to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction Totally excluded And from Acts 10. 9. he concludes so that Remission came by believing his Testimony and obeying his Precepts and not by a Pretended Satisfaction Thus Reader do but observe how Proteus like he changes his shapes one while to argue against any Satisfaction of Christ to God for the Debt of our Sins by which the nature of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice is wholly destroy'd Another while after he has thrown down Christ's being our Propitiatory Sacrifice without us he sets up an Imaginary Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb slain within the high Priest within Whereas were his Arguments of any force as they are not they would be as much against Christ's being a Propitiation by his Satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins within Men as without them In one thing his Cunning is observable though mix'd with horrid Ignorance and Folly and bold Presumption that he makes the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity that distinguisheth betwixt the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness so closely joyned together that they fall together if the first of them falls and so he makes his bold attempt against the first that by throwing down the first he may throw down the second and by that means the third and having as he thinks effectually done the business he entitles his Book The Sandy Foundation shaken which is in effect to say The Foundation of the Christian Faith and Religion shaken in order to introduce Deism and Heathenism into Christendom But he shall one day know if he know it not before he dye which God grant that he may that the Foundation he calls The Sandy Foundation is not Sandy but stands on that Rock on which the Church of Christ is built that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against and if he repent not of this Blasphemy which I pray God he may this Rock will grind him to powder There is yet one main thing further that is needful to be noticed in this fourth Section before I leave it and that is That whereas he asserts there is an absolute necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and amendment of Life the Holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remission and Justification from Sin for which he cites Rom. 3. 22 to 26. 8. 1 2 3 4. 1 John 5 7. he mentions not one word of the absolute necessity of Faith in Jesus Christ as he outwardly suffered Death for our Sins and thereby became the Propitiation for Sin though he expresly asserts the absolute necessity of Repentance Obedience and amendment of Life and though one of the Scriptures quoted by him in Chapter and Verse viz Rom. 3. 22 to 26. expresly mentions Faith in his Blood for Remission of Sin yet he knowing himself in his own Conscience that he was not for any such necessity of Faith in Christ or in his Blood as above express'd he did purposely omit it And if he or any for him shall say he implied it though he did not express it I say as he did not express it so he did not imply it which I prove from the following Reasons 1. Seeing he not only express'd Repentance but asserted it to be absolutely necessary to Remission of Sin had he thought Faith in Christ as he outwardly died absolutely necessary to our obtaining Remission of Sins no doubt he would have expressed that too either there or some where at least in some of his Books but upon all the search I have made I have not found it any where in his books and indeed very rarely in any of the books of his Brethren 2. But on the contrary I have found that both he and G. W. especially and diverse others as I have proved by Quotations out of their books in my third Narrative have expresly opposed this Faith to wit in Christ as outwardly Crucified and in his blood as outwardly shed by way of Propitiation and satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins W. P. in his Quakerism a new Nick-name for old Christianity p. 6. saith Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation is a deadly Poyson these latter Ages has been infected with And in his Rejoynder to John Faldo p. 333. he saith Christ in the Gentiles is a greater Mystery than Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh It 's strange saith he in opposition to J. F. who asserted like a true Christian That Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh was a greater Mystery than Christ in the Gentiles that should be counted most mysterious which was the Introduction to the Mystery and these Transactions counted most difficult that were by the Divine Wisdom of God ordained as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man And page 335. In short saith he it is to exclude the true Mystery of Godliness which is Christ manifested in his Children Thus we see he makes Christ's Death and Sufferings without us which he calls Transactions as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man i. e. of his being Crucified within and his blood inwardly shed and his offering himself inwardly in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice to appease the Wrath of God Thus also we see how he hath destroyed the great Object of the Christian Faith which is Christ as he was outwardly Crucified being the great Propitiation for our Sins And G. Whitehead his elder Brother in Ignorance and Error hath given him a Copy to write after in his Truth defending the Quakers p. 65. he saith Faith in Christ without Men is contrary to the Apostles Doctrine And p. 66. he saith The Blood of Christ's Humanity the Apostle doth not tell us of Christ's Blood is Spiritual And in his Light and Life p. 56. he saith The Blood of the Covenant is inward and Spiritual P. 59 60. Christ's Blood that was outwardly shed not the Antitype or Substance signified by the Blood of Beasts shed under the Law And p. 8. he saith To look to Christ Crucified at Jerusalem and in Heaven and to be revealed in us by his Spirit is a Contradiction 3. According to that Fundamental Principle laid down by W. P. in his Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Life he must needs exclude Faith in Christ as he was outwardly born died and rose again not only from being absolutely necessary to our Salvation but from being given to us at all otherwise than barely historically for seeing according to him the Light in every Man only as giving the ordinary Discoveries that all Mankind have is the Rule of Faith to every Man no Man either doth or can believe otherwise than barely historically what the Light within hath not revealed but the Light within as it hath not revealed the Birth Death and Sufferings of
