Spirit through his Holy Prophets and Apostles even Remission of Sin and Free Justification by Jesus Christ through Faith in him and not by any Works or Obedience that either the Jew did perform to the outward Law or the Gentile did perform to the Law writ in the Heart When Peter preached Remission of Sin by Faith in Jesus Christ whom the Jews hang'd on the Tree to Cornelius he confirm'd this Doctrine not from the eternal Precepts in every Man's Conscience or the common Dictates of the Light in every Man but from the general Testimony of the Prophets Acts 10.43 To him said Peter give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins But according to W. P's Doctrine the Apostle Peter should have said To him the Light in every Conscience gave the Dictates of that Light in every Conscience witness That whosoever gave up to the Requirings of the Light in them without all Faith in Christ God-man without them shall receive the Remission of their Sins And seeing whatever is the Rule of Faith must teach us all that is needful to Salvation by it self as W.P. argueth he must prove that the Light in every Man's Conscience dictateth to him this Proposition That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 Or if it doth dictate some other way than this then that and the like places of Scripture contradict the Dictates of the Light within But that this Proposition laid down Rom. 10.9 is no Dictate of the Light within in Mens Consciences is evident from W. P's plain Confession P. 32 33. who saith That the Light within should tell us that Christ suffered Death and rose again is not needed inasmuch as an account of that is extant in Scripture Whereby it plainly appears he holds it not needful to our Salvation to believe that Proposition Rom. 10.9 seeing the Light within that is the Rule of Faith doth not reveal it and such Revelation is not necessary and consequently according to him the belief of that Proposition Rom. 10.9 is not necessary to any for Salvation And if that be not necessary by the same method of Argument according to W.P. nor is the belief of all the other parts of Scripture necessary to Salvation which are not the common Dictates of the Light in every Conscience The only use of the whole Scripture according to W.P. is meerly Historical which though perhaps true is nowise necessary to our Salvation to believe the truth of it but we are left at liberty to believe or disbelieve all and every part of what is contained in the Scripture without any danger to our Salvation excepting these few absolute necessaries that the Light within every Conscience teacheth us as well as the Scriptures But none of all the twelve Articles of the Apostle's Creed according to the true Sense of Scripture or the common received Sense of all true Christians are taught by the Light within without the external Revelation of the Scripture therefore according to W.P. the belief of none of these twelve Articles is necessary to our Salvation The which being the plain Import of W. P's Doctrine laid down in his Book whither it be not Plain Deism appearing with open face I appeal to all sincere Christians Section 2. His Arguments from Scripture that the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life Answered HE begins with his Proofs Page 4. That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the general Rule of Faith and Life from Matt. 11.27 and 1 Cor. 2.11 he argues That because the Father cannot be known but by the Revelation of the Son and Holy Spirit consequently that Light metioned John 1.3 or Spirit must have been the general Rule of Mens Knowledge Faith and Obedience with respect to God Answ His Consequence is denied he gives no proof of it yea it is manifestly false and to discover its Fallacy observe how he confounds the efficient Cause and Author of Knowledge and Faith with the Rule which he ought to distinguish He might as well argue no Man sees what hour it is on a Sun-dyal but by the Sun and consequently the Sun and not the Dyal is the Rule whereby he knows the hour Page 5. His next Argument is from Eph. 5.13 Whatever makes manifest is Light therefore the Light in the Conscience is the general Rule Answ The Consequence again is denied it has the same defect as the former as will appear by forming the like Argument Whatever makes manifest an outward object to our Eye is some outward light of Sun Moon or Candle c. Therefore that alone without the object manifests it and also without the Organ of sight who sees not the Fallacy of this Argument and as much he may see the Fallacy of the other The next place of Scripture he argueth from is Rom. 1.19 which he falsly quotes as I have observed he hath misquoted this place both here and in pag. 21 for thus he quotes it WHATEVER might be known of God was made manifest within for God who is Light hath shewn it unto them But let the place it self be considered and it saith not WHATEVER but what is to be known of God is manifest in them to wit the Gentiles or Heathen Nations who had not the peculiar Doctrines of the Christian Faith revealed to them or Preached among them And that the words what is to be known of God cannot be meant of WHATEVER can or is to be known of God was manifest in them as the Text doth not say it so it is a manifest Falshood It cannot be said of the best Christians â—hat whatever is to be known of God is made manifest in them for the best know but in part and there is still more to be known of God even in the best of Christians than what is at present revealed or made manifest in them And it is very evident from the following words what Paul meant by that saying What is to be known of God or as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. The Eternal power and God-Head which was made manifest partly by the things made or created without Men and partly by some Divine Illumination within them But doth it therefore follow that because those Heathens had some knowledge of the Eternal Power and God-head that therefore they knew all the fundamental Princiles of the Christian Religion By no means more than it followeth that W.P. knoweth some things of England and some other Countries partly by History and partly by his sight of them therefore he knows the whole Earth so far as it is habitable He brings another Proof That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life from Micah 6.8 He hath shewed unto thee O Man what is good and what God requireth of thee
to Eusebius's Sense Page 9. Arg. 5. He proceeds to a new Argument against the Scriptures being the Rule If the Scriptures were the general Rule they must have always been a perfect Rule ever since they were a Rule but this saith he is impossible since they were many hundred years in Writing and are now imperfect also as to number How then are they the perfect Rule And if imperfect saith he How can they be the Rule of Faith since the Rule of Faith must be perfect Answ This Argument surely is very imfect as well as offensive so openly to charge the holy Scriptures with imperfection Is the common discovery by the Light within given to all Mankind a perfect discovery of all things necessary given to all at once He grants It is not comparing the Light within to a School-master that first teacheth the Children to Spell before he teach them to Read Chr. Quak Page 18. what if all or much that was either spoke or writ by prophetical Inspiration was not at first extant this doth no more argue that the Scriptures are imperfect than that it argueth that because our blessed Lord from the dimensions of a Child increased to the dimensions of a Man that therefore he was imperfect when a Child whereas a Child and a Man have the same essential perfections And in like manner the Doctrine of the Christian Faith concerning the remission of Sin and Eternal Salvation by the promised Messiah was the same and had the same essential perfections from the beginning of the World and in all Ages as it has now And one Tenth part yea perhaps much less than one Hundred part of the Writings of the Holy Scriptures do perfectly contain all the essential parts of the Christian Doctrine which yet makes not the other parts superfluous I would fain know if God Almighty had given to W.P. but an Estate of one hundred a Year might not that without more have been a full enough provision for him doth it therefore follow that the other Hundreds he hath beside are superfluous Besides If not only the number of the Books of the Holy Scriptures is increased beyond what it was at first and for many Ages after but that divers very profitable Doctrines have been super-added to the fundamental and some new Commandments given by God Almighty to latter Ages that were not at first given Doth this argue any imperfection in the Commands of God But that new Commands were given to some in one Age that were not given to others in former Ages W.P. I think cannot deny yea that to Abraham the Commandment of Circumcision was given in the Ninety Ninth Year of his Age the Scripture Testimony is plain Doth it therefore follow that the Commands formerly given him or the Promises or his Faith before that time was lame and imperfect If adding new Commands by God himself to what was formerly given by him doth not make the body of God's Commandments imperfect nor doth adding to the Rule of Faith by Divine Authority make the Rule as first given imperfect Yea W.P. grants page 2. That though Men in all Ages had some knowledge of God yet not upon equal discovery And in his Christian Quaker page 18. Things are necessary in reference to their proper times that may be requisite to morrow which is not to day If then all Men have not the same discovery they have not the same general Rule Section 5. His sixth Argument taken from the Imperfection of the Scriptures Answered IT is greatly worth our noticeing after that W.P. hath argued against the Scriptures being the Rule because they were not all given at once but at sundry times whence he infers their Imperfections and consequently that they are not the Rule of Faith and Life Yet in Page 22 he makes the new Creature or new Creation to be the Rule and on the Margent quoting Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this Rule or in this Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Phil. 