c. Which saith he could not be without the Light of his Son shines in Man's Conscience therefore the light of Christ in the Conscience must needs have been the General Rule c. Answ His Consequence is again denied which he doth not prove it has the same defect with his foregoing proofs that he confounds the Author and Efficient cause of Faith with the Rule which is the instrumental Cause thereof But let it be further considered what the following words are not mentioned by W.P. here and let them be compared with the foregoing words Ver. 7. Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first born for my transgression the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul Ver. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God And it will appear that the words at least have a Comparative Sense as intimating that Justice Mercy and Humility or Humble walking with God are more acceptable to God and the greater things of God's Laws than all outward Sacrifices were But doth it therefore follow that God did not require those outward Sacrifices then to be offered up or that God did not require Faith in the People of Israel that he did Command them And if such a Faith was then required of them which the common dictates of the light in every Conscience did not teach them but special Revelation by the like reason it can be proved that the Faith of Christ the great Sacrifice as he was outwardly to be offered up of which all the outward Sacrifices were Types was also required by the Lord from that People the which Faith all the faithful then had and by which Faith they received the remission of their Sins according to Acts 10 43. But seeing the Light within every Man gives them not this Faith nor teacheth it them it evidently follows that the Light within every Man is not the Rule of the Christian Faith it may be further said that the words Micah 6.8 9. if they were to be understood with respect to meer Heathens and Gentiles who have not the External Word might imply that no more is required of them than those general things which the Law or Light in them doth teach them and is the only Rule they have but these words seem not to be spoke with respect to meer Gentiles but rather to them that were by Profession the Church of God and though neither Faith nor Repentance nor many other Evangelical Virtues and Duties are there expressed yet without doubt they are implyed as well as where Faith is only exprest in many places of Scripture Love and other Virtues are implyed And indeed by the like Fallacy W.P. might infer that our whole Religion consists in practiseing the Duties of the 2d Table from James's words Pure and undefiled Religion is to visit the Fatherless and the Widow and to keep unspotted from the World And that Consequently he that doth this though he practise none of the Duties of the First Table he has Religion enough yea though he have no Faith in God no fear of him nor Love to him if he be Charitable and temperate as it has been reported some Atheists have been Page 5. His next Argument is It was by this Law that Enoch Noah Abraham Melchisideck Abimilech Job Jethro c. walked and were accepted as saith Jreneus and Tertullian they wâ—re Just by the Law written in their Hearts then was it their Rule too and in that Just State Answ This Argument hath several defects in it 1. To argue from a Law or Rule of Moral Justice to a Law or Rule of Faith in Christ the promised Messiah without which Faith there is no promise of Eternal Life and Salvation in all the Scripture Secondly That he Jumbleth Abimelech and Jethro none of which were prophets with Abraham and others that were Prophets and had extraordinary Revelation concerning the Messiah Thirdly That he makes no distinction betwixt what the Light or Word did reveal commonly in all Men by the common Illumination and what that same word did reveal to the Prophets and by them to the Faithful by special Revelation and Illumination And indeed all his Arguments are in great part built on this Fallacy of not distinguishing but confounding the common or general Illuminations given to all Men from the special and extraordinary given to some That the common Illumination of the Divine Word was to the Patriarchs Abraham Noah c. a Law or Rule of Justice is granted but that it was to them a Law or Rule of Faith whereby they believed in the promised Messiah is denied for that was a special Revelation that was the Law or Rule of that Faith and not the common Illumination though both common and special were and are from the same Divine Word yet this hinders not their Distinction as all the Creatures of God have one Creator and Author of their Being yet this hinders not but that the Creatures are widely distinct one from another Section 3. His first and second Arguments that the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith and Life Answered Page 5. IN the next place he pleads that the Scriptures cannot be the Rule arguing thus Arg. 1. How can they be the general Rule that