grateful is the lowest degree of Reason to us wheresoever we find it that we can no more deny it or occasionally refuse our selves the use of it then the greatest since its being so does not unreason it or render it no Reason in it self though confessedly a less degree of Reason nor is it possible that the meanest Appearance of Reason can withstand the greatest since Reason alwayes acknowledgeth and owneth her self in what Degree soever she meets It is not Stature that makes a Man nor Magnitude a Tree or Stone but the Nature and Property of each And truly we are well contented with our weak Reason as he is pleased to call it we know it to be God's Light Grace and Spirit of Truth that since we gave our Minds intirely to be governed and exercised by it We have found that Mortification of Sin and Corruption that Renewing of Heavenly Divine Life that holy Courage and Patience and it has brought us to so good an Vnderstanding of the Mysteries of God's Eternal Kingdom and Assurance as we are faithful to the same of Everlasting Blessedness that 't is beyond the power of the ratling of these Leaves of Charge and Reproach to scare us from our Standing or beget the least Question in us concerning the certainty of this Pure Unchangeable Way of God in which we walk but is invisible to his vulterous Eye who so disdainfully writes against it I had some hopes he had done with Personal Contest at least against the Body but I find him still in his Reflections For whilst you look upon your selves as led by an infallible Spirit though it be indeed nothing but the Fancy of G. Fox or some other of your Teachers you must needs reject the clearest Light that God hath given to Men 〈◊〉 Angels when it opposes your Sentments Though he could scarce say any thing of us more disingenious and scurrilous rendring us such deluded Sots and very Iddeots as to captivate our own Understandings if he can think we had ever any to the Dreams and Fancies of a few illiterate men under an Apprehension of being led not by them but an Infalible Spirit Yet since in this one Expression lies wrapt up if not his great undervalue of an Infallible Spirit at least his Disbelief of any such thing as the Guide of men and his unworthy Reflection upon us in crediting any such Doctrine I am more then ordinarily engag'd to state and vindicate that one most necessary Doctrine viz. Whether God's holy and Infallible Spirit be the proper Rule of Faith Judge of Controversies and Guide of a Christian Life or any other thing this I reckon as the main Hing on which all turns and I now make it my Post by which in God's Strength I am resolved to stand firm in its Defence and that by Scripture and Reason hoping whatever uncharitable Thoughts he entertains of us that he is not so devoid of all sense of either as that they may not be used with advantage to him under his present Ignorance and Presumption 'T is true this deserves an intire Discourse of it self as that which above all other Subjects disputed on in the whole World deserves mans most weighty Consideration and if the Lord make way it may be by some or other more distinctly and at large hanâ—llâ—d another time in a perticular Tract however I shall state and briefly defend the Question I hope to present satisfaction The Question Stated Whether God's Holy and Unerring Spirit for I am so Charitable as to think he believes God's Spirit to be so is or should be the proper Judge of Truth Rule of Faith and Guide of Life among men especially under the Administration of the Blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or not I affirm it and proceed to prove it both by Scripture and Reason First Gen. 6. 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is Flesh yet his dayes shall be an Hundred and Twenty Years c. If God's Unerring Spirit has been wont to strive with men either to convince them of and convert them from the Evil of their Thoughts words and Deeds or else to provoke them yet more fully to do the Will of God so as to press on from one degree of Glory to another then Men have had an Unerring Spirit to be their Teacher and Judge and Rule and Guide of that Truth concerning that Faith and in that most holy Way which leads to Eternal Life But the Scripture proves the first Proposition That God's Spirit has frequently strove with men and for the Ends before-mentioned and consequently they have not been without an Holy Vnerring Spirit to Teach Judge Regulate and Guide them Secondly Neh. 9. 19 20. Yet thou in thy manifold Mercies forsookest them not in the Wilderness the Pillar of the Cloud departed not from them by Day to lead them in the Way neither the Pillar of Fire by Night to shew them Light and the Way wherein they should go Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them c. If under the Dispensation of the Law God gave his good Spirit to instruct his People which is to say that it should teach them rule them and guide them in whatever was necessary for them to know or do otherwise God's Spirit would have been lame and defective in his holy Instruction which far be it from any sober man to affirm then will it follow that much more should the same Eternal Spirit be poured out under the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel But all that acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scriptures must confess to God's Goodness to his People in the outward Wilderness in the free Gift of his Eternal Spirit therefore the Eternal Spirit was and is the Teacher Judge Rule and Guide of his People now besides that state was but figurative of the Mystical Travel of the true Church in the dayes of the Gospel and how is God so propitious now as then if he be not as a Pillar of Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night I mean Spiritually and Invisibly so to illuminate his People concerning the way he would have them to walk in Thirdly Job 32. 8. Prov. 2. 6. But there is a Spirit in man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Vnderstanding For the Lord giveth Wisdom out of his Mouth cometh Knowledge and Vnderstanding If the Spirit in man be not of man as the foregoing words shew and therefore is that divine Spirit by and from which comes the Inspiration of the Almighty and if the Understanding he mostly intended be of Divine and Eternal Matters as the whole Subject treated on in the preceeding and following Chapters as well as that in which the words are manifests then is it not from the strength of mans Reason Memory or utmost Creaturely Ability that his Knowledge of Religious and Heavenly Things comes but from the Revelation and Discovery of the
