I hope these scandalous Ministers will prove but few when compared with such as truly thirst after the honour of God in a faithful discharge of their duty Here you may have a full view of the Quaker's honesty Par. But says he however the Priests have fed the People it is evident the People have fed the Priests well for they are grown fat and wanton c. p. 3. Min. But while such a number of the Priests are so slenderly provided for And while the People are so wanton as to kick at their Lawful Pastors it may be easily inferr'd who is the better fed of the two Par. Next he comes to enquire into the causes why the People are not profited under your Ministry We read says he of some in former times who did not profit the People at all and the reason thereof is also given c. In the 23d of Jeremiah vers 30. the Lord by the Prophet saith Therefore behold I am against the Prophets that steal my Word every one from his Neighbour Behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that use their Tongues and say He saith Behold I am against them that prophesie false dreams saith the Lord and do tell them and cause my People to err by their lyes and by their lightness yet I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the Lord v. 32. Here the very Ground and Reason why that Ministry did not profit nay why it was rendred uncapable of profiting the People at all is most plainly given by God himself viz. He sent them not nor commanded them p. 4. Min. That this Scripture does not reach his purpose will be evident if we consider 1. That this non-proficiency of some of the People do's not inferr that we are not sent seeing it may proceed from other causes In the careless hearers of Ieremiah it proceeded not from any corruption in his Doctrine which was Divine nor of his Life which was Holy but from the hardness of the Peoples hearts in that they would not bearken In the hearers of the false Prophets it proceeded from their dreams lyes and lightness which they taught and to which the People trusted 2. That this Scripture is ignorantly and injuriously applied to the present Ministry appears in that those false Prophets perswaded the People and that to the ruine of that Nation that Jerusalem should not be destroyed that they should neither see Sword nor Famine Which was an Errand upon which God never sent them Besides they were a company of Fanatick Enthusiasts who cheated the People by false pretences to extraordinary inspirations I have dreamed I have dreamed was their canting note Not to profit the People then is in the true sense of this Scripture not to secure them from the Captivity and Calamities hanging over that Nation Now let us examine how truly this Scripture is applied to the present Ministry Do We come with any new Errand to the World or pretend to extraordinary inspirations to confirm it as those did Or do We Preach peace to impenitent sinners No the contrary is well known So the words do rebound upon the Quakers themselves while in their strange doctrines and misconstructions of Holy Scripture they are guilty of the same fault with those lying Prophets in saying The Lord saith when he hath not said and in their presumptuous pretences to Revelation to confirm it as also in opposing the true Ministers of God as those Fanaticks opposed Ieremiah Par. But he denies your Ministry when he saith Hath God sent thene or do they send one another That they are Ministers of Mans making common experience shews page 6. Min. I answer The Ministry in general is distinguisht into Ordinary and extraordinary Thus it was under the Law and under the Gospel too Of old the Priesthood belonged to the head of every Family challenged by a right of primogeniture But when the House of Israel multiplied into many Families it pleased God for the more advantageous settlement of his Church and the better Government thereof to devolve the Priesthood upon Aaron and to call him to the same in an extraordinary manner by a Commission from Heaven to Moses for his Consecration and to settle that Priesthood successively upon his Posterity without any further need of an extraordinary Call to the Priests of succeeding Generations Such too was the Evangelical Ministry For Aaron's Priesthood being antiquated The Apostles were called to their Function in an extraordinary manner even by Christ himself and by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost were accordingly qualified for the discharge of it Yet even in the Apostles days this Extraordinary Call ceased For Timothy and Titus were Ordain'd by imposition of hands and were commanded so to Ordain others by which means the Ministry was by the Divine Ordinance to descend to all Ages in an orderly succession though not in one Family as Aaron's did These things thus premised do determine our present case as followeth He that is sent according to the order appointed by God in Holy Scripture though by the Ministry of men is not a Minister of man's making but of God's But both the Priests of the Law and the Priests of the Gospel though consecrated and Ordained by the Ministry of Men were sent according to the order appointed by God Therefore they were not Ministers of Man's making but of God's and by him truly call'd and sent Were Timothy and Titus Ministers only of Man's making because they were ordain'd by imposition of hands And if many of the people did not profit by their Ministry as many of the Cretian's did not by Titus's was the fault think you in their not being sent Par. No sure Min. Do you suppose T. E. himself could be ignorant of a truth so obvious Par. Methinks he should not Min. What then should he mean by saying We send one another and by that common experience which he says shews that we are Ministers of Man's making Par. What can he mean by it but your going to the Bishop for Orders as common experience shews you do Min. Truly his words stand very fair for this meaning and therefore not only you but doubtless his whole Fraternity and many others do so take it and through ignorance may be corrupted by it and made to believe We are not sent by God because ordained by the Ministry of Men. Par. Indeed I cannot deny but this passage brought me under some scruples till you gave me this satisfaction Min. If T. E. could not be ignorant in so plain a Case what can be his design here Whatever a Man pretends to mean by any of his expressions yet to set them down in such terms as will impose upon vulgar Readers and engage them in error can surely be no upright dealing Par. No how should it But if says he speaking still of the Ministers of England they ministred by the
