doth savingly enlighten or afford super-natural Revelation in an immediate Way hath at once excluded and denyed both the Knowledge of God and Christ and this is the very Way to bring in Atheism for what shall assure us either of the Knowledge of God Christ Scripture or true Preaching if immediate Illumination be denyed us And yet this man to his own Confutation pretends not to exclude the concurrent Operation of God's Spirit upon the Heart p. 18. But how should we believe that he really owns the Christian Doctrine contained in Scriptures to be any Rule at all either of his Faith or Practice while he opposeth the very thing which it directs us to viz. The New Covenant the Spirit 's Teaching immediate Illumination c. Sect. II. Of the Divine Unction Light New Covenant and Use of the Ministry ANd this Opposer will have his Sense and Meaning upon some plain Scriptures contrary to their very Import as upon 1 Joh. 2. 20. But ye have an Unction from the Holy One and ye know all things And again ver 27. But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him About this he appears very much puzled and cannot tell how to wind off the plain Words on the Behalf of the Anointing and its full and plentiful Teaching And after he hath spoken doubtfully about the Sense of this Scripture he concludes our Notion of the holy Spirit 's Teaching Men that live under the Gospel cannot be the Sense of it when the Words are plain Ye need not that anyman teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all Things Nor would this render the Design of John in this Epistle and other Writings needless p. 64. while his Epistle and Writing proclaims the Sufficiency of the Anointing wherein he writes both to little Children young Men and Fathers and what he writes was as he had received from the Anointing and not meerly as Man's Teaching and argued no Defect in the Anointing at all but rather exalts it and tends to encourage others to continue in it to abide in the Truth it being confest That both the Apostles other Believers were established in Christ by the Anointing of God upon them from 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. As also That they were induced at the first to believe the Doctrine to be from God because they perceived the Anointing of God to be upon them that preached it p 66 67. So that here it is confest that Believers Establishment in Christ both Preachers and Hearers was by the Anointing of God upon them as he which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God and that they were induced to believe the Doctrine to be from him because that they perceived that Anointing to be upon or in the Preachers Surely then there was a spiritual Eye opened in them so to perceive And this is our Method both for believing obeying and saving Men which one while this Man hath opposed as contrary to God's Way another while he confesseth to it but then he darkens the Matter again upon the Words Ye have an Unction from the Holy One and ye know all Things he gives this Meaning viz. Not that by this Uâ—ction the commmon Christians were immediately inspired with the Knowledge of all Truths but that by it they were assured of the Truth of all things which the Apostles had taught and further adds It is not said that this Anointing did teach them all Things but that it did teach of all Things that is of or concerning the Truth of all Things to which it was a Witness or Evidence p. 66 67. He seems to lay a great stress here upon the Particle Of as if the Anointing did only teach them Of or concerning those Doctrines which the Apostles preached but not the Doctrines themselves and then who taught the Apostles to preach Was it not the Anointing And did not several Gifts flow from one Spirit But the man overlooks the Words of the Apostle cited by him viz. Ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you and did not this Anointing teach the Believers in the Apostles Absence and when they had not their Epistles read among them Or was it only a Witness or Evidence to what they spoke or preacht Or did it abide in them not to speak to them in the Absence of the Apostles and their Epistles but only in their Presence What a strange Limitation would this be that indeed endeavours to stop the Mouth of the Anointing And his denying that by this Unction the common Christians were immediately inspired with the Knowledge of all Truths leaves the Matter still doubtful on his Part and seems at least to be a Sense twarting the Apostles Words Ye have an Unction from the Holy One and ye know all Things He should have told whether he believes that the common Christians as he calls them were inspired with any Truths necessary to Salvation If he denies this then he bids adieu to all divine and saving Knowledge as to those Christians Whereas the same God that anointed the Apostles to preach and established them in Christ did both anoint and establish those Believers to whom they preached so their Ministry was effectual only through that Anointing which enabled them to preach And we never denyed the Apostles Preaching in order to direct men to that Anointing All which still prefers the Anointing as the principal Means and Rule and owns true Preaching as in Subordination to it But does not therefore oppose or deny the Anointing's immediate Teaching or Sufficiency to save them that believe in and obey it And because all are not converted or come to this divine Unction within or Dispensation of the New Covenant God hath been and is pleased to make Use of such effectual Means and to accommodate his divine Truth to mens low Capacities by Preaching and Demonstration of the Spirit as may be for their Help and Advantage in order thereto So that the Controversie is brought to this narow Compass viz. our present Opposer pretends to own super-natural Revelation and divine Illumination but not now in an immediate Way but only in a mediate Way of Preaching and Scripture We own and assert divine Illumination and super-natural Revelation in an immediate Way as also that God is pleased to make Use of such mediate Wayes and Means as are attended with his Presence and divine Illumination without which no outward Means can be effectual or to any real Advantage to the Soul This Opposer reckons that God operates now only in a mediate Way we own that God works both immediately and mediately as also we assert the sole Sufficiency of the Spirt's immediate Illumination and Teaching both as the Ground of the Effectual Ministry and of