Inspiration of the Almighty And if by such Divine Inspirings it be that the Will of God comes to be understood then certainly must God's unerring Spirit be the Judge of what is God's Will from what is not and the Rule how and in what we ought to believe unto Salvation and that Guide which infallibly leads in the Way that is most acceptable with the Lord. Nothing can be more Natural then these Consequences Fourthly Psal 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If God's Unerring Spirit be so nigh and the sense of it so certain it must either be to reprove for Evil done or to inform uphold lead and preserve in reference to all Good Now in which of the two sences it shall be taken the Presence of God's Eternal Spirit and his being the Saints Instructor Judge Rule and Guide are evidently deduceable from the words Fifthly Psal 143. 10. Teach me to do thy Will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Vprightness The Question will be Whether it was David's intent and the scope of his desire that God should teach and lead him by his good Spirit or some other thing but methinks it is resolvable in the affirmative in two respects 1. In that David is so very frequent in his desire to the Lord for the Assistance Strength Teaching and Guidance of God's unerring Spirit otherwise declaring how that the Word was hid in his Heart and largly speaking of the Force of that Internal Law Word and Spirit of God which plentifully shews how much he was an Enthusiast and Quaker in the sense this man esteems us most hetrodox 2. The very words imply the thing we urge them for and can import no other sence viz. That God would please to teach him to do his Will and lead him into the Land of Vprightness by his good Spirit else what did that Claws do there the Unerring Spirit being that by which God vouchsafes to discover his Divine Knowledge and convey his most Spiritual Succor and Consolation to his People and consequently his Saints have ever known but do more especially under the Gospel injoy an infallible Judge Rule and Guide in and about Faith and Worship Sixthly Isa 30. 1. Wo to the Rebellious Children saith the Lord that take Counsel but not of me and that cover with a Covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin From whence I plainly argue thus If they are Rebellious against God and add sin to sin who take not Counsel of him and are not covered with his Holy Unerring Spirit that leads into all Truth Innocence Patience Faith Hope Charity and every good Word and Work Then 1. God's Children have an Immediate Councellor and need not another and are covered or encompast about by the infallible Spirit of God to all Soundness of Mind and Holiness of Life And 2. They must be Heinous Offenders and obstinately Rebellious and Adders of sin to sin with a witness that not only neglect or refuse to be so counsel'd and cover'd but dispute fervently against it as a meer Whimsie and Effect of an Ignorant Erronious spirit for besides that such deprive themselves and others of the unspeakable benefit that comes thereby they are most ingrateful to God and do certainly incur his fierce Wrath in their so wicked requital of him for his Heavenly Gift Seventhly Isa 59. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed's Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever I think it is granted by all that own the Christian Religion that this remarkable place refers to Christ the true Seed and Heir of promise who bruiseth the Head of the Serpent in whom alone all Nations of them that believe come to obtain the Blessing But whether it will be allowed or another Interpretation allotted as that the Promise was to the Church to be sure here is enough to maintain our Position viz. That God in the dayes of the Gospel more particularly has given his good Spirit for an Instructer Judge Rule and Guide in all that concerns the Eternal Well-being of the Souls of Believers as I proceed to prove If that very same Eternal Holy and unerring Spirit which God poured out upon his only begotten Son be in a way of succession ordained to continue with and upon all the Faithful his Seed and Seed's Seed begotten unto a lively Hope by the raising of Christ Jesus from the dead and so become Members of his own Glorious Body then are not the Children of God destitute of his Vnerring Spirit not left to their own frail and fallible Judgments to determine of what is Right or Wrong what Men should believe and what not how they should walk and how not But so gratious is the Promise and so certain is the performance as we livingly witness against all the dry cavelling Letter-mâ—ngers in the World who Quarrel about the holy-mens words and are Strangers to the Convictions Judgments Tryals Tribulations Temptations and Travels they underwent in order to that knowledge they had and which frets their serpentine natures whose vulterous Eye would in its unregenerate state of Worldly Wisdom that knows not God fain without the Death of the Cross creep into the knowledge of the mystery of the Resurrection which state alone knows the things that are above at the Right-hand of God Therefore I conclude That God's Unerring Spirit under the Gospel does attend assist direct and finally establish his Children in the Way of Truth and that his so doing is but the Answer or Accomplishment of the most eminent Prophesies referring to the Transcendent Glory of the last Ages of the Church Eighthly Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them Behold a most pregnant Instance in the express Language of the Holy Ghost brought to the proof of our Assertion that with reverence we would say it scarcely could it have been more exactly and emphatically worded as I proceed to shew 1. That this Passage has a relation to the Times of Reformation or Coming of the Messiah and Dayes of the Gospel Covenant read the whole Chapter I know not that it was ever doubted or otherwise taken by any no not the very Rabbies themselves who from such places have observed the coming of a Messiah and Glorious times that would ensue 2. That if it be granted then the Vnerring Spirit of God was to be placed within the Hearts and Consciences of his People and consequently they could not be properly and truly under the new Covenant and be without it since the having of that Eternal Spirit for the Ends and
