Robert Bridgman's REASONS For leaving the QVAKERS Upon Examination Proved Unreasonable Being only A Demonstration Of his ENVY By W. Rawlinson Rom. 1.22 23. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts was darkened Professing themselves to be Wise they became Fools London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-hart-court in Gracious-street 1700 R. B's Reasons Unreasonable IT was our Saviour's Doctrine Mat. 7.18 20. that a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit neither can a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit. Wherefore by their Fruits ye shall know them And it stands true for ever so that upon certainly knowing the Fruit we may infallibly know the Tree whether it be Good or Evil. Now in all good Actions Love is a chief Ingredient and in most evil Actions Envy doth much Influence Hereby we may make a pretty safe Judgment both of Men and their Actions whether they be Good or Bad for Love is of God and seeks the real Good of all as Envy is of the Devil and seeks their Hurt and Ruin It might be of good use to instance some Presidents of each sort though my intended Brevity will not admit thereof at present So in a general way do say That the Practice of all in whom the Love of Christ prevaileth is To seek the Good both of the Souls and Bodies of all even of their Enemies and never can by any Provocation whatsoever be prevailed upon to Detract Calumniate and Misrepresent their greatest Enemies much less thereby to endeavour to Influence the Civil Magistrate against them that so they might come to suffer either in their Bodies Estates or Liberties being of the Mind of the good Houshoulder who would not admit his Servants to pull out the very Tares from among the Wheat till the Harvest Praying for our Enemies and doing unto all Men as we would have them to do unto us was the Doctrine of him whom we all pretend to follow That my present Adversary has been in this his Undertaking acted by this sweet and amiable Virtue which is the true Characteristick of a true Disciple and Follower of the blessed Jesus doth not appear tho' the contrary it 's very evident hath too much prevailed upon him which hath been the Cause he hath so grosly misrepresented us Not to say any thing of his abusive Language And if so as I doubt not but what follows will make evidently appear then I hope we may be satisfied what place all his endeavours will have with all sincere Christians so that the Pit he digged for his Neighbour he is fallen into himself He begins his Paper with a very sad Account viz. It has been matter of Sorrow and Shame unto me and many others that have now left the Quakers Communion that we so long professed the Christian Religion whilst we remained so ignorant of the Fundamental Principles of it The Doctrine of the Trinity or Three Persons of one Nature and Substance in the Godhead The Incarnation of the second Person or Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ The Satisfaction and Atonement made unto God the Father by his Obedience and Death upon the Cross The Resurrection and Ascension of his Body and Person into Heaven His remaining in our Nature at the right Hand of God in the Glory of his Father our Head High-Priest and Intercessor The Faith and full perswasion of his Second Last and Outward Appearance and Coming again to Raise the dead Bodies of the Saints and of all Men in the great Day and solemn Assize of all Nations in which a final and infallible Sentence will be passed upon all according to the Deeds done in the Body agreeable to the plain and positive Sense of divers Texts in holy Scripture Truly I am of his Mind that to remain so long ignorant whilst under a Christian Profession of these great Doctrines and Principles of the very Christian Religion is Cause sufficient both of Sorrow and Shame but what is that to the Christan Society or Societies he has joyned himself with For except he can make it appear those Societies he hath belonged to were Ignorant of them then and not else they also may come under the same Reflection but till then both the Sorrow and the Shame is like to lie solely at his own Door Let not R. B. think hereby to Charge the Quakers and render them Guilty of being defective in their Christian Belief of these Doctrines offering that as his Reason for leaving them if he do I doubt not but to make the contrary very evident to the blasting all his vain Hopes First Let us suppose tho' not grant what he insinuates to be true would not this bespeak him a great Ignoramus or worse first to joyn with such a People and then to continue so long with them but that which doth aggravate his Ignorance is that when his now Friend D. S. did Calumniate us in Print he should appear in our Vindication and wrote an answer in our Defence to that scandalous Pamphlet as he then called it not thinking I believe then which was but in 1694. that he should now write one a great deal more Scandalous himself all which tends little to his Reputation indeed if he were a Man that wanted Bread it were something and he not being educated a Quaker his ignorant Education cannot reflect on them and how much it was the Fruit of Humour I will leave to him to reflect on Since this were a heavy Charge if true That we did not sincerely believe these great Doctrines of Christianity enough to offend any Christian Ear. I shall therefore be more particular in my Answer being sorry that That which R. B. accounted the blessed Truth in 1694. should be