for Christ as Redeemer whilst every eye finds them as polluted and deeply engaged in dishonest and immoral practices as those against whom they contend And truly repenting of their sins shall rest on his death and merits alone for life and love him above all things and sincerely obey his Gospel Laws and Commandments and shall persevere in this duty to the end I hope by this time Reader thou art sufficiently convinc'd this Guide is leading thee to a state of perfection notwithstanding he would make thee believe it's unattainable in this life for he concludes we ought to love God above all and is it possible for any mind but that which walks with God is born again and entirely translated from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Gods marvellous Light to be so entirely divorc'd from all and espoused to God as to love him above all and sincerely which implies no less than the strongest activity of an upright Soul obey his Gospel Laws and Commandments and persevere which excludes all commission or omission to the contrary In short if Christs Law be imperfect then must its Author be so too but he is purely perfect so must his Work or Law And if the Law be perfect then is the observer also perfect but the Law and Gospel is prov'd undeniably perfect therefore must the observer also And lest this Guide should offer to retort that none can observe it let him answer for me who sayes We ought not only to observe and obey it but with sincerity and perseverance in fulfilling the commands of it to the end Finis coronat opus The end'd perfection He follows on to this effect And after he shall have sent his Holy Spirit to work Faith and Conversion in his Elect he will certainly come again and by his mighty Power raise the dead and convene both quick and dead before his Judgment and then such as obey his Gospel he will adjudge to eternal Glory but Unbelievers to eternal Torments He has here jumbled many things of moment up together scraps pickt out of more ample discourses Succirctness is commendable but not in his abrupt way cramming and stifling matters for want of room to open and explain themselves to the convincement of the understanding and whilst he loudly does exclaim against the Quakers for slighting the Scriptures who is there found more guilty than himself that though his Book treats of nothing less than such a Religion as he assures all must imbrace that would be saved 't is rare he cites one passage of them for a confirmation of his very Fundamentals He tells us of the necessity of believing God will send his holy Spirit as being otherwise void of Faith and Conversion and yet denies the very office of the Spirit which is to reveal the Mysteries of God and to convert from faln Adams state to that glorious second Adam's which never fell And if he did believe in that Eternal Power which raises from the dead in trespasses it would be to him according to his faith for God is faithful that hath promised but being wholly ignorant of Christ Jesus the Power no wonder if he never knew the Resurrection and the Life And how absurd it is for one to draw a representation of a thing he never saw or venture to challenge an assent to what he ignorantly has fancied to himself without one Argument to induce or so much as an Observation to explain the obscurity of his Doctrine I leave the sober Reader to determine Thus having endeavoured an enervation of his four Fundamentals I shall hasten to the examining the force of his Accusations against my Friends but in my way thither I shall a little turn my eye upon some passages of lesser moment Sect. 16. His sixth Chapter mainly intends the recommending to our consideration some religious matters of a secondary nature as a preparative to Conformity for though he seems to express a tenderness towards doubting Consciences yet if we follow him through his 8th and 9th Chapters it will evidently appear to be no other than a more facile and probable way to insinuate the same conforming spirit to the minds of others he stands branded with himself and by his plea for a Conformity as Christian he palliates his own wicked temporizing and would so far prevail on others that none may be left to accuse him of Inconstancy And if he were the man he pretends himself to be what needs he busie himself in scribling who has tenderness enough he sayes to overlook Non-conformity and that allows the Nonconforming-Churches to be Christian Doth he afford the Church of England more time was he would not have acknowledged her so much Sect. 17. His 7th Chapter is an application of his preceding discourse bringing all Wayes amongst the Christians so called of these Nations under two either such an establishment as hath the sanction of the Law to warrant and protect it or those perswasions as are estoused by private men Reader thou mayst be sure he is not of the last the first wears the Cap of Maintenance but he distinguishes amongst those many wayes he fathers on private spirits some he endites of holding principles that overturn the very Foundation of Christian Religion whilst he more candidly dismisses others with the approbation of sound Fundamentals although he layes it as a home charge that they should not neglect the using such means as might better inform their Schismatical Judgements concerning the Church of Englands constitution Those great Impostors or dangerous Hereticks whom this Guide esteems it a foolish charity to flatter with the hopes of Salvation are Papists Socinians and Quakers by which he has at once damn'd millions of poor immortal souls however strict serious and sincere in what they knew through many generations whilst if defective they owe it to the idle lying covetous ignorant and murdering spirit and practice of the Priests whose interest it has ever been to inslave and obscure the peoples understandings by their many cursed Inventions and terrifying