from Falshood the Rule of what ought to be received and embraced and the Guide of Life be the Anointing which none denies that I know of to be the Spirit of God then both the only way to be taught all things necessary to be believed and performed is the Anointing and that Anointing is in Believers respectively but the Scripture so asserts And consequently the right Christian is not without that Infallible Spirit to teach and lead him into all Truth 1 John 3. 24. And he that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us If the Union betwixt Christ and his Children be that they dwell in him and he in them and that they thereby know it by the Spirit that he hath given them which implies that they had the Unerring Spirit of Christ then true Believers are not without Christ and his Spirit dwelling in them to Guide Rule and Instruct them in all things necessary to Eternal Life and Salvation He that denyes the first denyes the Scripture and he that rejects the second Proposition had as good deny that Day is an Effect of Light Jude 19 20. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost c. If such as have not the Spirit are sensual then because the true Children of God are not sensual it follows that they have the Spirit and that those who have it not are not the Children of God because such are sensual This the Apostle further manifests to be his mind because leaving the sensualists he addresses himself to the Sanctified of God exhorting them To build up one another on their most holy Faith Praying in the Holy Ghost which shews that they performed their Worship to God in the Motion of the Eternal Spirit and consequently they could not be destitute of an Unerring Spirit in what concerned them either towards God or Men. Thus have I briefly run through the Scriptures of Truth and doubt not but I have made it appear That God has afforded his People in all Ages such a measure of his Eternal Spirit as hath been sufficient to Inform Rule and Guide them infallibly in and about those things which are absolutely necessary to be known or done unto Eternal Life It remains That I evidence the Truth of my Assertion by Reason also which I shall endeavour with what convenient brevity I can That Christian Men have an Infallible Principle to Judge Rule and Guide them I prove by REASON First I Shall take it for granted That no man whom either Education or Conviction gives to believe there is a God can be so unreasonable as to tâ—ink That any man may be farther able to understand what this God is and his Divine Pleasure concerning him then the same is discovered to him by some external or internal Operation from the same infinite Beeing this then must either be by the visible Creation or that invisible Taste or Rellish the Soul has by vertue of the divine Touches Influences and Discoveries that the Almighty Invisible God is pleased to approach his Creatures by as the next clearest way to communicate unto them the knowledge of himself Secondly And as I know not any who professeth Religion that makes the least scruple of this so how is it possible that such Discoveries as God himself is pleased to make should be fallible or subject to any Defect in themselves for were that admitted as must be upon the Principles of our Adversary then must we conclude an Imperfect Knowledge nay an uncertain not to say Erronious Knowledge of and Faith in God to be from God's own defective Manifestations of himself which however truly deduced from his Positions is a most Vnworthy and False Reflection upon the Mercy and Goodness of God Thirdly There is an absolute necessity That what it is convenient for man to know should be certainly and infallibly discovered to him because of that great Corruption Idolatry and Superstition which through that misty and uncertain Prospect they say man has of the Divine Will he may be subject to fall into and like the vain Worshippers of old conceit an Ape Serpent or Crockedell to be a Deity or some other Beeings or Fancies though less gross yet too gross for a Christian man Fourthly Upon our Adversary's Principles there can be no assured Ground of Comfort for when a man shall think he hath workt out his Salvation in the Way he Conceives most acceptable with God perhaps he hath followed an Erronious Judgment and Unsubject Affection and when Repentance may be too late he is to be fob'd off with such an Award as this You had no Infallible Knowledge and having lived in an Erronious sense of your own you must inherit the Displeasure that follows thereby making well or ill believing or doing a meer Lottery or doing of things by Chance and not from any certain knowledge in themselves of what God required of them A Conceit worthy to be disdained by every sober man Fifthly And were I as our Adversary I would never beat my Brain about what is true or false since upon his Principles when Truth meets me I know her not from Error and after I should have writ Volums I am as certain of the Truth of what I oppose as of what I assert so that the Quakers may be in the right for ought he knows nor have they any certain grounds from him on which to alter or believe the contrary Sixthly Nor does this Opinion of our Adversary that there is no such thing as man's being now led by an infallible Spirit end there for it rendereth the Almighty more injust then the worst of men since first he seems to offer men the clearest Discoveries of so much of his Will as he requires them to live conformable unto yet means nothing less by leaving Mankind to labour under the perplexity of an uncertain Knowledge And secondly Concludes him notwithstanding under the greatest certainty of eternal Punishment Methinks then If these things seem unreasonable though the genuine Effects of a fallible Guide our Adversary should by this time think it fit to allow us 1. That God cannot be known but by the Discoveries he makes of himself through his Eternal Power and Spirit unto Mankind 2. That though such Discoveries may be imperfect in Degree yet not in kind 3. That such Revelation Discovery or Instruction is infallibly true and that there is nothing wanting on God's part to accommodate man with a Spiritual Certain Infallible Discovery and Knowledge of Almighty God his Creator and therefore man has to rectifie and assist his fallible Judgement an Vnerring Certain Infallible Spirit Power or Principle which as man listens unto it and follows it his Vnderstanding becomes illuminated his Reason purified and a sound Judgment restored and in all things is
