or the honey-comb nor yet Ink and Paper-Divinity or meerly the words and works of men These are too low an opinion of them But positively First we intend the sense and matter by them expressed containing those Histories Prophesies Promises Threatnings Doctrines Exhortations c. which God at sundry times and in divers manners revealed to and spake by his Son and servants inspired by God or by inspiration of God Secondly the sense and matter aforesaid being written or printed we call the Word of God so far as the print or writing agrees in its kind with the Original Copies which were written by or by the Direction of God himself his son or servants inspired by him so we call it the Word of God but with this distinction the written Word SECT II. Now that the Scriptures are the VVord of God in the senses aforesaid I shall vindicate from the violent contradictions of the Quakers They have these three Objections against this truth 1. That it is improper so to call them viz. The VVord of God 2. That many things or sayings contained in them were spoken by wicked men or the devil 3 That this Title is peculiar to Jesus Christ the Son of God First they deny them to be the Word of God in the singular number I must therefore in dealing with this great Criticism reconcile the plural number to the singular I answer it sounds methinks very harshly that not one word in the Scripture should be the VVord of God because there are in them more words then one Surely if the first 2 3 4 and so on be the VVord of God then every word in it is the VVord of God and never the less but rather the more for being united for that there are few single words which standing alone will signifie any thing whereas divers put together have a sense and signification And the whole body of the Scripture considered together doth signifie the mind of God more compleatly then if it were dismembred and considered apart But I know they aim at more then a meer Grammar-nicety at which kind of failings they use not much to quarrel but are rather affected with them as if the Spirit of God delighted in real nonsense though I think the causes to be three especially First that their first Authors could speak or write no better and they take it to be apefection to write false English and nonsense after such infallible persons Secondly because they have so few of those they call their Ministry able to write true sense and English that those who can if they list will not lest they should disgrace their brethren and rather then that it should be admitted it shall become the fashion and obtain in time to be better English then sense A third reason may be their taking all matter and form to be infallibly from the Spirit and therefore dare not amend the sense of the Spirit But to what is the Question I return after this so long yet not altogether inexcusable digression one of their zealous Ministers as they call them thus exclaims And what an improper speech were this to call twenty thousand Sentences one word and it is called a Declaration and what a Declaration would that be which consisted but of one word but where do we say the Scriptures is but one word there is a great deal of difference between but one word and the Word and if the Scriptures be a Declaration in the singular number it must take many Declarations into one for it contains what was declared from Moses time to the Apostles and why not the word in the singular as well as a Declaration in the singular seeing the Scripture contains many Declarations but he gives one kick backward more at what he pleads for Pray have the patience to reade this man passing the sentence against himself A Rod for the fools back Prov. 26. 3. And what a foolish man is this to assert his own imaginations and then imagines the Scriptures will prove it what an improper speech is this c I know not the person he brands with folly but I am sure the cause as laid down by Howgil himself deserves it not and I must give him a little correction more for his absurdity in this one sentence he saith and it is called a Declaration here is the singular number for the plural which he is pleading against yea in the same instance it what it the Scriptures it the Relative the Scriptures the antecedent If I should stop at and examine all such passages in point of sense or true Grammar I must not finish my intended task this seven years but 't is pity not to lash a little when such idiots will be playing the Criticks He saith VVhat an improper speech c I am confident he understands not what improper means if he intend by improper that it is figurative he need not wonder and say what a figurative speech is this Alas the Scriptures and all Writings abound with figurative speeches of which number this is but if he mean by improper incongruous or unmeet he offends greatly for then the Scriptures are very guilty herein as will appear by and by and I know not what else he should mean by proper unless not peculiar or a tall speech as we call a tall man or woman a proper and by improper a short speech Let a Prophet of their own and he none of the small Prophets neither decide this Controversie Nay who never yet came so far as Balaam who had the Word of the Lord from his own Mouth But to cast this Objection out of doors we are to take it in a collective sense which is very frequent in the Scripture For instance the Scriptures themselves are sometimes expressed by a plural sometimes by a singular word Ye do erre not knowing the Scriptures Mat. 22. 23. Here it is plural It is contained in the Scripture 1 Pet. 2. 6. Here it is singular A sentence is called a word VVhere the word of a King is there is Power Eccles 8. 3. They were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with Power Either of these instances contain more then one single word The ten Commandments graven on the Table of Stone are in the Hebr ten words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you have so rendred in the margin of some of your Bibles Deut. 10. 40. Now divide these Commandments into ten single ones and then each will have but one word come to its share to express it by and some one viz. the fourth hath at least 60 single words in the Hebr. but many more in the English Rom. 2. 9 10. To the Jew not Jewes and also to the Gentile not Gentiles can you suppose that one and but one single Jew or Gentile is hereby intended reade the sixth verse and you shall have it explained VVho will render to every man according to his deeds so that under
that it was the saying of Christ which Peter remembred you have Marks word for it or rather Gods Mark 14. 72. And Peter called to mind the VVord that Jesus said to him Jer. 23. 30. I am against the Prophets that steal my VVord every one from his Neighbour Can Christ be stoln or would God be so much offended with them for obtaining Christ as to put the black brand of theft upon it while he charges it as the highest crime to reject Christ I Sam 9. 27. Stand thou still a while that I may shew thee the VVord of God This Word was that God had chosen him King and the Prophecy of what should befal him in his return if you will needs have the VVord of God in this place to be understood of Christ you must read it with the Exposition thus Stand thou still a while and I will shew thee the Christ There are two words in the Greek which are Translated and signifie the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first is sometimes used for Christ the personal Word but the other never Heb. 6. 5. And have tasted of the good Word of God And also Eph. 6. 17. And the Sword of the Spirit which is the VVord of God A little skill in the Original would free you from this and many more mistakes What I have done here will be to such as are willing to understand good measure pressed down shaken together and running over As for those who are of a perverse mind until the Lord give them a better frame I shall not wonder if they wink out the Sun at noon-day I shall next and briefly say somewhat of the written Word which we are greatly concerned to be satisfied in to be the Word of God for that we have no other standing Word as our Testimony of Gods revealed Will but what is written or printed which is all to a like purpose the one being by an impression of the Pen the other of Stamps This the Quakers deny with the addition of many absurdities arising from so calling and owning it Where saith one of them and a Chief Readest thou in the Scriptures of a written VVord it will be no hard matter to find an Answer to this question I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were accounted as a strange thing a sharp rebuke to the Objectors Exod. 31. 18. The Ten Commands or words according to the Hebr. as I have already shewed were written by the Finger of God himself and afterward by Moses the Law of Moses is called his Writings John 5. 47. If ye believe not his Writings and if the matter and sense be the Word of God before surely when it is written which any word that ever I heard may be it is a word written or a written word which you will SECT V. Some there are who have written against the Quakers who judge that although the Quakers will not admit of this Appellation of the Scriptures yet in other terms they allow them such titles as amount to as much and that the difference is rather verbal then real but let me tell such that besides the imprudence and danger of removing the ancient Land-Marks and not holding fast the forme of sound words there is a wide difference and great shortness in the best titles they will afford them yea take them altogether from this Appellation and therefore I shall examine them and discover their defects herein First they will allow them to be of God So they affirm their own Writings and Sayings to be also of God And let not this seem small in your eyes yet shall you all one day know that the Lord hath spoken it not only in some sense but in a higher then the Scriptures at least with respect to them and the times wherein we live But this phrase to be of God is of so large an import that the silliest VVorm and the basest clod of Clay we tread on may claim a share in the Priviledge yea nothing in the whole Creation but will bear this expression sin only excepted in its obliquiry for of him are all things Rom. 11. 36. Secondly thé Scriptures of truth This is ground enough for us to deal with them by the Authority of the Scriptures but there are many other Writings that are true and if you take the Scriptures to be understood by way of Eminency the Scriptures of truth so as no other Writings extant are so absolutely and divinely true they will utterly disclaim such a sense Thirdly They are the Experiences of the Saints and what they witnessed This is with them a very common phrase though this be true of some part of the Scriptures especially the Book of Psalmes it is too narrow a title by far for the whole Body of the Scriptures and for that part of the Scriptures which expresses the Experiences of the Saints it hath somewhat more as its end then a meer witnessing or expressing how it was with them But I do not wonder that they so much delight in this phrase when I consider that they themselves restrain almost all the Concerns of Religion to their Experiences yea things Historically related that were done without them long ago and are never again to be acted on the stage of this world and things Prophetically related in the Scriptures which shall not have a being until the end of the world They experience the Birth Righteousness Sufferings Death Burial Resurrection Afcension and Exaltation of Christ They experience the downfall of Babylon the Day of Judgement Heaven Hell and all within them and not with respect to some effects impressions and similitudes of these things but really and almost if not altogether exclusively of any other meaning all of which you will finde proved in the following Discourse but this is far short and wide of owning the Scriptures to be the Word of God There are no Saints but have their Experiences both good and bad but he that should write them and affirm them to be the Word of God as they are the Experiences of the Saints will fall with a witness under that severe censure of that true and legitimate Word of God Rev 22 18 19. and Deut. 4. 2. Fifthly they call them a Declaration of the Mind of God This all things considered is the highest expression of their esteem of the Holy Scriptures and Word of God for so I will call them whether they will or no but so were some part of the Writings of the Heathen-Idolaters who knew not the true God Yea many things which they spake of as the Duty of Man and against many immoral Vices The Apostle says no less when he quotes such Passages out of such Heathen-Authors Evil communication corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15. 33. This is found in the Comedy of Menander called Thadia Act. 17. 28. For we are also his off-spring is a