not consider what they were rather than from whom they came To these questions they will then be as speechless as he in the Gospel that was found without his Wedding Garment And it will not be Thomas Ellwood that will then be able to open their mouths Par. You have said enough to convince me both of the weakness and naughtiness of this Plea which he has taught the people and by which they encourage themselves to sleight their Teachers and their Doctrine for the least failing they find in them Min. This will neither justify the impiety of these men nor the Separation of such as have already left the Church on that pretence of the Teacher's not following his own directions which is as absurd and preposterous saith St. Augustin As if a Traveller should think he must go back again or leave the way because he saw the Mil-stone with its inscription shewing him the way but not moving in it at all it self But there are too many that rejoyce at the faults of Ministers where they find them and invent and impute them where they find them not that they may have a pretence for their Separation To which purpose rightly saith St. Augustin in the same place Men seek not so much with Charity whom they may Commend in order to their Imitation as with ill will whom they may Carp at in order to their own Deception Some cannot find out Good men being ill themselves and others fear to find such because they would still be evil Par. The true Ministers were always Examples of Goodness he says but too many of these Ministers are Examples of evil p. 24 Min. Has not the Quaker forgot himself here For too many is an implicit acknowledgment that many are not Examples of evil and therefore after all his Exclamations may be Good men Par. When you cannot clear them of your own Profession says he you fall upon the Quakers whom if you can render as bad as your own you think you have done something c. p. 24 25. Min. I never endeavour'd to clear those of mine own Profession that are faulty but the Innocent and to justify the Profession it self from unjust Cavils I ever thought it a method as Ungentile as Improper to defend Truth by Personal Reflections A Zealous Turk and a prophane Christian makes me think no better of Mahometanism nor worse of Christianity But seeing the Quakers themselves have been the first Aggressors in this way of arguing and do place so much of their strength therein it was proper for me only in general terms not naming any particular persons and indeed I was engaged to confnte it by letting them see how much it reflects upon their own Faction and makes all such objections void However that the world may know it was no groundless intimation of mine being thus put upon 't I desire Sir Iames Whitlock's case as it was lately managed in Chancery and two Books the one call'd The Quakers Spritual Court the other The Spirit of the Hat written by a Quaker may be examined By this time I hope I have removed your scruples occasion'd by the Quaker's first Chapter which in his Preface he tells his Reader is Offensive As great a truth as ever he spake For I have sufficiently proved it so to be that is offensive to God to Truth and all Good men But let us now proceed to the examination of his second Chapter CHAP. II. Of saying You to a single person Par. IN his second Chapter T. E. says you seem offended with their using the wrd Thou to a single person Min. I only vindicate the use of You to a single person yet must I tell him that to take up a word or phrase tho' lawful in it self in contradiction to an innocent custom and in an affected singularity as a mark of distinction from their Neighbours this is justly offensive And to make it a necessary duty to say Thou to a single person and a sin to say You when God has neither commanded the one nor forbidden the other this is adding to the Word of God and is rank Superstition and Pharisaism in enslaving the Conscience and placing Religion in pitifull niceties Superstition being an impiety which represents God so light or so froward as to be either pleased or angry with things indifferent and of no moment Par. But T. E. says that they lay not the stress of their Religion upon words p. 27. Min. A good hearing Then may a good man without any violence to Religion say as well You as Thou to a single person But if he spoke as he thought why do they and he contend so much about a word and divide the Church and separate themselves from it for a thing they dare lay no stress of Religion upon So that he has in those words done little credit to his Cause and his whole Party in making them all Schismaticks Yet can we think that he has here truly represented his own Party or clear'd them of Superstition while we observe their strict and demure use of words and phrases to the enslaving of their own Consciences As if to say I thank you for your kindness or the like were not as good sense and as lawful as to say I receive thy love Or