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A57809 The Quakers refuge fixed upon the rock of ages, though the swelling waters dash never so violently to overturn it wherein is prov'd, that the narrative of Ralph James is an absolute lying-wonder, according to his own definition : and also, the great controversie between the people of God called Quakers, and others, about the holy spirit of God and the Scriptures, truly stated, and very briefly discoursed, as it is owned by the Quakers, and the truth cleared from the false suggestions and deceitful insinuatins of the anabaptists about the said controversie : in answer to a subtil pamphlet, lately published, intituled, The Quakers subterfuge or evasion overturned : also a few queries propounded unto Ralph James, and the author of the subterfuge &c. / by Robert Ruckhill ; to which is added another postscript in answer to some queries propounded in the said pamphlet, wherein many untruths are suggested ; but herein the truth is cleared, and the evasion and deceit of the Baptists made more fully manifest by John Whitehead. Ruckhill, Robert.; Whitehead, John, 1630-1696. 1673 (1673) Wing R2169; ESTC R21457 28,153 51

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that he would for advantage rather wilfully mistake our Principles then have a right Understanding of them And he hath further shewed his Dishonesty and Malice in that he would misinform others and prejudice them against the Truth it self by wresting my Words out of the Sence wherein they were spoken Wherefore that you may rightly understand this case I declare that the Words which were spoken by me were spoken in an Exclusive Sence and that upon the Occasion of T. G's Magnifying the Body of Christ equal with or above him for whom the Body was prepared whereupon I still say that the Christ or Son of God is not made up of that which is or was mortal and that nothing which was mortal was properly or strictly called Christ he neither understood my Words right nor would admit me to explain them till he had rashly condemned them as Heresie Which notwithstanding I still look upon the Words to be very true Words in that Sence that they were spoken in for I say still that the Body of Christ which was mortal excluding the Soul and Spirit was not nor could properly be called Christ or Man annointed because that the Immortal Soul and Spirit of man are the more Noble part of Man and therefore may Justly challenge the Prerogative to denominate for without Soul and Spirit a mortal Body neither is nor can truely be term'd Man no more can the mortal Body of Christ without the Soul Spirit and Life of Christ which is Immortal be term'd Christ which if you do but understand and mark well that although I said nothing which was mortal was called Christ but that Christ had once a mortal Body which dyed upon the Cross then may ye more easily judge whether it be possible forem or any other which Thomas Grantham hath a Mind to slander to escape the Scourge of his Tongue since he is so blindly rash upon no better Grounds to charge me both with grevious Heresie and denying the Body of Christ and that for no other Reason but because I distinguish betwixt Christ and the Body of Christ which was prepared for him to do his Fathers Will in Heb. 10. And the Eternal Word or Son of God which was glorified with the Father before the World began John 17. Who took upon him the Form of a Servant and in that prepared Body did his Fathers Will is more noble both in Glory and Dignity then either the Soul Spirit or Body of Man in as much as by and for him Man was made and by him only Redeemed and Restored Therefore may and ought he who was and is that true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World Joh. 1.9 to be held forth and preached as the only Lord and Saviour of Man-kind and the Manhood which through Mercy to us was taken into Union with this Eternal Power and God-head should not be divided from nor cryed up in Opposition to the Eternal Word or Son of God as they who only know Christ after the Flesh are too subject to do And of them is he who in his 3d Query renders me unfit to preach the Resurrection Ascension and second Coming of Christ because I could not own that he hath such a Body as he had imagined but did testifie of and have shewed unto People that Eternal Life which was with the Father as the Apostles did 1 John 1.1 2. by and in which Life Mortality was swallowed up after Christ had finished what the Father gave him to do on Earth Then he who came down from Heaven to bring Man to God ascended into Heaven to his Father and our Father at whose right Hand having accomplisht his Work he sitteth down and is glorified with that Glory which he had with the Father before the World began in a Body sutable to his Spirit consisting of heavenly Flesh and Bone of which Body neither T.G. the Author of these Queries nor Natural