Christ to every Man so by W. P's Confession it hath not revealed these things to him or his Brethren for he grants they belong to extraordinary Revelation and fall not within the ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind and are none of the absolute Necessaries of Religion and that such Revelation is not necessary and yet without such internal extraordinary Revelation of these things they cannot have the certain Faith of them as he confesseth Section 4. His Fallacy in pretending to own the Doctrine of Justification by Christ the Propitiation the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead to be Fundamentals of Christianity whereas he doth not in truth own any one of them His ill use of the Bishop's Charity by his own Argument retorted on himself it is proved he hath denied all the Fundamental Articles of Christianity The chief reason why W. P. and his Brethren believe not the Fundamentals of Christianity is That they deny the Holy Scripure to be the Rule of their Faith and set up the Light within to be the Rule which yet they confess doth not reveal to them any of those Fundamentals BY all which it plainly appeareth how disingenuous and fallacious W. P. hath been not only in the Paper called Gospel Truths published by him and his three Brethren but in his Answer to the Bishop of Cork on that Head yea and on all the other Heads it were easie to shew his Shuffling and Equivocation as well as his unfair and uncivil Treatment of him To detect which a little further let us consider W. P's words in answer to the Bishop of Cork p. 25 and 26. I am of opinion saith W. P. If he viz. the Bishop had well considered the Force and Comprehensiveness of our Belief concerning Christ That pleaseth him so well he might have saved himself the trouble of what he has published to the World upon the rest of them for whoever believes in Christ as a Propitiation in order to Remission of Sins and Justification of Sinners can hardly disbelieve any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion Since every such Person must necessarily believe in God because it is with him alone Man is to be justified To be sure he must believe in Christ for that is the very Proposition he must also believe in the Holy Ghost because he is the Author of his Conviction Repentance and Belief he must believe Heaven and Hell Rewards and Punishments and consequently the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust For why should he be concerned about the being freed from the Guilt of his Sin if he were unaccountable in another World So that acknowledging the necessity of Christ as a Propitiation in order to the Remission of Sin comprehends the main Doctrine of the Christian Religion And as so many Lines drawn from the Circumference to the Center they all meet and center in Christ And indeed it is as the Navel of Christianity and Characteristick of that Religion Were this confession of W. P. as sincere as it is seemingly fair it would prove that his Doctrine were indeed Christian and no doubt might and ought to give to the Bishop or any other that were doubtful in the case good Satisfaction of the Christianity of his Doctrine But that all this is meer paint and equivocation what I have above quoted out of his Books fairly and fully doth sufficiently prove That the profession W. P. made of his belief in his Gospel Truths pleased the Bishop so well whereof W. P. takes such particular and great notice and thereby takes occasion to blame his disingenuity as well as his troubling himself with publishing what he hath done to the World Yea W. P. makes it next to impossible that it was the first time the Bishop hath heard of that Doctrine among them viz. the acknowledging the necessity of Christ as a propitiation in order to the remission of Sins and Justifying them as Sinners from Guilt I say that this his profession pleased the Bishop so well did proceed from the Bishops great Charity and Moderation Charitably believing that W. P's Heart and Pen did go along together but as W. P. hath made an ill use of the Bishop's Charity and Judgment thus impertinently to reflect on him so it is fit the Bishop should be better acquainted with W. P's equivocations and double dealings with him which he may easily find out by an indifferent search into his former Books W. P. in his above mentioned confession professeth his belief in Christ as a propitiation and this he would seem to make the Navel of Christianity and Characteristick of that Religion But what doth W. P. mean by Christ the Propitiation and Faith in him as such doth he mean the same that the Bishop meaneth and all sincere Christians Nay nothing less Christ within as he is the Light and Life as he offers up himself within his Children in the Nature of a Mediating Sacrifice the Lamb within but not the Lamb without the High-Priest within is the Propitiation and his blood as shed within which is the Life and the Life is the Light within as he hath both printed and preached is that Propitiation And certainly did he mean that Faith in the Man Christ without us as he outwardly was crucified was necessary to Christianity and the Characteristick of that Religion and that the acknowledgment of Christ as such was necessary to constitute a Christian he would not plead that a meer Just Man who has no Faith in Christ as the Word Incarnate is a Christian and that he who believes in God believes in Christ because Christ is God as he has argued in his address to Protestants And did he really think that to believe and acknowledge Christ to wit as outwardly crucified and raised again to be the Propitiation was the Navel of Christianity and the Characteristick of that Religion he would not have excluded that Faith from the absolute necessaries of Religion as he hath plainly done in his discourse concerning the general Rule of Faith and Life Nor would he have set up the Light within every Man with respect to its ordinary discoveries of Moral Piety and Justice without any Revelation of Christ as he came outwardly in the Flesh to be the general Rule of Faith to all Christians as well as to all Heathens which is making Deism and Christianity but one and the same thing tho' now he seems to distinguish them by calling Christianity that Religion whereof the Faith and acknowledgment of Christ the Propitiation is the Navel and Characteristick But seeing W. P. doth so Grosly prevaricate and equivocate about Christ the Propitiation and Faith in him as such and that it hath been proved he hath not the true Faith of Christ the Propitiation nor so much as a true notion of it 't is fit to apply W. P's words against himself and to Argue from his words by the Rule of contraries As whoever believes in Christ as a
that for their Sin of not believing in Christ God-man without them especially they were to dye in their Sins And as fallacious he is in interpreting John 16. 7. that the Comforter which Christ promised to send was the Light within or the Word God with respect only to his common Illumination reproving for common Sins whereas it 's plain from v. 9. that the Sin of which especially the Comforter viz. The Holy Spirit should convince Men should be the Sin of unbelief viz. For not believing that that very Man that spoke unto them was the Christ of God the promised Messiah the Redeemer and Saviour of the World Now unless W. P. can show that the Light within allowing it to be the Word God with respect to the common Illumination and by the said common Illumination universally given to Mankind without any superadded special inward Illumination of the Divine Word and without all external Revelation of Scripture-Light and Doctrine doth convince all Men of the Sin of not believing in the Man Christ Jesus that was born of a Virgin who spoke those words John 8. 21. 24. and John 16. 