to say Such a one is dead were not as pleasing to God as to say He is out of the body Or to say I cannot consent to such a thing were not as proper and as Religious as to say I am not free which is a phrase they have very ready to oppose good Laws and good Counsel And if you mark the Quakers you cannot but observe that in the affected use of their distinguishing phrases tones and gestures they really esteem themselves more religious than their Neighbours whilst indeed if they understood it they are the less Religious by how they are the more superstitious and schismatical But I believe that in many of them much of this proceeds from want of knowledge who now I hope will by one of their own Teachers be at length convinc'd of their great errour in laying so much stress of Religion upon words and phrases Par. You must be cautious how you reflect upon the Quakers for the use of their phrases seeing many of them are taken out of the holy Scriptures Min. Though the holy Scriptures ought to be remembred and frequently used in our Converse for our mutual instruction Yet I would not have you so ignorant and superstitious as to think that God in revealing his will there design'd that our duty should consist in the continual use of those very forms of speech but in a due regard to those truths and Commands contained in them As for the style of the Scriptures you are to understand that it was ever accommodated to the particular dialect of that people to whom they were written and therefore varied accordingly as we find it does in the different proprieties of the Hebrew Tongue in
the old Testament and of the Greek in the new And if this had not been observed by the Apostles in their Preaching how could they have been understood by men of so many different Languages as we find they spake to Acts 2. seeing every language has its peculiar phrases and proprieties of speech Therefore God's complying with those national customs of speech then is a rule to us to do the like now Otherwise a man would be a Barbarian to those he converses with Now the word of God is never so much abused as when the phrases of it are plausibly used while the sense of it is pâ—…rverted and applyed to evil purposes to maintain schism faction and the like and this we call Canting an Instance hereof we have in Corah and his company who even in an Act of Rebellion could cry The Congregation is holy and the Lord is among them their sin being much aggravated by their gainsaying Authority in holy language Par. Yet says he we know there is a form of words and we desire to keep to it ibid. Min. Here is one instance among many in his book of this Quaker's Canting in his demure and impertinent bringing in a Scripture phrase nothing at all belonging to the subject in hand but quite to another matter However one thing I like well that sound words in the opinion of a Quaker may be contained in a form But if he allude to that form of sound words which St. Paul gave to Timothy That you must know was no such thing as a Gang of phrases but a Creed or short Summary of Christian Religion by the use of which he might be enabled to withstand the opposition of growing heresies And therefore to bring in this to the subject in hand to make the sense of these words to imply a Grammar or Dictionary to direct the Conscience in the use of words and phrases as his brethren no doubt do understand him is a thing which sure He upon more serious thoughts will be unwilling to defend and therefore he had done faithfully to have interpreted his meaning If by sound words he mean an entire and plain Confession of Faith or a summary of those things that are necessary to be believed unto Salvation I know no such thing subscribed by the body of them for that would fix them to something when indeed they are yet fix'd to nothing This miserable defect is far remote from the uprightness and ingenuity of the Apostles in giving their Hearers an account of their Fundamental Principles in a short Form to let men see to the bottom of their Religion T is true indeed some Quakers have pretended to set down in their books the heads of their belief But then 1. No man knows whether the rest will subscribe to them while they have been so different from one another even in Fundamental Points 2. That croud of Scripture texts which they quote has been generally so erroneously misinterpreted and misapplied by them that even where they write little else but Scripture words we have reason to suspect their meaning Therefore when you were so inclined to Quakerism would you have turn'd to you knew not what to a dangerous Religion you cannot see to the bottom of What kind of Religion is this of the Quakers whereof their Leaders either can not or dare not give any entire and intelligible account Do not these Teachers use this as a piece of Craft to reserve to themselves a liberty to preach what Doctrine yea what heresy they please I pray God draw their Followers out of their snares and grant all unstable people Grace and Discretion to keep off from them and their meetings As for that which we and the Universal Church of Christ embrace under the name of the Apostles Creed as the Mark and Badge of a Christian the Quakers tenents are such as give us little reason to think they will own it while some have held one Heresy some another Some have denied the Holy Trinity Some have pretended Equality with God One of the Heads of 'em pretended to be the Messiah Another of their cheif men affirmed himself to be the Judge of the world and to see mens hearts and has been by some of his Party call'd the Son of God Others have affirmed that Christ in the flesh and all he did and suffer'd was but a Figure and nothing but an example Others if not most of them think they have no need of