the power of God vvhich is his light and in the same sent to speak unto you from the dead I know not how they can deny his words to be his gloss on 16 Luke 31. If they vvill not hear Moses and the Prophets neither vvill they be perswaded if one should rise from the dead If Christ had intended conversion or regeneration there by rising from the dead it were no rare thing to have such preachers sent to them for all the Saints of God are such as are regenerated And such preachers they had many at that time we may conclude That the resurrection spoken of by Christ was of some one in the state of the dead to have his body raised to life and with that advantage of experience to preach to them Whereby the heart is set free from corruption and made able to escape the pollutions of the World and to run the pare vvayes vvith delight vvhich is the glorious liberty of the Sons of God the resurrection from the dead I have said enough of what abundantly implies their denial of this great and fundamental truth I do not at all expect nor can I with any reason that they should in their writings in so many words deny the resurrection of the dead because so open and plain dealing in this great point would render them intollerable and shut the door against Proselytes but yet in verbal and private converse they stick not to deny the resurrection of the same bodies which ordinarily when dead are put into a hole in the ground and covered with earth I have examined many of their books that pretend to give a full account of their tenets and belief but in all of them their resurrection is no other than I have already expressed Take an Account of one or two in their systems of their doctrine of the resurrection of the dead We say that Christ is the resurrection and the life to raise up that vvhich Adam lost and to destroy him vvho deceived him viz. Adam so Christ is the resurrection unto life of body soul and spirit and so renews man c. What is this resurrection but what they call regeneration and the resurrection of the body is but in the same sense as the soul and spirit is raised which is not from a natural death or dissolution of their essential form but from their depravation and defection to a sensual and sinful disposition and their aversation from God Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead In the Chapter intituled as above he hath these words But to such busie minds who are saying how are the dead raised And with what bodies do they come I say to such the Apostles words are very suitable Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die but the mystery is sealed with the Sons of God nor can any ever know with what bodies they shall arise but who comes to the flesh of Christ and discerns his body the sight whereof in the life slays the Serpent and opens the mystery till then cursed is he that reveals that which God hath sealed and hidden from the Serpents Wisdom c. Naylor before and after quotes many Scripture Phrases which abundantly prove the resurrection of the body after dissolution or natural death but when all is done there is a mystery a sealed mystery in his meaning and a curse layd on those who reveal their tenet no wonder then that they speak not out to any other but themselves whom he dare trust with the greattest abominations in their delusions but notwithstanding his inhibition divers of them have to me acknowledged that they believe not that the body which when dead is ordinarily put into a hole in the ground and covered vvith earth and turns to dust shall ever be made alive again And that which may put you out of doubt that this is their Tenet I can prove by many Witnesses that George Whitehead one of their chief Misleaders after much importunity to speakhis mind plainly in this matter did affirm That he did not believe that his Body should rise again after its Death I never knew any of them affirm the Resurrection of the Body intending there by the Body which is such in a proper sense and common acceptation I have often discoursed them about it and when I have proposed the question so plainly that they had no room to evade by their allegories their answers have been Thou art upon the Catch we shall not answer thee Or Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Sometimes with that in Job If a Man die shall he live again and as the Beast dieth so dieth Man But when all their Arguments are answered which they think are lodged in these Scriptures their last refuge is their false interpretation of 15. Cor. 38. God giveth it a Body as it pleaseth him Who will doubt but that such who will not give a plain answer yea or nay when questioned about the Resurrection of the Dead but instead thereof produce all those Texts which to them seems to deny the Resurrection I say who will doubt that such do deny the Resurrection of the Dead before I discharge this subject I shall answer their Cavils about this point prove the truth and give some inferences from their corrupt wicked Religion and foul destroying Tenet First their Cavil from that Scripture 1 Cor 15. 50. Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God By Flesh and Blood here is to be understood Corruptible flesh and blood which is clear from the consideration of the following words neither doth corruption inherit incorruption compare this with ver 42. it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption and ver 49. and as we have born the Image of the Earth so also we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly So that it is still the same body only with the Change to spiritual and incorruptible For that in Job if a Man die shall he live again the meaning can be no more than this if Job understood himself he shall not live again in this world and in that state in which he liveth before death which is plain from what he most confidently affirms Job 19. 26 27. And though after my skin Worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my Reins be consumed within me And it is remarkable that God whom he here speaks of seeing is intended by him Christ the Redeemer who shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth verse 25. for that in Ecclesiastes 3. 19. As the one dieth so dieth the other It is expounded in the next verse all go unto one place all are of the dust and all turn to dust again But this doth not at all oppose Mans Resurrection out of his dust again But that silly evasion which is very frequent with them but God giveth
him that hates it and in him that loves it I have done with the first grand Argument and proved abundantly that the light within every man is not God That the Quakers own the light within every man to be God and profess it And these will prove that they are Idolaters or none will ever be so proved I shall now shew you another God of the Quakers owning or at least their Idol in another dress in managing the second proof of the Quakers owning that to be God which is not God My Argument is this They that own and profess the souls or spirits of all or some men which are constitutive parts of all or some men to be God do own and profess that to be God which is not God But the Quakers do so Therefore They own and profess that to be God which is not God Two things will prove the whole of this Syllogism First To prove that not the souls or spirits of any men are God Why I put in all or some in the Proposition you will see the reason when I prove Secondly That the Quakers hold the spirits or souls of all or some men to be God If the souls or spirits of any men were God then God may be polluted with sin But God cannot be polluted with sin Therefore The souls or spirits of any men are not God The second Proposition will be granted not only by Christians but Heathens Is there unrighteousness with God who taketh vengeance Godforbid He that reproveth God let him answer it The first Proposition I prove from Adam's pollution with sin who of all men except Jesus Christ was the most unlikely to have his soul polluted who was created upright and had the greatest advantages of maintaining his innocency yet his soul was polluted as may appear Gen. 3. Rom. 5. at large Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit Now the God of peace sanctifie you wholly and preserve you blameless in spirit and soul and body c. This is enough to prove that the spirits of men yea of the Saints and best of men may be and have been polluted with sin If the souls or spirits of men were God then God may be in prison But God cannot be in prison Therefore They are not God The first Proposition I prove from 1 Pet. 3. 