c. by the Scriptures and they that cleave to the Scripture teaching by the Spirit have forsaken the Spirit of God and his teachings we would owne our such profession to be a denying the Scriptures yea should take our selves bound in so many words to deny it and send it as far out of the way as may be as dangerous to the just prerogative of the Spirit of God And if those who profess what I shall instance and produce for proof to be truth had any honesty in them they would tell the world they utterly deny the Scriptures to be what the Christian world hath accounted them and in plain and open words and testimonies as far as they can produce exhort and move them to lay them aside and have no more to do with them nor give them one good word lest the adversary to the Spirit should in the hearts and lives of men be exalted against him For the proving of the Charge at the head of this Chapter take the words of James Naylor the Quakers proto-Confessor For all the Saints have their commands in Spirit but yours is in the Letter and so of another ministration for the literal ministration is done away in the spiritual Here you have the commands in Spirit or by the Spirit put in opposition to the Letter which is the written Word or the Scripture and so far in opposition that as heat being opposite to coldness and light to darkness the one so far as it prevails expelleth the other by its contrariety and opposite qualities so the spiritual ministration or ministration of the Spirit banishes and expelleth that of the Letter as its enemy and contrary But if you will have a prodigious instance a nonsuch for Blaspheming the Spirit of God in the Scriptures read what follows out of a great Writer of theirs William Smith And reading in the Scriptures that there were some who met together and exhorted one another and were edified and comforted one in another they observe and do as near as they can what they read of the Saints practice and so conceives a birth in the same Womb the Scriptures and brings it forth in the same strength as others do and they make haste thither and open their eyes to look at the things which are seen the Scriptures and this is pleasing to the carnal mind c. They Worship Order Ordinances Faith Practice understood by the written Word must all come under the severity of his judgment because they are Bastards and not Sons for these adulterous births have provoked the Lord and grieved his Spirit It would amaze a Christian and sound mind to read what is contained in the two pages in the Margin quoted of vilifying and reproach to the Scriptures and the Doctrines from thence received Traditions of men earthly root darkness and confusion Nebuchadnezzars Image putrefaction and corruption rotten and deceitful all out of the life and power of God Apostacy the Whores Cup the mark of the Beast Babylon the Mother of Harlots Bastards brought forth of flesh and blood the birth that persecutes the Son and Heir viz. the Spirit of God or light within Babylons Brats and Children Graven Images contrary to him the everlasting powerful God c. If this be not opposing the Spirit of God to the Scripture and rendring them adverse to each other the Devil himself must despair of inventing words to express it by I conclude the proof of this Charge with the words of Naylor And of this sort are they who have their preaching to study and to seek at other mens mouths or from the Letter and have it not from the mouth of the Lord. Then with him and the Quakers who are of his mind what we have from the Scriptures we have not from the mouth of the Lord. I would know of the Quakers what they will make of the mouth of the Lord Do they take it to be some part of his body which is like our mouths the Organs of speech We have thought hitherto that God being a Spirit hath no mouth at all only to express things to our understandings he speaks by similitudes taken from such things we are acquainted withall and so whatsoever God reveals his mind by may be called his mouth And it will follow that the Scriptures are his mouth as eminently as any thing yea all things in the world and more For God speaks by them to us more than by all other things he saith to Jeremy Jer. 15. 19. Thou shalt be as my mouth As thou spakest by the hand of Moses The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue Hear the rod c. Is it not a frequent phrase in the Scripture As saith the Scripture They believed the Scripture And what is that but God speaking by the Scripture and believing what God spake by the Scripture But now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the command of the everlasting God made known unto all Nations for the obedience of faith What more plain that the Scriptures are the mouth of the Lord or those means by which the Lord doth manifest his mind to men But the Quakers will not have it so and therefore it must not be so But they who enquire of or at the Scriptures for the mind of the Spirit run another way than that the Spirit walks and is to be found in and sin against the Spirit of God And that you may see how they set the Spirit and Scripture together by the ears Naylor saith further For those only are the Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God so far is true as truth it self but as the old Serpent he never heads a saying with the Scripture but he brings in a lye at the end and tail of it to whom they who are led by the Letter were ever enemies Here you have two great Commanders or Leaders brought into the field as the most hostile implacable Enemies whose followers from the time there were any were foes each to other And what can render the Spirit and the Scripture more opposite than that whosoever follows the Letter is a foe to him that follows or is led by the Spirit And the Leaders are the formal causes of it too and therefore it was ever so and is as inseparable as natural cause and effect If this be all true well might W. P. say We livingly witness against all the dry cavelling Letter-mongers in the world SECT II. Having frequently met with that Scripture 1 Cor. 3 6. by them produced to prove the Scriptures to have a contrary tendency to the Spirit I shall here open it and shew their mistake The words are Who also hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life Whereas they would have us by the Letter to
understand the whole written Word as written that is the body of the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament Law and Gospel without distinction and by the Spirit the inward immediate teachings of the Spirit of God they are in both mistaken For it is as certain as that the following words are truth that by the Letter here is meant the Law as given forth by God from Mount Sinai and by the Spirit the Covenant of Grace especially as expressed in the New Testament under the administration of the Redeemer But if the ministration of death written and engraven on stones was glorious c. for if the ministration of condemnation be glory c. All these passages express and explain the same thing called the Letter in the 6. Verse and that it was the Law given forth by God before it was written not only as written the matter and manner of which was glorious but in terribleness insomuch that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake and it was death for any to touch the Mountain yea the Israelites were ready to dye with fear at the appearances of God on that Mount Sinai at the giving forth of the Law And as the manner of giving it forth by God so the matter of it was mortal nothing but death was written in the forehead of it going alone The Law worketh wrath That is the Law of meer Commandments And the Commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death for sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it slew me Thus it is plain what is meant by the Letter the Law of meer Commandments as given forth on Mount Sinai That by the Spirit is to be understood the Covenant of promise in the hand of the Mediator is as certain and not of the Scripture or written Word in general for in the 6. Verse it is opposed to the Letter of the New Testament not of the Letter that is the Gospel not the Law and it is called the Spirit in three respects First As the New Testament or Covenant of promise especially in the hand of Christ promiseth and conveyeth soul-quickning grace in a good measure to sanctifie and enable and dispose the soul to keep the Laws of God Secondly As by the New Testament or Covenant life and spirit comfort and refreshment is put into the hearts of poor drooping sinners under the sense of the severity of the Law and their liableness to the punishment of it Thirdly And chiefly the intent and mind of the Spirit in the terrible dispensation of the Law of Works was by discovering mans woful estate to make the promises of the Gospel or the new Covenant sweet and welcome and to put souls on embracing the redemption through Christ So that the matter of the pure New Testament or Covenant in the hand of the Mediator was that which God especially aimed at to promote by the Letter or the meer Law of Commandments in which alone there was not the least appearance of mercy or mans welfare implied CHAP. XII The Quakers hold it is a sin and the sin of Idolatry to believe and live according to the instructions and holy examples expressed in and by the Scriptures except we have them by immediate inspiration and at first hand as the Apostles received them SECT I. I Am now come to the highest round of their Ladder and I know not what one step of sin beyond it except the unpardonable one they could charge those with who walk by the light of Scripture day Samuel whose rebuke to Saul for his sin in the matter of the Amalekites was expressed in the keenest and highest terms compared his sin but to Witchcraft