if you forgive their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you Where he as well argues the Equity of God's Forgiving them from their Forgiving others as he encourages them to forgive others from the Example of God's Mercy in forgiving them which is more amply exprest in Chap. 18. where the Kingdom of Heaven that consists in Righteousness is represented by a King Who upon his Debtors Petition had Compassion and forgave him but the same treating his Fellow-Servant without the least Forbearance the King condemned his Vnrighteousness and delivered him ever to the Tormenters But how had this been a Fault in the Servant if his Kings Mercy had not been proposed for his Example How most unworthy therefore is it of God and Blasphemous may I justly term it to be in any's daring to assert that Forgiveness impossible to God which is not only possible but enjoyn'd to Men. Consequences Irreligious and Irrational 1 That it 's Unlawful and Impossible for God Almighty to be Gracious and Merciful or to pardon Transgressors then which what 's more Unworthy of God 2 That God was inevitably compell'd to this way of Saving Men the highest Affront to his incontroleable Nature 3. That it was Unworthy of God to Pardon but not to inflict Punishment on the Innocent or require a Satisfaction where there was nothing due 4. It doth not only disacknowledge the true Virtue and real Intent of Christ's Life and Death but intirely deprives God of that Praise which is owing to his greatest Love and Goodness 5. It represents the Son more Kind and Compassionate than the Father whereas if both be the same God then either the Father is as Loving as the Son or the Son as Angry as the Father 6. It robs God of the Gift of his Son for our Redemption which the Scriptures attribute to the unmerited Love he had for the World in affirming the Son purchased that Redemption from the Father by the Gift of himself to God as our compleat Satisfaction 7. Since Christ could not pay what wâ—â— not his own it follows that in the Payment of his own the case still remains equally grievous Since the Debt is not hereby absolv'd or forgiven but transfer'd only and by consequence we are no better provided for Salvation than before owing that now to the Son which was once owing to the Father 8. It no way renders Men beholding or iâ— the least oblieg'd to God since by their Doctrine he would not have abated us nor did he Christ the last Farthing so that the acknowledgments are peculiarly the Sons which destroys the whole current of Scripture Testimony for his Good Will towards Men. O the Infamous Portraiture this Doctrine draws of the Infinite Goodness Is this your Retribution O Injurious Satisfactionists 9. That God's Justice is satisfied for Sins past present and to come whereby God and Christ have lost both their Power of injoyning Godliness and Prerogative of punishing Disobedience for what is once paid is not revokeable and if Punishment should arrest any for their Debts it either argues a Breach on God's or Christ's part or else that it hath not been sufficiently solv'd and the Penalty compleatly sustained by another forgetting that every one must appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to receive according to things done in the Body Yea every one must give an account of himself to God But many more are the gross Absurdities and Blasphemies that are the genuine Fruits of this so confidently believ'd Doctrine of Satisfaction Of JUSTIFICATION 1. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but He that doth the Will of my Father Whosoever heareth these Sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a Wise Man which built his House upon a Rock c. How very fruitful are the Scriptures of Truth in Testimonies against this absurd and dangerous Doctrine these Words seem to import a two-fold Righteousness the first consists in Sacrifice the last in Obedience the one makes a
Brother will you Pray No Brother I am not so well able as you are Let Brother such a one Pray he is better gifted for the Work c. Complementing Shifting and at last Praying c. in their own Wills and not in God's Motion This God hates Next Since the Pouring forth of the Spirit is the great Gospel Gift and that the Children of God are to be led by it In what should we more diligently wait for its Heavenly Assistance then in that part of our Duty which we owe to God Is his Worship Spiritual and can we perform it out of the Motion of his own Spirit For what then was his Spirit given Again If Men should pray in a known Tongue much more with the Spirit as the Apostle speaks No Wonder the Professors ask Pardon for their Prayers Indeed God's Spirit gives them to see the Emptiness of their Righteousness and condemns them for it wherfore they are at times dissatisfy'd in them yet they will not learn of him to be guided by him who would cover them with Everlasting Righteousness Blessed would they be if their Minds were stayed in his Counsel But instead thereof T.H. does as good as say that if he should stay till the Spirit moved him he might stay long enough rendring the Spirit Wanting in that for which he was shed abroad in the Heart Because through his Enmity and Darkness hasty Running in his own Spirit he