God The Nature of it is to Discover Sin Reprove for It and Lead out of It all such as Love and Obey the Convictions thereof It is a Principle of Divine Life that Quickens the Obedient Heart to Newness of Life It Raises the Mind above the World to God and searches out and reveals the Deep things of God to the humble and waiting Soul And be it known to the Bishop and all that with him profess Ignorance about what we mean by the Light of Christ within Man This is It I have been treating of and I have writ I bless Almighty God My own Experience the Taste and Relish I have had of Its Excellency and Sufficiency in the Course of far the greater and best part of my Life But the Bishop must excuse me if I say I â—annot but take it very Ill at his hands to â—orbid us in his following Words to pretend â—o give an Account of what we Believe unless â—e can make him understand our meaning And â—ecause he does not penetrate our Sense to â—all our way of Wording that blessed Prinâ—iple of the Light of Christ in Man a Perâ—ect Banter This to me is one of the seveâ—est Persecutions because Spiritual things â—re only to be Spiritually discerned and unâ—erstood I would fain know how a Regeâ—erate Man can possibly make a Carnal Man understand the New Birth It is cerâ—ainly the Gift of God to understand Divine Truths as well as Rightly to Believe So that supposing our Assertion of the Nature Power and Excellency of the Light of Christ in Man to be true not to have leave to say so unless we could make every Man rightly take our Sence and Meaning whether he be Spiritually Discerning or not looks Antichristian as well as Unreasonable We speak Wisdom says the Apostle among them that are perfect 1 Cor. 7. 6. It seems others understand him not must He therefore not have wrote of the things of God The very Preaching of the Gospel was Foolishness to the Wiselings of Jews and Greeks they could make neither Head nor Tail of It by Their way of Judging of Truth Must not the Gospel therefore be preach'd When the Apostle Paul preach'd to the Athenians some of the Men of the Gown the Philosophers of that Time Opposed and Despised him saying What will this Babbler say But had they known what he meant we cannot think they would have said so to Him Waâ— the Aposlte then or the Athenians in faulâ— that they did not understand Him Or was it Bantering as well as Babbling because he did not make them understand his meaning which is only the Work of the Holy Ghost to do Who was it I pray thaâ— said The World by Wisdom knew not God And can we suppose any thing else blinded the Scribes and Pharisees and the High-Priest of the Jews from discerning the Messiah when He came For they wanted not Academical Learning if that could have enlightned them nor yet the Scriptures but they Resisted the Holy Ghost their only True Interpreter and so stumbled and fell Let the Bishop also have a Care In the Second Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians he will find that the Aâ—ostle spake the Wisdom of God in a Myâ—tery which the Prinees of this World knew â—ot with all their Wisdom For the things â—f God fays the Apostle knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God by which those Christians knew those things that were freely given to them of God Which thing also we speak says He not in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teachetb comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual But the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned Now according to the Bishops treatment of us the Apostle ought not to have writ of Faith and Salvation unless he could have made all that read his Writings understand his Meaning And it must be a perfect Banter to talk of speaking Wisdom in a Mystery and not in the Terms that Man's Wisdom teacheth But the Lord Jesus Christ was of another Mind when he said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things the Truths of the Kingdom from the Wise and Prudent and Reveal'd them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seem'd Good in thy sight It is hence beyond all Dispute that God hideth the Mysteries of His Kingdom from the Wisdom of Man when Simplicity and Sincerity fail not to Reach and Understand them Here it was that poor Nicodemus was absolutely at a loss for Christ's meaning when Christ said Unless a Man be born again he can in no wise enter the Kingdom of God John 3. Insomuch as he asked Christ upon his Discourse of the New Birth How can these things be At which Christ seems to admire in a sort of Reproof upon Nicodemus Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things As much as to say Art thou a Man of thy Station in the Church of God Ignorant of the Way to Heaven Whoever reads that notable Interview between Christ and Nicodemus will find that Christ resolves the Matter into Two Births That which is Born of the Flesh and That