that or any other Scripture say the very Man Christ with that very Body is in us Either Burroughs s Answer is direct and honest or it is not If it be direct he must say that very Man Christ and that very Body of Christ is within us but that is such an evident Falshood that it is beyond the power of any man alive to defend it even of Whitehead himself whose chiefest Faculty lies that way to streighten the most crooked Doctrines and set them right and to shape the most ugly deformed Blasphemies so that they shall appear most Divine Truths How many Manhoods would there be if the Man Christ were in every Quaker As many as ever Transubstantiation made We heartily own his appearance in the Flesh and in the Spirit his personal appearance in the fulness of time and his spiritual appearance in every true Believer but this is not the Man Christ and his Body being in them which the Question was of If the Answer of Burroughs be indirect and nothing to the purpose the Question being of that very Man and his very Body if his Answer we say was not direct but shifting and shuffling to another point as Whitehead intimates when he says p. 7. he means he is only spiritually in Believers tho we agree the Truth we cannot allow the Honesty of such an answer nor can George Whitehead justify this dodging in him it rendring him more like a Jugler than a Disputant When you ask for your Mony again out of the Juglers Hand be opens it and shews you nothing but a Counter The Question was ask'd Is that very Man with that very Body within you His Answer is as Whitehead tells us he is in us spiritually which no body question'd viz. by his Graces and Influences We may see how loth Whitehead is that Burroughs should be counted a Blasphemer Well! for once we are content he should pass for a Jugler CHAP. II. Of the SOUL THE Brief Discovery hath four Quotations out of Fox to prove his Blasphemy touching this P. 5 6. he says The Soul is brought up into Great Mysâ—ery p. 91. God whereby they come to be one Soul He tells us farther 'T is of God's Being and that it is not Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of ibid. p. 100. God He also saith The Soul is without beginning and Infinite in it self and in Saul's Errand Fox saith He that hath the same Spirit that raised up P. 8. Jesus Christ is equal with God One would think these are Blasphemies plain enough and too hard for an Apology unless by one that can make a Panegyrick upon Vice and could represent Whoredom and Drunkenness so as to appear the greatest Instances of Chastity and Temperance Why here 's the Man George Whitehead can do the feat All these horrid Blasphemies with a little hocus pocus of his Sophistry are changed into true Quaker Orthodoxy Cressey 15 Revel of Divine Love c. 49. 112. He begins with the first Citation where Fox says the Soul is one Soul with God Here Fox has but lickt up the Froth from the mouth of Mother Juliana in one of her Enthusiastick raving Fits She tells us We are substantially united unto God our Soul is oned to God between God and the Soul there Ch. 5. 12. 46. 105. is right ought God is its Maker to whom it is oned But Whitehead cries out amain Where 's the Blasphemy in this He cunningly repeats a part of the Ch. 56. p. 144. Instance which was an aggregate one consisting of many parts and then crows and triumphs Where where is it Like him that hides the Body out of sight and shews only a Finger or a Thumb and then cries out Where is the Man Tho we believe this single Allegation out of Fox if it were alone would appear blasphemous enough We have carefully read the Scriptures to the number of ten brought as Witnesses who yet say not the least that the Soul is one Soul with God only 1 Cor. 6. 17. says The man that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit Now what an inference is this because a man who is a Body of Flesh and Blood is one Spirit with God which is not possibly to be understood but he is one with him spiritually therefore the Soul must be one Soul with God We are one with God morally by Faith and Love and other Graces of the Spirit or federally one by Compact and Covenant as the Wife and Husband but one Soul speaks a substantial Union with God God and the Soul may be one as explain'd before nay in the same manner one Spirit because God is a Spirit but God and the Soul cannot any ways be one Soul because God is not a Soul at all Every good Man is one with God but not one Man and every good Soul is one with God but not one Soul because God is neither a Man nor a Soul Thus we have considered this place by it self and discovered its Blasphemy let us now consider it with the rest of its Company and you may see he means not a moral but a substantial Union He says the Soul is a part of God Then a part of God might sin and repent and be pardoned or if not be damned besides A part of God we think was never heard of but in Fox's Philosophy He would have done well to have taught it to the Scholars of Cambridg See a Trumpet founded by Dâ—n Leeds p. 17. Numb 26. where the same is asserted by Geo. Fox in his Epistle to Geo. Wâ— Divin of Christ and Oxford in his Learned Battledoor among other his profound Aphorisms He says again 't is without beginning 't is Infinite in it self and nothing that is so but is the same with God But George has something to say for him Fox says the Soul is a part of God Whitehead saith a part of God appears to be by some Adversaries obtruded upon them 't is not Fox's Assertion he only questions them in their own improper Terms p. 8. For shame blush if thou canst and own the Blasphemy Read the words over again and thou wilt find there is not so much as a semblance of truth in such an answer The Priest says 't is horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God Fox positively denies not questions 't is not horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God P. 8. l. 7. Whitehead vindicates Fox where he says the Soul is of God's Being Of God's Being says he relates to the Breath of God that came out from God and not to the Soul no no 't is only the Breath of God that came out of God that is of God's Being Read but impartially the Citation p. 273. Gr. Myst 'T is not horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God for it i. e. the Soul came out of him not the Breath of Life and is of him And again p.
viz. That God does not accept any where there is any failing who does not fulfil the Law and answer every demand of Justice which Experience as well as God's Word assure us none is able to do so little do these foregoing words contribute towards the rendring those Orthodox which the Brief Discovery charges upon him and if these People in particular should pretend above other Men to be without failings 't would but make them the more ridiculous which in this matter they are already even to Contempt He says we oppose the Urim and Thummim Light and Perfection but do we oppose the Urim and Thummim whilst we assert it to be only in the Breast-plate of our great High-Priest but not upon the Breast of every or any Saint on Earth CHAP. V. Of Immediate REVELATION THE Brief Discovery charges Whitehead and Fox jun. with saying That P. 8. which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and greater This undervaluing the Scriptures with respect to their own Writings is not a careless stumble of their Pen but deliberate and design'd for wherever they treat of Scripture 't is in the same Strain not varying from the Analogy of this Faith If ever you will own the Prophets Apostles or Christ himself you will own our Writings given forth by the same Spirit You may as well condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Queries and in this Answ to the Westmorel Petit. p. 30. place Whitehead gives the preheminence to their Writings says They are of as great Authority and greater Here he complains again of Injustice because we left out some explanatory words as he calls them in the same period the words are these which rather darken than enlighten the matter as Christ's words were of greater Authority when he spoke than the Pharisees reading the Letter never sure was there so cross so perverse an Answer was the comparison made between the Pharisees reading the Letter and the Quakers Speakings or between the Scriptures and their Speakings The Question ask'd was Whether they esteemed their Speakings of as great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible And the Answer was direct enough They are as great and greater too But when they prefer their Writings to the Scriptures he does not as he tells us mean the Scriptures but the Pharisees reading them If the Pharisees were such A B C-Darians that they knew not how to read a Chapter in the Bible as it ought to be yet the Bible is of the same Authority still read by a Pharisee or an Apostle tho perhaps not of the same Efficacy and the Scriptures whensoever spoken or by whomsoever tho they have not the Spirit who speak them yet whatever Whitehead says in the close of that Paragraph the Scriptures by whomsoever spoken we must obey and not as he says deny In the next Paragraph he bids us note That the Comparison is placed upon the Spirit of Truth speaking in Man in the first place and through and by the Ministers thereof in the next place A wonderful opening and amounts to thus much The Comparison is placed upon the Spirit of Truth speaking in Man in the first place and in and through Man in the second place He concludes we suppose from hence as he should have said the Spirit speaking in and through them as in and through the Apostles hath not lost its Authority and Power since it gave forth the Scriptures therefore their Writings must be of the same Authority with the Scriptures This were true if the Spirit spake in us or them as through a Trunk as the Devil did through the Images when he uttered his Oracles but he speaks in us or them whilst he assists us in our Speakings and Writings so that 't is not the Spirit but we that speak and write by the assistance of Christ's Spirit which assistance is given us according to what degree our Lord pleases as Whitehead acknowledges to us in P. 17. Pâ—r. 2. such a degree as overcomes not the Infirmities of our Nature so as that we should not be liable to some Mistakes but to the Apostles in such a degree as left them liable to none in their speaking or delivering the Scriptures to the World and the Miracles that they wrought were an abundant Evidence to all Men thereof And to shew that which he says in the next viz. That the Spirit of Truth immediately ministring in Man is of greater Authority or Power than the Chapters are without the Spirit is very vain or worse for which are those Chapters in our Bible that are without the Spirit or its Authority since every Chapter sure they will acknowledg is as much the Dictates of the Spirit as their Teachings are And it must be an Atheistical Consideration of the Scriptures to look upon them as Whitehead does here without the Spirit P. 17. l. 3 4 5. As for his Profession that they acknowledg the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of Divine Authority and prefer them above all other Writings c. 't is Protestatio contra factum he only professing he does not do a thing even whilst he is doing of it Whereas he says the Spirit of God speaking in the Soul is of greater Efficacy Power and Authority than the Scripture without it is a captious Assertion for Efficacy Power and Authority are not the same thing and therefore as joined together we can neither affirm nor deny for of greater Efficacy and Power it may be but not of greater Authority unless they will say the Spirit is of greater Authority than the Spirit it being the same Spirit we are sure that wrote the Scriptures which they pretend speaks in them All this while he hath not offered to prove their Speakings to be of greater Authority than the Scriptures tho he said it very absurdly and blasphemously For can there be any Authority greater than that which is Divine and this Divine Authority Whitehead here saith they the Quakers sincerely acknowledg the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to have We think now 't would be but just to forbear charging the Priests with ignorance as he frequently does since 't is a spice of that which makes his Discoverer so confused here Letter of the 3 d day 3 d month 98. See Keith's 3 d Nâ—â— p. 66. Such Expressions as those above thou thoughtest fit to excuse to G. Keith in a Letter to him for there thou confessedst thou hast been too short and dubious in some Words or Exprestions as not fully explained in thy former Writings which may easily be helped by some ingenuous or charitable Explication or Emendation First by the way Here is thy Infallibility left to its shifts tho Thomas Danson and his Brethren were once no Ministers of Christ for disclaiming of it and Fâ—x tells us Whoever speaks a word and not from the Mouth of the Lord