Philosophers in their Wisdom do comprehend the Dimensions and therefore would limit him in some thing who ascended that he might fill all things Eph. 4.10 and is not contained in any Created Being so as to be absent from other created Beings Ep. 2.20 21 22 23. and much less is he absent from his faithful Disciples and Followers who whilst on Earth were and are made to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Eph. 2.5 6. And that Christ hath such a Coelestial Body as I have here described I never denyed neither at Spilsby Sleeford nor else-where as Thomas Grantham with whom I have publickly Disputed in those Places slanderously reports I did but I am perswaded that he cannot bring one of these several Hundreds of People that heard us which is not byassed to his Judgment or influenced by him that will say I denyed Christ to have now any Body besides his Church though I have several times denyed T. G's Assertion wherein he hath affirmed That Christ hath now a Body of Flesh and Bones circumscript or limited in that Heaven which is above and out of every Man on Earth And perceiving that he stood conceited in his Fleshly Apprehension and Knowledge wherein he had conceived the Lord of Glory to be like unto Corruptible Man I asked him Since be denyed Christ to be in and with Believers whilst upon Earth where that Body was he spoke on and how big or what a one it was To which he answered in his haste That it was such a one as his consisting of Flesh and Bones and in yonder Heaven which is above pointing towards the Clouds to which I replyed Nay thy Flesh is sinful and corruptible and Rotteness shall enter into thy Bones neither can thy Body come in the doors being shut nor appear in another Form as Christ did whereupon he mended his Words and did except Sin and Corruption but still stood in that which discerns not the Lords Body but would limit it to a particular Place and out of every Man on Earth shewing his Ignorance both of the Kingdom of God which is within and of Christ within who is not a Spirit without a Body as Believers do experience who were and are true Members of his Heavenly Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Ep. 5.30 and these do eat Christs Flesh and drink his Blood and dwell in Christ and Christ in them John 6. and the Spirit and Body of Christ is not divided but wheresoever the Spirit and Life of Christ is it is in the Body of Christ and they which believe have Eternal Life abiding in them whereby they are quickned and joyned to the Heavenly Body of Christ and also supplied with Nourishment in him who is the Head of the Body the Fulness of him that filleth all in all But notwithstanding I have freely declared that which was and is my faith concerning the Body of Christ I perceive that T. G. hath very uncharitably resolved because he cannot discern the Lord s Body of which we speak to
were any thing at all he was most certainly an Anabaptist whereof T. R. in both his Books hath given evident Demonstration Upon the whole matter it 's worth remarking First That the Glory of the Anabaptist Churches is in its swift Declination toward the Western Horizon forasmuch as they are sai to fly to Signs and Lying Wonders to oppose the ●●th and to countenance their false Wayes and ●o●trines Secondly That the Anabaptists Cause in this hot Conflict between them and the ●●akers is now at the very utmost Crisis 〈…〉 this Champion who is mostly ingaged when the ●●se grows desperate is constrain'd in so eminent a Danger to make use of such poor Matter such pittifull shifts as are the Contents of this whole book now under tryal to the great Regret doubtless of their whole Party or such of them as have not yet sacrificed their Intellects to their Envy For it was foolishly boasted by divers Professors and others That the Book now under examination would be like Hercules 's Club or Goliah 's Spear in a word Unanswerable And this brings me to the very Heart of the great Controversie Whether the Holy Spirit or the Scriptures ought to have Priority The Controversie between the Anabaptists Independents together with other Professors the People of God called in Scorn Quakers concerning the Authority of the Holy Spirit in Judging or Discerning the Mind of God in the Holy Scriptures truly stated as owned by the Quakers WHether the first Pen-man of the Scriptures was Moses or Hermes or whether both these are not one or whether there are not many words contained in the Scriptures which were not spoken by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit whether some words were not spoken by the grand Impostor some by Wicked Men some by Wise Men ill applied some by Good Men ill expressed some by False Prophets and yet true some by True Prophets and yet false is not the Subject of my Argument at this time But such Scriptures and Prophecyes as have been written and prophesied by the Holy Men of God as they