Iniquity and Idolatry And if this charge againstus were as true as it is that they so charge us it is high time to serve the Scriptures as Hezekiah served the Brazen Serpent And brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the Children of Israel did burn Incense to it and he called it Nehushtan that is Brass nothing of a Deity in it but a little piece of Brass So it were fit the Scriptures should be demolished as having nothing of divine authority stamped upon them When I have established this Charge by the mouths of two or three Witnesses it will be time to leave off pouring in more where the measure is already running over All people may search the Scriptures and see how you have been deceived by your Teachers who have caused you to seek your lost God in carnal and dead observations which they have not any Scripture for Who this lost God should be except Jesus Christ who is ascended above the visible Heavens is not to be imagined by those who are acquainted with the Quakers Tenets and Phrases as will appear more plainly where I treat on their Idolatry and if so as there is reason to believe there are two grand parts of Idolatry we are charged with in complying with the Scripture Precepts and Institutions as in Preaching Prayer Church-order Baptism Lords-supper The first is a false object of worship which all of them that ever I met with in print or otherwise will not deny that to be which is given to the man Christ Jesus who was crucified between two Thieves at Jerusalem The second is false worship for the matter which is Idolatry although it were intended to the true God as the object the sacrificing of Children was intended ultimately to the true God yet it was gross Idolatry And they have built the high places of Tophet which is in the Valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their Sons and Daughters in the fire which I commanded them not neither came it into my heart But you will say how is this charge for walking according to Scripture instructions and examples seeing he doth expressly exhort to trying by the Scriptures whether they do not thus I answer that they take not any thing in the Scripture to be obliging but what comes by immediate inspiration as the Scriptures were given to the Prophets and Apostles and whatever we do however consonant to the precepts there expressed is all contrary to the Scriptures with them as I have proved already if not by immediate inspiration and motion of the Spirit If this be not clear we shall pump clear by and by And this is Babylon the mother of Harlots viz. to read and practice as the Saints did and the Apostles in the Scripture of the New Testament and the abomination of all uncleanness That many Children have been brought forth of flesh and blood and of the will of man that is our choice and not passive obedience to the motions of the thing within which is the birth that persecutes the son and heir And not one of them must stand though ever so seemingly glorious for the day is come and the true birth is
by the Quakers at the cheap rate of accepting though poyson taken into the Body and delusions into the Soul are ever dear and costly But to the unwillingly mistaken among the people called Quakers and such whose inclinations are towards their Principles and Practices known by the name of Quakerism I do solemnly profess That I have the witness of God and my own Conscience that I heartily desire the welfare and Salvation of all sorts of men whatever notions they fall under and however disobliging in their carriages towards me in particular And although I hope I shall not justifie the Opinions called Quakerism till I dye yet I am perswaded there are many called Quakers whom the Lord will turn from their way which is not Christs and sanctifie them by his Spirit and justifie them through his Grace by Jesus Christ even that Christ who as God is every where and as Man is ascended above the visible Heavens and Skies If sincere protestations of my righteousness and sincerity in this matter and the verity of what I have written would prevail with you my Spirit is clear and I doubt not but my Pen might be as serviceable to it as some of those whose interest is too great in you Yea I know not that suffering I might embrace without sinning against God but for Christ sake and yours I should not long to be baptized with I beg of you in the bowels of a Christian that you would not slight the Truth and Scripture-evidence here presented to your view The Quakers have no Miracles to bind you to their perswasion and sure the Truths contained in the Scripture and right reason may match all other visible demonstrations You venture hard to Father all your Opinions on the immediate inspirations and your affections and practices on the motions of that Spirit who is God which if it prove to be otherwise which will be as certainly as God is Truth your early repentance may be accepted but your late repentance will make little for your comfort I would not then be in your condition for more Worlds than there are Stars in the Firmament I beseech you do not think that God hath given you the reason of men to be serviceable to you only in the affairs of this world and not to be exercised at all in discerning truth from error good from evil of a Spiritual and Religious nature The new creature is the creature renewed that is Body Soul and Spirit so enlightned as to know God in Christ so sanctified as to be devoted to him in whatever service he shall command and to make a Heaven of nothing on this side the full Vision and enjoyment of his favour and glorious presence in the other world or the world to come and what will necessarily result from thence If you think me too smart in some passages in the Book be pleased to consider if against Persons it is against those your misleaders who are to be blamed at a sharper rate than good Eli chid his Sons and was therefore rebuked by God to the breaking his heart his neck and the loss of a great priviledge besides if against sayings or opinions I have fully proved them gross falshoods foolish and pernicious lusts and errors and I know not how to call gall and poyson by sweet and lovely names I must alter my stile according to the matter and occasion or they would agree like Harp and Harrow and I assure you it is neither my conscience duty nor design to commend their Opinions to the world Do not say I intend hereby your persecution for it is far from my principle and natural temper also and I know nothing that men who are your Adversaries can do more to promote your Tenets and Party though suffering without further evidences of truth as the cause is a poor foundation of Religion Your Souls Servant JOHN FALDO November 23. 1672. THE CONTENTS PART I. Chap. I. QVakerism affirmed to be no Christianity The tearms Quakerism Christianity Quaker Christian explained What Christianity is strictly considered and distinguished from Heathenism Judaism or any other character of Religion Chap. II. The beginning of Quakerism compared with the beginning of Christianity with respect to the manner and with respect to the time of its beginning from both Quakerism proved to be no Christianity or not the Christian administration Chap. III. Proving the Quakers denying the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the word of God that the intent is more than a meer verbal matter that this is the gate and inlet of their other errors the grounds of their denying it to be the word of God all of which are examined and refuted the definition of a word and the Scriptures proved to be the word of God of that species contended about more properly than Christ the Son of God is the word of God the Scripture proved to be the word of God by its own undeniable evidence where it cannot be understood of any other than the written word denying the Scripture to be the word of God proved a denying of the Scripture the titles the Quakers give to the Scriptures examined and proved though taken altogether to come short of a fit and distinct character of the Scriptures the ends and necessity of the Quakers denying the Scripture this title for the support of their other fancies The sense we take the Scripture to be the word of God in the written word proved to be the word of God Chap. IV. The Quakers equal their own writings and sayings with the word of God and prefer them before the word of God So to do proved a denying the Scripture that they do so proved by their pretending them infallible that they speak and write by immediate inspiration that the Spirit of God dwells in them essentially and in all his divine properties and Christ speaks out of them as through a Trunk Proved by the characters they give of their own writings and sayings beyond and excelling the characters afforded by them to the holy Scriptures Infallibility explained the Quakers infallibility confuted by divers mediums their immediate inspiration considered and confuted the woful and absurd consequences of this error the Papists foundations of their orders and grossest absurdities and the foundation of the Quakers Religion proved to be the same thing and instances given on both sides viz. contempt of the Scripture as insufficient infallibility and immediate revelations and divine inspirations the Quakers proved to have the blackest marks of Antichrist upon them Chap. V. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be a rule of faith and life or a Judge and determiner in religious controversies This charge proved to be a denying the Scriptures That charge it self proved Herein they agree with the Jesuites That whatever is by the Lord affirmed in the Scripture ought to be believed That what is there in commanded and not repealed ought to be obeyed That the holy Scriptures do in their kind determine