7 8 9. he but beats the Air and argueth to no purpose that the Light within every Man giveth a sufficient discovery of the way to Eternal Life and Salvation by the common Illumination without all special Illumination and external Revelation as aforesaid Why God hath not given the External Revelation of the Gospel Doctrine concerning Christ the Propitiation as he outwardly dyed for the Sins of Men nor the special Illumination nor conviction of the Spirit that ordinarily accompanieth the outward Preaching of the Gospel to many parts of Mankind belongeth to the depth of his most righteous Judgments against which we have no cause to dispute but to cry out with the Apostle Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out and also with Holy Admiration and Thankfulness to bless God that he has given us the Light of his Gospel both by the Doctrine of it outwardly and by the special Illuminations of his Spirit and Divine word inwardly which he has not given to many others though we were not more worthy of it than they So that what the Psalmist said concerning the Jewish Church of old may be well and fitly applied to the Christian Church and Nations in Christendom where the Gospel is preached Psal 47. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Nor doth all that I have said on this Head render Salvation impossible to these parts of Mankind to whom the Light of the Gospel hath not shined outwardly by any external Revelation of it seeing God can supply that defect by ways and methods unknown to us who worketh by his Spirit when where and how he pleaseth it is sufficient to us to know that the ordinary way and means that God hath provided for Mens eternal Salvation is by outward means of Instruction to wit the Doctrine of the Gospel as outwardly delivered us in the Holy Scriptures which is always accompanied with the special Illumination of Christ by the Holy Spirit to all that shall obtain eternal Salvation and that there is no other way or name under Heaven whereby Men must be-saved but the Name of Jesus nor no Promise of Salvation to any but through Faith in that Name even of Christ as outwardly he came and was and is a Propitiation for our Sins And though God can Save and hath saved some without the outward means of the Word as outwardly preached yet this will not prove that ever any was or shall be saved by the meer common Illumination given to all Men which yet is W. P's and his Brethrens great Fundamental and Evangelium eternum their everlasting Gospel from which they exclude the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Crucified and by Faith in him from being any part of it because not falling within the ordinary discoveries given to Mankind that Doctrine is none of the absolute necessaries of Deism is very true but that any were saved by meer Deism without all knowledge of Christ and Faith in him the great and only Propitiation for Sin which is W. P's great Fundamental he hath not proved and the Greek Calends will sooner come than ever he or any for him can prove it In his Page 21 he tells us The Nature of this excellent Principle the Light within every Man is to discover Sin reprove for it and lead out of it all such as love and obey the Convictions thereof That the Principle of the Light within even with respect to its common Illumination to and in every Man is excellent is granted and I do not think will be denied by the Bishop or any true Christian but he derogates greatly from the Excellency of it to tell us the Nature of it is to do so and so as if it were a natural and necessary Agent as it is the nature of the Fire to burn of the Sun to give light I ask W. P. Is it the nature of the word God to Create as a necessary Agent If it is the nature of the Divine word to Create he could not but Create otherwise he should change his nature as because it is the nature of the Fire to burn if it did not burn it should change its nature And if it be the Nature of the word God to discover Sin and reprove for it and lead out of it then that Divine word can do no otherwise and consequently is he not a necessary and not a free Agent It had been better and more Sound and Christian for W. P. to have said It is the good will and pleasure of the Divine word to reprove for Sin and also of the Spirit who bloweth where he pleaseth according to the old Latin Translation and which the Greek well beareth and was generally so understood by the Ancients both Greek and Latin Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit breatheth where he willeth and pleaseth in all to discover and reprove for Sin and yet not in all absolutely to bring them out of Sin or to work that Obedience in all so as to be brought out of Sin It had wont to be a Doctrine among the Quakers that God giveth a Day of Visitation which may expire and pass over some before they dye and yet even such after their day of Visitation is expired have that Light in them which reproveth for Sin And as the Visitation of some may be expired so the Visitation of others may be yet to come the outward Sun though a natural and necessary Agent yet shineth not to all at once when it is setting to some it is rising to others and when it is midnight to some it is mid-day to others that is an Emblem
God as to Preach and Pray by it But can it be supposed that Men are acted or moved by the Spirit of God to bring forth so many false Doctrines vile Heresies and Errors and gross Untruths and Fallacies and uncharitable Judgments and Perversions of their Opponents words as they commonly do in their writings generally But what way to the Kingdom do they Preach Possibly they will say Christ who said he was the way But how do they Preach him to be the way Just as W. P. hath here and elsewhere Preached him in Print to wit as the Word God and the Light within whose Nature is to discover Sin and lead out of it all such who Love and obey the Convictions of it and that only and alone by the common Illumination which by W. P's confession discovers nothing of Christ as he became a Propitiation for our Sins by his Death on the Cross The great subject of the Apostles Preaching was Christ Crucified and remission of Sin by Faith in him and how all Spiritual Blessings yea the gift of the Holy Spirit himself comes to us by the Crucified Jesus and Faith in him but little or nothing of this sort of Preaching is to be found either in your Meetings or Books but much against it though to cover your Vile Errors you will now and then seem to own it but forgetting your selves quickly disown it all again Yea W. P. knoweth in his Conscience how both publickly and privately he hath blamed me and charged me with my being an Apostate for my asserting the necessity of Friends Preaching this Faith to wit in Christ as he dyed for our Sins c. as being absolutely necessary to Regeneration for us to have this Faith and to know and experience Christ formed in us and to live dwell and Rule in us For this my Christian Testimony he charged me at Ratcliff Meeting that I did what in me lay to pluck up the Testimony of Truth by the Roots And at the Yearly Meeting at Grace-Church-street in the Year 1694 he stood up and accused me before some hundred Friends of them called the Ministry and others that I was seeking to bring in a New method of Preaching among Friends which was to Preach Christ without and the necessity of Faith in him in order to bring People to the knowledge and experience of the new Birth and Christ in them as he dwells in the Saints And also he knows in his Conscience when and where and to whom he hath accused me for Preaching Christ without in opposition to Christ within which God knoweth I never did And therefore in his so doing he hath falsly accused me though his and his Brethrens false Notions of Christ within as above explained I have opposed and by God's help shall oppose and witness against while I live But the true Scripture sense of Christ within as the Word God and of Christ the Word made Flesh without us who is still but one Christ and of his sufficiency to our Salvation both as without us and within us without us as he came to procure and purchase it for us by his Blood and Merits and within us by his Spiritual appearance and special Illumination of the Holy Spirit in the use of the outward means to apply it to us and to work the blessed and glorious effect of it in us I have owned and still hope to own it to the end of my days As for W. P's Arguments against Baptism and the Supper as outwardly administred I know not one of them but I have fully answered that may seem to require an answer and many more in my late Book called The Arguments of the Quakers against Baptism and the Supper Examined and Refuted which he ought more particularty to have answered being so particularly concerned than to have brought them up again as if they had been new Dishes which are nothing but the Old after some Fashion new dressed If the Bishop thinks fit to notice them he may for me to meddle with them were but Actum agere to do what I have already done Section 11. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop of Cork as if he were Ignorant of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought The Bishop has soundly and Christianly explained the Doctrine of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought W. P's great Fallacy in his definition of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought His Fallacy in seeming to agree to the Bishop's Assertion from that Text Rom. 10. 9. His Fallaeious Argument that because the Spirit Leads and Rules therefore the Spirit is the Rule detected the Ruler and the Rule distinct The great Blessing and Advantage of the Scriptures being a means to preserve us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit from Satan's Delusions and Impostures IN his 26th Page he saith I think nothing makes a Man a true Christian but Regeneration the Power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God And in his P. 29 he saith I would have my Reader reflect well upon this great and Essential Truth Tho he were as Big as a Bishop Reader what thinkst thou of this Uncivil Proud and Disdainful Treatment But so far as I understand W. P. sheweth himself as if he were much more big than a Bishop he treats the Modest and humble Bishop as if he were one of his meanest subjects But for all W. P's pretence to be so Skilful in that great and essential Truth of the necessity of Regeneration and the manner and way of its being wrought above and beyond the Bishop the Bishop has beyond all doubt in his short Testimony in three or four lines on that Head made it evident that he understands the Mystery of Regeneration and the manner how it is wrought better than W. P. for all his Big and Lordly thoughts he has of himself and for all his Big talk of the new Creature and Self-denial there is great a deal more of it in his Books than in his Life But mark how W. P. describes the manner how Regeneration is wrought That it is by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God which are such general words and terms and true when taken in a true Scripture sense that not only every Bishop but every Curate of the Church of England and every ordinary Christian can say the same But under these general Words W. P. hideth a great Fallacy what doth W. P. mean by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God No other thing but the power of the common Illumination of the Light within given to Infidel Jews Mahometans and all moral Heathens who if they are but meer Just Men according to W. P's Gospel and System of Divinity they are Regenerated Persons though they have no special Illumination of the Holy Spirit giving them any inward and spiritual knowledge and Faith of the Son of
how can this consist with his now saying that we are Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation Again in his Sandy Foundation from P. 24 to P. 32. he pretends to bring arguments from both Scripture and Reason to refute the Justification of impure Persons by an imputative Righteousness I shall quote a few passages out of many to shew the inconsistency of his late and former Doctrine about Justification from the guilt of Sin P. 25. from Ezek. 18. 20 26 27 28. He draws this Argument That the Condemnation or Justification of Persons is not from the imputation of anothers Righteousness but the actual performance and keeping of God's Righteous Statutes or Commandments otherwise God should forget to be equal Again in P. 26. he saith Christ is so far from telling them of their being Justified abiding in his Love by virtue of his Obedience imputed unto them that unless they obey his Commandments and obey for themselves they shall be so remote from an acceptance as wholly to be cast out in all which Christ is but our example Where note Reader the words BUT our example Again in the same Page Nor let any fancy saith he that Christ hath so fulfilled it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their acceptance BUT only as their pattern Where note again Reader these words but only as their pattern This is plain Socinianism Again in P. 27. he thus argueth If rejoycing and acceptance with God or the contrary are to be reaped from the Works that a Man soweth either to the Flesh or to the Spirit then is the Doctrine of acceptance and ground of rejoycing from the works of another utterly excluded every Man reaping according to what he hath sown and bearing his own Burden Thus Reader thou seest how earnestly he hath contended against all Justification from the Righteousness of Christ wrought in his own Person without us though in this late Paper of Gospel Truths he seems fully to assert it I shall not need to insist at large to shew his fallacious way of stating the question about Justification by Christ's Righteousness without us and of his reasoning against it As if these against whom he argueth did plead for a Justification or Righteousness of Christ actually imputed to Men wholly unsanctified and remaining altogether in a state of disobedience wherein hemost unfairly represents them But whereas he pleads at such a high rate that none are Justified while having the least Sin or impurity so as that none are Justified but who perfectly in all points without the least sinful defect or imperfection obey the Law of God and come up in their Obedience to the outmost demand of the Law as the whole strain of his Arguments run by this rate of arguing either W. P. and all his Brethren are under a state of Condemnation and the Curse of the Law If they have the least impurity or sinful defect and have not attained a sinless perfection which yet can be proved sufficiently they have not attained and some of them have so much ingenuity in them as to confess they have not yet arrived unto And W. P. would do but equally in the case to tell us whether he is such a Sinless Person that answers every demand of Justice and who in his obedience comes up to the highest perfection of Holiness that the most Holy Law of God doth now at this present require of him If he thinks he is he is miserably mistaken while his sinful Imperfections in his asserting such gross Untruths for Truths and some of them against the Conviction of his Conscience are so manifest that he who runs may read them besides a great vein of Pride Levity and Vanity of Mind and Scornful Disdain that appears running