were moved by the Spirit of God treating of the Mystery of God in the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ and the Duty of Man in his Obedience to and Worship of the same God as his reasonable Service for the Gift of so great Salvation are the great Concerns now under our most serious Consideration The People of God scornfully called Quakers have unseignedly believed and often declared to the World That the Scriptures as above distinguished are a true Record and Declaration of the Love of God in the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ and also of the Duty of Man as before recited But they also believe and have declared to all the World That the Carnal Mind of Man being at Enmity with God and darkened by reason of Wicked Works cannot perceive nor discern the Mystery of God in the Scriptures declared and testified of For there is a Vail spread over the Hearts of all Men even in their Reading of the Scriptures so as they cannot see through the Letter unto the Mystery either in abolishing the old Covenant with its carnal Ordinances and Beggarly Elements or in introducing the new Covenant with its Spiritual Worship and Services and so being intricated and bewildered in the Letter cannot possibly attain unto the Knowledge of the Spiritual Mystery Now this most excellent Truth having by the Spirit of the Lord been opened and revealed to the Quakers they must of necessity be of this Faith viz. That without a Measure of the holy Spirit of God received and turned unto whereby the Vail is removed from the Heart no Man living can possibly discern or understand the great Mystery of Man's Salvation by Jesus Christ which was exhibited in Shaddow under the old but in lively Substance under the new Covenant although he had a Thousand Bibles in his House and every word of them at his Fingers ends So that upon this Consideration the People of God scornfully called Quakers do unanimously conclude and declare and testifie unto the whole World That the Holy Spirit of God is the only supream Judge Opener and Revealer of the Mind and Mystery of God and Duty of Man treated of in the Scriptures This oh ye Anabaptists and Independents and all other Opposers of this eternal Truth in the whole World this is the true State of the great Controversie betwixt the Quakers and you and if you will joyn issue with the Quakers in this Controversie you must do it as it is here stated at least in Substance for I am willing to give place to better words and order from whomsoever and you must lay aside all your prodigious Signs and lying Wonders and pretended Cures for these will not decide this great Controversie as ye vainly imagine And you must bring forth your strong Reasons and sound Arguments grounded upon plain Demonstrations of Truth and clear Evidence of Scripture and if the Truth be on your part you will be able to make it appear before wise understanding Men whoever your Opposers are and you will overcome us if you have the Truth for great is the Truth and will prevail and we must and will submit unto the Truth and to you But if the Truth appear on our part we in the Wisdom of God shall make it manifest the Truth will stand over your Heads and we will thresh you and winnow as the Chaff on the Threshing-Floor and the Wind of the Lord will blow you away with your Refuge of Lyes and your Nakedness will be discovered in the sight of all Men. Again This Author Subter pag. 5. falsly suggests to his too credulous Readers as if the Controversie depending between the Baptists Churches and the People called Quakers was touching the holy Scriptures or to express it more fully saith he The Authority of the Holy Ghost as he speaks in the Scriptures to try and judge the Spirits of Men which they term the Spirit of God Thus he But whether there be not a Lying Spirit however a Lying Tongue in the Mouth of this False Prophet let the Sober-minded judge And I here challenge him upon his Credit and Reputation with his own People either to produce in open view one clear Proof at least of any Declaration either by word or writing where any of the Quakers have termed the spirits of Men the Spirit of God or else let his stand opon record among his own People as a Lyar and a Slanderer to all Generations Again The Deceit of this Author further appears in his recital of the Narrative for the first Copy renders R. James and R. A. contending Whether the Spirit should try the Scripture or the Scripture the Spirit mark here is Spirit Spirit in the singular number as the Spirit of God is but one but in his recital Subter p. 7. he renders them contending Whether the Scriptures were to try the Spirits or the