he shall abide with you that is all that shall suceed you in the Faith forever As in his Comment on the 28th Chapter of Matthew upon these words I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World And though I shall now shortly part with you yet I will by sending the Spirit upon you to lead you into all Truth and by my perpetual Presence and Assistance afforded you and by that Authority that I have received of my Father and now commit unto you John 20. 21 22. continue with you and your Successors unto the End of the World Now if we read that Scripture he quotes as an Interpretation of what he understands by Christ's being with them and their Successors to the end of the World we shall find it to be this Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost What can be fuller then that in his apprehension not only the Apostles but their Successors in the Faith were to have continued unto them the perpetual Presence and Assistance of the Holy Ghost And sayes no mean Protestant upon the Place and very truly It is by the Spirit only that men who do not profit under outward means will be enabled to profit who when he cometh reveals Truths clearly and bears them in with Life and Power upon the Heart and doth renew mens spirits to embrace and submit to them And on the 14th Chapter thus The Spirit of God in Believers is not only a Comforter to apply and bear in the Consolations of God purchased by Christ upon their Hearts but is their Advocate also who pleads their Cause with God by furnishing them with Prayers and Groans that cannot be uttered I shall now produce the sense of several Persons so great in the Socinian way conformable to what has been asserted concerning the Holy Spirit that one would think our Adversary ought to be concluded by it And the first shall be Socinus himself who in his explication of the 1st verse of the 8th Chapter to the Romans speaks in short thus Neque enim jam carni sed spiritui obsequuntur spiritus namque vitalis imperium cui et ego omnes qui Christi sunt subduntur nos a jugo peccati mortis assernit For neither do they now follow or live after the Flesh but the Spirit for the Power of the living Spirit to which both I and all who are Christ's are subdued hath freed us from the Yoak of Sin and Death Slichtingius who in his Comment upon the Passage already mentioned especially that part He shall lead you into all Truth gives us his mind thus Quando autem veniet ille nempe Paracletus spiritus ille veritatis ducet vos nempe interna illuminatione in omnem veritatem nempe ad salutem aeternam pertinentem ita ut omnia sciatis intelligatis quae vera sunt ad salutem pertinent That is When the Paraclet to wit the Spirit of Truth shall come by his internal Illumination or inward Enlightening he will lead into all Truth and to the Knowledge and Vnderstanding of all those things which are true and necessary and do pertain to Eternal Life Now since all are concerned in the End namely Eternal Life methinks it is most reasonable that all should be in a share in the means to it I mean the Teachings and Guidings of that Vnerring Spirit Thus much for this place I will instance one place more and the thoughts of these men upon it I mean this last cited and one not less Famous in the same way Crellius in his Comment upon the Romans Chap. 8. vers 14 15. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God for ye have not received the spirit of Bondage c. sayes Etenim quotquot spiritui illi divino se regendos tradunt ejusque ductum sequuntur quemadmodum sane faciunt ij qui ejus ope carnis opera in se perimunt eque non admittunt illi Dei ipsius sunt Filij qui quemadmodum jam naturae ipsius sunt quodammodo participes ejusque similes Ita etiam vicissim a 〈◊〉 â—iliorum loco habentur ab eoque sunt adoptâ—ti in Filiorum jus adsâ—iti Eos autem qui a Deo instar Filiorum diliguntur vitae sempiternae fore participes quanquam per se unicuique videtur patere mox tamen planum faciam Certainly then our Adversary if he hath any regard for Crellius will not oppose himself to the necessity of Christians being accompanied by an infallible Spirit when this Author plainly tells us That without that Spirit of God and the Operation of it to a Regeneration of Soul there is no being a true Child of God and Heir to the possession of Glory as he further speaks upon the 17th verse Slichtingius gives us the same Interpretation differing only in the Expression sayes he Probant illos victuros esse si spiritu actiones corporis mortificent Again Spiritu Dei agi ferri impelli regi spiritu actiones corporis perimere They prove themselves to be Conquerors if by the Spirit they mortifie the Deeds of the Body Again To be acted led moved perswaded governed ruled and directed and to overthrow and destroy the Works of the Flesh by the Spirit of God this is to be a true Child of God Crellius is most express upon the 12th verse of the 2d chapter of Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians Sed spiritum qui est ex Deo id est qui ex Deo proficiscitur seu derivatur in homines ideoque Dei Spiritus merito vocatur But the Spirit which is of God that is which proceedeth from God or is derived from God into men it is therefore deservedly called the Spirit of God Crellius upon that remarkable Passage of the same Apostle and in the same Chapter But the spiritual man judgeth all things c. speaks thus Opponit animali homini spiritualem Spiritualis autem homo ille est qui non soluâ— spiritu Dei praeditus est sed etiam ejus ductum sequitur a spiritu ipso totus pendet Sayes he The Apostle opposeth the Spiritual to the Natural man that is the spiritual man who is not only endued with God's Spirit but is also under the Spirit 's Conduct and wholy depends upon it What man speaks more pathetically for inspiration then Crellius doth in whom out Adversary pretends to believe Nor is Slichtingius much behind him who on the same place gives us his mind thus Spiritualis autem id est homo divino spiritu non tantum praeditus sed illi etiam totus deditus But the Spiritual man that is saith he not only the man who is adorned and over-seen as by his good Angel by the holy Spirit but who