there any Virtue in Christ's Presence that is not in God's Presence Is not the Father Son and Holy Spirit one Being though different as to Relation and Degrees of Manifestation But how plainly contradictory is it one while to confess Christ's being in men his essential Presence as God to be in all men and yet that his Light in the Heathen or greatest Part of men is natural and created O monstrous Inconsistency He affirms that the Form of Doctrine delivered to the Christians to wit the Scriptures was to be the Rule of Faith and Christian Practice to rule and govern themselves by p. 22 23. And yet confesseth That those who are sincere make it their dayly Care and Endeavour to walk according to the Light and Guidance of that Rule that hath its Seat in their Conscience p. 40. Observ. Here he has found another Rule then the Scripture to wit the Light in the Conscience Though it is true the Apostles Doctrine contains Rules but the Light within that gave it forth was The Rule the Chief or Highest Rule for Guidance and Power and that wherein was the Power of Rule and Government to all true Christians He gives this Judgment against us viz. That in Truth there is no Light in us how much soever we vainly boast of it he sayes p. 40. And yet hath confessed That the essential Presence of Christ as God is in all men and that Christ doth enlighten every man with a Faculty of Reason or natural Light by which he hath acknowledged some Light to be in every man though it is true they that speak not according to the Word it is because there is no Morning in them yet it follows not that there is no Light at all in them for there may be some Light in them before the Morning Upon Joh. 1. 9. he saith that there is no such thing as that Christ so enlightens all men as with what he ought to believe and do in order to his Salvation without outward Teaching can be proved p. 41. And yet confesseth That Christ indeed as God doth enlighten every man by which he may know that there is a God that he is to be worshipped that he is placable and that this may be a Light sufficient to direct the Heathen to do as much as God expects from them if they live up to it But in Contradiction again He calls this a natural Light not sufficient c. p. 42. Observ. What! A Light sufficient to give the Knowledge of God and his Worship that he is placable and to direct the Heathen to as much as he expects from them and yet not sufficient to enlighten men with a Knowledge of what they ought to believe and do in order to Salvation Is not this palpable Contradiction That Men may by the Light within be directed to acknowledge and worship God and to as much as he expects from them and yet not be saved These can never hold together any more then that the Light in the Heathen may be sufficient to direct them to as much as God expects and yet not to believe in his Son for Salvation according to pag. 42. As if God did not require all men to believe in his Son when their not believing in him is the very thing for which his Spirit reproveth the World of Sin and he that believeth not in the Son of God is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God And this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil Joh. 3. 18 19. So that it is evident That Light is come into the World that men may believe in the Name of the Son of God and escape Condemnation Again he errs in saying Paul knew of no such Way to propagate the Faith as immediate Revelation and inward Teaching of the Light within after it was once set on foot in an extraordinary Way p. 46. And this he hath contradicted in his confessing That the Work of Grace in men is most properly attributed to God to Christ and that the Scripture attributes it to God to Christ to the holy Spirit p. 18. And also he had almost granted that the holy Spirit may be communicated to men by immediate Revelation p. 28. Observ. So then God may and doth work by his immediate Power and Spirit for the begetting men into the true Faith and it is only this Spirit immediately attending true Ministers that maketh their Preaching effectual for the turning men to the Word of Faith in their Hearts Whereas the Tenour and Stress of this man's Work is against Enthusiasm in the best sense even against being savingly illuminated in an immediate way and saith that the plentiful Effusion of the Spirit is far from giving any Countenance to our Opinion of the Spirit 's being given to teach men immediately by internal Illumination pag. 60. And on John 16. 13. he accounteth that this is not a Promise to guide all Christians by its immediate Motion but a Promise to his Apostles pag. 61. And yet in Contradiction to himself in this and in Concession to the Truth he in words assents to the Operation of God's Grace and good Spirit pag. 15. And that men are said in Scripture to be born of the Spirit to be born of the immortal Seed of the Word pag. 18 19. But then he is nconsistent again in accounting these different Causes he hath also confessed the essential Presence of Christ as God to be in men p. 20. And that in Revel 2. Chap. 3. it is seven times said He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches p. 27. And that Christ's Ministers are Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit p. 33. That he accompanies their Ministration with the Presence of his Grace and Power p. 38. And also he asserts to the inward Assistance of his Spirit p. 41. And saith It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth p. 55. And on 1 Joh. 2. Ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you he grants that the Apostle's Meaning must be That they needed not from him or any other man any teaching that could give them greater Assurance of any thing then that Anointing gave them of Jesus his being the Christ and of the Truth of that Doctrine that Anointing being God's Witness from Heaven pag. 68. And that the Spirit doubtless is not wanting to assist the sincere Endeavours of men in searching after the Sense of the Scriptures p. 69. Howbeit for men to be guided by the internal Teachings of the Spirit without outward Teaching this he calls our Wild Notion And yet citeth Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God p. 71. And Gal. 5. 18. If ye are led by the Spirit
excludes all that have not the Scriptures or mens Teaching from the saving Work or Change in them and confines all God's People as Children under Tutors and Governours that they may be alwayes learning and then when shall they know the Truth And of whom do their Teachers learn and receive the Understanding of the Scriptures 2dly To his saying That the Doctrine contain'd in them is the Rule of Faith and Practice He should rather have said A RULE subordinate to the great Rule of Faith and Practice to wit that divine Light which was the true Prophets and Apostles Rule in giving forth the Scriptures is now the true Believers Rule in truly believing understanding and obeying the wholesom Doctrine contained in them which none truly own but they who believe in the Light and follow and walk in the Spirit which the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles directs men to His accusing us with opposing mens being enlightened and taught by Christ to their being taught by the Scriptures is not true unless he intended the Scriptures without Christ's Light within for we assert his immediate Illumination and Teaching in Opposition to mens preferring the Scriptures before the Spirit and excluding its immediate Teaching in these Dayes we do not oppose Christ's Enlightning men to the true Knowledge or Understanding of the Scriptures which proceeded thence His rendering the Spirit and the Word two several Causes that produce the same Effect viz. God's Working savingly upon men and his calling the immortal Seed of the Word 1 Pet. 1. 