Light of the holy Spirit then may a whole Nation wanting the Guidance of the holy Spirit be Idolaters also Here you see the Ground and Cause of Blindness and Idolatry is their Eyes not being opened by the holy Spirit to understand the Scriptures so the Argument holds true throughout all and the aforesaid Position is clearly proved as before was promised And now oh ye Anabaptists and Independents who affirm That the Scriptures are to try and judge of the holy Spirit come let me expostulate with you a little What Assurance can you give the Quakers or what Grounds or Encouragements to believe in case the Judicial Power were in your Hands that in your Tryal of the holy Spirit by the Scriptures as he appears in the Quakers or in whomsoever your proceedings will be more equal just and clear and your selves more free from Mistakes of him then the professing Jews were when by the same Rule they would try the same holy Spirit as it appeared in an immeasurable Measure in Jesus of Nazareth Shew us I pray you wherein you are better wiser juster clearer in your Principles and Judgments then they Do you account your selves the Church of God So did they Do you say you have his Commandments and Ordinances So said they Have you Anabaptists such a high Esteem of your Baptism as to account it the Way of Life to avoid from Hell beneath The like Esteem had they of their Fleshly Circumcision as to teach that without it Men could not be saved Have you the Scriptures and do you reckon them a Competent Judge of the Spirit of God So had they and in them thought they had Eternal Life and yet for all this they knew not the Messiah of whom the Scriptures testified but having most wickedly Betrayed Apprehended and Arraigned him before the Roman Tribunal methinks I hear the Deputy and them thus implead each other in the Case of the true Messiah Pilate What Accusation bring ye against this Man Jews If he were not a Malefactor we would not have delivered him unto thee Pilate Deceit lurks in generals what Evil hath he done Jews He perverts the Nation forbids to pay Tribute to Cesar saying himself is Christ a King In Design doutbless to usurp the Empire and assume Cesar's Revenue Pilate Away away for Shame What nothing but Lyes and Slanders I now perceive your Envy I find no Fault in him at all ●●le release him Jews Crucifie him crucifie him Pilate Why what Evil hath he done Jews He is a Blasphemer A horrible Blasphemer and he ought to dye for it Pilate Take ye him then and Crucifie him for I find no Fault in him Jews By our Law he should be Stoned to Death but ye Romans have taken away that Power it is not lawful for us to put any man to Death Pilate Say then what is his Blasphemy Jews He is but a Carpenter's Son we know his Pedegree and yet he made himself the Son of God and the Saviour of the World and that 's horrid Blasphemy Pilate Son of God! my Heart Trembles at that word ye obdurate Wretches how appears it that he ought to dye for this Jews We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye because he made himself the Son of God Pilate Produce your Law that I may see it Jews It is in the four and twentieth Chapter of Leviticus and the sixteenth Verse Pilate Read it verbatim Jews And he that Blasphemeth the Name of the Lord shall surely be put to Death all the Congregation shall Stone him to Death as well the Stranger as he that is born in the Land when he Blasphemeth the Name of the Lord let him be Slain And now ye Anabaptists and Independents and thou Author of the Subterfuge be ingenuous and tell the Quakers and the whole Nation truly Whether ye do believe that the Authority of the holy Spirit as he speaks in this precited Scripture did really intend the Murder of the Messiah as a Blasphemer yea or nay if nay as most certainly nay then tell us How it came to pass the Jews should so grosly mistake and misapply it and shew unto us and to all the World if you can what they wanted which might shew them the true Mind of the Lord in that place and in all other Prophesies which spake of the Messiah seeing you cannot deny but they had the Scripture and according to your deceitful way of wording it the Authority of the holy Spirit as he speaks in the Scriptures not onely read but expounded unto them every Sabbath Day If the Jews mistake arose from their Ignorance of the Authority and Mind of the holy Spirit as he spoke forth the Scriptures as sure enough it did which it could not have done had they receiv d the Spirit then behold the Jews also are found misunderstanding the Scriptures for want of the holy Spirit as well as my Opposite was and here 's one clear proof more come unlooked for of my former position viz. That a Man nay a whole Nation of Men may have the Scriptures in his or their Mother Tongue and yet be utterly ignorant of the Authority and Mind of the holy Spirit And therefore the matter standing thus ye are hereby required and obliged to produce some satisfactory and convincing Reason why the Quakers should expect more equal proceeding at your hands in the Judgment aforesaid in case you had the civil Power then our Lord Jesus Christ found at the Hands of the Jews