3.16 he saith it must be understood Let us walk in the same Attainment and he saith The Rule mentioned Phil. 3.16 is spoken of the Measure of Attainment Pray consider how his Argument here for the new Creature and Measure of Attainment being the Rule of Faith and Life quite overthroweth his Argument against the Scriptures being the Rule because as he suggesteth they are imperfect they were not all given at once That one Age of Christianity should have one Rule and another Age another Rule he makes it very absurd p. 24. But is the Measure of Attainment the same in all Christians and in all Ages I suppose he will say nay then by his own Argument the lesser Attainment in some Ages and Persons is imperfect and therefore cannot be the Rule of Faith And will he say the new Creature has the same Stature in all Christians Or will or can he say That the new Creature is so perfect in him that nothing is to be added to it If nay then by his own Argument it is imperfect and therefore not the Rule And whereas he quotes Drusius on the Margent to prove from Gal. 5.6 that Faith that works by love is the Rule that is according to him Faith is its own Rule for the subject of his Discourse is What the Rule of Faith is which one time he makes to be Faith it self p. 22. another time Christ himself and the Spirit a third time neither this nor that but the Testimony of the Spirit Internal Revelation and Inspiration the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in Mens Consciences there repeated and declared p. 25. But again How can the new Creature be the General Rule seeing all Men have it not who have the Scriptures If because the Scriptures are not general they are not the Rule as W.P. argueth by the like reason the new Creature is not the Rule because not general and consequently by his way of reasoning all unregenerated Persons have no Rule at all But if unregenerated Persons have a Rule who have not the new Creature brought forth in them then by his own way of arguing against himself one part of Mankind to wit the Regenerated have one Rule which is the new Creature and the other part to wit the Unregenerated which is commonly the greater part have another but that according to him is absurd for then all have not one and the same general Rule which he contends they ought to have That there is a general Rule of Moral Honesty and Justice given to all Men the same which Paul calls The Law writ in the Hearts of the Gentiles is granted but that there is a general Law or Rule of Faith concerning Salvation by Christ Crucified is denied Section 6. Whither the new Creature mentioned Gal. 6.16 is the Rule of Faith And whither the Doctrine is the Rule to the new Creature or the new Creature the Rule to the Doctrine and which is the prior or principal Rule AS touching these
places of Scripture quoted by him touching the Rule as Gal. 6.16 Phil. 3.16 2 Cor. 10. 13 15. none of them all say either that the Light within or the new Creature is the Rule of Faith and Life nor doth he give any proof by any true Consequence that it is And here by the way W.P. should be put in mind to prove what he asserts by plain Scripture without Consequences which his Brethren commonly allow not of but when any of their Opponents argue with them by Consequences however so fair they will not allow of them And yet throughout this whole Treatise of W.P. he brings not one Argument from express Scripture to prove his Matter but proceeds all along by Consequences not one of which is fairly and truly inferred as will appear in the thorough Examination of them The Rule mentioned Gal. 6.6 hath a plain and easie reference to the Proposition laid down by the Apostle in the foregoing Verse which is this That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature This Proposition laid down by the Apostle in so many express words is an excellent Rule and one of the many excellent Rules appertaining to the Christian Religion the intire body of which Rules is deservedly called the Rule and well might the Apostle say As many as walk according to that one Rule which is very comprehensive Peace be upon them for he that duly walks according to that Rule will be careful to walk according to all the other Rules appertaining to the Christian Religion whereof that one is a main But let it be granted that in some sense the new Creature may be allowed to be a Rule as I see no hurt to allow it in some sense and a Law to him or them in whom this new Creature is wrought or brought forth for even those Gentiles which did the things contained in the Law are said by Paul Rom. 2. to be a Law to themselves Which did shew the Work of the Law writ in their Hearts Then surely much rather every regenerate Person by reason of his new Nature may be said to be a Law or Rule to himself according to that saying of Boetius de Consol Phil. Quis legem det amantibus Major lex amor est ipse sibi The love of Virtue is greater than any Law that can be expressed or laid down in words But how as Law there is understood not properly a Law or Precept informing the Understanding but Metaphorically as it is an inward power having a mighty impulse upon the Will of a good Man even as the love of Vice is a mighty Law that acts with a mighty impulse on the Will of a bad and vicious Man Hence as the one may be understood to be even in the Scripture sense the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus so the other may be understood to be the Law of Sin and Death LAW in both these respects being understood not properly but Metaphorically as when we commonly say God Almighty the great Author and Creator of Nature hath given a Law to the Nature of every thing as weight to Stones and Metals whereby they are moved downwards and levity to Fire whereby it is moved upwards but whither these Motions proceed from an inward or external Cause in these natural bodies is not the proper matter of Debate here only the instance is given to shew that LAW hath commonly a Metaphorical Sense as well as proper and so hath the word or term Rule And I suppose W.P. though perhaps not much acquainted with School-distinctions hath heard of the distinction of a Rule into Regula regulus and Regula regulata i. e. the Rule ruling and the Rule ruled at least of the primary and secondary Rule for he hath allowed in this Treatise that the Scriptures may be called a Secondary Rule at least in several parts of them And why may not much rather the new Creature or work of Sanctification be called a Secondary Rule and the Doctrine of the Christian Religion consisting of many excellent Precepts and Promises and other Gospel Truths the Primary Rule Yea that it is so is evidently proved because the new Creature it self to wit the Work of Regeneration and Sanctification in the Souls of the Faithful is instrumentally wrought by the Form of Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures the Spirit of God working by and with the said Form of Doctrine being the principal Agent and Efficient according to Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the heart that Form of Doctrine which was delivered unto you or as the better Translation is out of the Greek unto or into which ye were delivered the word translated Form is Type signifying Pattern Mould or Frame according to the Fashion of which a thing is made as when a piece of Clay is formed by the Potter by the Frame to which it is applied or Wax receiveth the Impression of the Seal or a Vessel of Brass Tin or Silver is framed by the Mould into which it is cast Now as the Mould or Pattern whereby any Vessel is framed is prior to the Vessel and the shape or fashion of the Vessel is posterior to the Pattern or Exemplar according to which it is framed even so the new Creature is posterior to the Form of Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures and this evidently proves that the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures being the same that was extant in the Church of God before it was committed to writing hath the precedency and priority in point of a Rule to the new Creature so that the Doctrine to wit the doctrinal Word and Words of God given by God and Christ to the Holy Prophets and Apostles and by them to other Men who by means thereof are converted and inwardly renewed regenerated and sanctified through the Operation of the Holy Spirit as the principal Efficient is the Rule to the new Creature and not the new Creature the Rule to the Doctrine Hence it is that the Word of God to wit the doctrinal word or word of Doctrine is by a Metaphor called Seed in Scripture for of Seed Plants Trees and Animals are produced And seeing according to Scripture Faith is wrought by hearing the Word outwardly preached in God's ordinary way and that Word is the Doctrine of the Christian Religion given originally by God and Christ to the Prophets and Apostles and by them to us it evidently follows that Faith or the new Creature is not a Rule to the Doctrine but the Doctrine is a Rule to the Faith and consequently the Doctrine is the primary Rule of Faith and Life but not that Faith and Life is the primary Rule or any Rule at all to the Doctrine even as in natural Generation the Seed is before the Birth and Fruit so is the Doctrine before the Faith and before the Person that is the Believer or Saint and regenerated Person as such and before the Church for the