so grosly Calumniated in 1700. because I believe it to be the blessed Truth still This at most is but R. B's insinuating Charge without the least Proof so that my single Testimony is of equal Authority I do therefore say I was brought up and educated in this Way and therefore must be granted to know their Principles as well nay better than R. B. if there be any thing in Education and I am well assured that we do sincerely believe all these above-mentioned Doctrines as to the Matter and Substance of them and do only differ with the Church of England in some few Words and Terms and why we should be blamed for that when we believe the same things and the more seeing these Terms are such as the Holy Ghost did not see meet to express these Mysteries by in the Holy Scriptures tho' I do say if we did not differ with the Church of England about weightier Matters than these Words or Terms I do not think it were worth our while to Dissent from Her Yet let us hear what G. Keith hath taught on this Head Way cast up p. 88. And saith he it is well known that these
Words Three Persons or Three Hypostases have made great Contention in former times and divers judged to be Pious and Learned Men have denied them and disputed against them as namely Jerome against the Three Hypostases and Augustine disputed solidly Lib. 5. 7. de Trinitate That the Words Three Persons are not properly applicable to the Mystery it self although he doth not know what other Names to give them And surely it is too great Presumption and Curiosity in any Man to dive further into this Mystery than what God hath been pleased to reveal or to give Names to it and yet it is more Presumption and smelleth rankly of a Persecuting Spirit to impose upon others these words which the Spirit of God hath not Taught nor left upon Record in the Scriptures and yet because we do not own these Word 's of Man's Wisdom and Spirit to cry out against us as Blasphemers and Deniers of the true Christ whereas we the Quakers believe in and own the true Christ more according both to his Godhead and Manhood more according to the Truth and the Testimony of the Scripture than our Accusers do as I hope in its due place to shew And in p. 87. saith Nor indeed is there any need of these Terms Three Distinct Persons but rather they darken than explain the Mystery which have occasioned not only some of the Vulgar but even some of them called the Learned to Err grosly in their Conceptions about the Mystery it self sure I am they are in an Error occasioned in great part by these unsound and unscriptural Terms of Three Persons in the Trinity for Persons signifies Substances and not the Modes or Properties of One Substance Thus Keith when a Quaker spoke truly of the Quakers tho' now he acts in a contrary Line These Men must be acknowledged to be either Insincere formerly or else they are Insincere now For as we were we are if we were Erroneous then Keith was Insincere for declaring us Orthodox If we are Orthodox Keith is Insincere now for declaring us Heterodox Nor is it in this one Particular for if it might be of Service I believe I could make it appear that he has declared us in all our Principles Orthodox Here in this one Particular we may observe how zealously he Defends our Consciencious Scruple not only by the Authority of these Fathers but also from the Unscripturalness and ill Consequences of such Terms withal fully declaring our Sincere Belief in the Holy Three which may be sufficient to shew we are Sound in Faith touching the Trinity so called I shall not for Brevity's sake say any more to Vindicate our consciencious Scrupling these Words and Terms used by R. B. to express these Mysteries by but shall proceed to shew by a Quotation or two that we are Sound in the Faith touching the Doctrines themselves out of that Book which is generally received by the Society But by this as we do not at all intend either to equal our selves to that Holy Man the Lord Jesus Christ who was Born of the Virgin Mary in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells Bodily nor to destroy the Reality of his present Existence so neither do we as some have falsly callumniated us For though we affirm that Christ dwells in us yet not Immediately but Mediately as he is in that Seed which is in us whereas he to wit the Eternal Word which was with God and was God dwelt Immediately in that Holy Man He then is as the Head and we as the Members he the Vine we the Branches so God dwells otherwise in the Man Jesus than in us We also freely reject the Heresie of Apolinarius who denied him to have any Soul but said The Body was only acted by the Godhead As also the Error of Eutiches who made the Manhood to be wholly swallowed up of the Godhead Wherefore as we believe he was a true and a real Man so we also believe that he continues so Glorified in the Heavens in Soul and Body by whom God shall Judge the World in the great and general Day of Judgment Neither do we hereby intend any ways to Lessen or Derogate from the Atonement and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ but on the contrary do Magnifie and Exalt it For as we believe all those things to have been certainly translated which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Birth Life Miracles Sufferings Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ so we do believe that it is the Duty of every one to believe it to whom it pleaseth God to reveal the same and to bring to them the Knowledge of it Yea we