seeing you have no more then they had to wit the Letter of the Scriptures to judge withal and that you have no more then they appears in this that you deny the holy Spirit as he appears in his Servants to be the Revealer of the Scriptures and supream judge of the Spirits and Doctrines of Men and if ye can produce no such convincing Reason as may give the Quakers reasonable acquiescence in this Concern forasmuch as they are verily perswaded that although you have the Scriptures you want the Guidance of the holy Spirit truly to discern them it lies upon you as a Work of absolute necessity ye Anabaptists and thou Author of this Subterfuge to exhibit unto the Quakers in the Sight of the whole Nation some pregnant Proof and infallible Demonstration that you are not deceitful Sophisters and cunning Jugglers in your doubtful and ambiguous Expressions and Amphibologies dispersed in sundry places of your Books and particularly in that called the Subterfuge as before is noted about the Scriptures the Spirits of Men and the holy Spirit as he speaks in the Scriptures c. which is corrupt and uncertain Language as you use it and it is apparent you do it not only of Ignorance but Wilfulness and your Deceits therein are made manifest unto all You are also oblieged and required to prove if you can positively and plainly to the Satisfaction of all Men that may doubt thereof that all Men whosoever that have the Scriptures have
also the Authority of the Holy Spirit as he speaketh in them And shew us also how it cometh to pass that Men mistake them notwithstanding And you must also prove That the Scriptures are indeed a Competent Judge of the Holy Spirit as he appeareth in his Servants And you must invalidate all whatsoever is here written and proved to the contrary And if you shall fail to do all this by clear Proofs and evident Demonstrations of Truth for Trifling and Impertinency will not serve your turn nor Lyes shall no longer be your Refuge then will your Vizards be taken off your Faces and your Refuge of Lyes will be swept away and in the sight of the Quakers whom you Despise and of the whole Nation you will appear to your great Shame and Contempt to be what indeed you are For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they knew him not nor yet the Voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath Day they have fulfilled them in condemning of him Acts 13.27 A few Queries to Ralph James and the Author of the Subterfuge Overturned c. by them to be Answered in Truth and Plainness I. WHether is our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Scriptures testifie to be the Light and Salvation of God to the Ends of the Earth the only true Way of Life on high to avoid from Hell beneath yea or nay If yea then whether to affirm Water-Baptism to be the Way of Life on high to avoid from Hell beneath be not abominable Idolatry at least if not Blasphemy II. Supposing Water-Baptism were the Appointment of God as other things of like signification in former Dispensations have been yet if the Ministers thereof should Idolatrously intrude it into the Place and Office of Christ our Saviour that is affirm it to be the Way of Life to avoid from Hell beneath whether such Idolatrous intrusion be not as signal a Pollution of the said Ordinance of Water-baptism as the like Abuse of the Ordinances of God Isa 1. did pollute and render them abominable unto the Lord If yea then whether it be not high time for all and every Man concerned therein to arise and depart thence as not being their Rest it being so filthily polluted III. Seeing the Latin Verb baptizo is synonimous with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to dip or plunge whether T. R. his calling your Water Baptism dipping in Water or your calling it the Way of Life on high to avoid from Hell beneath be the greater Abuse of the Way of the Lord and therein of God himself Answer plainly IV. Seeing it appears by the Scriptures that the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ wrought their Miracles Acts. 3.6 and cured Diseases by the Name of Jesus of Nazareth then Whether the Sons of Sceva their pretending to do the like Miracles by the same Name doth prove them to speak the very Language and Spirit of the Apostles yea or nay If nay as most certainly nay then with what Reason or Conscience canst thou affirm that R. Anderson in exhorting R. James to turn to the Light within spake the very Language and Spirit of the Quakers this Query is to the Author of the Subterfuge c. that he may clear himself from Deceit if he can V. Whether the Testimony which that Pythoness gave unto the Persons and Doctrine of the Apostle Paul and Sylas is not given as fully Acts 16. and at as high a Rate as any Testimony ye can pretend R. Anderson gave to the Persons or Doctrine of the Quakers And whether in such Testimony she appeared as a Proselite of the Christian Faith and