punishments framing and trimming a Religion with such variety of external Ceremonies as probably best might take and influence the carnal multitude enacting most severe Laws against such as should at any time decry their Fopperies and testifie against their abominable Inventions Letting their Canons play or rather plagne to the destruction of Lives Families and Estates It 's not my business to apologize for Papists I am not of their kin but look upon Rome Pagan to have been much inferiour to the Impieties of Rome called Christian and the latter greatly transcending the former in all sorts of abomination capable to be invented by the wicked one As for the Socinian I know him to have wit and learning enough to encounter a more redoutable Adversary than mine and however he has expos'd himself to the just censures of some his exemplary life and grave deportment I must acknowledge to be very singular and if his cause receive
one let him but peruse his 17th page and tell me if he doth not find this amongst the many other contradictions that the Opinion or Dream that every man may be saved in his own Religion if he be true to it is more becoming Turks than Christians I must confess I have not met of late in any Author with such palpable confusion and can assure thee Reader I do avoid for brevity's sake the recital of much more I might instance in What Superstructure it 's possible for the best Artists to erect on a Foundation so imperfect and unsound he need be no exact Architecturist to determine but notwithstanding his mistake in his way to the true Religion he may prove Guide sufficient to his many following errors defects Sect. 7. I shall a little insist upon his second Chapter the head is this Shewing wherein the wise chusing ones Religion lys and acts concurring thereunto He needs must play the crack-Philosopher and imperfectly has manag'd his little distinctions in the pedantick phrase of the canting Priests and Accademists He tells us first what Election is in general and then divides the right-chusing of Religion into three Acts the Intellect precedingly discerning the nature of the thing that by the will is chosen And what in the 7th page he hath defin'd in the 8th he instances these following words to confirm his definition viz. Man being a Religious Creature by the common instinct of his natural conscience is mov'd strongly to worship a Deity as we see in all the Nations of the Earth much more when he is stirred up by a divine instinct Answ It hath been the unhappiness of many Ages as it is of this to darken and confound matters of Religion mostly with terms not more affected and difficult than very often impertinent of which this Guide is not a little guilty as must be obvious to such as will examine his most frivolous and contratradictory distinction betwixt Natural and Divine Not that I shall not allow them to be terms proper in their place but very improper where he puts them Let me perswade thee Reader to observe impartially the Confusion I have to do with one who characters himself a Christian and not a profest disciple of the Heathen Aristotle and I should therefore think it may become me best as it had him to use such a sound form of words as are warranted by and laid down in the Scriptures of Truth and that he with all others may know how far the Quakers are on all occasions ready to bring their Principles to be tried by that which the Spirit there declares I shall expose both his and theirs to the judgment of them and leave thee Reader to determine which holds the greatest harmony therewith although the contradiction of his own words might have been confutation evident enough Religion is by James a Prophet of the most high God thus defined Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Also to believe as Paul has it in thy heart and confess with thy tongue in and to the Lord Jesus Or as he hath it in another place to wit A subjection and obedience to that Spirit Light or Grace manifested from God to all men teaching them that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Taking these passages for the clear and compleat signification of that term Religion as I shall till some more ample be produced and not the whimsical conjectures of men from their wresting of the Scriptures patcht up into a formal Creed by their eclipst understandings as this Guide must not deny if he will own Scripture then will it consequently follow that no man can be truly stiled Religious from a natural instinct or cause for since the one and true Religion or Primitive is divine Religious or the Relative must necessarily participate of the same Divine Nature and if by Natural Conscience he means Reason abstractively the Relative cannot amount to more than Rational for as what is simply Animal cannot generate what 's Rational so is it altogegether impossible for what is but simply Rational to produce what is Spiritual nor can I understand how he will secure himself from gross impertinency in nominating Man a Religious creature from a natural instinct or to assert any thing but what is divine can act Man to worship a Divinity How far he may to save himself extend the signification of natural I know not but if he means it in the sense Paul often us'd it methinks the very letter of the Scripture should have barr'd his unsuitable expression for saith that Apostle The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he because they are spiritually discerned But if he will take Natura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro generatione viventium sive animalium id est nativitate or if he rather will accept it in the sense of him they call Divine Seneca that it imports a Deity or Divine Reason sown in all parts of the world he would do well to let us know for the incongruity of his Assertion with good sense lies very palpable He further confirms his opinion of the universality