23. The Sword of the Spirit and God's great Instrument or Means by which the Spirit doth its Work upon Men meaning the Scriptures p. 18 19. In these is he greatly mistaken For first The Spirit and the Word are no such differing Causes for they are one and the immortal Word was before the Scriptures 2dly This Spirit or living Word doth work upon men both with and without the Scriptures as it pleaseth Howbeit the Spirit is immediate in its inward Manifestations and Discoveries and is only God's Gift And while this man hath granted That Christ is God and God every where present and so in all Men p. 20. He must grant an Immediateness both of his Presence Light and Teaching in Man or else he allows man no Preheminence above a Beast and endeavours to limit God to Silence in man unless when he hears outward Teaching or Scripture which cannot profit him without God's immediate Teaching and inward Speaking His accusing us with jumbling about Christ's being in all Men and saying that in Respect of his vertual Presence as Mediator as when he rules and operates in Men's Hearts by his Authority and by the Evangelical Law in this Sense he is not in all Men p. 20 21. And when did we ever say that he was in this Sense in all men that is as ruling c. or to dwell in the Hearts of all men by Faith But while 't is granted that as God Christ is every where present and so in all men it 's granted that he is in all men in some Sense and his Presence is immediate and though he does not rule in wicked mens Hearts by his Evangelical Law and dwells not by Faith in the Hearts of Unbelievers yet by his Light he reproves them for Sin often and immediately in their Consciences and his immediate Reproofs daily persue the Transgressors who rebell against his Light and there is both Vertue and Power in his Presence immediately to torment the Wicked and refresh the Righteous therefore he is not alwayes confined to speak by the Instrumentality and Agency of second Causes as this Opposer darkly imagins who neither rightly knows our Principle to state it nor doth clearly state his own but runs into a Multitude of Tautologies and Repetitions and Contradictions that a Body hath something to do to find out the Matter he drives at though one search his Book with a great deal of Care Memory and Perspicuity as for Instance He confesseth both the Work of the Spirit and Christ dwelling in the Heart and a being made one Spirâ—â— with him as also to a super-natural Revelation and Illumination in the Way of Salvation and the Presence of God every where and in all Men and yet opposeth the immediate Operation of Christ in men but saith He doth not teach Men now immediately in Person p. 21. And who saith he doth But if he teach men immediately in Spirit as to be sure he doth his own who hear his Voice it 's sufficient And this man confesseth in Rev. 2 3. That it is seven Times said He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches as every Man in the VVorld hath that is not deaf as also He adds That when it the Doctrine is communicated to them by VVriting as where it is so by Preaching yea saith he I had almost said or by immediate Revelaâ—ion p. 28. Reader observe here how uncertain variable and unstable this man is in his own Judgment and Principle for one while he opposeth immediate Revelation or Enthusiasm as none of God's Way or Method now another while he does assent to the hearing of the Spirit or receiving its Doctrine by immediate Revelation and so then the Controversie he seems to place not so much upon immediate Revelation as the Belief Obedience or Disobedience of the Doctrine and those Revelations which he confesseth 'T is possible Men may have from God as Balaam had and Judas and other Workers of Iniquity that prophesied and cast out Devils in Christ's Name had p. 28. But now you who deny immediate Revelation to the Church of Christ in these Dayes do ye not therein render the Church inferior to Balaam Judas and those Workers of Iniquity nay I may add to Adam after the Fall who heard the Voice of God and to Cain to whom also God spoak And I cannot understand how this Man can really own the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles to be a Rule much less the Rule of Faith and Christian Practice as he asserts p. 22. while he saith That Christ Jesus doth not savingly enlighten all thos who yet are savingly illuminated neither by natural Light nor by super-natural Revelation in an IMMEDIATE Way and addeth Then it follows that such are enlightened by supernatural Revelation MEDIATELY or instrument â—â— p. 47. Note here Reader that he pretends to own super-natural Revelation but not in a immediate Way and a being savingly illuminated but not immediately and yet pretends to own that Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles which directs both to God's Teaching and Hearing and learning of the Father and coming to Christ for Life hearing what the Spirit saith and to wait for the Revelation of Christ from Heaven and to look for the Appearance of the great God the Father whom no Man knows but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him And therefore this man's denying that Christ Jesus
the other an Effect the one is the absolute VVay or Rule of knowing God and building up in his Knowledge the other a subordinate Help for Direction to that VVay and Rule He who is the true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld This is not said of his Ministers but they are sent to direct turn men's Minds to the Light I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh saith the Lord But so is it not said of his Ministers though they direct to wait for it I will write my Laws in their Hearts saith the Lord but the doing of this is not asscribed to his Ministers though they bear witness therof Ye have an Unction from the Holy One it is not said Ye have it from the Ministers though it attend their Ministry and they are taught thereby and direct others to it and to abide in it He that establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who also worketh all our Works in us It is not said that his Ministers do so establish anoint and work all in us though they be instrumental in God's Hand to direct men to God and Christ who is with them in whom is Life and Salvation and from whom every good and perfect Gift comes and to whom be the Glory and not to man From all which let it be seriously minded First The Eternal Word which is the true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the World in an immediate Way 2dly That the Promise or more plentiful Effusion or Pouring forth of the Spirit is also from God himself and so in an immediate VVay to be made good and fulfilled unto them who walk in and obey that Measure or Degree of his divine Light or immediate Inshining as it is in their Consciences 3dly God also worketh savingly by his Spirit Light and Power in an immediate VVay in the Hearts of his People both by illuminating their Understanding opening their spiritual Eyes reviving their Souls and delivering them from under the Power of Darkness Sin giving them Victory by Faith over Temptations leading them through the spiritual VVarfare and Travils and making them more then Conquerors in all which they have their Dependnece immediately upon God who is a present and immediate Help in Times of Trouble as all that truly wait upon him in his immediate Light and Discoveries do experience Sect III. The Prophecy and Testimony of the New Covenant and Gospel-Dispensation rescued from our Opposer's Perversions BUt to that Prophecy They shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother c. Jer. 31. This Opposer saith Though the Phrase here used seem absolute in Sound yet it may well be understood in a comparative Sense bringing Instances with his restrictive Meanings upon Joh. 6. 26. Hos. 6. 