as a Prophetess of the Christians yea or nay if nay then shew unto the Quakers and the whole Nation if you can why R. Anderson his testifying for the Persons and Way of the Quakers as ye pretend he did but prove it not should prove him a Quaker or appearing as one of their Prophets he being by your own Confession at that Time possessed with a Spirit of Delusion as she was then with a Spirit of Divination VI. Seeing R. James avers in his Narrative That R. Anderson pronounced him a Leper from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot and that the same Judgment as he said was fallen upon one of his Children Whether you are not very deceitfull and unworthy Persons thus to abuse the Quakers and the whole Nation with a Counterfeit and ●orged Story of such a horrid Leprosie sith in exchange thereof you are now at last glad to accept of a Simple Sore And if ye think to avoid the Horror of your Guilt and Shame with this Evasion He said so he said so charging the poor Man your own Member with a Lye Then Whither doth not this evidence to the whole Nation your implacable Envy and Malice against an Innocent People that durst with so great Confidence attempt to asperse and slander them only upon the false and single say so of such a Person as even your selves then judged to be a false Prophet and possessed with a Spirit of Delusion And if your inveterate Envy and Malice herein be manifest to the Nation as doubtless it is then let the Nation and the whole World judge whether R. James be not infected with a more dangerous Leprosie then ever Mirjam was and like to continue so without Repentance until his Dying Day VII It being evident to the Nation that R. Anderson was no Quaker his Child not leprous his Wife and Family not so diseased as you pretended nor your Church such Workers of Miracles as you boasted but your whole pretence a meer malicious Juggle and Imposture which yet you pretend to be an Eminent Hand of God! Such a Witness of God little less then a Miracle tending to the Honour of God Exaltation of his Wayes and Appointments Establishments of his People Decision of the great Controversie Strength to the weak Hands and feeble Knees of his poor People c. and then to conclude thus And the Lord was mercifully pleased to hear our poor Prayers for them and to restore them c. with such like seeming devout Words wherewith your Letters and Narrative are repleat All this considered it s queried whether the Quakers and the whole Nation may not without the least Breach of Charity safely conclude that ye Anabaptists and Independents who have been either Actors Contrivers Asserters of or Witnesses to this Mischievous piece of Pageantry are the most notorious Dissemblers with God and the World and the very'st Hypocrites that ever our Lord Jesus Christ pronounced Wo against Quit your selves if you can VIII Whether they that make no Conscience to be Jugglers Lyars Hypocrites proud Boasters and the like or they that discover detect and affirm them to be such are the great Offenders IX Whether they that call and are call'd Rabbi Rabbi do not break that express Command of Christ Mat. 23.8 10. yea or nay If
with us nor received our Doctrine nor acted by that Spirit which guides us as in that Query thou affirmest for if he had been conversant with us some of us at least should have known him but that we never did witness this Certificate from a Quarterly Meeting at Lincoln who certainly know all that are or have been of us From a General Meeting of the People of God call'd Quakers in the County of Lincoln the 26th Day of the 4th Moneth 1672. WHereas a Report is gone out of this County from Ralph James and other Persons which have alwayes had a Prejudice against the Truth and People of God call'd Quakers by which Report the Nation is Abused and those which are over-credulous made to believe a Lye viz. That Richard Anderson of Panton was a Quaker These are therefore to certifie that the said Richard Anderson did never frequent any of our Meetings nor did he ever joyn with us in Worship nor was he ever owned by us nor any of us so that they have not any just Ground to call him a Quaker And this Testimony we give forth to preserve the Simple-hearted from being prejudiced against Truth and from believing a Lye Given forth at a Quarterly Meeting held at Lincoln where some Friends from each Meeting in the County were present William Garland Abraham Morice William Everatt Joseph Richardson Augustin Smith John Winklep Samuel Hobman John Richardson Tho. Summers Rich. Baxter John Walcot Tho. Sowter John Mills Joseph Pope Thomas Wresle William Ashby William Hargate James Browne William Bowman Robert Browne Tho. Everatt Rich. Parnell Joseph Wilson And if Richard Anderson had received our Doctrine he had been Still and Quiet in the Light of God till his Heart had been cleansed from Ignorance Pride and Wickedness and that would have preserved him