which is Born of the Spirit and these are Contrary And therefore no wonder if they differ in their Understanding of the Holy Scriptures being a Declaration of the Faith and Experience as well as Doctrine and Practice of the Servants of God that were Enlightned and Born of the Holy Ghost Nor is this all for they that are Born of the Flesh Persecute them that are Born after the Spirit So that when they can no longer commit Violence upon their Persons and Estates they will Persecute them with their Tongues and Pens They are Hereticks Blasphemers Illiterate and Ignorant yet Presumptuous Enemies to Caesar and Disobedient to Government if they will not give God's due unto Man viz. Conscience And if they choose to deliver themselves in Scripture Stile and speak earnestly of the Necessity of the Work of the Spirit of God in order to an Experimental and Saving Knowledge of the Truth declared in Holy Scripture and that Christ's Ministers are made by the Holy Ghost and not by Humane Learning and that the Worship which is acceptable to God must be in the Spirit and in the Truth that is with Clean Hearts and Right Spirits Kindl'd and Inflam'd with the Holy Spirit of God They must be called Enthusiasts Unintelligible Men of Cant and Banter And here I leave the Bishop upon this Paragraph desiring him to Consider whether his Knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ whom rightly to know is Life Eternal John 17 be by the Revelation of the Son of God in his own Soul since Christ himself Teacheth and Affirmeth that no Man knows the Father but the Son and He to whom the Son Reveals Him I should be glad
A DEFENCE Of a PAPER Entituled GOSPEL-TRVTHS Against the EXCEPTIONS OF THE BISHOP of CORK'S Testimony By W. Penn. The Second Edition Printed in the Year 1698. THE PREFACE Reader IT was the Wise Counsel of an Ancient and Great Prelate of the Kingdom of Ireland at a late Visit I made him there to discourage Controversie and endeavour to abate Strife among Christians For said he Heaven is a Quiet Place there are no Quarrels there and Religion is a Holy and Peaceable Thing and Excites to Piety and Charity and not to Genealogies Strife and Debates But the Bishop of Cork seems to be of another Mind that could not pass by so Inoffensive a Paper as that Stiled Gospel-Truths given him by me in a Private Way at a Friendly Visit upon his own Desire without his Publick Animadversions and those Exprest not with so much Justice and Charity as might have been expected from him to his Dissenting Neighbours I am I confess very sorry my Christian Visits to the Bishop have met with no Better Returns than Controversie But because that 's his and not my fault it shall be my Satisfaction I did indeed Perceiving him Conversant in our Writings and his Character to be Moderation casually Present him with one of those Papers but as the Nature of it is Far from Provocation so my design in it was purely to Improve his Temper and not to Excite his Contradiction Nor was it Writ for an Exact and Compleat Account of our Belief but Occasionally to prevent the Prejudices that the Attempts of a Course and Scurrilous Pen at Dublin just before might provoke in some against us as to the Points touched upon in the Gospel-Truths And though we have been so Unhappy as to be therein Mistaken by the Bishop yet it 's some Comfort to Us that our Christian Declaration hath had quite another Reception with the Generality of those to whose Hands it has come And I heartily wish That hath not been the most prevailing Motive to his Undertaking However since he has been pleased to fault it both with Shortness and Error which we thought Healing at least Inoffensive I esteem my self Answerable for it and shall with God's Assistance Defend it against the Force of his Exceptions and I hope with Clearness and Temper For though I may be plain as he may expect I desire to be neither Rude nor Bitter I ask Reader but the Common Justice due to all Authors especially in Controverted Points of Religion to wit Attention and Impartiality and then judge whether our Pacifick Paper deserved so Sharp a Censure and the Manner of its being given him so Publick a Return Though I hope the Consequence will be Good To Almighty God I leave the Success and am in all Christian Obligation Thy Assured Friend W. Penn. Bristol the 23d of the 7th Month 1698. GOSPEL-TRUTHS Held and briefly Declared by the People called QUAKERS for Satisfaction of Moderate Enquirers SOBER READER IF thou hadst rather we should be in the Right than in the Wrong and if thou thinkest it but a Reasonable Thing that we should be Heard before we are Condemned and that our Belief ought to be taken from our own Mouths and not at theirs that have prejudged our Cause then we intreat thee to Read and Weigh the following Brief Account of those Things that are chiefly Received and Professed among us the People called Quakers according to the Testimony of the Scriptures of Truth and the Illumination of the Holy Ghost which are the Double and Agreeing Record of True Religion Published to Inform the Moderate Enquirer and Reclaim the Prejudic'd to a better Temper which GOD grant to his Glory and their Peace I. It is our Belief that GOD Is and that He is a Rewarder of all them that fear Him with Eternal Rewards of Happiness and that those that fear him not shall be turned into Hell Heb. 11. 