have not been general Answ He is still guilty of confounding and jumbling things that ought to be distinguished 1. None saith that the Scriptures are a general Rule If by a general Rule he means a Rule actually obliging all Men whomsoever for the Scripture obligeth none but such who either have them or at least can by some possible means have them 2. It is granted that the Law or Illumination that is in all Men is the general Law or Rule of Justice and Morality to all Men. But what then will it follow that Christians have no other Rule but that of moral Justice 3. He ought to have distinguished betwixt the general Law or Rule of Justice given to all Mankind and the general superadded Law and Rule of Christian Faith and Practise given in general to Christians but for want of this distinction he deceives himself and seeks to deceive others with fallacious Arguments Page 6. He brings an Objection thus But granting that the Light within were so viz. the general Rule before Scripture was extant yet c. Answ He supposeth that to be granted which ought not to be granted viz. That the common Illumination before Scripture was extant was the Rule of the Faith of all the Faithful who lived and died in the Faith of the promised Messiah by whom they believed to have Remission of Sin and eternal Life This is altogether denied for this Faith they had not by the common Illumination but by special Revelation given to some by Prophesie and to others by means of their Prophesies Page
needs only pretend a Revelation for that and all the other Matters in Controversie betwixt Protestants and Papists to justifie him and prove him to be no Changeling And at this rate of W. P's arguing not only all the peculiar Doctrines of Christianity are wholly uncertain and Papists Socinians and Arians and other the worst of Hereticks that oppugn the Christian Doctrine and Faith may happen to be in the right and these called the Orthodox to be in the wrong but the great Fundamental of the Quakers is overthrown and rendred uncertain also yea this very Position that he laboureth so much to establish That not the Scriptures but the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life to every Man For this Position of his is not literally and expresly in the Scripture so that according to W.P. not the Scripture but his and his Brethrens Interpretation must determine this Controversie and this cannot be done without extraordinary Revelation it being none of those things that fall within the ordinary Discoveries of Men to wit that the Light in every Man's Conscience is Christ and God for then Christ would be God and the Socinians would be Blasphemers that deny him so to be By all which it evidently appears that this Argument of W.P. not only renders all the peculiar Doctrines of Christianity meer Scepticism and Uncertainty but the great Fundamental of the Quakers as concerning the Light being Christ in them and the Rule of their Faith to be equally Scepticism and Uncertainty But that he saith Christ's Divinity is left undetermin'd in Scripture literally and expresly is false for it is in several places literally and expresly affirm'd that Christ is God and that and many other Truths suppose not literally and expresly mentioned in Scripture yet by good and necessary Consequences without all extraordinary Revelation from plain places of Scripture can be certainly inferred And if he will not allow that there is any certainty by arguing from the Scriptures by Consequences of true Reason his whole Discourse in this his Book that I am now answering is disallowable for he has not brought one place of Scripture that literally and expresly saith the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith or that the Light in every Man's Conscience is and he doth not pretend to extraordinary Revelation in the Case and if he did of shall he must give us leave to distrust him until he bring sufficient Evidence for it which I believe he will never be able to do Yea the Falsity of his Reasonings by way of Consequence to prove his Position That not the Scripture but the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life is evidently apparent from the answers already given And suppose he should pretend to extraordinary Revelation in the case and that that is the ground of his Certainty and Rule of his Faith even that Pretence destroyeth his Fabrick for seeing all Men have not that extraordinary Revelation it cannot be a general Rule If he say The common discovery that every Man hath teacheth him sufficiently without either Scripture or extraordinary Revelation That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith I answer How can that be unless it were a self-evident Proposition as that the whole is greater than the part and if it be a self-evident Proposition why hath W.P. taken so great pains to prove it Men commonly think it needless to prove any self-evident Proposition and properly speaking it is impossible to be proved But if his said Position has no