to be meant of Christ and God I am sure we should have Lords many and Gods many in a far lower sense then the Magistrates and great men of the world and Christ would be little beholden to us I beseech you therefore who are not stark blind and steel-hard either to abandon such principles or at least do not pretend to Scripture for them and abuse it after this manner for the Scriptures are no friend to your crooked unholy principles and that your Leaders know well enough SECT II. That I may blow the dust out of your eyes I shall take a little pains to shew you your mistake and also how to amend it in more and weightier points in themselves then this under-present consideration You do not honestly distinguish betwixt proper and figurative words and phrases in reading the Scriptures but have gotten an Art to construe them backward quite cross to their true intent and meaning you will take proper speeches for figurative and figurative for proper not careing for the true sense but as they will serve your turn and thereby you can prove quodlibet ex quolibet what you will and any how and so you seem in the eyes of silly and credulous souls to make your rope of sand to hang finely together and you are no more happy here for Christ the VVord is the VVord but in a less proper sense whereas the Scriptures are the VVord of God in a much more proper sense which I shall plainly demonstrate Only take one direction in the mean-while That where any phrase or word may be taken in a proper sense it ought so to be taken unless there be a necessity to do otherwise from the consideration of the Context As in the point in hand 't is said The VVord was God in the beginning here it cannot be understood of the VVord in a proper and ordinary acceptation because such words or word cannot be God neither were in the beginning Besides what is afterwards spoken of the VVord there is plainly and only to be understood of Christ the Son of God but if you consider the VVord expressed Mark 4. 19 And the cares of this World and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entring in choak the VVord and it becometh unfruitful Here you must take it for the doctrinal VVord or VVord of Instruction which is a proper sense of the Word and if you should take it for Christ the VVord which is figurative you must read it Choak Christ which how untrue and uncomely a phrase it is I leave your selves to judge Now I shall shew you what is a word in a proper sâ—nse and that the Scriptures are such and what in a figurative sense and that Christ or the Son of God as the Word in ordinary acceptation is such A word in a proper sense is either an articulate syllabical sound which the eare is receptive of and by which somewhat may understood as its signification in a commonly received acceptation Or else a writing impression or graving which is such a disposing of letters in their Order as doth express and signifie to the eye what the other doth to the ear Now Christ is not cannot be the Word in neither of these senses for he is not a sound thus disposed nor yet an engraved printed or written thing but the Scriptures are such or consist of such words How the Scriptures are the word in the singular number I have already shewed and must refer you thither A figurative word or word in a figurative construction is somewhat so expressed but is so only by Analogy as having some proportion with and similitude or likeness to a word but will by no means bear the definition of a word taking in all that is essential to its being a word For instance God is called a Husbandman John 10. 1. but he is not so in a proper fense for he neither goes to plow nor sowe nor cart and managing grounds and cattel as a Husbandman doth nay he is not a man of any occupation whatsoever but there is some analogy and similitude betwixt the Almighty and a Husbandman in his dealings with his people for he takes care of them he waters them purges prunes plows digs fences feeds them in a spiritual sense Christ is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah the Vine the door yet he is none of these but with respect to his relation and usefulness to his people there is some similitude betwixt Christ and these Figures and Emblems of him he is strong and courageous fears none overcomes all he encounters with he conveys sap life and fruitfulness to his living branches he is the mean by which we may be reconciled to and enjoy God but enough of this And Christ who is God is the Word but by Analogy not properly in ordinary acceptation 1. He is a great part of the substance and scope of the Scriptures the Word of God they testifie of him and direct to him in their doctrine types c. To him give all the Prophets witness Acts 10 12. 2. He doth also manifest and signifie to us all the glorious attributes of God in a splendid manner but more especially his love mercy and pity and that not only as a Prophet and Teacher by the Word of his mouth but also in all his concerns as Mediatour 3. As he is the Executioner of the good promised and evils threatned in the Scriptures So Rev. 19. 13. he was employed in bloody work executing the vengeance of God against his Adversaries threatned in the Word and he possesses his faithful ones of the happiness prepared for and promised to them Thus I hope I have cleared my way hitherto One thing only remains to prove their errour which I have reserved as the last blow and that is to shew that the Scriptures do callthe Threatnings Promises c. therein contained the Word of God and the written Word and if I prove that in any place of Scripture the phrase cannot be taken in the sense the Quakers would have it that is for Christ or God and also that it can be taken in no other sense then for the matter contained in the Scripture I have done enough whether they will be convinced or no and they must dedeny the Scriptures to be true or own their doctrine to be false Verse 20. He that regarded not the VVord of the Lord left his servants and cattel in the field verse 19. He that feared the Word of the Lord made his eattel and servants to flee into houses What colour is here to expound the Word of the Lord in these Texts of God or Christ what more plain then that they feared the threatning or regarded not the threatning or gracious Advice given from God for avoiding the blow Luke 22. 61. And Peter remembred the VVord of the Lord what word How he said unto him before the Cock crow c. and
your quarrel is not so much with the word Trinity as with the thing thereby expressed The next black mark of Antichrist which is upon you is that in 2 Thess 2. 4 who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God Do not you advance your light within above the Man Christ Jesus whom we worship as God and who is so called in the Scriptures even that man whose being is above the visible Heavens Do not you call your light within you God eternal Omnipotent c Yea you say it is the light in the Conscience which is the Temple of God and there it doth as if it were God rule govern judge execute in contempt of the written and true Laws of the divine being I beseech you consider these things and lay them to your hearts CHAP. V. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be a Rule of Faith and Life or a Judge and Determiner of Religious Controversies SECT I. THat this is to deny the Scripture is obvious and plain to all who have not the beam in their eyes I have before proved them to deny its proper and most frequent appellation but if that be not sufficient to prove they deny the Scripture methinks denying their main use and employment should render them guilty of the full measure of that iniquity To little purpose will it be to call them the Scripture the Holy Scripture c. if after all a conformity to their guidance and conduct will render our belief and practice never the less prophane I shall not further perswade my Reader that to deny the Scripture to be a rule of Faith and Life c. is to deny the Scripture for if this suffice not I know nothing will carry the Question unless the Scripture should be brought in begging some boon at the Quakers hands and they proved so hard hearted as not to to grant it If this were necessary I should not fail in the proof notwithstanding For the proof of the Charge I shall first call sorth James Parnel an early and forward Quaker and much esteemed for his works sake And he also that saith the Letter is the rule and guide of the people of God is without feeding upon the husk and is ignorant of the true Light which was before the Letter was By this mans Verdict the Scripture is cast and condemned for husks a false light or but a shadow and its Observers charged with ignorance of Christ the true light for so doing But it were well if they could come off so Behold in the next Accusation a Charge of no less than the highest robbery and sacriledge And if thou lookest upon the Scripture to be for a rule and for trying thou givest that unto them which belongs unto Christ for he is the rule and leads his people and he alone searches the hearts and trys the reins and not the Scripture But if you will see a mouth full of blasphemy against the authority of the Scripture read with horrour and amazement the following words God is at liberty to speak to his people by them the Scripture if he please and where they are given by inspiration he doth so but the sting is behind in the tail of this non-such sentence and so he is at liberty to speak by any other created thing as to Balaam by his Ass Then such a thing as Balaams Ass may call up our expectations of Gods teachings guidance and rebukes as well as the Scriptures for God is at liberty to teach us by an Ass and he hath put no more authority into the Scripture unless he shall please to hand them to us by renewed and immediate inspiration But I shall not rake into this Dunghill further which of its self gives forth so offensive a savour I intended to have given you upon this head the assertions of some of the Romish Writers who trample on the neck of the Scripture with the same foot only the difference betwixt them and the Quakers lies in the aim and design the Jesuits spurn at them to advance the dictates of the Pope and the Romish pretended Church above the Scriptures but the Quakers to advance the conceit within above them all Yet I care not if I give you one instance at large Omnis Judex praesertim supremus generalis ita debet dicere sententiam ut altera pars litigantium evidenter sciat se vicisse altera pars evidenter sciat se causam amisisse quantum est ex parte hujus judicis At hoc neque Scriptura Sacra neque Spiritus Sanctus loquens per Scripturam potest facere Ergo neque Sacra Scriptura nec Spiritus Sanctus loquens per Scripturam est talis judex Et minorem illustrabat his totidem verbis Stamus ego Collegae Domini adversarii in conspectu hujus judicis Bibliorum en contendimus an sit judex Controversiarum Jam ille judex debet pronunciare sententiam ut nobis constet evidenter Sumus hîc in conspectu Sacrae Scripturae Spiritus Sancti pronunciet sententiam sic dicat tu Jacobe Gretsere male sentis cecidisti causa tua Tu Jacobe Hailbrunnere vicisti Tunc ego statim transibo ad vestrum scamnum Et paulo post Adsit jam Spiritus Sanctus jam judicet jam me condemnet In English thus Every Judge especially who is supream and general ought so to give sentence that the one part of the contenders may plainly know they have overcome and the other that they have lost their cause so far as it is in the Judge But this neither the holy Scriptures nor the holy Spirit by the Scripture can do Therefore neither the holy Scripture nor the holy Spirit speaking by the Scripture is such a Judge The minor he illustrates in these very words I and my Collegues and the Lords Adversaries stand before this Judge the Scriptures behold we dispute whether it be a Judge of Controversies Now this Judge ought to give sentence so as it may be evidently manifest to us We are here before the holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit let him pronounce sentence and say thus thou Jacob Gretferus believest not aright thy cause is overthrown thou Jacob Hailbrunnerus hast overcome then I will quickly go over to you And a little after Now let the Holy Ghost come now let him judge me now let him condemn me If he had not had the metaphorical word to have played with the world had not been troubled with so impertinent an Argument and language so ludicrous abusive and daring to the Holy Spirit By this you may see that if the Quakers and Jesuits agreement in the same false Witness against the Scripture will carry it our cause is gone and the Scripture must not determine religious matters But 't is a sign 't is a bad step that so