add another which is worth them all for Spondani Annales A. D. 1204. n. 17. its Antiquity 't is of one Almericus Student at Paris as great an Enthusiast as themselves He cries out Now was the time of the Holy Ghost in which the use of Sacraments was to cease and all external Administrations and every one was to be saved by the Inspiration and inward Grace of the Holy Ghost The Mendicant Friars defended this Doctrine and Pope Alexander the 4 th Mat. Paris Hist 909. was their Protector So that you see these Doctrines of Quakers are but the Sink and Drainings of Popery We care not if we add another out of the Spiritual Exercise of the Jesuits 'T is the great perfection of a Christian P. 31 32. printed 74. to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what he hath already revealed and tanght in the Gospel No Fox thou art not the Father of the Quakers as some have Stillingfleet ' s Fanaticism c. p. 341. thought but Almericus and the Jesuits and Papists have only put out that Brat to thee to nurse it for them and we own it hath battled prodigiously at thy Breasts and grown to be a very formidable Monster CHAP. VII Of the RVLE of FAITH BRief Discovery quotes Parnel p. 16. line 33. Shield of Truth p. 11. saying He that saith the Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon the Husks and is ignorant of the true P. 515. Light Burroughs is also quoted saying The Scriptures are not the Rule and Guide of Faith and Life but the Spirit of God This is the current Doctrine of the Quakers you may see it in Parnel's * P. 71. Collect. Smith's Primmer P. 10. Light Life 17. Fisher speaks plain English and tells us Scripture is not the Voice of God tho the very Dribbles of a Quaker are from the Mouth of the Lord. The same says Howgil 68 7â— 251. Pen Reason against Railing p. 32. yea all of them Not the Scriptures but the Light within is our Rule of Faith and Life Fisher ' s Messages of the Lord p. 19 21. By the way observe how this symphonizes with your Testimony before the House of Commons the form of your Confession there was this I believe with my Heart and confess with my Mouth that the Scriptures are a divine and History of Quakerisin p. 53. exact Rule of Faith and Life yet you must know the Quakers are always the same and sweetly agree with one another as their Brethren the Papists do tho they have never so many Opinions and differ as much from one another as Lines in the Circumference yet you must believe they are all one for all that because they meet in the same Center of Unity the Pope So the Quakers let them differ never so much yet in spight of Sense and Reason there is nothing but Harmony and Unity amongst them because they all follow the same unerring Light tho it lead them into never so many contradictions We would fain know whether their Light within be their Rule when they call us Sorcerers Devils Gimcracks Wheelbarrows Tatterdemallions Whitehead says The Scripture allows these Names p. 68. l. 26. Thus far then sure you will allow the Scripture to be a practical Rule to guide and countenance you in the Work of railing and reviling for the great Honour and Respect you give them you keep them to do your dirtiest Drudgery to authorize you in your Billinsgate Rhetorick But because this Principle is so generally held by Quakers that the Light within is the Rule and not the Scriptures and of so vast an Importance we shall inlarge a little the more upon it but first we shall lay down some preliminary Propositions 1. We do not say the Scriptures are a Rule to us as written tho they are so when they are written 2. We do not suppose that the Revelation of the Mind of God in Scripture is a general Rule to Chrâ—stians Jews and all our Forefathers from Adam before the Mind of God was committed to writing 3. We positively assert that neither God nor Christ but the Mind of God revealed to Mankind either written or unwritten is a general Rule The unwritten Revelations before the Scriptures were put into writing and the written ever since And further we say That revelation of the Mind of God conveighed to us by writing in all things necessary to Salvation is the only compleat and general Rule to us to whom it is so conveighed for our Faith and Practise and not God nor Christ essentially or substantially considered nor any immediate Revelation not that we deny all immediate Revelation in these last days but we say God does not ordinarily bestow it and that because he hath taken care in his Providence that in this last Age there shall be no need of it having provided the Scriptures as a Supplement of that want neither if there should be such immediate Revelations to a Person now as formerly to the Aposâ—les yet carrying not the same Evidence to us to oblige us in our Faith and Practice as the Apostles Revelations did they can be no Rule to us they that have them and have good assurance they have so on God's Name let them believe and obey them if they please 1 st We prove the Light within can be no Rule to us 1. Because it teaches not all things necessary to our Salvation the Light within could never have instructed us about the Fall of Man or our recovery by Jesus Christ how then could it have been the Rule of our Faith as to these Particulars Sure you dare not deny but these are necessary to be believed We had had a deep silence of this thing to this day had we not had tidings of them in our Scriptures or some other Revelations of them we could never have known there had been a Spirit of Christ or a Scripture as they call it for they dare not call it Trinity as if there were some Magick in that Latin word but from the Scriptures And if the Light within be the same with Christ and the Spirit of Christ as Quakers say I must believe first that there is such a Light such a Christ and such a Spirit of Christ which I cannot do but by the Scriptures before I can believe any thing upon their Authority unless I must believe a Doctrine upon the Authority of a Rule of whose Being and Existence I have no Evidence sufficient to induce me to believe it so that the Scriptures only can be the Rule of such a Faith The Truth is the Light within is not the Rule but the rational Sight or Eye rather whereby we discern our Rule advise and consult with it How ridiculous would it be to say Christ or the Spirit of Christ is our Rule who is our Rule tho his Laws
disclaimed by them which had been the only fair way of vindicating Truth and themselves But no such matter our Adversary denys not but they are quoted truly but only says they are perverted and mistaken or else maimed and imperfect which is the usual Artifice of this sort of People as if we did not understand the sense of common English words and know not what is meant by equal or infinite by a part or the whole Sure we are that passage of a plain-dealing Quaker had been a more proper answer who says They are no Blasphemers because 't is impossible Shewen ' s Treatise of Thoughts p. 14. they should be so they have not erred because 't is impossible they should being infallible But 't is pleasant to hear them cry out we put a wrong sense upon their words whilst we have not offered to give any sense of them at all but barely recited them as we find them in their own Books And had we quoted every word he charges us to have designedly concealed we should still have been deafned with their clamours of disingenuity and unfairness of Citations there might always have been a pretence of something left out unless we had transcribed whole Leaves which would have been infinitely tedious to any but especially to so august an Assembly as the Brief Discovery was tendred to But for all our Charge of their being guilty of blasphemous and seditious Words they mean as honestly as you can desire but we pretend not to know the meaning of their Authors but of their Words We had always thought Words had been the best Interpreters of our meaning and that these ought to be taken according to the common and customary usage of them in our Nation and if so we are sure they import Blasphemy and Sedition 't was not our work to inquire into the meaning of the Men but of the words Here thou hast shewed saith Geo. Fox to his Adversary that the Quakers have a Spirit given to them beyond all the Forefathers which we do witness since the days of the Apostles in the Apostacy and they can discern who are Saints who are Devils and who are Apostates without speaking ever a word they that be in the Power and the Life of Truth Great Mystery p. 89. We have heard indeed that the Quakers have such a Spirit of discerning as can tell us Mens thoughts and meanings without their speaking a word but we pretend to no such unerring Key but judging by their words we must declare them monstrously blasphemous and seditious Again we are told there are other words in the Authors we have cited which were able to have sweetned the Expressions we blamed into Truth and Orthodoxy But why may not those seemingly Orthodox Expressions be as well interpreted by these we have quoted as these be expounded by them especially since one who was lately of their own Communion and so best knows their meaning has averr'd that notwithstanding all their palliations and seeming agreeableness they do not truly and rightly believe one Article of the Creed according to the Scriptures and the true universal sense of sound Christians in all Ages see G. Keith's Postscript to the Serious Dialogue between a Churchman and a Quaker Thus like the Hereticks of old tho they used the same words with the Orthodox in the Articles of their Belief yet they meant differently yea sometimes quite contrary to them as Ireneus complains l. 3. c. 19. ult Similia loquentes fidelibus non solum dissimilia sapiunt sed contraria But supposing this were so will Orthodoxy in one place be an excuse for