6. Rev. 22. 12. Rom. 2. 5 6 7 8. Psal 9. 17. II. That there are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are really One 1. John 5. 7. III. That the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among Men and was and is the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth His Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and whom we are to hear in all things who tasted Death for every Man and Dyed for Sin that we might Die to Sin and by his Power and Spirit be raised up to Newness of Life here and to Glory hereafter John 1. 14. Matth. 3. 17. Heb. 2. 9. IV. That as we are only Justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by Works of Righteousness that we have done so 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 Since no Man can be Justified by Christ who walks not after the Spirit but after the Flesh for whom he Sanctifies them â—e also Justifies And if we walk in the Light as he is Light his precious Blood â—leanseth us from all Sin as well from the Pollution as Guilt of Sin Rom. 3. 22. to 26. Chap. 8. 1 2 3 4. 1 John 5. 7. V. That Christ is die Great Light of the World that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and is full of Grace and Truth and giveth to all Light for Light and Grace for Grace and by his Light and Grace he Inwardly Appears to Man and teaches such as will be taught by him That Denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts they should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World John 8. 12. Chap. 1. 9 â—14 Tit. 2. 11 12. VI. That this Principle of Light and Grace which is GOD's Gift through Christ to Man is that which shews us our Sins Reproves us for them and would Lead all all out of them that obey it to serve GOD in Fear and Love all their Days And they that turn not at the Reproofs thereof and will not Repent and Live and Walk according to it shall die in their Sins and where Christ is gone they shall never come who is Undefiled and separated from Sinners Ephes 5. 13. John 16. 7. Prov. 1. 20. to 24. John 8. 24. VII This is that Principle by which GOD prepares the Heart to worship him aright and all the Duties of Religion as Praying Praising and Preaching ought to be performed through the sanctifying Power and Assistance of It other Worship being but Formal and Will-Worship with which we cannot in Conscience joyn nor can we maintain or uphold It. Rom. 8. 26. 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. VIII Worship in this Gospel-Day is Inward and Spiritual For GOD is a Spirit as Christ teacheth and he will Now be worshiped in Spirit and Truth being most suitable to his Divine Nature wherefore we wait in our Assemblies to feel GOD's
Spirit to open and move upon our Hearts before we dare offer Sacrifice to the LORD or Preach to others the way of his Kingdom That we may Preach in Power as well as Words and as GOD Promised and Christ Ordained Without Money and without Price John 4. 23 24. 1 Thess 1. 5. Isa 55. 1. Rev. 22. 17. Matt. 10. 8. IX This also leads us to deny all the vain Customs and Fashions of the World to avoid Excess in all things that our Moderation may be seen of all Men because the LORD is at hand to see and judge us according to our Deeds Tit. 2. 12. Rom. 12. â— Philip. 4. 5. Eccl. 12. 14. Mat. 16. 27. Rom. 2. 6. Rev. 20. 12. X. We believe the Necessity of the One Baptism of Christ as well as of his One â—upper which he promiseth to Eat with those that open the Door of their Hearts to him being the Baptism and Supper signified by the Outward Signs which tho' we disuse we judge not those that conscientiously practise them Mat. 3. 11. Ephes 4. 1. 1. Pet. 3. 21 22. John 6. Rev. 3. 