believe it were Damnable Unbelief not to believe when so declared nevertheless as we do firmly believe it was necessary that Christ should come that by his Death and Sufferings he might offer up himself a Sacrifice to God for our Sins who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree so we believe that the Remission of Sins which any partake of is only in and by Vertue of that most satisfactory Sacrifice and no otherwise for it is by the Obedience of that One that the free Gift is come upon all to Justification Barclay's Apol. 334.335 Thus having given these Quotations of our Faith by which it doth evidently appear how falsly this R. Bridgman hath insinuated against us as well as the Soundness of our Faith is sufficiently declared I shall now proceed and be more Brief because what he offers in the main is but Trifling He adds That without the true Faith of them we cannot be saved which true Faith he acknowledges ought to be wrought by the Operation of the Spirit I would hope since he belteves it of so great Concernment he will take care for one or else notwithstanding all his other Performances and going to Church he is like to remain still Ignorant of the true Faith of them besides how can he be fully assured whether he has the true Faith of them wrought by the Spirit without sticking to his Quaker-Principle of Immediate Revelation I would see this R. Bridgman and G. Keith to give over playing upon words which is only a trying of Skill If they would betake themselves like Sampson to the great Pillars of our Religion our known and acknowledged Principles this were far more Manly than raising up a Man of Straw to Fight with for then if they could overthrow them it would render them Sampsons indeed Now G. K. when a Quaker accounted Immediate Revelation as stated in his Book on that Subject and the Universal Principle of Light and Grace which Principle he States and Proves in his Books The Universal Free Grace of the Gospel asserted the two great Principles or Pillars of our Religion as differing from other Societies of Christians therefore Oh ye mighty Men to work R. B. proceeds to Teach of what necessity it is to every one to be rightly inform'd concerning those above-mentioned Doctrines adding
what a necessary work it is to yield our Love and Obedience to that Law and Light with which God instructs and enlightens our Nature and that without some Experience thereof it is in vain to pretend to any Religion Whether does he offer this as one Reason for leaving us or Digresses and gives it as Advice to his present Friends For it 's much but he may think himself notwithstanding all the pretences of Sorrow and Shame wiser than some Older and more Eminent Church-men He goes on and tells how dangerous it is To reduce all Religion and Faith towards God under a Profession and Experience of Light and Truth without any Distinction of common and special Illumination and Grace How far he intends this a Charge against us I am not like to know besides it is too general for him to expect a particular Answer let him Charge us but Honestly and do his worst We know that though there are Diversities of Gifts yet the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of Operations but the same God which worketh all in all 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. Next he chargeth us by Name for having ignorantly and blasphemously opposed this Work of Faith and Reformation and that if we contradict or deny it must bespeak great ignorance or obstinacy But seeing he has been so kind as to account us Blasphemers and Ignorant I will submit to be accounted Obstinate too before he shall pass without Rebuke and do therefore Deny his Charge and Dare him to prove it He now being upon the high Rope goes on insinuating we Reject the Institutions of Jesus Christ which as he saith is evident from our Writings constantly published from our beginning yet he offers not one Quotation of them all for Confirmation If what he says were true what must we judge of him as to joyn and continue so many Years with such a People since as he says It is evident from our Writings constantly published that we reject the Institutions of Jesus Christ to which he cannot pretend Ignorance I think he is mightily to blame thus to Reproach his old Friends and all without-Book it looks like as if he had left them rather out of Humour than real Conviction for real Conviction would have demonstrated it self with a more Christian Temper When I have added a little more of his of like Nature I shall shew from our Doctrine how opposite his Charges are to what we Believe by which his Envy will evidently appear he saith How under pretence of high Attainments and further Glory a Spirit of Pride and great Uncharitableness hath possessed us is sufficiently manifest by its Fruits in Censuring and Reproaching all other Denominations of profess'd Christians whom we set at a great Distance and account as the World which lyeth in Wickedness with some more of like nature As to this latter That we account all other Denominations of Christians as the World which lyeth in Wickedness our Charity is so far reverse to that that we blieve there may be even among Turks and Jews such as belong to the Catholick-Church hear what is said Barclay's Apology p. 400. of his Works viz. There may be therefore Members of this Catholick-Church both among Heathens Turks and Jews and of all the several sorts of Christians Men and Women of Integrity and Simplicity of Heart