Heterodoxy in another 'T is not their having spoken like Loyal Subjects yesterday will clear them if they speak Treason to day It must be acknowledged that G. Whitehead of late has attain'd a notable skill in the Art of Chymistry if you send him not only both the Foxes Burroughs Howgil and the rest but even Julian Porphiry and Celsus the keenest and most venomous Revilers of Christianity by the same methods he has here used to clear those he may correct the poison of their Writings and extract wholesom Doctrines from the most pestilent Expressions for let him take but the liberty as he has done here of three things and what should hinder it 1. To blot out part of a Sentence as in p. 10. where Fox says He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God Now says Whitehead He that hath should be left out and then indeed the Sentence is very Orthodox viz. The same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God 2. To say they are confusedly misplaced as p. 6. or the words Brief Discov pag. 5. are to be transposed as p. 19. Sol. Eccles tells us It was said of Christ That he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not So it may be said of this true Prophet Geo. Fox whom John said he was not c. These words saith Whitehead whom John said he was not we disown in that place they are confusedly misplaced to be sure he was in great confusion how to bring him off from being guilty of Blasphemy for saying Fox was he whom John the Baptist said he was not i. e. the Christ And p. 19. Geo. Fox had said to the Priest Thou canst not know Scripture but by the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had No saith Geo. Whitehead it must be by a degree of the same Spirit the words before cited should as I suppose be so transposed Who sees not a vast difference between saying We must have the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had to know Scripture and a degree of the same Spirit Or 3. that such a part of the Sentence is to be put into a Parenthesis and so left out if we think fit as p. 25. when Fox had been charged by the Brief Discovery p. 12. for saying The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within and not another for the other is the Antichrist And he that hath not this Christ that was risen and crucified within is a Reprobate Geo. Whitehead to vindicate him says that these Expressions wanted their due Points and so puts the words that was crucified in a Parenthesis thus The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within and he that hath not this Christ that was risen and crucified within is a Reprobate Thus altering the great intendment of Fox which was to set their whole value upon Christ's being crucified and risen within us as is evident by many other Passages in their Writings and believing sure that no Person would ever look this Passage in Fox's Great Mystery where 't was objected against the Quakers as their deluding poor Souls to hold forth a crucified Christ within risen within ascended within which indeed he answers in the next words orthodoxly enough tho nothing to the purpose of
make even Caligula to run under his Bed again to hide himself from it I 'll break in pieces I 'll make Nations like dirt I 'll tread them into mire I 'll make Religions Professons and Teachings Gatherings of Heaps Gatherings of Multitudes Gatherings which they call Churches I 'll make mire of them The Wrath of the Lamb is risen the Scepter is gone out the Throne is set ye shall be shaken ye Dâ—â—mers ye Dreamers ye Notionâ—â—â— I 'll whirl you under Hailstones Vials Plagues Thunders Woes Judgments are come amongst you upon your Heads all Nations the Rod is over you which must rule all Nations Trumpets founding and sounded the Just will rule and you ken well enough we trow who those just ones are the Lamb will have the Victory Can this be the voice of the Spirit of the meek and peaceable Jesus the bleating of the Lamb that is risen as he tells us or rather the roaring of a Lion that wants his Prey You may easily know what Spirit it is by its vomiting up such Flakes of Fire and Brimstone For such a Wretch to pretend as he does in the close of the Paragraph that this rumbling Message he had seen and heard from the beginning and was the Word of Life when it was but a Flash of his own Wildfire and hair-brain'd Imagination what 's this but Blasphemy Again Brief Disc p. 4. cites George Fox's Book stiled the Teachers of the World unveil'd but George Whitchead grievously complains that we have left out somewhat which might have done him mighty service had it been called in Well he shall have fair play let him take in what he pleases the whole Book if he thinks fit it will yet appear blasphemous enough Hark how the Varlet struts I am the Light of the World by whom the World was made a Blasphemy as appears by the former Paragraph personating so boldly the Lord of Glory without his Commission but the Caput Mortuum is in these Words There is your Condemnation from him who of the Lord was moved this to write He writes not this sure too in the Person of Christ he tells you plainly 't is from him who of the Lord was moved this to write the Lord sure was never moved of the Lord but he puts all out of doubt when he adds Whose Name of the World is called GEORGE FOX Here the Varlet sits as Judg of the World and See Snake in the Grass p. 20. truly as in the Quakers Challenge p. 6. a very unmerciful Judg if he be like his Brother Eccles who hangs all that fall not down and worship his imaginary Christ the Light within tho they worship a Christ without them never so devoutly and sincerely Come Protestants Presbyterians Independants and Baptists the Quakers deny you all the Quakers are in the Truth and none but they Good my Lord Mercy for this once for some Primitive Christians and Martyrs of the Church let not all these good Men because they did not yea it and nay it as the Quakers be sentenc'd to be hang'd up in Chains of darkness because they cannot how down and worship the golden Image you have set up an imaginary Christ within tho the true Christ God and Man without them they always lov'd and adored In the same Book and Page of the Quakers Challenge Eccles amongst his Brief Disc p. 4 5. Panegyricks of George Fox has these words It was said of Christ that he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not so it may be said of this true Prophet whom John said he was not Here 's no complaint now made that we have left out somewhat but rather that we have quoted too much these words it seems whom John said he was not ought to be omitted tho written from the Spirit of the Lord as well as Fox's Mystery and proved to be so by the same Arguments that his was his inward sense and feeling he was sure of it and now to disown these words printed so long since and the Error never discovered nay so ost examin'd by the Court of Inquisition the second Day 's Meeting and never put into the Index Expurgatorius But why George should such an Expression as this be disown'd a poor harmless innocent Expression as he deems it for George cannot see a jot of Blasphemy in it tho he says that George Fox was he that John said he was not i. e. Christ himself Alas 't was only a little want of skill in Language for he Good Man was not skilful in Expression but meant well whatsoever he said Sure George thou hast a notable Horoscope to see into the Hearts of Men let their words be what they will but thou knowest we charge not their Meanings but their Words with Blasphemy and his Intention ought not to be considered as thou sayest it should if contrary to the plain import of his words Thou tellest us he was none of the most eminent or approv'd Quakers Come George never be ashamed of Prophet Eccles who was as zealous and self-denying a Disciple of Christ within George Fox as ever St. Matthew was of Christ without him for he forsook all every Fiddle he had and which was more than that holy Publican did by his all burnt them all to a Gittern or a Juice-tromp But saith Whitehead he could not intend the World was made by George Fox no 't was impossible being secur'd from such a Blasphemy by the Amulet of Infallibility But we wonder why it might not as well have secured him from blasphemous Words as Meanings But how comes it to pass that a Quaker cannot intend Blasphemy tho he speaks never so much tho he says he was the Christ the Person that John said he was not Come George never stand mumbling of Thistles any longer and chewing blasphemous Words so gingerly sometimes this way sometimes that but spit them out of thy Mouth as putid and stinking Blasphemy But alas what shall we do with our poor Infallibility in the mean time Why even leave her to shift for her self as poor people turn their Children out of doors a begging when they cannot maintain them any longer George Whitehead here plainly disowns Eccles's Infallibility and why may not we disown Fox's and Burroughs's yea and his Worship 's too God Almighty grant that they may all at last see what extravagancies they have been fool'd into by a bold pretence to it and in time flee out of that House whose chief Pillar begins to crack Edward Burroughs as the Brief Disc p. 5. returns an answer to this Question propounded to him by the Priest Is that very Man with that very Body within you yea or nay To which he answers The very Christ of God is within us we dare not deny him Whitehead says To instance this as a proof of 2 Cor. 13. 5. Blasphemy is to charge the Apostle with Blasphemy who saith Christ is in you But does
and St. Ignatius tho rather from the latter A Man would be apt to believe that these Authors wrote the Life of George Fox by Prophecy truth is you may take it to be the life of Loyola or Fox which you please but to return P. 6. Brief Discovery charges Fox for saying in Saul's Errand p. 8. He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God To which Whitehead P. 9. ult answers We deny the Words as there printed to be according to Fox ' s sense P. 10. init or ours and he tells us the words he that hath should be left out It must be so or I can't for my heart tell how to defend our dear Friend George Fox from the Imputation of Blasphemy and then Panduntur Portae we break down our Walls and strongest Bulwarks and let in the deceitful Greeks upon us and so our Troy is lost No those words he that hath must be left out And had the Fool left out the little Monosyllable no when he said in his Heart there was no God he had been as Orthodox as Brother Fox But for once George deal a little sincerely with us and tell us whether as the Words lie in the Citation P. 5. col 2. they are Blasphemy or no. In thy Charitable Essay thou tellest us it was only an accidental Mistake an Excuse thou hast cut out for Fox which may serve for every Blasphemy Quakers or any other can be charged with slips of the Pen accidental Oversights innocent Mistakes and 't is a good Horse never stumbles tho we are told yours never does being infallible in all his paces But George do words slip accidentally from the mouth of the Lord as those were said to have been spoken does the Spirit of the Lord write blindfold and at adventure Had his Brother Fox been alive he would not have been ashamed to father the Brat being so like him in all its Features neither would he have taken it kindly for thee to deny him such a friendly Office and hadst