of that by him call'd Natural Instinct with his Parenthesis as we see in all Nations of the Earth much more when he is further stirred up by a Divine Instinct I must confess to the universality of it but how disguis'd it is through the various trims of mens Inventions and fore-fathers idle Traditions a person never so little spritualiz'd may see and easily discry the notorious foppery of most professions the cause of which vniversal darkness has been the Nations sacrificing their judgements to the implicite Faith of their deceitful Priests who have been and are a Monopoly to the Souls and Bodies of the whole Creation And what he ignorantly calls the father stirring of a divine instinct is not a difference from the former in respect of its nature or quality but measure or degree I have the longer insisted on this particular because most material as well to detect his weakness and grand inability to the work he forwardly has undertaken as from his own expressions to elucidate and maintain the Quakers Principles to be Orthodox although it was against them he mainly did design his Book but with what success the end will manifest I shall just hint upon his three branches into which he has split the first act of his Election 1 He advises to take a particular view of the Principal Doctrines and Misteryes of Faith and duty of Godliness taught in the Scriptures but doth not tell us by what infallible Expositor we ought to peruse them that might unfold those Mysteries he speaks of which imply a dubious intricate and obscure sense does he mean the Instinct
before-mentioned I fear he is scarce so Orthodox or will he have us give our own constructions as things present themselves to our natural understanding or must we walk by the Crutches of some Commentators for if he will at last send all to the Scriptures or can propose no better Expedient to reconcile these Breaches and heal those Religious Jars than that which through mens blindness and for want of the infallible Spirit which guides all in the Truth that receive it and are subjected thereunto has been the very rise and ground of them the world will little be beholding to this Guide His second Branch advises to discern the verity and certainty of those Doctrines that he may venture his soul upon them as if 't were possible a man could take a particular view of the principal Doctrines and Duty of Godliness and not discern both Certainty and Verity His third is like his second that a man must know the excellency thereof as if he could view those Mysteries behold hoth and yet not see their excellency Thus Priest-like has he spoild paper in saying the same thing in differing expressions as in the case of the hour-glass that he may hold out Sect. 8. Act the second he goes on thus After the understanding doth thus present the true Religion before us in the certainty glory and excellency of it then the next act is for the will to elect it 's that I am resolved to profess whatever disgraces reproaches losses persecutions I may meet with But besides his putting man upon Religion instigating him to run and strive of himself A state the Scriptures declare shall never enter because unlawful and points him not to such a Guide as can infallibly direct unto the true Religion he has been so very bad an example for constancy that he and his fellow-Temporizers have stumbled more into a sneaking Conformity and downright Atheism than all their Prayers Preaching Printing will ever regain without a miracle on both His third act is little more than a repetition of the former a crime he is very guilty of as my marginal in some place doth observe Sect. 9. His third Chapter chiefly consists of considerations to evidence it a principal point of wisdom for a man to make a right choice of that Religion he would profess his first is drawn from the necessity of a mans being of some Religion indeed I cannot understand wherfore he should be so often earnest in pressing men to be of some Religion who plainly tels them in several other places there 's no Salvation out of the true one unless he thinks the imploying their Talent to the service adoration of a false god be more excusable then to worship none but to inforce this consideration he does the Quakers the advantage of farther instancing a proof for them and against himself says he in the very framing of the Nature of Man there are such Pinciples of Religion ingraven on him that cannot be razed out that have taught the very Heathens to worship a Deity Come judge impartial Reader betwixt this Guide and the so much condemned Quakers who has here repeated what he had before acknowledged with this material addition that cannot be razed out I would gladly be informed whether if he allows the Eternal God to have created and formed man in body soul and spirit that it be not reasonable to conclude no other could invest Man with Religious Principles and a propensity to worship a Deity and can it be admitted by any sober person the Principle God hath bestowed on man should be natural and yet religious imperfect and yet the gift of God surely there can be none so dim-sighted as not to discern these very gross contradictions for if God has imprest on man such a Religious Principle to teach him to adore a Deity which must be himself or else it would not answer the end for which it was given what is it less than to declare that God hath distributed unto every man such a proportion of his pure Spirit and measure of his Grace as might enable him in thought word and deed to perform that good that acceptable and perfect will of God and that the ground of those divisions in Religion fallibility in Judgement cruelty in Disposition and all other A bominations that like a deluge overflow the World is not the Insufficiency of that Divine Principle but from neglecting and disregarding the Righteous Dictates and Instructions of it And let him not