of whom all them that were saved came by their salvation yet their state was not in a strict sense Christian nor the Law and Administration under which they lived and to which they subjected Christianity which I shall confirm by some essential exceptions Christianity necessarily includes the faith and belief of Christ already come a Christ crucified that died rose again from the dead is ascended c. Without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit believed on in the World received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3. 16. This was Christian Godliness But we preach Christ crucified to the Jewes a stambling block this Christ as come and crucified was the main basis of the Gospel and Christianity Christianity necessarily includes the belief of that particular and numerical man Christ Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary and was of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh to be the Christ of God that was promised to come in due time I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins John 8. 24. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Acts 3. 6. These were new Articles of their Creed without the belief of which they were such as had nothing to do with Christ as their Mediator Again the whole frame of the Administration was â—…red from Moses to Christ even the man Christ Jesus as well as God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Heb. 1. 1 And Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a servant for a Testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Son over his own House Heb. 3. 5. We have now nothing to do with Moses Law as such and also the manner of Administration which is not in a multitude of carnal observances types and resemblances but in that way which is more real and more purely spiritual But the houre cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth John 4. 23. They were to worship him in the spirit before for where the heart was not in the ceremonial and typical worship they were not accepted and God never indulged hypocrisie the meaning must therefore be That spirit must be taken in opposition to those carnal Ordinances and the material Temple and Truth in opposition to those Types which were not a Lie but were only the shadows of good things to come I might enlarge to the Officers Offices and restrained Extent of the Mosaical Administration and shew that in all it is Alien to the Administration of Christ come and that wherein Christianity consists For if that Ministration which is done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3. 11. Now to resume the intent of what I have said observe that neither the natural light and practices of Heathen nor the revealed light law and practices Judaical were Christian as such though the latter a great part of them had a respect to Christ and the medicinal and remedying part of Religion And the Jewes who were immediately before the Church of God yet when the Administration was they changed they were cut off from the Church though they retained their Morals and those Ceremonial Respects to an expected Messiah if they did not admit into their Creed or faith the Articles aforesaid viz. a Christ come That Jesus who was crucified was the Christ and that he was the Supreme Head and Administrator to the Church of God and those who did so were transmitted into the Christian Church the other being dissolved SECT II. Having expressed with what brevity I could what Christianity as such is I shall in a few lines give an Account what I intend by the term Quakerism I do not mean thereby that all that are called and reputed Quakers are no Christians for my Charity is large enough to believe That many of them would abhorr the principles of their Leaders did they but well understand them for whose sakes in part I have undertaken this Discovery Quakerism is a Heap of Tenets with the usurped Names of true Christian Principles which are yet really no such things but subverting both Foundation and Fabrick of Christianity and I call him a Quaker that professes the light within every man to be the only Lord and Saviour and very God So that when I say Quakerism is no Christianity I do not say that common Civility Justice among men or whatever of their principles or practices which are morally good for these are generally owned as the principles of those Christians whom they separate from and bitterly reproach as Antichristian and it cannot be for want of Instructions or Examples in such kind of goodness that they withdraw from the serious Professors that are as far from their opinions as the East is from the West CHAP. II. The Beginning of Quakerism different from and opposite to Christianity SECT I. THE first Argument which I shall begin my attempt with shall be from the beginning of Quakerism which I shall take notice of under two Considerations First the manner of the beginning of Quakerism Secondly the time of its beginning Both of which I shall prove exceedingly to oppose or differ froâ— the beginning of Christianity The Christian Religion or Christianity was first introduced by the preaching of the promised Messias to be come into the world whose humane Person was pointed at by John the Baptist and visible to the bodily eyes of a multitude of beholders The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World This is he of whom I said after me cometh a man which is preferred before me for he was before me But Quakerism was introduced by preaching a Christ within every man born within every man which was never seen with the bodily eyes of any man and this Testimony of John concerning the true Christ perverted for the maintaining of their feigned Christ And as you give up to that measure of light in your own Consciences and wait to be guided by it and exercised in it you will know Christ revealed within you whom you are looking for without you and put his day far off from you and so you live in want of him and know not how to come to him nor the place where to find him but live in the dreamings and night-visions and have a talk of him and what he hath done for you and so spend your precious time in slumbring and dreaming c. This Quakers Text will bear a large Comment but I will take notice of that only which is to the present purpose here is preached a Christ within in opposition to and
controversies of a Religious concern That the Teachings motions and determinations of the Spirit of God by the Scripture are more suitable to the nature and present condition of man and more certain to his knowledge than any immediate teachings which any enjoy in our days The consequence of this error Chap. VI. The Quakers take men off from reading the Scriptures and looking into them for instruction and comfort The charge proved 1. directly 2. by their affirming the light within every man alsufficient as a Teacher 3. by their affirming the Scripture to be within 4. by their affirming the Scriptures to have no light in them each of these confuted and explained in their order Chap. VII The Quakers affirm the doctrines commands promises holy examples expressed in the Scriptures as such not to be at all binding to us That this is a denying of the Scripture proved That they are guilty of the charge proved and their error confuted That we are to follow the good examples there expressed proved and the manner how that we may not sin on that hand The ill consequences of the error charged on the Quakers Chap. VIII That the Quakers deny the Scriptures to be any means by which we may come to know God Christ or our selves proved and confuted in their order The wicked absurd consequences of this error Chap. IX The Quakers affirm the Scriptures to be no means whereby to resist temptation and that they are dangerous to be read The charge proved and that it is a denying of the Scriptures William Pen rebuked for asserting this falshood Chap. X. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be read to any profit farther than they are beforehand experienced by those that read them Chap. XI They render the Spirit of God and the letter of the Scriptures in direct opposition each to other Chap. XII The Quakers hold it to be a sin and the sin of Idolatry to believe and live according to the instructions and examples expressed by the Letter of the Scriptures except we have them by immediate revelation or inspiration and at first hand as the Apostles received them PART II. Chap. XIII The Quakers deny and subvert all the Ordinances of the Gospel An apologie for and account of Gospel Ordinances as such The Quakers proved to deny Gospel Ordinances in general That they deny and subvert the Gospel Ministry proved the grounds of their denying the Ministry because mediate preaching out of the Scriptures taking maintenance studying for their Sermons that none can speak the truth truly but from immediate revelation All these grounds overthrown in their order They deny a Gospel Church what Church they own and what Ministry what a Gospel Church is and to what ends Chap. XIV The Quakers deny the Ordinance of hearing the Word preached They disown Gospel Prayer In their Families and at Meals altogether Pray in publick not ministerially Deny premeditated Prayer Owne no Prayer but what is by immediate inspiration and motion They pray not in the name of Christ or any Mediator All these proved and refuted in their places The Quakers deny reading and meditating in the Scriptures An apologie for positive or sacramental Ordinances The Quakers deny all Water-Baptism What Baptism they owne The grounds on which they deny Baptism considered and refuted They deny the Lords Supper to be now an Ordinance The grounds of their denial An account of their ridiculous fancies which they call the Lords Supper Chap. XV. The Quakers deny the transactions of Christ when manifested in the flesh 1600 years since and what he doth now at the right hand of God in Heaven to have any influence into our justification and salvation The influence of Christs active and passive obedience considered and objections answered What the righteousness is that the Quakers are as they say justified by and ascribe salvation to Chap. XVI The Quakers disown and deny the Christ of God and set up a false Christ in his room and stead and attribute all that to their false Christ which is due to the true Christ These abundantly proved What Christ they owne as God and as man Those Texts of Scripture on which they chiefly build their great delusion opened largely and discharged the Quakers service Ch. XVII The Quakers are gross Idolaters Quakerism gross Idolatry Abundantly proved by their owning false Gods viz. The Light in every man the Souls of men and the Spirits of men These Charges abundantly proved and that these are no Gods proved plainly The Quakers proved to worship and that according to their own professed principles false Gods Chap. XVIII The Quakers deny the resurrection of the dead Their Evasions discovered Their Objections answered The consequences of their errour Chap. XIX The Quakers do not profess a future reward after the dissolution of the frame of soul and body but are as to that either deeply silent or imply their contempt of such a belief PART III. An Examination of William Pen's Spirit of truth c. wherein his Arguments for the Spirit of God's being in his people essentially and so teaching them immediately as is exclusive of all other teachings their infallibility as the result of such a Proposition and teachings considered and confuted and the unparallel'd vanity and folly of William Pen discovered The Doctrine of immediate inspirations considered more especially and largely the Characters given of Apostolical persons distinguishing them from all others since Christs administration Characters distinguishing the inspiration of the Apostles which gave authority divine to the Scripture from the highest illuminations of the Saints as such in our days A Key to the Quakers new coin'd Phrases and also to their meanings of such Scripture and religious phrases as are commonly used by the Orthodox The Conclusion wherein is shewed that the Quakers contemn all rational demonstration and make their experience and inward sensation the only demonstration to themselves of the principles they hold Scriptures opened in the First Part. Book Ch. Ver. Pag. Words Deut. 5 32 17 The word is nigh thee c. Job 26 13 14 74 By his Spirit he hath c. John 4 23 64 Worship the Father in c. John 14 6 97 I am the way c. Acts. 24 16 71 Conscience void of offence c. 1 Cor. 3 6 122 The Spirit of God dwelleth c 2 Thes 2 4 64 Sitteth in the Temple of c. 2 Tim. 3 15 103 And that from a Child c. 1 John 2 22 64 Antichrist that denyeth c. 1 John 2 27 62 But the anointing c. In the Second Part. Job 23 4 29 I would order my cause c. Psal 85 9 10 11. 58 Mercy and truth are not c. Jer. 5 2 14 Liveth surely they swear c. Mat. 6 11 24 Give us this day our daily c. JOHN 1 9 84 THAT WAS THE TRVE LIGHT c. Rom. 10 8 94 The word is nigh the c. Rom. 5 14 21 Nevertheless Death reigned c