thou not thought it a Monster thou wouldst not have refused as much asthou hatest Godfathers to have answered for it notwithstanding a Mole or a little blemish upon its Face a small Mistake But now these words he that hath must be discarded and cashiered But George to be sure those words are found printed there and have been so this 40 years and not only in Fox's life time but view'd and review'd by the second day's Meetings and never yet amended or corrected tho now when a more diligent search is made into your Principles these words are disown'd and rejected as stoln goods are thrown away by the cunning Thief when the hue and cry is close at his Heels We are glad however so hardy a Forehead as Whitehead's is can blush at the Blasphemy of these words They are not Fox's says Whitehead but Francis Howgill very ingenuously P. 232. owns that they are Fox's and is ready to fall fowl upon Whitehead as well as his other Opponents calling them even Beetles and Owls for stumbling at such a Straw The first thing thy dark mind stumbles at says Howgill is that some have said it seems Fox had Company with him He that hath the Spirit of God is equal with God and he labours to confirm it by adding he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and the Unity stands in equality it self Silly Creatures and blind Buzzards saith he to be offended at so light so trivial a Blasphemy We expected Whitehead would have given Howgill a sharp rebuke for so bold a Reflection no he passes it over without any notice for Friends must not fall out for a hard word or two but when he labours to clear Howgill whom we cited as justifying George Fox herein he with great sincerity leaves out the first part of the Quotation viz. The first thing thy dark Mind stumbles at is that some have said that they that have the Spirit of God are equal with God and begins He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and the Unity stands in Equality it self there is Equality in Nature tho not in Stature Here says Whitehead the Equality is placed between the Father and the Son as the Union is between him and them A most evident Falshood such an one as if he has not Aes triplex circa pectus his Conscience must feel Remorses for Do but read the Words He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit Is not the Unity here between the Lord and him that is joined to him Is not here the Unity and is it not this very Unity that is the Unity between God and Believers which stands in Equality it self Or else how would he have vindicated Fox's words which he undertook to do and by consequence calls George Whitehead as good as Fool for stumbling at them It would not answer the Design of Howgill which was to prove a good Man was equal with God only to prove God the Father and God the Son are equal Where Howgil says there is equality in Nature tho not in Stature hear what Whitehead says to this The Equality in Nature relates to the Divine Nature which the Child of God partakes of in measure Did ever any one hear before now of an Equality to the Divine Nature in measure i. e. a short defective unequal Equality Equal in Nature to God in measure See Wyeth's Switch p. 20. may pass for another Blasphemy or at least Nonsense without measure Whitehead p. 11. appeals to his Reader whether he has not more right to put a sense upon his Friends words than we so then tho Fox's words were Blasphemy yet we may be assured for Whitehead says it his sense and meaning was not so it seems he wrote one thing and meant another which William Penn in his Rebuke p. 8. saith is to be no better than one of the worst of Knaves when he said Equal he meant not Equal when he said Infinite he meant not Infinite when he said a part of God he did not mean a part of God so that we must read him as we do Hebrew backwards This is a common muse Whitehead has made for the Fox to creep out of here and in many other places he meant thus and thus but let this serve for a general Answer We charge not their Meanings but their Words with Blasphemy nor has G. Whitehead nor any Man else a power to put what sense they will upon words but they must be conceiv'd to signify what in the common usage and custom of the Country they import that being Vis Norma loquendi the Force and Rule of speaking CHAP. III. Of INFALLIBILITT AND now for Infallibility the grand Sinew of Quakery and Popery too and if we can but shake this Pillar we certainly pull down the House upon the Heads of these Philistines we say then this is
is a Witch and Conjurer I hope these short and dubious words that need the help of some ingenâ—ous and charitable Person to explain and amend them were not from the Mouth of the Lord yet they were from the Mouth of G. Whitehead to be sure and if thy Prophet calls thee Witch and Conjurer for them thoâ— must eâ—en take it patiently from one that spake every word from the Mouth of the Lord unless thou wouldst have him rather recorded for the Conjurer than thy self 〈◊〉 But secondly They are short it seems what thou sayest in thy Nature of Christianity I am afraid was a little too long viz. We have no Scripture Proof that Coâ—â—st exists outwardly at God's right hand which would have been as good Doctrine as you could have wisht if the Reader would be 〈◊〉 charitable and ingenuous as to throw out No And here where thou sayst That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and greater seems to be too short Let but the ingenuous Reader be so kind as to put in that word not and 't is admirable orthodox and he is very uncharitable that will not help a poor Man out of the Bryars when a word will do it Thirdly Thou sayst Ingenuity and Charity might explain them and amend them for thee methinks this were work might very well become thy self And this is all at present we have to desire of thee that thou wouldst correct and amend those blasphemous words we and others have charged thee with i. e. renounce them and give us other words more plain and orthodox in the room of them Brief Discovery and Fr. Bugg have taken some Pains to shew thee a few of them and we should be glad to see thee mending and correcting them and when thou hast mended thy own when thy hand is in thou wouldst do well to be so charitable to thy Brethren to amend few words of theirs and if thou dost but once set up the mending Trade we promise we will find thee mending work enough out of your own Authors for thy self and a Journy-man too G. Fox tells us the Priests say The Apostles were Eye-witnesses and understood Myst p. 24. by Immediate Revelation from God inspired with the Gift of the Spirit more than any Man could hope for since And saith they do not pretend to any such Gift nor depend upon any such immediate miraculous Revelation from Heaven To which G. Fox answers Then all may see now in this what you received that hath been from Man which is not from Heaven immediate nor the Gifts of the Spirit nor received the Gospel by the same means the Apostles did who were not the Eye-witnesses as the Apostles were neither have ye attained to the same Knowledg and Understanding as the Apostles did nor received it from Heaven c. But we deny this silly consequence That because what we receive is not by immediate Revelation therefore it must be from Man tho Man may be a means by which it is received and that it is not from Heaven nor the Gift of the Spirit nor the Gospel neither because not received by the same means the Apostles received it to let go the nonsense that the Apostles received the Gospel by means and yet immediately viz. without means for the Gospel is the same whether received by the Ministry of Men or without it for whatever those Holy Men of God the Prophets and Apostles have through the Assistance of the Spirit written and sent down to us we consonantly thereunto preach unto our People and therefore may truly say As they delivered so we preach and so ye believed But alas it seems it cannot be the Gospel we received because we are not Eye-witnesses as the Apostles were we cannot say with St. John That which was from the beginning which we have seen with 1 John 1. â— our Eyes and our Hands have handled of the word of Life Because we had the fortune to be born sixteen hundred years after the Gospel was preached and confirmed and so wanted the Happiness of a personal Converse with our Saviour and had not the honour to feast with him in Cana to be with him in the Mount in Galilee in Samaria to see the Draught of Fishes the Multiplication of Loaves and all his other Miracles because we did not see him in the Garden upon the Cross after his Resurrection or when he actually ascended into Heaven or at least were not wrapt up into the third Heaven with St. Paul and had not the abundance of Revelations that he had therefore we know nothing of the Gospel tho we have as rational an evidence as the nature of the thing will bear 〈◊〉 that which all wise men were satisfied with who never expected to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—to the same capacity or to be in the same circumstances with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diâ—ciples of our Lord as to this matter But we fear 't is another Gospel they pretend to than ours their Gospel being only a manifestation of a Christ within his inward Life Death Blood Resurrection and Ascension which they pretend to feel taste and see within them every day In the close of this Citation George Fox would have all People judg and so would we too whether it may not be the same Gospel preached now by the Ministry of Men and from Heaven too that was received by the Apostles immediately from God since we give sufficient evidence that 't is the same we preach which we received from them tho we do not teach immediatly from Rom. 1. God or by Revelation The Gospel he saith is the Power of God and therefore immediate 'T is true the Gospel is stiled both the Power and Wisdom of God and they are immediatly in God for they are God But then that the Gospel which had a beginning is so called is not properly but figuratively as the Cause may be predicated of the Instrument for the Gospel is an Instrument of God's Power and Wisdom for the Salvation of Believers It may innocently enough be said Preaching the Word of God by a lawful Minister is the Power of God because the Power of God makes use of this means for the conversion of Thousands but then 't is meant secondarily or subordinately not originally and supremely There is a heavy complaint made for our omitting after these words They are in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in those in the close of the Sentence That understand the Gospel as also those And they that be in another cannot understand it Which amounts to thus much Every one that understands the Gospel is in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in and they that are not can never understand the Gospel when 't is evident a man may understand the meaning of the Gospel by the help of common