6. Ephes. 6. 12. upon the Particle Not as not so much not only wherein the plain Scripture is not his Rule but his Meaning unfairly added to limit this Prophecy besides the Extent of the VVords for saith he p. 82. The Meaning may be that they shall not so much need to do it that is teach every man under the second Covenant as under the first yet he would have them alwayes teaching and al was learning in a mediate VVay only But indeed saith he the Words and Phrase used here seem to be a Strain of Elegancy oft used in Scriptures when to set forth the great Abundance and Plenty of Things Expressions are used improperly and hyperbolically in reference thereunto and 〈…〉 e not to be understood properly but figuratively Observe here serious Reader that the plain Text of Scripture fore-telling God's writing his Laws in the Hearts of his People that they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord but all should know him This he slightly turns off with this Meaning or May be that they shall not so much need to teach every man his Neighbour saying know the Lord under the second Covenant as under the first yet implying that they shall still much need to say know the Lord under the New Covenant though not so much as under the Old But how agrees this with the plain VVords I will be their God and they shall be my People and they shall no more or they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest see Jer. 31. 33 34. Heb. 8. 10 11. But these Expressions the man reckons are used improperly and hyperbolically and what is his Rule for thus censuring the plain VVords of the Prophet and Apostle and reflecting upon them equally with us as improperly proposing God's Method and New Covenant Way to be his own immediate Teaching and Knowledge of himself wherein they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and yet in Contradiction to himself hath confessed That the Work of Grace in men is most properly attributed to God to Christ c. p. 19. His Instances for such limited Meanings upon several Hyperbolical Expressions supposed in Scripture if granted prove not these very Texts so improper or hyperbolical as he renders them and he evinceth not what his Rule is for thus rendering these particular Texts improper and hyperbolical which so plentifully make for God's immediate Way of Illumination Teaching and VVorking under the New Covenant If he say other Instances of Scripture compared are his Rule herein I must deny that they prove these very Texts lyable to such an Exception or Limitation as he puts upon them If he say that Reason is his Rule then he owns another Rule as Judge and Determiner of the Sense of the Scripture then the Scriptures themselves But if he pretend the Spirit to be his Rule in this then the Scriptures are not Howbeit the Spirit will not contradict its own Sayings in the Scriptures and we do not own his limited Sense Restriction or private Interpretation of such an eminent Prophecy as this of the New Covenant for no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation for the Prophecy came not in Old Time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And they who deny the immediate Illumination therof are not like truly to understand those Prophecies and Scriptures that proceeded thence And to his asking Why we should so much as once imagine that thâ—se Words of the Prophet should foretell that under the New Covenant there should be no need of teaching by man's Ministry when the whole Current of the New Testament both in Precept and Example shew the contrary p. 82 83. Which is as much as to say that the whole Current of Scriptures of the New Testament shews that there will be need under the New Covenant of Teaching by man's Minâ—sty which is to allow the New Covenant no Preheminence above the Old for in the Time of the Old
of his Bishop it is evident for so much as it is good that a Deacon or Priest do live well and preach fruitfully Ergo he may proceed from Idleness unto the Labour Office of Preaching and so unto a better Life See here how plainly these things make for us and against our Opposer and his Gainsaying the Immediateness of Christ's saving Illumination the sending the Spirit to guide all Christians by its immediate Motions wherein his Opposition tends to Atheism and to reject the Saving Knowledge of God and Christ for that which may be known of God is manifest in man And the true and living Knowledge of him is by the Revelation of his Son the Enjoyment of whose immediate Power and Presence is beyond all Outward Teaching Words or Expressions Again It manifestly tends to Atheism to conclude that no Divine or Saving Illumination is immediately conveyed to man's Soul by his Maker but only by such mediums as the Scriptures or Man's Teaching for then what is Man and in what Capacity is his Soul before he either know the Scriptures or have man's Teaching or if there be nothing of a Divine Nature Life or Light in men immediately from God who have not those Outward Means how are their Souls Immortal and capable of Future Rewards And what better then a Beast doth it render man as to a future Condition to suppose he hath no Divine Life and Illumination from his Maker but only that all must be infused into him Instrumentally through his natural Organs or Sense And how should he receive a Gospel-Ministry or Advantage by it if he have no Gospel-Light in him before conveyed to his Soul immediately by his Maker himself To conclude this Introduction let these Positions be seriously considered First to Deny the True God who is Light is Atheism But to Deny his Immediate Light in Man is to deny the True God Secondly To oppose that which gives the Knowledge of God and his Glory in the Face of his Son and therefore to be without his Knowledge is Atheism But to oppose God's Immediate Illumination or In shining Light in man is to Oppose that which would give him the Knowledge of God and so to be void of his Knowledge Thirdly To Deny the Immortality of the Soul is Atheism But to deny the Immediateness of his Divine Life which is Light in the Soul by which it immortally subsists is to Deny the Soul's Immortality Fourthly And to go about to stop the Mouth of God from teaching his People Immediately is the very Way to introduce and set up Atheism Because of this Anti-Enthusiast his opposing the Immediateness of Divine Light Teaching and Illumination of God's Omni presence and his immediate Life in the Soul without which the Soul cannot Immortally subsist either in a State of Happiness or as to its own Being I therefore conclude him and all who are of his Opinion to be therein guilty of Atheism which I desire the Lord to give him and them a Sence of unto Repentance and the Acknowledgment of the True and Living God and Jesus Christ and his Light within unto Salvation From a Lover of Souls G. W. London the 22th of the 5th Moneth 1674. ENTHUSIASM Above ATHEISM OR Divine Inspiration and Immediate Illumination by God himself Asserted Sect. I. Divine Inspiration and Immediate Illumination Asserted BY his Title The Danger of Enthusiasm We must understand The Danger of Immediate Illumination from God or God's Immediate Teaching the Spirit 's Immediate Direction and Working Immediate Revelation and Inward Teaching of God's Spirit or the Light within the Spirit 's teaching Men Immediately by Internal Illumination Operation c. According to his own Explication See Danger of Enthus pag. 13 14 16 40 46. 