of it the things of God which yet are certainly all spiritual things and of their certain Experience thereof and that they are able to make it appear to be true he talks much Now that our Lord Jesus should by his death have purchased for all Men and Women a new Spiritual Substance which subsists in all even in wicked Men and in a certain day inlightens them all so as they may be saved and that even without the knowledge of the Gospel that People should be able to smell and feel and handle things which being intellectual and immaterial can no wise be incident to these senses nor are ever so much as Metaphorically said to be smelt or handled the Bp. does aver unintelligible that is Banter And such is also his further Explication of it § 13 14. p. 94 95. too long to transcribe And as for their reply which must be expected that the Bp. is a carnally minded Man to whom all this seems strange it shall be answered anon In the mean while it must be demanded of Mr. P. what is become of his double record The knowledge of the Scripture though comfortable and profitable is not needful saith his Brother B. to whom he refers the Bp. for better understanding their Light Which Light though both of them say they feel and can make it appear to be true the Bp. professes sincerely he can not from any thing they have made appear apprehend intelligible But by what has been produced out of Barclay in his own Words it appears Mr. Ps double and agreeing Testimony of the Light within and the Scriptures of truth without is but a new bubble upon the World A thin leaf of Gold to make the Poysonous Pill of their Light within go down with less reluctancy or even suspicion Yet when he has thus gloss'd the matter he sticks not to alledge all the best and first Reformers Zwinglius Luther Melanchthon Calvin Beza Bucer Peter Martyr and Erasmus too also our Excellent Martyrs viz. Lambert Rogers Philpot Bradford Hooper Woodman c. to concur in this Assertion and Testimony much at the same rate that he cites Clemens Romanus Tertullianus Gregory Nazianzen Clemens Alexandrinus Augustin Gregory the Great c. And within a few lines more Petrus Belonius Gratian Cardan Luther without producing one Word out of them or referring to any treatise or page After all which Pomp Mr. P. must not take it ill if he be told he cites Authors like a Man that never read them or rather like one that never saw them Zwinglius who has writ the least of the Foreigners of the first Class he mentions has three thick Folio's oftner are they bound in four Luther besides the Collection of his Works printed at Wittenberge in 7 Folio's has one more of Postills and his Colloquia Mensalia make up another and there are other lesser peices not contained in any of these Calvin in the Old Edition eleven Folio's besides diverse French Works never translated into Latin Now to add no more Being that no Answer can be returned to an Argument from a Testimony till the Testimony be produced which ought to be in express Terms all this Allegation ought to pass for nothing But because he and his followers may not go on in insulting too much the Bp. fairly avers and takes upon him to prove if Mr. P. or his Abetters shall deny it that the principal of these Authors we will take the four first which as to time should have been ranged in this â—â— Order Luther Melancthon Zwinglius and Calvin as well as all other the Reformers or reformed generally hold amongst other points these three that are expresly contrary to what the Quakers teach of their Light within They maintain 1 The Necessity of Revelation or that the Knowledge of God by Scripture is necessary to Salvation in an ordinary way This is expresly contrary to a Light within the purchase of Christs death for every Man enlightning all in a day even without the Knowledge of Scripture 2 The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and that all Illuminations of the Spirit or pretended motions thereof are to be tryed by the written Word This is contrary to making an Imaginary Light within the Rule of Mens Actions and that even without or sometimes as it comes to pass in their Vagaries against Holy Scripture 3 The Scriptures being its own Expositor or that particular Texts are to be interpreted by others or by the Analogy of Faith and not by a private pretended Light of Mens own If they shall say the Bp. wrongs them in saying they make their Light within 〈◊〉 the Rule of their Actions at any time without or against Holy Scripture besides what may be produced out of their Books by way of Doctrine and particularly out of W. P. p. 105. Let them answer amongst others to these two matters of Fact known all over the County of Cork One Knight on a certain Lords-Day in the time of Divine Worship stripping himself and leaving his Cloaths with his Brother in the Church-Yard came wrapt in his Cloak into the middle of the Congregation and placing himself before the Minister then in the Pulpit after some time