19. By which he went and preached to the spirits in prison And these were the sinfull and disobedient spirits who provoked God in the dayes â—â— Noah The second Proposition all men will grant except the Quakers who often speak of the seed 〈…〉 captivity by which seed they mean no otheâ— but Christ or God within every man or the ligâ—â— within every man If the spirits or souls of men were God then Gâ—… might be condemned But God cannot so be Therefore The spirits or souls of men are 〈…〉 God That the spirits or souls of men may be so 〈…〉 tremble to write the word appears by that Text 1 Pet. 3. 19. The disobedient spirits in the dayes of Noah are now in prison which is a part of their torment The whole current of the Gospel saith it or implies it I shall now prove out of the Quakers chief and allowed Writers whom they account infallible and honour with their chief respects that they hold the spirits or souls of men or both to be God Every man hath that which is one in union and like the Spirit of Christ even as good as the Spirit of Christ according to its measure This he speaks of the Spirit in man which every man hath and sure if it be as good as the Spirit of Christ it must be God for the Spirit of Christ and of God are one and the same But to talk of its measure their usual phrase is a blaspheming God to speak his divine Being any thing less than infinite Now my soul and spirit is centered in its own Being with God and this form of person must return from whence it was taken The words of Ed. Burroughs the morning before he died Here he makes his soul and spirit one Being with God or God to be the souls own Being And what follows implies that as the body and soul are the form of man while in this world so at dissolution as the body resolves into dust its first Being so the soul to God its first Being A miserable Exposition of the Scripture which saith The body shall return to the dust and the spirit shall return to him that gave it He lived and died a true Quaker but a false Christian if he changed not his mind his last day Priest It is an expression of a dark deluded mind to say that God is not distinguished from the Saints Thus he brings in the Minister saying Answ But God and Christ is in the Saints and dwells in them and he the Priest is a reprobate and out of the Apostles Doctrine If it were only out of ignorance in not understanding the word distinguished or of the manner of Gods Being in his Saints it should not be his Charge in this place But you shall if you read further see he intends no less than the wicked import of his words But to call him reprobate and out of the Apostles Doctrine is over measure a great deal he might have spared him that in charity John Bunian saith He God is distinct from the Saints and Bunian is deceived who saith he is distinct from the Saints and so you are a company of pityfull Teachers By these expressions he renders not only tâ—… Souls and Spirits of the Saint the same bâ—… with God but their whole man without distinction Again thou makes a great pudder that any 〈…〉 should witness he is equal with God Answ A Catechism of the Assembly of the Priestâ— and put forth to the nation in which they have laid doâ—â— that the holy Ghost and the Son is equal in power anâ— glory with the Father yet if any come but to witnesâ—… the Son revealed in him or come to witness the Holy Ghost in them as they gave out the Scriptures or witness the mind of Christ and witness that equal with the Father they cry out horrid blasphemy Observe he doth not in the least deny the priests charge as he calls him but calls it a pudder he makes as if the most horrid blasphemies opposed or charged on the blasphemers were but making a pudder And to heal his sore he would wound the Assembly of Divines by laying the like monster at their door but herein he shews his ignorance with his malice and slander For the rest of his phrases I shall only say this that they make no difference between the Spirits of the Quakers yea of all men and the Son of God or the Holy Ghost And is not that of God which comes out from God is not that of his being the soul which he hath in his hand and so divine
by the Quakers at the cheap rate of accepting though poyson taken into the Body and delusions into the Soul are ever dear and costly But to the unwillingly mistaken among the people called Quakers and such whose inclinations are towards their Principles and Practices known by the name of Quakerism I do solemnly profess That I have the witness of God and my own Conscience that I heartily desire the welfare and Salvation of all sorts of men whatever notions they fall under and however disobliging in their carriages towards me in particular And although I hope I shall not justifie the Opinions called Quakerism till I dye yet I am perswaded there are many called Quakers whom the Lord will turn from their way which is not Christs and sanctifie them by his Spirit and justifie them through his Grace by Jesus Christ even that Christ who as God is every where and as Man is ascended above the visible Heavens and Skies If sincere protestations of my righteousness and sincerity in this matter and the verity of what I have written would prevail with you my Spirit is clear and I doubt not but my Pen might be as serviceable to it as some of those whose interest is too great in you Yea I know not that suffering I might embrace without sinning against God but for Christ sake and yours I should not long to be baptized with I beg of you in the bowels of a Christian that you would not slight the Truth and Scripture-evidence here presented to your view The Quakers have no Miracles to bind you to their perswasion and sure the Truths contained in the Scripture and right reason may match all other visible demonstrations You venture hard to Father all your Opinions on the immediate inspirations and your affections and practices on the motions of that Spirit who is God which if it prove to be otherwise which will be as certainly as God is Truth your early repentance may be accepted but your late repentance will make little for your comfort I would not then be in your condition for more Worlds than there are Stars in the Firmament I beseech you do not think that God hath given you the reason of men to be serviceable to you only in the affairs of this world and not to be exercised at all in discerning truth from error good from evil of a Spiritual and Religious nature The new creature is the creature renewed that is Body Soul and Spirit so enlightned as to know God in Christ so sanctified as to be devoted to him in whatever service he shall command and to make a Heaven of nothing on this side the full Vision and enjoyment of his favour and glorious presence in the other world or the world to come and what will necessarily result from thence If you think me too smart in some passages in the Book be pleased to consider if against Persons it is against those your misleaders who are to be blamed at a sharper rate than good Eli chid his Sons and was therefore rebuked by God to the breaking his heart his neck and the loss of a great priviledge besides if against sayings or opinions I have fully proved them gross falshoods foolish and pernicious lusts and errors and I know not how to call gall and poyson by sweet and lovely names I must alter my stile according to the matter and occasion or they would agree like Harp and Harrow and I assure you it is neither my conscience duty nor design to commend their Opinions to the world Do not say I intend hereby your persecution for it is far from my principle and natural temper also and I know nothing that men who are your Adversaries can do more to promote your Tenets and Party though suffering without further evidences of truth as the cause is a poor foundation of Religion Your Souls Servant JOHN FALDO November 23. 