Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A47174
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A serious appeal to all the more sober, impartial & judicious people in New-England to whose hands this may come ... together with a vindication of our Christian faith ... / by George Keith.
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Keith, George, 1639?-1716.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing K205; ESTC R33000
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63,270
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72
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Preâ—â—dent for his zeal against the Quakers in the end of his Address in his Commentary De vera et falsa Relig. de Verbo Dei cap. de Ecclesia contra Emserum saith Qui in Ecclesia Scripturam Caelestis Verbi explicari audit c. In English thus Who in the Church heareth the Scripture of the heavenly Word explained judgeth what he heareth but that which is heard is not the Word it self whereby to wit chiefly we believe for if we did believe by that Word which is heard or read then all should become Believers and after he saith It is therefore manifest that we are made faithful by that Word which the heavenly Father preacheth in our hearts whereby he doth also enlighten us that we may understand and draweth that we may follow And again Who are instrusted with that Word judge the Word that soundeth in the Preaching and striketh the Ears but yet the Word of Faith which is seated in the Minds of the faithful is judged by none but by it the external Word is judged which God hath appointed to be preached although Faith cometh not to wit chiefly by the external Word Both which Testimonies of Augustine and Zuinglius do manifestly confirm the Quakers Doctrine against C.M. and his Brethren who acknowledge no inward Word in the hearts of the faithful by which their Faith is wrought and will have the Word of Faith to be only the written or outward Word contrary both to Paul and Zuinglius who give the preheminence to the inward Word and call it the Word of Faith And as Zuinglius holdeth for the Quakers in asserting the inward Word against C.M. and his Brethren so in that called Original Sin for thus he saith expresly lib. de Baptismo Paul cap. 3. to the Romans saith That the knowledge of sin cometh by the Law where therefore there is no knowledge of the Law as in Infants there can be no knowledge of sin but where no knowledge of sin is there is no Prevarication and so Damnation cannot be And after Because Paul saith That Death is come upon all men because all have sinned Theologues from these words judge That that Disease and Contagion that is Hereditary unto us all and is naturally lodged in us is sin that bringeth to us Damnation but they Err the whole Heavens wide Where it is to be noted That Zuinglius doth acknowledge That there is a sinful Disease and Contagion conveyed from Parents to Children but yet it is not imputed unto them to bring Damnation upon any Infants plain contrary to C.M. and his Brethren who affirm That many Infants both of unbelieving and believing Parents are eternaly Reprobated and Damned only for Adams Sin imputed to them Which is most horid Uncharitableness and horridly reflecting upoâ— the Mercy of God And the same Zuinglius in his Chapter of the Eucharist plainly asserteth That Christ by his Flesh and Blood with which he feedeth the Souls of the faithful doth understand a spiritual thing which only the Spirit giveth and not any Flesh consisting of Veins and Nerves withal affirming with Origine and Augustine That Christs Flesh and Blood which he feedeth the Saints with is called so by an Allegory and 〈◊〉 but is really the Word it self called also by an Allegory Bread Wine Milk Honey Marrow Fatness c. Again the same Zuingâ—ius in his Commentary de vera falsa Relig. doth thus comment on Pauls words Rom. 1.19 The knowledge of God is manifest in them so doth he translate the place so doth the old English Translation for God hath showed it unto them We see here openly saith he that 〈◊〉 knowledge concerning God is of God which we ascribe to I know man what Nature for he saith God hath manifested it and what other thing is Nature but a continuing and perpetual operation of God and disposition of all things And again in his Cap. of God he saith If any of the Philosophers have spoken truly of God somethings it was from the Mouth of God who hath scattered some Seeds of his Knowledge even among the Gentiles although more sparingly and more obscurely So that Zuinglius had far more Charity towards honest and conscientious Gentiles than C.M. who differeth fâ—om him very widely as in the 〈◊〉 particulars mentioned so in this last that he affirmeth That what knowledge of God the Gentiles have ought to be attributed to God and not to Nature and therefore not to mans Reason as C.M. would have it which is nothing but a natural Faculty of the Soul And Thomas Shepherd that had been a Preacher at Cambridge in New-England in his Exposition of the Parable of the Ten Virgins saith plainly That that inward Law given to the Heathens is falsly called the Law of Nature for it is of God and so saith Buchannan in his Book De jure Regni apud Scotos and a large Volumn might be printed of Testimonies both out of antient and latter Authors all of good esteem for Piety and Learning yea and even divers Protestants that do acknowledge That the Illumination that is generally in men that teacheth them that there is a God and showeth them good and evil is a Principle above Humane Reason As among English Protestants Henry Moore cited by Increase Mather against the Quakers and praised by Baxter as above who saith expresly in his Moral Cabbala cap. 1. v. 1 2. of Genesis By the Will of God every man living on the face of the Earth hath these two Principles in him Heaven and Earth Divinity and Annimality Spirit and Flesh but that which is Annimal or Natural operates first the spiritual or heavenly Life being for a while closed up at rest in its own Principle c. but by the Will of God it is that afterwards the Day light appears though not in so vigorous Measure out of the heavenly or spiritual Principle And carrying on the Process of Gods work in mens hearts by way of Analogy from the First Day to the Seventh concerning the Seventh he saith Gen. cap. 2. v. 3. of his Mor. Cabb So the divine Wisdom in the humane Nature celebrated her Sabbath having now wrought through the Toil of all the six dayes Travel and the divine Wisdom looked upon the Seventh Day as blessed and sacred a Day of Righteousness Rest and Joy in the holy Ghost And thus if C.M. had but some ordinary Reading in English Writers and did but understand what he reads he might have found an inward and spiritual Sabbath or Day of Rest not only in the Scriptures and the Quakers Books but in Henry Moore a man of far more Sense and Learning than I suppose C.M. will pretend unto Also he might have found it in Calvin lib. 2. Instit cap. 8. n. 30. So that he showeth his Ignorance sufficiently in comparing the finding of a spiritual or inward Seventh Day to the difficulty of finding the Quadrature of the Circle which if it were found it is probable the Penury