Light within which all Mankind had as well as the Jews but the outward Word of Doctrine delivered by the Prophets according to Psal 147.19 He shewed his Word unto Jacob c. The which external Word he calls Sect. 1. Aliud melius adminiculum i. e. another and better help which was necessary to direct us rightly to the Creator of the World comparing it with whatever other helps God had given to Mankind without them or within them which he calls Communia illa Documenta those common Documents the which external Word he saith is Rectior certior ad ipsum Cognoscendum nota i. e. a more right and more sure Mark whereby to know him which also he calls the Rule of the Eternal verity and cap. 9. Sect. 1. l. 1. inst He calleth them Nebulones i. e. Knaves and chargeth them with Nefarious Sacriledge that divide the Word to wit the external Word from the Spirit which God hath Joyned together by an inviolable Bond and in the Title of that Chapter he calleth them Fanaticks and saith They overthrow all the Principles of Piety who despising the Scripture to wit considered as the Rule flee over to Revelation pretending to be taught by the Spirit without the external Word Where it is evident he doth not mean that whoever are taught by the outward Word are sufficiently taught without the Spirit but that whoever are taught Savingly to know God as the Creator or Christ the Redeemer they are taught of the Spirit with and by the external Word as the instrument of the Spirit which he hath given to us for a Rule of Faith and Life not that it 's the Rule to the Spirit but the Rule to us of the Spirits giving and preparing and which he perswades us to be Truth by his secret operation in us And as unfair and fallacious as W.P. hath been in wresting misapplying and abusing Calvin's words to prove that he was not of another Mind than W.P. viz. That the Scriptures is not the Rule of Faith and Life he is as unfair absurd and fallacious in his quoting other late Protestant Authors as Bish Jewel Dr. Ames Dr. Owen all which are sufficiently known by their Books to be of a contrary Mind as much as one thing can be to another The Quotations indeed taken out of those Authors prove that they did assert the necessity of the Spirits inward Operation in the Souls of Men to perswade them to believe the Truth of the Scriptures and the necessity of his Internal Illumination to give the Saving understanding of them as particularly the quotation given out of J. Calvin instit lib. 1. c. 8. who gives the Sense of all those Authors and indeed of all true Christians viz. It is necessary the same Spirit that spake by the Mouth of the Prophets should pierce into our Hearts to perswade us that they faithfully delivered that which was committed to them of God which he illustrates by the word Obsignare elsewhere in that Book that is by Sealing to the truth of them but this does not prove that this inward Obsignation of the Spirit is the Rule of Faith even in Calvin's sense or that the Scripture was not that Rule Page 36 It 's strange that W.P. should bring a proof against the Lawfulness of Swearing from the Conviction of the Light within some Jews long before Christ came to wit the Esseni that when the Scriptures of the Old Testament made it lawful to Swear in some Cases if W.P. believes that the Spirit of God did Dictate these Scriptures that the same Spirit in the Esseni should teach them that it was unlawful even while the Mosaical dispensation was yet standing But how proves he that the Esseni did think Swearing unlawful from a Conviction of the Light within them when others of the most faithful of the Jews both then and before that time did Judge Swearing Lawful and that from the declared and revealed Will of God in the Old Testament that came from the Light within in Moses and the Prophets that was in force until Christ suffered as to all the other parts of it If he will allow that the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in the Conscience command one thing to some and the quite contradictory to another surely at this rate the Light within must be a very uncertain Rule for by this Concession one may take the liberty to say his Light within commands him to Kill to Steal to commit Adultery though the same Light in another forbids it I had thought that by the Eterprecepts in the Conscience W.P. had meant those unchangeable Precepts and Laws of Justice and Temperance c which in all Ages have been the same to all Men and will ever be the same to all so long as the World lasteth But now it seems even the Precepts of Light within are not Eternal but Temporal and may be changed and one may be commanded to Swear or permitted without Sin to Swear and another forbidden But there are two things that W.P. in his instance of the Esseni that would not Swear which he quotes out of Josephus and Philo. That they shun Oaths worse than Perjury for they esteem him Condemned for a Lyer who without it is not believed should prove neither of which he hath done First That they held it Unlawful in any Case to Swear even when called before Authority for it may rather be thought it was common Swearing they were against a thing that was too ordinary among the Jews seeing the Law did allow Swearing in a Judicial way Levit. 5. that was then in force Secondly Suppose they were against all Swearing that they had this from the Light within them it is much more probable it was an erronious Opinion in them which could not proceed from the Light within otherwise it had contradicted the standing Law of God without then in force which not only allowed Swearing but commanded it upon necessary Occasions And as idle and impertinent are his Instances of Pythagoras the Scythians in King Alexander's time and Clinias all which lived some hundreds of Years before Christ came in the Flesh Now if Swearing was lawful by the Law of God among the Jews in those Ages How can we suppose it unlawful among the Gentiles since I know not one Instance can be given that the Light in any Gentile did condemn what the Light within or Law of God without in the Jews did justifie for this were to set Light against Light It 's nothing to the purpose if some in these ancient Times were against Swearing but the Question is Whither it was the Light in them that taught them so or rather whither it was not an erronious Opinion like that of not eating Flesh said to be taught also by Pythagoras was that thinks W.P. from the Light within If so How does the Light in him allow him to eat it and to take his liberty in diverse things that the Severity of Pythagoras's Doctrine did not
with any Blood outwardly shed for them Is not this the ready way to open the Flood-gate and to let in Deism and Heathenism to over-run not only England but all Christendom and not only to destroy the Protestant Christian Religion but any remains of Christian Doctrine that are in the Popish Countries But from this Cure of W.P. we have all great cause to pray Good Lord deliver us But nor would this Cure he proposeth be successful upon the Hypothesis of his general Rule if universally received for a Rule The Heathen Philosophers many of whom professed and owned the Light in every Conscience as it did enlighten their Reason yet how many great Controversies were there among them notwithstanding and oft great Heats and Animosities And if this Cure of W.P. be so effectual how comes it that it has not healed the breaches and great Controversies that have been on foot these Forty Years chiefly about G. Foxes orders his party contending that they were the Dictates of the Light both in G.F. and all his followers the other party as strongly denying it that they were any Dictates of the true Light within and let W.P. tell us when any such Controversie arises which are the true Dictates of the Light and true Spirit abstractly considered from the Scripture what shall be the Cure in that Case He seems indeed to give an answer to this in Page 42. Answ By the same Spirit as well said Gualt Cradock the way to know whither the Spirit be in us is its own Evidence and that is the way to know it in others too and the Man that hath the Spirit may know the Spirit in another There is saith he a kind of Sagacity in the Saints to this purpose To this I answer where the Spirits Doctrine which is the Doctrine both of Christ and the Father goeth along with the Spirit according to Isaiah 59 21. and many other places of Scripture there is a great Truth in it but whatever Spirit either teacheth another Doctrine or draweth Men away from the necessary belief of Christ's Death in the Flesh in being a Sacrifice for our Sins and other Fundamental Principles peculiar to Christianity is not the true Spirit of Christ whatever Unity or Sagacity W.P. and his Brethren may think they have to know it in one another while he and they make nothing to be the Rule of Faith but the Light in every Conscience John 2.9 which teacheth not this Doctrine of Faith nor proposeth this great Object of Faith to wit Christ Crucified to the Conscience they destroy all necessity of that Faith as concerned in our Salvation However with plausible shews he and they will say it is necessary where the History as he terms it has reached but how not for Salvation but historically as we believe the History of Alexander or Julius Cesar or as W.P. and his Brethren pretend to believe G. F's Journal The Difficulty that he moves P. 41. about Interpretation of Scripture is easily resolved without any new material object of Faith if the Spirit of God be acknowledged inwardly to enlighten the Understandings of the faithful and that they faithfully receive the same it will infallibly give to all the Faithful so much of the true knowledge and Faith of all Scripture Doctrine as is necessary to Salvation Page 46. As unfair and fallacious as he hath been in his Definitions and Arguments about the Rule of Faith and Life no less unfair and fallacious is he in his representing many Orthodox and sincere Protestants as if they Judged the Quakers for their asserting an unerring certain or infallible Judgment in things necessary to Salvation This is a very unfair representation of them The Question lyeth not about an unerring certain and infallible Judgment given by the Spirit of God to all the faithful in the things necessary to Salvation which they fully assert But the Question lyeth here whither they have this infallible Judgment either by the common Discoveries and Dictates of the Light in every Man's Conscience or by any new discoveries of the Spirit abstractly and seperately considered from the Scriptures so that the Doctrine as delivered in the Holy Scriptures is not the Rule or Instrument whereby the Spirit works or begets this infallible Judgment in them in all the necessary things of Salvation which â—et are more and others than those assigned by W.P. to wit Faith in Christ crucified and raised again and other fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion A Second part of the question is Whither all or any of the Quakers when met in their Yearly Meetings or any other Meetings or the most enlightned among them have an infallible Judgment given them in all things as their chief Teachers have asserted so that they