feels it not to lead him else he would never infer from our Asserting the Necessity of the Spirit 's Moving to Right Acceptable Worship that we are acquitted from any Fault in omitting to do that which is Good and the Blame must be laid upon the Spirit But let me ask him Can any Man do Good of himself Surely he will say No. How then shall Man do that Good he ought to do but by the Holy Ghost Canst thou call Jesus Lord by any other Power or Spirit Read the Scriptures What greater Contradiction can there be then to believe Man of himself can do no Good and yet to say he can do it without God's Spirit to incline and assist him thereunto But if the Spirit do not what does Tell me what can tender the Heart prepare the Soul raise the Affections give true Feeling of Wants and help to perform all in that Fear Reverence and deep Sense which becomes all New Covenant Spiritual Worshippers if this cannot or do not Nay what an Affront is it to God since it is to suppose that Man wants him not that his Spirit neither moves to Duty that ought to be performed nor yet condemns for Duty omitted Behold the Impudence of the Man He talks of Gospel Christ the Mysteries of his Glorious Kingdom c. What grosser Opposer of the New Covenant can there be who denies the very Life Virtue and Soul of all true Gospel-Worship and Discipline and without which the otherwise best Christian-Church that ever was would be worse then Legal For they that worship not from the Motions of God's Spirit offer strange Fire set up their own Worship and are Image Makers such ask but they receive not because they ask not aright For if no Man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost no Man can pray to the Lord or in his Name without the Holy Ghost yet a Sigh or Groan from its holy Operation that Sacrifice though without Words is manifold more engaging and effectual with the Lord then the most excellent Performance of Man 's own Spirit 'T is the Fear and Heavenly Sense of God in the Soul that recommends the Performance and that the holy Spirit begets And as the Minds of Men and Women are exercised in the Law of this pure and quickening Spirit as it appears in them they shall know the true Worship which stands in Life and Power whose End is Everlasting Peace when the LORD LORD-CRYERS that have Prayed and Preached in their own Wills and Wisdom as well as to their own Ends and Advantages shall be cast out forever with a DEPART FROM ME YE WORKERS OF INIQUITY But there is one Objection taken from my Book called The Spirit of Alexander the Copper-Smith c. which he thinks splits us irrecoverably It runs thus Either there is such a thing as a Christian-Church or there is not if there be then this Church either hath Power or hath not If no Power then no Church If a Body or a Church then there must be a Power within it self to determine To which sayes Tho. Hicks For Christians to plead this who own the Scriptures for their Rule and not the meer Light within the Argument may safely be allowed But you cannot stand by this For will you say what a Man doth without an Inward Motion is accurst and yet disown him for not doing what he is not moved unto But though this be plausible it is no more For the Difficulty remains in Case the Scripture be admitted for the Rule for Instance The Church unto which Tho. Hicks belongs own the Scripture to be the Rule But suppose Tho. Hicks in some one Point believes the Scripture not to intend the same thing the rest of the Church understand it to mean as in Case of Free-Will I query how this Matter shall be reconciled They affirm the Scripture to be the Rule and say This is the true Sense of the Scripture Thomas Hicks also affirms the Scripture to be the Rule but that his Sense is the Mind of the Scripture This occurs almost daily among those who believe the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith Now observe the Parallel The Quakers by the Light within them as their Rule judge that rude Imagination of keeping the Hat on in time of publick Prayer The Anabaptists by the Scripture as their Rule censure Thomas Hicks for upholding a Contrary Sense to the Scripture The Dissenter from the Quakers sayes The Light which he calls his Rule manifests no such thing to him nor doth he believe it to be the Mind of the Light to him Thomas Hicks makes Answer to the Church that by the Scripture he understands quite another thing and the Scripture is his Rule for what he sayes and maintains in the Matter I would ask any Man of Common Sence if the Scripture is not as well set in Opposition to it self by these two Pretenders as the Light within and if the Church of Anabaptists would not therefore doubt the Truth of their Interpretation but proceed to censure Thomas Hicks as a Disturber of their Church in its Doctrine or Discipline by the Introduction of New and Unprofitable Opinions Neither are the Body of the Quakers to question their Judgment given by the Light within as their Rule to be a true and unquestionable Determination against such Alexanders and Enemies to the Peace of their Jerusalem But I would further tell Thomas Hicks that though we renounce all Worship not led to by God's Spirit his Reflection
this Seed That to the Carnal Mind which rules in any the Commands of Christ are not given And that the Spirit not only manifesteth the Promises but exerciseth Faith in and fulfils them out of E.B. G.K. G.W. p. 106. â—m Rev. p 77 78. Chr. Asc p. 10. Query Is â—othiâ—g else taught but this Seed then your Minâ—stry is only God Preaching to Himself c. Will you 〈◊〉 of Infallibility and Talk like Mad-Men YOU ARE IMPLACABLE ENEMIES TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION MEN INSPIRED BY SATAN AND AS VILE IMPOSTORS AS EVER WERE Here stop a while Certainly Reader No Man was ever given up to a Spirit of greater Injustice Dishonesty and bitter Rage against any People then T. Hicks seems to be against us He does not so much prove us Bad as he would make us so that he may cover his Wickedness against us What false Doctrine is it to preach People to the Seed God has sown in which is Virtue Life and Power to bring forth blessed Fruits to God To suggest from thence that there is nothing to be taught but the Seed is great Darkness and Prejudice For the Ministry is not to teach the Seed but to bring down and humble the Mind of Man to it that the Mind may be taught and the Seed delivered from under the Pressure of Sin and Ignorance Strange Contradiction that the Seed should be sown in Man for its own Salvation and not for Man's What but Wickedness it self could thus write of us And that the Carnal Mind receives not the Things of God because it perceives them not is according to Scripture if not according to Tho. Hicks But it is not the first time by many that Scripture in a Quaker's Book has been given under that Name for gross Error and Delusion That the Spirit manifests the Promises exerciseth Faith in and fulfils them cannot be False Doctrine if it be allowed to give a true Understanding of them and if it gives to exercise Faith in them and finally to accomplish or fulfil them But his Insinuation lies here that the Spirit of God is that which believes in God and exercises Faith for it self in God which was never G. W's Intent But as I have said the Spirit is that only which gives us Faith and exerciseth that Faith it gives in the Promises of God which are Yea and Amen in that Seed the Quakers preach People to believe and grow in for which T. Hicks is pleased to call us Praters Canters Enthusiasts Mad Men Idle Non-sensical Blasphemous Inspired of Satan and as Vile Impostors as ever were c. For which God Almighty rebuke his Envious Enraged and Unclean Spirit CHAP. XII Of Resurrection and Rewards THe last great Doctrine he insinuates our Denial of is that of the Resurrection from the Dead That which he brings under the Quaker's Name as a sufficient Proof for that Suggestion I shall relate that every Impartial Reader may be satisfied of the Man's Inconsistency with sound Doctrine as well as the Common Justice of Doing as he would be done by In Answer to his Questions about the Resurrection of the same Carnal Body that Dyes he brings in G. Whitehead thus Q. Is it not written Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not the Body which shall be but God gives a Body as pleaseth him Thus saith Tho. Hicks Whitehead replied and G. Fox the Younger speaks to the same purpose Two Fools that say This Body of Natural Flesh and Bones shall rise I say The Body which is sown is not the Body which shall be I query saith he Whether both these Persons do not tacitly deny the Resurrection of the Body Now that T.H. hath shown himself at once Dishonest and Erroneous too Let it be observed 1. That from our Denyal of the Resurrection of the same Natural Fleshly Body he absolutely infers and concludes our Denyal of the Resurrection of the Body in any Sense which is great Injustice to any Adversary 2. Let it be well observed that he makes the Scripture it self to deny the Resurrection and so Heterodox by Accounting G. Whitehead and G. Fox their Answers in Scripture-Language to be a Denyal of the Resurrection For if Thomas Hicks does not intend by his Arguing That the same Body that dyed without any Mutation shall rise again what makes him to quarrel the Apostle Paul's saying Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not the Body which shall be and repute us Hereticks for believing him Certainly his gross Belief of the Resurrection is inconsistent with Scripture Reason and the Belief of all Men right in their Wits in the Point Who can have the Confidence to call the Scripture his Rule and yet Contradict it so egregiously as when the Apostle tells us It is not the same Body that is sown that shall be to assert that it is the same Body and that who sayes the Contrary denies the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Recompence In short We do acknowledge a Resurrection in order to Eternal Recompence and that every Seed shall have its own Body and rest contented with what Body it shall please God to give us But as we are not such Fools as curiously to enquire What so must we forever deny the gross Conceits of T.H. and his Adherents concerning the Resurrection But Tho. Hicks would have us believe that the Apostle said Thou Fool to him that denyed and not him that owned the Resurrection But he must excuse us if we refuse to Credit him for it was not Whether every Seed should rise with its own Body