Secondly The dispensations of the revealed and written Word render God nigher to a people than to those who are without it For what Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them c. Read the Context and you will find that the means of God being so nigh was chiefly his written Laws And it is notorious that the Gentile Nations who were without the Scripture had lost sight of the true God so far that they worshipped the most despicable things in his stead and as the Apostle saith were without God in the world for all their light within which the Quakers say all men ever had The dispensations of God in and to his Church rise higher and higher in excellency and glory And this is a third Argument His first after the fall were some few revelations to some few persons and by them handed to others which might be then much more easie than now for that men lived so long that the days of Methuselah and Noah took hold of the days of Adam and Abraham But men increasing in number and no less in impiety they quickly lost that little was committed to them And before the Law and Covenants and Scripture in part were written notwithstanding Creation Providence and some revelation the knowledge of God was very thin and scant in the world among good and holy men And if you will not believe me believe Holy Job By his spirit he hath garnished the Heavens his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent lo these are part of his ways but how little a portion is heard of him He is speaking before of his works of Creation yet they were but a part of the ways whereby God conveyed the knowledge of himself but take all together even that of revelation with it it was but a little of him that was known whereas when his word was written the Israel of God who enjoyed it 't is said of them In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel But the 2 Cor. 3. 11. speaks close and home to my argument For if that which is done away was glorious much more that which remains is glorious A fourth proof may be from the slipperiness of our memories Who among the sons and daughters of men is able to retain in the memory such a multitude of particulars as concern faith and life that if it should be granted that every man at some time or other should have the whole mind of God contained in the Scripture immediately and by revelation imparted to him the memory would prove a very leaky Vessel and bad Steward and let slip a great part both matter and form without a miracle to raise our faculty not only above the common course or which is ordinary but above the faculty of any man that breaths whereas the word imparted by the Scripture abides to which as to an everlasting Record we may have recourse and supply that defect More certain to the knowledge of man Since man was corrupted and so long as there remains either corruption or defect in him the inward motions and notions of the soul will be affected therewith the first risings and bubling up of thoughts and imaginations which present themselves to the understanding judgment and conscience will abundantly vary from and be opposite each to other and the sentiments or apprehensions of them be warring and contending like pleaders at the bar of judgment and conscience and those who know and are concerned in the affairs and their management on the secret stage of the Soul must acknowledge if they will speak their consciences that whatever be the question agitated in the mind there will not want the appearances of truth and goodness offering themselves on both the affirmative and negative part and in matters of religious concern all pretend to the sanction and allowance of God himself And as their pleas so their importunities shall be impetuously violent that many times the poor creature is on the rack and which way soever its judgment and resolution inclines the adverse thoughts will attend it with their Checks and clamours In the multitude of my thoughts within me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my anxious perplexed careful troubled thoughts beating against one another like the boughs of a tree agitated with a fierce wind This was not only David's case but the Saints which are now upon the earth And if it were David's so good a man and a man so frequently under the power of special divine inspirations much more may it be ours Well in such cases what course should we take if we expect and depend upon immediate teachings from the spirit how shall we know they are such and not the delusions of Satan or a vision of our own fancifull brains we can give testimonies enough to convince a Heathen or Atheist if he will not abandon the use of reason that the Scriptures are the word and mind of the spirit of God and therefore what that speaks is the voice of the Spirit but it will be long enough e're the Quakers and those that plead for a sole dependance on the spirits immediate teachings will be able to give such proofs of theirs Moreover the Quakers who pretend to these teachings and guidances resolve against the exercise of a humane though sanctified understanding and resolve all into motions impulses and the sensation of them thereby depriving men of the direction of enlightned faculties leaving the most violent motions and appetites to carry away the undoubted evidence and character of the Spirits leadings But how far this is from a spiritual understanding or a right discerning I leave those to judge who are acquainted in themselves or others with violent temptations from Satan and the unbridled lusts of men and this pure sensation of stirrings and motions becomes better by far the stark blind than those who have eyes in their heads We grope for the wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noon day as in the night One of the severest curses for disobedience threatned against Israel was and thou shalt grope at noon day as the blind gropeth in darkness and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways And what is this principle of the Quakers but to turn us again into the darkness and Chaos of Gentilism instead of beholding as in a Glass with open face the glory of the Lord to be feeling after him by the corrupt and half senseless touches of a natural conscience acting on the narrow and uncertain indications of Creation and providence which though they may teach something concerning God and our original duty to him will be as far from acquainting us with Gospel truths or such as concern Christ and our redemption by him as a stone or tree is from discerning and expressing the secret and bosom counsels of God or man I would not yet have you think that we deny or disown a
light within in this spiritual war you cannot prosper nor prevail against him I have lighted on a proof of the latter part of my Charge before I was aware viz. for then it is dangerous to read the Scriptures lest you should be tempted to try some of those inviting Arms which that Magazine is stored with and so spoil all your prosperity and prevalence in your spiritual Warfare SECT II. However this shall not prevent the producing my intended proofs of the danger as the Quakers say that attend reading the Scriptures But seeing as the Quakers say we must try the Spirits by the Spirit let us try William Smith's spirit by Isaac Pennington's who speaking of knowledge gained by the Letter of the Scriptures speaks thus Making him wise and able there in his head to oppose truth and so bringing him into a state of condemnation wrath and misery beyond the Heathen and making him harder to be wrought upon by the light and power of truth than the very Heathen By opposing truth we must needs understand it of the Quakers truth and if reading the Scriptures and getting knowledge from or by them puts us into a bad condition both as rendring conversion difficult and our misery and condemnation great beyond the Heathen I scarce know what is more dangerous than reading the Scriptures But the comfort is it doth but render us harder to be wrought on to entertain the pernicious Guide and Saviour the Quakers light within and therefore is exceeding safe and necessary It follows in the same Author My upright desire to the Lord for you is that he would strip you of all your knowledge or wisdom of the Scriptures after the flesh Their meaning of after the flesh is that which comes not by immediate inspiration For those only are the Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God to whom they who were led by the Letter were ever enemies So Naylor doth as certainly say 't is dangerous to read the Scriptures to be led by them as it is truly dangerous and evil to be Enemies to the Children of God SECT III. That this abominable Tenet is the Quakers I know it sufficiently and that they look upon our adhering to Scripture light as the greatest adversary in the world to their adored light within But I love not the Quakers way of demonstration viz. we witness this and that but if you would know how they witness it it is only their own experience which is a dumb kind of witness while they can make no proof or testimony of it to another nor will ordinarily attempt it and so their witness is to themselves alone But my witnessing of what I here charge them with shall have more light in it that all that read it may be convinced of its truth Therefore take one instance more out of their famous Author W. P. or William Pen. But I will assure them they shall yet grope in the dark till they come into the daily obedience of the light and there rest contented to know only as they experience and not from a ravening comprehending brain that would in its unregenerated state grasp at the clear mysteries of the Kingdom into which fleshly comprehensions and notions can never enter but all must be as unlearned from their first birth education and traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned that is again become a little Child before the secrets of Gods Work come to be made known That W. P. of all others should talk at this rate is most ridiculous What! know only as they experience know what God is no farther than they experience Can we experience his Omnipotency his infiniteness which is not within the experience of all finite beings put together What! know the death by Spear and Nails of Iron or Steel and Cross of Wood of the man Christ Jesus which he suffered above 1600 years since only by experience What! know the life to come the judging of all men that are ever were or shall be by the Lord Jesus only by experience where is faith all the while what credit hath God with W. P that he will know him nor any thing he saith no further than he sees feels in his experience If none but Believers be Saints such as W. P. are professedly none if he know not that objects of faith and experience are contradistinct things he is very unfit to assure who they are that grope in the dark and is very unlikely to mend his confused scribling I shall not comment on his ravening comprehending brain a most affected phrase amongst the Quakers nor his clear mysteries as clear a contradiction as it is nor fleshly comprehensions as much untruth and nonsense as according to their meaning of it it comprehends for I have not room to spread all his rubbish What is to my present purpose is in the last part of his saying all must be as unlearned from their traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned c. Sure the Scripture knowledge being read knowledge or knowledge that comes by reading as one means is a most hateful thing to God that he will impart none of his secrets to those that will understand any thing by his written Word How came God to fall out at such an irreconcileable rate with his own off-spring his expressions of his mind contained in the holy Scriptures how can you have the face to call them holy Scriptures and yet make knowledge attained by reading them so nauseous to God that they shall be none of his Children that learn any knowledge by that Book or forgo it not all Did God write and cause it to be written and yet never intend we should read it or that reading it we should not believe a word on 't nor understand nor be the wiser for it Shall they be judged by the Law who lived under it and yet the knowledge of God thereby be a sin and hindrance to their salvation To what a height of wickedness and folly do they quickly grow who are poisoned with that abomination of holding the light in every mans conscience to be God Father Son Spirit Christ Scripture all But Mr. Pen what means your Latine and Greek your foreign Authors your attempted though mishapen Logick your quotations of so many Scriptures though some of them in a pitiful manner all to a bad end Did you learn all those things by immediate inspiration Had you them not by reading and tradition Could you tell that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies light rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies thick darkness but by tradition and reading But I smell your design you would have us throw away all the knowledge we have by reading or tradition 'till we come to be regenerate that is Quakers and then you are out of its danger But in the mean time you would have us without the Armour of light for whatsoever makes manifest is light that we may not be