are not only infallible in the most necessary things but in other things Yea in all that they have given forth either in Preaching or Writing as the Word of the Lord and with an Authority the same in kind with the Prophets as W.P. doth in the Concluâ—ion of this Book where he pretends that he has a Message to tell them and that from the Spirit of the Lord God of Truth and that is Page 48. That Men unregenerated for all their external imitations of the Ancients in some Temporary and figurative parts of Worship will never be accepted But this is no extraordinary Revelation it is a Doctrine that is daily taught and generally believed among all true Christians that never were under the profession of Quakers But the fallacy is here that all are unregenerate in his Sense who own that what they are taught and helped to believe know or practise is by the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures as the Rule of their Faith and Life and Instrument of the Spirits preparing and giving them the Spirit himself being the principal efficient Author and Cause and primary principle of their Knowledge Faith and Practise Yet all this is Judged by W.P. here in his Conclusion to be nothing but a literal Knowledge Historical Faith and outward Religion that is but as the Old Heaven that are to be wrapt up as a scroul and the Old Wine and Bottles that belong not to the Kingdom of God For which Uncharitable and False Judgment I heartily pray God that he may forgive him and giving him a better understanding and reclaim him if it be the blessed Will of God from those most dangerous errors he is intangled in and especially from this that is the foundation of his other errors to wit his Deism and setting up the Light within or Spirit or whatever he calls iâ— abstractly and seperately from Christ's Doctrine and Words even those divine Oracles and Words which the Father gave to Christ and Christ gave them by his Holy Spirit to the Apostles John 17.8 And by the same Holy Spirit by means of the Apostles writing has given to all the faithful since thus dividing what God and Christ have Joyned together surely this cannot be the true Light nor Spirit in him or his Brethren that leads away People from hearing the true Shepherds Voice either as it is outwardly sounded in the outward Ministry of the Word outwardly Preached or as it is inwardly sounded and Eccho'd by the Holy Spirit in Teaching the faithful to believe the same Doctrine that is outwardly delivered in the Holy Scriptures My Sheep said Christ hear my Voice they that draw from Christ's Doctrine being the Rule of Faith and Life to every true Christian draw from the Spirit of Christ and from his Voice whatever seeming pretences they fallaciously make to exalt the Spirit by rejecting that Instrument to wit the Rule of the Holy Scriptures by which the Spirit doth both enlighten the faithful and beget Faith and Hope and Love in them by the precious Oracles and Testimonies therein contained and also doth refresh quicken and comfort them If the Spirit and his divine influences be the Wine that refresheth and cherisheth them the Scripture so to speak are the Flagons that convey it to them according to the words in the Song Cant. 2.5 Stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples and many other plain Testimonies of Scripture that hold forth in God's ordinary way the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures as outwardly delivered to be the means and therefore the Rule by which the Spirit doth both Teach and also Quicken Comfort and strengthen them such as these following places which I recommend to W.P. and his Brethrens Consideration Psal 19.7 8 9 10 11. Prov. 6.23 Psal 119. 4 5 6 18 49 50 105. Psal 147.19 20. Isaiah 8.20.59.21 John 10.3 John 17.8 20. John 20.31 John 5 39. Acts 10.44 Rom. 16.17 Rom. 16.25.26 Gal. 3.2 Eph. 1.13 1 Thes 1.5 1 Tim. 4.16 2 Tim. 1.13 2 Tim. 2.20 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. 28th of the First Month 1699. G. K. FINIS Nam cum humana mens pro sua imbecillitate pervenire ad Deum nullo modo queat nisi sacro ejus verbo adjuta sublevata omnes tunc mortales exceptis Judaeis quia Deum sine verbo querebant necesse fuit in vanitate atque errore versari Calvin Instit Lib. 1. c. 6 S. 4
considered as God-Man If by the Saviour of his People he means such a Saviour as saves them with eternal Salvation and makes them Heirs of God and Co heirs with Christ I say without all Faith either explicit or implicit That some of the Gentiles who endeavoured to live up to some Moral Principles discovered to them by the Light in their Consciences and the Improvements that their reasonable Faculties made being enlightned thereby by viewing the Works of Creation and general Providence had a kind of Faith and Hope in God that prompted them to expect Temporal Blessings and some Temporal Rewards from the Observation they could make that Divine Providence did ordinarily bestow such Blessings upon Men that were morally honest may and ought to be granted But this is not the Faith of God's Elect and of the Heirs of eternal Salvation that is grounded upon the Faithful Word of God and his Faithful Promises first delivered to his Holy Prophets and Apostles and by them to us even such a word of Faith as that It is a faithful saying that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 For to him gave all the Prophets witness as Peter preached to Cornelius that whoever believeth in him should receive remission of Sins Acts 10.43 God's Promises come not to Men nor ever came to them by the common Dictates of the Light within whither they call it God or the Word or the Spirit there are diversities of Operations Gifts and Ministrations inward as well as outward of one God one Lord and one Spirit who is over all in all and through all It is but a faint Hope and Faith that Men can have in God without the Promises and without all special Revelation The knowledge of God's Goodness discoverable by the Light in every Conscience in the Works of Creation and Providence may give Men that are morally honest some probable Faith that he will be favourable to them But the infallible ground of certainty concerning eternal Life and Salvation none ever had or can have without the Promises and special Revelation For all the Light and Knowledge that the Ephesian Gentiles had in their meer Gentile State Paul told That at that time they were without hope and without the Promises and aliens and strangers to the common-wealth of Israel Eph. 2.12 An indigent Man that knows a good Man that is able to help him yet he is not sure that he will help him unless he has his promise and some particular intimation of his mind but if he have that then his Faith hath sure footing But the Faithful have not only God's Word and Promises but confirmed by his Oath that by two immutable things they might have strong Confidence and Hope that is as an Anchor sure and stedfast and which enters within the Vail whither the Fore-runner hath gone But there is nothing of this sort of Faith that I can find as any-wise necessary or essential to the Religion here described in this Treatise of W.P. but pure Deism and at best refined Paganism all along as will further appear in what follows I find in Page 50 of the same Treatise a quite differing Definition of Faith which if not plainly contradictory to the former is very disingenous and full of Equivocation but whatever way it be taken if he adhere to it and allow it to be a proper Definition where the Definition it self in the parts of it ought to be essential to the thing defined and such as the thing defined cannot be without it yields as sufficient Argument against his Position That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith His Definition is this Faith is yielding up to the requirings of God's Spirit in us in full assurance of the Remission of Sins that are past through the Son of his love and Life everlasting Several things are faulty in this Definition First That he confounds the Effect or Concomitant of Faith with Faith it self for the yielding up or Resignation to God's Requirings is rather an Effect or Concomitant of Faith than Faith it self especially in the present case as it hath respect to the Rule which determines what is to be believed or assented unto upon the Credit of Divine Authority Secondly That he makes Remission of Sins to be antecedent and prior to Faith which is the Error of the Antinomians and plainly contradictory to the Scripture that holds forth both Repentance and Faith to be necessary Requisites in order to Forgiveness Thirdly That he makes full Assurance of Remission of Sins to be of the Nature of Faith whereas there is a Faith of Adhesion that is true Faith that many of the Faithful have who have not arrived to that full Assurance But that which I principally notifie in this his last Definition is That he makes this full Assurance of the Remission of Sins to be through the Son of God's love Where that the Equivocation and Fallacy may be discovered I ask him what he means by the Son of his Love through which this Assurance if Remission of Sins is obtained If he means by the Son of his Love only the Light within every Man's Conscience it is a palpable Equivocation and inserted on purpose to deceive the Christian Readers who generally by Mens having Remission of Sins through the Son of God's Love do understand the Son of God's Love to be the Word Incarnate to wit Jesus Christ God-man as he died for our Sins by his Death to purchase to us the Pardon of them But this sense of the words which is the true Scripture sense and the sense of all true Christians W.P. doth not admit if he adhere to what he hath said both here and in his other Books for in his Serious Apology Page 146. he saith in behalf of himself and Brethren That that outward Person that suffered at Jerusalem was properly the Son of God we utterly deny And here in this Book he makes it not any of the absolute Necessaries in Religion but some considerable Matters superadded P. 44. That God was manifested extraordinarily in the Flesh that he gave his Life for the World that such as believe and obey his Grace in their Hearts receive Remission of Sins and Life everlasting But which way soever he understands these words The Son of God's Love seeing he makes the Rule of every Man's Faith not to be the Words of God declaring his Promise of Forgiveness as outwardly delivered in the Holy Scriptures but the Light in every Man's Conscience he is bound to give us some better proof than his simple Affirmation That the Light in every Man's Conscience or indeed in any Man's conscience reveals to him God's Will to forgive Sins without all special Revelation or Declaration of God's Will as contained in the Holy Scriptures seeing the Holy Scriptures do hold it forth as one of the great Secrets and Mysteries of God's Will declared to Men by the special Revelation of the Holy