Purposes afore-mentioned is the very Badge Condition and Mark of the New and Last Covenant 3. It seems to be the means under the Gospel by which God causes his Children to keep his Statutes c. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them To conclude to speak strictly If in the dayes of the second Covenant which began from Christ's visible Appearance God put his Spirit within his People as saith the Apostle to the Hebrews and that it was thereby he did and doth cause them to walk in his Statutes and keep his Judgments then God's Children are not without an Infallible Teacher and Leader in the Things that appertain to their Eternal Salvation But we plainly see and read from the very Letter of the Scriptures that God gives his Spirit or Light within to Judge Lead and Guide and consequently the opposit Doctrine is both false and very pernicious I might further argue thus That if God's Unerring Spirit only enables men to walk in his Statutes and keep his Judgments to do them then since all are required to walk therein none are exempted from a sufficient measure of that Vnerring Spirit in order to it Much might be argued hereon but this shall suffice Ninthly Joel 2. 28 29. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie your Old Men shall dream Dreams your Young Men shall see Visions And also upon the Servants and upon the Hand-maids in those dayes will I pour out my Spirit That this is generally believed and frequently quoted as a Proof of Gospel-Times is well known to most who are inquisitive after Matters of Religion and how hard it bears upon the Anti-spiritual Opinion of our cavelling Adversary though very evident yet we shall further proceed to shew 1. Here is God's Royal Engagement to effuse or pour forth of his blessed Spirit in the dayes of the New Covenant 2. Here is on whom it is to be poured forth exprest in two words ALL FLESH in more words Young and Old Men and Women Masters Mistresses and Servants Mark the Universality of God's Mercy and Grace Now from hence I argue If God's Unerring Spirit be to be poured out on all under the New Covenant and that this is the time thereof then has God poured out of his Vnerring Spirit as aforesaid that the Spirit is to be poured out under the Administration of the Gospel the Text proves that this is the Time he himself confesses pag. 1 12 13 45. therefore the Conclusion is undeniable viz. That God has poured forth of his Holy and Unerring Spirit Again If the Spirit of God is that without which none can obtain Prophesie and Vision and that Prophesie and Vision are Christian-Church Gifts then since the Church of Christ is not to be without Prophesies and Vision to the End of the World it follows she cannot be without an infallible Spirit to the end of the World Or thus If without having the Spirit none can have Prophesie and Vision and that Prophesie and Vision are both to be and to continue in Christ's Church universally then it will naturally follow that she cannot be without that Vnerring Spirit and that such as are cannot in that state be Members of the true Church then consequently Hereticks as concerning the true Faith Tenthly Hag. 2. 5. According to the Word that I Covenanted with you when yee came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth among you fear not This place doth very emphatically prove my Assertion concerning the Judgship and Guidance of God's Spirit two things seem clear 1. That it was a part of God's Old Covenant to wit That his Spirit should remain amongst them 2. That the Spirit 's so remaining was to some eminent Service for said the Lord Fear not as much as to say don't faint in your Minds concerning the Work you have to do neither be ye filled with Doubts or Scruples who shall inform us who direct us or we want a Leader in this difficult matter some one to remove our Objections and Fears and to preside or be as Judge among us how to order and regulate us to the doing of the Service expected from us for thus saith the Lord My Spirit remains among you fear not He is sufficient for you He shall teach and counsel you repair to Him advise with him and you shall be supplied with all things necessary for you Don't rebel against my Good Spirit and you are safe it shall be well with you In short If it was a Condition of the Old Covenant That God should accompany his then Children with the Assistance and Presence of his good Spirit and accordingly he testified by his Prophet That his holy Spirit remained among them then much more reasonable it is to believe that the Presence of that Eternal Spirit should continually accompany his Children under the New and Last Testament The first part the Place proves the second is made good by the plain import of the following Prophetick verses where he saith I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with Glory and the Glory of this latter House shall be greater then of the former saith the Lord of Hosts How then can it possibly be That God's Evangelical House and Tabernacle should be a dry empty barren erronious man alwayes enquiring but never come to the infallible Knowledge of the only True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent whom to know by the Revelation of the Eternal Spirit is Life Everlasting Nay who so great who so pernicious Enemies to the transcendent Glory of the latter House and Temple of God as the cavelling Anti-spiritual Men of our Age who are so angry with those that own a Conviction Faith and Worship grounded upon an Infallible Inspiration that their Rage leads them because they feel it not to the utter denying of any such things but I will assure them they shall yet grope in the dark till they come into the daily obedience of the Light and there rest contented to know only as they experience and not from a ravening comprehending Brain that would in its unregenerated state grasp at the clear Mysteries of the Kingdom into which fleshly Comprehensions and Notions can never enter but all must be as unlearned from their first Birth Education and traditional read Knowledge as he is unmanned that is again become a little Child before the Secrets of God's Work come to be made known therefore said our Lord Jesus Christ I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Prudent and revealed them unto Babes Eleaventhly John 3. 5. Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God This most