Illumination without any special enlightning much more without immediate Revelation from Heaven But this is their general Sentiment and Opinion Geo. Fox says the same with Whitehead not only here but in his Journal p. 22. and Pen in his Answer to Faldo p. 58 64. Now for the honour of the Scriptures that they may not ly under the Popish Imputation of so great obscurity we shall prove that they who are not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in may yet understand the sense of the Scriptures in things necessary to Salvation The Scriptures are plain in themselves a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Paths Psal 119. 105. and their Words manifest their Sense to us as other Writings do if we have but the use of rational Faculties and the common Illumination of the Spirit of God And it were contrary to the Goodness and Justice of God to enact Laws and make our Obedience to them necessary to Salvation and yet propound them so darkly and obscurely that none should be able to understand them unless they enjoyed the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven with the Apostles which to be sure the greatest part of those they wrote unto viz. the Romans Corinthians Galatians Ephesians and others never did Besides the Scripture obliges all to whom they are delivered to believe and obey and therefore to understand both the Promises and Precepts thereof tho they have not attained to the same Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven which the Apostles had nay wicked men who are far from any such Knowledg and Revelation c. are yet bound if they have the Scriptures to understand them since they sin if they do not Mat. 22. 19. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures says Christ to the Sadduces and the consequence is evident because God never obliges to an Impossibility Besides they will not sure deny but we may understand the Scriptures of St. Whitehead St. Pen St. Fox and St. Burroughs without the same degree of the Spirit the Apostles were acted by and why not of St. Peter and St. Paul who sure were able to speak as clearly and intelligibly as the former We understand well enough what the Friends mean when they say Infant Sprinkling is from the Devil and the Pope when they say the Priests are Devils Dogs Beasts Hirelings and many more such Characters drawn to the life by those Artists in Railing See Fox Hubberthorne Truth 's Defence and many more And if we cannot understand your Scriptures why are we invited to read them who are carnal destitute of the Spirit of the Spirit we hope they were wrote by Again Did not Julian Celsus and Lucian understand the sense and meaning of the Scriptures and many Articles of our Faith contained therein Did they not scoff and jeer at them not sure at Ink and Paper dead Letters but the sense they imported They knew the meaning of those words well enough A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and laugh'd at them as an impossible Fiction They well understood the sense of that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. even better than William Pen who has allegorized away the literal meaning to a spiritual Resurrection and therefore scoffed at it as a Romantick Dream And Celsus who as Origen tells us boasted that he knew all the Christian Doctrines derided both the Holy Virgin asking if God were in love with her Beauty and the descent of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove the Voice from Heaven the coming of the Wise men c. as may be seen l. 1. p. 30 31. Orig. contr Cels These sure were not in the same Power Understanding Knowledg and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in and yet by a very common Illumination could discern the sense and meaning of many Scriptures But we may instance in one more and he a great Quaker too that certainly was not in such Power and Understanding c. the Apostes were in and yet understands the Scriptures well enough to his cost the Deviâ— we mean for he believes them and trembles The Scriptures he brings p. 18. parag 5. prove nothing but what we have owned before Mat. 11. 27. No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him and hath not the Son revealed him to every one of us by the Scriptures To the same purpose is that place 1 Cor. 2. 9. And the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God By the common Illumination of the Spirit he is enabled to understand the sense of that Revelation and by a more special one to understand it savingly i. e. to believe and obey it and all this without the same Power Knowledg Understanding and immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in And we are taught of God and by the Spirit John 6. 45. Isa 54. 13. Jer. 31. 33. when we are taugh by the Scriptures they being the means used for our instruction which is all that is observed in the Margin of the old Bible in Q. Elizabeth's days by hearing of his Word and inward moving of his Spirit the Spirit cooperating with those means And the following Note upon Jer. 31. 33. has only reference to that more plentiful effusion of the Spirit in the days of the Gospel than was afforded under the legal Ministration which tho no body ever denied or yet by granting shall need to render less useful and necessary the preaching of God's Ministers or the reading of the Scriptures The Priest had said Thou dost not speak in that degree of the Holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles did that spoke forth Scriptures To which George Fox answers p. 213. Gr. Mystery Thou canst not know Scriptures but by the same degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had But p. 19. l. 14. Whitehead seems to boggle at this expression saying Now the Scripture i. e. the whole Scripture cannot be truly known 't is like he means all the dark Visions Mysteries and Revelations which no private Christian is concerned to understand but by a high degree of the Spirit if not the same but presently comes to confession that the true knowledg of the Scripture must be obtained by a degree of the same Spirit Instead of the same degree of the Spirit it is now a degree only of the same Spirit which all know to be vastly different and yet thus the words should have bin wrote at first for they were so intended says this excellent Vindicator had not Fox's Infallibility nodded whilst he was writing and so mistakingly wrote the same degree of the Spirit for a degree of the same Spirit And now for a close of this Head 't is a thing much to be lamented and ought by all sober Christians to be seriously laid to heart that such persons as both the Foxes Parnello Eccles and
from the Spirit how comes it to pass that the Spirit never moves them as it did in the Apostles days to pray and prophesy in unknown Tongues When we shall see in their Assemblys as the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles did in the Primitive Christians Meetings that they have the Gift of Tongues and the gift of interpreting thereof when together with the Gift of Tongues we shall see that they have as the Christians had all the other miraculous Gifts when we shall see that they shew themselves to be Prophets and spiritual in receiving what this Apostle hath written in particular that a Woman should not speak in the Church as the Commandments of God And lastly when with all this they shall preach no other Doctrine than what the Apostle hath preached and the Catholick Church received then we will believe if they be lawfully baptized that it is the Spirit which is speaking in them and that God is in them and among them of a truth but till then we must believe them all to be Impostors or Enthusiasts or Blasphemers of the Holy Ghost Thus he enough to silence all their pretences to immediate Inspiration Calv. adv Libertines c. 2. which has been the common Stalâ— of each fanatical Party to influence the People by so the Libertines would boast of their Intimacy with God and all See Rutherford's Sâ—â—vey of the Spiritual Antichrist cap. 9. p. 55 56 57 c. their talk was de Spiritu of what Communications they had from the Spirit as Calvin notes Henry Nicholas the first nominated Elder of the Family of Love pretended to Visions and Revelations and Conferences with Angels and said He was raised by the highest God â—anointed with the Holy Ghost godded with God in the Spirit of his Love Caspâ—r Swenkefield pretended to the Spirit and Enthusiastical Dreams called for spiritualness and the Spirit and the Rutherf cap. â— p. 15 16 c. Id. Part 2. p. 211. internal Word revealed his fancys to Luther who sharply rebuked him but to no purpose Pertinacy cleaving to the Plague of Heresy says our Author his Errors are there recited they were condemned by a Synod at Norimburg Anno 1554 and by the Confession of the Divines of Mansfield 1555. who tell us he had vexed the Church thirty years That American Jezabel as she is called Mrs. Hutchison deceived and drew away many boldly asserting that her peculiar Revelations about Events to fall out were as infallible as any parts of Scripture and that she was as much bound to believe them as the Scripture for the same Holy Ghost was the Author of both It were endless to recite what is said of this sort of People who all deluded the World with the Pretence to Visions Revelation and immediate Teachings from the Spirit which was the shield they laboured to secure themselves by when assaulted by the Ministers of the Gospel and therefore we have great reason to caution our People against itching Ears and the being fond of new things but more especially to avoid those who pretend to new â—ights and Revelations as being but Wolves in sheeps clothing remembering that 't is recorded to the great praise of the Bereans that upon St. Paul's preaching they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so To the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them which shows that this ought to be their rule to try all Doctrines by CHAP. VI. Of the SCRIPTURES G EO FOX in his Piece stiled News coming out of the North written See Brief Discov p. 9. from the Mouth of the Lord c. saith Your Original is Carnal Hebrew Greek and Latin A learned Man reading this wondered and well he might how Latin came to be an Original and we cannot guess unless it be to make a court to the Church of Rome which has decreed the vulgar Latin to be as infallible and authentick as the Greek and Hebrew and had he brought in the Latin Service as well as the Latin Bible we had been Al-a-Mode Roman Who knows tho not he yet his infallible Successors may one day make that authentick too Oh this Infallibility can do strange feats when it pleases But he goes on Your Word is carnal the Letter and the Light is carnal the Letter their Original is but dust which is but the Letter which is Death and their Gospel is but Dust Matthew Mark Luke and John which is the Letter To this Geo. Whitehead answers here That the Letter it self is not made up of spiritual Matter or of lasting materials but of such as will decay and turn to dust A wonderful discovery That your Gospel Matthew Mark Luke and John are not printed with never-failing Ink and upon immortal Paper he tlls us in Innocency Triumphant p. 17. they mean no more than the Writings abstractly considered as in Paper and Ink and false Ministers dead preaching and commenting on them Well George if thou hadst but as much honesty as wit tho in that there is but bare measure thou wouldst not abuse us with such a trifling Answer Was ever any thing properly called Carnal that was not capable of being made spiritual Carnality being only the want of Spirituality in a Subject capable And 't is as improper to say Ink and Paper are carnal as a Stone is blind would it not be a wise business for one to discourse of a carnal Dog a carnal Horse a carnal Tree or a carnal Block as if there were those that could be spiritual But further who ever thought the innocent Letters of the Alphabet and the Scrivener's Bottel should be accused as carnal or Hebrew and Greek should have the fortune to be censur'd as carnal Languages and not French Spanish or Italian unless it was because Hebrew and Greek were the first Languages whereby the Doctrine of Salvation was conveyed to the World without the least mention of Light within unless with a note of infamy if the Light in thee be darkness O! 't is this carnal Hebrew and Greek which has done us all the mischief that has chok'd us with this Serpents meat But Fox tells us We Dogs Serpents Swine feed upon the Letter which is Death tho we think 't was never heard that ever any fed upon the Letters of the Alphabet and a Bottle of Ink and took them for his dinner or how Pen Ink and Paper should kill any unless he were such a Fool as to choke himself by swallowing his Bible No no Quakers are not so silly tho wicked enough to think so there 's no question but 't is somewhat conveyed to us by their Letters and Languages they have their spight at as appears further by what he saith here Your Word is Carnal and your Light is Carnal your Gospel is Dust Matthew Mark Luke and John which is the Letter Sure our Word our Light our Gospel our Matthew Mark c. are somewhat