6. His Quotations out of Gentile Authors as Thales Pythagoras Socrates c. prove no more at most but that they acknowledged an inward Law Rule and Principle of Justice and moral Virtue placed in Mankind But what saith all this to prove that all Mankind had or have a Law or Rule of the Christian Faith Nothing at all Page 8. Arg. 2. He makes a fresh Assault to prove that the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith and Life c. His Argument is this If now the Rule then ever the Rule but they were not ever the Rule therefore they cannot now be the Rule That they were not ever the Rule is granted That they are not therefore now the Rule I shall prove saith he thus If the Faith of God's People in all Ages be of one Nature then the Rule but of one Nature But clear it is Heb. 11. the Faith has been but of one Nature consequently the Rule but of one Nature In short If the Holy Ancients had Faith before they had or wrote Scripture they had a Rule before they had or wrote Scripture Answ His whole way of arguing here is extreamly weak to detect which let him consider when it is commonly said the Scriptures are the Rule of Faith it is not meant simply and barely the written Letter but the Doctrine delivered in or by the written Letter is the Rule which at other times is thus expressed the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament or the revealed Will and Mind of God delivered to us by Scripture is the Rule of Christian Faith c. And seeing the Doctrine of Faith in the promised Messiah and of eternal Salvation through Faith in him is the same in the Essentials and Fundamentals of it now as then and then as now without any substantial Variation it is evident that as the Doctrine now committed to writing is the same it was before it was in writing the Rule is still the same and the Faith is the same for Substance and Nature for the different manner of conveying the Doctrine makes no essential Difference either in the Doctrine or Faith and consequently nor a different Rule As when the Doctrine is delivered by Preaching or Writing to one Nation in one Language and to other Nations in other Languages yet the Doctrine may be still the same Nor doth it change the Nature of the Doctrine that some had it by Prophetical Inspiration and Revelation without any external Mediums and others had it by and through some external Mediums as by means of the Ministry of Faithful Men faithfully conveyed through the several Ages the Spirit of God inwardly by his secret Inspiration moving the Faithful to believe the Doctrine preached to them by such Faithful Men. And here I would have him to consider his great default in not distinguishing the Inspirations of God's Spirit the want of which leads him into so many By-paths as if all Divine Inspirations were Prophetical and of the same Nature with what the Prophets and Apostles had as Prophets and Apostles whereas the Scripture plainly distinguisheth the various Gifts Operations and Ministrations of one and the same God Lord and Spirit all which may be accounted Divine Inspirations Are all Prophets said Paul 1 Cor. 12.29 intimating they were not all Prophets who yet were true Saints and Believers all which had the same Spirit inspiring them all but not the same manner and kind of Inspirations but far differing the Prophetical Inspirations taught them the Doctrine of Faith without all outward teaching of Men but the Inspirations of other Faithful Men who were not Prophets did teach them the same Doctrines by means of outward teaching of Men. Section 4. His third fourth and fifth Arguments Answered Page 9. Arg. 3 HE frames a new Argument here which he sets out in a two-fold Dress I shall produce it in its best Dress and thus it is Such as the Faith is such must the Rule be but the Faith is as before Inward and Spiritual therefore the Rule must be Inward and Spiritual which no meer Book can be Answ Here he takes his Consequence as granted without any offer of proof but it is altogether Fallacious If by the term Such he mean such every way and in all respects and Universally such it will Infer the greatest Blasphemy ad Hominem as to argue thus Such as the Faith is such must the Rule be but the Faith is an Act or thing that had a beginning in Time therefore the Rule is an Act or thing that had a beginning in time and that Rule according to him being the Word and Spirit of God which is God therefore God Absit Blasphemia had a beginning in time If by the term Such he mean not such universally but only in some respects as because the Faith is true and certain therefore the Rule is such his proposition is granted but then the Consequence would not follow that because the Faith is inward the Rule is only inward no more than it will follow that because my sight of an object is in my Eye that therefore the Object is no where but in my Eye He grants that until the Son came the Law outward was a Rule pag. 19. and yet all those Holy Ancients who lived before the Son came had the true inward Faith therefore they had the true inward Rule and not the outward Rule by his Argument which destroyeth his former Argument His Syllogism Transgresseth a certain Rule in Logick The major Proposition in the first Figure must not be particular Page 8.9 As to his Authorities and Testimonies out of Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus to prove that the Word and Spirit is the only Rule of Faith that Socrates and Heraclitus were Christians as living with Christ the Word It may be supposed that Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus might thhink that they had Faith in the promised Messiah as Abraham had nor hath W.P. proved the contrary and if they had that Faith the Rule of that Faith was the same as to us to wit the Doctrine of Faith which is still the same whither given by prophetical Inspiration or by an outward Ministry His Quotation out of Eusebius affirming that Abraham and the Ancient Fathers were Christians and his defining a Christian to be one that by the knowledge and Doctrine of Christ excels in Moderation of Mind in Righteousness and Continency of Life c. has not the least weight to confirm W. P's most false Doctrine viz. That Deism and Christianity are but one and the same thing and have but one and the same Rule to wit the Light as with respect to the common Illumination for Eubseius in the definition of a Christian makes the Doctrine of Christ that whereby he excels in those Vertues But can W.P. prove that the Doctrine of Faith in Christ as God-man for remisiion of Sin and Eternal Salvation was no part of the Doctrine of Christ according
self-evidence but the evidence of the truth of them depends on the veracity of God the Original Author of them the next thing to be enquired into is what is the great and most principal motive of Credibility to move and effectually perswade the Mind that they are the Words of God surely he who believes that there is a God cannot but assent to this proposition that whatever God hath said is true that all the Words of God are Words of truth it hath as immediate evidence to him that has the least true knowledge of God as that the whole is greater than the part That then which is only requisite to move the Mind of Man to assent to any words delivered to us as the words of God is to have a sufficient motive of Credibility given us why we should believe them to be indeed the words of God That the Prophets and Apostles knew that all the words they delivered to Men as the words of God were infallibly the words of God is generally granted by all that own the Truth of Divine Revelation the manner of their Conveyance to their Understanding being with such a Divine Power Majesty and Glory and making such a Divine Impression on them as infallibly assured them and this many times without all Miracles proposed to their outward Senses Section 8. That the Faithful have as good Assurance of the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures by the ordinary Inspirations of the Spirit in the use of the outward Means as the Prophets had by Extraordinary and Prophetical The Distinction betwixt them explained THE great Question therefore that remains now to be considered and resolved is Whither the Faithful cannot have and actually have not as good Assurance in respect of all Fundamentals and Essentials of the Christian Faith at least that the words delivered by the Holy Prophets and Apostles were the Words of God as if they had received them in the same way and manner as the Prophets and Apostles received them which was without any external Medium such as the Ministry of Men and Books whereas the way that we now receive those words is by some external Medium to wit the Ministry of Men and Books I shall not here insist upon the external Motives of Credibility taken either from so many Thousands of the best and wisest of Men in the several Ages of the World since the words were committed to writing who have received and embraced them to be what really they are even the Words of the Living and True God or such as are taken from the Words themselves as outwardly delivered such as the Simplicity Purity Majesty and Efficacy of their Doctrine the Harmony of the several Parts the fulfilling of the many Prophecies contained in them the many other incomparable Excellencies of them the wonderful Effects they have had on many Thousands and Millions of Men in being instrumental to their Conversion from Idolatry and Ungodliness to true Piety and Sanctity all which are of great weight to convince the Reason of Men but because all this doth amount to no more but a rational Conviction and doth not beget a Divine Assent or