is the Devil For verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the Sins of the People Again For we have not an High-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin And as to his Suffering both in Body and Soul and thereby becoming a most compleat Sacrifice for the Remission of the Sins of the whole World according to Isaiah Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin he shall see his Seed he shall prolong his Days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his Hand He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied by his Knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their Iniquities Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God Again Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Again For Christ also hath once suffered for Sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to Death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit Again And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death With many more all which we as truly and as faithfully Believe as any Protestants whatever and he must have a Face of Brass that will say the Quakers either deny or undervalue any part of it And for the Trinity as he calls it we as much believe it as the Scripture declares it viz. For there are Three that bare Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. And there are Three that bare witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these Three agree in One. And as for the Body of Christ turning to Dust is so great an untruth that he must set up for the Trade of Lying that attempts a greater for the Quakers Believe according to the Acts of the Apostles which saith Ye Men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Again He seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his Soul was not left in Hell neither his Flesh did see Corruption This Jesus hath God raised up whereof we all are Witnesses Therefore being by the Right Hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear For David is not ascended into the Heavens but he saith himself The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right Hand until I make thy Foes thy Footstool Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have Crucified both Lord and Christ Again Whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the Mouth of all his holy Prophets since the World began So that as his Flesh saw no Corruption he Ascended far above all Heavens and sits at the Right Hand of the Majesty in the Heavens c. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum We have such an High-priest who is set on the Right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens And though Christ was Anointed with the Oyl of Joy and Gladness above his Fellow referring to his Manhood which the Quakers readily confess yet never called it Anointings as he says for what reason I know not unless to abuse the Quakers And that all Christians have a degree or measure of the same the fulness of which was in him is sound Doctrine and to be believed and lookt for since he that has not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and since the Hammerer don't expect it no marvel he is so great a Slave to Sathan as he is His Scoffs at Perfection and Freedom from Sin I shall next take notice of and answer as follows That by Perfection the Quakers never pretended to any other than a being freed from Sinning and of a growth from one degree of Grace to another to the perfecting of Holiness but a Perfection of the fulness of Knowledge or of Glory is what is not to be expected in this World nor did we ever pretend to it but if a being delivered from sinning is not attainable the Quakers are indeed Fools to pretend to it and our Adversaries are in the right to reflect on us for it but if it be who is Fool then And that it is is most clear from Mat. 5. 48. Luke 6. 40. 2 Cor. 13. 9. 2 Tim. 3. 17. Eph. 4. 11 12 13. Heb. 6. 1. or else we must Charge an Absurdity on the Holy Ghost for injoining what was impossible to be attained to and where will that Centre And whereas he often reflects and abuseth the Quakers for denying Prayer and particularly Page 78. They must wait for the Spirit 's Call to Prayer saith he then asks how they and the Spirit came to be such Strangers that it calls not to them all the Day Week Month or Year long to pray alone or in their Families This also is like the rest and what that is is plainly made appear for 't is a hard matter for him to speak Truth in any one thing unless it be where he can strike us in the Teeth with a Demas or Judas an Alexander or Hymeneus or Philetu or a Nicholas c. which that we should be without is more than can be expected since the first Planters of Christianity were not yet that neither rendred the Christians Impostors or Apostates nor their Religion the Sink of Heresie though our Hammerers Elder Brethren thought it and them so and prosecuted them accordingly as their Rabbies did their Lord and Master Now as to Prayer in Families and alone as well as in publick Meetings this is the known practice of the People called Quakers but because they have not set hours for it any more than