else besides Ink and Paper and if not Pen Ink and Paper they must be somewhat conveyed to our knowledg by them But he tells us they mean only our dead preaching and commenting on it so then God be thanked the Letter is alive again and 't is only our preaching and commenting on it is dead tho Fox in direct opposition to him says 't is the Letter is dead But let us a little expostulate with the two Georges herein Why are they not as bold and plain with their own Writings as they are with the Scriptures are they not Pen Ink and Paper as well as these or are the Ink and Paper of Fox and Burroughs's writing made of more lasting materials than our Bible How comes it to pass then that they are not Dust and Death and Serpents Meat as well as the Scriptures No they are all messengers from Heaven given from the Mouth of the Lord sealed with the Eternal Spirit What care is there to guard the honour of their own Writings see Snake in the Grass p. 102. To you this is the Word of the Lord says Fox every where of his Scribbles No no yours are not dead and killing Serpents Food they are all Manna Quail Honey and the Honey-Comb our Souls Nourishment as Coal said of Fox's Book a good stomach surely he had which could feed so savourly as some Africans are said to do upon Guts and Garbage nay on Snakes and Serpents In the mean time St. Paul's Scriptures are but Dust Husks Rottenness scarce Dogs-meat 'T is true of late they give the Scriptures better names but 't is their cunning Artifice very highly to complement and caress this Favorite of the People especially when they have some Act of Parliament to procure which may tend to their advantage and when their turn is served perhaps you may hear of them under their old Character and they may be as much Serpents Meat as ever That place 2 Cor. 3. 6. which they often quote to depreciate the Letter of Scripture by is understood of the Legal ceremonial Dispensation which the Apostles were not made Ministers of and in that place the Law is the Letter that killeth and the Gospel the Spirit which giveth Life as will appear plainly to them who attentively read the following Verses to the end of the Chapter Lawson's Brief Discovery p. 9. saith The Ministers are Babylon's Merchants selling beastly Ware for a large price the Letter which is Dust and Death A very high complement to the Ministers as if they were no better than a company of Pedlars that cheat the Country selling the excrements of Beasts cunningly drest up for choice Perfumes but our comfort is we fare as well as the Holy Scriptures for they are the beastly Ware we sell as follows the Letter which is Dust and Death Here George begins to open against the injustice and falshood of this Quotation saying the Quotation runs thus selling beastly Ware for a large Price all the week time heaping up a rabble of Notions into the Brain And there he stops as Balaam's Ass could be got no further for the Sword truth is had he gone any further he would have felt the point of it which was in these words the Letter which is Dust and Death so that beastly Ware relates not only to the rabble of Notions in our Brains but to the Letter also George says again This was never spoken of the Ministers without exception P. 20. l. 19. but of the false Ministers Geo. we thank thee for nothing we know who they are very well that are the false Ministers in your account even my Lord of Canterbury and all the Bishops and Priests of the Nation that take Tithes as Rob. Barclay that Antichristian apostatized Generation the National Ministry His Anarchy p. 41. And as Smith says They are the false Ministers which preach Christ without Primmer p. 8. so that all the Christian Ministry in the World are here rank'd as well as ours amongst a company of cheating Pedlars And when he says He excepts the Ministers that are not the false ones he excepts none but themselves Br. Discov p. 9. quotes Saul's Errand All that study to draw a living thing P. 7. out of a dead the Spirit out of the Letter are Conjurers neither is Fox alone His brief Discovery of the threesold state p. 7 8 9 10. for Lawson says the same The Priests of the World are Conjurers raising dead doctrines out of the Letter dead reasons dead uses dead motives We have proved before 't is not the Scripture as it is barely Ink and Paper but as containing a System of Doctrines necessary to be believed and practised for our Salvation which they profanely call a dead Letter which is yet that very salutary Letter the Spirit himself hath written to his Church Besides how can we or the Devil himself draw any Doctrines Reasons or Uses at all from Paper and Ink abstractly considered as G. says but from some doctrinal Propositions contained under those Letters and so there will be no such need to conjure to raise a living thing out of a living viz. the Word of Life or a spiritual Doctrine from the Spirit 's Letter yet thus all the Ministers of the Gospel from Christ's time to this day are villainously traduced by the yea and nay Men as a company of Magicians and Sorcerers that work by the Black Art that preach out of the Scriptures as out of a conjuring Book and no doubt those Wretches would not be much concerned to see them burnt with the rest of those Acts 19. 19. Books of Sorcery thereby to spoil the Priests trade of conjuring by them Here again G. upbraids us of partiality for leaving out some passages of Fox P. 20. l. 29. wherein he distinguishes between the Letter and the Light the Letter and the Spirit while by his good leave the Letter containing such Doctrines as abovesaid is the Light as David says the Spirit 's Epistle to us containing lively Directions in our way to Heaven the lively Oracles of God which are quick and powerful and therefore there needs no conjuring to raise Spiritual matter out of them As for what he adds ibid. Mic. 3. 11. that the Prophet prophesys against such Priests that preach for hire we can't imagin how it comes to be fetch'd in here unless it be a device to start another Subject before us about Tithes on purpose to divert us and draw us off from the pursuit of their Blasphemy only by the way we say our Tithes are no Hire neither did we ever hear that it was accounted Wages what was paid to a Man out of his own of that which was due Debt before * P. 9. l. 31. Brief Discovery quotes Truth 's †P. 101. defence saying 'T is dangerous to read the Scriptures which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles spoke forth freely G. Whitehead clamours hideously the Qotation is abused for
leave it out to make the better sense of thy Blasphemy shouldest thou have put in that Conjunction what nonsense would it have been it would have been thus all Scripture given by Inspiration and is profitable the copula and methinks should couple like Sentences and the former part of the Text cannot be a sentence without a Verb and if it must be like Sentences the Verb in the former part must be is as in the latter and so it runs as we well translate it is by Divine Inspiration and is profitable rather than the Scripture should be a perfect Rule Howgil would make it perfect nonsense 2. The Scripture must be our Rule for we are to try all things by it and hold fast that which we find streight and right nay by that we are to try the Quakers Rule it self 1 John 4. 1. we are to try the Spirits What must we try the Spirit by the Spirit 't is evident we are to bring it to some Rule or Ballance to find out its just weight and rectitude for there are many Spirits that walk now about and haunt our stuary ground the Spirit of Muggleton Fox and Naylor and there is one Spirit to be sure that challenges it as its right to possess it and dwell there and by what rule shall we determine the Controversy but by Scripture there 's none of these Pretenders can challenge any greater Authority over our Faith than others only the Scriptures which are the Letters missive and circulatory of the Spirit of God to his Church have such a right which have their Authority confirmed by such a Seal as cannot be counterfeited by Men or Devils and therefore may oblige us to believe them and that Spirit which agrees with their testimony 'T is utterly false what Smith says That the Spirit was the rule to them that Primmer p. 10. gave forth the Scriptures We say not the Spirit it self but the dictates of the Spirit which were as much a rule to them when written as when spoken to them This does not exclude the Spirit from having any thing to do to direct us what to believe and how to live for the Scriptures are the Spirits Rule given to guide us by Besides the Spirit of God opens our Eyes too much closed up since the fall so that we may the better perceive and believe the things contained in the Scripture and stir up our affections to embrace them observe the Rule our Saviour sends us to Mat. 21. 42. Did you never read in the Scriptures Ver. 22 29. Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Acts 8. 35. He began at the same Scripture and preached unto them Jesus Acts 17. 2 11. Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures Acts 2. what a long Sermon St. Peter preacheth there from the 14 th almost to the end all out of the Scripture Luke 24. 17. as also 32. he opened to them the Scriptures Moses and the Prophets were the Text he preach'd on Ver. 46. he carries their attention to what was written Joh. 7. 38. He that believeth on me not as the Light but as the Scripture saith John 19. 37. another Scripture saith all along they are sent to the Light without them to see what the Scripture saith John 20. 9. their want of Faith in Christ's Resurrection is attributed to their ignorance of the Scriptures strange the Light could not have informed them Philip corrects not the Eunuch for poring upon and scraping in the Scriptures as Fisher does in his Velata Revelata p. 845. Such Men says he as the Scribes are ever scraping in the Scriptures neither does he call them to mind the Light within Away with this dead Letter this Dust will choak you this Serpents Meat will poison you Ver. 35. he opened his Mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached Jesus But when shall we hear a Quaker begin a Sermon from a Text of Scripture By the way you see a Man may preach Jesus from the Letter Acts 18. 