deniable by such as own the Divine Truths contained in those Writings Nor is the dint of this to be avoided by saying That these Promises were only to the Apostles and no body denies them to have had all this for if we are to walk as having them for our Examples we are to have the like Sufficiency and Guide Nor does Christ leave the matter there for in his most solemn Prayer to his Father he thus speaks Neither Pray I for these alone but for all them that shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they all may be one in us which how it is possible for those who then believed and us of after Generations to be without being born of and baptized and drunk into the same one Eternal Spirit I know not to believe neither can any man that gives himself the use of his own Understanding Thirteenth Rom. 8. 1 9 14. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit but you are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God 1. If to be brought and kept out of Condemnation men must walk according to the Leadings and Guidings of the Spirit of God and that it is a state unto which Christian men should come then are they not without God's Infallible Spirit to lead and direct them in what Way they ought to walk and consequently the contrary Opinion is perniciously false since such must needs live ever under Condemnation who are so far from walking after the Leadings of God's unerring Spirit that they deny men to have any such thing Again 2. If to have the Spirit of Christ dwelling that is ruling in us be to live no more after the Flesh and not to have that infallible Spirit of Christ ruling in us be to be none of Christ's then both Christian men should not be without Christ's Spirit dwelling in them and such as are without that Spirit are none of Christ's But we plainly see that the Apostle asserts That every man that walks not after the Flesh has that Spirit dwelling in him and is guided thereby and that such as have not the holy Spirit of Christ are none of Christ's therefore it follows That Christian men are led by an Infallible Spirit But 3. If as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God as saith the Apostle then both God's Children are led by an Infallible Spirit and such as are not we utterly deny to have any part or portion in Him notwithstanding their Praying Preaching Writing Reading and Disputing but the plain unaltered words of Scripture testifie that both God has given his good Spirit to lead men into that holy Life Nature and Conversation by which they truly become his Image and Children and that such and we may say only such are his own begotten Children and Heirs of Eternal Glory Fourteenth 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12 14 15. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit teacheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the Things of God know no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the Things that are freely given to us of God 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 discâ—â—ued But he that is Spiritual judgeth or discerneth all things yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man Methinks the bare recital of these pathetical Sayings of the holy Ghost on the matter in controversie might be sufficient Proof for the affirmative of the Question did not our Adversary under all his Pretences of honouring the Scriptures either implicitly deny them their just Authority or by false Glosses disguise and pervert them to his sinister Perswasions and so I proceed as before to offer my Arguments upon them 1. If the Blessed Things which God hath prepared for them that love him are not revealable but by his Spirit and were then thereby revealed as says the Scripture quoted and contex then since there were those at that time who loved God and that there be many now who love God it will Naturally follow That both than and now the Things that God has laid up for such both then were and now are revealed by His Eternal Spirit and consequently God's People are not without a familiar Communion with the Holy Spirit of God 2. If the spirit of a man or humane intelligent spirit be that by which man comes to an understanding of those things that strictly and properly concern him in an humane capacity and that the Spirit of God is that only by which man comes to know the Things of God because the Things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God then it is utterly Impossible for our Adversary himself or any else to obtain the Knowledge of the things of God or His Kingdom but by the pure unmixt Revelation of God's Eternal Spirit from all the Comprehensions Conceivings or Imaginations of mans utmost strength or science For as saith the Apostle the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 3. If the Knowledge of those things that are fecely given of God is only to be had from the Revelation of his holy Spirit then since in every Age from the most primitive Times it has behoved every Christian man to understand those Good and Heavenly Things it follows That it has behoved them and still does all to wait for the Knowledge and Injoyment of those Blessed Advantages which only are revealed by the Eternal Spirit And is not that Science infallible which the Spirit of this World ever was and will be a Stranger too under all its disguised Shews of Religious Worship with which it has deceitfully adorned it self in a way of Scorn of and Opposition to the most Spiritual Appearances of God making good the Apostle's saying For they are but Foolishness unto them To conclude 4. If the Spiritual Man or that Man in whom dwelleth the Spirit of God and who is led by it discerneth and judgeth all things and is not judged or cannot be seen or discerned he being in the Light and the natural man in the dark then is or should God's Holy Spirit be the right Judge Leader and Guide of all because it alone gives true Discerning sound Judgment and leads in the Path of Life Eternal for it searcheth the deep
