leave it out to make the better sense of thy Blasphemy shouldest thou have put in that Conjunction what nonsense would it have been it would have been thus all Scripture given by Inspiration and is profitable the copula and methinks should couple like Sentences and the former part of the Text cannot be a sentence without a Verb and if it must be like Sentences the Verb in the former part must be is as in the latter and so it runs as we well translate it is by Divine Inspiration and is profitable rather than the Scripture should be a perfect Rule Howgil would make it perfect nonsense 2. The Scripture must be our Rule for we are to try all things by it and hold fast that which we find streight and right nay by that we are to try the Quakers Rule it self 1 John 4. 1. we are to try the Spirits What must we try the Spirit by the Spirit 't is evident we are to bring it to some Rule or Ballance to find out its just weight and rectitude for there are many Spirits that walk now about and haunt our stuary ground the Spirit of Muggleton Fox and Naylor and there is one Spirit to be sure that challenges it as its right to possess it and dwell there and by what rule shall we determine the Controversy but by Scripture there 's none of these Pretenders can challenge any greater Authority over our Faith than others only the Scriptures which are the Letters missive and circulatory of the Spirit of God to his Church have such a right which have their Authority confirmed by such a Seal as cannot be counterfeited by Men or Devils and therefore may oblige us to believe them and that Spirit which agrees with their testimony 'T is utterly false what Smith says That the Spirit was the rule to them that Primmer p. 10. gave forth the Scriptures We say not the Spirit it self but the dictates of the Spirit which were as much a rule to them when written as when spoken to them This does not exclude the Spirit from having any thing to do to direct us what to believe and how to live for the Scriptures are the Spirits Rule given to guide us by Besides the Spirit of God opens our Eyes too much closed up since the fall so that we may the better perceive and believe the things contained in the Scripture and stir up our affections to embrace them observe the Rule our Saviour sends us to Mat. 21. 42. Did you never read in the Scriptures Ver. 22 29. Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Acts 8. 35. He began at the same Scripture and preached unto them Jesus Acts 17. 2 11. Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures Acts 2. what a long Sermon St. Peter preacheth there from the 14 th almost to the end all out of the Scripture Luke 24. 17. as also 32. he opened to them the Scriptures Moses and the Prophets were the Text he preach'd on Ver. 46. he carries their attention to what was written Joh. 7. 38. He that believeth on me not as the Light but as the Scripture saith John 19. 37. another Scripture saith all along they are sent to the Light without them to see what the Scripture saith John 20. 9. their want of Faith in Christ's Resurrection is attributed to their ignorance of the Scriptures strange the Light could not have informed them Philip corrects not the Eunuch for poring upon and scraping in the Scriptures as Fisher does in his Velata Revelata p. 845. Such Men says he as the Scribes are ever scraping in the Scriptures neither does he call them to mind the Light within Away with this dead Letter this Dust will choak you this Serpents Meat will poison you Ver. 35. he opened his Mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached Jesus But when shall we hear a Quaker begin a Sermon from a Text of Scripture By the way you see a Man may preach Jesus from the Letter Acts 18. 24. Apollo was mighty in the Scriptures the Scripture was the Sword of the Spirit Ephes 6. 17. by which the mighty Man and Evangelical Hero hewed down the Enemy before him they were not able to stand before the Dint of his Scripture-charge he mightily convinced them out of Scripture ver 28. Paul in his Dispute about Justification Rom. 4. 3. crys What saith the Scripture Rom. 11. 2. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith he brings all his Proofs from the Letter of Scripture Rom. 15. 4. all our comfort flows from those Wells of Salvation all written for our Learning that we through comfort and patience of the Scriptures might have hope And should these envious Philistines be suffered to stop up these Wells 2 Tim. 3. 15. Paul commends Timothy that from a Child he had been well acquainted with this Rule so that he became a Workman that needed not be ashamed The Scriptures you see in the Apostles days as many as were written were the only Rule they appealed to Fox jun. for above 200 Pages hath vehement Exhortations to mind the Light but not a word of reading the Scriptures in that whole Book Esa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word they may pretend the Spirit of God and a Light within if they will but they have no light in them says the Prophet That such an one as W. Penn should please himself with such a Gimcrack as to say in his answer to Faldo By the Law and the Testimony are meant God and Christ seeing then William we are saved by Christ we are saved by the Law 'T is much Mr. Pool should forget to grace his Synopsis with this Criticism if thou hadst any respect for Scripture sure thou wouldst not dally and play with it so wantonly We conclude then that the Scriptures are a Rule to them they are given to and 't was never denyed by any in the Christian part of the World but Quakers besides Atheists Deists and Papists and we envy them not the Honour of such Company Whitehead says p. 23. l. 7. They don't slight the Scripture nay p. 17. l. 4. They acknowledg them to be divine and prefer them before all other Books in the World We do them wrong to lay such an heinous Crime to their charge Alas poor Quakers to be so hardly censured when they call the Scriptures Dust Serpents Meat killing and deadly this is all for the profound Veneration they have for Scripture When they say their own Speakings are of equal Authority nay to be preferred before them nay the Scriptures may as well be burnt as their nonsensical Scriblings This is yet for the great respect and honour they bear to the Scriptures When they tell us the Scriptures have no authority of themselves not so much as that golden Legend of Father Fox's Journal unless we have a Câ—mmand again from within that is they have no authority unless we think they have
nay when they say 't is Blasphemy to say they are the Word of God and they are no rule at all to us All is for the wonderful deference they have for those â—â—â—â—ed Books For shame â—ir after all the Wounds you have given to the Scriptures to add Mockery and Scorn to Stripes and after you have spit upon them reviled and buffeted them to put the Purple and the Crown upon them as the Jews did upon their Author after such Indignities to cry out O how we love and honour them after the Treason to bestow the Kiss See Will. Penn's Courtship to the Scripture * Reâ—â—inder p. 1â—â— but especially Sam. Fisher's †Additional Append. p. 21. He calls the Scripture a Nose of Wax and it 's capable of being made no other a Character he took from the mouth of a Jesuit Andradius but Quakers we hope like it never the worse for that We could easily shew you that all the Arguments that Fisher and Pen use to prove the Scriptures are not the rule of Faith are the same the Papists have used this 100 years if they had been 7 years at School at Rome they could not have spoke Italian plainer than they have done A little further Fisher tells us he and the Quakers have put it to the question how it may be known infallibly that the Scripture is all of God and not a cunningly devised Fable He tells us of the uncertainty of Translations the various Lections and the loss of many Portions of them which they needed not have taken such pains about for the Papists have done that before and Penn in the forecited place hath mustered up a great many more such Popiâ—â— Objections against the Scriptures which were cast in our dish by Papists and as often answered before Quakery was born but all that you must understand is said for the great respect they bear to the Scriptures Reader if thou desirest to see more of such respect to the Scriptures see Parnel p. 16. You Teachers are doting upon Scriptures without with your dark Minds with the blind Pharisees seeking for life where it is not to be found P. 18. We can do all things without the Scriptures or any thing without Solomon Eccles coming into a Church at London naked and besmeared with T d carrying his â—ands fuâ—l of the same Filth compared it to the Bible which the Minister carried in his hand into the Pulpit Fisher in his Velara Revelata p. 845. says Such Men as the Scribes are ever scraping in the Scripture to find God yet never know him nor see his Shape To call our love to the Scriptures a senseleâ—s Dotage to compare David's Hony and Hony-comb as he calls the Word to a stinking Excrement and our reading the Scriptures to a Brute's scraping or rooting in a Dunghil must needs manifest a mighty respect they have for those Writings By the way does not Fisher deserve to be accounted Angelicus Doctor for talking of the Shape of God how glad would some Papists be if he could shew it them that they might draw his true Picture by it Lorreto Market would go near to be spoiled by it and most of her Votaries would come thronging hither sure to worship an Original But as a further Testimony of their respect for Scripture hear what Smith Morning-Watch p. 22 23. says Reading in the Scripture that there were some that met together exhorted one annother edified and comforted one another they observe and do as near as they can what is the Saints practice and so conceive a