to give any one instance wherein I have not faithfully quoted the Antient Writers named by me whether in my former Book called The pretended Antidote c. or in this in each particular And were I so minded and saw a service in it to the People of New-England I could easily produce sufficient plain Testimonies from Antient Fathers so called and Writers both Greek and Latine to confirm the Doctrine of the People call'd Quakers in all the principal and most material things wherein they differ from C.M. and his Brethren but the Scripture Authority being that of greatest weight in respect of any outward Testimony I have chosen rather to make use of that Nor will it serve to justifie C. Matâ—er his Exclamations against me that seeing the Quakers hold all these Doctrines which Baxter and some other Protestant Writers hold to be Fundamental that therefore I should not have so charged them as I have done in my first Book called The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches brought to the Test for if they and we agree in Fundamentals then why are we so uncharitable to them as not to judge them a true Church To which I Answer Although we hold all their Fundamentals according to what Baxter has delivered as I have above showed yet they hold not all our Fundamentals so it is a Fundamental Doctrine and Principle held by us to wit The inward Revelation of Christ in all true Believers and That God teacheth all true Believers by his inward Voice Word and Teachings or inward divine Inspiration and Revelation properly so called that is as well Objective as Effective and by way of Object working sensibly and infallibly upon the inward and spiritual Senses of their Souls and which their Souls and Minds if onely and fitly disposed and qualified do infallibly apprehend but yet this Fundamental held by us is plainly denyed by C.M. and his Brethren and it is a Fundamental Error in them who hold it as the generality of their visible Church Members do That all sâ—ch divine inward Objective Revelation and Inspiration is ceased and from this Fundamental Error divers other very great Errors flow as so many unclean streams from an unclean Fountain for if all true and saving Knowledge of God and Christ and all saving Faith require true divine inward Revelation and inspiration properly so called and the true and real inspeaking of God and his internal Word and Voice that doth as sensibly and perceptibly operate by way of Object upon the inward and spiritual heaâ—ing or discerning Faculty of the Soul as any outward Voice or Woâ—d of a man doth upon the outward Hearing then if that be ceasâ—d all true and saving Knowledge and Faith are ceased and all true Love Hope and Repentance and all other Fruits and Virtues of the Spirit because all these have a necessary connexion with the true saving Knowledge and Faith also all true Preaching Praying and Worship and all true Obedience and Service unto God and all real and true Religion all depending upon the inward Principle of inward divine Revelation and Inspiration properly so called and yet we do readily acknowledge a distinction betwixt these extraordinary divine Revelations and Inspirations that the Apostles and Prophets had 〈◊〉 they were Apostles and Prophets and these other that they had common â—o them and ordinary with all Christians and for the latter we contend that were and are ordinary and common to all Saints in all Ages of the World but not for the former that were extraordinary whereby they not only wrought Miracles and spoke with Tongues but had Doctrinal things of Faith revealed to them without all outward teaching of Men or Books whereas we do not say any peculiar Doctrine of the Christian Faith is made known to us without all outward Teaching but by it Instrumentally and by the immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the Spirit Principally and we are sufficiently charitable that we judge there are true Believers among them though we cannot own their visible Church that either hold not these Errors with them or if some hold them in words or Notion and Theory yet as in respect of their Experience and inward sence and feeling hold them not but the contrary and such have better Hearts than Notions and though they err in holding an unsound form of Words through too much relying upon their Teachers yet their inward sence and experience doth contradict them And in all these twelve Particulars I first charged upon them I still affirm they do grosly err and they are such great matters of Difference betwixt them and us although they are not all Fundamentals that no Society holding such Errors deserve to be esteemed the visible Church of Christ restored to that purity of Doctrine that the visible Church ought to have and had in the primitive Times and yet will have as she cometh to be fully restored to her primitive Purity And though it seem a strange and new Doctrine to C.M. and his Brethren to distinguish betwixt the Scripture called by some the external or outward Word and the inward living Word of God that proceedeth from the Mouth of God immediately as every mans word that proceedeth from his Mouth and goeth into the Ears of the Hearers is his immediate Word yet not only antient Writers and Fathers so called did so distinguish but even these called the Reformed who began the Reformation from gross Propâ—ry And for the antient Writers I shall give but one though I could give divers besides to wit Augustine of great esteem and fame with Protestants and particularly with Calvin whose Authority he more useth in his Institutions than any of all the Antients In his 5th Book de Trinitate cap. 11. Augustine saith expresly Proinde Verbum quod foras sonat signum est verbi quod intus lucet cuj magis verbi competit nomen nam illud quod prosertur caruis ore vox verbi est verbumq et ipsum dicitar propter illud a quo ut foris appareret assamptum est In English thus Therefore the Word that soundeth outwardly is a sign of the Word that shineth inwardly to which the Name of the Word doth more agree for that which is pronounced with the fleshly Moâ—th is the Voice of the Word and it is called the Word because of that from which it is taken that it might outwardly appear Where I desire the Reader to Note these two things 1 st That Augustine doth acknowledge the Word within or internal Word 2 dly That the Name of the Word doth more belong to the internal Word than to that which outwardly soundeth in our fleshly Ears in both which he doth contradict C.M. and his Brethren who do not acknowledge any inward Word in the Saints since the Apostles dayes and hold That the Scripture is the only Word that is the Object and Rule of our Faith And that famous Reformer Zuinglius whom 〈◊〉 the rather cite because C.M. maketh him his