is also rendered or yielded forever to his Government Dijudicat quidem omnia id est omnia quae dicuntur cognoscit qualia sint an divina sint an prophana de omnibus judicandi habet facultatem Judgeth all things that is sayes Slichtingius He measureth and knoweth all things that are spoken of what sort soever they may be whether they be Divine or Prophane because he has the Faculty or Gift of right Judgment concerning all things Thus far Slichtingius concerning this place I shall mention one more of this kind and then I shall conclude Crellius upon that passage to the Gallatians God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts further observes Quia in cordibus hominum vim suam exerat Again Spiritus istius operationis est ut nos ex paterno Dei in nos amore certos reddat filialem erga eum fiduciam nobis ingeneret What can we desire beyond this against our Adversary in this Point to prove that the primitive Socinians as they are called believed God to have given and still to give his good Spirit unto Believers as without which they could not neither can be Children of God It is God's displaying his Power in the Hearts of men and it is by the Operation of his Spirit that he makes us acquainted with his Fatherly Love to us who begets in us a filial or Son-like Faithfulness towards him for us Slichtingius on that notable Saying of the Apostle John in his first Epistle and second Chapter But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you commenteth Unctio pro eo quo facta est unctio id est prooleo coelesti qui spiritus est sanctus Again Hic enim erat spiritus istius sancti effectus qui eo fine dabatur ut esset internus doctor veritatis in omnem deduceret veritatem Again Unctio id est spiritus sanctus vos de omnibus docet nempe ad salutem pertinentibus In English thus Vnotion stands for Heavenly Oyl that is the Holy Ghost or Spirit And to this End was the Holy Spirit given that it might become an internal Doctor or Teacher of Truth and lead into all Truth Again The Unction is the Holy Ghost which teaches you all things to wit what pertains to Eternal Salvation Certainly either our Adversary ought to relinquish his great Opinion of these men or else conclude that Enthusiasm or spiritual Motions Revelations Teachings Rulings and Guidings are not things absurd fantastical or inconsistant with Christianity but most agreeable with and suitable to the Nature of it as that without which no man can possibly be a right Christian But neither is Crellius of this mind in his Commentaries only where the weight of Scripture tends him to these Interpretations but in his Book of One God the Father he frequently takes occasion to declare himself I think most plainly I wish he had been as sound and clear in his Understanding of all other Points The Holy Spirit is the Power or Efficacy of God namely that we may explain it which proceedeth from God and issuing unto men doth sanctifie and Consecrate them and produce various and admirable Effects in them which Power and Efficacy of God they are wont to call Divine Inspiration Again That the Holy spirit is given to men by God and that men obtain receive and have him from God by Prayers as numberless places of the holy Scripture shew out of which it is sufficient to have looked into but these few Luke 11. 13. John 7. 39. 14. 16 17. a place by me quoted to the same purpose Acts 5. 32. 15. 8. Cor. 6. 19. By the Holy Spirit in these places is understood Some Divine and Holy Inspiration or some Power flowing from God which is as it were breathed into man Again The Holy Spirit iâ— properly given unto men and not Metonymically nor Metolepsically that is the Gift of the holy Ghost is simply and plainly to be taken as exprest which signification sayes Crellius was not unknown even to the Gentiles themselves although in the mean time they did most grievously 〈◊〉 in the thing taking a false Inspiration for a true one a Davilish for a Divine It would be tedious to instance a fourth part of what he argumentatively writes on this only I will produce a few of those Scriptures which he so understands and applies 2 Cor. 1. 22. 5. 5. Ephes 1. 14. here a Pledge and Earnest are mentioned Neâ—â— sayes he all those places where the Holy Spirit is said to be poured out on men as Isae 44. 3. Joel by us cited chap. 2. 28 29. Zachariah 12. 10. Tit. 3. 6. where sayes he men are said to be baptized in or with it again agree to it that of Christ who in John inviting men to the participation of so excellent a Gift thus saith If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Understand it sayes Crellius of that Living Water which it is manifest is the Holy Spirit Let those places be added says he in which Christ himself is said to be anointed or others are signified to be anointed with the Holy Spirit John 7. 37. Isa 61. 1. Luke 4. 18. Acts 8. 38. Heb. 1. 9. Psal 51. 8. 2 Cor. 1. 1 John 2. 20 21 27. He proceeds to several Arguments upon divers other Scripture-Heads as all Scriptures touching divine Participation not quenching the Spirit the Holy Spirit being sent The Spirit searcheth all things c. But above all I shall conclude his whole Discourse with this one Expression viz. In this we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us his Spirit which we have expressed is both perfect and plainly expresseth the thing given and such indeed as may demonstrate most clearly that God dwells in us in some most singular and divine manner and we in him and that there is a most streight Bond of Love and Conjunction betwixt us and him for how could we be more streightly joyned with him or he with us then when he hath imparted to us of his Holy Spirit Curcellius shall conclude these Testimonies Nec enim desinent fideles esse Templum spiritus sancti nimirum quia Deus in ipsis per spiritum suum habitaret That is Neither do the Faithful cease to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost why because God by his Spirit dwells in them Thus much for the first part of this Discourse I shall now apply my self to the Second which concerns a Vindication of George Fox and his Citation of Scripture from the Reproach and Unworthy dealing of our Adversary A VINDICATION OF George Fox And the TRUTH by him Vindicated Particularly his Quotation of Scripture from the Calumny and Cavil of this LIBELLER WE shall say nothing here of the Disingenuity of the Man