20. XI We Honour Government For we believe it is an Ordinance of GOD and that we ought in all things to submit by Doing or Suffering But esteem it a great Blessing where the Administration is a Terror to Evil Doers and a Praise to them that Do Well Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. This hath all a long been the General Stream and Tendency both of our Ministry and Writings as our Books will make appear notwithstanding what Ill-minded and Prejudic'd Persons may have strained to Mis-represent Us and our Christian Profession Dublin the 14th of the 3d Month 1698. William Penn. Thomas Story Anthony Sharp George Rooke THE TESTIMONY OF THE BISHOP OF CORK As to a Paper Intituled GOSPELâ—TRUTHS held c. by the PEOPLE called QUAKERS And Delivered to Him by an eminent Member of them Friends I Am such a Reader as in your Paper you desire I have read and soberly weighed the account you give of those things which you say are chiefly Received and Professed amongst you And I will exercise so much Moderation and Charity as to lay a great weight on that word chiefly hoping these are not the Only Things or All that you Believe I should have been heartily glad to have found that you had been in the Truth as I am well assured I my self am But as I professed when the Paper was given Me That if I took it you must expect I should bear my Testimony touching It or against It So I now must tell you I think my self bound in Conscience to perform what I then professed and that upon more Reasons than I will now trouble the World with You must not be offended if I say You have such a way of Writing and Speaking that it is very hard in many matters of Religion to know what you mean But as far as I understand you I will candidly acknowledge what Truths you have sufficiently or tolerably exprest I will shew you with meekness how far your Faith if this be your Faith comes short of being sufficient or Christian and I will sincerely tell you what I apprehend to be the cause of your Delusion and how dangerous a condition I really fear nay believe you to be in And first The only Articles in which you have exprest a sufficient Christian Belief are your IV. which is touching Justification and your last touching Government and your Submission thereto I wish you may always stick to this Belief and Practice And I heartily rejoyce to find you acknowledging the Necessity of Christ as a Propitiation in order to Remission of Sins and Justifying You as Sinners from Guilt 'T is the first time I have heard of it amongst you As to all the rest of your Articles I mean those which I understand I must tell you the declaration of your Faith comes so short of what is required from People to denominate them Christians that except under each Article you believe more than you have declar'd you cannot be accounted Christians For first in those Articles of Faith which you have thought fit to mention you have set down only some little Ends I had almost called them Snaps of the Article And Secondly many more whole Articles of the true Christian Faith and which are of no less import you have intirely omitted waved or suppressed You acknowledge in your I. Article there is a God and you own his Providence as to the other Life But that He made Heaven and Earth that He is the Almighty and at present by his Sovereign Power most wisely and holily Governs Orders and Sustains all by his Mercies as well as Judgments even in this World not â—â—aving Himself without witness you say not 〈◊〉 word Creation in the beginning and Providence as to this World at present are not here acknowledged by You. We hope you believe both Your II. Article is wholly true for it is express Scripture 1 John V. 7. But it is onely what the Apostle there had occasion to say and what was to his purpose touching the Father Son and Holy Spirit far from being the sum of what the Holy Scripture teaches of them and therefore iâ— not a sufficient Confession of Faith on that head In your III. Article you acknowledge indeed the Son of God to have been made Flesh but neither Conceived by the Holy Ghost nor Born of the Virgin Mary So that it does not appear by this your Confession but that He was at first an ordinary corrupt sinful Person Nay you own Him not so much as Jesus or the Christ the great Saviour who delivereth from the wrath which is to come or the Great Prophet Priest Lord and King of his Church You acknowledged him indeed to have dyed for Sin but not to mention the Articles inferible from and relating to the Circumstances of his death You have not one word of His Resurrection from the Dead or of His Ascension into Heaven which iâ— may be proved some of you have expresly denyed saying He is not ascended into Heaven He is in us Nor again of Hâ—… sitting now at the right hand of the Majesty oâ— high And so you seem not to own any thing of His Mediation Intercession or Appearing now in Heaven for us Nor further have you said a word of his coming again to Judgment or the End of the World Thus indeed You have here neither own'd the Creation nor Dissolution of the World so that it does not appear by this Account of your Faith whether you do not judge it Eternal and so otherwise Infinite Yet again Not a word of One Church which it may be feared you strike out of your Belief because you are resolved never more to return into the Unity of the Church but to make and maintain a Schism or Party for ever Nor further have you a word of the Resurrection of the Body which divers of you have been