these dayes wherein God hath blessed us with so large a portion of his written Word or Word without us sufficient teachings by immediate Divine Revelations to lead them infallibly in the way that is most acceptable with the Lord without the use of their created faculties or any outward means SECT V. The next Scripture you abuse is Psal 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence from whence you scribble thus If Gods unerring Spirit be so nigh and the sense of it so certain it must be either to reprove for evil done or to inform uphold lead and preserve in reference to all good now in which of the two senses it shall be taken the presence of Gods eternal Spirit and his being the Saints Instructor Judge Rule and Guide are evidently deduceable from the words Rudis indigestaque moles worse than ever Bear brought forth her Cubs which with her licking may be brought into some shape but your products are so defective both in truth right reasoning Syntax and Sense that it is no dis-reputation to your Adversary to be confounded by them It is an effectual but an impudent course to silence all the world from opposing you by writing such confident confused non-sense Were it not for the sake of many who conceit your infallibility which you are here so blindly pleading for I would as soon abandon my time to dispute with a distracted man in his raving Fits as with W. Pen till he come better to himself than I can find in this Pamphlet If Gods infinite Being Omnipresence Omniscience wonderfull works of Creation all-disposing Providence which is the scope of the Psalm and his Omnipresence especially the sense of the Text do prove that which you produce it for and infer from it you have found out away of seeing that may tempt us to dig out our eyes punish them for meer cheats and for ever hereafter commend the blind archer for the best marks-man We may presume that you intend this Text to prove that all Gods people are upheld ruled guided c. In reference to all good by the Spirit of God which you say is evidently deduceable from the words But who would have thought that such desireable considerations and the certain sense of them should put so holy a man as David on such expressions of going and fleeing from the Spirit and presence of the Lord No doubt the presence of God is every where in the skies the seas the wilderness what then doth he therefore perform all these acts where ever he is present in his infinite being even where there are no intelligent creatures Doth he judge inform instruct stones and trees and mountains I and must do so too or else he doth not answer the end of his presence being so nigh truly Mr. Pen we have had more reverend thoughts of the eternal and omnipresent God than to assign any thing as the end of his being but himself But it may be you lay your stress on the certain sense of it and thus joyned to his omnipresence will do your work Is the sense of it so certain to every good man was it so to David when he so long time was tainted with a heap of impieties Was it so with Jonah when he fled as he thought from the presence of the Lord or was it so with you when you wrote some things in this book of yours which I shall acquaint you with before I have done If it should be granted you that all Gods people have the certain sense of it without doubting or alteration it would be nihil ad rhombum far from proving Gods Spirit to be the peculiar teacher of his people and so to teach them as to render them infallible which is the mark you aim at SECT VI. The next Scripture you produce is Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness Psal 43. 10. To bend this Text to your bow you talk thus The Question will be whether it was Davids intent and the scope of his desire that God should teach and lead him by his good Spirit or some other thing but methinks it is resolvable in the affirmative in two respects What a strange Question is this Who doubtes but David commended the Spirit of God as a good teacher what then must all other teachers which the Spirit of God makes use of as the means by which he teaches be cast off Suppose I should say such a Man is a good School-master I would fain be taught by him doth that imply I would not learn out of a Grammar or other books which he uses to that end or doth it not rather conclude that I like not onely his abilities but his method and means by which he teaches the Psalmist saith blessed is the man whom thou Chastenest O Lord and teachest out of thy Law You would little less then hoot at him that should from hence conclude the Psalmist to reject the Spirit as a teacher and to admit of no other Teacher but the Law It is after this lofty manner of disputing you undertake our overthrow When you have so learnedly framed your Question which by the disjunctive Or you make torâ— consist of two members Which would he have foâ— his Teacher The Spirit or some other thing you answer it like your self Methinks it is resolvable in the affirmative But I pray which of the parts of your Question do you affirm Which do you deny Why truely it is the safest course you take to affirm it of both for then the truth is owned and in this point the quarrel ended But then what need your fighting against what you affirm unless you are resolved to be quarrelsome Alas poor Man it was by a meer mistake you said truth you intended to resolve in the affirmative that he desired to be taught by the good Spirit of God but in the negative of any other thing Canis festinans coecos parit catulos The two respects which thus blinded you are enough to keep any mans eyes open that is but willing to see First How that the Word was hid in his heart That internal Law Word and Spirit ef God which plentifully shews kow much he was an Enthusiast and Quaker in the sence this man esteems us most heterodox Law Word and Spirit are all one with you But where do you find the Word hid in the hearts of the Saints called the internal Word 'T is true that it is within in the memory faith love and hide there with the hiding of security but it was as much without before it was within as the childs lesson which it gets by heart out of a book which when done you might as well call it the childs internal lesson Your second respect is the very words viz. of the text imply the thing we urge them for and can import no
wisdom of the flesh and therefore it is by inspiration immediate Let such know that they must shew somewhat more then palpable errour gross ignorance and unparallel'd confidence ere they gain credit with any but those simple ones in a silly sense who believe every word A third Difference is that Apostolical illuminations and immediately inspired are not habitual they are not the more constant frame of the soul but have their fluxes not as Springs or running Rivers or Tydes which have their ebbings and flowings yet the chanel alway plentifully supplied but as bourns and flouds that sometimes rise high yet the grounds they cover for a while are sometimes and ordinarily a long time dry and no appearance remaining of those inundations The Apostles and Prophets had not such a Well and Spring of this sort as alway run or out of which they might ordinarily give advice and teachings of this kinde Whereas the Spirits most ordinary illuminations common to all Saints do in their several degrees and measures in-dwell in their souls and are as qualities adhering to their subjects their mindes and faculties being so united to them as Sugar being melted in the Wine its sweetness is constant and abiding thereby And hence it was that the Apostles though they could alway teach from the habits of light and knowledge they were blessed with yet in some cases at some times could not speak as inspired by the Holy Ghost witness Paul who in the body of his Epistle to the Corinthianâ— makes this distinction 1 Cor. 7. 6 12. to the end of the Chapter But I speak this by permission ver 6. but to the rest speak I not the Lord ver 12. Now concerning Virgins I have no â—ommandment of the Lord yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 25. But she is happier if she so abide in my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God The same Apostle gives instruction concerning the Choice of Bishops that they be such as are apt to teach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies both the habit or faculty and also a promptitude and readiness to imploy it And to Timothy to be instant in season and out of season that is not only at necessary times in a constant course but occasionally and he could not so preach the Word as became it and an Evangelist but from habitual illumination Mat. 13. 52. Then said he unto them Therefore every Scribe which is instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth of his Treasure things new and old A fourth Difference the inspiration of the Spirit doth not grow and increase gradually and according to time and industry Samuel had as elegant and powerful an inspiration or revelation when a Childe as when he was old And the Apostles on the sudden at the effusion of the Spirit in that way of ministration had as eminent inspirations as ever afterward But the illuminations where with God doth usually by the efficlency of his Spirit bless his people doth ordinarily grow at least is capable of it Some to whom John writes were grown to be Fathers For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers Heb. 5. That is ye might have grown to such a degree of illumination if you had stood in the way wherein the Spirit of God doth usually bless there with as to have been able to teach others Yea the Lord Jesus Christ himself as man did increase gradually in these habitual illuminations Lake 2. 