Head then Flesh nay it can better dispâ—nse with the loss of much Flesh and many Bones then the Head for if that be absent the Body quickly dyes Christ is the Head Root and Life of his Church without which she can never live one Comfortable Day Besides it contradicts positive Scripture I will not leave you Comfortless I will come to you I will be with you to the End of the World because I live you live also He that is with you shall be in you c. Fifteenth G. F. and the Apostle said The deep Things of God was revealed by the Spirit of God But the Apostle saith our Adversary speaketh not so But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep Things of God Let all Sober People judge whether this man does not groundlesly cavil at us For if God reveals his deep Things by his Spirit then does the Spirit give unto us the Revelation of the deep Things of God Could he blush he might be ashamed to shew himself such a frivolous Busi-body Sixteenth G. F. And so who is in Christ is a New Creature old things pass away Our Adversary The Apostle thus Therefore if any be in Christ he is a New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become New 2 Cor. 15. 17. The Apostle speaks of the New Creation as done G. F. as a thing doing but with great Patience for a little would be tired I Answer Where old things are done away and all things become new there the New Creation is done But in such as he that believes the Church of Christ to be spotted wrinkled c all things are far from being made new since old things are not past away and in such there can be no New Creation as yet Seventeenth G. F. For it is the savour of Death to the Death and Life to the Life The Apostle saith our Adversary thus To the one the savour of Death unto Death to the other the savour of Life unto Life Thus that he may be true to his Way he undertakes the Confutation of G. F. and Proof of him to be an Impostor the Difference betwixt the Apostle's saying and G. F's citation is imputting the before Death and Life which is the same in Sence and Intention But again Eighteenth The Scripture quoted by our Adversary thus Of this sort are they which CREEP into Houses and lead captive silly Women laden with Sins and led away with divers Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth But G. F saith Of such as have got the words c. who are Reprohates concerning the Faith which crept into Houses before the Apostles decease which have kept alwayes learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth 〈◊〉 led away with divers Lusts Very well and what 's the Error or Perversion here Why the Apostle does not attribute to these False Teachers that they kept People alwayes learning but they led captive such as were so And what then therefore is it not true in the sence in which G. F. quotes it What wrong is there done to the Text or such Teachers either For who knows not that false Teachers do keep People alwayes learning but never bring them to the Knowledge of the Truth And certainly they cannot be false Teachers that are not led away of divers Lusts therefore they are both led away of divers Lusts and they lead others too But it is worth our notice That he who has so frequently and with such Derision reflected upon G. F's Syntax and false English is so far from being unblamable himself as to make that Elegant Apostle guilty for in the Epistle it is They which Creep in his Quotation They which CREEPS But we delight not to spend our time so unprofitably such are his Contests about the Hebrew Greek and Latine being set over Christ's Head by his Crucifiers for he would have it written as said in the Scriptures and G. F. sayes Set atop of Christ that is over His Head and true it is what he observes That all Languages have crucified Him and those that have been most Learned have been furthest from the Kingdom that is resembled to little Children I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wife and Prudent and revealed them unto Babes Nineteenth G. F. sayes the Gospel is preached in every Creature Our Adversary sayes was preacht to every Ceature and both are true for in time past it Was and now I hope he will not deny but it Is. In every Creature or To every Creature may be the same For when the Gospel of Repentance and Faith in God are by his Light and Spirit secretly revealed and declared in eveey Heart doubtless 't is also to the Heart as well as in it And though there may be outward Preaching of the Gospel yet that which is Effectual comes from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel and reacheth into the Innermost Parts and the same Spirit gives there the true Discerning and Sense and makes the Effectual Application thereof so that his Carping there is like all the rest Malicious and Troublesom But he hath something to the same Purpose XX. Again G. F. If Christ be not within People they are Reprobates The Apostle and Translators say Know you not your own selves that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 15. 5. as if in you could admit of no other Sense but within you Let us see if the Words of Christ will alwayes admit that Sense Mat. 20. 26 27. But it shall not be so within you but whosoever will be Great within you let him be your Minister c. thus far our Adversary But certainly the Man can't think that because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sometimes signifie among that therefore in all cases it must do so for let us read the verse cited so Know you not your own selves that Christ Jesus is among you except ye be Reprobates This in his Opinion of Christ's Residence would be most false Besides if it should be read within you it might be understood thus within your Precinct Company or Society and the Sense very good still However it shews he hath but little to do who shall employ his time in correcting within you for in you since whatever is in any thing is within that in which it is or else I know nothing But he tells us that G. F. is guilty of the like fault in relation to John 2. 27. where the Apostle speaketh of the Anointing which abides in you but he thus the Apostles brought the Saints to the Anointing within them To which I say that He is Guilty of the like Fault of Fooling as before For a School-Boy would be whipt for so much Ignorance and Ill-spent Time He might have learn't