Birth in the same Womb and bring it forth in the same strength that others do these are Bastards and not Sons for these adulterous Births have provoked the Lord and gâ—â—â—â—â—ed his Spirit What an hellish Smâ—ak is this a Belch sure from the bottomless Pit to say that our meeting together according to Scripture Examples to exhort comfort and edisy one another is no better than going to a Brothel-house for there can be nothing but Bastards got by it and adulterous Births This may pass for another Quaker-Panegy rick upon Scripture Penn calls Searchers of Scripture as Faldo quotes him p. 113. and in his Answer Penn does not deny it Lettermongers We suppose though he differ in expression from his Brother Smith his intention is the same he means Whoremongers or Bastard-getters All these Quotations have we brought to prove Friend Whitehead's Assertion That Quakers have a marveilous Honour for the Scripture though we believe heâ—ll hardly be so grateful as to give us thanks for our pains In a Testimony from the Brethren in London met 66 together signed Farnsworth Parker Whitehead see Brief Discovery p. 11. l. 5 they say If any difference arise in the Church we declare and testify that the Church with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ hath power without the assent of those that differ to hear and determine the same and if any of ours will not submit so to be tried nor submit to the Judgment given by the Spirit of truth in the Elders and Members of the same being consistent with the Doctrine of such good antient Friends as have been and are found in the Faith agreeable to the witness of God in his People viz. the Light within then we testify in the name of the Lord that he or she is to be rejected and joined with Heathens and Infidels Mark we pray if he or she kick against their Judgment consistent with the Doctrine of antient Friends and agreeable to the Light within Here is no notice taken of the Scriptures how agreeable or disagreeable soever it be to them And p. 23. l. 26. yet Whitehead hath the face to say this makes nothing against them It seems to be a small fault or none with G. to take away the Commission God hath given to the Scriptures to be Judg of Controversys in matters of Faith The Question G. is not whether the Church hath any Power in matters of Religion which is all thou provest from Mat. 18. 17. and we know none deny it 1. If it be exercised about indifferent matters in Discipline and Worship we allow her not only a Judgment of discretion to discern what 's fit to be imposed but also an authoritative Judgment to oblige her Members to obedience or else she would have less Authority over her Members than every Master hath over the Servants of his Family 2. As for things that are necessary to Salvation we think our selves only obliged to submit our Faith and Practice to the Authority of God in the Holy Scriptures and not to the Authority of any Church pretending to Infallibility meeting together in Treat or in Gracechurch-street So then that which we find fault with you for is a profane neglect of Holy Scriptures in determining matters of Faith or Doctrine that your Church should censure its Members only for this cause that you will not submit to the Authority of the Churches Judgment
consistent with the Doctrine of antient Friends and agreeable to the Witness of God in them and that all this while here 's not the least mention of the Scripture The reason of Submission to the Doctrine of their Church is it seems its consistency with the Doctrine of antient Friends and the Witness of God in them The Judgment of antient Friends and a whimsical Witness called the Light within fetch'd from Terra incognita must be set upon the Bench and authoritatively judg and determine all and the Scriptures must be turned out of office for some disservice sure they have done the Quakers Accordingly Keith was sentenced as an Heretick not from Scripture but from Friends Books So Jennings told him to his Face He was not to prove his Heresy from Scripture but from Friends Books and the question was not now who was the best Christian but who the best Quaker and therefore they produced a Book of W. Pen's instead of Scripture to prove Keith an Heretick and no Christian And indeed it would be a hard task to prove a Quaker to be a Christian if they had not somewhat else to prove it by than Scripture See G. Keith's Heresy and Hatred printed at Philadelphia 1693. The Truth of this Story Whitehead only questions he dares not deny p. 24. l. 6. Now George is all this nothing to the purpose as thou pretendest Do not all the Protestant World but our newly espoused ones and the Papists resolve their Faith into the Authority of God in the Holy Scriptures and not into the Authority of a Montanus and his Paâ—â—clete or the Roman Pope with his Council or Cardinals or his Holy Ghâ—st he could send about in a Male or the Authority of our English Pope Fox with his Pigeon whispering Divine Doctrines in his Ear like another Mahomet This was a deadly Blow at the Head of thee George tho thou cunningly dissemblest it Thou wert loth any one should take notice of thy broken Pate CHAP. VIII Of the Person of CHRIST BRief Discovery p. 12. l. 10. charges Fox in Saul's Errand c. p. 14. for saying Christ is the Substance of all Figures and his Flesh is a Figure and in Truth defending Quakers p. 20 22. Christ's coming in the Flesh is but a Figure To this Whitehead p. 24. l. 33. They mean by Figure an Example The same says Father Fox Saul's Errand p. 8. He is the Example and Figure which are both one Whitehead proves it because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek frequently signifies Example But George what sense is here The coming of Christ was an example tho it be good enough Christ come in the Flesh is so Again what if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signify Figure and Example must Figure in English signify so too What if Liber in Latin signify a Child and a Book must a Child in English signify a Book too Did ever any understand by the English word Child to be meant a Book or by the English word Figure to be meant a Pattern Had he said Christ's coming in the Flesh was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it might have been understood to have meant Example because that word is often interpreted so but the word Figure never George why shouldst thou thus dodg and shuffle with us for once be so ingenuous as to own your antient Testimony or openly disown it That Christ's Flesh is a Figure of Christ within So Hubberthorn and also Fox Saul ' s Errand p. 14. and Pen in his Rejoinder p. 336. says Those Transactions of Christ were as so many facile Representations of what is to be accomplish'd Truth desending Quakers p. 20. in Man And Whitehead himself learnedly proves it because Christ was transfigured which could not possibly have been as he argues with great Quaker Subtilty if he had not been a Figure He says again Men need not be directed Light and Life p. 8. to the Type for the Antitype nor yet to Jerusalem either to Jesus Christ or his Blood where our Jerusalem Christ is but a Type And what could he be the Figure or a Type of but a Christ within as W. Pen above plainly And Whitehead cannot name any thing else but their Christ within to be the Antitype and so all that Christ did and suffered must be a Figure of what is done within the Shadows of the Law that typified Christ were but Shadows of Shadows See further for this purpose G. Keiâ—h ' s 4th Narraâ— p. 41 42 43 44 45. and Figures of Figures and the Person of Christ his living and dying at Jerusalem were no benefit to us but as they figured and typified this Christ within He taught as a Figure died and rose again and sits at the Right Hand of God as a Figure And thus by making Christ without a Figure they have made him a very Cypher Well but tho Whitehead owns Christ's Flesh to be a Figure he storms at it p. 24. l. 25. when we affirm that he should say Christ's Flesh is but a Figure George we have not that Book at present by us we 'll let that go as it will we are sure W. Pen speaks plain enough in his Sandy Foundation p. 26. Christ is but our Example And again ibid. He 's but our Pattern And Whitehead owns Figure and Pattern are the same thing viz. synonymous p. 24. l. 33. But thou mayest say this is by consequence only because Pen says but an Example therefore he must say but a Figure Tho this consequence sufficiently affects G. Whitehead who says Figure and Pattern are all one yet see a little further Pen says plainly Câ—râ—stian Quaker p. 97. The Paschal Lamb was not the Figure or Type of the outward Christ but of the Light within of which Christ himself was but a Figure Whitehead doth not deny Truth and In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. â—4 l. â— but Pen hath the very word but there he only denies that was the Quakers Doctrine or that it was his But George was not this also the Doctrine of Hubberthorn and didst not thou stoutly defend the same in Truth defending Quakers as the Gag for Quakers p. 67. l. 8. charges thee to have done And is not that an owning of what Hubberthorn asserted That Christ is but a Figure But to compound the matter supposing the word but be not in thy Truth defending Quakers if thou wilt confess those Expressions of Pen and Hubberthorn were blasphemous we will ask thee pardon for the Mistake contenting our selves to have proved that you have owned him oft to be a Figure of Christ within without the word but for then he must be either the Figure of himself or of another Christ within or only of some Graces and Influences Christ sheds in our Hearts which are figuratively Christ All which are Absurdities too gross for any but a Quaker that would also advance Christ within to be that Principal and render Christ without as a Shadow only Brief Discovery p.