45 46 47. Jesus grew in wisdome and in stature And that it was meant of divine light or light in divine things Read the 46 47 Verses where he is said to be disputing with the Doctors and that his answers were astonishing to the Hearers Fifthly Apostolial inspirations were intended by the Spirit foâ—a divine and authoritative Obligation to the Faiâ—â— Order Life and Consciences of others and are therefore rightly placed among the Scriptures or wâ—…tten Word If any man think hinself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write are the Commandments of the Lord. But the teachings of the Spirit to the Saints as Saints are no such obligation any farther than they agree with and have their authority from the minde of God revealed in the Scripture Sixthly Apostolical teachings and inspirations were of authority to constitute a now order and polity of the Church to which the former though of divine authority in their season were to give place Yea those Doctrines and Promises so revealed to them by God and by them declared as such are binding to our faith and practice although we cannot discern any of the like import in the Scripture before written But the teachings and illuminations by the Spirit of the Saints as such do not add to or change any thing of the Doctrine or Order established by Christ and his Apostles neither are they contrary to the written Word nor in point of Doctrine beside the sense of it or beyond it To conclude The teachings of the Spirit and its Motions in the Saints which are most purely divine and immediate in ourdays are the bringing to remembrance explaning to the understanding imprinting on the affections the matter contained in the Scripture and directing them to understand providences to act in their occurent occasions suitable to his will revealed in the Scripâ—…re and moving their wills to a compliance with his out are all to be triâ—d by the Scripture and not the Scripture by them Some I believe will reply How did the Prophets and Apostles when they received immediate revelations and were inspired of God know it was no delusion and if they knew it being men as we are why may not we I dare not attempt to pry into the most secret ways of God and undertake to give you a history and description to the full of the Spirits workings on the Souls of his Prophets in conveying his will to them and satisfying their judgments and Consciences that they were the inspirations of God Yet I shall say so much of them as may satisfie any willing Reader to be informed that they had more to evince it than any have now and we have enough to convince us that they were inspired First Whoever they were that were givers forth of the Law or the Covenants in their first promulgation had the Testimonies of God for them by Gods outward Call to that as their special Office and his promise of guidance in the discharge thereof signs and wonders wrought either by God immediately or by their hands as the Apostles Jesus Christ Moses Secondly All the Prophets have a Testimony of their being inspired of God by Miracles which they wrought or by the quoting Scripture out of the Books written by them or bearing their names in the New Testament by Christ or his Apostles Thirdly For the Historical part
set them up and is present with and in them we will quickly in that point turn Quakers But alas the proof that he hath done so is but this they limit his leadings in Spirit that is the Quakers fancies but if he intended the Spirits leadings in a true sence it is very strange that the Gospel and Law of works should be both sick of one disease that which was ordained to life I found to be unto death The Ordinances of the Gospel were ordained to enlarge and raise the spirits of the Saints but quite contrary they are found to limit and imprison the spirit sure it must be Satans Spirit and not Christs to whom the Ordinances are such chains That I may shew you the Quakers Babel let us hear Isaac Pennington's Light speak contrary to the light of G. Fox When Israel was bent to seek after the Lord and applied their hearts to wait upon him in fasting and earnest supplications wherein my heart hath often had the testimony that they were accepted of him and had many times the seal of his presence and power among them yea my heart did truly unite with and enjoy the Lord in what was then given forth and I can never deny the truth and worth of that dispensation though I know it was swallowed up by the breaking forth of a more lively dispensation This he saith he found about the beginning of the late troubles How doth this agree to G. Fox's nailing all those forms to Christs Cross at his death and then blotting out these Ordinances But yet I. P. will needs have them swallowed up now though he gave them leave to live 1600 years more mercifully however than G. who would have them stifled in the womb or crucified so soon as born But Pennington is so cruel by that time he arrives to p. 38 that he saith Such of the people of God as do not follow the Lord perfectly out of the things City of abomination visible worship but be found in any part thereof when the Lord cometh to judge her the Lord will not spare her nor the spirits of his dearest people who are found there c. Both by the Scripture and their own confession Christ did not long since dwell in those Ordinances which we call Gospel-Ordinances and the Quakers Babylons forms and abominations Untill they shew us better grounds for Christs remove than the secret witness of the Spirit within them which we can prove to be a Spirit of delusion by Scripture reason and sense it self let none who follow not Christ blind-fold have the worse opinion of Ordinances for all the Quakers talk I now come to particulars and begin with the Gospel-Ministry SECT III. They deny and subvert the Ministry of the Gospel railing on the Ministers as the vilest persons and veriest cheats in the world making ill use of those Scripture words Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered Next to the Scripture they lay not their batteries against any thing so much as against the Ministers of the Gospel and have so little honesty as to rake up all that is to be found on any one or any that pretend to be Ministers of Christ and cast it in the faces of all without distinction as equally guilty And for their more particular attempts those who are the most faithfull and serious are the objects of their greatest fury I shall not blot paper with their railing First They deny all Ministry that hath a mediate call to that office and imployment and their call to the Ministry we deny which is mediate But who can witness an immediate call from God and speak it the Gospel as they are moved by the holy Ghost and such travail from place to place and have no certain dwelling place this Ministry we own and witness Thou art corrected by the Scripture and the Apostle corrects thee who saith I have not received it of man nor by man and bid others look at Jesus the author of their faith Their Writings are abounding with matter of this nature We acknowledge that all the true Ministers of Christ ought to have an immediate call such as consists in grace and gifts and disposition to that worthy office and imployment and such as have not this immediate call we account unworthy of the thing and name but the Quakers pretended-immediate call is far from the Apostles as I have proved at large on the point of inspirations neither are the Ministers of Christ now Apostles as they were But if we call for the Quakers proof of their immediate call hear what Farnworth saith As for pretences we do not pretend that we are immediately call'd but we witness that we are And what is their witness their own fancy and their own say-so and we witness that such witnesses will carry the cause no where but in the fools Court who the wise man saith believeth every word And G. Fox's proof is as much to the purpose not of man the call of the Apostle while we pretend not to be Apostles And bid others look at Jesus the author of their faith as if that Text intended a faith that they were called to be Apostles which speaks of the faith of all believers who received it by the mediate Ministry of the Gospel For being moved by the holy Ghost which is by them made an essential mark of a true Minister we allow but yet affirm That those who are moved by the commands of the Spirit in the Scripture are moved by the holy Ghost especially when the Authority of God therein prevails with them As for having no certain dwelling place and leaving houses lands and possessions let them repair to William Pen and others of their Ministers for an Answer to it who have large possessions and brave habitations such as few Ministers whom they disclaim especially the poor non-Conformists enjoy and will not so easily as Pen's phrase is be fobb'd out of them as they fobb others out of the truths of the Gospel But indeed will you deny that the Elders that were ordained in every City by the appointment of Paul and by the hand of Titus had any mediate call or those spoken of Acts 14. 23. And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church and had prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed If you will not believe these had a mediate call I despair of your believing any thing but what you list SECT IV. Another ground of their denying our Ministry is that they teach from the Scripture And the Word is immediate and all the Ministers of Christ preach the immediate Word and wait for it and the outward written words with ink and paper are mediate so then The written Word being preached from makes a man no Minister And of this sort are they that have their preaching to study and to seek at other mens mouthes or from the