for being in a perfect Estate but acknowledged he was not so But in another place if you will believe him he tells you We don't think of any Imperfection in us or desire of Forgiveness or to that effect But now L. S. don't pretend to it but wisht he was so Who will Credit such a Sayer and Unsayer But as we are exhorted to Confess our Faults one to another and not to hide our Sins for then we shall not prosper but confess and forsake and we shall find Mercy so the Quakers believe and also practice And if he is Ignorant hereof it 's his Fault and not ours In short Confession we own and know it to be our Indispensible Duty To God for every Sin against him either in Thought Word or Action To Man wherein we have Trespassed against him To the Church wherein we have offended her And when the Lord is pleased by his Spirit to draw forth any of his Servants and Ministers into either an Acknowledgment of Sins past or Desire of Forgiveness or both in the exercise of their Gifts amongst the People they represent and on whose Behalf their Petitions are put up we are so far from disapproving hereof or thinking our selves above it that it is exceeding Comfortable and Edifying to us But this we shall never deny that those inward Pangs of a Penitent Soul those Sighs and Groans as well as Words that arise from a wounded Spirit are more acceptable to God than such a Customary Formal crying out Lord the best of our Performances are Sin yea our Holy Duties are Sin but do thou be merciful to us miserable Sinners and so go and so come from Year to Year as if after such a Confession God Almighty was obliged to forgive not considering that 't is those only that Confess and Forsake that shall find Mercy Then again How often are we scofft and mockt at and compared to the Pope because we assert That Men ought to be Infallibly assured of their Duty to God and that the Spirit of God a measure of which is given to every Man to profit withal is Infallible and if minded will so Infallibly assure them that they shall be beyond doubt which is a tossed but not Comfortable Estate From this 't is common with our Adversaries to say That the Quakers pretend to Infallibility and when once turn'd Quakers are Infallible Now that we pretend to Infallibility is true but 't is as before expressed not placing it in Persons or Opinion but the Spirit of God which they themselves can't deny to be Infallible And as Man is governed by that Spirit he will Infallibly be led out of all that which is Fallible and Erroneous both in Faith and Life Yea they themselves will I hope allow the Scripture to be an Infallible Rule and if so the Spirit of God must be yet much more so since from it the Scripture came For Holy Men of Old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But for my part I would not give a Rush for that Religion that is only Certain in Vncertainty which is the state of all that hath not an Infallible Rule to walk by Again about the Holy Scriptures how abominably have our Adversaries abused us particularly this Hammerer saying 'T is no Rule to us and that we have Cursed more than a Thousand times those that call the Scriptures the Word of God This needs no Confutation from me since every Body that know the Quakers know also that they use Cursing no more than Swearing yet this is the Man that if he don't speak Truth of us Desires to be Esteemed a Persecutor or the greatest Defamer on Earth c. Now although we do not commonly call the Scriptures the Word of God because we distinguish between them and Jesus Christ who is called in Scripture the Word of God yet it is not in the least to derogate from the Honour and Dignity that is due thereto but because it is an Attribute peculiar to Jesus Christ the Word although as they declare the Mind of God with respect to us and are his Commands to us they may in that respect be called the Word or Command of God and so the Quakers Own and Esteem them and Rejoice in them since they afford such a Comfortable History of the Dealings of the Lord with his People through many Generations and of the Coming of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ his Birth Works Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascention Glorification and present Mediation and of his Coming at the End of the World to Judge both Quick and Dead of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust with many more Precious and Comfortable Doctrines all which are contained in the Holy Scripture and Writ for our Learning that by Faith in Christ the Man of God through them may be thoroughly furnisht to every good Word and Work And to that end we may have the true and right use of them it is requisite Men apply themselves to the Spirit of God in the reading thereof which never Contradicts its own Testimony in the Scripture but Corroborates it and makes it much more Effectual for Edification and Comfort as said the Prophet I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my judgments c. and to this end we have direc 〈…〉 People to the Spirit of God within them For without the Assistance thereof the Reader hath not the true Comfort of them and therefore it 's false in Fact that the Quakers deny the Holy Scriptures and esteem them but Dirt Serpents Meat Death and Dead Letter as this Hammerer the Snake in the Grass Crisp Bugg c. saith For we sincerely believe the Scripture in it self is very good and profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works But the Best Instruments in the World put into the Hands of a Fool or one of no Capacity is no more to him than those which are worse unless to do Mischief with but in the Hand of an Artist the Work is excellently done Even so the Capacity for the right use of the Scripture is the Qualification of the Spirit without which the Scripture is not of that advantage though otherways very excellent in it self Now as some part of the Scripture is Allegorically to be understood as well as some other Literally and some both as our Adversaries confess so to turn that to an Allegory which is to be understood Literally is equally Foolish with taking that Literally that is to be understood Allegorically For the right understanding hereof can there be any better Method proposed than for Men to have recourse to that Spirit from whence it did at first flow And in that Gift of the Spirit to wait with patience until the Matter is clearly opened to them and not be hasty to conclude