deny it to be the same it was who bears this Testimony that it cannot be razed out so deeply is it his opinion as well as truth has the infinitly divine Sculpter ingraven the characters of his eternal Law on the hearts of all Nations that no time or alteration amongst men can possibly obliterate or deface it His second Consideration is from the many Religions which are in the World as Heathenism Mahometanism Judaism and Christianity But in his last he sums up the many Sects and Perswasions that commonly are known therein he has divided them into such as differ doctrinally or circumstantially and those which err fundamentally The first are Lutherans Calvinists Arminians Anabaptists Episcoparians Presbyterians Independents c. to whom he boldly allots Salvation But how far his c. may concern us he in a few lines after particularly lets us understand wherein he has not more exprest his Cunning than his Cowardize for as he is willing to allow all those Perswasions to be Christian who are most likely to have the Civil Power in their hands that come any of those seven with his large c. he hopes to secure himself Priest of Wramplingam without being condemned for temporizing so doth he manifest himself exceeding bold in fighting such for Infidels and Hereticks as either cannot or will not practise external violence on those Powers that protect such Caterpillers and that he may the better insinuate he ventures at this juncture of his plenty to own his quondam Brethren in their adversity calling them all Children of the same Father drest up in different habits but that his Wardrobe was better furnished than the rest is evident from his variety and change yet more penurious for that he never wore a Coat he has not turn'd His last consideration I rather call the sequel of the former Because saith he if one should happen of the true Religion he would never be true unto it unless he took it upon such a Right Choice as before was spoken of What Choice of Religion he has made or what Arguments he has used to confirm it I shall refer unto thee Reader But fain I would entreat this Guide once to be serious with himself and ask his heart if ever it had any and whether it has not through all Revolutions discover'd it self very deceitful and unsound Alas why will he thus nakedly expose his Ignorance and Hypocrisie to publick censure unless he would confess
Others contend for the existence of this Divinity in the relative persons of Father and Son as Macedonius of old and many in these times to say nothing of particulars both which may properly be call'd Anti-Trinitarians or opposers of this Guide's Trinity But because the Scriptures do not warrant that division into and appellation of three persons that he slightly passes over this weighty matter recommending it for an Article of Faith but never arming him with Reasons that receives it for his defence against the strength and great subtility of his Adversaries I here shall offer him by way of Query what every sober person would desire satisfaction in before he entertains his principle Query 1. Whether that Eternal and Almighty Being called GOD implies more than one pure and simple Act 2. Whether He can be said to subsist in three Persons 3. Whether any thing can rightly be called GOD that is not Infinite and without beginning 4. Whether if God did beget a Son that Son had not a beginning and if the holy Ghost proceeded from both whether he was contemporary with the Son and both co-eternal with God since the Begetter precedes the Begotten and that the Begotten cannot exist before it is 5. Whether these three Persons are indistinguishable or distinct from the Godhead and each other by incommunicable properties 6. Whether if GOD implies the Fulness Perfection and Glory of all and that no addition can be to his Greatness and Delight but what was in his most Pure and Perfect Self from all Eternity as that one pure Act the successive acts of those personal relations can soberly be predicated of him unless they all are co-eternal which seems in terminis to confute a conception progression and perfection of the distinct relations If he will tell me it is a mysterious Point and therefore did forbear a farther discussion of it I answer it did the more require his explanation for that I conceive a Religion or hope will do a man but little good for which he has not a reason in himself and to believe things by rote is quite as ineffectual as not to believe at all If he shall say That Reason is not to be consulted or rendred in this case I answer That either it's what deserves silence and so condemns himself amongst those fools that will be medling or if it 's to be pried into then to be understood before believed or else his three Philosophical Acts of Election are defeated Sect. 13. His second fundamental Principle to be received runs thus That God made man at first in a very holy and happy state from which he soon fell through Satans temptations and all mankind became plunged into sin and misery that we are all hainous offenders against the God of Heaven under his dreadful wrath and the curse of the Law bar'd out of Heaven and happiness and lyable to eternal torments if not speedily reconciled to God and pardoned and by renewing grace sanctified and converted which neither we nor any meer creature is able to do for us He has here drawn up an Article out of Scripture-Record but never tells us what he has experienced in the matter confidently bidding all embrace and believe it without any farther examination of its verity or conviction from the Spirit of God whose office it is to convince the World of sin And I shall boldly affirm That this forward putting people upon the entertainment of Notions though of Truth it self whilst the Spirit of the Living God is not at work or moves not on the Waters is but the forming up that very Righteousness which is the second office