outward Teaching by reading and hearing the Holy Scriptures read and applied And that the Holy Scriptures are not the word of God That there is no mediate Call to the Ministry c. so far are they degenerate from the Christian Faith Now what fault finds T. E. with us for saying You to a single Person Par. I do not see that he blames you for putting the singular and plural number together as unlawful in it self but for the pride and flattery which he says first put Inferiors upon paying a Plural respect to the single Person of every Superior and Superiors upon receiving and at last requiring it ibid. and which are still cherished thereby p. 28 29. Min. As for the pride and flattery he speaks of you must consider that the best actions are liable to such imputations Even Almes-deeds Fasting and Prayer in the Pharisees proceeded from vain-glory But then did their pride lessen the value of those good Actions in others who constantly perform'd them or make Alms-deeds Fasting and Prayer unlawful And is it unlawful for an honest Man to use an innocent expression of respect because ill Men may abuse it to pride and flattery I hope he will not say that those whom he owns for Godly Martyrs used it from such evil principles But whether think you is there more pride in our useing it as a testimony of respect or their sawcy denying it to Superiors even to the King himself in an affectation of singularity and in opposition to a lawful custom Par. Truly I know not how to clear them but T. E. tells us that in the best times and with the best Men Thou and Thee were inoffensive language ibid. Min. It was custom that made them so But what were those times and Men which he calls the best Par. Those under the Common-wealth of Rome before it was turn'd into an Empire p. 28. Min. What those the best times and best men in the very height of Paganism and Idolatry Did our Common-wealths-man here remember that Christ was born and lived under the Roman Empire and paid obedience to it Or did he consider that afterwards many of the Emperors themselves proved zealous Patrons of Christianity yet did neither alter their Dialect nor the imperial Government as inconsistent with the Christian Religion Par. I doubt he was a little inconsiderate here but he says that You to a single person with other Titles c. seems to have its rise with the Roman Empire ibid. Min.
Dominium Nobilium whereby they have jus praecedentiae a right of precedency and Locus potior decernendi and other things of like nature Therefore they have Ornaments allotted to them which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Titles to adorn them whih are no other than certain marks of their civil valuation For it is past dispute that as some Men are of much more value to the publick than others viz. Able Commanders Iudges c. So publick Governors have power to determine the rates both of Men and Things and to signifie the value they set upon one Man above another by giving him a higher place and a title Ninthly These priviledges being propagated to posterity and made hereditary for Patrum conditionem liberi sequuntur as the Law speaks make different Families in respect of superiority and inferiority These advancements descending to their Children being encouragements to civil vertues and great actions And 't is hard to conceive how these things can be otherwise in this World without danger to that order which is necessary to the subsistence of each civil Society These things and the like must necessarily distinguish persons into several ranks and classes as Servius Tullius distributed the Roman Citizens and this the Scripture freely acknowledges for we read also of Nobles Exod. 24. 11. Ier. 27. 20. and the Sons of Nobles Eccl. 10. 17. The Title of Honourable Isa. 3. 3 5. Mar. 15. 43. Acts 13. 50. and 17. 12. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Scriptures express men of worth was used by the Greeks as a Title to salute a Gentleman For seeing there are different ranks of Men downwards from the King to the Peasant therefore as you see it is agreeable to holy Scripture so all sober men will acknowledge it is agreeable to Reason also to give to each rank such distinct Titles as are proper to express that difference And with what reverence and outward civil respects the Primitive Christians behaved themselves to their Governors may be seen in Iustin Martyr Apol. 2. And what is any where said that true piety is the Fountain of Honour or the like is meant in a Religious sense and concerns the inward man and is not at all intended to exclude those civil distinctions among men in reference to their outward capacities To suppose otherwise were very ridiculous Par. The case is still clearer to me and you have made T. E's way of reasoning appear sufficiently absur'd Min. I shall make it more apparent before I have done by giving you a List both of his Absurdities and Self-contradictions contained in this one Paragraph we are now upon First Absurdity in implying that Christ's death put an end to his Moral documents this of Luk. 14. 10. being one 2 Absur that all Political Government is now at an end and God's People must be now no more an outward National people 3 Absur In making the use of the Sword unlawful now in the time of Reformation in contradiction to Rom. 13. 4. where 't is said that the Magistrate bears not the Sword in vain hereby condemning two good Centurions him in Mat. 8. 9 10. and Cornelius Acts 10. 1 2. who was after Christ's death By this Rule neither forreign invasions nor intestine Rebellions must be opposed nor prevented by any outward means But we have no reason to trust the Quaker here seeing divers of his Brethren bore Arms and Offices in the late Army yet at the same time professed Quakerism and I can name the persons were there occasion for it 4 Absur In going about to prove outward things connived at by Christ and indulged to the Jews for the hardness of their hearts by that very Text in Mat. 19. 