Chapter v. 1â— Simon himself believ'd viz. seemed to do so and he was baptized too they will not say sure such a Wizard as he was baptized with the Holy Ghost In ver 1â— 16. he prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baâ—tâ—â—ed into the Name of the Lord Jesus We think we shall not need to prove that Water Baptism hath been the Practice of the whole Christian World to this day 't is sufficient we have shewn several Commands out of Scripture for Water-Baptism and also several Instances wherein it hath been practised in the Apostles times but not one single Instance can we give in the Scripture where it s said Go and baptize or be baptized with the Holy Ghost not one Text where the Baptism practised in Scripture is called the Baptism of the Holy Ghost It would have been a very gracious Condescension to our Weakness if by the Baptism of Water so often mentioned in Holy Scripture there had been nothing meant but the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to have delivered it to us in more plain and express Terms and called it in some place or other the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and told us 't was not Water-Baptism was commanded or practised since we poor ignorant Creatures are so apt to take Water for Water and a Command for a Command and had always been accustomed to that of Water Besides such a continued Chain of Practices from Christ's Ascension to this day must needs inser either Christ's Institution or their gross Superstition We have shewn before that this Baptism was not John's and if the Apostles were the Authors and Beginners of such a Practice we would be glad to know whether it were in their own wills or no whether they had a Revelation and Command in themselves from the Spirit of Christ within Edw. Burrows says For you to go P. 47. without the moving of the Spirit in your own wills and strength God hares this and upon this is his wrath And Whitehead says To baptize preach and pray P. 22. l. â— they that perform these Acts in their own wills without the moving the Spirit they are not accepted therein but rejected of God We hope they will not say that the apostles baptized in their own wâ—lls and it was but a carnal Câ—â—nitical popish Sacrifice they offered herein If they had not a Command in themselves supposing they had had none from without they were Will-worshippers and if they had they must have it from Christ Again here was such a Privilege annext to this Water-Baptism Regeneration Remission of Sins Titus 3. 5. Joh. 3. 2 5. Acts 2. 38. and 22. 16. as proves it to be more than the dabbling the Face with a little common Water as they profanely scoff a Privilege cou'd never have been joined to it but by Christ's Authority Again however it might have been practised in compliance it could not have been imposed upon the Churches by Command he commanded them to be baptized of any Authority less than Christ's without great Superstition Further we prove that all the Scripture Instances can't be meant of Baptism with the Holy Ghost because Baptism with the Holy Ghost in some measure was always preparative to that Baptism no doubt there were further improvements of the Measures afterwards that were the Gifts of the Holy Ghost accompanying Water Baptism and they were to expect the Holy Ghost in the falled and most ample measure after Christ's 〈◊〉 some measure of the Holy Ghost was always required to sit and 〈◊〉 Men for it And when it is said Acts 8. 16. as yet be was fallen upon none of them it can't be meant the Holy Ghost was not come upon any of them in any measure at all before the Quakers themselves will not say so sure who tell us the Light and the Spirit are in every one that was evidently spoken as appears in the 2 Uses following of the Gift of Miracles that Simon so ambitiously affected See Act 8 12 〈◊〉 they believed they were baptized 37. If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 2. 41. Tâ—â—y that gladly received the Word were baptized Act. 16. 14 15. Lydia as soon as her heart was opened was baptized 33. The laylor and his whole House as soon as converted were baptized streightway all this could not be without some previous Gift of the Holy Ghost to them to put all out of doubt See Acts 10. 47. Can any forbid Water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Farther Baptism was appointed as a means whereby the inward Baptism of the Holy Ghost was given and therefore the Scripture-Baptisn was not the Baptism of the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 38. Be baptized and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost as also Fphes 5. 26. that he might saâ—ctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water c. and Joh. 3. 5. Farther Water Baptism was appointed by Christ as an initiating Sign whereby Believers were to be admitted into Christ's visible Church and no Man can be admitted into a visible Society by a Sign that is invisible as Baptism with the Holy Ghost is By Baptism we list our selves into Christ's Company take the Milâ—ary wath of Fidelity to him and being baptized we are reckoned Christ's Soldiers and Seâ—vâ—â—â—s Joh. 4 1. He baptized and made Disciples made them visible Disciples by baptizing them which could not be by Baptism with the Holy Ghost which is altogether secret and invisible the â—fâ—e as sâ—on as ever Men were converted they were baptized Acts 22. 16. Why tarâ—â—est thou c. So Lydia as soon as her heart was opened Acts 16. 14 15 so he Jailor ver â—3 〈◊〉 Baptism was the outward Sign Mark oâ— Character appointed by Christ whereby the Sâ—câ—eâ—y of Christians are known and distinguished from all other Societies in the World It were strange if any Society should be distinguished and known from an their by that which is invisible as Baptism with the Holy Ghost is 1. 'T is evident the Church must be a visible Society being a City upon an Hill Matih 5. 14 The Quakers themselves are a Society distinguished by some Marks and Characters oâ— how should we kâ—â—w who were of the Quaker Church and who not Thâ—y have their Marks I say but far from Christ's Appointment they are yeaing and â—â—ying and loudly decrying the outward visible Marks of Châ—â—â—â—s Institution The Disciples of Moses as they were distinguished by their Circumcision and therefore they were called by Horace Curti Judaei so by their Baptism and John's Disciples by their Baptism and Christ's by his This was the Badge and â—â—very the Christians wore to let the World know whose Servants they were and that they were not ashamed of their poor Master that gave it them therefore when they were baptized they were said to put on Christ Gal 3. 17 and when
the Objection no body denying that if Christ that 's crucified be not within us we are Reprobates but within six lines after he has these Passages the Brief Discovery charges The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within c. Now allowing this Sophistry we defy any Turk Jew or Atheist nay even the Devil himself to utter so vile a Blasphemy but that it may be made as Orthodox as the Creed But let wise Men judg whether this ought to be allowed any Writer who undertakes to vindicate another when by his confession if the words be read as they are and have been printed for many and many years the Author must be guilty of Blasphemy Great endeavours has he used in many places to vindicate himself and others from Blasphemy as where he says That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and greater but the best way he ever took was when charg'd with that most blasphemous passage against the Trinity in a Book put out by him and three other Quakers called Ishmael and his Mother cast out where they bespeak their Adversary thus The three Persons thou dreamest of which thou wouldst divide out of one like a Conjurer are all denied and thou shut up with them in perpetual darkness for the Lake and the Pit Geo. Whitehead does now expresly disown the words tho they were justly chargeable upon him as well as the others being Partner with them in the whole and setting his Name without any distinction to the intire Book affirming that they are none of his and that he wrote not that part of the Answer and that he shall neither stand by nor own these words c. This we are sure is the best way he could take to vindicate himself tho thereby he has left his three Brethren under this black mark of being Blasphemers for to say only The words appear too rash and irreverent is handling the Ulcer too gently which ought to be cut out to the very Coar But if we may believe a great and good Man Geo. Whitehead could not always thus excuse himself in this particular for the Reverend and Learned Dr. Falkner in his Treatise of Reproaching and Censure Part 2. cap. 3. sect 1. num 5 6. p. 265 266. tells us That when he disputed with Geo. Fox and Geo. Whitehead at Lynn Regis in the County of Norfolk Anno 1659 they sent him nine Questions or Positions rather the first of which was against the three Persons of the Deity And in the first day they plainly declared themselves against the three Persons of the Trinity and then says Dr. Falkner I charged G. Whitehead in the presence of Geo. Fox and a great number of other Witnesses with those horrid and blasphemous words against the Trinity aforementioned which says the Doctor he neither did nor could deny but this wicked Assertion was written and published by him and his Companions it seems he made no such excuse for himself then or declared that he would not stand by or own them as he now does for what Reason let the World judg Nay in his dispute with Mr. Suith of Christ's College in Cambridge he owned the Book for says Mr. Smith to him tell me plainly whether you will own it or not if you will not at all then tell me what you will own and what not if you will not own it speak To which George Whitehead answers Well I will own it prove what you can Smith's Quaker disarmed printed 1659. Tho the licentiousness of those times permitted Men to belch forth any Poison their corrupt minds had conceived against the Trinity which they durst not now do but to show says that Reverend Person their particular zeal to oppose the Holy Trinity I received a Paper of four Queries directed to them that affirm that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead and that the Father is the first and the Word the second and the Spirit the third and that the second was begotten as to his Godhead wholly level'd against the Doctrine of the Trinity and subscribed by G. Whitehead and G. Fox After I had returned an Answer to these I received another large Paper containing a long Harangue against the Holy Trinity with Geo. Whitehead's Name alone subscribed In this Paper which says the Doctor I have by me it is declared That to call three distinct Persons in the Trinity are Popish Terms and Names the Papists do call the Godhead by c. As if none but Papists did so or 't was never done till the days of Popery thus labouring to render the Doctrine odious by representing it as Popish However whether it be owing to the change of his Mind or for fear of the Scourge that was over him viz. that Passage in the Act for Toleration which secures a Reverence to this Doctrine of the Trinity Provided that neither this Act nor any Clause Article or Thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to give any Ease Benefit or Advantage to any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as it is declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion we are glad to find him at length returning to a more fober mind and wish he would have corrected if not his Sentiment yet his Stile in many other Particulars as plainly blasphemous as this taken notice of in the Brief Discovery but meerly to seek out and study Evasions does but multiply words and argues a mind very mean and insincere studious only of preserving a Name and upholding a Party We have endeavoured a just and honest Reply labouring to set things in a right Light and thereby evidencing the Truth of what we had charged them with We speak as to wise Men and let them judg between us for we can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth And as to the Persons of these Men we have no particular quarrel with them neither have we to our knowledg any Family of their Perswasion in all our Parishes which is a happiness that many of our neighbour Ministers cannot boast of and had they not grown to such an insolence as even to dare all our Robe with a particular Challenge as not only we but our Superiors apprehended we should never for ought we know in any publick way have entred the Lists with them but being duly and regularly called forth as we made appear in our first piece stiled The Quakers Challenge we hold it both just and dutiful to our Religion Superiors and our selves to indeavour maintaining the Orthodox Faith of that Church we profess our selves Members and Ministers of And whereas many the Laodiceans of this Age have blamed us for contesting with so foolish a People as the Quakers generally are telling us That we might have found a better employment than to be busied with such Impertinents as these planting a Battery against Aspin Leaves
