such things and believe them to be downright Lyes as others that are gone before them However should they be as true as we hope they are false we can but judge them and that we do by the Light of Christ Jesus to the Pit forever But if we should take this Course of proving the Anabaptists those vile Impostors he doth call and pretend to prove the Poor Despised Quakers to be p. 69. How many Miscarriages might we collect and publish against the People that are called by that Name but we do not desire that Prophanists should have any such Theames from us to sport their Unclean Minds upon notwithstanding Thomas Hicks's Liberality to them Is it not then wickedly done in him to tell us in the same page That if a Miscarriage be it is improved by us to make the Truth Odious who without such Arguments and his own Forgery would in Truth have nothing against us But truly it is very hard that we should suffer as we have done for the Miscarriages of other Parties and yet receive these gross Abuses at their hands But our Eye is to the Lord and our Innocent Suffering Cause will he plead in his own time whose Will be done by us and that will be our Everlasting Rejoycing 3. For Masters I must speak my own Experience many have desired to retain us and great Trusts have been reposed in us To whom were we False Of whose Service were we Negligent When did any of us say I am not moved to do this or that when so required thereto Shall a Lying Dialogue be Demonstration enough to prove us what so invective an Adversary would have People believe us to be We do declare to all that the Light whereby we are enlightned alwayes commands and strictly enjoyns us Duty Obedience Love Peace Gentleness Faithfulness Industry Holy Living And whatever is supposed to the Contrary we disclaim it in the Fear and Name of the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth to be no Product of our Holy Principle I shall now attend his Cavils about the Ministry and give a short Taste of the Rancour of his Spirit therein He asks What is the True Ministry To which he maketh G.W. answer Quak. In the New Covenant God is the Teacher of his People himself immediately by his Immediate Spirit Power and Unction Christ Ascended p. 64. Christ If so wherefore were Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers c. giver and set in the Church for the Work of the Ministry And why do you set up one among your selves and appoint Ministers before-hand to speak in such a place and at such a time From whence I plainly collect thus much 1. That T.H. in so many words denyes God's Immediate Teaching by his Spirit Power and Vnction under the Gospel And in that one Expression strikes out what in him lies the whole Pourings out of the Holy Ghost the great Promise of the Father being led by the Spirit no more I but Christ that liveth in me the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you or you need not Man's Teaching c. In short the very Dispensation of the Gospel which is a State of Power and Life immediately received of God is denyed by him 2. That in acknowledging such Officers to continue in the Church he must confess to their Qualifications or he does nothing Now that which qualified them was the Receiving of the Holy Ghost and those Heavenly Gifts by it which were necessary for the Discharge of those respective Services in the Church By this it appears that either Thomas Hicks must now yield to Preaching and Praying by the Motion of the Holy Spirit or in opposing of it acknowledge to his own Contradiction that there are no such Apostles Prophets c. who ministred to the Church as any thing was revealed to them the great Evangelical Qualification to the Ministry in our dayes 3. But why should Tho. Hicks therefore degrade the Dispensation because the People are not yet fitted to It or oppose the Means used to bâ—ing them to It to the End for which the Means are employ'd Besides is it Man's Teaching or Christ by and through Man God was in Christ and Christ in his Ministers reconciling the World unto himself that he might be the Immediate Priest Prophet and King to the Souls of People Might not the same Objection be more colourably made against the Apostle John who at that time wherein the Churches were so weak and the Means so many and lately establish't said unto them But the Anointing which ye have receiv'd of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lye And even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him Where he is so far from meer Man's Teaching T. Hicks's only Teaching that by his words one would think the Churches to whome he wrote had as well been gathered without Means as that he admonished them to abide in that holy Unction as Sufficient to their Instruction and Comfort Therefore let him go ask the Apostle John why Men were to attend upon the holy Anointing as Sufficient not withstanding thosâ— Means then provided And the Answer to that Question will be ours But here is the Darkness of the Man from our denying of empty Vnauthoriz'd Imitations he infers our Denyal of such Means as God's Power uses and from out Using such Means to our Contradicting our selves and Immediate Teaching and because we use Means in God's Power to bring People to God the Judge of all that he may be their Judge and Law-giver and that from his Immediate Hand they may receive Wisdom Knowledge and Comfort he ignorantly concludes that Men where they are ought not to have Means us'd to bring them to this Blessed State but that God should Immediately teach them there 4. I charge him with another Lye in saying that we appoint Ministers before hand to speak in such a a place at such a time and much less that the End of our Meeting is to decoy trapan and inveagle others as he scoffingly and falsly insinuates We deny the Suggestion and renounce and judge such Practices by that pure Spirit that hath otherwise taught us God preserve us from that dry Hireling Custom and Practice of Tho. Hicks who will avenge our Cause upon the Head of this Ungodly Slanderer But he thinks he has uterly foyled us in his Representation indeed Perversion of our Belief about the Seed which though spoken to some distance before yet I am willing to say something to it least it be taken for granted and his scurvy Names accounted due Titles to such miserable Wretches as he endeavours to render us The Objection entirely is this You say that the Work of the Ministry is to point People to