or that Bodies should rise but as taking that for granted the Question was What Bodies they should be So that Tâ—ou Fool is most due to T. Hicks and his Associates who are not with us satisfied to leave all with the Lord but intrude and query What Bodies shall rise Wherefore no Answer can be more proper to him then Thou Fool Thomas Hicks That which thou sowest is nâ—t the Body that shall be But he thinks he is not without Reason For sayes he If the It in the Text be not the same Body how can that be called a Resurrection for that supposeth the same I Answer If a thing can yet be the same and notwithstanding changed for Shame let us never make so much Stir against the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation for the Absurdity of that is rather out-done then equalled by this Carnal Resurrection The Papists say That the Bread and Wine after Consecration are very Christ though the Accidents remain Tho. Hicks and abundance of that sort of Men hold That Man's Body in the Resurrection is the same with that Carnal Body buried and yet that it is changed to a Spiritual Body How it is possible that It should be the same and not the same How that Body and yet as the Apostle sayes Thou sowest not that Body that shall be is very hard to reconcile And truly that which yet is very strange Those Three Scriptures peculiarly
or Substance or if by Personal Being he means a Body distinct from our's I believe he hath a Spiritual Glorious Body distinct from all these Earthly Sublunary Bodies But for T.H. he hath as little Knowledg of Christ's Personal Being as he calls it in Heaven as he hath Scripture for this Phrase or Faith in his Light within if by Personal Being he means the Manhood of Christ our confessing the Man Christ as Mediator is sufficiently evinced and the Socinian clears me in his Controversie Ended pag. 50. where he saith Geo. Whitehead useth the word Manhood viz. he took upon him the Manhood in time Is the Heavens that must retain him only the Hearts of Men p 43. It is not the Heavens must retain him but whom the Heaven must receive c. Acts 3.21 and this is above and larger then the Hearts of Men. Where proves he by Scripture that Christ's Second Coming without Sin to Salvation is a Personal Coming while he answers not this he sayes nothing to purpose about it p. 43 44. and answers not what I have writ Christ Ascended p. 20 21 22 23 24. But is it a Contradiction in me to confess that Christ arose with the same Body that was Crucified and put to Death and that he ascended into Glory and yet either to say that I cannot believe his Body to be a Carnal Body in Heaven and these words are not Scripture-Language viz. to say that Christ is a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones a Personal Being at God's Right Hand remote and not in Man or that his Second Coming without Sin unto Salvation is seen Spiritually not Carnally and that they are like to be disappointed of their Hope and Expectation who are expecting that Christ's Second Coming or Appearance to Salvation will be such a Personal Coming and his Reign a Personal Reign The Believers in the primitive Christians dayes who looked for him were not thus disappointed of their Hopes and Expectations But to say I cannot believe that Christ ascended 〈◊〉 the same Body which rose from the Dead c. p. 44 〈◊〉 one of my Words though he cites them for mine O gross Forgery 〈◊〉 then to infer upon is that I did but dissemble in the first viz. in saying that Christ arose with the same Body that was crucified and put to Death and that he ascended into Glory God who knows my Sincerity will judge this Forger of Falshâ—â—ds and Slanders against me my Conscience bears me Record in the Sight of God I speak my Belief sincerâ—ly without Dissimulation Touching the Body of Christ he answers not the Objection he layes down in my name viz. Where doth the Scripture say that Christ's Glorified Body in Heaven is of an Humane Nature p. 45. Whereas T.H. queries Doth not the Scripture say that the same Jesus that went away shall in like manner come again Acts 1.10 11. And then frames the Answer for us thus viz. Quak. I deny he shall come visibly and though it be said in like manner yet every like is not the same And to this he subscribes Whitehead pag. 22. of Christ Ascended And then for Answer saith Is not this a plain Denyal of the Second Personal Coming of Christ Contin p 43. To all which I answer In his subscribing my Name to these as my words viz. that I deny he shall come visibly he hath abused me and my Name with a Forgery of his own they are not my words But I quoting Rev. 1.7 8 13 14 16. about Christ's Appearance I said In none of which is Jesus Christ called a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones visibly to come again but that he is Alpha and Omega the First and the Last vers 11. he proves not by Scripture that Christ's Second Coming to Salvation is such a Personal Coming as he imagins but in like manner he shall come again It s true I said every like Manner is not the very same nor all Clouds the same Christ Ascend p. 22 23. and therein I would be understood that though I own Christ's Coming again the second time to Salvation as certain and manifest as he was seen to ascend