self-evidence of the Truth of it how shall it be proved not from Scripture for that would make the Scripture the Rule nor from Humane Reason for that would make Humane Reason the Rule which W.P. seems not to set up for the Rule It is granted that the Light in every Man's Conscience in respect of some Moral Principles of Justice and Temperance has a Self evidence and so far is a Rule but that it is the Rule of Faith to Christians is denied and by whatever Medium he proveth it that must be his Rule by his manner of arguing which runs him into the like vitious Circle as the Papists are run into when they prove the certainty of Tradition by the Church and the certainty of the Church by Tradition so W.P. proves that the Light within is the Rule of Faith by the Scripture and the certainty of the Scripture by the Light within Section 20. His Proposal of the way to determine all Controversie destructive to the Christian Religon le ts in Deism and Heathenism to overspread the World a Remedy worse than the Disease His misrepresentation of sound Protestants and false and uncharitable Judgment of them Several Scripture places that prove the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Life to all Christian People I Confess he hath one very notable and plausible Answer to an Objection made by himself P. 44. were it as true as seemingly fair and plausible The Objection is this How will this determine Controversie viz to cast away the Scriptures from being the general Rule of Faith and Life and to set up the Light in every Man's Conscience according to the general Discoveries it gives to all Mankind and allay the Fury of Debates that are on foot in the World He answereth roundly Nothing like it if Men adhere to it But first were it true it would have this mischievous and yet most necessary Consequence that the Christian Religion would be utterly lost so far as it hath any peculiarity or peculiar Dignity Worth and Advantage above Deism or Paganism A rare Cure indeed that W.P. here prescribes to all Christendom to heal their Breaches and end the Disputes and Controversies betwixt the worst sort of Hereticks and the most Orthodox Christians and betwixt Papists and Protestants such a Remedy here prescribed by him is worse than the Disease He saith Most Perswasions he should have come out more plainly with his Expedient saying most Hereticks Arians Nestorians Sabellians Eutychians and them of the opposed side called Orthodox yea Papists and Protestants agree in his general Rule of Faith and Life that is they own the common and general Dictates of the Light in the Conscience and so doth the civilized part of the whole World of Mankind and agree about what he makes the absolute Necessaries viz That God is that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him that the way of God is a way of Purity Patience Meekness c. without which no Man shall see the Lord. Now all Hereticks commonly few I think excepted own these Generals and many of them have Moral Lives Is this enough to their eternal Salvation though they deny the Lord that bought them with his precious Blood as he outwardly suffered on the Cross on this pretence that their general Rule set up here by W.P. teacheth them nothing of any such Lord that bought them
and secondary Rule pre-supposeth a primary Rule which hath no dependence on the Secondary though the Secondary is wholly from the Primary as the Transcript is wholly from the Original but the Original is intirely compleat and perfect without the Copy or Transcript it is evident that according to him he hath all what he thinketh to be a Divine Knowledge and Faith wholly from his primary Rule and nothing from the Scriptures which he calls the Secondary for the Excellency of the primary Rule is that it teacheth all that is to be divinely known or believed without the need or help of any secondary Rule otherwise it should not be primary nor should the Scriptures in that case be a subordinate Rule but co-ordinate and of equal Dignity Necessity and Use with what he calls the Primary for whatever is a primary full adequate and perfect Rule such as he will have only the Light within or by whatever other Name he designs it it must propose to him all the Credenda and Agenda i. e. all things he ought to believe and practise without any other Rule whatsoever And yet in Contradiction to his own Doctrine he grants p. 25. That by and through the Scripture as some Instrument this great and universal Rule which he will have to be the living spiritual immediate omnipresent discovering ordering Spirit of God may convey its directions Judge Reader if this be not a Contradiction to his former Doctrine and a great Impertinency surely as he who hath the Original has no need of the Copy nor great use of it for himself so if W.P. have such a perfect compleat primary Rule that teacheth him without Scripture all what he ought to know believe or practise I cannot understand of what great use the Scripture can be unto him or at least it is of no