60. So that he should have stil'd his Book The Danger of divine Inspiration then his Blindness would more plainly have appeared then by that hard Word Enthusiasm which we are not to understand in this Controversie according to the Heathen's Acceptation of it as Inâ—pired by their Gods nor as their Infused Oracles received and taught by their Idolatrous Priests or Sacrificers for these we never owned in Principle nor in Practice but Enthusiasm taken simply as a divine Inspiration or Breathing into by a Deity we do assert and contend for in the best Acceptation However the Word hath been used in Scorn Contempt by Popes and their Agents against Men professing divine and immediate Inspiration who have opposed the Apostatized Church of Rome and the Pope's limiting People to believe worship by Tradition His accusing the Quakers with being guilty of changing God's Method of bringing Men Salvation is as false as his Title contemptuously applyed against us For our asserting divine Inspiration and the Sufficiency of the Spirit 's Teaching and that Men ought to wait upon God's divine Illumination that they may be all taught of God as he hath promised This can be no changing of God's Method but in Order to the fulfilling of his own Promise which is God's Way and Method That all his Children shall be taught of him The old beaten Path of the Christian Doctrine p. 9. leads us to God's Immediate Teaching which they that oppose are all out of the Chrâ—stian Doctrine and Enemies to it As for E. Burroughs his saying His pure Spirit is put into the inward Parts to be the Rule and Guide of Life in all things and only by the Teaching of the Eternal Spirit is the living God known in the Creature c. And W. Penn's saying that our Belief concerning the Scriptures is that inward Testimony that we have received from the holy Light within us to the Truth of those Sayings wherefore the Scriptures are so far from being the great Rule of Faith and Practice that the Light of Christ within is both our Warrant and Rule for Faith in and Obedience to them And is this either contrary to God's Method or quite different from his Way as this Man grounds his Objections let the spiritually minded judge how he hath opposed the very Tenour of the New Covenant and God's Promise therein namely his Spirit put into the inward Parts which should guide into all Truth And this Opposer himself confesseth That Christians are said to be one Spirit with Christ and by this Spirit and Temper when given us we know that we dwell in him he in us and if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ in some Measure he is none of his p. 119. This is the Man that undertakes to overthrow Enthusiasm and doth not own God's Immediate Enlightning Teaching in these Dayes but counts it contrary to his Way and Method but now it is by the Spirit that we know that we dwell in him and he in us and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his See how the Man hath broke the Neck of his own Cause and surely if God dwell in us and we in
him and his Spirit be our Rule to know this he must not be limited to Silence or to a being mute from immediately teaching those who are confessed to be made one Spirit with him And what gross Ignorance is it to limit God's Teaching or Saving Illumination to a Mediate or Instrumental Way of Man's Teaching as this Man doth in his denying an Immediate Way of Saving Illumination p. 47. which is all one as if he should tell us that though God dwell and walk in his People yet still they are either Strangers to him or else he is silent from speaking to them except when they hear outward Preaching c. And what is this but to limit the Holy One set him and his People at a Distance when they are his Tabernacle and he dwells and walks in them That God Christ the holy Spirit do by Immediate Illumination of our Minds and without external Teaching by Scriptures or by Men shew us or reveal to us what we ought to do and that the Children of God are taught of God and need not any other Teacher p. 13 14. This he excepts against as quite different from God's Method and VVay wherein he hath opposed plain Scripture Testimony They shall all be taught of God they shall not teach every Man his Neighbour c. But the Anointing which ye have received abideth in you and ye need no Man to teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things c. We do therefore assert the Sufficiency of this Divine Illumination or Heavenly Unction as being of it self able to shew and reveal to us what we ought to believe and do in all things for that it was sufficient both to make true Prophets and Preachers and to inable the Holy Men of God to give forth what they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And without the Inspiration of the Almighty men cannot truly understand the Scriptures yet we do not confine the Holy One only to Inward Teaching or an Immediate Way though the Sufficiency thereof to them that are turned to it we do assert yet by this Divine Inspiration or Immediate Teaching God hath been and is pleased to call out Instruments to testifie and preach forth what their Eyes have seen and Ears heard and Hands handled of the Word of Life even the same VVord of Life which they have received and this only is the effectual and powerful Preaching which flows from the VVord of Life or divine Unction within and not that which comes only by Tradition Reading and Hear-say without the Spirit 's Guidance And therefore while we own the holy Scriptures and outward Teaching as proceeding from divine Illumination and the immediate Unction within and as a Proof of the Sufficiency thereof the Man wrongs us in his endeavouring to begeta Suspicion of us as if we had an aking Tooth against outward Teaching of as if the VVork and Office of the Gospel-Ministry it self were the Eye-Sore to us as also with dissembling the Matter heaping Contradictions with Tergiversation and Shuffling p. 83 92 94. And why so but because we teach People give forth Books c. VVhile yet it is our Judgment That Men may be sufficiently taught of God himself by his Light and Spirit within now under the New Covenant p. 93. But how proves he this either a Dissembling or Contradiction when we do not pretend to preach teach or write without God's Teaching and Aid wherein we proclaim the Sufficiency thereof exciting Men to turn from Darkness to the Light and from Satan's Power to God for Power Life Spirit Illumination and Teaching immediately as he hath taught us which is no more Contradiction then was in the Prophets Christ or Apostles who preached and proclaimed the same thing as that all God's People and Children should be taught of him and the Anointing which they had received from the Holy One should teach them so that they should need no Man to teach them but as the same Anointing taught them of all things a plain Proof of its Sufficiency His supposing that we direct Men to a Natural Light in them p. 15. is not true but contrary to his own Citation before of our VVords That God's pure Spirit and the Light of Christ within us as both our VVarrant aâ—d Rule for Faith and Obedience to the Scriptures which therefore cannot be a Natural Light in them He grants that Jesus Christ himself revealed the Gospel to his Apostles and after his Ascension he by sending them the Holy Spirit immediately