Brother will you Pray No Brother I am not so well able as you are Let Brother such a one Pray he is better gifted for the Work c. Complementing Shifting and at last Praying c. in their own Wills and not in God's Motion This God hates Next Since the Pouring forth of the Spirit is the great Gospel Gift and that the Children of God are to be led by it In what should we more diligently wait for its Heavenly Assistance then in that part of our Duty which we owe to God Is his Worship Spiritual and can we perform it out of the Motion of his own Spirit For what then was his Spirit given Again If Men should pray in a known Tongue much more with the Spirit as the Apostle speaks No Wonder the Professors ask Pardon for their Prayers Indeed God's Spirit gives them to see the Emptiness of their Righteousness and condemns them for it wherfore they are at times dissatisfy'd in them yet they will not learn of him to be guided by him who would cover them with Everlasting Righteousness Blessed would they be if their Minds were stayed in his Counsel But instead thereof T.H. does as good as say that if he should stay till the Spirit moved him he might stay long enough rendring the Spirit Wanting in that for which he was shed abroad in the Heart Because through his Enmity and Darkness hasty Running in his own Spirit he feels it not to lead him else he would never infer from our Asserting the Necessity of the Spirit 's Moving to Right Acceptable Worship that we are acquitted from any Fault in omitting to do that which is Good and the Blame must be laid upon the Spirit But let me ask him Can any Man do Good of himself Surely he will say No. How then shall Man do that Good he ought to do but by the Holy Ghost Canst thou call Jesus Lord by any other Power or Spirit Read the Scriptures What greater Contradiction can there be then to believe Man of himself can do no Good and yet to say he can do it without God's Spirit to incline and assist him thereunto But if the Spirit do not what does Tell me what can tender the Heart prepare the Soul raise the Affections give true Feeling of Wants and help to perform all in that Fear Reverence and deep Sense which becomes all New Covenant Spiritual Worshippers if this cannot or do not Nay what an Affront is it to God since it is to suppose that Man wants him not that his Spirit neither moves to Duty that ought to be performed nor yet condemns for Duty omitted Behold the Impudence of the Man He talks of Gospel Christ the Mysteries of his Glorious Kingdom c. What grosser Opposer of the New Covenant can there be who denies the very Life Virtue and Soul of all true Gospel-Worship and Discipline and without which the otherwise best Christian-Church that ever was would be worse then Legal For they that worship not from the Motions of God's Spirit offer strange Fire set up their own Worship and are Image Makers such ask but they receive not because they ask not aright For if no Man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost no Man can pray to the Lord or in his Name without the Holy Ghost yet a Sigh or Groan from its holy Operation that Sacrifice though without Words is manifold more engaging and effectual with the Lord then the most excellent Performance of Man 's own Spirit 'T is the Fear and Heavenly Sense of God in the Soul that recommends the Performance and that the holy Spirit begets And as the Minds of Men and Women are exercised in the Law of this pure and quickening Spirit as it appears in them they shall know the true Worship which stands in Life and Power whose End is Everlasting Peace when the LORD LORD-CRYERS that have Prayed and Preached in their own Wills and Wisdom as well as to their own Ends and Advantages shall be cast out forever with a DEPART FROM ME YE WORKERS OF INIQUITY But there is one Objection taken from my Book called The Spirit of Alexander the Copper-Smith c. which he thinks splits us irrecoverably It runs thus Either there is such a thing as a Christian-Church or there is not if there be then this Church either hath Power or hath not If no Power then no Church If a Body or a Church then there must be a Power within it self to determine To which sayes Tho. Hicks For Christians to plead this who own the Scriptures for their Rule and not the meer Light within the Argument may safely be allowed But you cannot stand by this For will you say what a Man doth without an Inward Motion is accurst and yet disown him for not doing what he is not moved unto But though this be plausible it is no more For the Difficulty remains in Case the Scripture be admitted for the Rule for Instance The Church unto which Tho. Hicks belongs own the Scripture to be the Rule But suppose Tho. Hicks in some one Point believes the Scripture not to intend the same thing the rest of the Church understand it to mean as in Case of Free-Will I query how this Matter shall be reconciled They affirm the Scripture to be the Rule and say This is the true Sense of the Scripture Thomas Hicks also affirms the Scripture to be the Rule but that his Sense is the Mind of the Scripture This occurs almost daily among those who believe the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith Now observe the Parallel The Quakers by the Light within them as their Rule judge that rude Imagination of keeping the Hat on in time of publick Prayer The Anabaptists by the Scripture as their Rule censure Thomas Hicks for upholding a Contrary Sense to the Scripture The Dissenter from the Quakers sayes The Light which he calls his Rule manifests no such thing to him nor doth he believe it to be the Mind of the Light to him Thomas Hicks makes Answer to the Church that by the Scripture he understands quite another thing and the Scripture is his Rule for what he sayes and maintains in the Matter I would ask any Man of Common Sence if the Scripture is not as well set in Opposition to it self by these two Pretenders as the Light within and if the Church of Anabaptists would not therefore doubt the Truth of their Interpretation but proceed to censure Thomas Hicks as a Disturber of their Church in its Doctrine or Discipline by the Introduction of New and Unprofitable Opinions Neither are the Body of the Quakers to question their Judgment given by the Light within as their Rule to be a true and unquestionable Determination against such Alexanders and Enemies to the Peace of their Jerusalem But I would further tell Thomas Hicks that though we renounce all Worship not led to by God's Spirit his Reflection