necessity to him this primary Rule hath taught him all before-hand otherwise it is not primary If it be objected That the Prophets and Apostles had the Spirits inward Teachings to be their primary Rule in what they delivered as Prophets and Apostles and yet they made use of the Scriptures such as were penned before them I answer Because neither the Prophets nor Apostles were taught in all things that they believed and practised by the Spirits inward Teachings as the primary Rule but only in what they spoke or writ as Prophets and Apostles in other things which they had not by Prophetical Inspiration the Scripture what was then extant of it was the primary Rule to them as well as to others of the Faithful who were neither Prophets nor Apostles Section 9. That the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture is the Rule of Faith which Faith the Spirit of God being the principal Efficient begets and works in the Faithful by the Doctrine which is the Instrument of the Spirit That it brings Confusion and derogates from the Spirit to make the Spirit the Rule Arg. 6. ANother of W. P's great Arguments to prove that the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith p. 13. is How shall I be assured saith he that these Scriptures came from God If with the Spirit that gave them forth which searcheth the deep things of God a measure of which is given to me to profit withal then it is most congruous to call the Spirit by way of Excellency and not the Scriptures the Rule I answer denying his Consequence It is indeed allowed that it is congruous for that cause to call the Spirit the principal efficient and moving Cause together with Christ and God the Father but most incongruous false and pernicious to make him to be the Rule which is so far from giving the due Honour and Excellency to the Spirit so to do that it derogates from his Honour and Excellency for it confounds the efficient Cause with the Instrument and is as absurd as to say the Square or Carpenter's Rule that the Carpenter works with that is but of Wood is the Carpenter himself which is extreamly false it is no derogation from the Spirit to say that he useth the Rule or Instrument of his own preparing whereby to frame and fashion us according to his good pleasure as the Carpenter useth his Square or Rule to frame his pieces of Wood to put into a Building And for the better clearing of the matter a little further when all Orthodox Christian Writers say that we are assured that the Scriptures came from God with or by the Spirit that gave them forth they mean not that the Spirits inward Testimony or Witness to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is any new or repeated Testimony of the Words and Doctrines of the Scripture which is not necessary but only by way of putting a Seal on a Deed or Bond together with the Hand or Subscription of him that gives the Deed or Bond which Hand and Seal confirms the Truth of the Bond yet it doth not tell what the Contents of the Deed or Bond is nor is it necessary it should the Deed or Bond it self tells the Contents of it And to use the Schools Distinction a little in the case The Doctrines and Words contained in the Holy Scriptures are the material object of Faith to wit quod Creditur i e. what is believed but the Spirits inward Testimony Seal or Impulse and Motion which carrieth in it a peculiar Evidence that none knoweth but he who hath it is the formal Object of Faith to wit propter quod Creditur that inward Motion and Influence Impression and Influence of the Spirit that sensibly and perceptibly moveth the Faithful to believe the Truth of the Scriptures as being the Words of God Nor is this Controversie about the Rule of Faith and Life a Logomachy or strife of words as some may ignorantly suppose but a most material Case and of most dangerous Consequence to exclude the Scriptures which are the great and blessed Means that God has appointed us for begetting true Faith Knowledge and Obedience in us through the mighty Operation of the Spirit of God But if what the Spirit of God hath appointed us to be the Means and Instrument of our Knowledge and Faith and Practise and the Rule whereby to discern Truth from Error Right from Wrong with the Spirits internal Illumination we prove neglectful of it to wit of the Holy Scriptures in the frequent use of them by Reading Hearing Meditation and Prayer we provoke the Holy Spirit to depart from us and to leave us to our vain imaginations and Satan's suggestions and delusions to be received by us as Divine Revelations and Inspirations as hath happened to many to their unspeakable hurt Again as the Spirit nor yet his Internal Inspiration or Illumination and Revelation is not the Rule of Faith but the principal efficient of it and his Internal Inspiration Illumination and Revelation is the Objective Medium moving the Mind to assent to the truth of the Doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures but not the Rule of Faith nor