of the eternal Spirit to convince of and condemn the World for A confutation to his own Principles and Practises is apparent in the latter part of this second Fundamental for if they who are sanctified and convicted are no hainous offenders then will it reasonably follow That such as are hainous offenders are not sanctified and converted But this Guide with all his Tribe that are daily crying They do the things they ought not and have no health in them are hainous offenders therefore they never knew the saving health of all Nations nor yet have felt the Blood that purges that Spirit which sanctifies that Word which converts to God Again the Holy God is perfect and has no fellowship with one unfruitful work of darkness but this Guide allows that man must be reconciled or else he lies under the curse of the Law therefore there is a possibility nay a necessity of mans being perfect which to deny is to contradict his allowed reconciliation unless he can tell where to fetch a proof That the most pure God will have fellowship with or be reconciled to whatever is not of his most perfect Nature nor is it sense to say the Creature can be reconciled whilst in the commission of that the curse for ever lies upon His terms Sanctifie and Convert imply as much especially if he be of Pauls mind that prayed the Primitive Saints might be sanctified throughout and if he has an art to make convert imply more or less than a being changed turned from or made new he would do well to let us know it for how a man in good sense can be changed and the same sanctified and polluted turned from his way and yet in it reconciled and under the curse at the same time is a kind of Antitheses I never understood But I haste to his third Sect. 14. His next great Principle he recommends is this That the Lord Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God Coessential and Coeternal with his Father upon the appointment and designation of his Father voluntarily undertook the office of a Saviour and Redeemer to mankind and being made Man took upon him our sins and the curse of the Law and giving himself up a Sacrifice and an Offering to God for us purchased by his death all things conducing to Grace and Glory and having by his own power risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven he is become an all sufficient Saviour and will effectually confer Pardon Grace and Salvation on all those who shall truly believe in him and that there is no other Name under Heaven to be saved by but the Name of Jesus Christ O the confused babble of the World the by-rote caâ—â—ing of this Guide how does he wander in the by-paths of vain tradition and invention Romancing over the weighty must 〈◊〉 of eternal life And from the dark results of several factions and 〈◊〉 Councils has prec'd up a Fundamental to recommend as dispensibly to be embraced by all He tells us Christ is the begotten Son of God And in his next words says him Coeternal I am as far from questioning Christ's Eternity as ready both to scruple and reject his praise it carrying manifest opposition to it self A little further he sayes Upon the Fathers designation of the Son he voluntarily undertook the Office
Authority to declare There is not another Leader by whom Salvation is attainable and in obedience to whom the Nations of them that are saved must walk Although I needs must say this objection of our Ignorance had much better become a person whose abilities surpass this Cantabrigian Sizer's education whose inexpertness in Story Tongues and Opinions might have barr'd him from these uncivil as well as untrue reflections and so much of Literature is to be found amongst the Quakers though it 's not their strength as does and very likely will remain unanswer'd by Scholars of a higher Form than this conceited Guide Sect. 2. 2. His charge of obstinacy we deny nor am I much solicitous to enlarge in our vindication since 't is the sense I know he has of all who withstand a Conformity to that Establishment his Interest leads him to imbrace and bow not with him to the Rising-Sun In this sense we own his Epichite and adjunct of Singular also being indeed most so in sufferings having by all Powers since we were a People separated by the Lord from their Inventions been killed all the day long in Reputation Liberty Estate and sometimes Life but in all other respects our Consciences excepted we are alwayes ready to express complacency and willingness to assist our very enemies Sect. 3. 3. He does accuse us with a total Apostasie from Christianity but if the definition Paul gives of a Christian ought to decide the case then he is one in whom Christ reigns and by the fruits of his Spirit manifests to the world he is redeemed from it and from fulfilling those lusts which once had absolute dominion over him But whether this Guide or the so much calumniated Quakers are fullest of self-denyal most separated from the World or in greatest subjection to that pure Spirit of Grace which teaches to deny all unrighteousness and to live soberly in this present World impartial Reader speak For if the preceeding qualities denote men truly Christian and that a pious diligent and inoffensive Conversation is the most express Character of Christ's Followers I make my appeal to thee and the whole World if there lives among the Sons of men a people less deserving to be called Apostates and consequently any that so visibly carry with them the badg of true and primitive Christianity as they And whereas he sayes we scarce retain any Article of the Christian Faith We do in so many words reject his aspersion being made partakers of that Divine Faith in Jesus which sanctifies and is held in a pure Conscience Sect. 4. 