inspired them with the clear Knowledge and Understanding of it But for us to assert Immediate Inspiration and the sole Sufficiency thereof he deems now a changing of Gods Method which he confines to Man's Teaching and the Scriptures and yet in plain Contradiction to himself he is made to confess That the Scriptures attribute it viz. the saving Work of Grace to God to Christ to the Holy Spirit p. 18. And further saith Indeed the VVork of Grace in Men is most properly attributed to God to Christ because he is the principal Cause of it and all other but subordinate yet the Effect is some times attributed to subordinate and second Causes also though less properly p. 19. So that we in attributing the saving VVork of Grace in men to God to Christ we take the most proper VVay and Method how then is this contrary to God's Way and Method And our referring Men to his inward Light to be immediately taught by him doth both shew our owning his making Use of Instruments and outward Teaching in order thereto and as subordinate as also that they shall be sufficiently taught of God when they are come unto him to depend upon his Teaching as his Instruments are in their Ministry And this man hath confessed a Concurrence of the Operation of his Grace and good Spirit together with the rational Evidence of the Truth of the Gospel to perswade Men p. 15. And is not this Grace and good Spirit Immediate when it operates in the Hearts though God is pleas'd to make Use of Instruments for the Help and Advantage of the weak it follows not that either there shall be alwayes need of such a mediate Way of Help or that he will not immediately teach and operate in these Dayes for that were still to limit him and his People to a Distance one from another whereas it is confessed That the VVork of Grace in Mâ—n is most properly attributed to God and less properly to subordinate and second Causes But saith this man The Holy Spirit works the saving Change in Men still by the VVord of the Gospel as communicated to Men's Minds by the Scriptures or by Men's Teaching the same Doctrine which is contained in the Scriptures And this in Opposition to our Way as he calls it of God's own Immediate Working p. 16. where observe First He limits the Spirit 's inward Work either to the Scriptures or mens Teaching which
saving Knowledge to all that receive it and attend upon it And this is the direct and proper Way and Method of God's bringing Men to Salvation as is assented to one while but another while saving Illumination in an immediate Way is denyed by this contradictory Opposer p. 47. though in Contradiction to himself again he confesseth Christ is the Light of the World by his Spirit by his Word by his Works both miraculous and exemplary p 48. whereby he hath granted Christ to be the Light of the World both in an immediate in a mediate Way How then not in an immediate Way manifest Confusion And yet he charges us with abusing at unawares that first Chapter of John ver 9. And why so Because we own Christ to be that true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World in an immediate Way which is no Abuse seeing 1st the very Life that was iin hm is the Light of men 2dly He attempts not to prove that men universally are lighted in such mediate Wayes as he proposes as namely by the Scriptures outward Teaching Works and Example seeing all men have not the Scriptures and but few knew Christ's Works and Example His Accusation of impertinently alledging of Joel 2. 28 29. cited by Peter Act. 2. 17. Behold the Dayes come saith the Lord that I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh c. He convinceth us of no Impertinency herein while from hence we assert this pouring out of the Spirit to be immediate as I will pour out my Spirit saith the Lord Is not this immediate as done by himself But saith he It is not to direct every one what to believe and do without outward Teaching but to qualifie Persons extraordinarily for outward Teaching It is to enable them to prophesie c. p. 49. Hereby he hath confessed some Persons to be extraordinarily qualified for outward Teaching and enabled to prophesie by the Pourings out of the Spirit It seems he owns the Teachers Prophets to be immediately taught but the Hearers may not so that from this Man's Method the Danger of Enthusiasm is not in the Enthusiasts themselves but in their ordinary Sort of Hearers or weak Christâ—ans as they are counted whom he goes about to keep alwayes in that weak State ever learning and never allows them the Priviledge of their Teachers that is to be Teachers immediately illuminated and taught And what is this but to maintain a Trade of Preaching that People may be alwayes paying which is not to desire that all the Lord's People were Prophets nor with Paul to pray that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ Ephes. 1. 17. nor to bring People to the divine Anointing within that is sufficient to teach them Neither doth this man appear in the Apostle's Mind who said these things I write unto you that you may have Fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and the Son Whereas this man's Method tends to keep the Hearers from this Fellowship which is in the divine immediate Light of God and Christ. He seems highly to commend God's Way and Method of Salvation as to the Plainness and Fulness of the Revelation thereof under the New Covenant by which it is fitted to every Capacity and the innate Goodness of the Laws thereof fitted to attract and draw mens Wills to accept embrace and chuse them These sayes he Are the Things I conceive foretold in that Prophecy Jer. 31. cited in Heb. 8. under those Expressions of God's putting giving or conveying his Laws into the Mind and writing them in the Heart so that they shall not teach every Man his Neighbour and every man his Brother c. p. 81. A plain and ample Confession 1st To the New Covenant and the innate Goodness of the Laws thereof 2dly To God's putting his Laws into the Mind and writing them in the Heart 2dly So that they shall not teach every man his Neighbour every man his Brother These are sufficient to overthrow all his Work against immediate Illumination immediate Teaching and Revelation and his confining God's Method of Salvation now to a mediate Way of Teaching and Illumination To his Addition That it is not then said that they shall not be taught neither by Apostles Evangelists Pastors or Teachers but they shall not teach every man his Neighbour or every Man his Brother p. 81. But who these Apostles Evangelists Pastors or Teachers are that he would have us alwayes depend upon for outward or mediate Teaching he does not shew us nor who they are that pretend to be such by Vertue of an immediate Call or extraordinary Qualification which he hath seemed to grant before which surely comes not by Succession from men He does not tell us who he means as thus called and qualified as the true Apostles Evangelists c. were who were sent of God and endued with divine Vertue and immediate Gifts for their VVork which neither Baptist Independent nor Presbyterian-Preachers do now pretend to as heretofore when they bore the Reproach of extemporary Praying and Preaching by the Spirit for which they are yet reproached as Phanaticks though undeservedly However this man's VVork appears very lame while he proclaims a mediate VVay of Teaching and Illumination by the Scriptures Orall