8. which is an express and plain instance of his forbidding and reforming those arbitrary divorces which Moses suffer'd 5 Absur in saying in such general terms that the State of the Church in Christ's time was Outward and Worship Outward and in that notion afterwards to vanish as if after Christ's death the Church were not to retain any Outward State or Outward Worship And consequently that all vocal Prayers all gestures of Devotion all Outward Ordinances yea the very notion and being of the visible Church must vanish together 6 Absur in making no difference at all between the State of the Church under Christ's time and under Moses's contrary to these Scriptures Heb. 1. 1. and 2. 1 2 3. and 3. 1 7. making the Doctrine of Christ no Gospel Ellwood's self-contradictions in this passage are these 1 Contrad His putting Outward Respects among those things which he says were indulged by our Saviour to continue till the Reformation and yet venturing to contradict himself in the exposition he gives of Mat. 23. 10. wherein he affirms that civil titles are there forbidden 2 Contrad His saying Outward honour went off after the death of Christ in contradiction to his own acknowledgment of the Epithet as he will have it of Most Noble given by St. Paul to Festus who being a Heathen had no Christian vertue to qualifie him for it according to the Quakers principles 3 Contrad His putting Outward respects among other things that were to cease at the time of Reformation in contradiction to what himself had implicitly yielded concerning the lawfulness of salutation p. 32. which is an outward civil respect Par. But T. E. has another distinction and bids his Readers consider to whom this in Luk. 14. 10. was spoken They were Pharisees of whom T. E. says there were several ranks and degrees there were chief Pharisees and inferiour Pharisees and they took place one of another c. Nay there were seven ranks among them as Goodwin tells us c. p. 40. Min. The Quaker is out again Where did he ever read of inferiour Pharisees Indeed in ver 1. it 's said one of the chief Pharisees but in the Greek 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies one of the Sanhedrim as appears from Luk. 24. 20. Io. 3. 1. Acts 3. 17. For though Goodwin tells him that there were seven ranks among the Pharisees he do's not tell him that they took place of one another by virtue of higher or lower ranks for there was no such matter one Rank looking on themselves to be as good as another Hence the learned Scultetus saith Pharisaeorum septem non classes aut ordines sed genera fuisse liquet And we may note by the way that they who go about to explain Scripture upon pretence of their having the Spirit do if they want the ordinary means viz. Learning sanctified by the Spirit soon baffle themselves and demonstrate they have no true Spirit in them Par. But what was that to his Disciples says he He puts them in mind of their Equality p. 41. Min. Was there ever so gross an absurdity As if the Saviour of the World who came to Disciple all mankind should allow that to one sort of Men and prohibit the same thing
dispute for them If men were what they are not than might we spare what now we cannot be without 4. As to Bishop Gauden's words I see no Argument producible thence against us For the Bishop does not say that the Primitive Christians refused to take Any Oath whatever indefinitely for then he need have gone no further but only such an Oath as for matter or manner or Authority was unlawful And which of Us does plead for such an Oath But to give you further satisfaction in this point I shall hereafter prove what the Bishop speaks of the Primitive Christians viz. that they did not refuse any Oaths but such as were unlawful upon some of these accounts but did swear by Gods Name as we do in necessary Cases Par. But still T. E. replies How great a derogation is this from the Honour of Christianity p. 133. Min. So he may argue are Rods and Axes Prisons and Fines Houses of Correction and places of Execution t is very sad that Christianity hath not set its followers above the need of these things but he will scarce perswade our Governours to throw away these Instruments of Government which help to keep the seditious in some awe A man may lament it that these things should be necessary but since they are so they must be retained I remember Seneca cries out in a Rhetorical strain O how base a Confession is this from Mankind of their publick fraud and villany that our Seals shall be of more credit than our Souls yet Seneca never intended that Bonds and Sealing of Deeds should be taken out of the World considering what men were And truly if Oaths were taken away and other like Securities at T. E's Motion we should soon find such a flood of Cheating and Lying break in upon us as would derogate ten times more from the Honour of Christianity than solemn swearing doth which indeed does not dishonour it at all though the occasion of its being used in Publick Courts is some disgrace But though the occasion be Evil yet Swearing is Good and would be of use in Dedicating our selves to God Psal. 119. 106. and in Consecrating our voluntary Oblations Numb 30. 