viz. That God does not accept any where there is any failing who does not fulfil the Law and answer every demand of Justice which Experience as well as God's Word assure us none is able to do so little do these foregoing words contribute towards the rendring those Orthodox which the Brief Discovery charges upon him and if these People in particular should pretend above other Men to be without failings 't would but make them the more ridiculous which in this matter they are already even to Contempt He says we oppose the Urim and Thummim Light and Perfection but do we oppose the Urim and Thummim whilst we assert it to be only in the Breast-plate of our great High-Priest but not upon the Breast of every or any Saint on Earth CHAP. V. Of Immediate REVELATION THE Brief Discovery charges Whitehead and Fox jun. with saying That P. 8. which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and greater This undervaluing the Scriptures with respect to their own Writings is not a careless stumble of their Pen but deliberate and design'd for wherever they treat of Scripture 't is in the same Strain not varying from the Analogy of this Faith If ever you will own the Prophets Apostles or Christ himself you will own our Writings given forth by the same Spirit You may as well condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Queries and in this Answ to the Westmorel Petit. p. 30. place Whitehead gives the preheminence to their Writings says They are of as great Authority and greater Here he complains again of Injustice because we left out some explanatory words as he calls them in the same period the words are these which rather darken than enlighten the matter as Christ's words were of greater Authority when he spoke than the Pharisees reading the Letter never sure was there so cross so perverse an Answer was the comparison made between the Pharisees reading the Letter and the Quakers Speakings or between the Scriptures and their Speakings The Question ask'd was Whether they esteemed their Speakings of as great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible And the Answer was direct enough They are as great and greater too But when they prefer their Writings to the Scriptures he does not as he tells us mean the Scriptures but the Pharisees reading them If the Pharisees were such A B C-Darians that they knew not how to read a Chapter in the Bible as it ought to be yet the Bible is of the same Authority still read by a Pharisee or an Apostle tho perhaps not of the same Efficacy and the Scriptures whensoever spoken or by whomsoever tho they have not the Spirit who speak them yet whatever Whitehead says in the close of that Paragraph the Scriptures by whomsoever spoken we must obey and not as he says deny In the next Paragraph he bids us note That the Comparison is placed upon the Spirit of Truth speaking in Man in the first place and through and by the Ministers thereof in the next place A wonderful opening and amounts to thus much The Comparison is placed upon the Spirit of Truth speaking in Man in the first place and in and through Man in the second place He concludes we suppose from hence as he should have said the Spirit speaking in and through them as in and through the Apostles hath not lost its Authority and Power since it gave forth the Scriptures therefore their Writings must be of the same Authority with the Scriptures This were true if the Spirit spake in us or them as through a Trunk as the Devil did through the Images when he uttered his Oracles but he speaks in us or them whilst he assists us in our Speakings and Writings so that 't is not the Spirit but we that speak and write by the assistance of Christ's Spirit which assistance is given us according to what degree our Lord pleases as Whitehead acknowledges to us in P. 17. Pâ—r. 2. such a degree as overcomes not the Infirmities of our Nature so as that we should not be liable to some Mistakes but to the Apostles in such a degree as left them liable to none in their speaking or delivering the Scriptures to the World and the Miracles that they wrought were an abundant Evidence to all Men thereof And to shew that which he says in the next viz. That the Spirit of Truth immediately ministring in Man is of greater Authority or Power than the Chapters are without the Spirit is very vain or worse for which are those Chapters in our Bible that are without the Spirit or its Authority since every Chapter sure they will acknowledg is as much the Dictates of the Spirit as their Teachings are And it must be an Atheistical Consideration of the Scriptures to look upon them as Whitehead does here without the Spirit P. 17. l. 3 4 5. As for his Profession that they acknowledg the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of Divine Authority and prefer them above all other Writings c. 't is Protestatio contra factum he only professing he does not do a thing even whilst he is doing of it Whereas he says the Spirit of God speaking in the Soul is of greater Efficacy Power and Authority than the Scripture without it is a captious Assertion for Efficacy Power and Authority are not the same thing and therefore as joined together we can neither affirm nor deny for of greater Efficacy and Power it may be but not of greater Authority unless they will say the Spirit is of greater Authority than the Spirit it being the same Spirit we are sure that wrote the Scriptures which they pretend speaks in them All this while he hath not offered to prove their Speakings to be of greater Authority than the Scriptures tho he said it very absurdly and blasphemously For can there be any Authority greater than that which is Divine and this Divine Authority Whitehead here saith they the Quakers sincerely acknowledg the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to have We think now 't would be but just to forbear charging the Priests with ignorance as he frequently does since 't is a spice of that which makes his Discoverer so confused here Letter of the 3 d day 3 d month 98. See Keith's 3 d Nâ—â— p. 66. Such Expressions as those above thou thoughtest fit to excuse to G. Keith in a Letter to him for there thou confessedst thou hast been too short and dubious in some Words or Exprestions as not fully explained in thy former Writings which may easily be helped by some ingenuous or charitable Explication or Emendation First by the way Here is thy Infallibility left to its shifts tho Thomas Danson and his Brethren were once no Ministers of Christ for disclaiming of it and Fâ—x tells us Whoever speaks a word and not from the Mouth of the Lord
is a Witch and Conjurer I hope these short and dubious words that need the help of some ingenâ—ous and charitable Person to explain and amend them were not from the Mouth of the Lord yet they were from the Mouth of G. Whitehead to be sure and if thy Prophet calls thee Witch and Conjurer for them thoâ— must eâ—en take it patiently from one that spake every word from the Mouth of the Lord unless thou wouldst have him rather recorded for the Conjurer than thy self 〈◊〉 But secondly They are short it seems what thou sayest in thy Nature of Christianity I am afraid was a little too long viz. We have no Scripture Proof that Coâ—â—st exists outwardly at God's right hand which would have been as good Doctrine as you could have wisht if the Reader would be 〈◊〉 charitable and ingenuous as to throw out No And here where thou sayst That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and greater seems to be too short Let but the ingenuous Reader be so kind as to put in that word not and 't is admirable orthodox and he is very uncharitable that will not help a poor Man out of the Bryars when a word will do it Thirdly Thou sayst Ingenuity and Charity might explain them and amend them for thee methinks this were work might very well become thy self And this is all at present we have to desire of thee that thou wouldst correct and amend those blasphemous words we and others have charged thee with i. e. renounce them and give us other words more plain and orthodox in the room of them Brief Discovery and Fr. Bugg have taken some Pains to shew thee a few of them and we should be glad to see thee mending and correcting them and when thou hast mended thy own when thy hand is in thou wouldst do well to be so charitable to thy Brethren to amend few words of theirs and if thou dost but once set up the mending Trade we promise we will find thee mending work enough out of your own Authors for thy self and a Journy-man too G. Fox tells us the Priests say The Apostles were Eye-witnesses and understood Myst p. 24. by Immediate Revelation from God inspired with the Gift of the Spirit more than any Man could hope for since And saith they do not pretend to any such Gift nor depend upon any such immediate miraculous Revelation from Heaven To which G. Fox answers Then all may see now in this what you received that hath been from Man which is not from Heaven immediate nor the Gifts of the Spirit nor received the Gospel by the same means the Apostles did who were not the Eye-witnesses as the Apostles were neither have ye attained to the same Knowledg and Understanding as the Apostles did nor received it from Heaven c. But we deny this silly consequence That because what we receive is not by immediate Revelation therefore it must be from Man tho Man may be a means by which it is received and that it is not from Heaven nor the Gift of the Spirit nor the Gospel neither because not received by the same means the Apostles received it to let go the nonsense that the Apostles received the Gospel by means and yet immediately viz. without means for the Gospel is the same whether received by the Ministry of Men or without it for whatever those Holy Men of God the Prophets and Apostles have through the Assistance of the Spirit written and sent down to us we consonantly thereunto preach unto our People and therefore may truly say As they delivered so we preach and so ye believed But alas it seems it cannot be the Gospel we received because we are not Eye-witnesses as the Apostles were we cannot say with St. John That which was from the beginning which we have seen with 1 John 1. â— our Eyes and our Hands have handled of the word of Life Because we had the fortune to be born sixteen hundred years after the Gospel was preached and confirmed and so wanted the Happiness of a personal Converse with our Saviour and had not the honour to feast with him in Cana to be with him in the Mount in Galilee in Samaria to see the Draught of Fishes the Multiplication of Loaves and all his other Miracles because we did not see him in the Garden upon the Cross after his Resurrection or when he actually ascended into Heaven or at least