4. His next accusation is That they extol the Light in all men as the only sufficient Rule to walk by to the apparent slighting of Scriptures and Preaching Reader If yet thou art a stranger to this Light he thus explodes and vilifies let me beseech thee once to observe it in thy self and tell me then if it has not that Divine quality to discern betwixt the Precious and the Vile and manifest every Thought Word and Act whether it is well-pleasing or the contrary to the great God If it be criminal to own those Scriptures he falsly sayes we slight the case is chang'd otherwise we all confess that God is Light and that he hath enlightned every man by heeding and obeying the Dictates of which we may be preserv'd in that capacity as the same Scripture sayes shall bring us into the pure Fellowship and that the Blood of Jesus shall cleanse us from all sin Nor do they own a Principle in the Clouds but above all people have demonstrated the power and authority of their Principle by that Redemption it has wrought for them and alteration it has made from that condition which nakedly expos'd their immortal Souls to the snares and entanglements of this Worlds perishing glories to experiment the Blood which cleansed from all iniquity the unspeakable peace of perfect reconciliation with God And for his confident affirming we slight both Scriptures and Preaching I have this to say That as there is not any who discover more respect for them by a conformity of life to what they require so do they both read and as often quote them in Preaching or Declaration as any who profess them for their Rule And Reader that thou mayest the better be informed concerning the esteem we have them in taking but the pains to visit our Assemblies and that shall be a sufficient vindication of our innocency which also may answer him as to the advantage that 's confest the Jew had above the Heathen 5. His fifth reflection is Our openly denying the Doctrine of the Trinity but me thinks it would become him who is reproving others for not paying that respect they ought unto the Scriptures to be a little more exemplary in using their unquestionable phrase and sound expression for I am altogether ignorant of any Scripture that mentions that word Trinity and t is his own Opinion that Fundamentals should not be drawn from dubious and obscure places but rather that the Scriptures were evident and perspicuous as to what was necessary to be believed yet if by Trinity he understands those three Witnesses in Heaven Father Word and Spirit he should better have acquainted himself with what we disown than ignorantly thus to blaze abroad our open denyal of what we most absolutely credit and believe 6. His next slander runs thus The Person of Jesus Christ as to his humane Nature with all his Offices assigned to him by his Father they utterly reject though this is an Arcanum that is kept hard from their Novices Fain would he here insinuate to people by his most invective impostures hard thoughts concerning an inoffensive people whilst in reality they own no other name by which Salvation is obtainable than the Christ of God and all the Offices that ever were assigned him by his Father are by them acknowledged and so remote are they from hiding their sentiments or being jealous of exposing them to all that whosoever will but give himself the time of frequenting their Meetings or perusing their Books will soon perceive how very far this Character is wide of Truth 7. His next report is We call not upon God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ But Reader that thou mayest not thus be dogmatized upon and better satisfied in thy sober inquiries assure thy self the Quakers never knew an other Name than that of Jesus Christ through which to find acceptance with the Lord nor is it by any other than Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant by whom they expect Redemption and may receive the promise of an eternal Inheritance Sect. 5. He farther sayes They trust not in his death for Pardon and Salvation but in a pretended sinless perfection They are so far from disowning the death and sufferings of Christ that there is not a people in the Earth that so assuredly witnesse and demonstrate a Fellowship therewith confessing before Men and
Angels that Christ died for the Sins of the World and gave his Life a Ransom Perfection from sin they hold attainable because he that 's born of God sins not and that nothing which is unclean can enter the Kingdom of God no Crown without victory the little Leaven leavens the whole lump the strong man must be cast out Paul prayes they might be sanctified Wholly Be ye perfect as God is perfect be perfect be of good comfort unto a perfect man as many as be perfect that the Man of God may be perfect The God of peace make you perfect in EVERY good Work the God of all Grace make you perfect let us cleanse our selves from ALL filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God leaving those things behind let us go on unto perfection and this will we do if God permit If perfection were unattainable it would be strange that the Scriptures should speak of such a state and very preposterous that Paul Peter c. should so sollicite and pray for the antient Saints that they might come thither even to the spirits of just men made perfect nay he positively avouches to have arrived there at the Heavenly Jerusalem at the Church of the first Born c. And notwithstanding that this excellent State should never be enjoyed seems to me no less than a giving the Apostles Doctrine the lie and tacitly impeaching them of gross dissimulation and contradiction But Reader 't is not onely my Opinion that Perfection is attainable for if thou pleasest to remember the many passages of his Discourse already past my observation as well as to remark the following Chapter of his contradictions thou certainly will find Perfection an Article of this Guides Creed without the least violation to his matter Sect. 6. They deny any necessity of special Grace of the Spirit to Conversion and Sanctification saying The Light