some of his Brethren has set forms he infers though very unjustly that the Quakers decline it We do say if Men pray they ought to pray with the Spirit and with an Understanding also and therefore we say all are to attend the Spirits time in order to help them in the production of what it hath conceived and 't is certain that they who are intent hereon shall not find themselves at a loss for want of the Spirit to enable them when the Circumstance of Time and Place calls for it yet at all times Men are to have their Hearts set on God and to meditate on his Law but they are not always obliged to a Vocal Prayer nor doth God expect it though sometimes he do that they may sanctifie his Name by a Vocal Prayer as well in a private Family as a publick Meeting and this the Quakers own and practice therefore he is a Defamer Persecutor and Impostor for insinuating the contrary In Page 51. Our Adversary is very Abusive touching our belief of a Christ within which he falsly puts in opposition to a Christ without saying This Word outward is in great Contempt with them but how this word Outward is so contemptible with them he has not assigned That we are Contemners of the outward Scripture is false from what is said before That we are Contemners of Christ viz. he that was Crucified is as false for we are well assured that by the Offering up of himself upon the Cross he became a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World and by vertue of his Blood comes Remission of Sins and yet this Remission is no otherwise to be Experienced than by Mens Repentance and Belief of the Truth and a Faithful walking in Holiness of Life with which as an Ingenious Author said we may but without which we never shall be saved notwithstanding Christ Died for us The Design of whose Death was not to make a good Life unnecessary but to render it efficacious and available not to procure a Priviledge of being Saved without it as some fancy but that we might be Saved with it c. After he has told his Reader That Baptism and the Lord's Supper were Outward Ordinances with them he queries But why does not these Men contemn outward Meats and Drinks and Outward Cloathing too If they did the Controversie would soon be at an end But for all his Scoffs he is mistaken though by ending the Controversie he means we should be out of his way I must confess I believe it would be a joyful Day to him and such as he But pray let me Expostulate with these People a little Are not you for an inward Vertue from Christ the Fountain to Revive your Spirits and Comfort your Souls under any Affliction as well as to Encourage you to Perseverance Are not you for the Marrow of the Scripture as well as the Words and Sentences therein contained Are not you for sitting down in an Heavenly Place in Christ Are not you desirous of receiving the Substance of what Baptism and the Supper is but the Sign of If you say Yea may not I if I would act the part of this Hammerer return it upon you that you are since you cry up the outward all for the outward but not at all for the inward Which I can with as much Justice and Truth do as he has Charg'd the Quakers for contemning all the outward c. But what a poor Flurt was it to bring in outward Meats and Drinks and Cloaths too and then the Controversie he saith will soon be ended But that 's not true for we are against outward Meats and Drinks and Cloathing too and yet the Controversie is not ended and if he had not been blinded with Folly as well as Envy he might have escaped such a Blunder For where Meats and Drinks are offered either Superstitiously or Profanely the Quakers are against it and refuse it But what a comparison he has made Here is Christ without the Scriptures without Heaven without Baptism without the Lord's Supper without with outward Meats outward Drings and outward Cloating and what weight there is in that pray read Col. 2. 17. and then let him tell me according to his own Comparison what real ground there is for him or any else to blame the Quakers for disusing the Two Great Ordinances as they call them since according to his Comparison they are but a shadow and if People have seen and enjoy the Substance and will follow it rather than the Shadow are they to be blamed for it or called Hereticks But till the Substance is known those Shadows may have their Service and we are not for pressing any to decline it till their own Convictions do For I agree with the Apostles who said Let every Man be fully perswaded in his own Mind There has been many Books writ upon this Subject of Baptism I shall therefore say the less the greatest Argument I have ever heard brought for the Continuation of Water-Baptism was from Acts 10. 