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A47751
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Primitive heresie revived in the faith and practice of the people called Quakers wherein is shewn in seven particulars that the principal and most characteristick errors of the Quakers were broached and condemned in the days of the Apostles and the first 150 years after Christ : to which is added a friendly expostulation with William Penn upon account of his Primitive Christianity lately published / by the author of The snake in the grass.
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Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing L1140; ESTC R26153
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27,838
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41
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in which we are at Present engag'd Yet for the satisfaction of the Quakers who may not know this I will set down two Canons of the Council of Carthage which was held in the year of our Lord 419. Can. 113. Whoever says That the grace of God by which a man is Justify'd through Jesus Christ our Lord avails only for the Remission of sins that are already past but does not also give strength to resist sin for the future Let him be Anathema For the grace of God does not only give us the knowledge of what we ought to do but also inspires us with love whereby we may be enabled to Perform those things which we know to be our duty Likewise whosoever shall say that this grace of God which is thro' Jesus Christ our Lord does help us to avoid sin only as the knowledge of sin is made manifest to us by it whereby we know what we ought to seek after what to avoid but that strength is not given us by it that what we know we ought to do we may also love it and be enabled to perform it Let him be Anathema Can. 114. Whosoever shall say that the grace of Justification was therefore given unto us that what we could perform by our own free-will we may do the more easily by grace insomuch that tho' grace had not been given we might tho' with difficulty perform the divine Commandments without it Let him be Anathema For concerning the fruits of the Commandments The Lord did not say that without me ye shall do them with difficulty but He said without me ye can do nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Constant Doctrin of the Church the Quaker Infallibility did not know that she had ever held and therefore set it up as a New discovery of their own and broke with the Church for it And to Advance Divine Grace they would extinguish Human Reason which is a Divine Grace it self and the Subject given unto us by God whereupon His B. Spirit should work And to Divest us of it is to make us cease to be Men instead of being Saints It makes God the sole Author of all our Sin for if we have no Natural-Light we can have no Free-will are only Passive in God's Hands acted by Him but do nothing of our selves and therefore are not answerable for any thing that we do more than a Sword or a Pen are Blame-worthy for whatever use is made of them This Arraigns the Wisdom of God in all the Institutions and Ordinances that ever He gave to Men. For what need of such Helps to the Divine Light and Mr. Penn says we have no other Why then does he Preach To whom doth he Preach To the Divine Light in Men as G. Fox and the Primitive Quakers us'd to speak Can he Teach that Cannot that guide Men without his Preaching If he says that he only Preaches to perswade Men to follow that Light But cannot the Light Teach even that too Or has it Forgot it Does it need Help in that Then why not in other things then is it not self-sufficient without something else Nay by this Principle ther was no need of Christ's coming into the World at least of His dying for us For Men had the Divine Light before And what could the Man Jesus add to that Was it not sufficient without Him If not then you want something else besides your Light within But if it was sufficient without Him then could not His Coming be Necessary I desire to know what you differ herein from the Deists They hold a Divine Light Planted by God in the Heart of Man which they call Reason And that this is sufficient without any thing else to Teach a Man all that he ought to Know or Do. This Divine Light you call the Light within So that you Differ from them but in Words Both of you Reject the Necessity of any Outward Revelation that is of a Christ without And so are the same with all the Pagan or Gentile World For they too and the latter Mahometans allow Jesus to have been a Good Man and to have had this Divine Light which you call