threw off his Cloak and stood there stark naked not so much as covering his Pudenda but crying out Behold here the naked truth Again Workman in the Town of Ross in the same County gave out for a Miracle he would Fast i. e. Eat nothing for Forty Days and having Fasted many of them being examined utterly denyed he had Eaten any thing onely said he had washed his Mouth with Water But though he gave off before the Forty Days were near at an end yet it was discovered that in a Rick of Beans near his Chamber he had made a great Hole and devoured a suitable quantity of them If these Men acted by a strong impulse of mind as the First of them is reported to have said he did the Bp. demands of Mr. P. Whether every strong impulse of mind is to be followed as being the Light within If not what Rule have we to try the Light within by If it be said Scripture agreed But can Mr. P. produce a double and agreeing Record for these and the like Actions If he cannot let him no longer palliate matters but instead of seeking excuses confess plainly the ground of his Brethrens miscarriage to be the dangerous principle he and they have taken up and let him profess he is now for reforming it but let him and them do it thorowly and effectually For there is no project so wild that their pretended Light within may not lead them into The Bp. could within this County have assigned more Frantick yea immoral instances the effects of this pretended Light but for diverse reasons he has forborn them And this is all he now thinks needful to say as to the Light within But Mr. Ps Citing of Authors being now mentioned notice should be given of his repeated
Cunning as well as Unfaithfulness in citing another particular Writer against the Bp. His Cunning and Mr. P. ought to have remembred who lately Printed that amongst his Maxims Cunning Borders upon Knavery in that he never produces his Authors Words And his unfaithfulness in representing the sense widely different if not contrary to what it is Ouzelius in his Notes on Minutius Foelix tells us the Primitive Christians forbore the Heathenish Customs and particularly therefore they rejected the Custom of Crowning their Dead with Garlands This Mr. P. refers to if he refer to any thing to be found in that Author to Justifie the Quakers affecting Dresses different from other Christians of their degree Is there no difference betwixt Idolatrous Rites and the innocent Fashions of Christians ordinary Apparrel But to return to Minutius whereas Coecilius the Heathen had there objected to the Christians that as soon as they saw one another they knew each other Occultis notis insignibus by secret Marks and Signes Octavius the Christian Answers they knew one another onely by their Innocence and Humility not by any Bodily Mark. This the Bp. takes to be rather against the Quakers singularity in Dresses Fashions and Behaviour And as to their Language after all Artifices Mr. P. has not been able to produce which was a pressing point of his Business one Precedent or Shadow of a Testimony that the Primitive Christians used not the ordinary Civilities in their common Discourse and Salutations but affected a different Style or Way by themselves Contrarily he might have remembred that the beloved Disciple being to Write to a Christian Sister of Quality Salutes her by an Inscription To the Elect Lady The next Head worth taking notice is Baptism Touching which the Bp. sincerely professes he Mourns to see Men so hardned as it appears by Mr. Ps. wresting Scripture to elude the Truth he is in this matter Mr. P. first in a manner confesses himself put to his Shifts I am sensible of the disadvantage I am under c. saith he p. 68. yet proceeds he to shift on But to reduce all into as short a compass as may be The Bp. had avouched those words of our LORD Matth. XXVIII 19. to be an Institution and Command of Baptism with Water And gave two substantial reasons which he holds to 1. Baptising with the Holy Ghost said the Bp. was not in the Apostles power Therefore it could not be the thing commanded them 2. Baptising with Water was the Apostles and Primitive Practice and has been ever since the Practice of the Church To the First of these Mr. P. answereth it is not true and to make that good alledges Acts X. 44. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all those that heard the word Hence he infers that Peter Baptised Cornelius with the Holy Ghost Now was there ever any thing more impertinent and inconsequent While Peter spake c. the Holy Ghost fell on them c. Therefore which was the Point to be proved was it Peter's Act and in his power to Baptise with the Holy Ghost No The Spirit breatheth where it listeth John III. 8. But GOD says Mr. P. by the Apostles did Baptise Believers with the Holy Ghost Did he so Then 't was GOD Baptised them with the Holy Ghost and not the Apostles They were only instruments at pleasure as long as the Act was not principally theirs it cannot be concluded hence to have been in their power Baptising with the Holy Ghost and with Fire the words Mr. P. alledges p. 69. and runs upon was a special Prerogative of our Lord Christ predicted only of him Matth. IV. 11. and fulfilled only by him Acts II. not by any man ever living The Bps. First Reason then is true But his Second says Mr. P. seems to be defective and short yet all the substance that Mr. P. speaks in 12 or 13 Pages to prove it so is Practice is no Institution Nor was the Bp. so weak as to pretend it is But by Mr. Ps. leave continued Practice in obedience to Command and such Practice allowed urged and re-inforced by the Holy Ghost is a good Explication of the sense of the Institution or of the words of the Command The summ of the Command was Baptise them that Believe The summ of the Practice pursuant is All those that believed wereby the Apostles or Persons Commissionated by them Baptised with Water Yea though they had been before Baptised with the Holy Ghost as the Bp. pleaded from Acts X. 47. Was ever any Institution more clearly evidenced and asserted As to all Mr. Ps. agravating Excursions on this Subject he full well knows the Church of England-men no more allow Water-Baptism to be sufficient to the Salvation of adult persons without the New Creature or Baptism of the Spirit then he does But some Persons have the faculty to be blind when they list to contradict and accuse even against their own Sense Thus as to what Mr. P. has Replyed touching Baptism As to the Lords-Supper that stands upon the same unmoveable Foundation with Baptism viz. our LORD's Institution and the continued Universal Practice of the Church To what the Bp. had mentioned of the first of these Mr. P. excepts in these words The Bp. will have this Supper Four times repeated in the Scripture of the New Testament besides that of the Apostle Paul which must be his mistake Whereto the Bp. says To report his words thus is not Mr. Ps. mistake but in all appearance his wilful prevarication The Bp. said no Command could be more express then that touching the Outward use of Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper Four times repeated namely the Command in the New Testament and that St. Paul adds as a reason of the Command and Argument for its Observation it is a shewing forth the LORD's Death till he came All this being undeniable Mr. P. that he might have something to except against was forced to misreport the Bps. words Is there not a vast difference betwixt rhese two Assertions This Supper was Four times repeated and the Command for this Supper is Four times repeated or recorded in the New Testament Which last was most evidently the Bps. sense But having to his Credulous Readers that is his own Party convinced in his way that is charged the Bp. of a mistake he proceeds to what is more dangerous plainly to diffuse his Poison This coming of CHRIST was Spiritual and the words may reasonably be Read he means Paraphrased thus Eat this Supper of outward Bread and Wine till I come and Sup with you and be your Supper that am the Bread and Wine from Heaven c. By Mr. Ps. favour the Scripture no where styleth CHRIST Wine from Heaven In respect of the Union of the Saints with him he is styled a Vine and his Grace or Spirit in respect of its indeficiency Water and Living Water but no where Wine This a fetch of Mr. Ps. who
scornful look or deportment of Mr. P. especially when he is in the humour of it The Bps. Hell he keeps the true Hell to himself God deliver Mr. P. from it But let him answer how the Bp. could more clearly have Exprest Hell then by Eternity of Torments the Term there used by the Bp. and declined by Mr. P. and his Brethren 4. Wilfully false Constructions of and overlooking the Bps. sense Tergiversations shifting pittiful Evasions c. For instance The Bp. had said they do not in their Paper own the Son of God to be so much as JESUS the great Saviour who delivereth from the wrath to come or the CHRIST the great Prophet Priest Lord and King of the Church Mr. P. answers they several times call him CHRIST admires at the Bps. palpable mistake Does W. P. then know no difference betwixt CHRIST and the CHRIST betwixt calling a Person by his Name and acknowledging his Authority Office and Benefits Again the Bp. requires them to Embrace and profess the intire Christian Faith in the points wherein he has shewn them defective that is as he proved in above two thirds of the Creed W. P. answers It would have become the Bp. to have told them what he would have them believe p. 38. Could the Bp. have spoke plainer then he does when he names the Articles of the Creed which Mr. P. say's he holds therefore knows 5. Inconsequent and trifling Inferences such are p. 31. We call him the beloved Son of God the only begotten of the Father Therefore conceived of the Holy Ghost Mr. P. knows Solomon was named JEDIDIAH the Lords beloved David said to be his begotten Son Ps 2. His first born Ps 89. 