Tradition and by Apostles Evangelists c. p. 47 73 81. as God's Method unto Salvation and all this to oppose an immediate Way of Enlightning thereunto Now suppose we should believe the former with him in Opposition to the latter yet still he leaves us in the dark and at a Loss in not directing us to those Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Teachers truly qualified and called as where or among what People they are As if he should tell us that the VVay to Heaven is to follow certain Guides but not at all direct us where to find those Guides But although we confess that God doth with Power endue and send forth his Messengers to preach the Gospel yet this no VVay doth oppose his immediate Illumination Teaching of his People under the New Covenant but is a lively Proof and Testimony thereof seeing they are immediately illuminated and inspired for that Work and their Ministry received from the immediate Light and Teaching of God within tends to direct men to him that they may be taught of him and therein are helpful to men in order to turn them from Darkness to the Light which no wayes does imply any Defect in the Light within but an Alienation in man's Mind till he be converted for there can be no Defect or Insufficiency n God because he maketh Use of apt Instruments suited to mens VVeakness and causeth his own VVorks to praise him for he will not have his VVorks idle and useless Now the Difference between God's immediate Illumination or inward VVork of Power and his working instrumentally by Ministers or Preaching lyes here the one is the Cause and
that he may know that there is a God that he is to be worshipped and that he is placable And 2dly grants this a Light sufficient to direct the Heathen to as much as God expects from them And is not this then in order to Salvation If they obey what God expects from them shall they not be saved See the man's Contradiction having before denyed that Christ lighteth every man in order to his Salvation without outward Teaching when here it is granted he enlightneth every man even the Heathen with a Light sufficient to direct them to as much as God expects from them But 3dly in calling this a natural created Light he egregiously errs for how should the Heathen or any man else know that there is a God that he is to be worshipped and that he is placable or be directed to as much as God expects from them by that which is natural and created when the Things of God are beyond the natural man's Reach and Understanding and only to be discerned spiritually 4thly Whereas this man supposeth two such different Lights from Christ in man viz. the one which he calls the Faculty of Reason and Understanding in the Heathen sufficient to direct them in the Knowledge and Worship of God and to as much as he expect from them and the other in them that live under the outward Preaching of the Gospel the first saving only to the Heathen the second only to the professed Christians the first sufficient to give the Knowledge of God and his Worship the second the Knowledge of Christ and Salvation by him I must deny his Distinction of two such Lights in men as unscriptural an unsound and I must tell him he hath brought us no Scripture-Proof to convince us thereof that there are two such different Lights in man thus limited or distinguished the one as from God to Heathens the other as from Christ to Christians and yet both directing to the same End to wit Salvation This kind of mangled confus'd Work is fit to darken Peoples Minds from the Knowledge of God and Christ and Salvation whereas that first Chapter of John is plain without any such confused Distinction about the Light or Division between God and Christ as this man makes about the Light for there it is In him was Life and the Life was the Light of men ver 4. And that was the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World ver 9. Mark here this Life or Light of Christ is but one and the same forever the Light of men throughout all Generations yea he was that true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld whose Life or Light cannot without Blasphemy be deemed natural and created Besides it appears gross Confusion and palpable Contradiction in this Opposer to conclude that Light not sufficient to direct men to believe Jesus to be Christ the Son of God and Saviour of the VVorld which yet is sufficient to direct the Heathen to as much as God expects from them that is to moral Goodness to know and worship God and consequently to lead them to Salvation for in every Nation he that fears God and worketh Righteousness is accepted Now how they should know and worship God and be saved without some living Knowledge and Belief of his Son Jesus Christ I cannot see nor understand since that by no other Name under Heaven can men be saved and he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abides on him Joh. 3. 36. cited by this man who also confesseth the Son of God to be the Saviour of the World p. 42. Again no man comes unto God but by his Son who is therefore universally held forth and given for a Light to the Heathen to be God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth and it is the World's Sin that they believe not in the Son of God and for this his Spirit reproves them But since it is granted that the Heathen by that Light of Christ in them may know and worship God and practice good Morality and as much as God expects from them it s granted that they may be godly and serve God by the Light in them but how any should be godly Men no Christians I must confess we are yet to seek and not like to have any Scripture-Proof thereof from our Opposer or any else of his Perswasion for it were as uncharitable to judge all void of Christianity who have not the Name Christian as it were untrue to reckon all Christians who have but the Name and Profession of Christianity seeing that it is not the Name or Profession outward that makes true Christians but the divine Life Power Unction and Possession of the Nature of Christianity inwardly as he is not a Jew that is one outward but he is a Jew that is one inward and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter And as for this man's Knowledge of Christ that he has by Oral Tradition and that he reckons is derived down successively by outward Teaching without immediate Revelation or Illumination p. 47 84. It is no living or saving Knowledge such Method as this man proposes for the Knowledge of Christ as in Opposition to his Immediate Enlightning is not God's Means He talks something like a Papist and his Work against immediate Illumination tends to divert peoples Minds from God's inward Illumination and and from waiting for the Revelation of his Son in them And what is this but to lead People to be subjected under the Pope and Traditions although many of the Church of Rome have confessed to the Truth of divine Illumination and immediate Inspiration more then this man hath done though in Practice she manifests her self to be both apostatized and estranged from the divine Light within Sect. V. His silly Temporizing in espousing the Hireling Priests Quarrel against us AS to his wishing That we did not give too much Occasion to suspect our Integrity accusing us with making sad Out-Cries aginst the publick Ministry one as well as another without Distinction and that we seek to make them odious to the People for their taking Money of them as Rewaerd of their Labours and that we compare them with the false Prophets and bad Priests of old of whom it is said that the Priests preach for Hire and the Prophets divine for Money and then he alledges the Priests under the Law taking Money or Moneys worth as the Provision that God made for them which was Tythes and saith he when their Tythes were detained and kept back from them God accounted himself robbed To all which I answer that we have great Reason to cry out against that Ministry and those Priests who preach for Hire Lucre Tythes or forced Maintenance contrary to the Practice of Christ's Ministers who as they did freely receive did freely give And such as preach for Hire and force Maintenance suing