the Material object of it so nor is the Spirits Internal Illumination Inspiration and Revelation the Rule of Interpretation of Scripture but that which enlightens the understanding and opens the Spiritual Eyes of the Mind to understand the Scripture or so much of it at least as contain the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and beget a Saving Sanctifying and Savoury knowledge of them without any other Rule than the Scripture it self for as when our Eyes are opened and receive outward Light to see an object we need no new object whereby to see the Object proposed but that our sight be strengthned and enlightned so in receiving a Spiritual Understanding of Scripture truths we need no other Rule either outward or inward but the Scripture it self only we need the Spirits inward Illumination Inspiration and Revelation to assist and help us to a Saving Understanding of them by way of an objective Medium Section 10. His seventh Argument against the Scripture being the Rule of Faith from his arguing That they are obscure and have not the Method of a Rule Answered Page 10. Arg. 7. ANother Reason he gives which he calls his Third Reason is From the obscurity of them that they are not plain but to the Spiritual Man they seem not in their own Nature and frame to have been compiled and deliver'd as the general Rule and intire Body of Faith but rather Written upon particular occasions and emergencies the Doctrines are scattered throughout the Scriptures insomuch that those Societies who have given forth verbal Confessions of their Faith have been necessitated to toss them to and fro search here and search there to lay down this or the other Principle Besides here they are Proper there Metaphorical in one place literally in another Mystically to be accepted And after diverse other words of Complaint against their being the Rule he concludes Thus Peter said of Paul's Writings that in many things they were hard to be understood therefore not such a Rule which ought to be Plain Proper and Intelligible Answ Reader What think'st thou of this sort of Language in derogation from the Holy Scriptures What if I should say of W. P's and all his Brethrens Writings what he here saith of the Scriptures That they are neither Plain Proper nor Intelligible would he not account that saying a derogation from them If this be not to prefer the Friends Writings to the Scriptures in these Mens esteem let the impartial Judge most of which have the advantage above the Scriptures by his arguing The Scriptures were Writ upon particular occasions but some of their Books at least designedly Writ in the Scriptures the Doctrines are scattered here and there but in W. P's and G. W's Books the Doctrines and Principles are in excellent Order and lye together Paul's Writings in many things are hard to be understood and beside they were originally Writ in Greek which many understand not and we have not the Autographa but Copies and of these great variety and difference as he argueth against the certainty of the Scriptures upon the foundation of all others that are not one with them in making the Spirit the Rule of Faith P. 23. But we have the Autographa or at least the first Printed Copies of G.W. and W.P. without any variation or difference in matter and which is a great advantage their Writings are the Dictates of the Holy Ghost originally in English whereas we have nothing of the Scriptures originally in English but the whole is a Translation very imperfect and differing from other Translations both of English and other Languages and which is best the unlearned know not at all and even the learned many times are not certain all which give the advantage by very far to the Writings of the Friends above the Scriptures upon the supposition that they are the immediate Dictates of the Holy Ghost as these Men do not suppose but positively affirm many of them to be especially such as they say are given forth from the Spirit of Truth But suppose divers parts of the Scripture were writ upon particular occasions and emergencies as to Men yet many other parts were writ designedly and intentionally for general instruction to all the faithful and these so writ contain all the essentials and fundamentals of Christian Faith and Practice and even these writ upon particular occasions and emergencies seemingly to Men accidental or occasional yet with respect to God were designed by him for a general good without whose wise and all-ruling provividence nothing can happen What seemed more occasional than Joseph's being sold into Egypt yet God Almighty had a glorious design in it though he was neither the Author nor Approver of their Envy who sold him But is it any prejudice against the Scriptures being the Rule that they must be searched to find out the Doctrines contained in them Or that some places are hard to be understood though all the fundamental Doctrines necessary to Salvation are sufficiently plain to all the Faithful who are Spiritually enlightned to understand them Do not the like Objections