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost of which there is not one Instance in all the Scripture But that which further shews that Water cannot be understood to be meant in the Apostolical Commission is that one of the Greatest of the Apostles He that came behind and was added to by none of them denys It 1 Cor. 1. 17. to be any Part of his Commission for says he Christ sent me not to Baptize but to preach the Gospel And thanks God for that reason in the foregoing Verses that he had Baptized so few Which to be sure he ought not to have done but on the Contrary to have been sorry he had Baptized no more had Water-Baptism been Part of the Apostolical Commission Mat. 28. 19. Again this Eminent Apostle the Great Grand Father not to say God-Father of Gentile Christians delivered to them for Doctrine Eph. 4. 5. that there was but One Lord One Faith and One Baptism And if so That must be the Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost which is Christ's Baptism and Proper to the Gospel Dispensation Now could any other make a Man a True Christian or a Child of God then nor can any be so now without It. That Baptism therefore without which a Man cannot be a True Jew or Christian or of the Circumcision made without hands that Worship God in the Spirit and hath no Confidence in the Flesh must needs be the One Baptism but such is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost Therefore the Spiritual Baptism is the Apostles One Baptism Rom. 2. 28 29. Phil. 3. 3. Again the One Baptism must be Christ's Baptism but Christ is the Baptism of the Spirit therefore That and not Water Baptism must be the One Baptism that 's in force according to the Apostle As John was the Fore-runner of Christ so was Water of the Holy Ghost But that which Fore-runs in Nature Ceases and that which succeeds of course Remains Therefore the Baptism of the Spirit is the One Needful and Permanent Baptism Yet further If it be Gospel That he is not a Jew that is one Outward nor that Circumcision that is Outward in the Flesh but that he is a Jew that is one Inward and that is Circumcision that is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God as Rom. 2. 28 29. Then unanswerably He is not a Christian that is one Outward nor is that Baptism that is of the Flesh But he is a Christian that is one Inwardly and that is Baptism that is of the Heart in the Spirit whose Praise is not of Men but of God For indeed in all Ages Men cry him down as a Slighter of God's Ordinances but his Praise however is of God let Men say what they will and this is the Inward Christians Comfort in all Undervaluings and Reflexions he meets with from Outside Christians For it 's not to be thought that the Apostle meant or designed to undervalue one Observation as that of Circumcision because it is Outward and set up another Outward Observation instead of it viz. Water-Baptism Again If in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a New Creature as saith the same Apostle Gal. 6. 15. Then by the same Reason neither being baptized with Water availeth any thing not being unbaptized with Water but a New Creature I will repeat the Apostles Discourse at large upon this Subject in the same Chapter because it is very Instructing and seems Discissive in this Case As many says he as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be Circumcised only least they should suffer Persecution for the Cross of Christ It seems they were Outside People that laid stress upon Outside things or something else instead of the Cross of Christ for they Temporized in this matter to shun the Shame and Persecution that then attended the Christians Cross Which stood partly in laying down of outward Observations and which they that desire to make a fair shew in the Flesh stand most for But the Apostle goes on For says he neither they themselves who are Circumcised keep the Law but desire to have you Circumcised that they may Glory in your Flesh They were not exact in the other parts of the Law it seems as strict as they seemed to be for this Sacramental Practice which is the Case of too many now Yet they prest it that they might glory and value themselves upon gaining others to be conformable to them whether to excuse their Compliance with Custom that they might avoid Persecution or out of love to Ceremonial Religion But says that clear-sighted and plain-dealing Apostle God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the World is Crucified unto me and I unto the World If he rejoyced in nothing but in the Cross of Christ then in no other Elementary Rite Service or Ordinance any more than in Circumcision But he proceeds For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a New Creature That is to say for according to Christ Jesus or in the Religion of Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth but a New Creature a regenerate Soul One born again by the Spirit of God For the Apostle in these excellent Words not only strikes