48. which stands thus Can any Man forbid Water that those should not be Baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we from which they argue that if Baptism was not a standing Ordinance since these had received the Holy Ghost why was it here practiced I Answer first of all there was no mention of Water in the Commission Mat. 28. 19 20. yet to teach Baptizing was secondly since John's Baptism was distinguisht from Christ's by Water as that was from John's by the Holy Ghost nothing can be more plain than that Christ intended his and not John's Baptism And if the Apostle Paul was not behind as he saith he was not any of the Apostles yet 't is evident he did not understand Mat. 28. 19 20. in the sence our Adversaries do for if Baptizing with Water was a part of the Commission there mentioned he never understood his Commission if he had he would not have thanked God that he Baptized so few as he did and positively declared that he was not sent to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel but that he did some and Peter more is true but this neither proves it a standing Ordinance nor yet that it was by Command from God to be a standing Ordinance but as in the Case of Circumcision Anointing the Sick and divers other things practiced by the Jews whose Religion was greatly Ceremonious as the Gentiles was Idolatrous the Disciples of Jesus condescended as in the case of Circumcision that by becoming all to all they might gain some for to take them off all at once was not likely to be received by them since by a long Custom they had used themselves to such outward things But besides John himself had before declared that he must decrease and that Christ must increase which plainly implied the decrease of his Ministry and Baptism not all at once but gradually as it did the increase of Christ's Ministry and Baptism
not Belie or Abuse the Quakers if he do let him be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth c. But that they the Quakers do not understand it to be Conscience he himself has proved quoting Ro. Barclay calling it Vehiculum Dei whose Book is approved by the Quakers and contains their Faith and Doctrine in the Points Controverted and thither I refer the Ingenious Reader for a more full and ample satisfaction but since that Book is large and this being part of our present Controversie in pursuing this Hammerer I shall freely declare first Negatively That by the Light we never understood it to be Conscience since Conscience is liable to be corrupted and hardened as said the Apostle but this Principle of Divine Light is not obnoxious to any alteration or change from its own pure and holy Nature to any degree of Corruption whatsoever nor is it natural Reason for there is an apparent depravity come thereupon But secondly I declare Positively That by the Light we understand a glorious Beam or Ray proceeding from Christ the Fountain of Light displaying it self into our Souls for the enlightning of our Understandings and to put us in a Capacity to distinguish between Object and Object for as a Blind Man cannot discern the difference in Colours for want of his sight so all Men in their natural Estate are in as great a degree of Spiritual Blindness until by this Light they are in a degree enlightned hence it is that all are called Children of Wrath and that there is none that doth good no not one nor can it be otherwise for although Custom and Tradition may influence Men to do what they think they ought to do and deter them from what they have been taught to avoid yet till by a degree more or less of this Light they are enlightned it 's a Blind Zeal and Will-worship which is not at all acceptable to God but is Iniquity as is the Plowing of the Wicked though otherwise in it self an inoffensive Exercise so that the sight and knowledge of what makes for Man's Everlasting Happiness depends upon this Divine Light for without it we have no sight and consequently no Spiritual Knowledge since Man's Natural Reason is so depraved that he can no more search into and behold the glorious things that relates to the Kingdom of God and his Immortal State they being too Sublime for him than 't is possible for a Man to look into and search out the Matter and Nature of the Sun with his Bodily Eyes which if he attempts is soon Convinced of his Folly by being blinded by the inaccessible transcending Glory and Light thereof so that as the Apostle said 1 Cor. 2. 11. For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God And in Verse 14. But the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned I say then since Man in his Natural Estate is not able to know the things of God it is most certain that he must if ever he know them come to it by the help not of a Natural but Divine Light and such a Divine Light God who is in Christ Reconciling the World to himself the Father of Lights has sent his Son the Light of the World to bless the World withal that by believing in him Men may come out of Darkness and be turned every one of them from the Evil of their Ways It 's true he was a glorious Light in his Life Ministry Miracles Sufferings Death and Resurrection and as such there is no Dispute but we are obliged to believe in him and then we shall not abide in that Darkness and Unbelief the Jews c. are now in but that it should be restricted to that we deny since himself promised to come again and to be in his and with his to the end of the World to lead them into all Truth to Comfort as well as Convince them and in fine to dwell with them and in them according to Jo. 14. 