Christ within Him as all other Men have But this does not make Him Properly the Son of God which you also utterly deny Him to be as said before p. 3. This is Literally that Anti-Christianism which is Reprehended 1 Joh. 2.22 of Denying Jesus to be the Christ For having of the Light in me does not make me to be the Light But Jesus not only had the Light in Him but He was the Light or Christ which it is Blasphemy to say of any other And yet if Man have no other Light in him but the Divine and that be made Part of his Nature it must follow that he is God For whoever does Properly partake of the Divine Nature is so 2. But now whatever Mr. Penn thinks of my Reasoning which by his own Principle must be the Immediate Dictate of the Holy Ghost if I have no Natural Light which taught it me yet he can have no Reason to break Communion with us upon this Account more than with Hubberthorn Burrough or other Quakers who held the same as James Naylor and others I cou'd shew if that were worth the while And though James Naylor was Censur'd by the Quakers for other things yet never for this and he was Receiv'd again into Favour and Liv'd and Dy'd in their Communion 3. This hinders not by Mr. Penn's own Acknowledgment they and we being all of one Religion For he says p. 62. I know not how properly they may be call'd of divers Religions that assert the True God for the Object of Worship The Lord Jesus Christ for the only Saviour and the Light or Spirit of Christ for the Great Agent and Means of Mans Conversion and Eternal Felicity Now all this Mr. Penn the Church of England does most sincerely and heartily Believe and ever have Profess'd it And therefore if we be not of divers Religions why of divers Communions 4. Again your Exposition of Justification p. 79. That you acknowledge Justification only for the sake of the Death and Sufferings of Christ and nothing we can do say you though by the Operation of the Holy Spirit being able to Cancel old Debts or wipe out old Scores It is the Power and Efficacy of that Propitiatory offering upon Faith and Repentance that Justifies us from the sins that are past and it is the Power of Christ 's Spirit in our hearts that Purifies and makes us Acceptable before God All this is most Sound and Orthodox And your whole Ninth Chapter concerning the Inward and Spiritual Appearance of Christ in the Soul I not only Approve but do very much Congratulate with you that you have so Christianly and Pathetically Press'd it I know you will not suspect me of Flattery For where ther is occasion I speak Plain enough
VIRTUTE ET OPERA The Right honble My Lord Bracco Primitive Heresie REVIVED IN The Faith and Practice Of the PEOPLE Called QUAKERS Wherein is shewn in Seven Particulars That the Principal and most Characteristick Errors of the Quakers were Broached and Condemned in the Days of the Apostles and the first 150 Years after Christ To which is Added A Friendly Expostulation with William Penn upon Account of his Primitive Christianity lately Published By the Author of The Snake in the Grass LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Paul's W. Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard And H. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over-against the Royal Exchange 1698. THE CONTENTS The Seven Errors wherein the Quakers are Compar'd with the Ancient Hereticks I. THeir Denyal of the Incarnation of Christ that is of the Hypostatical or PersonalVnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in His being made Flesh page 2. II. Their Denyal of the Truth and Reality of His Death and Sufferings p. 3. III. Their Denyal of the Resurrection Future Judgment p. 7. IV. Their Abstaining from the Sacraments and Prayers of the Church p. 9. V. Their forbidding to Marry preaching up of Fornication p. 12. VI. Their Contempt of Magistracy and Government p. 14. VII Their Stiffness in not taking off their Hats or giving Men their Civil Titles p. 17. The Conclusion Wherein 1. The Quakers are Invited to view their Errors in those Primitive Heresies p. 18. 2. Their Complaint of being Mis-represented 3. Their Modern Representation of their Principles leaves not Difference enough betwixt us to Justifie their Separation Whence an Invitation to them to Return The Friendly Expostulation Concerning 1. Mr. Penn's Notion of the Light within p. 20. 2. This not sufficient to Justifie his Separation p. 28. 3. For he owns that we are of one Religion p. 29. 4. His Exposition of Justification in his Primitive Christianity most Orthodox and agreeing exactly with us And his whole ix Chapt. of the Inward or Spiritual Appearance of Christ in the Soul Some Objections of his solv'd so far as not to be any Justifiable Causes of a Separation as Concerning 1. Forms of Prayer p. 30. 