as much and rather much more lye against the Light within all Men being the Rule of Faith and Life For excepting the common Principles of Moral Justice and Temperance all other things relating either to Faith or Life with respect to the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion are not to be found at all in the Light within every Man abstractly and by it self considered Otherwise if W.P. think's they are let him tell me what one peculiar Doctrine of Christian Religion or peculiar Precept of it distinct from Deism or Gentile Religion has the Light within him taught him If he say to believe that there is one great God Almighty that Commands him to be Honest Just and Temperate I say these are not peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of Christianity but common to it with Deism And if he hath no other Principles or Precepts taught him by the Light within but what every Deist Mahometan or Jew who are Enemies to the Christian Faith have then let him speak out yet more plainly though I think he has spoke very plain already If the Light within him has taught him any other Principles or Precepts than what Deists Jews and Mahometans have let him tell us that he may convince us that the Light within every Man is the Rule of Faith and not the Scriptures without but let him not only tell us so but give us some effectual Reason to convince any ratinal Man that the Light within him only has taught him that peculiar Principle and Precept of Christian Religion without the Scriptures being so much as Instrumental in his being so taught For all Orthodox Christians by affirming the Scriptures to be the Rule they give no more to the Scriptures but to be the Instrument of the Spirit in giving all Saving knowledge and Faith of Divine Truth and if he allow them in God's ordinary way to be the
of these Tracts If W.P. say it is because the Authority of the Light within is much gain-said among Men and the Dictates of it grievously perverted and made contradictory If both Parties even among the Quakers themselves may be believed G. F and his Party when alive and now W. P's and G. W's Party judging that which John Story and his Party believed to be the Dictates of the Light within to be the Dictates of a False Spirit and they judging the like of them Therefore Books and Tracts have been multiplied among themselves And as good and much better reason can be given why so many truly pious and edifying Tracts have been written by many Godly Men to vindicate both the Sufficiency of the Spirit and true Light within in all the Faithful and also the Sufficiency of the Scriptures without this as the Rule and that as the principal Teacher Agent and Efficient working with and by the Rule and yet none of the two how much ever sufficient excluding the Lord Jesus Christ God-Man without us from being our All sufficient Saviour each being sufficient in their own order and manner of acting As concerning such Gentiles to whom the offer of Faith has not been made neither by Men nor Writings none say that the Scriptures are a Rule to them but as they have no outward Rule of Christian Faith so nor doth it appear that they have the Christian Faith it self If any have it they have it not by the common Illumination but by some miraculous and extraordinary manner unknown to us And how God disposeth of the more Sober and Virtuous among them doth not at all reach the present Controversie which is not whither the Scripture be the Rule to all Mankind that ever lived or now live but whither it be the Rule of Faith and Life to them who have them or may have them by some possible means Page 16. Arg 13. Whereas he saith Doth not your own Language and Practise prove its viz. the Scriptures Insufficiency to that end at what time you both exhort to and go in secret to seek the Mind of the Lord in this or that important Affair Why do not you turn to Chapter and Verse for satisfaction if the Scripture be appointed of God for the General Rule Ans This Argument hath also as great force or rather much greater against the Light within being the General Rule for do none of the Friends both exhort to and go in secret to seek the Mind of the Lord in this or that important Affair Why do they not turn to the Light within to be forthwith without all Prayer or waiting informed and satisfied If they do not yea if W.P. do not both he and they are wofully deceived by neglecting Prayer and waiting on God to receive Satisfaction in this or that important Affair but if they find their need both for Prayer and waiting for direction then let him answer his own Argument and make due Application But to give a positive and direct answer if it be either a matter of Doctrine or Precept that any Christian wants due Instruction and Direction in they may both Pray and Read and search the Scriptures and Meditate Iad wait for God's inward Illumination and â—nspiration to give them a right Understanding and they may expect it will be given them if they sincerely seek it and use