conceiving knowing were not Gods nor to be concerned in his worship Certainly if nothing of man soul or body be active therein man doth not worship God nor pray at all and so God worships himself which is the true result of the Quakers Tenets But let us consider a Text or two out of the Word of God I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments The word order in the Heb. signifies a marshalling his words Prayer is not only a petition but a humble pleading wrestling with God and sure there was somewhat of Job in ordering his cause and he used his spiritual skill in it 'T is render'd by Arias Montanus disponerem I would dispose my cause Give ear to my words O Lord. What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also c. Here is Paul's will in prayer I will and here is Paul's understanding also exercised in prayer vers 15. But my understanding is unfruitfull which he blames as a companion of prayer that being supposed Thus I have proved the Quakers denying Gospel-prayer in this respect above-mentioned and reproved their anti-Gospel notions by the Scriptures Lastly They own no prayer but what is by the light and in the light within And the prayers of such only are accepted and not the prayers of those who think to be heard for their much babling who have many words but not in the life So that their prayers only are acceptable who pray in the life that is with the Quakers by the motions of their light within and although we are far from thinking to be heard for the sake of much better things than much babling yet all the words of prayer that are not qualified by their principle the light within is in their account but babling For it's truth in the inward parts he seeks for wherein none of you can worship who know not the living Word in your hearts to keep them up to God in your worship and that worship which is not in the will of God is the worshipping of Devils If you ask any of them What is the truth in the inward parts They will not answer it is sincerity meanings suitable to our expressions and appearances but it is Christ the light within who is the truth And for knowing the living Word it is of the same sense it is all but the light within every man the Quakers Christ And for the will of God that is nothing but the immediate life and motions of the light within I have said enough out of their Writings to prove these things neither will they deny them but Naylor telleth you and it is not for any Quaker to resist the Spirit by which he spake that worship not thus qualified is the worshiping of Devils It may be some of the Quakers though they know in their consciences that I speak but the very truth of their Tenets and Notions will say I put my meanings to their words but if they will but bate me speaking from their light within which they hold necessary to qualifie a man to speak truly I dare undertake to expound according to their meaning their ill meant phrases as well as the most of them and their mystery is none to me at all And although they talk of praying in the name of Christ yet as Naylor phrases it That is done in the name of Christ which is done in his light and power But when all is done this Christ and name and light and power is but the light within and its teachings and motions It is to me reported on all hands That they never pray in the name of Christ as their Mediator much less then do they pray to God in or in the name of Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary or of that one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus even that Jesus who was crucified at Jerusalem between two thieves above 1600 years since I have put this to many of them and they denied not this Charge neither can I see how they can pray to the Father in the name of Christ seeing God the Father and Christ with them admit of no distinction and for the man Christ that was born of Mary they have nothing to do with him The Apostle saith A Mediator is not of one but God is one And whoever they are that deny and disown prayer in the name of Christ are far from owning the Gospel-Ordinance of prayer SECT IV. Reading the Scriptures and Meditation which are Gospel-Ordinances they also deny I need not tell you of the contempt they put upon the Scripture as a dead letter the carnal letter and on those who attend to it as dry Letter-mongers Take only one instance of William Pens 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 Gods work come to be made known And Fisher calls studying the Scripture scraping in the Scripture I wonder wherefore God ordered and commanded them to be written if they are not to be read and studied The Spirit of Christ within is the end of the Tables Law Works and Books and the Law is now in the heart Whatever thou be whether a teacher of others or a professor of what thou comprehends to be truth from the letter of the Scripture under what form name or title soever thou be thou art a dead man and a dead woman and the wrath of God abides on thee though thou see it not Rom. 7. 9. Miserable man that talks at this rate and will father it on the Scripture too and such a one as is directly against him But we have had enough of this smoak SECT V. I shall say somewhat of their abundant scorn of the Lords Supper and Baptism wherein they express a superfluity of naughtiness not only in their Tenets but down-right railing The Ordinances I have hitherto considered in particular are called moral from their natural obligation although that substantial and essential part and qualification of them their respect to a Mediator will require a denomination more evangelical and without which we cannot call them Gospel or Christian-Ordinances Those two Gospel-Ordinances I come now to consider are purely and perfectly positive and depend meerly upon divinely-revealed institution without which they had never come within our notice nor had they been any way obliging to us Yet such is the sanction that the Lord hath put upon institutions of this nature that not only since his revealed Law hath abounded to his Church but also when the revelations of his mind immediately to his servants was very rare he did not omit injunctions of this kind The sacrifices we read of as early as Cain and Abel Yea Adam in his state of innocency who then needed not any indication of moral duties beyond what was within the
But I proceed to further proof He that will worship Christ in his fulness in the majesty of his glory dominion and power must learn to bow down at the lowest appearances of his Light and Spirit even at the feet of Jesus He calls it worship by Christ they all mean the light within and the lowest appearances must be bowed at which is the least measure of the light within Priest To say that Christ is within man is to worship angels and not to hold the head Christ this he makes the Priest to say but whether any did so or no it matters not to my purpose but his answer Answ Which none comes to witness Christ the head but who witness him in them that the angels must worship him that died and suffered at Jerusalem and they that worship him in them worship not the angels and they that are not worshiping him in them are worshiping Men Devils or Angels By the Christ that dyed and suffered at Jerusalem they intend nothing less than the Son of Mary I have already shewed they utterly deny him to be the Christ and they own Christ suffering at Jerusalem in no other sense than they say he died suffered or was crucified in every one of themselves and that you may be convinced of the truth of what I here affirm mark what followes They are false ministers who preach Christ without and bid people believe in him as he is in heaven above but they are the true ministers that preach Christ within C. This is a great difference in their doctrine for the one to pretend to preach Christ without and another preacheth him within Father Yes it doth make a great difference and hath no more fellowship together than the East hath with the West So that the Quakers Christ the light within is not only some part of the true Christ who may as Christ be without as well as within them but they are at such odds one with another that they can have no more fellowship than East and West and this is the Christ they worship and to worship any other as Fox saith is to worship Men Devils or Angels Thus I have made good my second argument and thereby proved them gross Idolaters And there is somewhat in their Idolatry that is not common Idolatry for it is apostatical Idolatry which is so earnestly and with such an emphasis exclaimed against by the Lord Hath aâ—â—tion Changed their Gods which are yet no Gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye Heavens at this be ye horribly afraid be ye verily desolate saith the Lord. And it is no less agravated in that while the Heathen who had not their means to know God yet were gross Idolaters and as Pen saith true enough worshiped as the Aegyptians an Ape a Crocodile yea herbs almost any thing these wretches for better they are not worship that natural conscience that Spirit of man which is not only a creature an ignorant creature but full of darkness error pride all manner of Sin and worst of all a blasphemer of the God of Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ the dear Redeemer But what now doth it boot them to say they worship and own the Creator and Christ and the Lord and only him and such like and what folly is it after such evidences for any to say sure they are not so bad their principles are of a more tolerable at least stamp they are civil zealous people for religion in their way how will nothing but drunkenness or robbery of men in their outward goods and such like vices render men wicked will not the highest affronts to Heaven must men be believed rather than God in his word which hath spoken of such persons to arise 1 John 2. Chap. and many other places See how God excused those in the second of Jer. in the 19 23 and 24. Verses Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast for saken the LORD thy GOD and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of hostes How canst thou say I am not polluted I have not gone after Baalim see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done thou art a swift dromedarie traversing her wayes A wild Ass used to the wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away all they that seek her will not wear themselves in her moneth they shall find her CHAP. XVII The Quakers deny the resurrection of the dead SECT I. I Doubt not but all who are not infatuated with the Quakers spirit to a perverting the genuine sense of almost all the expressions of principles of faith will understand by the resurrection of the dead the raising again to life and from the dust and corruption the bodies of men and women however disposed of after their natural death or dissolution The Quakers will deny their guilt of this Charge and come off with an Allegorical evasion They will tell you that they believe and own the resurrection of the dead yea of the dead body whereas in truth their opinion and meaning is quite another thing than the Ordinary acceptation of that doctrine as will appear by the instances following And hath no will nor wisdom nor reason left in him but all baptized down into the sufferings of Christ and there the power kills him and gives him life again and so man layes down his own life and takes uâ— life in Christ in which life he comes to be raised in the resurrection of Christ I must confess this account is like his who though he may have too much will is utterly void of reason But he that shall own no other resurrection of the body than what Smith expresses comes under that severe rebuke of the apostle who concerning the faith have erred saying that the resurrection is past already and have destroyed the faith of some The foresaid Author saith farther Quest But must man pass through death and rise again while he is in the Body Answ Yes for except he be regenerated and born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And therefore he must die to the first Adams flesh and be quickned and raised again in the second Adams Spirit And so in the resurrection and life enter the Kingdom as a little Child You see here plainly that their resurrection of the body is but their regeneration and this is fulfilled while they are in the body But above all that I have read of the Quakers Fisher is the best skilled in the allegorizing of the resurrection But if you will not be admonished nor perswaded by Moses and the Prophets within you neither will you be perswaded by such of us who were once dead in Sin with you but are now risen to life by
by the Quakers at the cheap rate of accepting though poyson taken into the Body and delusions into the Soul are ever dear and costly But to the unwillingly mistaken among the people called Quakers and such whose inclinations are towards their Principles and Practices known by the name of Quakerism I do solemnly profess That I have the witness of God and my own Conscience that I heartily desire the welfare and Salvation of all sorts of men whatever notions they fall under and however disobliging in their carriages towards me in particular And although I hope I shall not justifie the Opinions called Quakerism till I dye yet I am perswaded there are many called Quakers whom the Lord will turn from their way which is not Christs and sanctifie them by his Spirit and justifie them through his Grace by Jesus Christ even that Christ who as God is every where and as Man is ascended above the visible Heavens and Skies If sincere protestations of my righteousness and sincerity in this matter and the verity of what I have written would prevail with you my Spirit is clear and I doubt not but my Pen might be as serviceable to it as some of those whose interest is too great in you Yea I know not that suffering I might embrace without sinning against God but for Christ sake and yours I should not long to be baptized with I beg of you in the bowels of a Christian that you would not slight the Truth and Scripture-evidence here presented to your view The Quakers have no Miracles to bind you to their perswasion and sure the Truths contained in the Scripture and right reason may match all other visible demonstrations You venture hard to Father all your Opinions on the immediate inspirations and your affections and practices on the motions of that Spirit who is God which if it prove to be otherwise which will be as certainly as God is Truth your early repentance may be accepted but your late repentance will make little for your comfort I would not then be in your condition for more Worlds than there are Stars in the Firmament I beseech you do not think that God hath given you the reason of men to be serviceable to you only in the affairs of this world and not to be exercised at all in discerning truth from error good from evil of a Spiritual and Religious nature The new creature is the creature renewed that is Body Soul and Spirit so enlightned as to know God in Christ so sanctified as to be devoted to him in whatever service he shall command and to make a Heaven of nothing on this side the full Vision and enjoyment of his favour and glorious presence in the other world or the world to come and what will necessarily result from thence If you think me too smart in some passages in the Book be pleased to consider if against Persons it is against those your misleaders who are to be blamed at a sharper rate than good Eli chid his Sons and was therefore rebuked by God to the breaking his heart his neck and the loss of a great priviledge besides if against sayings or opinions I have fully proved them gross falshoods foolish and pernicious lusts and errors and I know not how to call gall and poyson by sweet and lovely names I must alter my stile according to the matter and occasion or they would agree like Harp and Harrow and I assure you it is neither my conscience duty nor design to commend their Opinions to the world Do not say I intend hereby your persecution for it is far from my principle and natural temper also and I know nothing that men who are your Adversaries can do more to promote your Tenets and Party though suffering without further evidences of truth as the cause is a poor foundation of Religion Your Souls Servant JOHN FALDO November 23. 