1672. THE CONTENTS PART I. Chap. I. QVakerism affirmed to be no Christianity The tearms Quakerism Christianity Quaker Christian explained What Christianity is strictly considered and distinguished from Heathenism Judaism or any other character of Religion Chap. II. The beginning of Quakerism compared with the beginning of Christianity with respect to the manner and with respect to the time of its beginning from both Quakerism proved to be no Christianity or not the Christian administration Chap. III. Proving the Quakers denying the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the word of God that the intent is more than a meer verbal matter that this is the gate and inlet of their other errors the grounds of their denying it to be the word of God all of which are examined and refuted the definition of a word and the Scriptures proved to be the word of God of that species contended about more properly than Christ the Son of God is the word of God the Scripture proved to be the word of God by its own undeniable evidence where it cannot be understood of any other than the written word denying the Scripture to be the word of God proved a denying of the Scripture the titles the Quakers give to the Scriptures examined and proved though taken altogether to come short of a fit and distinct character of the Scriptures the ends and necessity of the Quakers denying the Scripture this title for the support of their other fancies The sense we take the Scripture to be the word of God in the written word proved to be the word of God Chap. IV. The Quakers equal their own writings and sayings with the word of God and prefer them before the word of God So to do proved a denying the Scripture that they do so proved by their pretending them infallible that they speak and write by immediate inspiration that the Spirit of God dwells in them essentially and in all his divine properties and Christ speaks out of them as through a Trunk Proved by the characters they give of their own writings and sayings beyond and excelling the characters afforded by them to the holy Scriptures Infallibility explained the Quakers infallibility confuted by divers mediums their immediate inspiration considered and confuted the woful and absurd consequences of this error the Papists foundations of their orders and grossest absurdities and the foundation of the Quakers Religion proved to be the same thing and instances given on both sides viz. contempt of the Scripture as insufficient infallibility and immediate revelations and divine inspirations the Quakers proved to have the blackest marks of Antichrist upon them Chap. V. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be a rule of faith and life or a Judge and determiner in religious controversies This charge proved to be a denying the Scriptures That charge it self proved Herein they agree with the Jesuites That whatever is by the Lord affirmed in the Scripture ought to be believed That what is there in commanded and not repealed ought to be obeyed That the holy Scriptures do in their kind determine
Heb. 8. 10. And Circumcision the sign of the Covenant is called the Covenant also Gen. 17. 13. He that is born in thy house and he that is bought with thy money must need be circumcised and my Covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting Covenant Moreover Baptism with water is Baptism in a proper sense Baptism of or with the Spirit but analogically so called as having in it something a likeness to or proportion with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies washing with water dipping into water properly that of the Spirit washing the soul but improperly for freeing it from sinfull pollutions I hope none of you believe a soul can be rinsed or dipped Beside in Water-Baptism which is proper the body being dipt or washed or any part of it the flesh is put into the water but the soul is not dipt or put into the Spirit Therefore this Objection is a meer fancy and they that will contemn the Deeds and Seal because they are Paper and Ink and Wax and cast them away may lose Land and all for their contempt and then they will pay for and repent of their folly Another ground for denying it is it was not laid on the Apostle of necessity but as they found it of service or dis-service This is to be understood only of Paul who in his call which was out of duâ— time and in an extraordinary manner had not this of Baptizing mentioned as the rest had therefore he said Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel Yet he did baptize therefore it was an Ordinance and that he baptized so few in that Countrey it was rather providential than designed by Paul for he being so famous an instrument of converting the Gentiles they began to cry him up as if he had not been Christs Minister but rather his Competitor and therefore he thanks God he baptized no more lest they should have said he baptized in his own name But though he did not baptize there might be enough beside for that work and we read not of one that omitted it when they understood of the Ordinance and had any to administer it to them Object It was to confer the holy Ghost That was but one consequence but not what Baptism signified beside the giving the holy Ghost was of a miraculous nature for the confirmation of the Disciples in the newness of the Christian Religion and conviction of others and the friends of Cornelius had the holy Ghost before Baptism Object None were called to baptize but those that were sent to preach to all Nations Answ Ananias baptized Paul yet was not so sent The ends of Baptism which was a sign of what interest they had in Christ and of Regeneration and the righteousness of faith remain and therefore that remains to be dispensed by the ordinary aâ—…mediate Officers of the Church who are stewards of the mysteries of God of which this is one It being also a cognizance of Christianity there is the same reason for it and it is in vain to talk of Ordinances abolished without some proof when and why they are so Nailor saith Paul preached the Baptism of the Spirit in its stead Let that be proved and something is said But John Higgins saith That Water-Baptism was but the administration of John is known and confessed I say no more to him but I perceive he is but little acquainted with Confessions I must bring in the sentence of the great Patriarch George Fox to decide all for after his words 't is not fit any of his inferiours should speak again Where was Matthew or Mark or Luke or John baptized and many more which the Apostle Paul thanked God he had not baptized Baptizing is making Disciples to the Lord Jesus and baptizing them into his name thatis his power but he Paul told of the Spirits Baptism and brought the Saints off from the things that are seen and Water is seen and its Baptism Strange arguments as if the command and abundant instances of its practice had no force unless we have an account where every believer was baptized and because Paul did not baptize all therefore they were not baptized at all But for Baptism being a making Disciples if it be understood of Water-Baptism it will be no small friend to Infant-Baptism if of the Baptism of the Spirit I suppose George Fox will eat his words again and acknowledge that the Apostles had not power to bestow the Spirit of God on persons and make them new creatures that was the mistake of Simon Magus and now of George Fox But the last argument is such an one as never offered it self to such a service till the Quakers light which they say is almighty had the management of it and