2. and in other Cases though the use of them in Judicature should cease for we can offer nothing more acceptable to God than a just Oath saith St. Augustine And when Christians take Oaths with all due Reverence are careful not to satisfie or break them for the whole World I think they honour their Profession and do not disgrace it whether in Judgment or on other grand occasions Par. But T. E. wonders that from the Apostle's words Heb. 6 16. An Oath for Confirmation is to them an end of all strife you should conclude that an Oath is â—…ined by God to be the most effectual means of compesing it whereas you should rather have said was ordained if you had intended to deal fairly p. 134. Min. Is he angry then that I quote Scripture aright Had the Apostle said that an Oath for confirmation Was an end of strife than had I indeed ddealâ—… unfairly But if the Holy Ghostâ—…speak in the Present tense as may reasonably be concluded He does because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swear in the same verse is of this tense let not the Quaker blame me for speaking here so too Par. But he has another rare Criticism St. Paul do's not say WE swear but MEN swear nor to Us an End but to Them an End so that he speaks of Men under the Law and Men in a carnal state p. 135. Min. If T. E. had looked back to ver 13. and read the Antecedent which lies there he would have seen the impertinence of his long Criticism the words are these For wheâ—… God made the promise to Abraham because HE could swear by no Greater He sware by Himself and then ver 14. 15. the Apostle repeating the Promise and the certainty of it adds v. 16. For MEN verily swear by the greater and an Oath for Confirmation is to THEM an end c. Here the Antithesis lies not between Saints and Carnal Men nor between Christians and Iews Them and Us But between God and Men between Him and Them the sense being God did act in this Oath more humano He confirmed it by an Oath as Men use to do only with this difference that God could not swear by any Greater than himself whereas Men always do swear by a Greater yet the event is the same for God's Oath by Himself put the promise out of all question even as Mens swearing by a Greater to confirm what they say is to Them an end of all strife Par. But T. E. infers from 1 â—…or 3. 3. that the Apostle in this place does not by Men intend Saints true Believers the New Testament Church but such as were under the old dispensation Nor are you or any else to take advantage from the Apostle's speaking in the Present tense Men do swear c. and an Oath is to them c. from thence inferring that he spake this of the Christian State Because on other occasions he expresses himself in the same tense as in Heb. 8. 3. and 9. 3. p. 136 137. Min. To the first I answer it does not follow from 1 Cor. 3. 3 that Men here in Heb. 6. 16. should exclude those of the Christian Church unless T. E. could prove that Men in other places of Scripture did always signifie Carnal and bad Men only What do's he think of that saying of our Lords Luke 12. 35 36. Let your loins be girded about and you Lights burning And ye your selves like unto MEN * that wait for their Lord c. What means 1 Cor. 16. 13. Quit you like men I am sure our Translators do take MEN in a quite contrary sense to T. E. sometimes For in 1 Cor. 14. 20. the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ye perfect vet they read be ye MEN taking MEN for Perfect mer. To the second I answer That his shifts to evade the force of the particle is in the present Tense which he pretends St. Paul uses in this Epistle for things that had been among the Iews but are not applicable to the Christian State are very wretched The Apostle said truly there is a High Priest and is a Holiest of all for at that time there were both in being and he could not speak truly in any other Tense but do's it follow from thence that always when he useth Is it is of things only applicable to the Jewish State In this Chap. ver 20. He saith Christ is enter'd into the Heavens and Chap. 4. 12. For the word of God is quick c. and Chap. 11. 1. Faith is the substance c. What non-sense and Blasphemy would it make â—…to say here Is only was applicable to the Jewish State when these things were true then and will be so to the end of the World to Jews and Christians all alike
to blame for inferring from thence a Necessity of Humane Learning in Ordinary times p. 226. Min. A more senseless remark cannot be made Unless Humane Learning had been an extraordinary thing and acquired only in an extraordinary manner Par However he saith that Teaching of the Spirit had no dependency upon Tongues it was before them and was to continue after them ibid. Min. This is false for they were given both at one time But if he mean that the Ordinary teaching of the Spirit was to continue after them I say as much But then his not distinguishing between the Ordinary and Extraordinary teaching of the Spirit has here run him into some gross Absurdities for two or three pages together First he supposes All Christian Believers to be the Apostles successors as if there were no difference between the Preacher and the Hearer between Priest and People when the Apostles selected their successors from out of the company of Ordinary Christians And the Distinction has been ever kept up in all Ages since Secondly The Quaker pleads alike for all Believers as if they had All the inward and immediate Teaching p. 229. and takes those places 1 Iohn 2. 