16 17 18 21 23. and 15. 26. and 16. 7. with many more in the New Testament so that notwithstanding a Belief of Christ's Coming in the Flesh and Suffering and therein becoming a most Compleat Sacrifice for Remission of the Sins of the whole World Men may live and die in an unreconcileable State and fall short of that Salvation Jesus Christ has by his Blood purchased for them for a bare Belief and Consent to the Truth hereof doth not Entitle any Man to the Salvation therein offered unless he lives conform to the Will of God viz. Repent of his former Life and Vanity Believes viz. has Faith in God and Christ and that holy Spirit sent forth to purifâ—e his Heart and submits to the Work of it and leads a Life of Godliness and Honesty for time to come these are terms upon which Christ the Saviour is offered to every Man and they that perform these Conditions have the Benefit of the Sacrifice of Christ and for his sake God will look on them as if they had never sinned at all Now since to come to this Qualification where the Righteousness of Christ is truly to be imputed requires a real and effectual Change from Nature to Grace from Darkness to Light how is it possible that this Change can be effected without a steady adhering to this Divine Light which as it is obeyed in all its Manifestations leads out of all Darkness and Death into the Marvelous Light of Life nor doth this Principle of Light that manifest whatsoever is reprovable Eph. 5. 13. to that end it may be relinquished contradict the Light in the Scriptures for the Commands of the Holy Ghost in Scripture are made by this Light much more Effectual and Obligatory upon us for we do not place the Authority of Scripture only from its being esteemed Canonical but also from the Testimony of the Divine Light in our own Hearts which would have obliged the Believers therein to have believed the Holy Scriptures Sacred and of Divine Authority if no such Canons had past to put a Sanction on them How Unjust Uncharitable and Wicked then are our Adversaries that stick not to say We debase the Scripture to set up our own Light In short by the Light within we understand not Conscience nor Natural Reason but that Light which from the Son of Righteousness Jesus Christ the Light of the World shines into the Hearts of the Sons of Men to give them the Knowledge of the Glory of God or that Spirit of Truth that was promised should Convince the World of Sin and lead into all Truth or that Word nigh in the Heart and Mouth to be heard and obeyed or that still small Voice that saith This is the Way walk in it when turning to the Right
may write over their Doors as over the Doors of them that have the Plague Lord have Mercy on them But what then This is but one of his Complements upon us for he is sure we cannot be saved why then should he pray God to have Mercy on us Is not this to pray not only against Faith but certain Knowledge too besides taking the Name of God in vain which he so often exclaims against But what can we expect different from this from a Man that seems to be made up of Malice Forgeries and Lies as he appears to be through his Book But as for his Account of Hugh's of Plimouth I wonder his Friends would suffer him to over-hale it in Print unless the reviving of that Story would take off the Imputation which can never be unless there were better Vouchers for it than this Hammerer no nor then neither but with such as knew not the Man But being at length fully recovered from his Doctrinal Part he falls in p. 123. into an angry Humour with Ministers Wives for giving some Quakers an account of the ill Conditions of their Husbands I take this to be the Story and if so I say it was not well done of the Women to expose their Husbands Infirmities unless it were a Case of Conscience Though many a Poor Woman pays dear enough at Home for being led abroad once a Week in her Topknot but what their Lot is they must submit to and wade through it as they can Yet if the Women will Gossip and tell of the Cheats of their Husbands why should not they be believed as well as the Quaker's Wife he told of in p. 74. When it becomes his own Case he is not for hearing any Womens Complaints against their Husbands but then he not only if you will believe him heard it but hath also printed it though never the truer for that He says he knew a Famous Minister whose Wife broke his Heart he advises Ministers to keep their Ground for if they do not rule their Wives will He quotes many Presidents for being Henpeckt which would make one suspect that he himself was too deeply affected that way But on enquiry I find his Wife hath the hardest side of it by far and so according to the Proverb The worst Spoak cracks first But to come to an end for 't is time nor had I been here but to clear the Truth and its Professors and expose his Folly that if possible he may be ashamed of it and of himself for its sake with a Parcel of Verses though none of his very well adapted to a Chiding Woman and a few Scoffs and Jeers upon She Friends as he calls them together with another Ramble of unheard of Lies which he pretends to deliver as the Sence of the Quakers he ends his Work and lays down his Hammer but not without a false stroke to the very last lest it should any where fail of being all of a Thread which is thus This Barclay says he tells us if Infallibility be not in his Enthusiasms 't is not lodged in the Scripture