so may make an effectual instrument of any thing Paul brought the Saints off from the things that are seen and Water is seen and its Baptism He that shall look into the Text to which his words refer will admire his sharp-piercing genius or his non-such ignorance that could find such a meaning of that Text or tell the world it was there But if all that is seen must be cast away and rejected I counsel the Quakers not to be such eager pursuers of the world and that I dare ground upon the Text but above all to reject their proud dreaming intollerable notions the ignorance and delusion of which is so gross that it is not only seen but may be felt also But for all this the Quakers will affirm they own Baptism and believe that George Fox is sent of God because he speaks of the Scripture right as they are SECT VII The Quakers disown the Ordinance of the Lords Supper to be now a Gospel-Ordinance or any Ordinance of God at all As of Baptism so of the Lords Supper they will say they own it at least many of them but they call quite another thing by that name which is the way they have to delude people in all other matters of the Christian Religion If what the Apostle Paul saith he received of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 23. do express the true Lords Supper the Quakers deny it Feeding upon the husk and shadow which is carnal For the Bread which the world all that are not Quakers breaks is natural and carnal so also the Cup which they drink and here is no communion but natural outward and carnal They Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper are the Popes invention The Priest gives it to the people and tells them it is the Bloud of Christ which is shed for them when it is Wine and not Bloud I will not trouble thee with so an unnecessary a thing as a reply to these silly cavils and plain contradictions to the Scripture The main Objection the Quakers have against this Ordinance beside that against all forms and all things that are seen is That Christ
in the sight of God SECT IV. Having proved the Quakers disowning that justifying righteousness which the Gospel holds forth and in some measure vindicated and explained it I shall now address my self to a discovery of that righteousness which the Quakers adventure their justification before God upon They will tell you They are justified by no other righteousness but the righteousness of Christ with abundance of confidence though as we shall prove they know not what they say nor whereof they affirm their righteousness being as far from what is pretended as darkness from light and a poor puffed deluded creatures errors and miscarriages from the obedience of him who is God-man who is the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person Let us first see what they profess of justification by Christs righteousness Quest Do not you depend on the things you do for life and salvation Answ Nay We do not so c. Quest What is the righteousness that justifieth in the sight of God Answ The righteousness of Christ alone c. One would think the Quakers in this point very sound by this part of their profession but their Bell sounds not long before its jaâ—ring with truth discovers it to be foully cracke It follows in the Answer to the first Question For we have life before we have motion to act or do any thing that is pleasing to God and in that life we have salvation and so life and salvation is freely given us of God The latter part of the Answer is brought to prove the truth of the former and you will say they are huge good at proving who reason at this rate They are not the things we do because we have life from God and that freely before we can move or do any thing This being one of the great delusions of this poor people wherein they shew so much ignorance as without much grace from God they are utterly uncapable of instruction I shall hoping in that grace for a blessing of conviction upon them demonstrate by the most familiar and easie things the falsity of their such Conclusions By the same Reason all your bodily motions and actions are the motions and actions of God and you do nothing at all the while Was there not life before motion And did not God give you this life Can any man move hand or foot or tongue in any natural action but by that life they first receive from God but will you say therefore these are Gods actions and not mens For you to say Your good actions and motions are Christs righteousness because you have life from him to perform them is no less absurd Let us see if Pennington who had somewhat of a Scholar will do any better in the explanation and proof of his Answer to the second Question This righteousness conveyed to the creature in and through the seed and brought forth in the creature by the seed and the creature united to Christ in the seed here is justification of life A strange justifying righteousness by Christ alone brought forth in the creature by the seed I would ask any of this opinion Whether their tongues and lips did not move in the words they call righteous words And the hands in some of those they call righteous actions Sure they will not deny they do and how then can they say it is the righteousness of Christ alone in which the bodies of Thomas John c. are imployed But yet the fine mysteries in this Doctrine which I must confess may puzzle many an honest Countreyman to find out the sense of amounts to no more than this great absurdity What a contradiction there is in the creatures being united to Christ in the seed the Quakers themselves if any liberty be left them so to do will find out Christ is the seed and the seed is Christ both but one and the same thing and yet the creature is united to Christ in the seed that is to Christ in Christ But the blind swallow many a Fly For by the Law of faith is self-sanctification self-mortification and self-justification excluded right so far the worst will be in the tail Though they who received the Spirit were called to all this by faith in his bloud yet it is the work of God wrought by Christ in the believer Two things are here observable for errour and ignorance First They who received the Spirit were called to all this self-work he talks of and that by faith in Christs bloud too and yet by the Law of faith it is all excluded So here faith does and undoes calls for self-justification c. and when it draws nigh shuts the door against them begets children and that by Christ too and so soon as they are born utterly disclaims them If he had said they were called to sanctification mortification and not put that blot of self in their Escutcheons to render them base-born and then have asserted they were not the righteousness by which we are justified he had spoken like a man and a Christian but they are two things in the Quakers account adverse and together by the ears and therefore Nailor will have to do with neither But that a man should be called by faith to self-justification is a strange riddle and after all the condemnation of these things it is for all that the work of God wrought by Christ in the believer But to finish Nailor's testimony of justifying righteousness observe what he saith somewhat more plainly Whereby such become his workmanship in Christ Jesus wrought into his obedience and his obedience into them in their measure till they become of one heart one mind one soul one spirit one flesh one bone and bloud and one obedience and one life that it is no more we that live but Christ that lives in us Here is some shew but a great deal of abuse of the holy Scriptures and the Spirit of God by whom they were given forth Whereas those who are Gods workmanship in Christ Jesus created to good works are thereby designed and disposed by God to walk holily Nailor will have the Saints wrought into the obedience of Christ and his obedience into them and blended together so perfectly that the most discerning Quaker of them all can make no distinction between the one and the other yea untill body and soul flesh and spirit bloud and bones and the obedience of both Christ and his Saints and their very life too be no more distinguished but what is the one is the other the Quaker is Christ for which Nailor's tongue was bored with a hot iron and Christ is I am afraid to write it From such stuff as this the poor souls who hug these Angels of darkness talk at that confused and blasphemous rate as they do and adopt whatever is the product of an idle proud deluded raw understanding into the very acts and expressions of Christ himself He saith moreover which