were not wrapt up into the third Heaven with St. Paul and had not the abundance of Revelations that he had therefore we know nothing of the Gospel tho we have as rational an evidence as the nature of the thing will bear 〈◊〉 that which all wise men were satisfied with who never expected to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—to the same capacity or to be in the same circumstances with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diâ—ciples of our Lord as to this matter But we fear 't is another Gospel they pretend to than ours their Gospel being only a manifestation of a Christ within his inward Life Death Blood Resurrection and Ascension which they pretend to feel taste and see within them every day In the close of this Citation George Fox would have all People judg and so would we too whether it may not be the same Gospel preached now by the Ministry of Men and from Heaven too that was received by the Apostles immediately from God since we give sufficient evidence that 't is the same we preach which we received from them tho we do not teach immediatly from Rom. 1. God or by Revelation The Gospel he saith is the Power of God and therefore immediate 'T is true the Gospel is stiled both the Power and Wisdom of God and they are immediatly in God for they are God But then that the Gospel which had a beginning is so called is not properly but figuratively as the Cause may be predicated of the Instrument for the Gospel is an Instrument of God's Power and Wisdom for the Salvation of Believers It may innocently enough be said Preaching the Word of God by a lawful Minister is the Power of God because the Power of God makes use of this means for the conversion of Thousands but then 't is meant secondarily or subordinately not originally and supremely There is a heavy complaint made for our omitting after these words They are in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in those in the close of the Sentence That understand the Gospel as also those And they that be in another cannot understand it Which amounts to thus much Every one that understands the Gospel is in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in and they that are not can never understand the Gospel when 't is evident a man may understand the meaning of the Gospel by the help of common
Illumination without any special enlightning much more without immediate Revelation from Heaven But this is their general Sentiment and Opinion Geo. Fox says the same with Whitehead not only here but in his Journal p. 22. and Pen in his Answer to Faldo p. 58 64. Now for the honour of the Scriptures that they may not ly under the Popish Imputation of so great obscurity we shall prove that they who are not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in may yet understand the sense of the Scriptures in things necessary to Salvation The Scriptures are plain in themselves a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Paths Psal 119. 105. and their Words manifest their Sense to us as other Writings do if we have but the use of rational Faculties and the common Illumination of the Spirit of God And it were contrary to the Goodness and Justice of God to enact Laws and make our Obedience to them necessary to Salvation and yet propound them so darkly and obscurely that none should be able to understand them unless they enjoyed the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven with the Apostles which to be sure the greatest part of those they wrote unto viz. the Romans Corinthians Galatians Ephesians and others never did Besides the Scripture obliges all to whom they are delivered to believe and obey and therefore to understand both the Promises and Precepts thereof tho they have not attained to the same Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven which the Apostles had nay wicked men who are far from any such Knowledg and Revelation c. are yet bound if they have the Scriptures to understand them since they sin if they do not Mat. 22. 19. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures says Christ to the Sadduces and the consequence is evident because God never obliges to an Impossibility Besides they will not sure deny but we may understand the Scriptures of St. Whitehead St. Pen St. Fox and St. Burroughs without the same degree of the Spirit the Apostles were acted by and why not of St. Peter and St. Paul who sure were able to speak as clearly and intelligibly as the former We understand well enough what the Friends mean when they say Infant Sprinkling is from the Devil and the Pope when they say the Priests are Devils Dogs Beasts Hirelings and many more such Characters drawn to the life by those Artists in Railing See Fox Hubberthorne Truth 's Defence and many more And if we cannot understand your Scriptures why are we invited to read them who are carnal destitute of the Spirit of the Spirit we hope they were wrote by Again Did not Julian Celsus and Lucian understand the sense and meaning of the Scriptures and many Articles of our Faith contained therein Did they not scoff and jeer at them not sure at Ink and Paper dead Letters but the sense they imported They knew the meaning of those words well enough A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and laugh'd at them as an impossible Fiction They well understood the sense of that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. even better than William Pen who has allegorized away the literal meaning to a spiritual Resurrection and therefore scoffed at it as a Romantick Dream And Celsus who as Origen tells us boasted that he knew all the Christian Doctrines derided both the Holy Virgin asking if God were in love with her Beauty and the descent of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove the Voice from Heaven the coming of the Wise men c. as may be seen l. 1. p. 30 31. Orig. contr Cels These sure were not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in and yet by a very common Illumination could discern the sense and meaning of many Scriptures But we may instance in one more and he a great Quaker too that certainly was not in such Power and Understanding c. the Apostes were in and yet understands the Scriptures well enough to his cost the Deviâ— we mean for he believes them and trembles The Scriptures he brings p. 18. parag 5. prove nothing but what we have owned before Mat. 11. 27. No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him and hath not the Son revealed him to every one of us by the Scriptures To the same purpose is that place 1 Cor. 2. 9. And the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God By the common Illumination of the Spirit he is enabled to understand the sense of that Revelation and by a more special one to understand it savingly i. e. to believe and obey it and all this without the same Power Knowledg Understanding and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in And we are taught of God and by the Spirit John 6. 45. Isa 54. 13. Jer. 31. 33. when we are taugh by the Scriptures they being the means used for our instruction which is all that is observed in the Margin of the old Bible in Q. Elizabeth's days by hearing of his Word and inward moving of his Spirit the Spirit cooperating with those means And the following Note upon Jer. 31. 33. has only reference to that more plentiful effusion of the Spirit in the days of the Gospel than was afforded under the legal Ministration which tho no body ever denied or yet by granting shall need to render less useful and necessary the preaching of God's Ministers or the reading of the Scriptures The Priest had said Thou dost not speak in that degree of the Holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles did that spoke forth Scriptures To which George Fox answers p. 213. Gr. Mystery Thou canst not know Scriptures but by the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had But p. 19. l. 14. Whitehead seems to boggle at this expression saying Now the Scripture i. e. the whole Scripture cannot be truly known 't is like he means all the dark Visions Mysteries and Revelations which no private Christian is concerned to understand but by a high degree of the Spirit if not the same but presently comes to confession that the true knowledg of the Scripture must be obtained by a degree of the same Spirit Instead of the same degree of the Spirit it is now a degree only of the same Spirit which all know to be vastly different and yet thus the words should have bin wrote at first for they were so intended says this excellent Vindicator had not Fox's Infallibility nodded whilst he was writing and so mistakingly wrote the same degree of the Spirit for a degree of the same Spirit And now for a close of this Head 't is a thing much to be lamented and ought by all sober Christians to be seriously laid to heart that such persons as both the Foxes Parnello Eccles and
a great many more of the Gang who can scarce speak or write good sense should dare to challenge Inspiration and immediate Revelation from Heaven equal with the Apostles themselves a thing not to be claimed without the greatest certainty in our selves and the highest evidence given to Mankind since the Glory of God the Authority of the Scriptures the State and Welfare of human Societies as well as the Interest of the Christian Religion and the Souls of so many thousands easily intangled by such pretences are deeply concerned therein May we not Sleidan ' s Comment 5th and 10th Books Ross ' s Appendix to his View of all Religions Casaubon of Enthusiasm Spencer ' s Vulgar Prophecies Rutherford ' s Surve of the Spiritual Antichrist Short History of the Anabaptists in Germany be convinced from the accounts given us by many learned and impartial Writers mentioned in the Margin that evil Designs inward Heats melancholy Fancies Satan's Suggestions nay the want of good Arguments have frequently taken sanctuary under this sacred Cover It were easy to make good this by Instances some from Hereticks in the primitive times others from the Enthusiasts amongst the Romanists and very many from the Sectaries of late days both at home and abroad as the persons cited and others have largely done The Anabaptists flew high with this Claim and it was Rutherford p. 6 7 8. their Blind to carry on every design Their Founder Nich. Storke boasted of Dreams and Visions rejecting the Scripture as being a carnal and literal Rule saying God spake to him by an Angel and revealed to him his Will in Dreams promising him the place of the Angel Gabriel and the Empire of the World See the Short History of the Anabaptists of High and Low Germany chap. 2. p. 6. His Follower Tho. Munster pretended the like Communications from God and would fain have gained Luther to his side but he wrote to the Senate of Mulhaysen a famous Town in Thuringia to beware of that Wolf John Becold a Taylor afterwards called John of Leyden carried on all his Designs by a pretence of immediate Revelation from Heaven and the great Mischiefs caused thereby are abundantly known above a hundred thousand being kill'd by occasion of these bloody Inspirations John Matthiz or Matthias the Baker of Harlem had Secrets reveal'd to him which God had not reveal'd to others he being Enoch the second High Priest of God and was in effect perpetual Dictator at Munster Yea Herman the Cobler profess'd himself a true Prophet Hist of the Anabapt chap. 3. p. 21. and the true Messiah These with Knipperdolling Tuscocurer the Goldsmith and many more of that Sect pretended Inspirations from Heaven for all they did and said and at all turns made known their Revelations to the People which betraved them to Ruin and Destruction which made Melancthon severely censure them saying These Fanatical Dotages are accursed And we in opposition to such who assert new Revelations are to be expected from Melanct. de numero sacrament God do declare that God out of his infinite Goodness having revealed his Will to us