1672. THE CONTENTS PART I. Chap. I. QVakerism affirmed to be no Christianity The tearms Quakerism Christianity Quaker Christian explained What Christianity is strictly considered and distinguished from Heathenism Judaism or any other character of Religion Chap. II. The beginning of Quakerism compared with the beginning of Christianity with respect to the manner and with respect to the time of its beginning from both Quakerism proved to be no Christianity or not the Christian administration Chap. III. Proving the Quakers denying the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the word of God that the intent is more than a meer verbal matter that this is the gate and inlet of their other errors the grounds of their denying it to be the word of God all of which are examined and refuted the definition of a word and the Scriptures proved to be the word of God of that species contended about more properly than Christ the Son of God is the word of God the Scripture proved to be the word of God by its own undeniable evidence where it cannot be understood of any other than the written word denying the Scripture to be the word of God proved a denying of the Scripture the titles the Quakers give to the Scriptures examined and proved though taken altogether to come short of a fit and distinct character of the Scriptures the ends and necessity of the Quakers denying the Scripture this title for the support of their other fancies The sense we take the Scripture to be the word of God in the written word proved to be the word of God Chap. IV. The Quakers equal their own writings and sayings with the word of God and prefer them before the word of God So to do proved a denying the Scripture that they do so proved by their pretending them infallible that they speak and write by immediate inspiration that the Spirit of God dwells in them essentially and in all his divine properties and Christ speaks out of them as through a Trunk Proved by the characters they give of their own writings and sayings beyond and excelling the characters afforded by them to the holy Scriptures Infallibility explained the Quakers infallibility confuted by divers mediums their immediate inspiration considered and confuted the woful and absurd consequences of this error the Papists foundations of their orders and grossest absurdities and the foundation of the Quakers Religion proved to be the same thing and instances given on both sides viz. contempt of the Scripture as insufficient infallibility and immediate revelations and divine inspirations the Quakers proved to have the blackest marks of Antichrist upon them Chap. V. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be a rule of faith and life or a Judge and determiner in religious controversies This charge proved to be a denying the Scriptures That charge it self proved Herein they agree with the Jesuites That whatever is by the Lord affirmed in the Scripture ought to be believed That what is there in commanded and not repealed ought to be obeyed That the holy Scriptures do in their kind determine
made use of to bespatter the guiltless might remain quiet enough as not so dangerous and adverse to Satans interest and Kingdom How generally were their Meetings either silent or taken up with the sudden and violent irruptions of dismal howling and horrible roarings persons suddenly taken as with the falling-sickness shaking and foaming at the Mouth and some lying flat on the ground as stark dead some such things as these I have seen and heard and what there are undeniable Testimonies of are so numerous and notorious that though you have now almost if not altogether left the latter sort of them you dare not deny that it was so and if you dare to challenge this with untruth I may requite you with a good part of a Volume of them to keep alive their remembrance I now proceed to my second consideration of the beginnings of Quakerism with respect to time SECT IV. What I have already said in the opening the term Christianity will save me much of the labour of proving in this place when it began to take place I know none that assert Heathenism or the state of the Saints before the flood or of the Patriarchs after the flood or the Israelites under Moses's Administration to be in a proper and strict sense Christian except some of the Quakers who date it from the reign of the light within their only Christ and will needs have not only Jewes but Heathen and especially Adam in innoceney to be under that dispensation yet I doubt not to prove both from Scripture and also from their own Writings by necessary consequence that Christianity is not so old as the forementioned nor yet so young as Quakerism Some though but few date Christianity from the Birth of Christ Others with much more reason from the Resurrection of Christ when he had finished his Transaction for the merit of our salvation in the Person of God-Man and from that Declaration he made of the possession of the Power committed to him Matth. 28. 18. All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth But all agree who make any distinction that it began immediately upon the abrogation and dissolution of the Mosaical Administration and Temple-Worship which was above sixteen hundred years since although as the Scripture speaks The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch Acts 11. 26. But the thing Christianity might well be before the name Christian so short a space And that the Christian-Name had about that time its Beginning appears by the reply of Agrippa to Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Acts 28. 8. which then it seems was the common appellation of Believers and Professors of the Faith of Christ but if all this will not convince I will adde one Text more to make down-weight Yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed 1 Pet. 4. 16. Here Christianity is distinguished both from Heathenism and Judaism Both the Gentiles and the Jews were bitter enemies to the Christian Name and that not for the Name but the things sake the Gentiles for their denying Idol-worship the Jews for their deserting the Mosaical Constitution the Gentiles for their only worshipping the only true God the Jews for worshipping the true God by and through Jesus Christ the Mediatour And I brethren if I yet preach Circumcision why do I yet suffer persecution then is the offence of the Cross ceased Gal. 5. 11. Having adjusted the entrance of Christianity into the world in point of time let us now compare Notes whether it agree with the Birth of Quakerism I know but of two Arguments such as they be upon which they build their Antiquity and by both of them they date their Christianity either from Adam or Eternity The first is from Christ the Light who was in the Beginning with God But if they make the being of their Christianity commensurate with the being of Christ as God I confess 't is but folly for any other to number days with it But besides the notorious absurdity of this Fancy at first view to those that dream not waking I have already proved that Christianity had a beginning and that long since the Creation The other Argument is from Inspirations and immediate teaching which next to the light within is the main principle of Quakerism To this I answer by way of grant and concession that there was immediate teaching and revelation very early in the world but that wherever and whenever there was immediate teaching then and there was Christianity is a thing that men who have better skill in the Scriptures and more use of their reason then they will be ashamed to attempt the proof of But if it were granted That Inspirations divine and immediate did constitute Christianity and that all who are or were thereby conducted are to be accounted Christians it will be long enough ere the Quakers prove they are the persons and not long before I have proved that they are not as will appear when you come to that point handled at large in this Treatise But beside the notoriousness of the Quakers novelty I shall fully prove it from their own Assertions and if they oppose one another let them look to that and agree among themselves as well as they can It is now about seven years since the Lord raised us up in the North of England and opened our Mouths in this his spirit By the date of the Impression it should be about 51 that Quakerism brake forth in this Nation and England hath this unhappiness that it was the first Breeder of this Sect and the North of England the part first infected I remember there is an old Proverb I suppose grounded on manifold experiences All evil comes out of the North. But against this it may be objected that although they were the first in England and of late generations yet the Religion it self is ancient Let us therefore follow it to the root by their own direction After these things in the year 1648. God who had compassion on his people did cause a branch to spring forth of the root of David which was filled with vertue for the Covenant of Life and Peace was with him and he spread and shot forth many branches which did partake of the fatness of the Root and the weary came to rest under his branches in him also was the Word of Reconciliation which turned the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the disobedient to the Wisdom of the just Observe the blasphemy of these expressions many of which are by the Scripture spoken of Christ and agreeing to him only but applied by this Wretch to the first of their Sect brought forth in their Spirit in the year 1648. who it should be except James Naylor I cannot guess and it follows immediately And in the Year 1655. I being a branch of this Tree viz. the Branch aforesaid the life of its Root caused me
things or worse with the conceits of any who shall be so presumptuous as to pretend to Inspirations and Revelations and of this sort there are a crowd among the Men and Women also of the Quakers If they declare if they write yea whatever religious Action they move in they pretend all to be from the immediate Guidance and Impulse of the Spirit of God and that in as ample a manner as ever the Apostles and Prophets could pretend unto so that this principle being as universally entertained as the name of Christ it might be said without an Hyperbole that the whole World could not contain the Pamphlets that would be written and called The VVord or VVords of the Lord and of what value the Holy Scriptures would be in such a crowd of its pretended betters it is not hard to conclude Hear what James Naylor saith The things following which I have declared of are not the things of man nor by man did I receive them but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ The VVord of the Lord to his beloved City c. This is the title He concludes Through your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Jesus imitating the words of John in Rev. 1. 9. This I say in the Presence of the living God and by the Spirit of the living God Parnel Shield of the Truth p. 41. Give a most undeniable Exposition of a Scripture against their way the Answer is thy carnal minde discerns not the things of God Thou puttest thy meanings to the Scriptures the Scriptures must be judged of by the light or the Spirit from whence they came but thou art in neither If we bring a plain text in so many words against their Tenets and Practices the Answer then is Thou art in the Letter And therefore Pennington prays seriously My upright desire to the Lord for you is That he would strip you of your knowledge of the Scriptures according to the flesh By Flesh their sense is the use of our understandings though sanctified as will appear in the KEY at the end of this Book to which I must referre you for construing all such ambiguous and hard words Sixthly Doting on the Scriptures with your dark minds SECT II. That the Quakers do thus equal their Writings and Sayings c. with the Scripture shall appear by four undeniable things First they pretend to Infallibility This they assert to be necessary in all their Ministers who ordinarily declare or write and that without it it were impossible to be fitted for that work Hear what the chiefest of their Apostles saith How can ye be Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter if ye be not infallible and how can they but delude people who are not infallible and George Whitehead in a Letter to me writes thus Quest Whether Infallibility be attainable by any in these days which we affirm is to true believers which if thou deniest we question thy Call to the Ministry They pretend to speak and write by the immediate Inspiration of God and this is another part whereby they aspire to equality The Apostle Paul gives this Character of the Scripture 2 Tim. 3 16. All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God c. And the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1â—21 For the Prophecy came not in old time by the VVill of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Let us now compare Notes and see how far in these respects the Quakers will give the Scriptures the upper hand of their sayings or Writings And how should he do otherwise seeing he hath denied the infallible spirit from which all the Ministers ministred and all the Prophets prophecied and spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost He was here pleading for their Mens and Womens prophesying and concludes that to deny the Infaliible spirit to be and speak in the Quakers was to deny the infallible spirit by which all the Prophets prophecicd c. Therefore may I say much more it is not in the Power of that little Book either to throw down self-will in any in whom it is not yet subdâ—ed or to exalt the truth in general because its only Queries gathered by the Author from the Letter â—f the Scriptures without and no Message of heavenly Prophecie Doctrine or Exhortation received by the Author from the Lord through the divine Inspiration of his light and spirit within therefore I say it is a very vain and idolatrous Exhortation The Writings of the Quakers are full to this purpose but my business in these instances being to prove matter of Fact only this may suffice Thirdly they pretend the Spirit of God to be in them in an essential consideration and in all his divine Prophecies and that it is Gods indwelling in them thus considered from which their sayings and writings proceed In this they arrogate to themselves and their expressions more then any of the Prophets and Apostles durst once imagine all they believe and declare they say is from the light within yea it is the light within that reveals it and not they and therefore they will not call them their sayings ordinarily but such as pass through them as if God spake through them as one may speak through a Trunk which is only a passage for the voice but no proper Organ of speech Through your Brother and Companion e. W. D. Conclusion The Voice of the Son of God was uttered forth through him by which the dead was raised And indeed this light within they pretend to be both Father Son and Spirit for they make no distinction but this being matter of fact I shall prove it out of their writings but you must not suppose that I shall find any such words as essential or properties in their Authors for such words are too proper for them and expressive of the truth to such who understand them but I shall finde the things as very God cloathed with those Attributes which are peculiar to him and whoever reads what immediately follows and considers the Evidences to be but the Quakers own Confessions and shall not be touched with horror and indignation against their principles let that man or woman know that a Conscience seared with a hot iron is too soft for their insensibleness Every man hath that which is one in union and like the Spirit of Christ even as good as the Spirit of Christ according to its measure Child I am sensible that there is something in my Conscience that lets me see my secret Thoughts and the Intents of my heart c. Father That is the true light of Christ within that lets thee see the thoughts and the intents of the heart and God hath freely given it unto thee and requires thy obedience to it Ch. But if I should turn unto it and obey it when it reproves me for sin is there Power in it