at Circumcision but all Outward and Elementary Observations Neither This nor That Outward thing availeth in the Christian Religion or according to Christ Jesus but a New Creature He does not say but Water Baptism as some would have it who tell us that It succeeds Circumcision by Divine Institution by no means But that which availeth with Christ and in the Relâ—gion of Christ Jesus is a New Creature a â—ew Man one Changed Regenerated or Born gain by the Word and Baptism of the Holy Ghost And says the Apostle to confirm â—hem in this Doctrine of Inward Circumciâ—ion that is of the Heart in the Spirit which â—s the same thing with the Baptism of the Spirit As many as walk according to this Rule Peace shall be upon them So that We the â—oor despised Quakers take Comfort in this Apostolical Benediction and can say to God's Glory his Peace has been upon Us in our Belief and Confession of this blessed Docâ—rine of the New Creature It is what we have Aimed at and has been the great Drift of our Testimony since we were a People and in order to it have directed all to the Gift of God's Grace in themselves that by believing in it and resigning up their Wills and Affections and whole Man to the Teaching and Conduct of it they may be leavened and sanctified by it throughout by which the State of the New Creature which is Christianity indeed will be Experienced though It was and is a Mystery to the World As for the Apostle Peter's Question Acts 10. 47 48. Can any Man forbid Water that These should not
yet he does not thereby bid them do it often if at ail 5ly And whereas the Bishop would make it a fresh Revelation to the Apostle when he says for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you I must dissent from him I cannot apprehend that means any more than this that what account he had received of Christ's Eating the Supper with his Disciples the Night he was Betrayed the same also he had Delivered unto them For what need could there be of an Immediate Revelation for so late a Fact so well Witnessed by the Disciples But if my Reader will peruse that Part of the Chapter which relates to the Supper he will find the Stress lies upon Remembring of the Lord which is indeed our Daily Indispensible Duty and he that lives without it may be said to live without God in the World of which those Corinthians at that time seemed to Insensible and as such are severely reproved by the Apostle being Irreverent Greedy and Drunken hardly fit for the Sign and less able to discern the Thing Signified 6ly Nor does the Apostle seem to recommend this practice but rather reprehend their Abuse of it and if my Reader will look back to the foregoing Chapter from the beginning to die 18 Verse he may find a more Spiritual Supper and Mystical Bread and Cup hinted at by the Apostle as well as Mat. 26. 29. Rev. 3. 20. by our Lord Jesus Christ himself Which is indeed very copiously exprest by Luke in the Parable of the Supper chap. 14. from the 16. to die 24. Verse where One that was at Meat with Christ speaking of the Blessedness of eating of Bread in the Kingdom of God Christ takes occasion to shew forth the Gospel Supper by a Parable viz. A Certain Man made a Great Supper and bid many but they refused upon divers pretences and came not He sent out a second and third time to invite an inferiour sort of Guests and they came to the Supper that is they received the Gospel which is the Power of God to Salvation and the evidence as Well as means of It Which Christ in the 27th verse further expresses thus viz. and whosoever doth not bear my Cross and follow me cannot be my Disciple Now the Cross of Christ the same Apostle also says is the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 18. all which referrs to an Inward and Spiritual Work and Supper and that they who receive Christ in Spirit Sup with him in Spirit being the partakers of his Spiritual Supper which Christ promises and prepares for all those that open at his knocks the Door of their Hearts unto him Rev. 3. 7ly But besides what I have said both from Scripture and the Nature of the thing in Proof of Christ's Spiritual Supper and Defense of our disuse of the visible Sign the Bishop himself does the same thing in relation to another Ordinance For our Lord Jesus Christ did as solemnly Command his Disciples to wash one anothers Feet as to eat the Supper The Passage is large and edifying and I must recommend it to my Reader to peruse in his Bible John 13. But that part of it which more strictly concerns this point between the Bishop and me I shall repeat here verse 12 13 14 15. So after he had washed their Feet and taken his Garments and was set down again He said unto them Know ye what I have done to you Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your Feet ye also ought to wash one anothers Feet For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Thus