Perswasion Therefore I conclude with all Orthodox and Sound Christians that our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority of them is from the inward Work of the Holy Spirit by his Internal and Supernatural Illumination Inspiration and Revelation and secret and most inward Teaching in our Hearts by sensible and perceptible Impressions Sealing to the Truth of them upon our Hearts and Minds And here I think fit to guard against a two-fold Extream that I find too many run into both greatly and dangerously erroneous the one is of some that grant indeed that the Spirit doth inwardly operate in the Souls of Men and more especially in the Souls of the Faithful but this Operation or Agency and Efficiency of the Spirit they will have it only to be effective and no-wise objective that is to say no-wise perceptible or sensible to the Soul in which the Spirit doth so operate Hence it is that some of them have called this Internal Operation of the Spirit even in the Faithful Medium incognitum assentiendi the which Assertion being so repugnant to the Scripture Testimonies in many places that hold forth the Spirits internal Operations and Virtues to be as sensible upon the internal and spiritual Senses of Souls in any good degree inwardly quickned and made alive to God as the Operations of outward Light Heat Cold or the most affecting Objects of Sight Taste Smelling and Feeling are upon our outward and bodily Senses and also being so contrary to the Experience of many Thousands of true experienced Christians I shall not insist here any further to refute it The other as dangerous and erroneous Extream is of such of whom is W.P. and his Party as plainly appears by what he layeth down in this Treatise and oft elsewhere in his Books who hold That the Manner and Kind of the Spirits Internal Inspirations Revelations Illuminations and inward Teachings is the same with that which the Prophets and Apostles had that is to say that whatever they think they have a Divine Knowledge and Faith of the words which are necessary to be the Rule and Medium to the obtaining this Knowledge and Faith must be given them as they were given to the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures to wit without the external Medium of the Holy Scriptures and without any external Teaching whatsoever and that therefore their Faith and Knowledge so far as it is Divine hath no dependence on the words delivered in the Holy Scriptures but whatever they know or believe by a Divine Knowledge and Faith it is wholly from words inwardly given them from the Spirit without all outward conveyance of Men or Books Hence it is that W.P. calls his and his Brethrens Rule of Faith and Life the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in Mens Consciences but as for the Precepts and Words outwardly delivered in Scripture they are but to him what Pythagoras and other Philosophers quoted by him Page 6. judged of other Writings to wit liveless Precepts Hence many of his Party have presumed to call them a Dead Letter Death and Carnal Yet Page 25. he is so yielding and seemingly kind to the Scriptures that he grants them to be a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule Such a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule saith he we never said several parts of Scripture were not Here observe for all his professed kindness to the Scriptures he will not allow all the parts of Scripture but only some parts of it to be so much as a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule though even the Ceremonial Precepts he has as great reason to believe them to be the Words of God and consequently a Rule of Faith though not of Practise as touching the external Types as truly as any other parts of Scripture But seeing every subordinate
ordinary way it works in the Faithful accompanying the outward word and by means thereof the which inward word Voice and Teaching properly and strictly speaking is not any singular new or differing Form of words but rather a Divine Power Light and Life quickning enlightning and strengthning the Understanding and Heart of Man Spiritually and Savingly to understand the Divine Doctrines and Mysteries of the Christian Faith outwardly delivered in the Holy Scriptures and not only so but giving the Souls of the Faithful at times a Divine Sense Sight and Taste of God's Divine Power Love and Life called in Scripture A tasting of the heavenly Gift and of the good Word of God and of the powers of the World to come which Sight Sense and Taste and Spiritual Feeling is indeed beyond all that can be either uttered with the Mouth heard with the Ear or conceived in the Mind in or by any Form of words as the outward Sight Sense Taste and Feeling of outward delightful Objects is beyond all words and report of them as the Scripture saith Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entred into the Heart to conceive the good things that God hath prepared for them that love him But as saith the Apostle Paul God hath revealed them to us to wit to the Faithful by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Isaiah 64.4 viz. in an earnest and first Fruits the Harvest and full Fruition being reserved for the future State And here again if it be asked what is the Rule whereby to know surely the true Divine Enjoyment as above described from the false and counterfeit that may be nothing other than Satan's Transformings I answer It is improper in this Case to ask what is the Rule of Faith or Practise because this high Divine Enjoyment is properly speaking neither an Act of Faith nor Practise though it is a proper Consequent and Concomitant of sound Faith and godly and virtuous Practise for as in the exercise of the outward Sight Hearing and Taste no Form of words can be a Rule to a Man to teach him how to See Hear or Taste but the sound Disposition of the Organs of those Senses and the due Application of the Objects is all that is requisite to enable a Man to know what he certainly Sees Hears and Tasts so when the Spiritual Senses of the Soul are awakened by the quickning Power of God and the Mind fitly and duly disposed whatever Divine and Spiritual Objects are presented to that Soul and Mind it naturally and necessarily apprehends them by its Spiritual Senses which are as it were the Spiritual Organs of the Inward and Spiritual Man the best and fittest Disposition of the Soul and Mind making it capable for such Divine Enjoyment is Internal Purity of Heart as our Saviour hath taught us saying Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God that is always accompanied with a sound Faith grounded upon the sound and wholsome Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures And though no Form of words can be a Rule a Priori whereby to discern true Enjoyments from false and counterfeit yet a Posteriori that is by the Consequents and Effects they may soon and quickly be discerned if duly examined by the infallible Rule of Faith and Life laid down in the Scriptures even as a Posteriori or consequentially a Man may know whither what he apprehends he seeth heareth or tasteth outwardly be real or imaginary Section 14. Diverse places of Scripture explained and rescued from his Corrupt Glosses and Interpretations BUT before I finish my Answer to this his last Argument I think fit to take notice how he has perverted misconstrued and misapplied all and every one of the places of Scripture above recited out of his Page 21 to prove that the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life to every Man and that without any necessary super-addition without or within Men be they Jews Mahometans Infidels Christians they have all but one and the same Rule of Faith and Life as they have one and the same Creator For indeed not one of these places are to be understood as with respect to that part of Mankind that lived or now live in pure Heathenism or Gentilism but such as were or are professed Members of God's Church as the Jews were when our Saviour was bodily present on Earth and as the Christians were and now are excepting that one place Rom. 1.19 which as I have above noted he falsly quotes rendring it Whatsoever may be known of God which as the English Translation doth not so word nor doth the Greek bear it and the Falseness of it I have above described as for the saying of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this World which is the first of those Quotations above given Can it be supposed that by his Kingdom there he meant nothing but the Light in every Man's Conscience he offers not the least proof of it the Kingdom of God and of Christ in Scripture otherwise called the Kingdom of Heaven hath diverse significations sometimes it signifies his Church that is called a Kingdom of Priests sometimes his Rule and Government in and over his Church by his Laws and Precepts and Power of his Spirit and manifold Gifts and Graces and sometimes the Gospel with the Blessings thereof that is the Doctrine of the Gospel as where Christ said to the Jews The Kingdom should be taken from them Matt. 21.43 as hath been accordingly fulfilled though still they have the common Illumination of the Light within them and sometimes it signifieth his Kingdom of Glory in the future State after Death This next Quotation is out of Luke 17.20 21. The Kingdom of God is within you which also he falsly quotes leaving out the word you so making it universal to serve his Design for a Proof that the Light in every Mans Conscience is that which is meant by Christ in this place the Kingdom of God I grant God has an universal providential Kingdom in and over all his Creatures and more particularly in and over all Mankind according to Psal 103.19 and his Kingdom ruleth over all or in all and that his providential Kingdom among Men is administred in great part by means of the common Illumination in and over all Men but the Kingdom as it is here understood Luke 17.20 21. is not his providential Kingdom but a new Administration of the Gospel that many were looking for and expecting which made the Pharisees ask when the Kingdom of God should come surely as they meant not to ask when his providential Kingdom should come or when should Men begin to have something to reprove or convince them for common Sins in their Conscience nor did Christ mean it so but of some more excellent Dispensation by his Doctrine and Preaching which the Pharisees had heard as well as others and therefore it might well be said to be not only among them as some translate it but