Competition between Jesus Christ and G. Fox and what the Lord and Master did in this case so did his servants the Apostles as I might instance abundantly I will direct you only to Peters Sermons Acts 2. I need not instance in any more He that hath read the Scriptures may easily furnish himself And who can doubt but they who made use of the Letter of the Scriptures for evidence of what in their Ministry they preached or writ were Ministers of the Letter as well as of the Spirit And moreover if we consider the letter of the Scripture to be the letter of the Spirit written by its direction and to express in its kind the minde of the Spirit This Querie of George Fox may be turned upon himself thus and how can ye be Ministers of the Spirit if ye be not Ministers of the Letter also The latter part of his Sentence is a higher Demonstration of the fallibility of his Chair And how can they but delude people who are not infallible True indeed if they did perswade people that they could not in any thing be mistaken or be ignorant but seeing only the Quakers pretended Ministry and the Pope of Rome do assume this to themselves they only are in a necessity of deluding the people for our parts who live in all manner of pride as the Quakers by their spirit of Infallibility do charge us we are not yet come up to their Perfection for we freely acknowledge that we may erre in doctrine and do erre in practice which we bewail before God and men and also that the people may not be deluded by us we desire them and charge them not to pin their faith on our sleeves but repair to the Law and to the Testimony and search the Scriptures try whether the things we affirm be so or no And if we speak contrary to the Minde of God there expressed to reject our doctrine and also that they follow our Example no further then we follow Christ even that Man Christ Jesus who was for a time on Earth but is now in Heaven But what do you think of the Holy Apostles were they universally infallible could not they erre if you say so Paul will convict you of errour in his charging Peter none of the least of the Apostles with erring and in something deluding the people Gal. 2. 12 13 14. Peter dissembled the truth in practising the Mosaical distinction of Jewes and Gentiles and separating from the believing Gentiles as unclean And the other Jewes yea and Barnabas also was carried away with his dissimulation But then you will say how can we be sure that what they wrote and taught was truth I answer that although they might in some thingâ— be carried away by temptation as Peter was in thaâ— case yet their doctrine which they professed to bâ— from the Lord and by the Inspiration of God could not admit of erring or fallibility and that not because they had an habitual infallibility in all things buâ— because of the love of God to his people the regard of his honour and the firmness of his Promises which he made to them those especially John 14. 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you John 16. 13. Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come Now these Promises being made to the Apostles for furnishing them with ability for their work as Apostles they may be concluded to be infallibly guided by the Spirit but in other things though by their eminent habitual grace they were not likely â—o fall as others who were not cloathed with such a measure and degree as they yet it was more then possible that they should fail but according to G. Fox's infallibility and without limitation the Apostles themselves could not but delude the people But to conclude this particular of Infallibility take beside what hath been said one considerable proof of their non-attainment of Infallibility and that is the most grossely absurd Exposition they give of the Scriptures See what follows with the eyes of Christian-men We are accused that we judge people It is written the Saints shall judge the world an infallible proof as if it were a Command or Prophecy of the Saints i. e. the Quakers calling men all â—o nought how serious soever who are not professedly conducted and saved by the light within but he goes on more and more infallibly And for Judgement am I come into the World saith Christ As if Christs coming into the World sixteen hundred years ago were to the end that they might pass their rash Censures freely But he grows still And where Christ ruleth in his Saints he judgeth the World as Paul witnessed It is no more I but Christ in me Where Paul witnessed this such a Spirit of discerning as they tell us of must finde out for the Scripture hath nothing like it only in two places Rom. 7. 17. It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me But I am sure Sin and Christ are two things Gal. 2. 20. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me But that was not to censure others but to comfort Paul under the hard censures and usages of others But the passage of coming into the World for Judgement brings into my minde one remarkable Expositor It is a right and sound doctrine to preach him as he is the light of the World and lighteth every man that cometh into the world But what world is this This is the great Prophet who is come into the World which is set in the heart Eccles 3. 11. which is in the midst out of which Moses saith the Lord world raise up a Prophet Lev. 8. 15. which Prophet being come he saith I am come a Light into the World John 1. 12. and 12. 35 36 46 The World being set in the heart there is the light of him who saith I am the light So that with him the World is the heart Christs coming into the World is his comeing into the heart and as he came into the world the heart so he is also raised up out of the world the heart but how like such a Prophet is to Moses I should too much suspect your understandings if I should trouble you with my sense he that is declined as far as dotage may perceive it without a Guide as also the gross darkness of this Expositor in the rest Let us see what sound Exposition the great Lanthorn of the Quakers gives for I must not call him their Great Light for that is in the Lanthorn 1 Cor. 14 34 35. Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not
Charge of Fanaticism among us You may finde the Doctor as good as his word in the following Pages St. Francis is said by Bonaventâ—re a canonizâ—d Saint to be an illiterate man had no Teacher but Christ and learned all by Inspiration for a long time wherein he got his credit among the Papists once casting away his very breeches and being stark naked before them all he said thus to his father Hitherto I called thee Father on Earth but hence forward I can securely say Our Father which is in Heaven I know not but the Quakers learned their going naked and denying to call any father which was their practice at first but the light grows wiser and wiser from St. Francis rather then the Prophet Isa Let us cite a little of the doctrine and phrases some of which are pretended from Inspiration by the Popish Votaries and first of Mother Juliana That the soul is so deep-grounded in God and so endlessely treasured that we may not come to the knowing thereof till we have first knowing of God which is the Maker to whom it is oned Our kindly substance is beeloâ—ed in Jesu with the blessed soul of Christ resting in the Godhead for into the time that it the soul is in the full â—ights we may not be all holy The only proper disposition towards the receiving supernatural Irradiations from Gods Holy Spirit is an Abstraction of life a sequestration from all businesse that concerns others and an attendance on God alone in the depth of the Spirit And a little after the lights here prayed for and desired are such as do expel all images of Creatures and do calm all manner of passions to the end that the soul being in a vacuity may be more capable of receiving and entertaining God in the pure fund of the spirit but they seek rather to purifie themselves and inflame their hearts to the love of God by internal quiet and pure actuations in spirit so disposing themselves to receive the influxes and inspirations of God whose Guidance chiefly they desire to follow-in all things Rejecting and striving to forget all images and representations of him God or any thing else yea transcending all Operations of the imagination and all subtilty and curiosity of reasoning And lastly seeking an union with God only by the most pure and intime affections of the Spirit what possibility of illusion or errour can there be to such a soul In which passive unions God after a wonderful and unconceivable manner affords them interior illuminations and touches yet far more efficacious and divine then active Exercises in all which the soul is a meer Patient and only suffers God to work his divine pleasure in her The which unions though they last but even as it were a moment yet do more illuminate and pacifie the soul then many years spent in active exercises of spiritual Prayer and Mortification could do Yea so far is the soul from reâ—ecting on her own Existence that it seems to her God and she are not distinct but only one thing That God only by his holy Inspirations is the Gride and Director of an internal and contemplative life Râ—ynaldus tells of Norius the father of the Oratorians out of Baciâ—s the Writer of his life that he was so offended with the smell of filthy souls that he would desire the persons to empty the Jakes of their souls Such a divine Nose had this Saint among them a degree of Enthusiasm above the Quakers who can but discern not smell souls Some of you called Quakers pretend a great advantage from 1 John 2. 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that a y man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him The Anointing here cannot be understood of Christ neither do we find the Anointing any where to be understood of Father Son or Spirit essentially considered and indeed the phrase is not fit to be applied to God who is the Anointer or Christ who is the Anointed The teaching of the Anointing being understood of the Graces and the habitual and special Enlightnings of the Spirit these devote and addict the soul under the power of them to adhere to the true Christ For the all things it is to be considered as restrained to the matter agitated in the Chapter which is their adhering to the true Christ and this is plain in he 26. ver These things have I written to you conâ—erning them that seduce you The summe then is this they knowing certainly the true Christ from any Antichrist that which they were mainly to look after was a heart cleaving to and improving him which the Graces of God in their souls actuated by the Spirit of God was sufficient in this matter to make their knowledge of Christ sanctifying and saving As for the words in him which render it Majâ— in the Gr. it may be rendred in any Gender These Considerations duely weighed if there were no more are sufficient to any who have respect to the pure truths of the Gospel to render the principles here detected and opposed not only suspicious but hateful It is no little absurdity in the Quakers to make an out-cry against Popery Babylon false worship formes that are not only unscriptural but also idolatrous while in the mean time they plant and â—…ug the root in their own bosomes from which all those evils and more and worse naturally spring It were no hard matter to prove a symbolizing and agreement in a multitude of particulars between the Papists and Quakers in those things wherein they are contrary to the Protestant Profession of Christianity and the Scripture-Rule but more especially in the spiritual part of their errors which in the sight of God are of all other the most sinful and to men a snare most dangerous The Apostle speaks of more Antichrists then one though of one as the Chief of whose Characters Quakerism hath the blackest I shall mention only two the first expressed in 1. ep of John chap 2. ver 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ he is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son That you who are called Quakers deny Jesus to be the Christ I prove at large in a Chapter by its self that you deny the Father and the Son is no less true of you who will admit no distinction between the Father and the Son so that the Father is with you as much the Son of the Father as the Son is the Son of the Father and the Son is as much the Father with you of the Son as the Father is the Father of the Son that by destroying these distinctions you destroy the relation of Father and Son in the Godhead which the Scripture speaks of so plainly and it is hereby apparent that