who though blinded in something in their Understanding and perhaps burthened with the Superstitions and Formality of the several Sects in which they are ingrossed yet being Upright in their Hearts before the Lord chiefly aiming and labouring to be delivered from Iniquity and loving to follow Righteousness are by the secret Touches of this holy Light in their Souls inliven'd and quicken'd thereby secretly united to God and there-through become true Members of this Catholick-Church Is not this very opposite to his false Charge And to his other Insinuations That we reduce all Religion and Faith towards God under a Profession of Life and Truth without any distinction of Common and Special Illumination and Grace and so Reject the Institutions of Christ See p. 405. of the same Book Secondly The Church is to be considered as it signifies a certain Number of Persons gathered by God's Spirit and by the Testimony of some of his Servants raised up for that end unto the belief of the true Doctrines and Principles of the Christian Faith who through their Hearts being united by the same Love and their Understandings informed in the same Truth Gather Meet and Assemble together to wait upon God to Worship him and to bear a joynt-Testimony for the Truth against Error Thus it is evident how notoriously False are his Charges and Insinuations against us what he observes of the Disagreeableness of what we Teach or Publish I should have thought the small Earnings his Friend G. K. hath made thereof for if we consider his Eminence and the great Number of Years he zealously preached and defended our Faith even nigh thirty Years which must be granted the chief of his natural Life and yet upon his Revolt should be able to draw off no more looks almost incredible might have given sufficient Check to his Calumny As to the oppositeness of our Principles to true Christianity is another gross Calumny without any manner of Proof however we are ready to vindicate them and shew their agreeableness with the Holy Scriptures either with this or any other Adversary And for our Quibling and Shuffling with dull and apparent Sophistry I ascribe to his want of Matter and the effect of Envy What he saith of our altering the Sense of our own and our Opponents Writings with more of the same kind is all of a piece with the former and deserves no other answer the poor Man being at a loss must vent his Envy some way As to those Sounds and Echoes he speaks of what he intends thereby is a little dubious but if he has tender Ears and cannot endure great Sounds I ought to pity him for as the saying is He is gone out of hot Love into red Fire Most of his ninth Page as far as I find is filled with his Resentments for our refusing G. K's Arbitrary Summons And since he mentions a Paper writ by our Friends on that occasion Titled A word to the well-inclined I shall for answer refer to that Paper which I doubt not but will give the Impartial entire Satisfaction As to the Spreading our Books can he or any else blame us Would any Christian Society do less if they were abused and railed on in Print by their Adversaries but use all lawful means to remove the Reproach and vindicate their just Case Would he have us Dumb that his beloved Keith's Scotch Eloquence might pass without Remark Then I doubt not but Printing would be accounted a more edifying Method than building Stages and drawing Multitudes of People together What he insinuates of the Increase of our Number doth not
Guilt with which he would bespatter W. P. will fall as Dung upon his own Face as well as the dull and apparent Sophistry which he would father upon us will a great deal of it fall to his Share to account for neither will it all vindicate his abuse of W. Penn and others And as impertinent is he in making those words he Quotes out of Judas and the Jews p. 130. a description of God and of the Soul of Man it being a part of him from W. P's there saying The new dispersed Flock of God shall rest with him in that World which never had Beginning and is without End Where do we find such a Description of the Soul in these Words The words carped at viz. That World which never had beginning may be allowed by the Ingenuous as figuratively expressed as That World is put for Eternal Life in Heaven Luke 20.35 They that be counted worthy to enjoy that World by the World eternal Life is here intended * See T. Wilsons Dictionary it being only a Transmutation as between the Cause and the Effect Behold what a weighty Reason this is for R. B. his leaving our Society But at the rate he wrangles he may even fault the very Doctrine of our Lord that because he told the Pharisees that the Kingdom of Heaven was within them that he thereby destroyed the Kingdom of Heaven without I think it is time to remind him of what he writ in 1694. in our Vindication Supposing says he there may have been some defect in Expression by which means the matter has not been left so well guarded against the exceptions of malicious Cavillers who no doubt were it not for the general Authority of the holy Scriptures would be as ready to make their exceptions against many Sentences or Expressions therein also But R. B. making God and the World without end terms Synonimous with W. P. for want of the word and before the World without end shows himseif now to be turned a malicious Caviller Would one have thought that this Man would have himself become herein so quickly guilty What he quotes out of W. P's Book called Judas and the Jews