Christ Commanded his Disciples not only by his Authority but Example Now does the Bishop and his Friends follow Christ's example and obey this Precept He and they know they do not What must I Infer from thence that the Bishop is no Christian I suppose he would take it very ill from me Tho' he has treated me and my Friends after that sort But I will shew him a better example and suppose he thinks that if Christian Ministers and People walk Humbly towards God and one with another they fulfil this Commandment tho' they disuse the Sign by which the Lord Jesus exprest and recommended Humility to his Followers Now that which excuses the Bishop in reference to this Ordinance of Washing of Feet will also excuse our disuse of the Supper viz. Our eating of the Spiritual Bread and Wine of the Kingdom the Thing Signified by the Outward Supper But it is an Error incident to srail Man to prefer the Practice of those things that have a Shew of Religion and have least of Uneasiness and of the Nature of the Cross of Christ in their Performance Just thus it is easier to receive the Supper than to be Humble if not easier than to wash Feet For one is but a Memorial of Christ but the other perhaps is a Reproach of present Practice and to be sure a Command to Mortification and Self-denial the hardest Lesson in Religion And who knows but for the Reason it has been dropt so long since it must be very uneasie for People to continue a Custom to which their Daily Practice is so visible a Contradiction Though I hear the Roman Bishop â—â—mocks the Text Once a Year 8ly But in Relation to the Supper we farther say the Practice is varied Then they Sat â—ow one sort Stands another Walks a third Kneels a fourth Lies down upon the Ground as in the East Countries The Romans have one Opinion the Greeks another and the Lutherans and Calvinists Divide to great Bitterness in their Sentiments about It. 9ly Again in those Days they were Disciples such as followed Christ now all are admitted that profess Christianity tho' they do not follow him or forsake any thing for his Name sake or keep any of his Holy Precepts Matth. 5 6 7 Chapters 10ly Nor is this all we have to say to Justifie our Disuse of this Practice It is too much Look'd at and Relied upon by the People And indeed is become a kind of Protestant Extream Unction for if the Generality of them can but have it administred just before they Die they are too apt to presume upon it for an acceptance in the other World And indeed it is very frequent if not natural for many Men to excuse their Disobedience by Sacrifice and where Ceremonies or Shadowy Services are continued People rest upon their observance of them and Indulge themselves in the Neglect of the Doctrine of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ I need not look far nor yet the Bishop for a proof of what I say we can hardly miss which way soever we throw out Eyes the more is the pity And as this is no small Abuse of Primitive Practice so no small Argument for our disuse of it For when the Brazen Serpent was over-valued by the Jews God
that had commanded It for their benefit stirred up Hezekiah to Destroy it 11ly Besides these things are become matter of Gain and made a Sacerdotal Revenue not to say Merchandize which has also helpt to Scandalize People to Tender Consciences who think it a Prophanation of Religion to suffer any part of it to be Excised to the People that ought to be Free 12ly But passing that by at present and supposing Water Baptism and the Supper were not Antiquated but still in Force Who is there Qualified to Administer them Who has received a Commission or the Mind of the Holy Ghost and Power from on High to perform these things For if those that hold they are in Force have no Divine Force or Authority to qualifie them to Administer them there will be but a Lifeless Imitation instead of an Edifying Reality Which â—eads me to what I promised long since That I would at the Close of this Discourse â—ay something of the True Ground of our Difference and Dissent I say then that where we are supposed to â—iffer most we differ least and where we â—re believed to differ least we most of all differ Which I explain thus It 's generally thought that we do not hold the Common Doctrines of Christianity but have Introduced New and Erroneous Ones in lieu thereof Whereas we plainly and entirely Believe the Truths contained in the Creed that is commonly called the Apostles which is very Comprehensive as well as Ancient But that which hath affected our Minds most and engaged us in this Separation was the great Carnality and Emptiness both of Ministers and People under their Profession of Religion They having hardly the Form of Godliness but generally speaking denying the Power thereof from whom the Scripture warns Believers to turn away Next Ministers being made such and preaching and the People worshipping