in the Gospel other Revelations are not to be expected And 't is evident Revelation has been pretended for very ill purposes among the Quakers themselves one of them replying to his Creditor 'T is revealed to See Christianity no Enthusiasm pag. 125 126. me that I owe thee nothing Thus Mary Gadbury pretended a Revelation to get some Cloth from Mrs. Woodward And there were two Quakers near Stukely in Yorkshire whose Consciences bidding them destroy Original Sin they apprehending their Mother was the Fountain thereof went and murder'd her Agreable to the Practices of some of the Anabaptists beyond Sea who being drunk with Enthusiasm the spiritual Lunacy of this Schismatical Age as a Dr. Hicks Short History of the Anabaptists p. 51. Learned Man calls it committed many such wild Freaks One of their Sect being in his prophetical mood call'd his Father Mother Brother and Sisters to him and commanding his Brother to kneel down cut off his Head with one Blow crying out The Will of God is done Thus John of Leyden led by his prophetical Spirit wrote several Conclusions which he commanded the Preachers to teach the People the sum of which was That men are not tied P. 24. to one Wife but may have as many as they please and he had fifteen for his share which when they refused he declared the Doctrine was revealed to him from Heaven and commanded the first Opposer thereof to be beheaded which was done presently These and the like Extravagancies made a Learned Man declare That Dr. Hicks ' s Spirit of Enthusiasm exorcis'd p. 37 38. it was a dangerous Principle to assert That immediate Revelation or Inspiration is not ceased but is a standing and perpetual Gift in the Church of Christ and that this Spirit is not like the Spirit in the Primitive times to be tried by the Scriptures and Reason but both of them are to be tried by it as Barclay in his Theses asserts And he very well observes further That amongst all the miraculous Gifts taken notice of in the New Testament there is no mention made of Heroical Impulse by which men were sometimes irresistably moved from the Spirit under the Jewish Oeconomy to execute Judgment P. 39. in an extraordinary manner upon the Enemies of God for God being the Political King and Legislator of the Jews did as other absolute Monarchs do in some special Exigencies send men with extraordinary supra-legal Commissions to do present execution upon great and dangerous Offenders without staying for the ordinary process by Law but our Saviour one end of whose coming was to put an end to the Jewish Oeconomy and who came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them gave no such Gifts unto Men There is to be no Fire from Heaven nor no Phineas's under the Christian Dispensation accordingly the first Apostolical Ages of Wonder were utterly ignorant of killing Impulse and Zeal And let us saith he P. 40. a little more particularly reflect upon that blasphemous Doctrine of the Quakers concerning a spiritual Ministry and spiritual Worship whereby they pretend that the Holy Ghost now comes down upon their Assemblies as it did in the Apostles time and moves them to preach and pray by inspiration without any regard to Condition or Sex Hence when they meet together they sit hanging their heads in a silent dumb manner till the Spirit as they pretend shall move some body it is indifferent be it Man or Woman to preach or pray Accordingly they call their Preaching Prophesying and precariously say that they have the Spirit of Adoption by which they call God Father and that the Spirit in the inspired Minister maketh intercession for them with unutterable Groans that they groan sufficiently we grant for sometimes in their Meetings they do nothing else but if their groaning or vocal Devotions be
of Swearing It seems nothing but yea and nay would down with them 4. Opposition to the carnal Church Would not any one believe a Metempsuchosis here and that the Soul of Petrus Johannes was entred into Fox and we were Quakers now after the Order of St. Francis But come let us ask these Revelation-men a Question Can they shew me any reason why we should believe them so extraordinarily inspired as Christ and his Apostles any more than Munster John of Leyden or Muggleton Either I must believe every one that pretends to it or I must have some reason why I should believe one rather than another We would fain know what other rational proof they can bring of a Divine Revelation than Miracles Can we imagine that a Wise and Righteous God should call immediately and send persons into the World for nothing but to be laught at giving them no Gifts nor Signs whereby they may be distinguish'd from other folk and certainly known to be so called and commissioned that men might obey them We would fain know what other Signs Maimon de fundam legis c. 7. §. 11. are there that may convince a rational person but Miracles It was a Maxim amongst the Rabbies that whenever God sent a Prophet to a People he gave him a Sign or a Wonder that the People might know God had truly sent him and therefore the Jews would not be satisfied without a Sign from Acts 2. 22. Christ And St. Peter calls to the men of Israel Hear these words says he I preach no other Jesus to you than him that is approved of God by Miracles and Wonders and Signs done in the midst of you as your selves know And our Lord himself is pleased to make his appeal to them John 10. 25. The Works that â—do in my Father's name bear witness of me V. 37 38. If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not but if I do tho you believe not me believe my Works And John 15. 24. If I had not done the Works that no man did they had not had Sin And if it had not been a Sin not to have believed the Son of God himself without a Miracle sure it would not be a very great one if we should reject the testimony of Cobler Fox without one Brief Discovery p. 10. quotes Burroughs p. 47. saying That 's no command from God to me what he commands to another neither did any of the Saints which we read of in Scripture act by a Command which was to another not having a Command to themselves Smith speaks plainly 〈◊〉 p. 〈◊〉 The Scriptures have no authority of themselves to oblige us No Will We hope George Fox's Commands have authority of themselves to oblige especially those weighty Commands about slit Peaks short black Aprons Vizard-masks â—â—immindish Hats to thee and thou Men and Women tho St. Paul's have none How useless does that render the Scriptures to us for if we have a Command in our selves from the same Spirit that gave them forth that inward Command will be sufficient to oblige us if there were no other in the Scripture so that that were altogether neâ—dless But that 's not all for Burroughs P. 105. tells us They that take up a Command from the Scriptures are in the Witchcraft Good Mr. Burroughs wouldst thou take such an answer from any of thy Servants that God it seems must be forced to take from you should you command them to do a lawful thing No Sir we thank you till we have a Command in our selves thy Command is of no authority to oblige us at all But thou wouldst take it much worse sure if they should say thou wert a Wizard or in the Witchcraft if they should obey thee Or would Quakers take such an answer from their People when they have been speaking to them from the mouth of the Lord And yet that lewd Wretch is so bold and impudent as to tell us that when God Almighty commands his Servants they are no less than Witches and Devils and have familiar conversation with that Fiend that take up a Command from his Scriptures P 5. Fox jun. says You took it from the Letter and never received a Command from God for it As if the Command he received from the Letter had not been from God A Command it seems it was but not from God We wonder then from whom it was it was not sure from the Devil as Burroughs intimated just now when he said He that takes up a command from the Spirit is in the Witchcraft Whitehead speaks of Pen to the same purpose saving No command in P. 22. l. 21. Scripture is any further obliging to any man than he finds a Conviction upon his Conscience otherwise men should be engaged without or against Conviction And again be says against Faldo The reason of our obeying the Scripture P. â— is Conviction Manifestation and drawing of the Light So that of themselves they have no more authority than an AEsop's Fables all the authority they have is from those Convictions and Drawings of the Light within and no man sins in not obeying Scripture Commands till he 's convinc'd he 's bound to obey them so that their Power to oblige us does not arise from the Authority of God that gave them forth but from our Convictions that is they have none till we think they have Sure Mr. Pen forgot himself for elsewhere he tells us 'T is a dangerous Principle and pernicious to true Religion nay Brief Exam. P. 3. printed 1681. see Brief Discovery P. 14. that it was the root of Ranterism to assert nothing was a Duty but what we were persuaded was our Duty We see great Wits have but bad Memories We shall next prove that the Scriptures have authority over us without such a Command Conviction Manifestation within us Thus If there be a sort of men that have sinned grievously in not having obeyed the Precepts of the Gospel which never had these new Revelations Manifestations or Convictions then those Revelations Manifestations and Convictions are not the reasons of Obedience but there have been and yet are many such Ergo. The Minor thus St. Paul before Conversion the Jews the Scribes and Pharisees sinned griâ—vously in not obeying the Precepts of the Gospel tho they had no such Revelations Manifestations and Convictions Ergo. 1. The Scribes and Pharisees sinned it 's evident how many Woes are denounced against them for their Unbelief And that St. Paul sinned 't is as evident how many bloody Crimes is he charged with He breathed out Threatnings Acts 9. 1 4. and Slaughter against the Church and says Christ Saul said why persecutest thou me See how he charges himself I was a Blasphemer Persecâ—â—â— 1 Tim. 1. 13 14. injurious 2. That they had no such Revelations Manifestations or Convictions is as evident That the Jews Scribes and Pharisees knew not it was their Duty to embrace that new