gathered together united according to Christs form first to him then one to another for mutual edification in the things of God But this the Quakers utterly deny CHAP. XIV They deny the Ordinance of hearing the Word preached SECT I. THey will allow a hearing the Word preached and that must be the light within but the mind of God contained in the Scripture they must by no means hear preached for as I hinted from G. Fox we must not hear man for the Prophets bid Cease from man But having already so largely proved their tenet to be That only the light within must be attended to I need not do the same thing over and over I will give you a Scripture or two to strengthen you against this fancy-full teacher the light within And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace c. But I say have they not heard yea verily their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Here are more Preachers than one and these Texts explain what is meant by the word nigh thee in the 8th Verse which the Quakers lay as a strong foundation for their light within This Word must be heard or they could not believe and it could not preach it self for they could not hear without a Preacher and these Preachers could not be the Word Christ for they had feet which Christ as within believers Christ as the eternal God hath not and the Preachers were more than one whereas Christ the Word is but one as appears by the Relatives plural they them theirs But now I am upon the point of hearing the Word a great mystery of the Quakers comes into my mind and it is worth the revealing That is this They hold it is the light that preaches the light that is preached the light that hears or is preached to and so the light which with them is God Father Son and Spirit is all concerned in the Gospel and man nothing at all for it is the light that doth all also I think when I have proved this I have discovered that which will render the Quakers the most absurd and blasphemous Idiots that ever undertook to speak with mans voice Quest Is there something of God in my conscience that will give me the knowledge of him Answ There is not any thing else that can do it And man cannot know him God by any other way but by the manifestation of his light within him Now I shall prove that the light is the main if not the only thing to be preached according to the Quakers Tenet Mind the light of God which hath convinced you And this is the meaning of our doctrine to bring people to the everlasting Word of God in themselves And that this light within is also preached to and the only auditor of the doctrines which the Quakers say are preached and taught by the light is proved by these instances To the light of God in all your consciences I speak which is one in all So I desire that you may mind the light of God to which I speak which is my witness Priest There is nothing in man to be spoken to but man Answ How then ministred the Apostle to the Spirit And Christ spake to the Spirits in prison And Timothy was to stir up the gift that was in him I must not ravel into these Texts now as brought in by Fox I shall say more of it in the following Pages only take notice That these spirits were the souls of those men and so a part of them with whom the Spirit of God did strive before the floud but are now as the Devils under the irreversible sentence of damnation which is in part already executed on them which is their now prison wherein they are fast reserved to future and greater punishments and in part punished already Over and above George Fox is both out of the humility and the meekness as they phrase it and out of the knowledge of himself and out of his wits also in saying That there is a proof to thee that the Quakers are sent of God who speak to thee of the Scriptures right as they are I am lastly to shew you by good proof that the light within is the obedient subject also to its own absolute and infallible dictates and then I have discharged a very fair Province Now is the life the faith the obedience of the Son the thing which is of value in us So that their obedience is the obedience of the Son alias the light in them which is all one with the light in me obeys And upon this conceit it is that they say they are saved by the righteousness of Christ because they account all the righteousness done by them to be the pure and unmixt acts of the light within We are accused that we judge people Where Christ rules in his Saints he judgeth as Paul said It is no more I but Christ in me I forbear here to remark his forging of Scripture or making Gods stream to turn the Devils Mill But right or wrong 't is plain he would have you believe it is not their act but Christs act And if you enquire of any of them that have drunk in their principles and are not Novice-Quakers whether any act of their obedience to the light be their obedience they will answer no no 't is the obedience of Christ the obedience of the light SECT II. The Quakers disown Gospel-Prayer I take Gospel-Prayer to be the souls uttering its wants and desires to God by way of humble supplication with an audible voice when it is exercised solemnly in a Congregation or Family with or without an audible voice when a person is private but alway in the name and for the sake and merits of Jesus Christ And this the Quakers disown That they use not prayer audibly at least with their Families daily is known by all that have opportunities of so conversing with them wherein they sin against our Saviours Directory After this manner pray ye c. When ye pray say Our Father c. And in both one Petition is Give us this day our daily bread wherein two things are implyed First Prayer by more than one Our Father give us Secondly Family-Prayer for that the whole family sharing in common in the plenty or scarcity of provision especially for the belly which is the great spender they are concerned to put up their joynt supplications to God for daily bread and that daily which might have made a third Note viz. That although we may pray every prayer we offer up to the Lord for provision to our lives end yet we are to pray for it every day and especially for the provision of the present day But this the Quakers wholly disuse as a contemptible form That they crave not
may a little explain this last Instance Which obedience stands not in any thing seen from man or by man done thereby to imitate or do the like for that is two obediences That as the same Father calls for the same obedience in spirit so in the same spirit doth the believer offer up himself I leave you to brood on these wild and worse sayings I know their mystery and depth of Satan but to spread them all in the light will ask more Paper than I am willing to write out in this Book Another expression and quality of the Quakers justifying righteousness is That it is within them not without them Christ being within there is justification Now is the life the faith the obedience of the Son the thing which is of value in us And by this power in us all our works are wrought for us So that the righteousness which Christ wrought before we were born even in the dayes of his flesh is to the Quakers a dead thing and Christ was mistaken shrewdly when he tells his Father That he had finished the work which he had given him to do intending thereby the last scene of death which he was then just entering upon and therefore speaks of all as accomplished Another notion they have for the countenance of the opinion of justifying righteousness to be within them not without them and wrought in the time of their life not by Christ in the dayes of his flesh above 1600 yeares since is That because the Scripture speaks of justifying by faith and faith being within and wrought in the Saints in this life and in every individual believer therefore the justifying righteousness is within the believer This is abused by the Papists to prove that works justifie because faith is a work or act of the soul though that be false for all grace consists essentially in the habit and disposition not in acts for else a man must be graceless when he is fast asleep for then he is not in action nor grace in act But the Quakers though they embrace many of the Popish Tenets that are erroneous they want wit to manage them as they But to my purpose This justification is by the faith of Christ within for all the holy men of God were justified by their faith and that faith is in the heart For the right understanding of this we are to consider faith as a disposition and habit and therein a principal part of the new creature This disposition of trusting in relying on adhering to God hath its acts suitable to its self Now the acts of faith either respect its fruits and effects other parts of sanctification as love patience self-denial c. or its objects and aims Faith hath for its immediate objects the promises of God leaning trusting hoping according to them it is said to lean on the Lord trust hope in the Lord its aims and ends for which are the good things wrapt up in the Covenant of grace Now faith is not accounted for righteousness with respect to it self as a holy disposition or its acts as holy acts but as it looks on takes hold of and trusts in the righteousness of Christ It is no rare thing for the act to be denominated from the object Though faith which justifies justifies as it hath for its object Jesus Christ who is the righteousness of God and so though faith be within the righteousness of Christ which justifies is not within for faith justifies as it looks at somewhat without and above our selves Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud justified by faith in Jesus Christ Faith is the evidence of things hoped for Again Faith is made the condition of justification and that not only as it may be considered singly but as it includes the whole body of sanctification in some parts and measures of it But to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name So that faith is a receiving of Christ who is both Prince and Saviour Lord of life and Prince of peace and receiving him as such is conditional of this acceptation with God and so may be said to justifie as it performs the condition of justification on our part But if faith were the meritorious cause of justification it were a justification by works And if faith justified looking no further then its self as it is subjected in the soul it were a strange faith indeed that hath its self for its object and then a man should believe in himself I might entertain you longer than your patience will hold out in pregnant proofs out of their own writings That as Christs obedience so his sufferings upon which depend our justification are all transacted within the heart of a believer his agony his crucifying and death c. But I will give you but one Instance lest I leave too little room for what I am willing to be ample in the Subjects of the succeeding Chapters We believe that Christ in us doth offer up himself a living sacrifice to God for us by which the wrath and justice of God is appeased towards us This is instead of many though their Books do generally speak of the sufferings of Christ as propitiatory to be done over in every person before conversion And the maddest humour of all is That they make the seed or the light or Christ being crucified in the soul by the power of sin and lust to be the crucifying and death of Christ by which God is appeased Do not they which dwell there in spiritual Sodom put his flesh to pain crucifying it in and to themselves Penningtons Questions p. 29. Take one Scripture to guard you against all the fancies of this sort and to close this Chapter But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down at the right hand of God from thence expecting till his enemies he made his footstool for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified CHAP. XVI The Quakers disown and deny the Christ of God and set up a false Christ in his room and stead and attribute all to that false Christ which is due and pcculiar to the true Christ SECT I. THis is the grand and root-errour of the Quakers that great non-such lye which travels with and brings forth that Babel and confused heap of errours where with their Religion if they have any such thing is abounding First They disown and deny the man Christ Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary who was of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh who was nailed to the Cross and crucified at Jerusalem without the gates to be the Saviour of believers and he who wrought that righteousness and underwent those sufferings by which mans redemption was wrought This we certainly know and can never call the bodily