when the Cloud received him out of their Sight who stood gazing up into Heaven yet he after that came again and signally appeared variously to divers and in a more glorious Manner then he was seen to ascend for he ascended into Glory which his Coming again doth not divest him of and he shall be universally seen to some Men's Terror and Sorrow and to others great Comfort and Joy To Paul he appeared in a Heavenly Vision or Light from Heaven above the Brightness of the Sun in so much that he fell down to the Earth and was without sight for three dayes So that he could not stand gazing at his Coming as the Men of Gallilee did at his ascending And when John was in the Spirit he appeared to him so that his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire his Countenance as the Sun shineth in his Strength insomuch that he said When I saw him I fell at his Feet as Dead Rev. 1.13 14 15 16 17. So that John could not stand gazing at this Appearance which is like unto the Angel's Appearance unto Daniel in his great Vision insomuch that he said there remained no Strength in me see Dan. 10 5 6 7 8. compared with Rev. 1.13 14 15 16 17. And I must own Christ's Coming universally in his Kingdom and the Glory of his Father to be after a more Transcendent Manner and Higher Glory then Men shall be able to stand Gazing at as they did at his Ascension And must conclude that 't is a Design of Satan to keep some Men in Carnal Imaginations and dark Thoughts of an Humane Personal Christ consisting either of Flesh Blood and Bones like theirs or of Flesh and Bones without Blood and so of God's Right Hand as limited to that Remoteness that they neglect to wait for Christ's Inward and Spiritual Appearance and the Knowledge of God's Right Hand near them to save aâ—d preserve them from Sin and Death In this the Enemy hath deceived them and the Devil blinded them from the Spiritual and Saving Knowledge of Christ and his coming in his Kingdom But why must I be counted guilty of vile Hypocrisie Is it for saying Every Man has not the Son that is revealedly and unitedly in Possession which was my very Intent and yet a Light of the Son appears in every Man in some degree or for denying that this Light is a meer Creature and asserting that in him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men and this Life and Light is Divine and Increated p. 46 47. I am still of the same Mind and though the Man repeats some of my Words he hath brought me no Argument to Convince me that this Life which is the Light of Men is but a meer Creature But if it be Divine and Increated he takes it for granted it must
thy dark Mind and that thou art still in thy Imagination understanding neither the Redemption nor the Seed which however feign'd by himself against himself is so great a Truth that there is scarcely one Passage in his Dialogue more allowable But to his Argument and Question We do assert the Redemption of the Seed for the Light and Life which has been as sown in the Heart of Mankind has been loaded with Sin pressed down with Iniquity grieved and almost quenched through Disobedience which words are not properly but metaphorically to be taken as used by the holy Pen-Men whereby to make things the more plain and easie to common capacities It is said in Scripture Out of Egypt have I called my Son a Place of Bondage and grievous Weights Burdens and Oppressions from all which the Seed was to be redeemed and Christ came or God was manifested in the Flesh that the Seed of Light Truth and Righteousness might break through and arise over all Corruption by which it had been grieved and pressed down And it is no Contradiction to say That God did rid himfelf of the Enemies that opprest his own Righteous Life or that he brought Salvation to himself for the Scriptures frequently speak on that wise especially in those two notable Passages of Isaiah And he saw that there was no Man and wondered that there was no Intercessor therefore his Arm brought Salvation to him and this Righteousness it sustained him Again The Year of my Redeemed is come and I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore Mine own Arm brought Salvation unto Me and My Fury it upheld me Whence it is no wayes absurd that we affirm that the End of God's Manifesting himself in the Flesh was for the Redemption or Deliverance of his Holy Life that was in Man but as a small Seed even the smallest of Seeds that had been long vexed grieved bruised and pressed down by Sin and Iniquity For the End of that Appearance was that Sin might be destroyed and that Christ who had been as a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World might be exalted in the Hearts of Men and Women and his and their Foes made his and their Footstool For the Work is Inward we do aver in the Name of the Lord for where the Devil hath Reigned and had Dominion to wit in Man there be must be defeated and subdued and Christ alone by whom that is brought to pass ought and must have the Power and the Kingdom forever And if this be the Folly and Gibberish the Quakers must be charged with from this Anabaptist Preacher we are content to use it as well as patient to bear his insolent Scoff only let all take notice that we understand not by the Seed's