without the Spirit confining the Operations of it to the First or Apostolical Times as if these did not want them as much or that Christ would be less Propitious where his Gifts were not less needful I say an Humane and Lifeless Ministry and Worship together with the great Wordliness of Professors have occasioned our Separation and the Persecution that has commonly followed it hath abundantly confirmed our Judgment In that Matter Hence it was we Retired our selves to wait upon God together according to the Gift of his Holy Spirit and as the Apostle Paul exhorted the Athenians Acts 17. We felt after him with our Souls if by any means we might find him and hear what God the Lord would say unto us who speaks Peace unto his People and his Saints but let them never turn to folly any more We could not I say tell how to think that such as God had never sent but run of themselves and were made Ministers by Humane Learning and Authority not knowing the Work of the Spirit to their own Regeneration could possibly Profit or Edifie the People unto their Regeneration And yet that is the very Work and End of the true Gospel Ministry for no Man can guide another in the way he never trod Besides we apprehended the Ministry was â—ery much a Temporal Preferment and thereâ—ore few were to be found among them that â—â—d not court the Better Places I mean those â—â—at gave the Greatest Pay and by those â—ethods mounted to Worldly Wealth and â—onour as the rest of the World did Turnâ—â—g Alms into Dues and by Law making â—ifts Rents and vexing those extreamly â—â—at for Conscience sake could not uphold â—â—em Which we thought very Foreign to Primitive and an Apostolical Spirit and â—ort of a True and Through Reformation This is not said with any disrespect to their â—ersons or yet Calling simply Considered for â—e that desires the Office of a Bishop certainly â—esires a good thing but the Holy Ghost in â—hose days had the Making of them and the â—ood thing then was their Service and not â—evenue or Worldly Dignity They were then â—ot only no Lords one being their Lord â—ut they lorded it not over God's Clergy or Heâ—itage which was the People in those days â—or â—o the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies tho' it is now â—â—scribed only to the Ministry Then the Ground of Prophesie or Ministry was the Revelation of the Spirit in those ancient Assemblies as may be read 1 Cor. 14. 29 30 31 32. For all might Prophecy that is Preach as the Spirit of God moved upon their Spirit and gave them utterance be it to Reproof Instruction or Consolation Now Study Collection and Memory In those Days they Preach'd their Own Experience of die Work of God upon their Hearts but most now Preach of the Experiences of Others recorded in Scriptures but according to their own and others Humane Apprehensions To be brief we Ground our Conviction Conversion Ministry Prayer and Praise upon the Light and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Powerful and Effectual Spring of our Religious Performances and that alone which prepares the Soul and Enables it to Perform those respective Services and Duties in a Manner Acceptable to God And that Ministry and Worship which stands not in the Spirit and is not performed in the Preparation and Inspiration thereof but according to the Compilings Traditions and Precepts of Men we cannot allow to be Primitive and Evangelical and consequently cannot join in them And we are satisfied that it is the good Pleasure of God that all who profess the Name of his Dear and Only Begotten and Well-beloved Son should Acquaint themselves with the Spirit of His Son in their own Hearts in its Reproof Instruction Conviction and Consolation that they may become Spiritually Minded such as mind Spiritual Things more than Earthly Ones and that Daily sow to the Spirit that is bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit and become the Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God Now the Fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance Against such there is no Law And they that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof But the Works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murder Drunkenness Revilings and such like Of which I told you before as also in time past that they which do such things shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God Rom. 8. 6. 14. Gal. 5. 16. to 24. Chap. 6. 7. 8. And under these Marks and Directions all People may examine themselves and know their Birth Family and Inheritance whether they are the off-spring of God and true Christians or Children of the Evil One Those that are born of the Spirit for whom is reserved an Inheritance With the Saints in Light or the Seed of Evil Doers for whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever And truly it seems just with God that those who love Darkness