within is sufficient hereunto and scoff at them that pray for more His malice and his lies run parallel Are there amongst the Sons of men any that so contend for that Grace which brings Salvation and so strongly plead as well with sufferings as otherwise the absolute necessity of Faith therein subjection thereto and sanctification thereby to this blind professing World And for his distinction between the Light and Grace Reader if thou dost well observe the Apostle Paul's description of their properties and effects I question not but thou wilt soon condemn this Guide for ignorant and very inobservant of the Scriptures For he to the Ephesians writes That whatsoever makes manifest is light and bids them thereby to walk circumspectly So that the Apostle sets it as the distinguisher between good and evil as a Guide or Leader And thus was Jesus Christ the fulness of Light nominated by the Prophet A Light unto the Gentiles a Leader unto the People for Salvation unto the ends of the Earth who by the Evangelist is said to have enlightened every man and by the Prophet 't is determined as well as by the same John in his Revelation That the Nations of them which are saved must walk in that Light and how it can be different from that Grace whose properties are the same in teaching to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World cannot be rationally suppos'd for sayes the Apostle John If ye walk in the Light as God is in the Light ye shall be cleansed from all sin which Paul expresses thus If ye walk in the Spirit ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh and sayes Christ I am the Light of the World he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life It must be therefore evident to every common understanding that this so much blasphem'd Light Spirit and Grace spoken of leading to the same condition and bringing to the same end are one in essence and virtue though diversly denominated according to the variety of its operations and who is 't can be thought a Christian that denies the sufficiency of this Glorious Light which graciously is given of God as a Leader to the Nations and for Salvation to the ends of the Earth And surely had this Guide but ever been acquainted with its pure instructions and walk't therein the benefit that would have certainly accru'd had better taught him the excellency of its Nature and the reverent observance he ought to pay it and not to make a scoff at it as he most wickedly sayes the Quakers do at Grace who generally are known to be no mockers but have been made a laughing-stock by all Perswasions being reviled they bless persecuted they suffer defamed they intreat accounted the off-scouring of all things unto this day and made a spectacle unto the World Angele and Men. Sect. 7. 10. He follows on much at the same rate Sabbaths and Sacraments and all instituted Worship they cast off the great Doctrines of the Resurrection Last Judgment Heaven and Hell they turn into Allegories c. How long wilt thou immagine write and utter lying vanities to bespatter defame and expose to vulgar rage the innocent People and royal Inheritance of the most high God Canst thou expect thy dayes shall terminate in peace and that the Judge of all will not account with thee for all thy slanders yea Clapham be it known unto thee the dreadful God shall recompence it on thy head nor shall thy peevish malice surpassing all I know escape a pledge of Gods displeasure on thee ere thou takest thy farewel of this Earth he will rebuke thy unclean Spirit too full of nasty venom and lies ever to have admittance where nothing enters that defiles or makes a lie It 's not a rage I am in as thou may'st think and willingly wouldst have others to believe God bears me record but the infallible sence I have upon my Spirit of thy deep ensnating hypocrisie to betray if possible others more moderate and faithful into the same wicked yeelding spirit with thy self and also I fear thy immortal enmity to us the innocent People of the Lord provokes to a holy indignation and judgement 's for that unrighteous nature to eternity But that I may not leave the Reader unsatisfi'd as to this last most impudently wicked aspersion know in the name of all true Quakers the Sabbath that is reserv'd for the People of God is so far from being by them rejected or denyed that they admonish all to the exact and punctual observation of it not to think their own thoughts speak their own words nor do their own works for the word Sacraments 't is no where scriptural and till he explains his meaning I am not bound to find him one but for such Worship as is of Scripture-institution and perform'd by the Spirit of God they own and practise disowning as there is good reason all other Institutions The Doctrine of the
Resurrection of the just and unjust Last Judgment Heaven and Hell as future rewards they believe and confess And as my faithful Testimony both to their Life and Doctrine I am necessitated to declare and be it known to all that ever knew me that when the unspeakable Riches of God's eternal Love visited me by the call of his glorious Light from the dark practices wandring notions and vain conversations of this polluted world and that my heart was influenced thereby and consequently disposed for the more intimate and sincere reception of it those very habits which once I judg'd impossible whilst here to have relinquish'd as well as I was unwilling and did allow my self a liberty therein because not openly gross or scandalous I thought my self excusable became not only burdensome and by that Light manifested to be of another nature than that which I was call'd to the participation of but in my faithful adherence to its holy counsel and instructions I was immediately endued with that power and authority as gave dominion over them and being in measure redeemed from that to which the Curse is pronounc'd I sensibly