but we must go for it to the Chair of Rome Here I cannot find a softer Expression than this The Lake is for the Liar and the Liar for the Lake and that 's the Portion of all such unless they Repent for R. B. no where in his Printed Books says so though this Lying Adversary of ours has the Impudence to assert it but the best of it is 't is with the same Credit with the rest But he goes on thus Every thing Poor Robin to its Centre thy Doctrine came from Rome tends to Rome and many that knew thee believe that thou were 't not to be reckoned in the number of Protestants But why thus Poor Robin And once before away Poor Robin what should induce him to call over his Name at this rate I will not determine whether it was from his great Intimacy with Poor Robin's Almanacks as part of his Study or with a design to lessen the Reputation of R. B. if it was the first he has shewn himself an apt Scholar by his Freaks and Comical Raileries But if it be the latter I pity him that he should be carried away with such Whims as to think that he was able to Impeach R. B. who was well known by most Ranks and Degrees of Men to be raised far enough above the Envy of such a Whiffling Petulant Adversary as this Hammerer hath all along appeared to be And now Reader having done for the present with Trepidantium Malleus I shall Address my self to thee IT is not because I Love Controversie or affect popularity that I have undertook to write the foregoing Reply but because I would take off those Bear-skins this lurking Adversary has endeavoured to wrap us in nor indeed had I undertook it if many or most of our Friends that are qualified for such Services had not declined it as a Scurrilous Libel not worth their notice partly from the Matter it self as being False Idle Comical and Vain and partly from the Knowledge they had of the Author since he is so well known to be out of his right Mind But because he may not be generally known to be so where his Book may come and understanding that the Book is handed about from one to another of the Brotherhood and entertained with great Applause as an unanswerable Piece I found my self concerned to Vindicate the Truth against his Malicious Slanders I observe it 's not his Case only but many more of that Complection for many Years past especially in peaceable Times to be throwing their Squibs at the Quakers although in Times of Persecution they generally are more quiet If they had any reasonable or just Cause to Reproach us for holding any Erroneous or Hurtful Principles it were something But when we are Condemned for Hereticks it is by their Forgeries Lies and Perversions which they would insinuate was our Belief One while we are Papists and Jesuites although we Challenge any of them to go as far as they dare in any of the Negative Doctrines of the Reformation Another while we deny the Humanity of Christ by and by his Divinity One while we cannot Pray without the Spirit by and by we expect to Merit Salvation by our own Works One while we are for turning the whole Scripture into Allegories by and by Persecuted because we keep to Scripture words Their great News about our not Confessing our Sins is as false as the rest though perhaps grounded upon our not doing it in the same Customary way and manner that our Adversaries use But what then doth it therefore follow as he wickedly insinuates page first That we think our selves too good and too perfect to ask a Holy God forgiveness for any imperfection in Thought Word or Astion by no means Nay see how Contradictory he is he chargeth L. S. for Pride and falling into the Condemnation of the Devil because he wisht
either with or against the Resolves of Councils and Synods c. but being truly exercised in the Gift of the Spirit in Waiting and Attention on it as well as Prayer and Supplication it 's most certain the Matter will be cleared up and the Doubts resolved as it shall conduce to their Spiritual Advantage In short it 's not so much about plain Scripture Authority we differ but about the Authority of those Councils Synods and Assemblies of Divines so called that have undertaken to Expound Scriptures and Decree Articles of Faith For all our Confessions of Faith and Acknowledgment to the Truth of Christianity in plain Scripture Terms is little with them but Cant unless it be in the Terms of the several Councils or Westminster Divines c. and yet they are the People that cry up the Scripture for their Rule though they make it a meer Nose of Wax to turn to every thing that either Humour or Interest trumps up Thus one Council hath Contradicted what the other hath Determined And another thing in which 't is common for these People to Abuse and Belie us in is about our Lord Jesus Christ which this Adversary saith page 80. That he was the Anointings of God and when Dead his Body turned to Dust and that afterwards the same Anointings were in others But who or when any Quaker said so he mentions not a word and in Answer to it I say he would have as truly represented the Presbyterians as he hath done tho Quakers If he said of them that they held Universal Grace and that there was never any such thing in the World as the Solemn League and Covenant and no such Man as the Bishop of St. Andrews Murthered or that King Charles the First cut off his own Head or that they never Hanged Men only for being Quakers or that their Brethren in Scotland were for Universal Liberty notwithstanding their Barbarity to the Episcopal