without the God-head nor the God-head without the manhood I shall resume my Argument That this Christ of God the Quakers disown and deny and set up in his room and stead another viz. the light within every man and therefore disown and deny the true Christ and set up another in his room which is not the true Christ the Christ of God The light within every man was not born of the Virgin Mary It was not the light within every man of which Mary and Joseph were said to be the Parents It was not the light within every man that was arraigned before and condemned by Pilate It was not the light within every man that was crucified being hanged on and nailed to the Cross of Wood without the gates of Jerusalem It was not the light within every man that was laid in the Sepulchre of stone belonging to Joseph of Arimathea that rose out of that Sepulchre that eat and drank after his Resurrection with the Disciples that shewed to Thomas the prints of the nails that nailed his hands and feet to the Cross that ascended up into Heaven in the sight of the bodily eyes of the Disciples but the Christ of God was he and is he that did and suffered all these things Therefore it is a most stupendious contradiction to pretend to believe the Scriptures and that they own the Christ to whom the Scriptures bear witness and yet say The light in every man is the Christ and only Saviour And that the God-head of Christ should be within every man or any man breathing I have sufficiently refuted already yet I shall offer a few of many Arguments farther to convince That the Quakers Christ is not the true Christ and Saviour They call their light within the seed That he regards not the seed of God which is fallen under all this death and darkness so long as the creature will but hearken to him the Serpent and his lying promises he will lead him from one thing to another in things without c. 'T is a strange Christ who is in the power of every man to be brought under death and darkness as long as the world endures yet this is the Quakers Christ. Whereas Gods Christ was dead but died but once and was offered up but once for all and that one offering hath that in it which perfects for ever them that are sanctified But how the seed spoken of Christ in the Scripture should be in every man and yet the Son of Mary not be there yea not be any where is a most ridiculous Riddle for God or the God-head of Christ was not the seed of the woman or Abraham or David the seed was the man Christ according to the flesh So to the light of Christ that which changeth not in every one I appear to be judged for therein alone both these things and all other that proceed from that root makes for gathering creatures together unto that one name and seed wherein all the nations of the earth are blessed The Scripture he expresses the sense of is Gen. 22. 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed But Christ as God was not the seed of Abraham Who that understands any thing can be thus deluded to take the light within every man to be the seed of Abraham the man Christ Jesus The Quakers light within cannot be the Saviour for their light within is as they say God Father Son and Spirit without distinction and that they are but one whereas the Christ of God is the Mediator and therefore must be distinct from God the Father and sinfull man who are the parties to be reconciled There is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus Compare this with Gal. 3. 20. NoÌ„w a Mediator is not a Mediator of one but God is one Well then the light within which the Quakers say is God without any distinction and not the man Christ who was in the womb of Mary cannot be a Mediator for a Mediator is not of one but between two distinct persons Now this being a truth where is their Mediator God eternal is not a Mediator to himself nor man a Mediator to himself so shut out the Christ without you a middle person between God and sinfull men and you are in a wofull condition Christ as God seperate from that man who was born of Mary is not nor ever was compleat Christ. So that if it should be granted that the light within you were the true God God essential which is a blasphemy no tender and understanding soul dare come near the brink of yet I say your light within were not Christ God had no capacity to suffer to die to do the Offices necessary for a Saviour and Redeemer according to the conditions of the Covenant of grace and although many were saved before Christ was born and died for sinners yet they were saved by faith in the promised Redeemer who was to come And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise And therefore untill his Incarnation he is spoken of as Gods Christ in election but not actually and compleatly Christ Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles Read Isa 49. where you may with open face behold this truth in that discursive converse and expostulation between God the Father and God the Son Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me Then I said Lo I come in the volume of 〈…〉 Book it is written of me to do thy will O Gâ—… What was this will but his fulfilling the Lâ—… both actively and passively as Redeemer whicâ— he could not do as God therefore God prepared him a body that body which was born of thâ— Virgin to which he being united and thereiâ— dwelling and performing our Redemption 〈…〉 became actually and compleatly a Saviour anâ— not before Therefore if you believed arigâ—… concerning the God-head of Christ yet denyinâ— his man hood which was made a created Being a Being in time you disown and deny the trâ—… Christ And that is a notorious unmanning of Christ and denying him which one of your greaâ— Writers saith And the Scriptures throughout testifie of him and declare his unchangeableness who through all ages abides the same what he was in the beginning Whereas if the man Christ were so the same he never had a beginning And the Scripture or you are much out for they tell us When he was twelve years old he went up to Jerusalem and there disputed with the Doctors which would have been no matter of wonder if he had been as man from the beginning But if you will read such a mystery of iniquity ignorance and bold perverting of Scripture as the
There is a great difference to be of God with respect to relation or creation and to be of God as of his being or the same being with him the one is to commom the whole Creation for of him are all things the other is peculiar to the blessed Creator Magnus Byne saith the Soul is not infinite in it self but is a Creature and Richard Baxter saith it is a spiritual substance Answ Now consider what a Condition these called Ministers are in they say that which is a Spiritual substance is not infinite in its self but a creature that which came out from the Creator and is in the hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again that is infinite in its self which the hand goes against him that does evil in which hand the Soul is which is immortal and infinite which hand is infinite which brings it up to God is infinite If any man can match the ignorance confidence blasphemy and nonsense of this passage out of the mouths or pens of any but the Quakers he may be reckoned a great discovereâ— But this is received by those poor deluded souls as infallibly true and a divine mystery being the dictates of George Fox whom none of them dare or will contradict such is the stupendious captivity of these poor people Is not the Soul without beginning come from God It is not horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God for it came out of him and that which came out of him is of him Thus I have proved not by remote consequences but their open and plain affections and that pleaded for after their wild manner that they hold the Soul of Man to be God a part of the Divine being infinite in it self without beginning part of the Creator here is enough of blasphemy and idolatry for one author to fill tâ—â— mouths of many I shall cite yet more of their that none may think it is but one Qualâ—… though G. F. may stand for a thousand who is prodigiously wicked And whereas you Querie whether the said Spirâ—… the Spirit of man is mortal or immortal I answer it is immortal and neither mortal 〈…〉 corruptible but the immortal and incorruptible sâ—… of God even something of the living word which 〈…〉 said to be made flesh What the word is that was made flesh John saitâ— was God 1. John 1. That which the Lord from Heaven begetteth of his own image and likeness of his own substance of his own seed of his own Spirit and pure life Speaking of the Saints the members of Christ Whether do you wait and believe to have the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus who thought it no robbery to be equal with God And Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the Pharisees judged a blasphemer and as he is so are we saith the Saints And they who dwell in the truth witness one with another For the light of God owns its own for God cannot deny himself They own the Spirit of God Christ the seed the spirit of man to be but one and the same thing but sometimes will deny any to have a Spirit at all but the regenerate that they may not say the unregenerate have the Spirit of God or God the Spirit in them See Fishers rare distinction to serve this turn As to the Spirit of man which concurs to the constituting of man in his primitive perfection it is the breath of life which God breathed into his Soul after he had formed him as to his body of the dust of the earth whereby he came to be a living soul a Soul that did partake something of Gods own life this Spirit of man is that living principle of the divine nature which man did before his degeneration and shall again after his regeneration partake of This Charge being of so black and horrid a nature I did not judge it unmeet to prove the truth of it by abounding instances and now Reader judge and put on the largest Charity that a man or Christian ought in any case to exercise and give thy verdict if I have not made appear That the Quakers are gross Idolaters so far as owning and professing that to be God which is not God will contribute to a demonstration I shall manage my second grand argument but briefly for the work I have done will render it not very incredible that they should worship a false God seeing they own and profess a false God All those who worship that as God professedly and according to their professed Principles which is not God are gross Idolaters But the Quakers do so Therefore the Quakers are gross idolaters I shall not prove the first proposition which none will deny The second I prove by their own concession considered with the proof I have made of the light within every man and the Souls and Spirits of men not to be God but you may take the argument in this form All they who worship professedly and accordingâ—â— their professed principles the light within every man the Souls and Spirits of any men as God worship a fâ—lâ—â— God But so do the Quakers Therefore they worship a false God Who are not sprung from the noble gentle seed and to those honour is not due neither can we bow unto them for if we should we should set the Devil in the râ—â—â— of God and give unto him that which is dâ—oâ—… God So that to those who are Quakers and have the birth of the light within the noble and gentâ—â— seed as they call it to them with respect to that they may bow And withall he tellâ— you it is such a bowing as is peculiar to God for where it is used to such who have not God in them in the Quakers sense it is a setting the Devil in the room of God If it be objected that they bow to none I answer that they pretend to own no worship but what is inward and yet they pretend to worship God and meet to that end so that if they worship this light within this Soul or Spirit in any men as they profess to worship God they give them or it divine worship There was a time when many gave outward worship to James Naylor One now a grand Quaker not being then pleased with it James told him that if they did it to him as a man he disowned it but if they did it to the light within him he accepted it if any doubt of the truth of this the process against him in Richards Parliament will prove it And John Bolton the elder the Quaker I speak of can tell you more of it and I doubt not but that for the reproach and worse things which would follow it we should soon find it a general practise with the Quakers to give visible worship to the Gods that dwell in the temples of each others carkasses
the later Position is from his Scripture Rom. 1. 19 20. because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him c. The words in them in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are either in or among them the later sense is to me the most probable because that while the far greater part of the Gentile-world were so brutish that they little regarded or understood any thing of God but were so besotted with sensuality that they understood and minded nothing but what might gratifie a blind and impetuous appetite some among them whose intellects were better imployed came by the knowledge of excellent things concerning God which they not only taught but left in writing as a witness to Posterity But to put all out of doubt the 20 verse speaks what I affirm plainly For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead c. Here you have an account what may be known of God by the Heathen who had neither revelation immediate to themselves nor handed to them from others by the Word heard or read viz. the eternal power and Godhead and that which they were condemned for ver 26. was not for not knowing or practising what had relation to the Mediator or not believing the word of promise which never was within the reach of their ears but for their miscarriages against God the Creator whom they might and ought to have known and acknowledged God is in his essential Being the invisible God but he was manifest among them How From the Creation of the World by the things that are made Take another Text for the confirmation of my Exposition of this Act. 14. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons c. They were not without witness concerning the Divine Being and Attributes of Mercy and Goodness yet if the rain and fruitful Seasons were without them the witness was without them before it was within them But for the Quakers pretences of their conceits of Divine things to be by immediate inspiration of the Spirit to them when we hear of Pagans and Heathen who never had the least notice of or from the Scripture talk of Jesus Christ a crucified Redeemer and the Promises and Covenant of God we may a little listen to them but for a people who live where the Scriptures are so much known to talk Scripture-phrases and Gospel-phrases and then tell us they had it all by Divine revelation immediate to themselves is as ungrateful and foolish as for those who were born and bred in England and have learned their Mother-tongue from their childhood after 30 or 40 years to affirm they learned every word of it by immediate inspiration or could have known it as perfectly if man had never taught them while in the mean time those forem Languages they never heard spoken they can neither speak nor understand one sentence of if it would save the world Again Those Gospel-illuminations for the matter which are by immediate inspiration are beyond the utmost reach of our natural faculties of the mind though sanctified to attain by their improvement and therefore it is said to be 2 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinely inspired It is not produced in the exercise of the rational faculties the Soul is purely passive or receptive therein and is to those illuminations as the wax is to the Seal according to 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted carried Some of them viz. the Prophetical part were so far from being attained by the use of natural faculties though sanctified that their very wills which are the first movers even in intelligent agents did not ordinarily so much as direct their understandings to the finding out the Truths which were revealed to them but when their thoughts in their present posture had no tendencie to any such particular things no more than a man in a deep sleep they were then moved by the Holy Ghost that whereas ordinarily they are fixed and bent to such or such ends by the humane will here the Divine will takes its place and doth all And for those Historical parts of the Scripture as of the Creation Fall of man written by Moses c. and the Doctrinal parts written by the Apostles c. although the things in general might be the scope and aim of their intentions yet the gale by which they were driven steadily and infallibly was not the utmost of their natural and sanctified and highest improved faculties but the supernatural guidance of the Divine Spirit whose product was like it self without the least stain or spot of humane frailty and weakness Whereas that illumination of the Spirit which in the kind of it is common to all Saints flows in by the Lords blessing on the improvement of their understandings and judgments whether on Creation Providence or matter divinely revealed without them originally viz. that contained in the Scripture which although their faith be resolved into and determined by yet the highest pitch of their spiritual understanding is raised by a right and sanctified ratiocination from those principles comparing spiritual things with spiritual And experience teacheth that though an idle loytâ—râ—r mâ—y grow giddy with empty swimming notions which are rather the disease of a spiritual pride and intoxication yet God doth mostly if not only bless those with high and solid illumnations who humbly wait on him and beg the concourse and assistance of the Father oâ— Lights and Spirit of Truth That God doth bless in such ways to the such illuminations of the Spirit is clear from this Scripture Heb. 5. 