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
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
and the same end to make Disciples from what he had appointed before to make Disciples by had he intended so he would certainly have given some caution being about to institute a Baptism of another kind lest we should mistake this new and more glorious Baptism of the Spirit to be no more than that other elementary one he had commanded before and they had been used to to that very hour He repeats the Command again because the first Commission would not serve his purpose seeing he was to ampliate and inlarge the Terms having just now laid down his Life for all the Nations of the World he puts a Clause into their Commission now to instruct all Nations in the Rudiments of his new Religion and then baptize them that they may be the more capable of the benefit of his Sufferings 3 ly The next Text proving Water-Baptism to be instituted of Christ is Act. 10. 47. Can any one forbid Water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Here are several Arguments to prove Water-Baptism was an Institution of Christ 1. The Holy Ghost was received before as preparatory to this Baptism so that the Baptism in the Text could not be the Baptism of the Holy Ghost therefore of Water 2. Can any one forbid it If any of these Gentlemen had been present would he not have started up immediately Can any one forbid Good Sir tell us who ever commanded us when or where were we bidden to dabble the Disciples with a little Popiâ—h Holy-Water you an Apostle of Christ and peremptorily inforce things upon the Disciples that are not now in force as our dear Brother W. Pen hath testified to offer up such a carnal Cainitical Sacrifice to God and tell People 't is an Ordinance of Christ behold we stand up here in the Power and the Spirit of the Lord God to witness against thee And we know not what St. Peter could better have replied to them than St. Paul once said to the Corinthians What I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you and it being a Command of our Lord and Master you are impudent Servants to forbid it if the practice had been nothing but an exercise of Liberty and pure Condescension as W. Pen P. 127. l. 20. says in his Reply to the Answer to his Key if it had not been settled by Authority 3. St. Peter issues out an Authoritative Command that they should be baptized v. 28. he commanded them to be baptized The imposing such a Command upon the Disciples would have been an usurpation upon their Christian Liberty as the practice of it would have been superstitious enough if he had not had Divine Authority for his Warrant 4. He commands them to be baptized not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Matth. 28. 19. and Acts 19. 5. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by the Authority of Jesus and the Holy Ghost by varying the Expression here from that in those Texts seems purposely to countenance this Interpretation to command a thing to be done in the Name of a Person was ever thought to be by his Authority 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have judged in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver c. In the Name and in the Power and Authority are here all one 4 ly Another Text is Acts 22. 16. Ananias said to Paul Arise why tarriest thou and be baptized for c. Ananiâ—s leaves it not here to Paul as a matter of Liberty or Condescension to the Jews here 's a peremptory Command as in the foregoing Citation Arise and be baptized and that quickly too why tarriest thou And this must be Water-Baptism for he must arise and put himself into a posture to go to some place of conveniency as a Brook or River to be baptized in and not tarry in the least he should not need to have got up and travelled in such haste for the Holy Ghost who is not limited to any place or time Again this was a Baptism he had in his own Power as that was in the Power of the Disciples in the former Citation or else they would not have been commanded to have been baptized it had been both a folly and injustice to command them what they had no power to do now the Baptism of the Holy Ghost was not in their Power they could not give themselves that Baptism nor St. Peter nor Ananias neither and if it had been the Baptism of the Holy Ghost that was spoken of in this Text it had been a more proper method for St. Peter Ananias St. Paul and the Disciples to have fallen upon their knees to God and have prayed that he would bestow that heavenly Gift upon them rather than bid them be baptized and take it themselves as Peter and John had done Acts 8. 15 16. they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost 5 ly Another Text is John 3. 3 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and the Holy Ghost c. Whatever be the sense of being born again we are sure that Water is Water and not the same in this place with the Spirit of God if it were so the words would have this ridiculous sense Except a Man be born again of the Spirit and the Spirit further if they were the same thing a Copulative were needless which ever uses to join two different things together and not the same thing to it self and if it be Water-Baptism it must be of Christ besides there would never have been affixt such a Reward to it if it had not been a Duty 2. We have a great many Scripture-Instances for the Practice of Water-Baptism besides those before named sure they will not say but that the Apostles baptized as Christ commanded them in Jâ—h 4. and Maâ—ih 28. 1. The first Scripture is 1 Cor. 1. 14. Crispus and Gaiuâ— were baptized with Water for St. Paul would not have thanked God he baptized so few of them with the Holy Ghost and those many other Corinthians Acts 18. 8. can't be supposed to have been baptized any otherwise than those their Fellow Citizens 2. The second Scripture is Act. 19. 3 5. Unto what were ye baptized He does not ask whether they were baptized with Water he did not doubt of that noâ— by what but unto what They answer Unto John's Baptism As soon as they were better instructed they were baptized agen into another and better Service into the Name of the Lord Jesus by such Water as they had been baptized with before For he scâ—upled not the Water they had been baptized with but only asks into what Discipline or Society John's or Christ's 3. The third Text is Acts 8. 38. the Eunuch was baptized with Water for Philip and the Eunuch went both down into the Water In the same
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
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
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