him that never was in the Country Yet this proves not but that the Geographical account of that Country by words and Maps truly and accurately given by Men of great Wisdom and Sincerety is of great Service and Advantage both to Strangers who desire to see the Country and live in it and also to them that already live in it And for all the great Conceit that W.P. has of his knowledge of the great Mystery of Regeneration by his Experience of which he denieth That the Scriptures have given him any Information Yet he is very ignorant of it still if he be of his former mind as he wrote in his Preface to R. B's Works That Regeneration is a greater Mystery than God manifest in the Flesh Had W.P. consulted Scripture it would have better informed him and to be sure the true Experience of Regeneration never taught him any such horrid and extreamly false Assertion Page 31. He saith The knowledge of those Prophesies of Christ's Sufferings was by extraordinary Revelation not falling within the ordinary Discoveries that are absolutely necessary to Man's Salvation by which he shews his Power and Faithfulness that he is God and can foretell and will bring to pass But therefore must there be an extraordinary Light or Spirit and not rather an extraordinary Sight and Sense from one and the same Light and Spirit in them Answ First this quite overthrows his Notion of a general Rule that must be one and the same to all Mankind for if the Prophets had extraordinary Revelation concerning Christ's Sufferings which other Men have not that extraordinary Revelation was the Rule of their Faith touching that matter which could not be the Rule of Faith to them who had no knowledge of that thing Secondly Though the inward extraordinary Revelation given to the Prophets concerning Christ's Sufferings was not necessary to others of the Faithful who were not Prophets for their Salvation yet the Knowledge and Faith of them was necessary to Salvation by some other means to wit by having the Doctrine given to the Prophets by extraordinary Revelation preached or conveyed to the Faithful by the ordinary outward means of Instruction which differing manner of conveyance makes not any difference in the Doctrine nor yet in the Faith of it for Matter and Substance Thirdly That he makes the Faith of Christ's Sufferings none of the absolute Necessaries to our Christianity and Salvation because not given to us as it was to the Prophets by extraordinary Revelation This plainly gives us a new and fresh Instance of his Deism and Paganism appearing with open face for if the Faith of Christ's Sufferings be not necessary to our Salvation because we have it not given us by extraordinary Revelation as the Prophets had which is a false Consequence by the same reason not one of the twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed or any of the other Creeds called the Nicene and Athanasian nor any one of the peculiar Doctrines and Articles of the Christian Faith are necessary to our Salvation though we hear them daily preached or may daily read them in the Holy Scriptures because by his false Inference not given us by extraordinary Revelation and at this rate no more Faith is necessary to our Salvation than what any Infidel Jew or Mahometan or Heathen may have by the common Dictates of the Light in every one of their Consciences abstractly consider'd without all means of outward Instruction by the Holy Scriptures which is a plain undermining of the whole Christian Religion and introducing Deism and Paganism in its room and is really a degree more remote from Christianity than any Pelagianism or Socinianism Fourthly Whereas he querieth Must there be therefore an extraordinary Light or Spirit and not rather an extraordinary Sight or Sense from one and the same Light and Spirit in them I answer Taking Light and Spirit in the highest sense to signifie God Christ or the Holy Spirit it will not infer another Light or Spirit but another Illumination Inspiration and Revelation as well as another Sight and Sense proceeding from one and the same Spirit and from one and the same Light originally according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture that teacheth there is diversity of Operations Administrations and Gifts but one God one Lord and one Spirit But the words and terms Light and Spirit sometimes in Scripture signifie some Internal Act of Illumination and Operation and Gift of the Spirit as when we read of the seven Spirits of God in Scripture and that God is called the Father of Lights this doth not signifie seven real distinct Spirits of God but seven Gifts or Virtues and Operations of one and the same Spirit And because there are several sorts of Illuminations proceeding from one Light originally which is God and the Divine Word therefore they are called Lights and in this sense fully agreeable to Scripture the Prophets and all the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures may be said to have had an extraordinary Light and Spirit as well as an extraordinary Sight that others of the Faithful had not or now have not and yet the Faith the same for Matter and Substance for extraordinary Revelation may be called extraordinary Light well enough and also the Faithful may be said to have an extraordinary Light and Spirit that no Infidel Jew Mahometan Heathen or meer Moralist Deist or meer Formal Professor of Christianity hath to wit in respect of the diversity of the kinds and sorts of the Illuminations according to the differing subjects that of the Prophets differing from that of other Faithful Men that were not Prophets who yet had the same Faith though not conveyed by the same manner of Illumination and the Illumination of the Faithful differing from the common Illumination given in common to Mankind which in the respects above-mentioned may be said to be three several Lights and Spirits according to the three several subjects all which are but originally one and the same like to which we have an Example in the Beams of the Sun that remaining the same in their nature yet according to the differing Mediums and Subjects of reception seem wonderfully diversified so that passing through Glasses of several colours as green red blew and yellow the Beams or Rayes will have these differing colours which diversity proceeds not from the nature of the Sun-beams but the differing Mediums and Subjects and thus also the same Influence of the Sun melteth Wax and hardneth Clay and operating on a Field where Barley is sown contributes to produce a Crop of Barley but operating on a Field where Wheat is sown contributes to produce a Crop of Wheat from the differing Seeds and Subjects it works upon Section 19 His Definition of the Judge of Controversie lame and fallacious as his Definition of the general Rule and Faith in what Sense the Spirit is the Judge of Controversie quoad nos i.e. as to us THus having gone through and examined all that I have
observed in his Book giving his Reasons and Arguments That the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith and Life but the Light in every Conscience and having shewn the Weakness yea the Falsity of them I thought it not necessary to take notice of his Enlargements and Amplifications on his several Arguments but answer to the Argument it self wherein its strength seemed to lye I shall be brief in my Examination and answer to his second part to wit concerning the Judge of Controversie for because it hath such a necessary Connexion with the former the former being clearly discussed the latter will easily be determined Page 39. He gives us his explanation what he means by these Terms Judge and Controversie A Judge saith he is one that has not only power to determine but discerning to do it rightly Controversie is a debate between two parties about the Truth or Falshood to be determined by that Judge But as he wrongly stated the Question in the first part about the Rule so here he is very short in stating the Controversie about the Judge It is without all Question among all that own that there is one great God Almighty that he is the Great and Supreme Judge of what is Truth and what is not universally and that most perfectly and infallibly and all that believe in Christ and in the Holy Spirit do own that Christ and the Holy Spirit together with the Father are that Supreme Judge as they are one and the same Supreme God and not only so but all true Christians own that Christ as the Son of Man has all Judgment committed to him and is both Head and Judge in his Church Now that wherein W.P. is short in stating the Question here is that he doth not assign the true Rule whereby the Judge to wit God Christ and the Spirit doth give forth a definitive Judgment to be understood and received by the Members of the Church of Christ Neither God nor Christ nor the Holy Spirit need the Scripture to give a Judgment as to themselves their knowledge of what is Truth and what is not so is wholly independent from the Scripture but the Question is to be thus stated What Rule Standard or Measure God Christ and the Spirit has given to the faithful in particular and to the whole Church in general since the Doctrine of the true Faith was committed to writing whereby they may understand and know the true Judgment and determination of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit the Supreme Judge of Controversie True it is that the Law-giver is the best interpreter of any point that may concern his own Law and therefore as God is the Law-maker so he is the Supreme Judge and Interpreter of his Law But as an Earthly Law-giver suppose an Earthly King with the consent of the great Counsel of the Nation gives forth his Laws to his Subjects if any Controversie arise about the true sense of those Laws the King and his Counsel that made those Laws is to determine the Controversie by the Laws themselves one part of the Law serving as a Key to open what is hard to be understood in another part of it Thus it is in this Nation and commonly in all Nations for the Law is supposed to be such a perfect