add another which is worth them all for Spondani Annales A. D. 1204. n. 17. its Antiquity 't is of one Almericus Student at Paris as great an Enthusiast as themselves He cries out Now was the time of the Holy Ghost in which the use of Sacraments was to cease and all external Administrations and every one was to be saved by the Inspiration and inward Grace of the Holy Ghost The Mendicant Friars defended this Doctrine and Pope Alexander the 4 th Mat. Paris Hist 909. was their Protector So that you see these Doctrines of Quakers are but the Sink and Drainings of Popery We care not if we add another out of the Spiritual Exercise of the Jesuits 'T is the great perfection of a Christian P. 31 32. printed 74. to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what he hath already revealed and tanght in the Gospel No Fox thou art not the Father of the Quakers as some have Stillingfleet ' s Fanaticism c. p. 341. thought but Almericus and the Jesuits and Papists have only put out that Brat to thee to nurse it for them and we own it hath battled prodigiously at thy Breasts and grown to be a very formidable Monster CHAP. VII Of the RVLE of FAITH BRief Discovery quotes Parnel p. 16. line 33. Shield of Truth p. 11. saying He that saith the Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon the Husks and is ignorant of the true P. 515. Light Burroughs is also quoted saying The Scriptures are not the Rule and Guide of Faith and Life but the Spirit of God This is the current Doctrine of the Quakers you may see it in Parnel's * P. 71. Collect. Smith's Primmer P. 10. Light Life 17. Fisher speaks plain English and tells us Scripture is not the Voice of God tho the very Dribbles of a Quaker are from the Mouth of the Lord. The same says Howgil 68 7â— 251. Pen Reason against Railing p. 32. yea all of them Not the Scriptures but the Light within is our Rule of Faith and Life Fisher ' s Messages of the Lord p. 19 21. By the way observe how this symphonizes with your Testimony before the House of Commons the form of your Confession there was this I believe with my Heart and confess with my Mouth that the Scriptures are a divine and History of Quakerisin p. 53. exact Rule of Faith and Life yet you must know the Quakers are always the same and sweetly agree with one another as their Brethren the Papists do tho they have never so many Opinions and differ as much from one another as Lines in the Circumference yet you must believe they are all one for all that because they meet in the same Center of Unity the Pope So the Quakers let them differ never so much yet in spight of Sense and Reason there is nothing but Harmony and Unity amongst them because they all follow the same unerring Light tho it lead them into never so many contradictions We would fain know whether their Light within be their Rule when they call us Sorcerers Devils Gimcracks Wheelbarrows Tatterdemallions Whitehead says The Scripture allows these Names p. 68. l. 26. Thus far then sure you will allow the Scripture to be a practical Rule to guide and countenance you in the Work of railing and reviling for the great Honour and Respect you give them you keep them to do your dirtiest Drudgery to authorize you in your Billinsgate Rhetorick But because this Principle is so generally held by Quakers that the Light within is the Rule and not the Scriptures and of so vast an Importance we shall inlarge a little the more upon it but first we shall lay down some preliminary Propositions 1. We do not say the Scriptures are a Rule to us as written tho they are so when they are written 2. We do not suppose that the Revelation of the Mind of God in Scripture is a general Rule to Chrâ—stians Jews and all our Forefathers from Adam before the Mind of God was committed to writing 3. We positively assert that neither God nor Christ but the Mind of God revealed to Mankind either written or unwritten is a general Rule The unwritten Revelations before the Scriptures were put into writing and the written ever since And further we say That revelation of the Mind of God conveighed to us by writing in all things necessary to Salvation is the only compleat and general Rule to us to whom it is so conveighed for our Faith and Practise and not God nor Christ essentially or substantially considered nor any immediate Revelation not that we deny all immediate Revelation in these last days but we say God does not ordinarily bestow it and that because he hath taken care in his Providence that in this last Age there shall be no need of it having provided the Scriptures as a Supplement of that want neither if there should be such immediate Revelations to a Person now as formerly to the Aposâ—les yet carrying not the same Evidence to us to oblige us in our Faith and Practice as the Apostles Revelations did they can be no Rule to us they that have them and have good assurance they have so on God's Name let them believe and obey them if they please 1 st We prove the Light within can be no Rule to us 1. Because it teaches not all things necessary to our Salvation the Light within could never have instructed us about the Fall of Man or our recovery by Jesus Christ how then could it have been the Rule of our Faith as to these Particulars Sure you dare not deny but these are necessary to be believed We had had a deep silence of this thing to this day had we not had tidings of them in our Scriptures or some other Revelations of them we could never have known there had been a Spirit of Christ or a Scripture as they call it for they dare not call it Trinity as if there were some Magick in that Latin word but from the Scriptures And if the Light within be the same with Christ and the Spirit of Christ as Quakers say I must believe first that there is such a Light such a Christ and such a Spirit of Christ which I cannot do but by the Scriptures before I can believe any thing upon their Authority unless I must believe a Doctrine upon the Authority of a Rule of whose Being and Existence I have no Evidence sufficient to induce me to believe it so that the Scriptures only can be the Rule of such a Faith The Truth is the Light within is not the Rule but the rational Sight or Eye rather whereby we discern our Rule advise and consult with it How ridiculous would it be to say Christ or the Spirit of Christ is our Rule who is our Rule tho his Laws
are so he 's our Judg and Guide rather than our Rule and he judges and guides us by the Rule and Laws of the Holy Scriptures 2. Because we are yet at uncertainties where to find that Rule that we may be guided by it if the Light within be a guide to us we would be glad to know whose Light it is that hath the honour whether that Light in Whitehead or Pen or Burroughs or Hubberthorn for without our Compass how can we steer a right Course and therefore we intreat you to tell us whether we are to go to London York Bristol or Rome for our Christians Rule If they say the Spirit it self is our Rule 't is no more than to say the Light within us or the Light the Spirit of God â—heds into our Hearts is so for the Spirit substantially considered is no Rule to any for so it guides and teaches none but as it effects and sheds abroad a Light into our minds to guide and direct us by as is proved before which Light being different in every one of us for as they phrase it 't is in every one of us according to our different incasures so that we cannot have one and the same Rule of Christianity common to all but as many Rules as there have been or will be Men in the World to the World's end which was an inconvenience God Almighty thought fit to obviate in the beginning by sending our first Forefathers a Revelation concerning the Seed of the Woman the Sabbath Sacrifices and other Doctrines of Faith and Means of Worship a settled standing Rule they were to walk by he did not leave every own to his own Light to hammer out and invent a Rule for himself and now in these last Ages God hath given by a particular Revelation of his Mind tho conveyed to us in ten thousand Bibles any one that pleases may know where to find our Rule 't is in our Bibles and if we had a mind to it we could tell where to search for the Popish Rule in the Tomes of their Councils but we think it not worth our pains but where to find the Quakers Rule we should be beholding to him that will inform us Again how shall I know which are those Dictates of the Spirit of God that I may not be deceived in the choice of my Rule seeing I have no Rule to judgthem by Will not every Fancy and strong Inclination of Man vicious or virtuous be ready to put in a Plea for that honour to be accounted his Rule One Man hath an unsatiable thirst after the glittering Glorys and Honours of this World why may he not pretend to that Spirit of God that moves him to climb that Precipice Another hath a brutal lustful Inclination why may be not pretend he hath a vehement impulse of the Spirit upon him to commit Fornication and Adultery as a Speaker in Maryland Tho. Thurston pretended P. 138. to a Woman when her Husband was absent in England See Bugg's Pilgrim Mather ' s Answer to the Switch p. 4. G. Fox ' s Great Myst â— 77. ult Another that hath a violent inclination to Sodomy as Mather relates of Clark a Quaker Speaker why may he not pretend 't was a motion of the Spirit of God lead him to it for love of the Creature Another whose fingers itched to be robbing a Till or a Church why might he not pretend as one did he was moved to it by God s Spirit having no Rule to judg by but the Spirit in every Man and you may be sure that no Man's Spirit will bring in its Verdict against it selt If they say the several individual Lights in the several members of their yearly meetings that make up our great Luminary collectively is their Rule what must poor Quakers do all the interval of this meeting being all that while without a Rule without Light for it seems the Light in particular Defence of the Snake Collect. p. 15. Numb the first Quakers is too weak and glimmering sufficient to guide them in their course which was the reason when some hard Questions were propounded to the Pensylvani in Quakers the other day their Light being so dim that they could not answer them by it they were sam to send to London for more Light to resolve them by We hope they will not say 't is their inward Light in specie as abstracted from the several individual Quaker Lights is to be our Rule to guide us We say a Species operates nothing as it does not exist but in Individuals it was not homo in specie that begot Geo. Whitehead or Will. Pen but some unhappy individual Man to be a Plague and Pest God permitting to our common Christianity 3. Because this Rule is uncertain and mutable A Rule ought to be fix'd and steady as we ought to have a rational Evidence that it was constituted so to us by a sufficient Authority which their Light within hath not so a Rule ought to be a certain standard to measure by that never alters as is the Scripture the same for 1600 years together but their Light within how oft hath it turned even to every Point of the Compass Some years since their Light within taught them that the Scriptures were Dust Death Serpents meat but now it seems it teacheth them that they are given by inspiration and they are the Holy and Sacred Scriptures A few years since it told them their own Writings were to be preferred before them but now we know not what Wind hath turned the Cock they are the best Books in the World Sometimes it hath strictly forbidden to go to Law * An Account from the Child of Light p. 19. Now as for our selves say they so many as walk in Christ Jesus we have one Judg and Lawgiver appointed to us by Christ Jesus and we may not go to law with one another as Men being come to Christ But in Serious Search †P. 43. it gives them a liberty it says some of them are necessitated to make use of the Law to maintain their just Rights and Properties It was never christ's Faith to sue and contend says Naylor Living Faith p. 7. We sue no Man at the Law but are sued by them Shield of the Truth p. 3. But Tho Elwood's Light within taught him otherwise In civil Cases 't is no injustice saith he for a Man to recover his Due by Law Truth prevailing and detecting Error p. 361. see Christianity no Enthusiasm p. 108. cap. 7. Sometimes their Rule is against fighting with a carnal Weapon as in their Declaration to King Charles the Second but we have reason to think their Rule will direct them to other things as soon as they have opportunity J. Pennyman in his Remarks upon Christ's Lambs defended p. 1. cites a Quaker Minister saying We direct all Peopel to the Spirit of God in them and if that leads them to fight I have nothing to say