12 14. For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk c. It was their sin which was rebuked as the cause of their ignorance and what that should be but their slothful unfaithfulness in the use of advantages I know not But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age this must not be understood of number of dayes but measure of knowledge even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil They were thus illuminated by the Spirit in the way of the use and exercise of their sanctified natural faculties and the Ordinances of God for that end If any Quaker shall say True we are illuminated not by study and poring as they call it on the Scripture or any thing else but have our knowledge without such carnal toil and the
wisdom of the flesh and therefore it is by inspiration immediate Let such know that they must shew somewhat more then palpable errour gross ignorance and unparallel'd confidence ere they gain credit with any but those simple ones in a silly sense who believe every word A third Difference is that Apostolical illuminations and immediately inspired are not habitual they are not the more constant frame of the soul but have their fluxes not as Springs or running Rivers or Tydes which have their ebbings and flowings yet the chanel alway plentifully supplied but as bourns and flouds that sometimes rise high yet the grounds they cover for a while are sometimes and ordinarily a long time dry and no appearance remaining of those inundations The Apostles and Prophets had not such a Well and Spring of this sort as alway run or out of which they might ordinarily give advice and teachings of this kinde Whereas the Spirits most ordinary illuminations common to all Saints do in their several degrees and measures in-dwell in their souls and are as qualities adhering to their subjects their mindes and faculties being so united to them as Sugar being melted in the Wine its sweetness is constant and abiding thereby And hence it was that the Apostles though they could alway teach from the habits of light and knowledge they were blessed with yet in some cases at some times could not speak as inspired by the Holy Ghost witness Paul who in the body of his Epistle to the Corinthianâ— makes this distinction 1 Cor. 7. 6 12. to the end of the Chapter But I speak this by permission ver 6. but to the rest speak I not the Lord ver 12. Now concerning Virgins I have no â—ommandment of the Lord yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 25. But she is happier if she so abide in my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God The same Apostle gives instruction concerning the Choice of Bishops that they be such as are apt to teach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies both the habit or faculty and also a promptitude and readiness to imploy it And to Timothy to be instant in season and out of season that is not only at necessary times in a constant course but occasionally and he could not so preach the Word as became it and an Evangelist but from habitual illumination Mat. 13. 52. Then said he unto them Therefore every Scribe which is instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth of his Treasure things new and old A fourth Difference the inspiration of the Spirit doth not grow and increase gradually and according to time and industry Samuel had as elegant and powerful an inspiration or revelation when a Childe as when he was old And the Apostles on the sudden at the effusion of the Spirit in that way of ministration had as eminent inspirations as ever afterward But the illuminations where with God doth usually by the efficlency of his Spirit bless his people doth ordinarily grow at least is capable of it Some to whom John writes were grown to be Fathers For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers Heb. 5. That is ye might have grown to such a degree of illumination if you had stood in the way wherein the Spirit of God doth usually bless there with as to have been able to teach others Yea the Lord Jesus Christ himself as man did increase gradually in these habitual illuminations Lake 2. 45 46 47. Jesus grew in wisdome and in stature And that it was meant of divine light or light in divine things Read the 46 47 Verses where he is said to be disputing with the Doctors and that his answers were astonishing to the Hearers Fifthly Apostolial inspirations were intended by the Spirit foâ—a divine and authoritative Obligation to the Faiâ—â— Order Life and Consciences of others and are therefore rightly placed among the Scriptures or wâ—…tten Word If any man think hinself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write are the Commandments of the Lord. But the teachings of the Spirit to the Saints as Saints are no such obligation any farther than they agree with and have their authority from the minde of God revealed in the Scripture Sixthly Apostolical teachings and inspirations were of authority to constitute a now order and polity of the Church to which the former though of divine authority in their season were to give place Yea those Doctrines and Promises so revealed to them by God and by them declared as such are binding to our faith and practice although we cannot discern any of the like import in the Scripture before written But the teachings and illuminations by the Spirit of the Saints as such do not add to or change any thing of the Doctrine or Order established by Christ and his Apostles neither are they contrary to the written Word nor in point of Doctrine beside the sense of it or beyond it To conclude The teachings of the Spirit and its Motions in the Saints which are most purely divine and immediate in ourdays are the bringing to remembrance explaning to the understanding imprinting on the affections the matter contained in the Scripture and directing them to understand providences to act in their occurent occasions suitable to his will revealed in the Scripâ—…re and moving their wills to a compliance with his out are all to be triâ—d by the Scripture and not the Scripture by them Some I believe will reply How did the Prophets and Apostles when they received immediate revelations and were inspired of God know it was no delusion and if they knew it being men as we are why may not we I dare not attempt to pry into the most secret ways of God and undertake to give you a history and description to the full of the Spirits workings on the Souls of his Prophets in conveying his will to them and satisfying their judgments and Consciences that they were the inspirations of God Yet I shall say so much of them as may satisfie any willing Reader to be informed that they had more to evince it than any have now and we have enough to convince us that they were inspired First Whoever they were that were givers forth of the Law or the Covenants in their first promulgation had the Testimonies of God for them by Gods outward Call to that as their special Office and his promise of guidance in the discharge thereof signs and wonders wrought either by God immediately or by their hands as the Apostles Jesus Christ Moses Secondly All the Prophets have a Testimony of their being inspired of God by Miracles which they wrought or by the quoting Scripture out of the Books written by them or bearing their names in the New Testament by Christ or his Apostles Thirdly For the Historical part
them or that are gathered from the written Word or pretended to be so Baptism Not any thing by Water but the Spirit i. e. the Quakers Spirit to an obedience and devotedness to the light within and inspirations and immediate teachings Blasphemy To speak against the light within every man to be Christ and God and what they hold it to be Blind Not to acknowledge the light within to be Christ not to know by immediate inspiration The Blood of Christ The life of Christ i. e. the power of the light in them The spiritual Blood which they say came down from Heaven and was part of a spiritual Body which Christ brought with him from thence which dwelt for a while in the man Jesus who died at Jerusalem Salvation puririfying reconciling by the Blood of Christ Not by the Blood of Christ shed on the Cross but by the Blood of the spiritual Body of flesh blood and bones which they say Christ descended in which is in every Quaker as really as in the man that was the Son of Mary and so salvation is by no other blood but what is in themselves The Body of Christ Not that which was crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem in Judea but the spiritual Body aforesaid which they say took up its Habitation and Tabernacled in the Body of Jesus the Son of Mary and so the Body of Christ is as much in them as it was in him Bondage Not only our selves in bondage to sin but the light within the seed of God or Christ being in bondage under the disobedience of men Born again Regeneration Perfect Obedience to the light within as Christ and God Comprehending Brain A large understanding oâ— a desire of Knowledge by the use of the rational Faculty C. Gall. The motions of the Light Christ in the Conscience Christ Not the man Christ Jesus the Son of Mary which the Godhead assumed and united to its self in one person but the light within every man a Christ that had nothing of Adams Nature whose Body now in being was not Created or had a beginning in time which was never visible to the bodily eye   Not in any respect distinct from God the Father and God the Holy Ghost Christ in the Saints Not Christ without them an Object of the faith and love within them but his very Being his Divinity his Soul and his Body consisting of spiritual Flesh Blood and Bones not his Image and likeness but the self-same in his Being and Essence Christs coming In the Spirit or his spiritual coming into his People i. e. no other but the prevailing motions of the light within or by inspiration The Command in Spirit By immediate inspiration and motion Comprehension Fleshly Comprehensions That Opinion or Belief which is grounded on a rational demonstration though from the Written Word of God Carnal All things of a religious concern which we are not enlightned about and moved to by immediate inspiration yea whatever hath a form or is visible to the bodily Eye Fleshly Conceivings Those Opinions or expressions whose beginning and birth are in the humane faculties very great weakness if not â—in and unbelief contrary to the assured and undoubted dictates of the infallible light and Spirit within them Condemnation The reproofs and sentencings of the light in the Conscience Conversion A full obedience to the light in the Conscience a total freedom from the prevailing of any sin such a state as the Disciples of Christ had not attained when Christ was crucified nor Paul when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans Crucifying of Christ Not that crucifying on the Cross of wood but a crucifying within us by disobedience to the light in our Consciences  A strange merit and purchase of Salvation and way of pacifying the wrath of God for sin D. Damnation Being condemnd within by the light in the Conscience the terror affliction arising from thence but nothing of a pain of sense after the body is dead and turned to dust Darkness Not acknowledging the light in every man to be Christ and being guided by its immediate teachings as the only and all-sufficient rule Death of Christ The light within not obeyed The dead Body The Body living in sin Disciples of Christ No other but those who submit to the light within and follow only its dictates E. Election Christ the sâ—ed not the persons of men and women Vulturous-Eye The understanding faculty piercing into and earnestly seeking after Divine Knowledge F. Faith A believing in the light within Righteousness of Faith Those acts of Obedience performed by themselves in their own bodies conformable to the dictates of the light within and in the Faith of its being Christ and the Rule Teaching or doing falsly When not from the immediate motions and teachings of the light within though what is taught be in its self true and what is done be in its self good False Prophets All that are called by men however qualified otherwise all that teach from or out of the Scriptures and not from immediate inspiration as the Prophets and Apostles by whom the Scriptures were penned False Witnesses All who speak not from inspiration and inward meerly divine motions and experience not what they affirm in themselves Flesh Whatever is not from the light within originally and immediately Wisdom of the Flesh All Wisdom attained by industry Denying Christ come in the Flesh Denying Christ come in the Flesh of Joseph John Sarah or any other who are Quakers Christ come in the Flesh Come in their Flesh The Flesh of Christ The spiritual Flesh that descended from Heaven not the Flesh that lay buried in the Sepulchre after death The Fold of Christ Christ himself Following Christ Obedience to the Light within The Friends Friends All professed Quakers The will of the Flesh All that is chosen by man though he be thereto disposed by the will of God revealed in the Scripture G. Preaching for Gain Receiving any thing as the reward of preaching the Gospel State of Glory The State of Peace and Joy resulting from the witness of the light within in this life GOD. Father Son and Holy Ghost without distinction the light within every man the spirit of the Quakers every one of them the soul the seed and much more that he is not Foundation of God The light within and the inspirations and motions of it The Gospel Christ the light within not the written word or the sense of it as a narrative of the good will of God to men in Christ H. Handled the Word of Life Not as the Apostles who handled the Body of Christ but feeling by a spiritual sensation the motions of the light within or the Christ within them Hearing the Gospel or Word Listening to and obeying the light within Heaven Not the place where the man Christ is above or beyond the visible skies but the happiness they have within them  I could never yet hear or read them mention any other