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre but God raised him from the dead Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore amen and have the keys of hell and death I might fill many Pages with Scriptures of the like import these are so plain for what I produce them and the Quakers deny that they need no Exposition or Comment or as the Quakers phrase it have any meanings put to them If men be so blind as not to see the errour of disowning Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary who was hanged on a tree put into the Sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea to be yet alive and the Christ of God by all these Scriptures it is a blindness wherewith never any before the Quakers who professed the Scripture to be a true testimony were smitten Surely God hath given them up for their pride giddiness or idle ignorance and that in justice and the Devil the destroyer hath blinded their minds with a witness that this light of the glorious Gospel should not shine unto them Can yea dare any of you guilty of the errour here charged say That all this is true of and to be applied to the light within every man which these Scriptures assert of Gods Christ Read them over and compare them with that which is your only Christ and Saviour If this man Christ Jesus in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead and who was thus described by the Spirit of God be the Saviour your light within is not If your light within be the Saviour and Christ and Redeemer he was not Of whom all these Scriptures and a thousand more speak so plainly The Lord be mercifull to your souls the Lord rebuke you who are so bold in denying the Lord that bought you and â—rampling under foot the bloud of the Covenant O consider that fancies and dreams though having ever so strong an impression while you are possessed with them will when you awake out of your graves of earth and dust yea when your souls depart from your bodies leave you to the naked truth which God in his Word the Scripture hath revealed to us not to be abused after your manner but that we might believe and live after their direction which who despises Wo unto their souls for they have rewarded evil to themselves I have not yet given you all the evidence I have out of the Quakers chief Writers that they disown the man Jesus the Son of Mary to be Gods Christ Some of them take together Can outward bloud cleanse the conscience Yes by faith therein We witness the same Christ that ever was now manifested in the flesh The man Christ Jesus was not ever for he was made and born in time of the Virgin Mary was Abraham's and David's seed after the flesh and though he now have a Being in Heaven and is manifested on earth by his Word and by that faith which is in the hearts of his people yet he is not now manifest in the flesh according to that Scripture which saith God was manifest in the flesh not is And Christs nature is not humane which is earthly for that is the first Adams And immediately before Where doth the Scripture speak of humane Now we do not deny that Christ according to the flesh was of Abraham but not the word humane How pityfully doth he wind and turn to get out of the noose and holds the world in hand as if he did not deny the thing that Christ is constituted of the humane nature only he will not allow the word humane Yet he that hath a small measure of discerning may see that peep out which he would fain hide He denies Christs nature to be earthly which the first Adams was Sure if Christ was the seed of the woman by Adam his nature as man was such as Adams But for his questioning the word humane as not in the Scripture he pretending to be able to examine the justice of our Translators in turning the Greek into English in his great Libel called Mystery of the great Whore should methinks have found as much as humane in the Greek though not in the English 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being five times used in the Epistles which in the Latine is more hominum humanus after the manner of men humane And Christs humane nature is no more but his mans nature of his nature according to man and so he is now in the humane nature in the Heavens Seeing then that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Mark the last clause For we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Infirmities here must not be understood of sin the Text bars that but such a weak nature as is constituted of flesh and bloud liable to pains grief hunger and weariness And he was found in fashion as a man and that I think is more hominis Now this man is not was but is our high Priest in the Heavens and not as Fox hath it was of the seed of Abraham but is so A few Instances more yet And they that are false Ministers preach Christ without Your carnal Christ is utterly denied by the light Your imagined God beyond the Stars But none can witness this whose eye is outward looking at a Redeemer afar off So much of the proof of their denying that man to be Christ SECT II. I must not say That the Quakers do not own a man Christ for that they frequently in their Writings and sayings express such a thing but I desire that none will be offended that I will not take Chips for Guineys or half Crowns because some silly Cheats would put them upon me under those valuable names much more ought I and every one else take heed of receiving that for Christ which God the Father hath not sealed because men of what countenance soever will perswade us it is no other whilst by the very Candle-light of meer reason it will appear to be a meer fancy If I should say no more but that it is an absurdity as big as an impossibility for a man constituted not only of a soul for that may be crowded into a little room but a body of flesh bloud and bones to be within a man surely no woman with child ready to be delivered would by her swelling and bigness proclaim it to the eyes of all beholders more effectually than such who should be so inmated And although they talk of all this being by faith they must give
world was never till of late acquainted with observe what follows out of the fore-mentioned Author And he John was sent of God to bear witness unto this truth which was in the beginning but that is the true light saith John that enlightens every man that comes into the world John 1. 9. Observe he corrupts the Text and puts is for was which in my Exposition of this Text I shew to be the break-neck of the Quakers design You may hereby perceive they are sensible how much the word was makes for my Exposition But he proceeds Here was the light shone out of darkness in John the morning and the first day was come unto him as was unto Moses A most strange false and absurd passage to make Christ to be the morning and the first day but any thing to worm out our blessed Redeemer born in time In the beginning of his Book he tugs hard to have the created light and the day distinguished from the night to be no other but Christ the light within And here he will have it shine out of darkness in John It follows a few lines after Then God sent him to bear witness to the light which in him was made manifest that all in the light might believe and he called to others to behold him and said he was the Lamb of God and was come to take away the sins of the world Joh. 1. 