all due Endeavours and Means to attain it one of which is to consult and use the Advice of others whom they have cause to judge Spiritually more enlightned than themselves If it be in Cases that are neither matter of Doctrine nor Precept but where the matter is by it self indifferent and neither simply commanded nor forbidden as many such Cases there are they may and ought to pray and wait for direction and it may please God to give it to them by some secret Motion Impulse or Impression of his Holy Spirit which may sufficiently satisfie them without making that impression Motion or Impulse the Rule of either Faith or Obedience seeing the Matter is neither a Matter of Doctrine nor Precept wherein either Faith or Obedience as touching that particular is concerned but a Motion or Impulse simply from God upon the Will cannot be properly called a Rule because as is above-said a Rule properly speaking is a Form of Words and Propositions either outwardly expressed or inwardly conceived to which the Intellect either assents or dissents And if any true Christian finds such a motion or impulse on his VVill if after examination he find that it doth not incline him to any thing either contradictory to Scripture or true Reason he is in no great danger to yield to it and if he do not yield to it upon just suspicion or fear that it is not of God it will not be charged to be a Sin upon him for nothing is Sin but a Transgression of God's Law Page 19. The Law outward saith he as a Rule was but as Moses till the Son came the Servant abideth not in the House for ever the Written Law held its place but till the inward Rise in more Glory and Brightness or rather till People became more capable of being turned to it and living with and in it Answ Had not Mankind generally the Light within them under Moses How comes it then that it was not the Rule to them and did not dismiss the written Law But if there be no written nor outward Law given by Christ under the Gospel then all that he taught outwardly and for which he sent his Spirit upon the Apostles to bring it all to their Remembrance and to move them to commit it to Writing Yea the whole New Testament Writings must be dismissed and turned out of the Church the House of God as was Ishmael and his Mother out of Abraham's House because by his most false Arguing the written Law given by Christ and the Holy-Ghost under the New Testament is as much the Servant as the Old Covenant was O the Vanity and Folly of this manner of Arguing which wholly makes void Christ's Prophetical and Kingly Office as he was outwardly sent in the Flesh by the Father to give a more full and clear discovery of the way of Salvation as the great Prophet and to give forth his Royal Laws to the Church under the New Testament as King and Head thereof But he further enlargeth upon this Argument P. 17. telling us There are a Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our Plain and distinct Rule and Guide And he adds on the Margent There 's not laid down in Scripture any general Rule how to answer before Magistrates and to act in times of Sufferings To which I answer First he doth not well to confound Rule and Guide it is granted the Spirit of God is the Guide Teacher and Leader of the Faithful but it doth not therefore follow that the Holy Scriptures i. e. the many excellent Instructions Precepts and Examples given us therein for
observed in his Book giving his Reasons and Arguments That the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith and Life but the Light in every Conscience and having shewn the Weakness yea the Falsity of them I thought it not necessary to take notice of his Enlargements and Amplifications on his several Arguments but answer to the Argument it self wherein its strength seemed to lye I shall be brief in my Examination and answer to his second part to wit concerning the Judge of Controversie for because it hath such a necessary Connexion with the former the former being clearly discussed the latter will easily be determined Page 39. He gives us his explanation what he means by these Terms Judge and Controversie A Judge saith he is one that has not only power to determine but discerning to do it rightly Controversie is a debate between two parties about the Truth or Falshood to be determined by that Judge But as he wrongly stated the Question in the first part about the Rule so here he is very short in stating the Controversie about the Judge It is without all Question among all that own that there is one great God Almighty that he is the Great and Supreme Judge of what is Truth and what is not universally and that most perfectly and infallibly and all that believe in Christ and in the Holy Spirit do own that Christ and the Holy Spirit together with the Father are that Supreme Judge as they are one and the same Supreme God and not only so but all true Christians own that Christ as the Son of Man has all Judgment committed to him and is both Head and Judge in his Church Now that wherein W.P. is