27. Yet neither conceived of the Holy Ghost nor born of a Virgin Again in the same page He that confesses him made Flesh confesses him made Flesh by God and therefore made holy Flesh Does not all the World know that all Flesh is made by God and do we hence conclude all Flesh is Holy or conceived by the Holy Ghost Many more may be instanced 6. Contemptuous and scornful language Such is that reflexion p. 61. A Weak-head But let Mr. P. scorn the Bp. as much as he pleases he must know that for Men to Affect non-sensical language and pretend Conscience therein and make it a mark of Godliness and Holyness above others the thing taxed by the weak Bp. is when considered a wicked kind of weakness or voluntary making fools of Mens selves together with an abuse of Religion not to be endured it was therefore no weakness in the Bp. to tax it but a gross one and more then weakness in W. P. to defend it To these may be added his Censures all along savouring of nothing but the heighth of spiritual Pride and Uncharitableness As the Bp feels no share in Christ the glorious Light of Men p. 47. He wants Acquaintance with the Spirit of God in his worship c. ◠these and the like Mr. P. must account for one day God alone can judge in this case To trouble a Mans self to wipe off such dirt as this would be almost as mean an Employment as to cast it 'T will fall off of its own accord To wave therefore all these and many other Heads of Mr. Ps unhandsome dealing which are only a disadvantage to his cause and himself to his cause that needs such a defence and himself that could find no better the main part in his whole Defence that threaten doing hurt are what he has of the Light within of the Sacraments and of that great point of Difference betwixt the Quakers and the Establish'd Church As to the first of these the Bp. did say and still stands to it he knows not what to make of the Quakers Light within But as to the true Divine Light or the Holy Ghost convincing People by the Holy Scripture applied to Conscience of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment to come the Bp. acknowledges it and blesseth God for his share thereof Notwithstanding he cannot yet perceive the Quakers or Mr. P. himself know what they mean by Their Light Mr. P. is a Man that had Academic Education as he himself told the Bp. and he often pretends to Logic and the Art of Disputing Now from such a Person when the meaning of a Term was demanded some regular definition or explication of it might have been expected The Bp. had made four the most rational Constructions and Conjectures he could devise of what they should mean thereby And distinctly propounded these to have drawn out from Mr. P. a distincter and more definitive sense In stead thereof Mr. P. rejects all with scorn and vile insinuations and only heaps up phrases and words darker and of more difficulty and uncertainty than the Term it self For their farther meaning referring to Barclay's Book The Bp. must tell Mr. P. that his Brother Barclay is guilty of the very self-same unintelligible Banter or if that Term pleases not Cant on this head with himself and no rational Man alive can make sense of what he has writ thereon it being more contradictious and inconsistent than Mr. Ps account He in his V. Proposition which is touching this Light first plainly perverts the Holy Scripture adding expresly a new Term thereto that he may prove Christ given as a Light to all For he reads John III. 16. thus God so loved the World that he hath given his only Son a LIGHT that whosoever believeth in him should be saved As if either the Word a Light were in the Text or Christ being a Light only would have saved Men without his suffering for sin to which that Verse particularly refers as its immediate connexion with Vers 14 15. shews Then he misapplies two or three other Texts to prove this Light Universal And in his Discourse on this Proposition § 16. thus describes it We understand not saith he his seed Light or Grace to be an Accident as most Men ignorantly do but a real Spiritual Substance which the Soul of Man is capable to feel and apprehend from which that real spiritual inward birth in Believers arises called the new Creature the new Man in the Heart Yet this he tells us in his V. Proposition above mentioned is the Purchase of Christs death for every Man Lightening the Hearts of all in a day And he adds in his VI. that the Knowledge of Christ's Death and Sufferings as declared in Scripture is not absolutely necessary for making People partakers of this Light and that they have erred who have taught it is He goes on and proves it after his way § 14. to be a Substance not an Accident because it subsists the Bp. by the way does not think this to be Scripture-Language such wherein as Mr. P. says they always teach it subsists he says in the Hearts of wicked Men even whilst they are in their wickedness Then of their feeling it yea anon tasting smelling seeing it handling by vertue