24. Apollo was mighty in the Scriptures the Scripture was the Sword of the Spirit Ephes 6. 17. by which the mighty Man and Evangelical Hero hewed down the Enemy before him they were not able to stand before the Dint of his Scripture-charge he mightily convinced them out of Scripture ver 28. Paul in his Dispute about Justification Rom. 4. 3. crys What saith the Scripture Rom. 11. 2. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith he brings all his Proofs from the Letter of Scripture Rom. 15. 4. all our comfort flows from those Wells of Salvation all written for our Learning that we through comfort and patience of the Scriptures might have hope And should these envious Philistines be suffered to stop up these Wells 2 Tim. 3. 15. Paul commends Timothy that from a Child he had been well acquainted with this Rule so that he became a Workman that needed not be ashamed The Scriptures you see in the Apostles days as many as were written were the only Rule they appealed to Fox jun. for above 200 Pages hath vehement Exhortations to mind the Light but not a word of reading the Scriptures in that whole Book Esa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word they may pretend the Spirit of God and a Light within if they will but they have no light in them says the Prophet That such an one as W. Penn should please himself with such a Gimcrack as to say in his answer to Faldo By the Law and the Testimony are meant God and Christ seeing then William we are saved by Christ we are saved by the Law 'T is much Mr. Pool should forget to grace his Synopsis with this Criticism if thou hadst any respect for Scripture sure thou wouldst not dally and play with it so wantonly We conclude then that the Scriptures are a Rule to them they are given to and 't was never denyed by any in the Christian part of the World but Quakers besides Atheists Deists and Papists and we envy them not the Honour of such Company Whitehead says p. 23. l. 7. They don't slight the Scripture nay p. 17. l. 4. They acknowledg them to be divine and prefer them before all other Books in the World We do them wrong to lay such an heinous Crime to their charge Alas poor Quakers to be so hardly censured when they call the Scriptures Dust Serpents Meat killing and deadly this is all for the profound Veneration they have for Scripture When they say their own Speakings are of equal Authority nay to be preferred before them nay the Scriptures may as well be burnt as their nonsensical Scriblings This is yet for the great respect and honour they bear to the Scriptures When they tell us the Scriptures have no authority of themselves not so much as that golden Legend of Father Fox's Journal unless we have a Câ—mmand again from within that is they have no authority unless we think they have
and the same end to make Disciples from what he had appointed before to make Disciples by had he intended so he would certainly have given some caution being about to institute a Baptism of another kind lest we should mistake this new and more glorious Baptism of the Spirit to be no more than that other elementary one he had commanded before and they had been used to to that very hour He repeats the Command again because the first Commission would not serve his purpose seeing he was to ampliate and inlarge the Terms having just now laid down his Life for all the Nations of the World he puts a Clause into their Commission now to instruct all Nations in the Rudiments of his new Religion and then baptize them that they may be the more capable of the benefit of his Sufferings 3 ly The next Text proving Water-Baptism to be instituted of Christ is Act. 10. 47. Can any one forbid Water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Here are several Arguments to prove Water-Baptism was an Institution of Christ 1. The Holy Ghost was received before as preparatory to this Baptism so that the Baptism in the Text could not be the Baptism of the Holy Ghost therefore of Water 2. Can any one forbid it If any of these Gentlemen had been present would he not have started up immediately Can any one forbid Good Sir tell us who ever commanded us when or where were we bidden to dabble the Disciples with a little Popiâ—h Holy-Water you an Apostle of Christ and peremptorily inforce things upon the Disciples that are not now in force as our dear Brother W. Pen hath testified to offer up such a carnal Cainitical Sacrifice to God and tell People 't is an Ordinance of Christ behold we stand up here in the Power and the Spirit of the Lord God to witness against thee And we know not what St. Peter could better have replied to them than St. Paul once said to the Corinthians What I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you and it being a Command of our Lord and Master you are impudent Servants to forbid it if the practice had been nothing but an exercise of Liberty and pure Condescension as W. Pen P. 127. l. 20. says in his Reply to the Answer to his Key if it had not been settled by Authority 3. St. Peter issues out an Authoritative Command that they should be baptized v. 28. he commanded them to be baptized The imposing such a Command upon the Disciples would have been an usurpation upon their Christian Liberty as the practice of it would have been superstitious enough if he had not had Divine Authority for his Warrant 4. He commands them to be baptized not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Matth. 28. 19. and Acts 19. 5. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by the Authority of Jesus and the Holy Ghost by varying the Expression here from that in those Texts seems purposely to countenance this Interpretation to command a thing to be done in the Name of a Person was ever thought to be by his Authority 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have judged in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver c. In the Name and in the Power and Authority are here all one 4 ly Another Text is Acts 22. 16. Ananias said to Paul Arise why tarriest thou and be baptized for c. Ananiâ—s leaves it not here to Paul as a matter of Liberty or Condescension to the Jews here 's a peremptory Command as in the foregoing Citation Arise and be baptized and that quickly too why tarriest thou And this must be Water-Baptism for he must arise and put himself into a posture to go to some place of conveniency as a Brook or River to be baptized in and not tarry in the least he should not need to have got up and travelled in such haste for the Holy Ghost who is not limited to any place or time Again this was a Baptism he had in his own Power as that was in the Power of the Disciples in the former Citation or else they would not have been commanded to have been baptized it had been both a folly and injustice to command them what they had no power to do now the Baptism of the Holy Ghost was not in their Power they could not give themselves that Baptism nor St. Peter nor Ananias neither and if it had been the Baptism of the Holy Ghost that was spoken of in this Text it had been a more proper method for St. Peter Ananias St. Paul and the Disciples to have fallen upon their knees to God and have prayed that he would bestow that heavenly Gift upon them rather than bid them be baptized and take it themselves as Peter and John had done Acts 8. 15 16. they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost 5 ly Another Text is John 3. 3 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and the Holy Ghost c. Whatever be the sense of being born again we are sure that Water is Water and not the same in this place with the Spirit of God if it were so the words would have this ridiculous sense Except a Man be born again of the Spirit and the Spirit further if they were the same thing a Copulative were needless which ever uses to join two different things together and not the same thing to it self and if it be Water-Baptism it must be of Christ besides there would never have been affixt such a Reward to it if it had not been a Duty 2. We have a great many Scripture-Instances for the Practice of Water-Baptism besides those before named sure they will not say but that the Apostles baptized as Christ commanded them in Jâ—h 4. and Maâ—ih 28. 1. The first Scripture is 1 Cor. 1. 14. Crispus and Gaiuâ— were baptized with Water for St. Paul would not have thanked God he baptized so few of them with the Holy Ghost and those many other Corinthians Acts 18. 8. can't be supposed to have been baptized any otherwise than those their Fellow Citizens 2. The second Scripture is Act. 19. 3 5. Unto what were ye baptized He does not ask whether they were baptized with Water he did not doubt of that noâ— by what but unto what They answer Unto John's Baptism As soon as they were better instructed they were baptized agen into another and better Service into the Name of the Lord Jesus by such Water as they had been baptized with before For he scâ—upled not the Water they had been baptized with but only asks into what Discipline or Society John's or Christ's 3. The third Text is Acts 8. 38. the Eunuch was baptized with Water for Philip and the Eunuch went both down into the Water In the same
Divine Prophetical Influx and Inspiration when there 's all the evidence imaginable that the Father of Lyes and not the God of Truth was the Author of these spurious Prophesies that by the false he might derive a suspicion upon the true ones or abuse the Minds of Men with vain Hopes or panick Fears Oh let not any of us who own our Saviour for our Prophet receive the Devil for our Oracle if we be sick or weary of things present shall we resort to the God of Ekron by attending to any Prophecy of his incitation for Quiet and Resolution Can the Devil be thought able to answer any Questions concerning things to come Isai 41. 23. Chap. 44. 7. Or is he willing if able to do it with any fair and single Intentions Have the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness put out all the Fires on his Altars Have the Glory and Power of the Divine Oracles and Miracles spoiled his great Trade of Lying Oracles and Wonders and shall our Credulity and Vanity encourage him to drive this secret and little Trade of Prophesies The particular advice God gavethe People by Jeremiah in a like Case deserves now Jer. 27. 