letter but have it not from the mouth of the Lord. If the Scripture be not the mouth of the Lord there is no such thing as Gods mouth And here is the difference of the Ministers of the world and the Ministers of Christ the one of the letter the other of the Spirit For they are meer deceivers and witches bewitch people from the truth holding forth the shadow for the substance and what is the chaff to the wheat Here is not a bare denial of those to be Christs Ministers who preach the Word of God out of the Scriptures but charging them with witchcraft and what are the instruments of their witchcraft but the holy Scriptures most horrid doctrine and yet these wretches will tell you they honour the Scriptures and a Scripture Ministry But this is not all the tide rises yet higher And so he the Devil takes Scripture to maintain his kingdom and this he delivers by the mouth of his Ministers which he sends abroad to deceive the Nations leading people in blindness c. These words are plain and no parable therefore I leave you to behold without a glass the villany of these misleaders I have already proved that not only we ought but Christ and his Apostles did teach out of the Scriptures therefore by the Quakers account they were also as bad as they charge us to be witches and deceivers c. O but there is another inditement against us we are not infallible How can ye be Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter if ye be not infallible There is none but God alone absolutely infallible And for certainty of what we teach we dare weigh with the Quakers at any time But sure I am that I never met with one of their Teachers yet in Writing or otherwise but I found him more than fallible even foolish contradicting the Spirit of God speaking by the Scripture contrary to the clearest reason and themselves also But more than all this We are Hirelings preach for Hire and take Hire for preaching And a main question for a scrutiny into the truth of our Ministry is Whether is your Gospel free and without Charge yea or nay This is the nail they find will drive People love a Cheap Gospel they that will sell them such a one shall buy their souls into the bargain and vassalize their understandings to their most corrupt dictates To preach for Hire we call a Vile iniquity to receive Hire for preaching we dare not condemn because Christ hath said The labourer is worthy of his hire And the Apostle said He took wages of other Churches to serve them the Corinthians It is ordained that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and so hath the Lord ordained So that a Ministers maintenance for preaching the Gospel is Gods ordinance The Apostle exhorts Timothy To give himself to the work of the Ministry as it is the duty of every one ordinarily imployed therein And is God and Christ a hard Master to oblige his Ministers to give up themselves to that work and let them and theirs starve for it But moreover you may know if you please that there are thousands this day in England who preach the Gospel in poverty and distresses and cleave to their work when stripped of their wages which number there needs not one Quaker to make up yet take heed you commend them not for it Another objection is we study for our Sermons What is study but meditation and searching to understand the truth and to get it into our heads and hearts if this be a sin obedience to God is so And the Apostle bids Timothy who had excellent gifts and was brought up from a child in the holy Scripture study to shew thy self approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of truth Then it seems it is no idle task to preach like a workman and divide the Word of truth aright and that we may be approved to God and free from shame among men we must study But that which turns us all off hand-smooth is SECT V. That till we are taught by the light within immediately we cannot speak one word of truth but all lyes though the matter we deliver be the highest truth And all be in the Satanical delusions that be not in the immediate teachings from the Spirit But the greatest professors upon the earth are there of the Devil that speaketh the words of truth but not as they are in it as so saith Christ to the Jewes they were of their Father the Devil they speak of themselves they speak of themselves as the Devil doth but abide not in the truth but a lyar from the beginning The Devil speaks a lye from himself that is a truth for no body need teach the Devil to lye but how will it follow that whatever any man speaks of himself is a lye then it seems for a man to be first in telling any thing true or false 't is a lye whereas we use most to suspect the truth of that which comes by a second or third hand or more but the conclusion is what we have not by immediate inspiration and teach it we speak it of our selves and therefore are devilish lyars The learned Fisher will help the Fox at a dead lift and piece his tale And to such wise sayers and knowers as these God saith though ye say God lives yet as I live ye swear falsly and why falsly was not that a truth that God lives but not a truth truly testified unto by them any more than what is testified in foro hominum in mens Courts by such as being not eye-witnesses thereof have it only by hear-say from others because they witnessed to it but in stollen words Here is then the proof that we speak more than we know and therefore lye This is indeed pretty near a lye but that they who live in the light of the Creation and read and believe and know the Scripture to be the Word or the words of God and affirming no nicer a truth than that God liveth should lye because they know it not by immediate inspiration is very strange He that lives may know from thence that God lives who holdeth every soul in life that lives But the meaning of the Text may be and I will trust the sober Readers judgement to decide it betwixt us that they did not believe the Lord lived and swearing what they thought untrue or doubted of they therein sware falsly But I desire those who give credit to such teachers as infallible and inspired immediately from God to try by the instance I am now upon whether we are not likely to speak more rightly concerning God from the Scripture than their teachers without book In the quotation of this Text Fisher hath falsified beside his Exposition in three plain cases for they say he writes
which hath a respect to the things done within their knowledge as men the Writers of that or those parts of the Scripture were either under the Testimonies of Miracles or were by some express Testimony of God rendred holy men and being so qualified they would not write more than they knew and could not easily be mistaken in matter of fact and being Scripture is said by Paul to be of Divine inspiration Fourthly All those Books of the Old Testament out of which somewhat is not quoted in the New as Scripture were received as Scripture by the Jews and then Church of God and that in the time of many Prophets to whom Divine Testimony hath been given and it cannot with any shew of Reason be supposed that those Writings should be faâ—â—â—y fathered on God or taken for authentique Scripture and the Prophets not discover and reprove it whereas far less haâ—nous evils than that would have been were often the subject-matter of their sharp reprehensions Let any Quaker of other give me or themselves the like satisfaction of their being immediately inspired and they shall have my leave to hold such an Opinion of it But for those inspirations which they say many had before the Scriptures were written the mention of their time will give full satisfaction it will be a poor Argument to prove men are now inspired as they considering they had not the revealed written Word at all and we have it so full that all things necessary for any to know are therein included and thereby expressed The second thing I must reply to is what the Quakers frequently Object viz. That we make the Scripture the judge of the Spirit whereas the Spirit gave forth the Scriptures I answer this is for want of judgment in the Objectors Far be it from us to bring the to-be-adored Spirit of God to any mans bar for judgment to be passed on it or any thing that is his immediate Work or Word all we profess in this matter to make the Scripture a judge or determiner of is whether this or that be the mind of the Spirit or no but if once it appear to be the Voice and Mind of the Spirit we profess it our duty to reverence and submit to it And we being certain that the Holy Scriptures were given forth from God and that God is not opposite to himself we conclude that what is contrary to the Scripture cannot be the Word of the Spirit because then the Spirit should bear witness against it self and the word of the Spirit would be contrary to the word of the Spirit And moreover if any shall pretend to abolish by the Authority or inspiration of the Spirit those Ordinances and Institutions which were setled by Christ or Christ in his Apostles it would be unreasonable to credit them without the same Testimonials such Miracles as they wrought by which they were erected But the Quakers are far enough from shewing such a zeal for their pretended Ministry and Order And further we are obliged not to receive another Gospel and that by the Holy Spirit though an Angel from Heaven should preach it and we are warned not to believe any other as Truth Divine against it though many Wonders should be wrought for confirmation The third thing I must reply to is that our knowledge of the mind of God by the Scripture is uncertain I answer If you mean a knowledge of all Gods mind you are not to expect it it you mean all that is there contained it is not necessary and you may go to Heaven and do your duty without such a vast knowledge and if you endeavour it in your places and as God hath given you the means it will not be your sin much less your condemnation that you do not know it all Sure there are many Babes in Christ's Family yet they are Children and all are first Babes and that would be a Monster never yet seen in the Church of Christ a new-born Babe knowing the mind of God contained in the Scripture as fully as the most serious Christians of the longest standing Jesus Christ himself grew in wisdom and in stature and I intreat you be content to leave a little of the mind of God to be found out in the Scripture by the generations to come If you mean our knowledge of the mind of the Spirit is uncertain so far as it is necessary for our living in an acceptable manner to God soberly righteously and godly in this present world and to attain Heaven at last it is a great mistake for if pride lust and idleness stand not in our way there is no person that hath a few grains of Reason but may understand so much of the mind of God by the Scripture as is necessary for him to know to his eternal salvation But if you talk of the Scriptures being a dead Letter and not moving and teaching with a voice or impulse without our reading praying and applying it in the Lords strength you talk at a strange random as if God had given us our eyes and brains only to look after the world and the things thereof but in the knowledge of God we must be meerly passive A KEY TO THE Quakers Usurped and to most UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASES THere is not any thing in the Quakers Method of deluding which doth more tend to the insnaring of unwary Souls than their asserting their false Antichristian and Anti-Scriptural Tenets under Scripture-Words and Phrases and in those very Terms wherein are expressed the Truths of God while in the mean time they mean nothing less than their true import and what People who are not well acquainted with their Tenets suppose them to mean By this Artifice they beget a good Opinion of themselves and Errours with too many and by degrees so vitiate their Principles that in a short time they are prepared to embrance the grossest errors bare-faced I shall therefore as a work of no small use to such who are attempted by them or who have a Call or opportunity to deal with them for their convincing or confuting or the securing others who are in danger by them give you a true and candid account of their sense and meaning of a multitude of Scripture and Religious Phrases which they utter and apply to their falshoods and also of their new-coin'd Words and Phrases which are more peculiar to their Sect and Notions I dispose them Alphabetically for their more easie finding on any occasion A. Above NOt in locality but excelcie so Christ and Heaven they say are above i. e. excellent and may therefore be nothing but what is within them The Anointing The Light within Christ the Spirit essentially Assembling Meeting in Spirit Assurance What they feel in themselves not what they believe from the Scripture the inward witness viz. experience teachings of the light within B. Babylon All the Ordinances Worship Faith Obedience that have any thing of a form or visible in