Redemption its being redeemed from the Pollution but the Weight of Sin and Iniquity for it was and is pure forever Now as to our Calling Christ-without a Creature I must tell him 't is not our Language but if he means by it the Body born of the Virgin I suppose T. Hicks is far from believing that to be the Creator though his manner of speaking shews a dislike of us that we don't because he sayes that we esteem the Christ without or the Outward and Visible Part of Christ but a Creature as if he believed it to be the Creator However manifest it is he believes that the Redemption wrought is not by that God who in those foregoing Passages speaks so expresly to that purpose and who in time manifested himself in the Flesh but the Flesh only by and through which he was so manifested CHAP. VIII Of the Soul of Man HIs next Abuse of us that I shall take notice of is this That G. Fox and others hold the Soul to be a part of God of God's Being and that it is without Beginning All which sayes he is as much as to say the Soul is God SO THAT GOD SETS UP A LIGHT IN HIMSELF WHICH HE HIMSELF IS TO OBEY AND IN SO DOING GOD SHALL BE SAVED Behold your Anabaptist Preacher A Man of Truth Tender Conscience of the first Form of Christians a Contender for the Faith once delivered to the Saints and what else he falsly pretends and in vain would have us think him to be What so Base What so Irreligious as this Perversion Men nor Devils could never study more our Wrong then this pretended Christian has done If this be his Christianity The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob preserve my Soul from ever coming within the Borders of such Religion but Christianity is absurd by such Traducers and God's Spirit is grieved by such Injustice I would not use the worst of Men no not Devils themselves at that unequal Rate he deals with us who both mis-cites his Words and abuses the true Meaning of what is truly cited G. Fox sayes thus God breathed into Man the Breath of Life and he became a Living Soul and is not this of God of his Being c. and is not this that comes out from God part of God from God Where nothing can well be clearer than that G. F intends that Divine Life Power and Virtue by which Adam in Soul Body came to live to God Can T.H. say after all this that he cited G F. right and ask the Quaker in his Dialogue Darest thou say I have not quoted him truly Hardened Man Breathed that is Inspired Breathed being the English Word Inspired borrowed from the Latine Inspirare the Greek has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Joh. 20.22 hath breathed into enlivened inspired quickened the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he breathed or blowed on which R. Nachmanni and the Author Hiskuni in P. Fagins's Comment on the Place speak thus That God inspired Man with something of his own Substance that he contributed something to him and bestowed something of his own Divinity upon him and that God did inspire Man with the Holy Ghost and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a proper Word for it Which is as much as can be collected or justly concluded from what G. Fox hath said concerning Man But this Ungodly Person would infer from our Asserting that the Breath God breathed into Adam's Soul whereby it lived to God was of God's own Divine Life that the Soul of Man as a meer Creature created Capacity is of God's own Being and Substance and when he his done with a Taunt becoming none but a Prophane Person tells us that then God sets up a Light in himself which being obeyed by him he comes to be saved as 〈◊〉 the Soul needed either a Light or Saviour in case it were God or that God could obey any thing or needed Salvation O monstrous Blasphemy against God and horrid Injustice to us For as God can obey none nor need Salvation neither in sense can we be thought so to believe of the Soul as by him represented since our
pleading for a Saving Light the necessity of Obedience to it the Eternal Reward of Life or Death Happiness or Misery as it is conformed to or rebelled against prove our Faith in that Matter to be quite another thing If this be your Champion I dare warrant his own Baseness shall be his own Overthrow we need no more against him then his own Ignorance Malice Lyes Forgeries and Slanders to his utter Confutation in the Minds of all Impartial Persons CHAP. IX Of Justification and something of Satisfaction THe Doctrine of Justification is the next Particular that I am to take notice of He begins with the Quaker thus Pray what is your Opinion of Justification by that Righteousness of Christ which He in his own Person fulfilled for us WHOLELY WITHOVT VS Quak. Justification by the Righteousness which Christ fulfills for us in his own Person WHOLELY WITHOUT US we boldly affirm it to be a Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which doth now deluge the World Will. Penn Apol. p. 148. This Apology cited was written against a Malicious Priest in Ireland who in a Book by him published not long afore laid it down as Unscriptural and a very heinous Thing in us to deny Justification without any Distinction exprest by the Righteousness which Christ wrought in his own Person WHOLELY WITHOUT US To whom I made the Answer given