through his pretended Answer to the Bishop of Cork his modest Observations and his most uncivil Language and Epithets he hath used in his former Books never to this day repented of so far as we can understand given by him to his Opponents in his several Books of Controversie whereof the Author of The Snake in the Grass hath given a large Catalogue Section 3. His Fallacy in seeming to own Justification by Christ the Propitiation whereas by Christ the Propitiation he doth not mean the Man Christ without but the Light within His bold attempt in his Sandy Foundation to throw down three great Fundamentals of Christianity viz. The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity The Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness His excluding Faith in Christ Crucified from being necessary to Justification and placing it wholly on Repentance and Obedience his agreement with G. W. therein BUT under this seemingly fair acknowledgment of W. P. that we are only justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation let us search whither there be not even in this acknowledgment The Snake in the Grass If W. P. remain in his former Perswasion as he affirmeth he doth by his former Books I shall clearly prove that by Christ the Propitiation he doth not mean the Man Christ Jesus as he outwardly suffered Death and the shedding of his Blood outwardly for the Remission of our Sins being the great and only Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of Men and thereby by his most perfect Satisfaction paying to Divine Justice the Debt of our Sins In his Christian Quaker p. 97. he contendeth That the Sacrifices and Lamb in the Passover under the Law were not proper Figures of Christ without but of Christ the promised Seed within One outward thing saith he cannot be the proper Figure of another nor is it the way of Holy Scripture so to teach the outward Lamb shews forth the inward And in Page 145 he saith As the outward Jew had an outward Priest at whose mouth he ought to seek the Law so the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit has an inward and Spiritual High Priest the King Ruler Judge Law-giver High Priest Law Rule Temple are all Spiritual i. e. Inward And in his Rejoynder to J. Faldo p. 284. he affirmeth That Christ offers himself in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice to appease the Wrath of God Again in his Sandy Foundation from p. 16 to p. 24. he disputes against the Satisfaction of Christ giving this Title to his Disputation The vulgar Doctrine of Satisfaction being dependent on the second Person of the imagined Trinity refuted from Scripture to p. 20 and from p. 20 refuted from right reason to p. 24 where p. 17. arguing from Jer. 31. 31 33 34. he saith Here is God's meer Grace asserted against the pretended necessity of a Satisfaction to procure his Remission And p. 18. he argueth thus And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Where nothing can be more obvious saith he than that which is forgiven is not paid And if it is our Duty to forgive without a Satisfaction received and that God is
Opponents as guilty of Blasphemy for denying the sufficiency of the Light within to Salvation without any thing else Seeing that Light within is Christ for it is as much as to say Christ is not sufficient to Salvation And thus some of them have charged me in particular to whom I have answered that seeing Christ is truly Christ without us as well as within us and much more gloriously manifested in the Flesh without us If it is no blasphemy to say Christ without us cannot save us without his being in us as they will readily grant so nor is it Blasphemy to say Christ within us cannot save us without Christ without us And with respect to Christ's inward Teaching and Illumination they grosly and fallaciously prevaricate in stating the question as whither the Light within to wit the Word God is a Light sufficient to Teach or Guide every Man the way to Eternal Salvation Thus they think to have their Opponents every way at a disadvantage and to catch them in their Dilemma if they say Yea the Quakers have gained the point as they imagine If they say Nay they are guilty of Blasphemy against Christ the word God within them as not being sufficient But this Sophistical Dilemma is easily discovered and answered for by the sufficiency of the Light within every Man to guide to Salvation is not meant what Christ the Word God can reveal to and in every Man for who questions that that he can do it abundantly but the true state of the question is What he doth reveal to and in every Man that is or may be a sufficient discovery to him for his eternal Salvation W. P. and his Brethren hold the affirmative the Bishop and all true Christians Yea all but meer Deists hold the Negative viz. That Christ considered as the word God doth not reveal to and in every Man As for example not to any of the Quakers or any others here here in England all that is sufficient to their Salvation by the common Illumination without special superadded Illuminations of Christ by the Holy Spirit that is more excellent than the common in the use of the outward means to wit the Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures outwardly Preached or at leastwise read to us or by us If they say it doth then let them not only tell us but prove to us intelligibly to convince our Natural Rational Faculty which W. P. calleth the Eye or Sight whereby the Soul of every Man is capable to discern what the Light within sheweth that the Light in them by its common Illumination without all outward means of Instruction from or by the Holy Scriptures hath taught them one or more of the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed according to the true sense of Scripture and generally received by all true Christians If they confess it hath not taugh them any one of them it evidently follows that they think not any one of them is necessary to their Faith or Christianity i. e. their Deism for Salvation And yet it is strange that W. P. should be so fallacious as as to affirm that the Doctrines of God of Christ of the Holy Ghost of remission of Sin and Justification from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation the Resurrection of the Dead are Fundamentals of the Christian Religion none of which the Light within them without Scripture hath taught him to believe as I think he hath plainly confessed and yet it hath taught him all that is necessary to his Salvation without Scripture he having denyed that the Scripture is the Rule of his or their Faith as touching any of these matters and consequently not so much as the Instrument whereby the Holy Spirit has wrought that Faith in him therefore what Faith he or they have of these things is but Historical and Uncertain and as the old Heavens that must pass away and which hath already passed away from them seeing they pretend they are come to the new Heavens already And yet he is so fallacious to say P. 97. It is generally thought that we do not hold the common Doctrines of Christianity but have introduced new and erroneous ones in lieu thereof This I have sufficiently proved to be true here and elsewhere and so have others done the same But what followeth Whereas saith he we plainly and entirely believe the Truths contained in that called the Apostles Creed Yes say I just so as he may say they plainly and entirely believe the Truths in the Turks Alcoran which may be supposed to have some Truths though many more falsities This saying of his seems to have a mental Reservation as if there were some things in that Creed that were not Truths W. P. would do well to tell us plainly what they are Section 9. Several places of Scripture rescued from his Perversions None are saved by the common discoveries of the Light within without special Revelation and Illumination which yet renders not Salvation impossible to virtuous Gentiles His Ignorance and Error about the Nature of the Light within considered as the Word God In his shewing what the Light within teacheth every Man he leaves out the chief matter that was necessary to his Argument to prove it sufficient without any thing else AND as for the places of Scripture which W. P. hath brought to prove the sufficiency of the Light within with respect to the common Illumination for every Man's Salvation without any super-added special Illumination and all external Light of the Holy Scripture which are these following John 8. 