short in stating the Question here is that he doth not assign the true Rule whereby the Judge to wit God Christ and the Spirit doth give forth a definitive Judgment to be understood and received by the Members of the Church of Christ Neither God nor Christ nor the Holy Spirit need the Scripture to give a Judgment as to themselves their knowledge of what is Truth and what is not so is wholly independent from the Scripture but the Question is to be thus stated What Rule Standard or Measure God Christ and the Spirit has given to the faithful in particular and to the whole Church in general since the Doctrine of the true Faith was committed to writing whereby they may understand and know the true Judgment and determination of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit the Supreme Judge of Controversie True it is that the Law-giver is the best interpreter of any point that may concern his own Law and therefore as God is the Law-maker so he is the Supreme Judge and Interpreter of his Law But as an Earthly Law-giver suppose an Earthly King with the consent of the great Counsel of the Nation gives forth his Laws to his Subjects if any Controversie arise about the true sense of those Laws the King and his Counsel that made those Laws is to determine the Controversie by the Laws themselves one part of the Law serving as a Key to open what is hard to be understood in another part of it Thus it is in this Nation and commonly in all Nations for the Law is supposed to be such a perfect Law Intire and Compleat that the Sense of it needs not be given by giving forth any new Law to give the sense of the former nor ought any Subject to presume to give his private Interpretation of the Law by any private Gloss or Sense which he cannot demonstrate from the Law it self and as it 's thus as to the Laws of Men how much more is it so as to the Laws of God The Laws of Men indeed receive frequently new Additions and Alterations and yet this cannot be done but by Publick Authority But the Law and Rule of Faith and Life that God has given to the Faithful and to his Church now under the New Testament is so full perfect and comprehensive that is fully Sufficient without any Addition and if it can be supposed that it may please God to give forth any new Laws to his Church it must be allowed that there must be the same Evidence and ground of receiving them to be such as was given for the Old Testament by Moses and for the New Testament by Christ Now had W.P. fairly stated the question he should have stated it thus Whither the Spirit of Christ whose Judgment and Determination is all one with that of Christ and the Father doth give his Judgment to the Church and the Members of it by any other Law or Rule Measure or Standard than what is already to be-found in the Holy Scriptures whether relating to Articles of Faith or positive Precepts of revealed and instituted Religion by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament Or whither the Spirit gives this Judgment not by the Doctrines and Precepts contained in the Scriptures but by the common discoveries and Dictates of the Light within every Man's Conscience which are commonly the same and of the same extent in all Mankind be they Jews and Mahometans and Painims abroad or Deists at home here in England or elsewhere Or lastly whither by any new particular Discoveries Revelations or Dictates and new Precepts of the Spirit not formerly given either to Mankind in general or to the Church in particular To the first all sound Christians agree The Second is the sence of W.P. and those of his Brethren of the Second Days Meeting that have approved his Book The third is the sence of some of the chief Teachers and Leaders that first arose among the Quakers that did affirm they had new Commands given from the Spirit by immediat Revelation from Heaven some of which are neither the common Dictates of the Light in every Conscience of Mankind nor to be found in the Scriptures either expresly or by any necessary consequence from them And indeed the first Teachers and Leaders amongst that People did not think it worth while to prove their Doctrine or warrant their Interpretations by consequences from Scripture but the general proof was This is the Word of the Lord unto you for G.F. see his Journal plainly told that when he first came forth he was commanded of God to say thee and thou to every Man to whom he spoke and not to put off his Hat to any Also the setting up of Womens Government in their Meetings distinct from the Men by the more devout sort who did think and still think that G.F. was a Prophet as immediately sent as Moses or any other is Judged to have been by a Divine Authority and Power in G.F. without any dependance on Scripture Rule or seeking to fish it by consequence from Scripture And pray what need is there to bring Scripture proof for any thing that Men either believe or practise either by consequence or express words seeing that is not the Rule of either Faith or practise but