Clergy and their Design to Excommunicate the last Year all Persons that should Buy or Sell with or Entertain a Quaker which had took effect had not the Clemency of the King interposed to break their Mischievous Designs I say as the Matters and Things abovementioned lye are as true the one as the other so I Charge him for a Notorious Impostor thus to abuse and deceive his Reader and under the specious pretences of speaking Truth to vent such apparent Fals-hoods Now although I positively deny what Anonymus affirms and put him upon the proof which I am sure he can never do yet for the sakes of others that may be deceived by this Lying Spirit I shall freely express our Faith herein since that is the part which affords me the greatest Satisfaction in this Undertaking But if I should not do it in the Terms of the Schools though in never so plain Scripture Terms perhaps it will find but little Credit with our Adversaries notwithstanding the great Talk and Boast they make about the Authority of the Scripture But however let them do as they please I hope we shall not receed from the Testimony of Holy Scripture As to the Heresies of the Socinians and Sabelleans which he endeavours to fix on the Quakers since so much has been said already in Confutation thereof so to reassume the Argument and give it a fresh Confutation would swell this beyond my Intentions but besides many others that has done it I shall refer to one that in this Author's Esteem is both Honest and Ingenuous whose word I hope then he will not question and that is G. K. in his Way Cast up which was Written in Defence of us and our Principles to which I refer the Reader for though G. K. hath changed his Mind since that time the Quakers have not and therefore his Arguments in Defence of our Principles are as much in force against our Adversaries as ever since we did then and do now approve of them whate'er we may do by the Man for many a Man has declared the Truth and turned from it afterwards but Truth is not to be denied because of that In short besides G. K. and the many Quakers that has Writ on that Subject the Quakers believe the Substance of the Nicene Creed as truly as any of their Adversaries which cuts up all this Hammerers Allegations at the Roots as it is reported by Socrates Scholasticus in his first Book of the Ecclesiastical History Chap. 5. Page 222. which I shall insert the Substance of save also the Curse at the latter end of it upon them that held contrary Opinions WE Believe in One God the Father Almighty Maker of all things visible and Invisible and in One Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God the Only Begotten Son of the Father that is of the Substance of the Father by whom all things were made both the things in Heaven and the things in Earth Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down and was Incarnate He was made Man He Suffered and Rose the third Day He ascended into the Heavens He shall come to Judge both the Quick and the Dead And we Believe in the Holy Ghost Now though we chuse rather to express our Faith in plain Scripture Terms than in the Terms of any Council whatever yet where Matters of Faith are laid down in plain Scripture Terms by them we never were so cross-grained to refuse an Assent because it was the Determination of a Council But though the above abundantly clears us from his false and wicked Charges of denying the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and the Trinity yet we have more to say for the sakes of those whose Innocency has been destroyed by such Impostors as this Adversary Know then that as the Holy Scripture declared the Divinity of Christ so we as Faithfully believe it according to Micah But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little amongst the Thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel Whose going forth have been from of old from Everlasting or the Days of Eternity Again In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the Beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Again Who is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature Again for by him were all things Created c. Who was the Root and Off-spring of David the Bright and Morning-Star The Heir of all things the Brightness of God's Glory and the Express Image of his Substance who upholds all things by the Word of his Power And by whom also all things were Created And for his Humanity according to the Hebrews Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that
Consequence But to do him Justice he has though Ignorantly cleared by his own Acknowledgment all the Quakers in the World and that is in page 24. where he saith I freely declare if any of you sincerely value Scripture Light and Rule and do not adhere to the Guidance of this Mad Spirit this Story meaning the Narrative intends noâ— Accuse you Now I say then that all the Quakers in the World that are own'd as such and Members of that Community are sincere Valuers of Scripture Light and Rule and as much detest adhering to the Guidance of this Mad Spirit as the Author or any People in the World and therefore we are by his own Confession Cleared so that the Man has only a Chimera in Charging it against the Quakers and is Fighting with he knows not what but I have just Cause to question his Sincerity in this free Concession since he is so liberal to bestow more such Stories upon the Quakers but before I come to Examine them I take notice of