Law Intire and Compleat that the Sense of it needs not be given by giving forth any new Law to give the sense of the former nor ought any Subject to presume to give his private Interpretation of the Law by any private Gloss or Sense which he cannot demonstrate from the Law it self and as it 's thus as to the Laws of Men how much more is it so as to the Laws of God The Laws of Men indeed receive frequently new Additions and Alterations and yet this cannot be done but by Publick Authority But the Law and Rule of Faith and Life that God has given to the Faithful and to his Church now under the New Testament is so full perfect and comprehensive that is fully Sufficient without any Addition and if it can be supposed that it may please God to give forth any new Laws to his Church it must be allowed that there must be the same Evidence and ground of receiving them to be such as was given for the Old Testament by Moses and for the New Testament by Christ Now had W.P. fairly stated the question he should have stated it thus Whither the Spirit of Christ whose Judgment and Determination is all one with that of Christ and the Father doth give his Judgment to the Church and the Members of it by any other Law or Rule Measure or Standard than what is already to be-found in the Holy Scriptures whether relating to Articles of Faith or positive Precepts of revealed and instituted Religion by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament Or whither the Spirit gives this Judgment not by the Doctrines and Precepts contained in the Scriptures but by the common discoveries and Dictates of the Light within every Man's Conscience which are commonly the same and of the same extent in all Mankind be they Jews and Mahometans and Painims abroad or Deists at home here in England or elsewhere Or lastly whither by any new particular Discoveries Revelations or Dictates and new Precepts of the Spirit not formerly given either to Mankind in general or to the Church in particular To the first all sound Christians agree The Second is the sence of W.P. and those of his Brethren of the Second Days Meeting that have approved his Book The third is the sence of some of the chief Teachers and Leaders that first arose among the Quakers that did affirm they had new Commands given from the Spirit by immediat Revelation from Heaven some of which are neither the common Dictates of the Light in every Conscience of Mankind nor to be found in the Scriptures either expresly or by any necessary consequence from them And indeed the first Teachers and Leaders amongst that People did not think it worth while to prove their Doctrine or warrant their Interpretations by consequences from Scripture but the general proof was This is the Word of the Lord unto you for G.F. see his Journal plainly told that when he first came forth he was commanded of God to say thee and thou to every Man to whom he spoke and not to put off his Hat to any Also the setting up of Womens Government in their Meetings distinct from the Men by the more devout sort who did think and still think that G.F. was a Prophet as immediately sent as Moses or any other is Judged to have been by a Divine Authority and Power in G.F. without any dependance on Scripture Rule or seeking to fish it by consequence from Scripture And pray what need is there to bring Scripture proof for any thing that Men either believe or practise either by consequence or express words seeing that is not the Rule of either Faith or practise but
the Light in every Conscience as W.P. saith here in this Book or some New Revelation or discovery that neither Jews nor Turks nor other Deists have nor all Christendom but only and alone the People called Quakers But if these new Revelations be their Rule in the Case it quite overturns W. P's Fabrick of setting up a general Rule of Faith and Life in every Man's Conscience For a new Revelation that only one part of Mankind hath cannot be a general Rule W.P. makes not the Light within which he will have to be the Spirit or God himself or Christ in every Man abstractly considered from the inward discoveries Dictates and Precepts there delivered to be the general Rule which he calls the Eternal Precepts of the Spirit in the Conscience and the Noble precepts writ in Man's Heart Phrases that he has borrowed from some Heathen writers as Pythagoras and Sophocles and which are to be owned in their place to be such and to be a general Rule of Moral Justice and Temperance as is above owned but not either the general Rule of the Christian Religion with respect to its peculiar Doctrines and Precepts nor indeed so much as any Rule at all in that state nor indeed is it at all proper to call the Spirit the Rule in his Sense but rather the Dictates and discoveries of the Spirit which W.P. calls sometimes Revelation to wit Internal and the Internal Testimony of the Spirit Eternal Precepts and noble Laws writ in all Men's Hearts for the Spirit abstractly considered from all Internal and External discovery Revelation and Testimony teacheth Men nothing at all and therefore can be no Rule to them as such And seeing W.P. hath cast away the Holy Scriptures from being the Rule of Faith and Practise even to us Christians that is all and every one of the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of Christianity that are to be sure no part of those Eternal Precepts and Laws writ in all Mens Consciences not one of them nor all of those peculiar Doctrines and Precepts are so much as a part of the Christians Rule of Faith and Life for if it were then the Christians the Deists the Mahometans and Infidel Jews should not have one general Rule of Faith and Life which he contends for Page 41. He proposeth an Objection and pretends to solve it Obj. But is not the Scripture the Judge of Controversie He should rather have made the Objection run thus Is not the Scripture the Rule whereby the Spirit of Truth who is properly the Judge doth by his inward ordinary illumination in the Faithful determine the Controversie in all the necessary things of Salvation Yea and also in many other things though not absolutely necessary yet very profitable He Answers How can that be since the Question most times arises about the meaning of Scripture I reply yet still the Scripture is the proper Rule to determine the Controversie even when the question ariseth about the meaning of the Scripture because what seemeth obscure in some places of Scripture are opened and made plain by other plain places of Scripture treating on the same Subject that are as a Key to open them with out any other Rule than the Scripture it self only there is need of the Spirits Internal Illumination and assistance to help us to use that Key especially in reference to the saving knowledge of them He proceeds in his answer to the Objection saying Is there any place to wit in Scripture tells us without Interpretation whither the Socinian or Trinitarian be in the right in their differing Apprehensions of the Three that bear record c. Also the Homousian and Arian about Christ's Divinity or the Papists or Protestants about Transubstantiation If then things are left undefin'd and undetermined I mean literally and expresly in the Scripture and that the Question arises about the Sense of words Doth the Scripture determine which of these Interpreters hit the mark From all which he concludes that not the Scripture but the Interpretation must decide the Matter in Controversie and that Interpretation must be given from the Spirit of God to be a true and infallible Interpretation Answ Seeing that Interpretation according to W.P. cannot be given from the Spirit without an extraordinary Revelation the things in Controversie being such according to W. P's Phrase and Confession P. 31. as fall not within the ordinary Discoveries that are absolutely necessary to Man's Salvation and that W.P. also grants that he and his Brethren have no such extraordinary Revelation for it is not needful being none of the absolute Necessaries to our Salvation P. 33. It evidently follows that neither W.P. nor any of his Brethren nor indeed any other Men now living whatsoever have any certainty whither the Socinian or Trinitarian be in the right that is whither Christ is God and whither Christ had any Existence before Mary and whither Christ be in any of the Faithful yea or nay yea W.P. hath no certainty of this Fundamental Principle that Christ is in him or in any of his Brethren the great reason of their Assertion that Christ is in them being that Christ is God so that if it be not certain from Scripture that Christ is God and if the Socinian Doctrine should prove true that Christ is only a Man it will evidently follow as I think W.P. will grant that it is utterly false that Christ is in any Men whatsoever and that that Light that is in Men even the most Faithful is not Christ for how can that which is only a meer Man and a meer Creature as the Socinians say that Christ only is be in all Men. Again If it cannot be determined from Scripture without extraordinary Revelation which W.P. grants neither he nor his Brethren have as touching these Matters whither the Arians or the Homonsians be in the right it evidently followeth that neither W.P. nor his Brethren are certain whither the word mentioned John 1.1 be any other than a meer Creature and consequently they are not certain but that they themselves are Idolaters who give any Divine Worship to Christ as he is that Word Also if it be not certain from Scripture whither the Papists or Protestants be in the right about Transubstantiation without extraordinary Revelation according to W. P's way of arguing If the Papists should happen to be in the right and W.P. by his Confession knoweth nothing to the contrary but that they are he and his Brethren should be guilty of horrid Contempt and Blasphemy to call that which is the Body of Christ nothing but Bread And is not this Assertion of W.P. a fair Inlet to Popery that the Scripture doth not determine expresly without Interpretation and that Interpretation cannot be had without new Revelation whither the Papists Doctrine of Transubstantiation be true So that to him at present it is a Matter of Indifferency and if W.P. should turn Papist or suppose him to be one when he declares himself he