29. Mark he behold him weigh this truth all ye Priests and Professors and ponder it in your hearts What cannot the Devil lead men into who are led captive by him at his will and make them also glory in it and stand to 't with a Mark in a Parenthesis and call on men to weigh their wickedness I am amazed The Lord have mercy on us and poor weak souls who know not how to espy such gross delusions as this That the Lamb of God John there spake of was the light in him and which shone forth in him The light within every man cannot be the Saviour for that salvation is of the Jews which the light within is not These words were spoken by Christ himself to the woman of Samaria to convince her of the Samaritans false worship Ye worship ye know not what that is ye know noâ— what to worship nor for what end The Temple at Jerusalem was a type of Christ and the worship of God which shadowed out Christ aâ— the Sacrifices Altar c. were restrained to that Temple to shew that whatever worship was not performed in Christ should not be accepted Now saith Christ You know not what you do in worshipping at the Temple at Mount Gerazim for no Temple but that in Jerusalem is a type and representation of Christ and withall salvation is of the Jews The true Saviour is to be born in the true Church and from thence to bless the world There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn ungodliness from Jacob. That is out of the Israelitish or Jewish Church For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem There is one Scripture much abused by those I oppose which I shall explain before I shut up this Chapter Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more This Scripture is by them made a sufficient ground for their infidelity in the Christ of God the Son of Mary for they say he was a man of our nature of the flesh and bloud of the earthly Adam and nature as I have already shewed out of their Authors but therefore he is not to be believed in which you have had proof of sufficient By the flesh we are not to understand the body as if he should have said we are to take no notice of our own or others or Christs body of flesh for the Apostle calls them worse than Infidels who do not provide for the bodies of those who are of their own house or that we should have no remembrance of Christ as he was in the flesh for then we must forget and be ignorant of the great mystery and foundation of the Gospel Great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh But we preach Christ crucified I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified The meaning therefore must be That he and his fellow-Apostles did not preach the Gospel for worldly respects and esteem of men and please their fancies and humours for the sake of outward and carnal advantages The grounds of this Exposition are three among others First The subject and scope of the Chapter is the life to come and to perswade so to walk and behave our selves in this world as those that must quickly be uncloathed of this earthly tabernacle and be concerned with only the things of another life Secondly The end of Christs death expressed in Verse 15. That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves That is to their outward temporal interests as their prime and chief aim for to their spiritual and eternal selves they were to live which are best promoted by living to Christ Thirdly From what is expressed in Verse 17 as necessary to making the honour and interest oâ— Christ our chief aim Therefore if any man bâ— iâ— Christ he is a new creature old things are paâ—… away behold all things are become new As if hâ— should say This proves those that are in Chriâ—… to be new creatures that their aims and enâ—… are holy and spiritual which is too high for aâ— unregenerate man whose faith and love to them and concerning them is much too weak to steer the course of their lives as those that are bound for Christ and Heaven And as their ends so the means is altered for as before they shaped their whole course to please the flesh 't is now conformed to pleasing the Lord and providing for their souls welfare And whereas it is said though we have known Christ after the flesh c. It may refer to the Apostles in whose persons the Apostle speaks though he himself were not concerned with them who did sometimes dream of being great in the world and sharing with Christ in an earthly kingdom but now being better informed and attained to a higher and more noble degree of spiritual understandings and affections they were crucified to those childish and carnal designs and their consideration of Christ in his glorified body and his exaltation in Heaven at the Fathers right hand did raise their souls to a longing after a further and compleat view of his glory and sharing with him in his heavenly Kingdom This is suitable to the eighth Verse of this Chapter which hath some Contexture with Verse 16. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Then Christ was not
There is a great difference to be of God with respect to relation or creation and to be of God as of his being or the same being with him the one is to commom the whole Creation for of him are all things the other is peculiar to the blessed Creator Magnus Byne saith the Soul is not infinite in it self but is a Creature and Richard Baxter saith it is a spiritual substance Answ Now consider what a Condition these called Ministers are in they say that which is a Spiritual substance is not infinite in its self but a creature that which came out from the Creator and is in the hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again that is infinite in its self which the hand goes against him that does evil in which hand the Soul is which is immortal and infinite which hand is infinite which brings it up to God is infinite If any man can match the ignorance confidence blasphemy and nonsense of this passage out of the mouths or pens of any but the Quakers he may be reckoned a great discovereâ— But this is received by those poor deluded souls as infallibly true and a divine mystery being the dictates of George Fox whom none of them dare or will contradict such is the stupendious captivity of these poor people Is not the Soul without beginning come from God It is not horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God for it came out of him and that which came out of him is of him Thus I have proved not by remote consequences but their open and plain affections and that pleaded for after their wild manner that they hold the Soul of Man to be God a part of the Divine being infinite in it self without beginning part of the Creator here is enough of blasphemy and idolatry for one author to fill tâ—â— mouths of many I shall cite yet more of their that none may think it is but one Qualâ—… though G. F. may stand for a thousand who is prodigiously wicked And whereas you Querie whether the said Spirâ—… the Spirit of man is mortal or immortal I answer it is immortal and neither mortal 〈…〉 corruptible but the immortal and incorruptible sâ—… of God even something of the living word which 〈…〉 said to be made flesh What the word is that was made flesh John saitâ— was God 1. John 1. That which the Lord from Heaven begetteth of his own image and likeness of his own substance of his own seed of his own Spirit and pure life Speaking of the Saints the members of Christ Whether do you wait and believe to have the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus who thought it no robbery to be equal with God And Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the Pharisees judged a blasphemer and as he is so are we saith the Saints And they who dwell in the truth witness one with another For the light of God owns its own for God cannot deny himself They own the Spirit of God Christ the seed the spirit of man to be but one and the same thing but sometimes will deny any to have a Spirit at all but the regenerate that they may not say the unregenerate have the Spirit of God or God the Spirit in them See Fishers rare distinction to serve this turn As to the Spirit of man which concurs to the constituting