Heaven to be injoyed by them as distinct persons but what they have within them in this world Hell The present torment and loss within Preaching for Hire Hirelings To have provision for the outward man as a maintenance or reward for preaching though no bargain be made yea though such who receive it would preach if they had never a penny reward in this world from those they preach to Holiness Obedience to the light within and that without any failing The womans Husband at home Christ the light in the conscience I. Idolatry Often for worshipping the man Christ Jesus who is at the right hand of God above or beyond the stars and visible Heavens taking the examples of the Saints and Churches in the Scripture recorded and doing likewise JESVS The light within the Word in the beginning not the Son of Mary who was made or created The Imaginations All conclusions how demonstrable soever which accord not with their Tenets or are not by immediate inspiration Inchantments Bewitchings A being perswaded and established by reason and Scripture but especially if humane arts or sciences have any hand in it Infidels All that obey not or do not place their salvation in the light within Workers of Iniquity All that live not without sinning against God The Judgment day of Judgment Sin being judged in the conscience by the light within in this life Justification Christ the light within obeyed K. Kingdom of God The rule and government of the light within and the peace and joy arising from thence Carnal knowledge All knowledge but what comes by the immediate inspiration of the light within L. The Law Christ the light within the law written in the heart Leadings in Spirit The motions of the light within immediate inspirations and teachings The Life Christ the light within The life of Christ The prevalency of the light within Eternal Life Being taken into God Saved by the Life of Christ A being saved by the prevalency of the light in the conscience The Letter The dead Letter The Letter that killeth The Scriptures or written Word A Lye Lying What is spoken though true in it self if not from immediate teaching or the light within The Light within Christ God Father Son Spirit the seed of Abraham and David according to the flesh Jesus the only Saviour The Law the Testimony The Gospel the Prophets The Advocate Righteousness Sanctification Justification The only Rule Guide Teacher Judge the Way the only way to the Father The Truth the Life The Power of God the Eternal God God Almighty that which pardons and conquers sin the Judgment the Lamb of God that is slain from the beginning the Word in the beginning the Creator of all things the end of all Books Laws and abundance more than can be crowded into many Pages The Lust All desires that accord not to the light within and proceed not from thence M. The Man Christ The Spiritual Body of Flesh Blood and Bones which they say descended from Heaven and dwelt in the Body of the Son of Mary and doth also now in every Quaker Cease from man do not bear man What the Faculties of Man have any hand in either by inventing working or expressing all that comes not purely from the light within Measure of God of Christ of the Spirit That degree of the power and inspirations of the light within  Something more or less of the very being and Essence of God the Father Son Spirit Meditate Not pondering or exercising the judgment and understanding on holy and divine Objects but a stilness and emptiness of all thoughts attending for the immediate impulses suggestions inspirations and motions of the light within In the Meekness In the light within Christ which is meekness in the abstract and between whom and their spirits there is no distinction Ministers of the everlasting Gospel Both men and women Ministers among the Quakers who declare from immediate inspiration not from the Letter of the Scripture Ministers of Antichrist Babylon Idol-Shepherds All such who have a mediate call from man or preach from the Letter of the Scripture Ministration of the Spirit The immediate teachings and motions of the Spirit exclusive of all forms in worship the will though sanctified in chusing and all premeditation and acting by the prescription of the written word Miracles Sometimes Miracles in Spirit invisible to bodily senses or humane understanding The Star of the Morning the Morning of the first day Christ the light within Moved by the Holy Ghost An inward immediate impulse of the light and power within From the Mouth of God Immediate teachings from the light within excluding all other Mysteries of the Kingdom Mysteries of God Such things as the faculties of man have no power to understand or express no not from or by the Scripture such things as are only sensated in the experience An allegorizing the Scripture N. Natural man Every man that is not a Quaker The natural man Every thing in man which is distinct from God or the light within The New man Christ the light within considered essentially They did by Nature the things contained in the Law By the new Nature which is Christ the light contained in the Law within the heart which is also Christ the light O. Obedience of Christ What is done by men by the power life and strength of of the light within them Obedience in Spirit Wrought by immediate impulses of the Spirit The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation The light within and its prevalencie which they call and that only the Kingdom of God is not obtained any way by the study or consideration of the Scripture or any thing without us Observers of times Such as keep any certain days as separated to holy use as the Lords-day or such as propose an hour or two to be spent in the Worship and Ordinances of God or any time with limitation Christ the Offering The light within Offering up of Christ The light within disobeyed or contesting with the lusts yea or the right reason of men Officers of the Church Invisible Officers and Overseers who do all their work in Spirit Gods Off-spring A part and measure of the very being of God continuing to be in a degree as good and divine as God himself  The Souls and Spirits at least of the Quakers which they say came out of God The Old man All that is disobedient or not conformable to their light within One-ness with God Christ Spirit Not relative nor by love or faith or mystical Membership but such an one-ness as leaves no room for distinction between God Christ the Spirit and such whom they say are one with Christ Openings of Life Springings of of Life Sudden workings to action or impressions on the mind and affections proceeding from within of their own accord and motion Overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony All amounts but to an obedience to the light within which Smith
sin in them or do at any time in any sort commit sin Slaying the Witness Disobeying the light within but especially a resolved rejecting it as our only Rule Teacher and Saviour Sons of God Only the Quakers Soul A part or measure of God Speaking in the Spirit By immediate Inspiration Spirit of Anti Christ That which leads to Forms though Christ's and Gospel-Forms All that opposes the light within to be Christ False Spirits They that ground their Doctrine on the Scripture or any mediate thing Spirit of Bondage Being under the power of any sin Spirit of God The light within every man God the Father Son Holy Ghost without distinction Spirit of the World Whatever is not conformable to the light within as Christ The Spiritual man Christ or Christ in every Quaker The Lord hath Spoken What comes to them by immediate inspiration The Lord hath not Spoken Whatever is not by immediate inspiration though it be written in the Scripture A true Christians State Being taught by God immediately not by the Letter The Statutes of God The Law in the heart or within They Steal my Word every one from his neighbour Teaching Doctrines as the Word of the Lord taken out of the Scripture Stoln words All that we have out of the Scriptures and not by immediate inspiration to our selves In the stilness An unactive attending to the light within Standing in the Counsels of God Conformity to the Teachings of the light within and abiding therein Studying for divine Knowledge what comes thereby from the Scripture Carnal toil birth and wisdom of the flesh  Scraping in the Scriptures The woman in Subjection Weakness must subject it self to the man Christ The Supper of the Lord. Spiritual joy or joy in the Spirit from the presence and influence of the light within all eating and drinking to God and in remembrance of Christ Sword of the Spirit Christ the light within  What is declared by immediate inspiration of the Spirit Synagogues of Satan The Assemblies of any sort of people for Divine Worship who are not Quakers T. Christ Tabernacling in the outward vessel Christs dwelling for a little time in the body born of the Virgin Mary The like of every Quaker Taking away the Tables All Forms and Books as useless in the things of God Taught of God Taught immediately from the light within Teachings of Men. All that is not immediately inspired though the sense and words of the Scripture Cease from man From the Teaching by man Outward Court of the Temple given to the Gentiles All Forms of Worship all visible Worship being the Worship of Heathens not of Christians Testifie to the light in the Conscience Appealing or speaking to Christ the light within Bearing Testimony to the light Declaring for and from the light within The Testimony and the Testaments Christ the light and Law within Thanksgiving Give Thanks in Spirit or inwardly Thieves and Robbers All that are Teachers by a mediate Call  All Ministers but the Quakers  All that walk by Scripture-light Traditions of men The Scripture or written-Word Trading with the Scripture Having maintenance for a Ministry Ministring from the Scripture or written-Word The Birth In Travel The time of wrestling betwixt convictions of the light within and perfection Trembling and Quaking The horrour and consternation that they are under from as they say the wrath of God while the flesh is judged and they are in the hell of condemnation which is all the hell they hold that I can find and this trembling and quaking they say is such as Moses and other Prophets were seized with at the appearance of God The Truth No other but Christ the light within Speaking Truth Truly When it is spoken from immediate inspiration and motion of the Spirit but however true without these it is falsly spoken Witnessing to the Truth Declaring or suffering for the light within and its dictates V. The flesh of the Vail The Body wherein Christ dwelt and tabernacled which for a while he took of the Virgin Mary but at the death of that left it no body knows where The Vail is over them The belief of the man Christ Jesus which was of our nature to be the Christ and now existing in Heaven in that body of flesh of our nature which he took of the Virgin Mary The Vessel The Body wherein for a while Christ dwelt also our bodies Victory over the Devil Sin Flesh World Perfection in this life resulting from the travail of the light within In the Vnbelief Not acknowledging the light within to be the onely Teacher and Saviour whatever the faith and life otherwise may be The Vncircumcised and Vnclean All that are not Quakers Vngodly The same Vnlearned and without Vnderstanding To be without the light within its teachings and immediate revelations The Voice of the Lord. The secret immediate lively touches and teachings within W. Hirelings serving for Wages Ministers who receive maintenance little less then Robbery at least very Jewish and Antichristian Wait on the light Desisting from a search after Truth by any external means and passively attending to the motions and teachings within Watch to the light To be so listning and attentive to the inward teachings as not either to let slip any of its motions or reject them Blinde-Watchmen Those Ministers who see and warn by Scripture-light and not their light within Watch to the Morning To be diligent to observe and improve the first breakin gs forth of the power of the light within The Way CHRIST The way of Truth Those into which they are led by the pure light within The Whore of Babylon All forms of Worship visible Worship all that is believed or practiced from the written Word Will of God The commands from within from the light Will of Man Will of the Flesh All that we Chuse by the direction of the understanding or in which the humane faculties have any thing to do Will-worship What ever Worship is not from the motions of the light within Children of Wisdom The Quakers born to the light within We Witness We experience we speak it from the testimony and feeling of the light and motions within And Pen saith This is right witnessing to witness what they experience But they that testifie what they believe from the Scriptures and right rational demonstrations go by hear-say and reports but cannot witness it The Word The Word of God No other but Christ the Eternal God The Word of the Lord. The secrets of the Work of God The inward power and motions neither wrought nor perceived by or with the use of the humane understanding and will Righteousness of works Whatever man hath any hand in or doth Chuse The World All that are not Quakers Worship in Spirit Not the Worship where the heart and will goes along with the outward appearance but what is from the motions of the light within Wrath of God Day of Wrath. The inward judgings and terrours by