9. to be recommended to them Hearken not to your Prophets nor to your Diviners nor to your Dreamers for they prophesie a Lye unto you And 't is worth our Consideration that those who in these last Ages have pretended to them are Men either extremely Ignorant or very Vicious or strangely Fanciful or Hypocondriacal for Men that are best disposed by their great Wisdom and Holiness as also by the Evenness and Serenity of their Tempers to receive these influences of the Holy Spirit do neither feel nor desire them whilst they consider those vehement Transports Consternations Tremors Enigmatical Visions must create great uneasiness to them which the faculties of those Holy Men who were actuated by the Spirit in order to Prophecy most frequently underwent thereby which makes them value it as a happiness that God hath delivered us to the Conduct of that sure word of Prophecy the Holy Scriptures and the Dictates of clear and renewed Reason But to return to the Quotation out of Burroughs George Whitehead to excuse him tells us p. 29. That what Prophesies are for Christ's Kingdom they must own viz. that he shall rule the Nations and in the midst of his Enemies and that the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of God and his Christ which says he the Holy Scriptures do expresly warrant and testifie But how idle and impertinent is this when he knows none of us Priests or People of the Church of England who do not own the Scripture-Prophesies concerning the Kingdom of Christ or the Government of the Lamb whenas we assert them in a great measure fulfilled already since so many Earthly Kings have willingly submitted to the Spiritual Government of our Lord acknowledging his Scepter above theirs and yielding themselves freely to be his Subjects yea counting it a greater honour to be Membra Ecclesiâ— Members of his Body than Capita Imperii Emperors of the World but we never read that the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ should be so troublesom to Earthly ones as to extirpate and overturn them or that the Scepter of the Lord Jesus should like Aaron's Rod swallow up the Scepters of all Earthly Princes as Burroughs asserts But now George if thy fright be over let us survey the other part of the Quotation There shall be no King ruling but Jesus nor no Government of Force but the Government of the Lamb nor no Law of effect but the Law of God Canting words that signifie nothing but to inspire People with a disgust of the Government if it does not set up Quakers in Authority over the rest But pray resolve us did not Christ reign whilst Constantine Theodosius Justinian and other Godly Kings and Emperors ruled who were Nursing Fathers to the Church and brought their Glory and Honour into it who sway'd their Scepters in Sub-ordination to their Saviour and exercised their Authority for the promoting his Religion and now could he truly say in opposition to such there should be no King ruling but Jesus nor no Government of Force but the Government c. since all that which was otherwise viz. the Heathen Persecuting Power was by the means of Constantine ground to Powder and why might not Jesus be said to reign when K. Ch. II. came to the Crown who professed his Religion restored his Church to her pristine Glory and own'd himself a Member thereof let George Whitehead tell us in good earnest whether he thinks with his Brother Burroughs that there ought to be no other Government in the World but that of Jesus and we urge it the rather because the Letter our Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ was pleased to own another Government to which he himself paid Tribute and Obedience and disclaim'd all Temporal Authority saying My Kingdom is not of this World and therein taught his Disciples and Followers what to do even to submit to those Rulers in whose Dominions they are born and live and not withdraw their Obedience out of pretence that they are Subjects to him as Burroughs does in the following part of the Quotation As for this People the Quakers they are raised of the Lord and established by him even contrary to all Men and they have given their Power only to God and they cannot give their Power to any Mortal Men to stand or fall by any outward Authority Words not only Seditious but direct Treason against the Government of any Kingdom as if it were in the Power of any Natural-born Subject under the pretence of being a Christian to withdraw his Allegiance from his lawful Prince contrary to the Doctrine both of St. Peter and St. Paul 1 Pet. 2. 13 14 15 16 17. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether to the King or to Governours sent by him for so is the will of God the wâ—iâ—h well-doing i. e. with the constant practise of Obedience to them ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free but not using the liberty for a cloak of maliciousness as redeemed by Christ but not making that a pretence for disobedience to the Magistrate that because you have given up your Names to Christ you cannot give your Power to any Mortal Man to the service of the King or Government but as the Servants of God Honour all men love the brotherhood fear God honour the King Thus St. Paul exhorts the Roman Christians Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers which Rom. 13. 1. how can they be if they withdraw their Obedience and Assistance when call'd for and say they cannot give their Power to any Mortal Man to stand or fall by any outward Authority when as the same Apostle adds speaking to the Christians Ye must needs be subject not only for wrath for fear of the Magistrate's Power but
shalt Ecce Jehovam secialem ecce positam inimicitiam in cajus Exorcitio sundarur hoc quicquid est Militiae ecce primaevam belli istius denuntiationem quod ab Incunabulis mundi gestum est etiamnum geritur geretur ad sinem seculi inter Christum cum suis ex unâ parte Diabolum ex alterâ cum suis Asseclis Arrowsm l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 5. Tact. sacr bruise his Heel See here God himself denouncing the War that Enmity put which is the ground of our Warfare which began near the beginning of the World it self and has been ever since carried on and will be so between Christ and his Servants on one side and the Devil and his Angels on the other to the end of all things below And therefore we think it ill became W. Pen to deride Holy Men who carry on their Warfare by humble Confession and earnest Prayer which brings them Aid from Heaven 〈◊〉 saying Alas poor Souls are you not at Have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners there is no Health in us from seven to seventy And was not this the Cry of penitent David and the humble Publican and shall these devout Supplicants be mocked by such a Wretch as Will. â—en But says G. Whitehead Alas is not sign of Laughter at them but of Lamentation and Pity over their miserable State Is then their State so miserable above all others when they open their Case to a Physician that can and will assuredly help them upon their earnest Application to him Thus God directs his People to take to them words and say Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously which Hof 14. 2 4. is in effect to say Have Mercy upon us miserable Sinners and when done penitently and sincerely he has promised to shew Favour thereupon I will heal their Backslidings and love them freely So that 〈◊〉 this Case they were no Objects of his Pity and alas there is no sign of it as it comes from W. Pen who reckons such a Practice greatly Erroneous and grosly Ridiculous and let us ask W. Pen and G. Whitehead whether they would not take it as a bitter Sarcasin should we say Alas poor sinless Cater to fall a Whoring and Wenching after sixty years of Age it would be thought sure a jeaâ— at their pretended Perfection so that Alas may sometimes be spoken by way of Contempt as well as of Pity What he adds that W. Pen pitied them because they were always confessing but never forsaking is an unworthy Reflection and base Falshood when 't is evident those who are oftnest in these Devotions make the greatest Progress in subduing and mortifying their Sins tho none of them can obtain so perfect a Victory as not to be troubled with the remains of Sin any more nor are we herein Sin 's Advocates as we are falsly charged we are far from pleading its Cause but mournfully complain of it as our Burden and long for that time in which we shall be free not from its Power but from its Presence How joyfully could some of us sing our Nunc Dimittas and welcome a Winding-sheet which can only wipe us perfectly clean To that of Edward Burroughs George Whitehead answers His meaning is that P. 1â— is his common Refuge a Refuge that lies out of our Reach he meant well tho his words be never so blasphemous Well let us hear if his meaning be any thing better God doth not accept Men in their failings in Duty but by his leave tho God does not accept Men for their failings yet he graciously accepts them thro Christ whilst they are under them and to say he does not is not only to mean but to say the very same thing with Burroughs That God doth not accept any where there is any failing And to shew thou fully agreest with Brother Burroughs in this thou hast commended one of absolute Perfection to us for our Imitation who boasted when a dying to his Friends about his Bed that he was not conscious of any Action that he had done that he should be afraid of appearing before Almighty God it was Tudor Brain a Lad of about seventeen years old this was even the last Breath he drew and was it not sweet and edifying can you imagine how greedily Friends suck'd it in as a sweet smelling Savour how their Souls were refresh'd and nourish'd by it as a most heavenly Expiration Poor Child that had only learnt to parrot so presumptuously as he had been taught a little before by his Parents neither at Age God knows See Whitehead ' s Account of this Touth's Death p. 2. nor at years of Discretion yet this poor Boy is set forth by Whitehead as a Pattern for us to imitate A Doctrine that utterly cancels the Gospel Covenant and its gracious Terms laying a Milstone upon our Shoulders that the strongest Sampson is not able to bear Whitehead tells us there are some that complain their best Duties are sinful but upon the strictest search he will hardly find any among us who hold Duty to be a Sin i. e. that Duty is no Duty What we hold herein is That every Duty we perform to God is good because it is a Duty but for the manner of its performance it is not so well but it might be better some chilness of Zeal distraction of Thoughts make a great Abatement but yet we are accepted therein thro the Grace of the Gospel The old Covenant Terms were strict and rigorous but 't is the merciful Condescension of the Gospel since we are not sufficient to pay the whole Debt and if our Almighty Creditor should exact it we must all to Prison to compound with us and accept of what we can and forgive us if we pay what we are able Whitehead says Our Acceptance is in Christ which is very true but inconsistent with their Doctrine of Perfection for what need they a Saviour's Mediation who are not chargeable with any failing who fulfil the Law and answer every demand of Justice as Burroughs saith or God will not accept them their own Perfection shall speak for them St. Paul says Who shall condemn it is Christ that justifieth But if Burroughs say true and they can answer every Demand of Justice they may say 't is I that will justify my self my own Actions shall speak for me surely nothing can condemn if the Justice of God cannot In citing this Passage of Burroughs Whitehead complains we have dropt somewhat which might have done him a kindness viz. these words But those that love God keep his Commandments and they are not grievous All which we own but that his Commandments are not grievous and his Burden is light is owing not to our natural Strength and Ability but to the gracious Terms of the Gospel Covenant which imparts a larger measure of the Spirit to enable the Christian and also accepts Sincerity instead of Perfection which is directly contrary to what Burroughs asserts here