from that Shame and Dishonour which his own Folly and Madness and your Subtilty hath brought him to And if he had been led by the same Spirit that leads us it would not have let him use his Tongue to say The Lord saith when the Lord had not spoken to him but his own Imaginations in a groundless Imitation of the Scriptures which Imaginations he followed and therefore both the Spirit and Scriptures and we who are led thereby are clear from all the Evil he hath done and it lies at his and your Doors amongst whom he both before then and after walked for he had not any Demonstrable Character of being a Quaker as in Reproach they were first called nor may any be justly termed so but those that fear God and tremble at his Word who have believed in the True Light and live in God's Power being exercised in Obedience to his Law written in the Heart and in Self-denyal taking up the daily Cross to their own Wills and Wisdom and in Silence to that waits on God that they may worship in Spirit and walk after the Spirit of God by which they are Baptized into the Body of Christ which is his Church who receives them as living Members having the Savour of that Life which the Spirit has given them And no other way do we take Members into the Church but are constant in this as is visible to those that are conversant with us have the immortal Eye open'd But we shut not our Doors to hinder any from coming into our Congregations to observe our Order and hear our Testimony Yet as the Apostle said concerning a Jew I say concerning a Quaker He is not one that is one Outwardly in Shew only but he is one that is one Inwardly whose Baptism is that of the Spirit and whose Praise is not of Men but of God But that Richard Anderson was neither one Outwardly nor Inwardly is sufficiently made manifest by what hath been already said In a Postscript writ by this Author he seems to own the Light within but hath sufficiently shewed his Ignorance of that True Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World as also of its Power and Efficacy putting Darkness instead of Light and then tells of several things that are wholly beyond the Common Principle of Light Understanding or Judgment of Man which Light being of Man is indeed Darkness since the Fall and therefore the things of God belonging to Man's Eternal Peace are all so far beyond it that the Natural Man with his own Light Understanding or Judgment that he hath of himself as a Man perceives them not And therefore we diswade Men from following their own Spirit Understanding or Judgment and perswade them to receive and follow Christ Jesus that True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World that he may give them an Understanding that is True and a Judgment that is Sound And beyond him that was and is the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World there is nothing for by him was All Things made and whatsoever hath been known of God to Men he hath manifested or revealed it though at sundry Times and in divers Manners And though Men have the Scriptures which declare what was revealed to Men by that true Light and an Understanding or Judgment which is Natural yet thereby there is not any which truely know God or what he requires of them nor ever can they know him till they turn to that true Light which shines in their Hearts and is not of Man but of God who in his own Light or Son that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World manifests and reveals himself and his Will and Mind to Man being wholly sufficient and also present to teach man in this Age what belongs to their eternal Peace as he was in Ages past and also to give unto men positive Laws and Directions how they must Worship and Serve him being no more bound from altering or abolishing outward shaddowy things at first practised by some in the Church since the Coming of Chist then he was from altering Circumcision Sacrifices other Jewish Orders Observances which Moses some of the Prophets had said should continue sorever or throughout their Generations but may lay aside and draw his People from outward Observations or visible Signs and Shaddows of Things when he sees them Idolized or Abused or that the Substance of them is come as he did Circumcision Sacrifices and Pass-over And therefore this Author ought not to limit him to outward Ordinances and Shaddows from Christ's Coming to the End of the World no more then he was limited before Abraham's time or before the Coming of Christ nor ought he to accuse the Quakers as opposing themselves against things requir'd by the positive Laws because they cannot own his Water-Baptism Breaking of Bread in Imitation of the Apostles and primitive Christians no more then the professing Jews ought to have accus'd the Apostle Paul and his Fellow-Labourers in the Gospel for denying the positive Laws who by the Authority and Power of Christ in them cryed down their