12. John 1. 9 14. Titus 2. 11 12. Eph. 5. 13. John 16. 7. Prov. 1. 20 to 24. John 8. 24. they are all one or two at most excepted that may be understood of the common Illumination as John 1. 9. to be understood of the Special Illumination given to Men under a Gospel-Ministry as is evident by the due consideration of them as for John 1. 9. allowing it to be meant of the common Illumination and diverse other places of Scripture that might be brought to prove that there is such a common Illumination from the word God in all Men as a preparatory Ministration this doth not prove that that common Illumination is sufficient without the special that is given to the Faithful And whereas he saith in his 6th Article or Section of his Gospel Truths They that turn not at the reproofs thereof to wit the Light within with respect to its common Illumination and will not repent and live and walk according to it shall dye in their Sins and where Christ is gone they shall never come Tho' there be a Truth in the words he has here set down yet he quite misapplies that place of Scripture John 8. 24. and fallaciously leaves out the foregoing words which are these For if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your Sins and as it is in v 21. And whither I go ye cannot come by which words it is plainly evident
of the shining of this Divine Sun in Mens Hearts and which if I well remember W. P. hath some where used in some of his Books but is not too far to be stretched for though the outward Sun shine to all at one time or another yet some parts of the Earth have not that Influence of the Sun that sufficeth to ripen the Fruits of the Earth to sustain Humane Life or preserve from unsupportable Cold as under the North and South Poles and near adjacent parts where scarce ever any of Mankind yet was or could come and no doubt the word God doth in some sort enlighten the Devils and all the Fallen Angels and reproveth them severely for their Sins so that they believe and tremble but is it the Nature of the Divine Word in them to lead out of Sin all such of the Devils and Fallen Angels as love and obey the Convictions thereof Were not this to supponere non suppmendum to suppose what is not to be supposed that any of the Devils or Fallen Angels can love and obey the Convictions thereof And is it not thus also with many Men though they have some real Convictions from the common Illumination of the Divine Word yet barely and meerly by the common Illumination given unto them by the same until God visit with special Illumination and his special Grace and Favour they are held as in Iron Chains and Bonds so that they cannot come out their Prison door is shut they are inclosed in great Darkness even thick Darkness like that of Egypt so that they cannot come out though they have so much Light that shineth in their Darkness as to discover Sin and reprove for it in many particulars yet power is not given them to leave their Sins and come out of them except God visit with some more powerful Visitation of his special Illumination and Grace above what is common to all Mankind The way for W. P. to have proved that this Light in every Man teacheth him sufficiently all that is needful to Salvation had been to have given a more full description of the Light within than he hath given and then made Application as thus The Light within whom ever it enlightneth with a saving Illumination that fully sufficeth to guide to Salvation without any superadded Illumination differing in specie only allowing the necessity of greater Degrees in the same specie it not only discovereth Sin to them convinceth and reproveth for it and woundeth the Heart and Conscience with the Sense of God's Judgment and Wrath and Curse due for Sin but sheweth them the Remedy the Lord Jesus Christ as he died for our Sins and by his Death on the Cross became the Propitiation for our Sins and is now the Propitiation for us as he is in Heaven at God's right Hand in the true Nature of Man ever living to make Intercession for us But all this the Light within doth by the common Illumination in every Man therefore c. But W. P. knowing that he could not affirm this of the Light within as only enlightning by the common Illumination fallaciously after his ordinary manner leaves out the chief Matter which was that the Light within every Man not only discovers to every Man his Sin but discovers the great Remedy to wit Christ the Propitiation for Sin by whom the Guilt and Curse due for Sin is taken away from all such as sincerely believe in him which sincere Faith is always accompanied with sincere Repentance and new Obedience Section 10. His Fallacy in making as if it were an Article of his Faith that we are justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation that Faith being neither grounded upon the common Illumination given to all Mankind which discovers not that Faith nor upon inward extraordinary Revelation which he confesseth is not given to him or his Brethren nor upon any external Revelation in the Scripture which he denieth to be the Rule of Faith The Historical Faith grounded upon the external Revelation in the Scripture concerning Christ the Propitiation his Birth Death and Sufferings of no value with him His and his Brethrens Pretence of being assisted by the Holy Spirit to Pray Praise and Preach generally understood in Matter of Fact proved False His and their unsound and unscriptural way of Preaching the way to the Kingdom They do not Preach the Necessity of Faith in Christ Crucified for Remission of Sin for Regeneration and eternal Salvation For the manner of Preaching the Necessity of this Faith W. Penn accused G. K. at Ratcliff Meeting to be an Apostate and at the Yearly Meeting at London some time before in the Year 1694 he accused him to Friends of the Ministry for bringing in a new Method of Preaching Christ without among Friends in order to Regeneration His Arguments against Baptism and the Supper answered in the Book called The Arguments of the Quakers against Baptism and the Supper examined and refuted AND though he makes it as it were an Article of his Faith and one of his Gospel Truths Sect. 4. that we are only justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation yet it is a notorious Fallacy and Juggle How is it an Article of their Faith As it is an Historical Faith neither grounded upon the common Illumination which discovers no necessity of any such Faith nor upon extraordinary Revelation and special Illumination which is not necessary nor is given to him by his plain Concession but upon the outward History or Letter of the Scripture but alas this Historical Faith is so far from being of any valuable account with W. P. that he hath told us it is as the old Heavens that must pass away and belike is passed away from his long since though to deceive the World he would seem still to hold it for he hath said concerning it in his Quakerism a new Nick-name far Old Christianity Page 6. Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation is a deadly Poison these latter Ages has been infected with In his 7th and 8th Sections he proceedeth with the like fallacy telling us how he and his Brethren are prepared and assisted by this principle in Praying Praising and Preaching to others the way of God's Kingdom as they wait in their Assemblies to feel God's Spirit to open and move upon their Hearts that they may Preach in Power as well as in words and that they thus wait before they dare offer Sacrifice to the Lord. How far this is false in matter of Fact is well enough known to their own Consciences and the unsound words they most frequently use both in Preaching and Praying is a plain Demonstration of it that they are not generally acted or moved by the Spirit of God in their Prayings or Preachings If the manner of their Praying and Preaching is as the manner of their Writing which they will say is the same for they as commonly pretend to write by the Motion of the Spirit of
Propitiation in order to remission of Sins can hardly disbelieve any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion so by good consequence contrariwise whoever believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians to wit as outwardly Crucified Dead and Raised again c. can hardly believe any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion but W. P. believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in order to remission of Sin c. in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians therefore W. P. hardly believeth any fundamental Article of the Christian Religion to wit as peculiar to the same The first proposition is proved by the Rule of contraries from W. P's assertion as I think he will readily confess the second proposition which is the Assumption is fully proved from what is above at large quoted by me out of his former Books never to this day retracted by him And though he reckoneth up the Doctrine of the Trinity viz. of the Father of Christ the Son and of the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Heaven and Hell the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to be Fundamental Doctrines yea and the main of Christian Doctrine yet from what is above proved out of his Books he hath plainly opposed the true Christian Doctrine both of the Holy Trinity and of Heaven and Hell and as plainly he hath opposed the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust in their respective Bodies as I have fully proved in my third Narrative and so have his Brethren G. Whitehead Richard Hubberthorne and others only at present I shall quote these following passages out of some of his former Books in his Reason against Railing in answer to Tho. Hicks P. 138. he thus plainly argueth against the deceased Saints looking for any future Resurrection of the Body which Tho. Hicks argued for Is the Joy of the Ancients saith W. P. now in Glory imperfect or are they in Heaven but by halves But why must the Felicity of the Soul depend upon that of the Body Is it not to make the Soul a kind of Window to be without its beloved Body a better sort of Purgatory Again P. 134. If a thing can be the same and notwithstanding changed for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the absurdity of it is rather out-done than equalled by this carnal Resurrection Again in his answer to J. Faldo called the Invalidity of J. Faldo's Vindication P. 369. It 's sown a Natural Body It 's raised a Spiritual Body and I do utterly deny saith he that this Text is concerned in the Resurrection of Man's carnal Body at all but the States of Men under the First and Second Adam Men are sown into the World Natural but they are raised Spiritual through him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are Sons of the Second Adam Nor need any to wonder why W. P. and his Brethren should disbelieve all these fundamental Doctrines of Christianity which now he professeth to own and that as Fundamental but still quite in a most differing Sense from all true Christians for with what certainty can he or they believe them they acknowledge not the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule of their Faith in any of these things or indeed of any others they have no certainty of the Truth of any of these he now calls Fundamentals from the Rule of Faith set up by them which is the Light within them with respect to its ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind but none of these Fundamental Doctrines above mentioned fall within these ordinary Discoveries as W. P. hath confessed for they belong to extraordinary Revelation And if he should affirm they did belong to the ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind he cannot prove it What obscure Knowledge any of them called Heathen Philosophers had of any of these great Mysteries W. P. cannot prove they had it from the Light within but Traditionally either from the Jews and ancient Patriarchs and Prophets or from some among themselves prophetically inspired as it is reported of the Sybils the which report were it true doth not prove that the Knowledge and Faith of these great Fundamentals did fall within the ordinary discoveries of the Light within given to Mankind in general Section 5. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop as if he did render the Text 1 John 5. 7. defective whereas the Bishop only charg'd the Defect on W. P 's Confession which though given in Scripture words yet not in the true Sense of Scripture His Fallacious Argument against the Holy Trinity answered His Fallacy and Equivocation about his calling him who was born of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ and the Son of God whereas he hath denied him to be properly so And his abusive Treatment of the Bishop on that Head IN his Page 30 he proceeds in his unchristian and uncivil Treatment of the Bishop unjustly charging him as if the Text 1 John 5. 7. were defective with the Bishop and as if he did render the Text it self short which saith W. P. with submission I think is a bold Attempt in one of his Station If he believes the 39 Articles But all this is nothing but a Scandalous Reflection on the Bishop and a Shuffling and Cover wherewithall to hide his own Error and Incredulity The Bishop might well enough without charging any defect on the Text as he doth not in the least charge a defect on this Confession of W. P. and his Brethren because though given in one Scripture Text yet he had just cause to question not to be given in the true sense of that Scripture for most that are unsound as touching the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity even Socinians as well as others will profess yea and have professed to give their Faith in the Text yea and all other Texts of the like nature who yet are professed Unbelievers of the true Doctrine of the Holy Trinity And though W. P. and his Brethren will frankly confess they believe that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are one God one in Substance and Essence and thus think to clear themselves of Sociniansm yet he and they at the same time are grosly guilty of Sabellianism acknowledging no distinction betwixt Father Son and Holy Ghost other than Nominal or at most in Manifestation and Operation ad extra and with relation to the Creatures So that W. P's Notion and Faith of the Holy Trinity which he calls the Scripture Trinity but it is not the Scripture Trinity but the Sabellian Trinity is no other than this that as the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God one Essence and Being so the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father and the Holy Ghost is the Son and the Son is the Holy Ghost for as I have quoted him above in his Sandy Foundation he disputeth not