of man in his primitive perfection it is the breath of life which God breathed into his Soul after he had formed him as to his body of the dust of the earth whereby he came to be a living soul a Soul that did partake something of Gods own life this Spirit of man is that living principle of the divine nature which man did before his degeneration and shall again after his regeneration partake of This Charge being of so black and horrid a nature I did not judge it unmeet to prove the truth of it by abounding instances and now Reader judge and put on the largest Charity that a man or Christian ought in any case to exercise and give thy verdict if I have not made appear That the Quakers are gross Idolaters so far as owning and professing that to be God which is not God will contribute to a demonstration I shall manage my second grand argument but briefly for the work I have done will render it not very incredible that they should worship a false God seeing they own and profess a false God All those who worship that as God professedly and according to their professed Principles which is not God are gross Idolaters But the Quakers do so Therefore the Quakers are gross idolaters I shall not prove the first proposition which none will deny The second I prove by their own concession considered with the proof I have made of the light within every man and the Souls and Spirits of men not to be God but you may take the argument in this form All they who worship professedly and accordingâ—â— their professed principles the light within every man the Souls and Spirits of any men as God worship a fâ—lâ—â— God But so do the Quakers Therefore they worship a false God Who are not sprung from the noble gentle seed and to those honour is not due neither can we bow unto them for if we should we should set the Devil in the râ—â—â— of God and give unto him that which is dâ—oâ—… God So that to those who are Quakers and have the birth of the light within the noble and gentâ—â— seed as they call it to them with respect to that they may bow And withall he tellâ— you it is such a bowing as is peculiar to God for where it is used to such who have not God in them in the Quakers sense it is a setting the Devil in the room of God If it be objected that they bow to none I answer that they pretend to own no worship but what is inward and yet they pretend to worship God and meet to that end so that if they worship this light within this Soul or Spirit in any men as they profess to worship God they give them or it divine worship There was a time when many gave outward worship to James Naylor One now a grand Quaker not being then pleased with it James told him that if they did it to him as a man he disowned it but if they did it to the light within him he accepted it if any doubt of the truth of this the process against him in Richards Parliament will prove it And John Bolton the elder the Quaker I speak of can tell you more of it and I doubt not but that for the reproach and worse things which would follow it we should soon find it a general practise with the Quakers to give visible worship to the Gods that dwell in the temples of each others carkasses
it a Body as pleaseth him It doth no way deny the Resurrection of the Body or condemn those that enquire into the manner of its being after the Resurrection For if God be pleased to acquaint us in his word that there shall be such a resurrection and that it shall be then spiritual and incorruptible it is our duty to take his word and to understand what he is pleased to manifest to us of this great truth Another text they frame an objection out of is 1 Cor. 19. 36 37. Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be I answer that the Apostle doth not call him a Fool who enquires concerning the resurrection which is the common charge of the Quakers from this Text but him that doubts of the resurrection from its seeming impossibility and for the sameness of the body thought not in all circumstances yet that it shall be the same essence is plain from the relative it all along which hath for it antecedent the body of flesh and blood wherein we now live and are visible to the bodily eyes of one another and ver 38. to every seed it s own body I have met with some of them who could not or would not understand it of the same body because the Apostle saith vers 51. We shall all be changed From whence they conclude it cannot be the same body I would ask such if they would be content to be refused their debts owing to them when young being demanded when old or owing when well if demanded when sick or contracted when they were not Quakers and demanded when Quakers for as to the latter they will affirm they are changed and that from natural to spiritual But I suppose in such cases they will shew more sagacity and be content to believe that a change in a person is not the change of a person and for all those changes they are the same persons still to whom the money both was and is due I might say moreover that if it be another and not the same body that shall be raised again it is a contradiction for then it must not be a resurrection but a creation and who will guess so wide of the mark that God should treate another body which was never in this world and did either good or evil to be rewarded or punished in stead of the body concerned in those actions which in the mean time shall be free among the dead and buried in everlasting forgetfulness Some of them have denyed the resurrection of the body of Christ and stood by their error upon the account of his entering the room when the doors were shut and his appearing in such forms that his Disciples did not know him To which I shall say only this that Christ as God could convey himself how and where he pleased and that the Disciples not knowing him was not because he was not in the same form as before but because their eyes were withholden that they should not see him Luke 24. 16 SECT III. The woful companions and consequences of the error here charged on the Quakers and proved to be theirs take a few of which are enough and great enough to make any who are not resolved to be Atheists or Infidels to tremble at the first motions to such a delusion First This tenet of the Quakers doth naturally eat out the heart and vitals of all Religion if the dead rise not Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die All Religion obliges with a respect to the life to come The opinion of no resurrection le ts loose the reins to the most extream sensuality an Epicure is then the wisest Man Secondly this error renders it a meer humour and a piece of foolish obstinacy to persist in the profession and practice of any thing Religious when indangering our temporal concernments If the dead rise not at all and why stand we here in jeopardy every hour 1 Cor. 15. 29. 30. Thirdly it utterly subverts and makes Shipwrack of the faith of the Gospel that looking at a prise and reward on the other side the Grave But if there be no resurrection of tâ—…ad then Christ is not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith also in vain 1 Cor. 15. 