2. The Spirituality of the Ministry 3. Their being Witnesses of Christ p. 31. 4. Their Receiving Hire as he calls it for their Preaching 5. Tythes 6. Swearing 7. War 8. Holy-Days p. 32. Errata PAge 11. l. 29. f. one r. only P. 17. l. 21. r. Discriminating P. 21. l. 11. dele Primitive Heresie Reviv'd c. IN my Discourse of Baptism I promis'd something upon this Subject in hopes that the Quakers seeing the Original of their Errors may bethink themselves and Return from whence they have Fallen And particularly as to Baptism that I might confirm my Expositions of the H. Scriptures with the Concurrent Testimony of the H. Fathers who were Co-temporarys with the Apostles and learn'd the Faith from their mouths and those who immediately followed them to 150 Years after Christ Though we have very little Remaining of the Writings of the Fathers in that early Age. Yet I would descend no lower where I might have had Clouds of Witnesses to avoid a Groundless Cavil which the Quakers have learn'd from our Elder Dissenters to Run down the Primitive Church by whole-sale because it was so Full of Bishops and in all the Pretences of their Schism went so Directly contrary to them But the Fathers of the First Age that next to the Apostles and of which the Apostles were a Part tho' as much Bishops and as much against them as those following yet for Decency sake they Pretend to Reverence lest in allowing them off they should seem to throw off the Apostles with them from whom they could not be parted And because even in this first Un-controverted Age we have Proofs sufficient I would avoid Needless Disputes and Argue from Topicks that are allowed on all hands The Greatest Part of the following Discourse was wrote at the time with the Discourse of Baptism and Intended to have been Annex'd to it but being Prevented at that time it has since been neglected Till I was stirr'd up afresh by a Book lately Published though said to be Printed in 1696. Intituled Primitive Christianity Reviv'd in the Faith and Practice of the People called Quakers This came Directly to my Subject therefore I have Examin'd it thorowly and leave the Reader to Judge whether the Primitive Christianity or Heresie does belong most to them At least whether it did before the late Representations of Quakerism which have given it quite another Turn and Face than it ever had before Such a Turn as has left nothing on their side whereby to justifie their Schism And therefore we hope that their Conversion is nigh or if already Converted their Full Reconciliation to the Church That the Present Quakers chiefly the Valuable Mr. Penn may have the Honour and the Happiness to Heal up that Breach which now for 48 Years has so Miserably Torn and Divided this once most Christian and Renowned Church of England In this following Discourse I will not take up the Reader 's time to Prove the several Positions which I name upon the Quakers only Briefly Recite them and Refer to the Places in The Snake in the Grass and Satan Dis-Rob'd where they are prov'd at large And to Repeat them Here would swell this to an unreasonable Bulk And this being intended in the Nature of a Supplement to these it would be Needless The proper Business of this is to Compare the Quaker-Heresies with those of the first 150 Years of Christianity Where I Quote The Snake the Reader is desired to take notice that it is the Second Edition And now to our Task The Seven Particulars wherein the Quakers have if not copy'd after at least Jump'd with the Condemn'd Hereticks before mention'd I. The First is as to their Denyal of the Incarnation of Christ They confess that Christ or The Word took Flesh that is That He Assum'd or Dwelt in an Human Body i. e. the Body of that Man Jesus who was therefore called Christ because that Christ or the Word Dwelt in Him And for the same Reason they take the Name of Christ to themselves and say that it belongs to every one of the Members as well as unto the Head i. e. as well as to that Man Jesus who was Principally and Chiefly called The Christ because that Christ Dwelt in Him or did Inspire Him in a Greater Measure than other Men. But they Vtterly Deny that the Man Jesus was Properly the Son of God In a large Sense every Christian may be call'd a Son of God and so and no otherwise they allow Jesus to be the Son of God But that He was Properly the Son of God we utterly Deny says their serious Apology p. 146. which was Printed 1671. See this Proved at large in The Snake in the Grass Sect. x. Now I Proceed to shew That this Heresie was Broach'd