his saying The Devil it seems owed them a spight by managing those Persons to the shame of the Sect That the Devil is spightful towards us I believe is very true though they say he is kind to his own Children the which I am apt to think this Adversary may be qualified to give us an account of in his next but of his spightfulness to us we have had large Demonstrations not only by seducing some that have pretended to be of us to follow the Imaginations of their own Whimsical Brains or Melancholy Fancies under the Apprehensions of the motion of the Spirit of God but also by filling such as this Adversary with Malice and Envy against us to Reproach the Holy Spirit of God through the Delusions of some few Persons I shall now take notice of some more of his Stories and that is in page 26. of one Peregrine Dalston endeavouring to swallow his Bed-sheet and Choaking himself and of another at Durham that pretended he came to Hobson 's House by Revelation c. And page 27. of a Woman that Renounced her Husband and call'd him Dog Devil c. and that she pretended to be a Mother to a Second Saviour How unjust is this Libeller to upbraid Sensible Men with Actions of Mad People But whether ever there were any such Persons in the World as these he here mentions is a question and 't is another if ever any such thing was either done or said And another Whether these People if the two first be granted were reputed Quakers For his saying so will go but a little way with the Impartial since Lying and Abusing is his Practice as I shall shew in its place but supposing all this to be true when or where did he ever hear the Quakers give any Credit or shew Countenance to such things He cannot be Ignorant of the Quakers equally disliking any such practices with any Professors of Christianity whatever He may well say page 29. Friends Memories are not always perfect for they never will nor his neither be so perfect as to remember what never was done But all these confirms what he said before That the Devil ow'd us a spight and to shew it has made use of this Libeller with many others who hath joined issue with the Devil in Spightfulness to Reproach Belie and Abuse an Innocent People because some that has profest the same Way has been Whimsical Melancholy Imaginary or Mad. But his Profane Atheistical Blasphemous Commentson these Stories I shall not now undertake to Reply to for indeed I do not think it worth while since it looks so much like Tripedantium Malleus rather than the production of a Composed Brain He tells Two Stories of Quakers in Bristol The first going Naked with a Rope about him into the Church but when turn'd out another went saying Thus saith the Lord Let the Man have his Rope again If this be not a Lie of his making yet it is of his venting for the Quakers of Bristol who are most like of any to know deny it that is that no Quaker did so Some Quakers in the City of Bristol yet Alive do remember but surely the Infernal Powers are at work in this Scribling Age to fill this part of the World with Lies as it did another lately with Witches that about Forty Years ago there was one John Jones a Reformed as the Beetle called such as he Quaker viz. one that like G. K. F. B. T. C. and J. P. had left the Quakers and set up for himself which said Jones went Naked save only a Rope about him and if this be not the Story there is nothing of Truth in it but if this is the Story then Judge Reader what an ungodly Man is he to lay that to the Charge of the Quakers which they as much disowned as himself That another should say Thus saith the Lord Let the Man have his Rope again is a further Proof of the baseness of this Adversary for tho' there were such Expressions used by a Boy or Portar yet it was only to Ridicule the Immaginary Naked Man and both of them no more Quakers than S. Y. or this Libeller But who that Great Prophetess is in Summerset-shire that should say I 'll tell thee from the Lord Monmouth is as surely alive as any of us I know not but certain it is if the Quakers did pretend to such Revelations as these he have told of and this such a great Prophetess as he would Insinuate we must needs know her tho' he takes care we shall not from him but as an Effect of his lying Spirit I return it on him But he comes now to a particular Case viz. That in the Year 1694. at Bristol for his Story of 86. I take it to be the Fruit of his Scoffing Lying Spirit rather than any appearance of Truth he saith a Prophet pronounced that in a few Months that City should become a Pool of Water except it did Repent This was declared amongst a Croud of you Publisht in the Streets owned before the Mayor whose Courtesie to the silly Wretch others of you Congratulated Caressed the Man Honoured his Prophesie above the Bible Copied and hung it up in your Houses c. Now this falling within the Compass of my certain Knowledge made me the more willing to spend an Hour or two in perusing and for his Abuses reflecting on this Libeller for this I know to be a Lie in Fact as it is laid down by him Let our Memories be as bad as they will he will find them too good to let his Lies pass undetected but such as he had need of better than he seems to have but something he has got by the end as he thinks will Reproach the Quakers and out it goes without Fear or Wit Two Stories jumbled together with great Additions and downright Falshoods and were it not for that I should gratifie him too much I would relate the Truth of