men at Law for Tythes and imprison such as cannot for Conscience sake to Christ pay them Tythes such Priests are unnatural and hard-hearted not at all like Christ's Ministers who coveted no man's Meat nor Drink nor Gold nor Silver nor Apparel but alas these covetous Priests trouble and cumber men in Courts for Tythes and cast men in Prisons and Holes to the Ruin of many poor Families and causing divers to suffer in Goals till Death as they have done divers times for a small value these Priests value their Tythe-Pigs c. more then they do the Lives of innocent men Oh unnatural inhuman Hard-heartedness and Cruelty itself and oh gross Hypocrisie for such as are guilty thereof to call themselves Ministers of the Gospel Messengers of Christ who are thus unlike him and his Ministers As for those that robbed God in Tythes and Offerings these were in the time of the Law and first Covenant when there was a Commandment from God for both and to bring the Tythes to the Store-house that the Fatherless Widdows and Strangers might be relieved as well as the Priests and they robbed God who did not bring their Tythes to the Store-house But Christ Jesus the everlasting Priest is come and hath changed the Priesthood that took Tythes made of Necessity a Change also of the Law and a disannulling of the Commandment See Heb. Chap. 7. But I shall say little here about this Oppression of Tythes let the Nation 's long Experience thereof speak and I refer the Reader to these Treatises viz. A. P. his great Case of Tythes and F. Howgil's great Case of Tythes and so to consider the Rise and Continuance of them And it is such Priests as this man himself declares against that we disown as namely such as are departed out of the Way and caused many to stumble whom the Lord hath made contemptible and base before the People who have not kept his Wayes but have been partial And so the false Prophets that have seen Vanity and divined Lyes saying Thus saith the Lord when God hath not spoken and these are highly guilty thereof who now oppose God's immediate Inspeaking and have done so to get Peoples Money by pleasing them in prophesying Peace to them when the true Prophets prophesied of Judgment and were persecuted for it Ezek. 22. 25 28. But saith he 'T is possible and too probable that there may be some who for Worldly and Fleshly Respects may greatly fall short of a faithful Discharge of their Duty towards the Souls under their Charge And if there be any that by daubing with untempered Mortar do betray them I am no Advocate for such they shall bear their Burthen And yet he is an Advocate for the Tyth-taking Priests and Ministers who receive Money of the People as a Reward of their Labours And thus he varies shuffles wheels about and insinuates like a man-pleaser and Temporizer one while he talk like an Anabaptist concerning the Light within as natural created and his tying up the Spirit 's Baptism to its Effusion in miraculous Gifts Another while like one turned back to the National Priests Another while like a Papist or one popishly affected for Oral Tradition and a Knowledge of Christ derived successively by outward Teaching from the first Preachers Another while he talks like one Atheistical in rendering that Light spoken of in Joh. 1. 9. which lighteth every man that cometh into the World but a natural Light and not sufficient for Salvation But again to what he grants of the Corruption of some publick Ministers who are wordly and fleshly Daubers and Betrayers I shall grant to what he further adds That it is unreasonable and Unchristian to condemn the Righteous with the Wicked and to censure all for somes sake This indeed were unchristian but unjustly cast upon us p. 92. Howbeit I shall proffer him fairly that if he can shew us such Ministers as are Righteous men fearing God and hating Covetousness that teach the same Doctrine the Apostles taught which the Light of Christ within witnesseth to p. 88. And that can prove their Call Authority to preach to be from Christ and that approve themselves as his Ministers in all Humility and Faithfulness we shall own them but while we do not find such among the publick Parish Priests and Ministers who force Tythes and Hire from People we ought not to be blamed for our Separation from them Sect. VI. Our Opposer's Confusion and self-Contradictions collected and examined THis Opposer of Enthusiasm hath run himself into manifest Contradictions whereof these following are some He seems to plead for Christ's injoyning his Followers to be humble and lowly in Heart to esteem others better then themselves to speak Evil of no man in Meekness to instruct to overcome Evil with Good and not to judge and the like p. 6. And yet in Contradiction to himself he takes upon him to judge and vilifie us to speak Evil of us yea to have been walking in Darkness and to be but carnal c. p. 9. Doth he not here judge That all the Children of God are taught of God and need not any other Teacher This our Sense and Method he opposeth to God's Way as being quite different p. 14. And saith that God's Way and Method of directing men what to believe and do is not by his immediate Teaching and Operation p. 40. But in plain Contradiction to himself he confesseth That the Scripture attributes it to wit the Work of saving Grace to God to Christ to the holy Spirit p. 18. and saith Indeed the Work of saving Grace in men is most PROPERLY attributed to God to Christ p. 19. That the Light mentioned Joh. 1. 9. which lighteth every man that cometh into the World doth enlighten men by natural Light and that Christ as God doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World with the Faculty of Reason and affords no other Light to the Heathen then this natural Light as he calls it p. 41 42. Yet in plain Contradiction he grants That the Scripture speaks of Christ's being in men and Christ and God every where present and se in all men and that the essential Presence of Christ as God is present to every man p. 20 21. Observe Reader how plainly he has broke the Neck of his Cause here For if Christ as God be essentially present in all men and to every man and this God be Light then the Light that is in every man is not natural nor created as he hath affirmed the Light of Christ as God to be And as for his Distinction between the essential Presence of Christ and his virtual Presence p. 20 21. it is unscriptural Neither can we believe that the Presence of God and Christ are so distinguished or divided as this man implies viz. That God's essential Presence should be in all men and yet not Christ's virtual Presence VVhat Scripture hath he for these Words Is