enjoy'd the Blessings that attend a Reconciliation And never since I have been conversant with their Principles thus odiously describ'd by him have I found one Article that did not receive a full and satisfactory assent from that very Grace Spirit or Light of God which first called me from the gross impieties vain entertainments tempting glories and will-worships of this generation And as I have the seal of God's eternal Spirit of Love upon my soul as an infallible Assurance so since my first frequenting of them and their Assemblies I have observ'd that holy innocent and righteous conversation which harmonizes with the severity circumspection and self-denying life of the Gospel and testifie as revealed from God that since those Centuries in which the Apostasie eclipst the beauty of the primitive Light there has not been so glorious a discovery of Spiritual Pure and Evangelical Worship Life and Doctrine as God hath in his Loving-kindness rais'd the so much despised Quakers to own practise and declare amongst the Nations as the good old way of Holiness that leads from Intemperance Vanity Pride Oppression and the love of this World 's perishing glories to that everlasting Joy and Rest which is reserv'd for the People of the Most High God In short they are found in Principles zealous for God devout in Worship earnest in Prayer constant in Profession harmless and exemplary in their Lives patient in Sufferings orderly in their Affairs few in Words punctual in Dealings merciful to Enemies Self-denying as to this Worlds Delights and Enjoyments and to sum up all Standards for the God of Heaven against the Pride Cruelty Lust Avarice c. of this Godless Generation whom the unborn shall call Blessed when their Testimonies be finish'd and they gathered into the unspeakable Solace and possession of God's eternal Presence yet are they concluded by this uncharitable Guide not company for Christians but I am perswaded that the more discreet will not relax their good Opinion for his slanderous reflexions but rather thence renew occasions of further expressing their Candor and Humanity And I hope their discreet and inoffensive deportment will perswade all people they are not as deserving their ill thoughts as envious and self-interessed Priests have endeavoured to insinuate CHAP. III. His Hypocrisie Detected Sect. 1. THough manifold are the Stratagems of Satan that old Serpent by which he does surprize the immortal Souls of men with most deplorable woes and everlasting misery yet is there none that proves so generally effectual as Hypocrisie It s his Mysterium Maximum A study and employment fit for none below the form of his Arch-Angels such make his Archest Emissaries and most subtile Meanders Sublime Devils masqu'd with the vizard of Sincerity palliating themselves from what they really are by seeming what as really they are not outside wash'd Platters Wolves in Sheeps cloathing Inside rotten but outside whited-Sepulchres In short the muddy Sensualist refin'd to a counterfeit Fidelity and imitation of the form of Godliness the more unquestionably to deceive and securely to insinuate candid apprehensions of his purpose who is the most impudent dispiser of God destroyer of Souls contemner of Laws perverter of Truth and treacherous to the end against whom the sharpest woes are denounc'd and punishments reserv'd to eternity How far this Guide has rendred himself obnoxious to the character of a Hypocrite it is our business mainly in this Chapter to discourse But lest his dissimulated Condescension and pretended Christian Instructions as inducements to Conformity should so far prevail upon the unacquaintance of any with his spirit and notorious practice through all Revolutions as to believe they may deserve my observation and reply since 't is irrational to argue the unsoundness of a Principle from the confest imperfections of its Defendants I shall a little hint at the chiefest of his Reasons as well to manifest 't was not so much a general as an individual concern that interested him in this undertaking as to prevent if possible his ingratiating his Motives to Conformity with the minds of such as are inclinable to temporizing he states his Question thus Sect. 2. VVhether it be a duty for Christians to hold communion with the Church of England according to her present Administrations Had this Guide the least honesty it should not be a question with him now although I fear he is scarce so honest as to make it one my Paradox is Orthodox or been conscientious in his former perswasions but having ever forfeited the reputation of a sincere person and not being esteem'd other than a gross Temporizer I easily shall grant it very requisit for him whose belly is his god and that minds earthly things to commune with the Church of England in her present Administrations but as for Christians I shall not ask his leave to dissent unless he can produce better Arguments to warrant his confident Assertions his first runs thus It will not be denied by all dissenters that have understanding and sobriety in them but that here is a clear profession of all those fundamental points of Faith which are accounted amongst Christians necessary unto Salvation yea such a pure confession of other points of a secondary nature that there 's scarce any other Church in the World that God hath blest with a greater purity What strange confusion and unusual impertinency is this would not half-witted people blush to venture abroad in print with such expressions Surely this Guide was grosly fond of writing Books that rather than be quiet should with such greediness expose his ignorance to vulgar censure for if the Dissenters he writes against confess the Church they separate from to be greatly pure in Fundamentals and things of a secondary nature how is it possible according to good sense they can be termed Dissenters in Religious matters I shall