is one with this above so needs no other answer And to his insinuating that G. F. held that Notion of the Souls being a part of God is already answered by abler Pens as G. W. and J. W. so I need not say any thing thereto He returns to W. P. again touching W. P's Answer to John Faldo concerning the Resurrection of the Body if I take for granted what R. B. quotes as W. P's Answer not having the Book by me I do say W. P. answered wisely and did well to put by his Antagonist as he did for I find that those that define so nicely often run themselves into Contradictions even G. K. is scarce clear in this particular as for Instance G. K. says in his Testimony against that absurd Opinion page 3. and That which rises is the Mortal that puts on Immortality and the Corruptible that putteth on Incorruption Now Paul says It is sown a natural Body it is raised a spiritual Body it is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption so that G. K. and Paul seems to assert two things G. K. says that which rises is the Mortal and Corruptible and Paul says that it is raised Spiritual and Incorruptible Would not R. B. account this an Error in a Quaker Besides W. P's words are safe for neither do I remember any Text of Scripture that says in express words of a Body having the same Matter and not the same Grosness c. but that W. P. is Sound in the Faith as well as we is clear see his Key where he thus expresses himself on our behalf as well as his own In this says he also i. e. the Quakers are grosly abused They deny not but believe the Resurrection according to Seripture not only from Sin but also from the Grave but are conscienciously not contumeliously Cautious in expressing the manner of the Resurrection intended in the Change because it is left as a Secret in the Scripture Are People angry with them for not believing or asserting what is hidden and which is more curious than necessary to be known and which the Objectors themselves cannot be positive in Thou Fool is to the curious inquirer as saith the Apostle which makes the Quakers contented with that Body which it shall please God to give them being assured that their Corruptible must put on Incorruption and that their Mortal must put on Immortality but in such manner as it pleaseth him And in the mean time they esteem it their Duty as well as Wisdom to acquiesce in his holy Will It is enough they believe a Resurrection and that of a Glorious and Incorruptible Body without further nicities for to that was the antient Hope Passing by his Inference touching the Body of Christ because of his following Query For as he says he could not obtain a plain and positive Answer thereto from several of our Friends appointed to hear his Reasons for declining our Meetings and least he should blame me too I will first place the Query and then give a positive and plain Answer with little trouble Query Whether our Lord Jesus Christ is now in Heaven above or without us in the true and entire Nature of Man glorified the same for Substance which he had on Earth and for ever to come united to the Godhead Answer Yea. What he says of finding it fully and safely expressed in the Articles of the Church of England I think it is as fully and as safely expressed in the Apology in the Quotation I have brought at the beginning I come now to his last which is touching a Letter writ by G. Whitehead to his Father-in-law and G. W's Brother-in-law he gives us some part of G. W's Letter as well as a Copy of his own Answer requesting a meeting with G. W. in order that G. W. might make good what he had insinuated against him to his Father-in-law as he says but G. W. giving him no such Meeting he was willing to expose it to the publick As to the Letters it being a private Concern between them two I have nothing further to say than this That G. W. was under a simple impossibility to offer him a Meeting for till G. W. saw his Letter in Print he knew nothing of it wherefore R. B. ought either to have taken more care in sending his Letter or when he was in London to have gone to G. W. so he has no cause to Glory as tho' G. W. declined to give him a Meeting it is nothing but an empty Flourish Having thus briefly gone through R. B's whole Paper of his wonderful Reasons for leaving us hoping I have not omitted any thing that might in the least require my notice withall both modestly detecting his Envy and also shewing the Soundness of our Faith in opposition to his false Charges whereby as I doubt not but the Impartial Enquirer will meet with satisfaction and plainly see that it is more Envy than real Matter that thus Influences our Adversaries hoping withal tho' blessed be God it is not only hopes but we see evidently that it is true in Fact that the very means our Adversaries use to revenge themselves upon us turns to our advantage for thereby the Sober and Enquiring are the more stirred up to examine into the Truth of Matters and God is daily adding to his Church blessed be his holy Name Now for a Conclusion I heartily wish R. B. may cease to envy the Children and People of God and come to true Repentance for I am heartily sorry for him So with the words that he was pleased to add to his Uncle G. Whitehead's Letter I shall at present leave him Prov. 26.26 27. Whose Hatred is covered by Deceit his Wickedness shall be shewed before the whole Congregation Whoso diggeth a Pit shall fall therein and he that rolleth a Stone it will return upon him Graithwait the 7th of the 6th Month 1700. FINIS