by T. Hicks And if therein I have crost the express Testimony of the Scriptures let any shew me But if I have only thwarted a most Sin-pleasing and therefore Dangerous Notion let such as hold it look to that He has not offered me one plain Scripture nor the Shadow of a Reason why this Passage ought to be reputed unsound or condemnable If any Living will produce me but one Passage out of Scripture that tells of a Justification by such a Righteousness as is WHOLELY WITHOUT US I shall fall under its Authority but if we only deny Men's corrupt Conceits and Sin-pleasing Glosses and they offer us nothing to our Confutation or better Information we shall not think bare Quotations of our Books to be sufficient Answers But to the end all may understand the Reason of my so Answering that Priest take those short Reasons then rendered with any one of which I am to suppose T. Hicks desired not to meddle First No Man can be Justified without Faith sayes Jenner No Man hath Faith without Works any more then a Body can live without a Spirit sayes James Therefore the Works of Righteousness by the Spirit of Jesus Christ are necessary to Justification Second If Men may be justified whilst Impure then God quits the Guilty contrary to the Scripture which cannot be I mean while in a Rebellious State Third Death came by Actual Sin not Imputative in his sense therefore Justification unto Life comes by actual Righteousness not Imputative Fourth This speaketh Peace to the Wicked whilst Wicked but there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God Fifth Men are Dead and Alive at the same time saith this Doctrine for they may be dead in Sin and yet alive in another's Righteousness not Inherent and consequently Men may be damned actually and saved imputatively Sixth But since Men are to reap what they sow and that every one shall be rewarded according to his Works and that none are Justified but the Children of God and that none are Children but who are led by the Spirit of God and that none are so led but those that bring forth Fruits thereof which is Holiness 'T is not the Oyle in anothers Lamp but in our own only which will serve our turns I mean the Rejoycing must be in our selves and not in another yet to Christ's holy Power alone do we ascribe it who works all our Works in us All which was not only not answered but not cited by him He brings me in again thus Justification is not from the Imputation of another's Righteousness but from the actual Performing and Keeping God's Righteous Statutes Sand. Found p. 25. To which after this base and disingenuous Citation he returns me this only Answer Is it not written Rom. 5.19 By the Obedience of one many are made Righteous But before I explain the Truth of that Scripture be pleased to hear my Argument as it is laid down in my Book and then give thy Judgment Reader upon the Man The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of his Father The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him When a Righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness for his Iniquity that he has done shall he dye Again When the Wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness and doth that which is Lawful and Right he shall save his Soul alive yet saith the House of Israel The Wayes of the Lord are not Equal Are not my Wayes Equal If this was once Equal it s so still for God is Unchangeable And therefore I shall draw this Argument That the Condemnation or Justification of Persons is not from the Imputation of another's Righteousness but the actual Performance or not keeping of Gods righteous Statutes or Commandments otherwise God should forget to be Equal Therefore how wickedly Unequal are those who not from Scripture Evidences but their dark Conjectures Interpretations of obscure Passages would frame a Doctrine so manifestly inconsistent with God's most pure and equal Nature making him to condemn the Righteous to Death and justifie the Wicked to Life from the Imputation of another's Righteousness A most Unequal Way indeed Where observe that the Answer he makes me give in his Dialogue is delivered by me with an If it be so fetcht expresly from the Text it self so that the Scripture and not W. Penn is most struck at by him However it be he has offered us no Opposition yet but that Passage out of the Romans which will not be found inconsistent with Ezekiel's Testimony on which my Argument was grounded The whole Verse was thus For as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous which if the whole Chapter be well considered is no more then this that as Adam representative of Mankind from whence he had that Name was he by whom Sin entred into the whole World So Christ was He by whose comeing and Obedience Righteousness had an entrance to the Justification of many In short the Work Christ had to do was two-fold 1 To remit forgive or justify from the Imputation of Sin past all such as truely repented believed and obeyed him And 2ly by his Power and Spirit operating in the Hearts of such to destroy and remove the very Ground and Nature of Sin whereby to make an End of Sin and finish Transgression present and to come that is the first removes the Guilt the second the very Cause of It. Now I grant