against it this is in a Quakers Book where Foreign Letters are recorded p. 4. Whitehead in his Lambs Defended owns it p. 34 35 36 37. see the Remarks p. 4. Burrows in a Declaration in the Name of all the Quakers * Printed 59. says he might command 1000 and 10000 of his Saints in that day to fight in his Cause as the Pensilvanian Quakers did for their Sloop but P. 8. then it was as Magistrates not as Quakers Wars belonged to the Jewish Administration †See Leeds p. 145. which had its End says Geo. Bishop in his Looking-glass p. 203. Quakers deny that it is lawful for Christians to fight and kill one another in fighting Barclay in Q. no Popery p. 100. But others of them have both allowed and followed Wars and John Tompson owned by others as a Quaker was Master of a Ship fought stoutly and killed many of the Dutch Tyranny and Hypocrisy Detected p. 22. see Christianity no Enthusiasm Cap. 7. p. 108. The Spirit in Quaker Plainness p. 23 24. tells them the Distinction between the Father and the Soâ— is not only nominal but real The Spirit in G. Fox tells us another story that Christ is not distinct from the Father Gr. Myst 142. Quaker Plainness p. 24. The Spirit in Whitehead teaches him that God the Father and God the Son were Coworkers But in his Light and Life p. 47. we see the Light face about again What nonsense says it there is it to tell of God being Cocreator with the Father In Quaker Plainness the Light tells us p. 24. the title of Person without us is too low to give to Christ but their Spirit in Pen's Sandy Foundation p. 15. changes its note saying the Son for many hundred of years in person testified Thus the Spirit teaches one thing to day and another thing tomorrow and if it chance to hit upon it the same as at the first again John Swinton as we are told Tyran Hypocr detected p. 39 42. and Spirit of the Hat p. 35 wrote a Paper in the express Motion of God who justified him in every tittle of it and yet after this about four or five years he retracted and denied the Spirit in which 't was wrote saving 'T was sit for the fire and was done in an hour of temptation and weakness the account is large and deserves reading says the learned Author of Christianity â—o Entâ—â—â— p. 112. Sure the Christian must do his business very ill that goes by such a waxen leaden Rule that bends every way and sits it self either to strait or crooked as you please things are true or false just or unjust by that Rule according as fancy or interest sways it it hath authorized Tyrannies and changes of Tyrannies to be all from God Almighty and when they obtained it fawned upon and flattered them as much as lawful Governments of late which before it had condemned as Antichristian as one observes 4. The Light within cannot assure us of this Fundamental Principal of the Quakers that the Light within is to be our Rule a general Rule to all of us as Pen asserts because that Light tells none so but Quakers besides that is to bear witness to it self and resolves it self into this Argument It is so because we are sure it is so which is the ground that every Man hath for his Error for every one that holdeth it thinks he 's sure of the Truth of it his Inward Light tells him so Judgment fixed p. 268. G. Whitehead commends Ben. Furly's Letter of Retractation where he says That Actions of Men are sometimes influenced by good and evil Spirits tho they perceive it not So then they may casily think all Actions are influenced from the good Spirit having no certain measure to try the Spirits by and neither Pen nor Whitchead can tell for want of such a Standard any more than Furly when they are acted by a good Spirit and when by a bad 5. To conclude If the Light be our Rule we hope no Quaker will think amiss of us for what we have wrote against them for every Man hath the Light within him and must act according to it which we seriously declare we have here done and if you should say what we have wrote is false and erroneous How could we help it It seems our Light ought to be our Rule to square our Actions by which God knows we have done exactly 2 ly We shall prove the Affirmative against Quakers and Papists that the Scriptures are such a Rule as we spoke of before tho this Truth be sufficiently vindicated by our Divines against the Romanists and lately by G. Keith in his Deism of W. Pen yet we shall ex abundanti cast our Reason into the Balance 1. Then if matters contained in the Scriptures be such a Declaration of the Mind of God that whosoever believes and practises neither more nor less as necessary to Salvation shall be saved then they are a Rule of Faith and Life to them to whom they are given but they are so Ergo. Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect viz. Such a Declaration as thus bounds us on both sides or it could not be perfect if it did not bound us thus viz. give Salvation to him that believes all things it makes necessary and nothing more as so Without doubt the Scripture is such a Rule according to their agreement or disagreement to it all things are right or wrong in Spirituals for if a Man deviate from it in any thing it makes necessary he 's wrong and perishes and if he touches it and squares with it in all such Points he 's right and shall be saved hence 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. All Scripture is given by Inspiration from God and is profitable for Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnish'd c. Howghil denys the word is to be in the Text he tells us 't is an addition of the Translator and it should be thus All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable c. No Atheist or Papist could be more industrious to find out every little Criticism that they think may weaken the Authority of the Scripture as if there were some Scriptures that were not of Divine Inspiration speak out Man Are there any such Scriptures yea or nay and tell us which they are and rescue our Faith from its bondage to such an Impostor Thou Wretch to go about to take away the Bread of Life from us that Divine Nourishment of our Souls and think to feed us with thy whipt Bubbles We could better spare the Sun than this Candle of the Lord and have nothing left to guide us but the Quakers Snuff or a few Sparks from their Forge know then tho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not exprest in the Text yet the Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there tho thou hast made so bold as to
Commission to baptize all as well as preach to all but that these Powers might be executed in the best manner such as might tend most to the Glory of God and the Edification of the Church it being impossible he should preach to all and baptize them too by a particular Instinct of the Spirit to appoint and order him to lay out his Abilities chiefly in preaching that being a Work of greatest Difficulty and Importance his Talent also lying most for that Work And St. Paul might have said I was not sent to preach the Gospel to the Jews viz. by my particular Mission as he says here I was not sent viz. by a special Mission to baptize them That the Acts 5. 20. Apostles had such particular Calls and Missions as well as universal Power and Acts 8. 25. 26. Authority 't is evident from the Scriptures Acts 9. 11. Or it may be Answer'd the common way I was not sent chiefly to baptize That Acts 16. 10 9. was not the chief Part of his Commission but to perform the more necessary and Act. 19. 20. 22. difficult Part of it to preach to dispute with and convince Gain sayers for our Acts 23. 11. greater Parts and Abilities as also greater Courage was required then to baptize 2 Tim. 1. 11. yet he carefully deputed others for that Service and so might well enough have been said to have baptized too as Christ 4 Joh. 2. and Peter also Acts 10. 48. having commanded them to be baptized it was certainly impossible the Apostles should have been able with their own hands to have baptized such Multitudes they converted Christianity had spread over all the Quarters of the known World before the Apostles left it and could Twelve Men be thought sufficient for such a Task of Baptizing And is it not agreeable to Reason that when a Person hath a Commission authorizing him for two eminent different Services that are impossible both to be performed by him alone to interpret the Meaning of that Commission to be that he should lay out his Time and Strength in the most necessary and important Service and depute some others for the rest seeing it may as well be done by other hands as his What a stop and hindrance would this have been if the Apostle had slayed every where to baptize their Conveâ—ts nâ—y 〈◊〉 was impossible they being so great a Pâ—t of the World yet sometimes they did it you see when it was no impeâ—â—ment to them in their main Design Had it not have been in their Commission to have done it at al. they had greatly sinned if all the Children of the Province of Canterbury were brought to the Arch-Bishop to be baptized by him he might not say when I was made Arch-Bishop of this Place and sent to this See I was not not sent to baptize the Children of this numerous Province though I have a Commission to baptize as well as any Parish-Minister of the Province but chiefly to exercise a Patioral Care of Government among them See Gen. 45. 8. It was not you that sent me hither but God Though they sold him into Aegypt but it was principally God's doing 1 Tim. 2. 14. Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the Transgâ—â—ssion viz the Chief in it Mat. 9. 13. I 'll have Mercy and not Sacrifice Jer. 7. 22. I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them concerning Burnt Offerings or Sacrifices but I commanded them saying Obey my Voice Yet God had commanded those Cities under pain of Death The meaning is they were not the chief part of the Command but rather the Offâ—â—â—ng and Sacrifice of a broken and contâ—iâ—e Heart 't was the inward part that was signified by this that God chiefly required of them and when the outward was performed without the inward he tells them he never required it at their hands see Isa 1. 11. Suppose the Quakers should deny that outward Sacrifices were ever commanded by God or that the Jews did ever practise them and they should interpret all that is said of Sacrifices of the inward as they do of Baptism and should produce the Texts above quoted and the First of Isa to prove God did not command them which are more clear and positive against outward Sacrifices than that one Text they have brought out of the Corinthians is against Water-Baptism If they should not be convinced by those numerous Texts might be brought out of Exod. Gen. Numb c. with the Practice of the Jews from Moses's Time for the Proof of the one as by those plain and pregnant Texts cited by us together with the constant Practice of the Apostles and all the Christian World to this Day for the Proof of the other we shall despair of ever finding out a Method of convincing them but as one says that of Bedlam Sure enough if the Quakers had such Texts as these forementioned against Water-Baptism what Shouts and Triumphs should we hear of If God had said he never commanded Water-Baptism he was weary of it his Soul hated it yet had they found them they would have proved no more against outward Baptism than the other did against outward Sacrifices Come G. dissemble no longer with us the true Reason if thou wouldst deal plainly with us why Water-Baptism is rejected by you is not because the Scripture commands it not but because you have no Command in your selves about it and as for that Dry Dead Letter that Nose of Wax the Scriptures as you call them no matter what they say to us without such a Revelation What have we to do with the Command that was to the Apostles They are dead and gone and the Command of baptizing all Nations died with them But yet methinks as the Apostles were bid to baptize all Nations all Nations were required to be baptized and all Nations are not yet dead and gone and therefore there should be some left alive to baptize them unless the Apostles were commanded to baptize when dead CHAP. X. Of the LORD's SUPPER NExt we shall Vindicate the Supper of the Lord by Bread and Wine from their profane Contempt that also according to them is but a Trick of the Pope's to cheat the People with a Shadow for Substance Carnal Cainitical and to be discharged the Service as well as the Passover P. 713. Brief Discovery All which Abuses are justified by the common Voucher for P. 26. Quakers G. Whitehead One would think the Words of St. Matthew 26. 26 27 28. as also St. Luke 22. 19. 20. should be plain enough to determine this Controversie While they were eating viz the Pasâ—over Christ took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to his Discipleâ— and bid them take and eat for it was his Body viz. The Sign or Symbol of his Body He also took the Câ—p and blessed it and gave it them and commanded them all to drink of it yea this was his dying