13 14. For if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins 1 Cor. 15 16 17. So that there is a Chain of the most woful consequences that this wicked error draws after it Fourthly Then the Gospel is a meer fallacy and delusion which promises a reward to man whose persons are constituted of a body as well as a soul Many more might be inferred of so grand an import as would render this Doctrine the most pernicious that was ever hatched among pretended Christians CHAP. XIX The Quakers profess not the Doctrine of a future reward in another world SECT I. I Have been a diligent enquirer to find some expressions in their Writings or verbal converse that might satisfie me they owned a future happiness or misery after this life but all to no purpose in this point they make no noise at all I have searched those Writings of theirs especially which have pretended an account of their principles in all or most points of Religion but though this of a future state of reward or punishment be the vitals and end of all Religion yet they do not so much as touch upon it From whence I must conclude it is blotted out of their Creed 'T is said of the Gospel which is the Christian dispensation that it brings life and immortality to light what was in the Scriptures of the old Testament more seldom and obscurely expressed is the very scope of the Gospel or new Testament the peculiar of Christianity but then certainly Quakerism is no Christianity that is so silent in this matter I know they talk of immortality and eternal life but what is immortality with them Fox saith man is immortal before death in his great mystery and their Salvation is no more but what they have within them and is accomplished in this world Farnsworth saith speaking of the righteousness of Christ neither was I saved by it so that his Salvation was not future but present or past And Pennington in some principles of the elect c. saith and so they who forget God and do wickedly they are to be turned into Hell But what Hell is this no more than what they say is in this life for they who forget God and do wickedly they go from the life and power of God into the seperation from him and out of his acceptance For in the life is the acceptance what is here more than is suffered in this life which we call pâ—â—a damni or the punishment of Hell A Book intituled the
spirit of the Quakers c. Charges the Quakers for having their hearts much set on a Heaven within them but not on the things above to which Pen replies and vindicates after his fashion the Kingdome of God within but saith not a word to assert their belief of and affections to the Heaven above from whence it is plain that they believe no such thing to have a being I wonder not therefore that this is so frequently their saying That if we are not perfect here we shall never be perfect It is easily deduceable from their more openly professed principles that they deny and disown a blessedness or misery in another world For if they deny the body to have life any more after it is dead and turned to dust and that the Soul and Spirit are of the being of God and that as the body returns to its former dust from whence it came and never revives again so the Soul and Spirit returns into God its first being all which I have already proved what then remains to be the subject of happiness or misery e'ne nothing at all except God and he is not man E. Boroughs the day he dyed expressed himself thus that he was now putting of this manner of person and returning to his own Being or words of the same import which I have quoted on the Chapter of their Idolatry When I have asked some of them what should become of their souls after death Their Answer hath been they shall be taken into God Let them profess that they believe a happiness to be enjoyed by men and women after their bodies are rotted to dust distinct from the Being of God or that which they had not a thousand years before they were born i. e. to be in God from whom as of his Being they say the soul came and it will be news to me and all that are acquainted with them In the mean time I. have given you Reasons enough to conclude they believe no future blessedness or misery in another world I shall now resume the Question and gather up all the proofs of what I have affirmed into an entire body If Quakerism be another dispensation than that of Christ setled and preached by the Apostles If it deny the Scripture If it deny all the Ordinances of the Gospel If it deny any influenne of Christs transactions in Judaea above 1600 years since into our justification and salvation If it deny Jesus the son of Mary the Christ of God If it own false Gods and be Idolatry If it professedly owns the worshiping of false Gods If it deny the resurrection of the dead If it affect not a future blessedness or misery in another world to men and women according to their deeds in this Then Quakerism is no Christianity But all these things are true and have been proved of Quakerism Therefore Quakerism is no Christianity PART III. BEING AN EXAMINATION Of the First Part of W. PEN'S Pamphlet CALLED The Spirit of Truth With a Rebuke of his Exorbitances SECT I. WHiles I was writing this Book I met with a Pamphlet of William Pen's intituled The Spirit of Truth vindicated against that of Error and Envy c. Which is pretended to be an answer to a malicious Libel intituled The Spirit of the Quakers tryed c. I having the Piece by me I once perused it In the general I resented it as one of the best and most ingeniously managed and beyond all material and just exceptions at least by the Quakers that ever I read against that sort of people But reading Pens Answer and finding his Epistle giving such a Character of his Adversaries Book and himself for malice lameness trifling and what not that might render it and him wicked and contemptible I began to mistrust my conclusion supposing a person of P.'s education and pretences would not say so much evil of it without great cause and therefore I compared them diligently But for P.'s sake I shall believe it more than possible that a man of the highest pretences having some more than ordinary means to deal rightly and ingeniously may yet so far deceive my expectations as to give the highest contradictions to them all I am altogether ignorant of the name or person of the Author of the Piece opposed by Pen and if he be a Socinian as Pen affirms I shall be far enough from vindicating him therein but for the Piece it self wherein Pen saith he could find neither head nor tail I will sell my eyes and brains for two pence if it deserve so contemptible a Character And for the Answerer Pen if he were not furnished with fore-head and tales beyond measure his Pamphlet would have had nothing remarkable in it I expecting next his Epistle and Preface an orderly combating his Adversaries Charge I find him taking up his Post in the Quakers conceited strong hold of the infallible guidance of the Spirit of God afforded to his people exclusive of any other means In the debating of which he roams and tosses to and fro like a man in a confused troubled dream for above thirty pages His pretences therein lying athwart my present work I thought meet to give some account of his Forces especially considering him to be a man of noise and no small prop◠to the Quakers cause in their own esteem His Question which he pretends to include the Quakers strength and which he saith he is resolved to stand by as such he states in these words SECT II. The Question stated Whether Gods holy and unerring Spirit is or should be the proper Judge of Truth Rule of Faith and Guide of Life among men especially under the administration of the blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or not I affirm it and proceed to prove it by Scripture and Reason Considering his words foregoing which are too many and too worthless to transcribe and what he aims at in the handling of this Question I never read one so lame and deformed in my life come forth with such state and confidence and such a train or rout of mediums as deformed as it self There is in it neither Logick nor Honesty Certainly if he had not turned Quaker and in that fall put all out of joynt he could not likely after so good Nursing have been thus lamentably crepled in his Intellects and somewhat besides First of all here is a fallacy à bene divisis ad malè conjuncta many Questions confounded together Secondly no explanation of the terms most or all of which are metaphorical or amphibious and in that part especially affirmed the greatest ambiguity of all Vt quisque est lingua nequior Solvant ligantque quaestionum vincula Per syllogismos plectiles He tells us indeed pag. 37. that there is no more difference to him between a judge rule and guide than essentially there can be in the wisdom justice and holiness of God he should have added nor between truth faith and life