God as the word Incarnate or word made Flesh and as he was Miraculously conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Blessed Virgin dyed for our Sins and rose again None of all this doth the common and ordinary discoveries of the Light within teach W. P. and his Brethren and yet this is all he sets up in order to bring People to the work of Regeneration and to become the Sons of God Not only the Bishop but the meanest Curate in his Diocess I charitably think can give a better account according to Scripture of the manner how Regeneration is wrought in Men to wit by receiving Christ through a lively Faith wrought in them by the Spirit and Power of the Son of God inwardly revealed in them and by the Doctrine of Christ outwardly Preached in God's ordinary way and believing in his Name according to all his Offices viz. his prophetical priestly and Kingly Office The Faith and perswasion of the great Love of God in giving his Son to dye for us and of the great Love of Christ who gave himself for us inwardly revealed in us not by the common Illumination given to Heathens but by special Illumination of Christ in our Hearts perswading us of the truth and certainty of the Scriptures Doctrine and Testimony concerning this Love works that change in us that the Scripture calls Regeneration or the New Creature for thus the Scripture witnesseth John 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave them Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name And this believing in his Name was not only a believing his inward appearance or Light in them but by special Illumination and operation of his mighty power in them believing in him as he outwardly came in the Flesh dyed for our Sins and rose again as our King Priest and Prophet without us as well as the Light within or Word God within us as Paul testified ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. 26. to wit as outwardly Crucified and raised again And as John testified 1. John 5. 1. Whosoever believeth to wit with a sincere Faith that Jesus even that very Jesus that was born of Mary is the Christ is born of God But none of all this Faith doth W. P. think necessary to Regeneration or Eternal Salvation for otherwise it would exclude all his Deist Brethren and moral Just Men among Jews and Mahometans and Heathens from being Regenerate Persons and his sort of Christians whereas the Bishop hath plainly owned the necessity of this Faith to Regeneration and eternal Salvation in his sound but short Christian Testimony and W. P. taken notice of it and seems but most fallaciously to agree to it in his Page 44. In the first part of his note saith W. P. I agree with him that all who rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved for that must be by the Illumination and working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart that he can so believe Here W. P. and the Bishop would seem to agree for no doubt the Bishop doth so believe But O the stupendious fallacy of W. P. in this very thing All that Rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved But what if they do not believe it at all or but only Historically and in the mean time Love and obey the convictions and common discoveries of the Light within given generally to Heathens according to W. P. they are Regenerated and shall be saved Can there be a greater fallacy and greater Jesuitical Equivocation under Heaven The Illumination and Working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart he will have it to be none other either in him or any of his Brethren or any else but the common Illumination that every Heathen hath or may have which yet he confesseth discovereth nothing of Christ as he outwardly dyed and rose again that discovery belonging to extraordinary Revelation as he acknowledgeth and yet pretends not to have any such thing In his 150th Page he thus Argueth That which Leads Rules and that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But the Spirit Leads Rom. 8. ergo c. It is just such a Sophism as this That which ploweth is the Plow but the Plow-Man Ploweth therefore the Plow-Man is the Plow This is a piece of dull Sophistry and shews W. P. to be no very good Logician But further to shew his Sophistry by an Argumentum ad Hominem that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But W. P's Justices of Peace in Pensilvania Rule the People there and so doth his Deputy Governour Ergo he and they are the Rule to that People But then what need of any Laws It seems when Governour Penn goes over to Pensilvania because he is to Rule them he must be their Rule also Stat pro ratione voluntas his Will and not the Laws established by the general Assemblies of that Province must be the Rule according to which he proposeth to Rule them Can any King on Earth be more Arbitrary It hath pleased God Almighty whose Will is most Holy and Just for ever to give us an External Revelation of his Will concerning our whole Duty and that as well to us under the New Testament as to them under the Old and that that External Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures setting aside some Ceremonial precepts and some other peculiar to the Jewish Nation should be our general Rule to instruct us both what to believe and what to do and this partly to give example to all Kings and Governments to do the like as all good and pious Kings and Governours have done viz. To give forth Laws and publickly to have them recorded that the People may have the due notice of them and regard to them and partly to prevent the Delusions and Impostures of Deceivers and Spirits of Delusions who would wonderfully prevail to deceive the Professors of Christianity were there no outward Rule of Faith and Life established by God himself one would pretend his Revelation and another his and Thousands of contradictory Revelations would daily appear and deceive many were it not for the established Rule of God's Will and Word outwardly revealed and recorded in the Holy Scriptures It 's true there are too many Deceptions still and Deceivers and all pretending that their Doctrine is conformable to the Holy Scriptures But notwithstanding so long as the publick Standard of God's Holy Word and Will remains with us in the Holy Scriptures they are a sufficient Armory to us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit out of which to bring sufficient Armour both to withstand and overcome all Heresies and pernicious Doctrines Nor would W. P's Fundamental Principle of bringing all to the General Rule of the common and ordinary Discoveries of the Light within given to all Mankind be any Remedy in the case for besides