20 27. Ye know all things and need not that any man teach you c. without Limitation Hence it follows that the Apostles taught in vain And so not only Ministers pains are in vain but the Quakers own Preachments for if All were are immediately taught what need was or is there of any of these Thirdly The Quaker seems to fancy that if the Spirit be not with Believers in this immediate Manner He is not with them at all p. 230. and that Christ hath left His people comfortless as if the people in Canaan where they plowed and sowed were not fed by Gods Providence as well as in the Wilderness We know that it is the Spirit that blesseth our Learning and to as useful purposes considering our Circumstances as if we had that Immediate Teaching which the Quakers do but dream of Par. He would make his Reader believe that you are of opinion that the Apostles received the knowledge of the Gospel by Tongues p. 231. Min. He wrongs me infinitely I put in Miracles and the rest Immediate knowledge and Tongues are by me usually reckoned together because the Apostles received them together and they were Miraculous effects of the Spirit both temporary and extraordinary and both fitted to that Season And Immediate Teaching is as little to be expected now as the Gift of Tongues which was not so Miraculous as immediate teaching it being a greater wonder that ignorant men should be acquainted with All Heavenly Truthes as speak All Earthly Languages Methinks when Quakers talk of this Immediate Teaching it 's as some do of the Philosophers Stone for while they boast of it they should shew us One man that Actually hath it And for all their pretences we see some of them do not depend upon it but make use of Humane Means and do read and study and when they falsly quote an Author can pretend they were in the Countrey c. And we all know that the Quakers being generally devoid of Learning their discourses and writings are fuller of tautologies soloecisms confusion and darkness than any other sort of people whatsoever Whereas if they had the Immediate teaching as the Apostles had their Notions would be clear their discourses Methodical and Argumentative as those of the Apostles were And wee see they are so far from it that even T. E. a pretender to Learning as well as to this inspiration is often detected of gross ignorance impertinence and self-contradiction in this little Tract All the Knowledge therefore that we expect now must be attain'd only by Gods blessing upon our due use of Means 'T is certain that the best Quaker of them all did he not read study converse c. would be as ignorant as a Barbarous Indian and till they can give us an example to the contrary this pretence of theirs must pass for an absolute imposture Par. But T. E. thinks that He has catch't you in a contradiction because you say that Necessary Truths are already Revealed in Scripture yet you confess that you want the Assistance of the Spirit to help you to understand them p. 236. Min. He forgets that here He do's contradict Himself Before I made humane Learning All in all now it seems I make the ordinary assistance of the Spirit Necessary But to the point If it be a contradiction to pray for the assistance of the Spirit for the understanding of what is Revealed Then is His Worship guilty of the same contradiction for he tells us p. 237 238. that the Doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures cannot be comprehended or understood by the Wit and Wisdom of man in his highest Natural attainments but only and alone by the Openings and Discoveries of that holy Spirit by which they were at first Revealed So that I must retort his own words * If it cannot be understood it 's not Revealed but Vailed My wonder is that this Quaker quarrels not with the last book in Scripture seeing it's the hardest to be understood yet called The Revelation of Iesus Christ. And I must tell the Quaker that whatsoever is made publick is revealed whether every body understand it or no. Par. As for New Revelations he thinks it is a phrase of your own not used by them p. 237. Min. 'T is well known that I am not the inventer of it And though T. E. disowns the phrase yet you see he defends the thing and if we must not call them New Revelations we must then call them New Impostures Have not divers Quakers stript themselves stark naked and said the Spirit bid them deliver such and such a Message in that posture Must not then this be a New Revelation in their own sense I shall be glad to hear that all Quakers were really become as their Champion Ellwood pretends they are of another mind It would be very well would they at last renounce all revelations which are not contained in the Scripture and search out the sense of what is already Revealed which they may do with the ordinary assistance of Gods Spirit and His blessing on the use of means so far as is needful to their own Salvation Thus far I shall agree with T. E. that Outward means without the Spirit of God will not make us savingly to understand the Scriptures Provided that he will add that the Spirit will not help those who neglect to use the means so far as their condition and capacity do extend unto Now as for those that expect New Revelations or immediate Teaching that is a Teaching without means such do render the Scriptures useless altogether For he that hath immediately the same Truthes from the same fountain from whenee the Scriptures do flow will not value the Scriptures at all for who will value a Copy that hath the
Original 'T is the conceit of this Teaching that hath made many of the Quakers despise the Scriptures What need have such says one of them of Scripture-teaching without them when they have received the same Spirit within them Another whom I could name said to a Credible Person That it had been better for him had he never read the Bible Par. But you affirmed the Scriptures were a Perfect Rule this sticks in his teeth And whereas you proved it by 2. Tim. 3. 17. He confesses the Scriptures to be profitable but hopes the Priest will not say Every thing that is profitable is a perfect and sufficient rule p. 247. Min. It 's well if My Gentleman put not on a false Vizard for this is the foundation-Principle of all Popery to deny that the Scripture is a perfect Rule And under this sconce all their other Errours do take Sanctuary wherefore the Papists call the Scripture a Leaden Rule a dead Iudge merum putamen sine nuelâ—…o a meer Nut-shell without a Kernel That the Fathers are clear in this point as well against the Papists as their Frieud Ellwood may be seen in the Confeâ—…nce P. 105. which he passes by That the Scripture is a sufficient Rule the Apostle proves sufficiently 2. Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Do's not St. Paul say there that they are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith Which they could not do were there not a Rule in order to that Salvation For the main use of a Rule is to direct us in the way we should go in The Apostle proceeds to enumerate the several particulars wherein the Scriptures may by us be profitably made use of They are profitable says he for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction Which contain all the intents and purposes of a Rule To shew that the Scripture hath all the Perfection that a Rule can have the Apostle adds that the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good Works Let this Quaker therefore beware how he digs up Foundations especially considering how many places there are which make the Law of the Lord Perfect c. Which for brevity sake I must omit I expected that T. E. in this Chapter of Learning would have shewed us his greatest skill and accuracy but I find my self deceived his pages being filled only with pitisul shifts and evasions Lest therefore I should weary you I must desire you to pass to the next and last Chapter of his Book especially considering there is a Tract now in press called Christianity No Enthusiasm which answers all his pretensions to immediate Teaching Par. I shall only then desire you to take notice that he concludes this Chapter with the Testimonies of Tindall Iewel Bradford Philpot and Bullinger all which argue a Necessity of the Spirit in order to the interpreting of Scripture Min. I have seriously consider'd their words and do find that they either speak of the practicable knowledge of the Scriptures which is ouly to be had from the Grace of the Spirit or else of the Ordinary teaching of Gods Spirit in the use of means But where do's he find that any of these relyed on immediate Inspiration or disputed against the use of Humane Learning in Divinity Or do you think that the Quaker observed His decorum in giving Philpot the Reverend Title of a Learned Martyr in this Chapter against Learning p. 275 But to shew that T. E. has abused the Learned and Pious Philpot And that I maintain No notion of Learning different form Him Let us hear his own words I confess saith he that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and I acknowledge that God appointeth an Ordinary means for men to came unto knowledge now and not miraculously as He hath done in times past yet we that be taught by Men must take heed that we learn nothing but that which was taught in the Primitive Church by Revelation Par. One thing I wonder at viz. That T. E. should not say Bishop Iewel he having been Bishop of Salisbury as well as Bishop Gauden and Bishop Taylor but barely styles him Iohn Iewel a zealous defender of the Protestant Religion p. 273. Min. You will the less wonder if you consider that the design of Ellwoods Book is to blind and delude the ignorant Common people for he can hardly fancy that men whose Reason has been improved by Consideration and education can be imposed upon by so many apparent fallacies Now should He have called him Bishop Iewel then would the most Vulgar have made this Remark viz. that a man may be a Bishop and yet a zealous defender of the Protestant Religion But if T. E's design be to prove that Gods people cannot be without the assistance of His Holy Spirit he needed not to have gone to Bishop Iewel Arch-Deacon Philpot and the rest He might have brought as plain Proofs and with more Authority from the Book of Common prayer from the Articles and Homilies of the Church of England And if I say any thing to the contrary I will submit to the severest puninshment for so high a Cirme Par. I should give you no further Trouble upon this point but for one odd passage which I had like to have forgot He says The Faith which They have received is the same with that of the Primitive Christians p. 245. Min. Then let me give you a Testimony or two of their Opinion in this matter Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History lib. 5. c. 9. tells us of one Pantaenus who lived in the Second Century that He was a famous Learned man and Moderator in the School of Alexandria And that of Old disputation and exercise in Holy Scripture did flourish among them being instituted by such men as excelled in Eloquence The same Eusebius informs us that Origen perswaded to the Study of Liberal Sciences affirming them advantagious to the knowledge of Holy Scriptures being of an opinion that the exercise of Philosophical Discipline was very necessary and profitable It was an unhappy Project of Iulian the Apâ—…state to extirpate Christianity by destroying All Schools of Literature and Education for by this means saith he if we suffer them We are beaten with our own Weapons And the Christians complained of this as a very great grievance Which shews that they both used Learning and highly valued it also Saint Augustine allows the knowledg of Philosophy and other Heathen Learning to be useful in order to the expounding of Scripture and compares it to the Israelites spoiling of the Egyptâ—…ians to adorn the Tabernacle And saith that Saint Cyprian Lactantius Victorinus Optatus and Hilarius were rarely furnished with these spoils Saint Hierome was brought up in Learning from his Youth And before he set upon explaining the Scripture he Learned the Hebrew Tongue long after he was a man And hehighly commended the Mother of Rusticus who was designed for the Ministry that she brought him up