of the Darkness that hath covered the Earth the Superstition Idolatries humane Inventions Will-Worships Violence Cruelty Wantonness Intemperance Avarice and all manner of Vngodliness all are required to harken to the Lord's Voice to obey his Call to let him in and bring their Deeds unto the Light that Christ who is that true Light may discover the Enemy may bind him spoil his Goods and cast him out that he may reign over Thoughts Words and Deeds so shall such be able to say as David did O all that is within me praise his holy Name For Christ will be known as he is the Saviour of the Soul from Death the Restorer of Paths to dwell in who destroyes the Works of the Devil and brings in Everlasting Righteousness to the Soul And though few observe it That which is truly commend able in any People proceeds from the secret Power and Efficacy of that Inward Principle we so much testifie of 'T is that convinces discovers reproves restraines tenders humbles and affects the Soul and not their several Outward Forms which with Robbery to the Light or Grace within they are apt to attribute it to and whereby the Devil beguiles them into a Continuance of them Wherefore let all our Opposers be dehorted from their vehement out-crys for who withstand revile and set at naught this Blessed Appearance God the Lord of Heaven and Earth will break them to pieces if they come not to timely Repentance for it CHAP. IV. Of the True Evangelical Rule ANd this forever raises the Foundation of T. H's Building as indeed how can any thing so infirm long continue built upon Forgery and the hight of all Partiality who makes us Hereticks that he may be found and abusive that he may either shew his own Patience or colour his frequent base Revisings of us I say this overthrows his whole Discourse about the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith and Practice under the New Covenant For what ever is more Ancient more Vniversal and Able to Inform Rule and Guide that must eminently be the Rule but that has been and is the Light within consequently that has been and ought to be the Rule of Faith and Practice That it has been and ought still to be the Rule exprest is proveable thus That which led those holy Men into those things of which the Scripture is a Declaration must needs have been the Rule But that was the Principle of God within by what Name soever denominated That this is true let it suffice to say That who walked in the Light in any Age so far walkt in the Counsel of God And that all Mankind had an Ability from God so to do is our Belief what Abbridgement soever T. Hick's detestable Opinion of Reprobation may make of the Love of God That it ought still to continue to be the Rule of Faith and Life I prove thus That which is every where which makes manifest that which is displeasing and that which is acceptable to God without which the Scriptures are unintelligible and by living up to which Men only may come to witness the Truth of those things declar'd of in the Scriptures must be and ought to be the Rule of Faith c. But all this is true of the Light which is further proved thus The Light Thomas Hicks acknowledges all Men have The Light Thomas Hicks acknowledges all Men ought to attend unto Now unless some Man who hath lived unblameably up to the Light can give us a Demonstration of its Insufficiency to shew and teach him that further thing that God requires him to believe and do there can be no valid Argument against the Light 's Sufficiency If T.H. dare be the Man we shall joyn Issue with him in the Tryall of the Matter But if the Light be before hand with Man-kind furnishing him still with Work enough to do as it certainly ever hath done and still doth let it be known to T.H. that such as would know more of Christ's Doctrines must first do his Will according to what they do know And as it is the common Method of the Dealing of God towards the Sons of Men So is it great Impiety in any Man to infer or conclude Insufficiency to be in the Light to discover and teach Man what he ought to know and do from Man's Ignorance of all that he ought to know and do since the Ground of that Ignorance is his not doing what the Light of God requires from him as his present Duty to perform That the Scriptures are Vnintelligible without it is easily prov'd from the Variety of Judgments that are in the World about most of the Fundamental Doctrines contained therein as about God's Essence and Similitude Christ and the Spirit their Divinity Predestination Original Sin Free-Will Redemption Satisfaction Justification Faith and Works In short the whole End of Christs Coming Living and Dying they are strongly controverted Now were the Scriptures so clear capable to determine in these Matters the Differences would quickly end But since the utmost Ability they of themselves can give is not enough to render those Things obvious that are now doubtfull and disputable There is a Necessity of Man's Recourse to some other thing which is able to discover the Mind and Intendment of the holy Pen-Men Now I would be glad to know of any sober Man if any thing besides the Light shining into the Understanding is able to give true Sight Discerning and Judgment about the Points controverted would it not be reputed Madness to bid Men read that have no Eyes or if they have Eyes at least no Light to read with them The whole Scripture as it relates to Man's Duty is a Declaration of the woful State of Darkness and the blessed State of Light and Life with the Way of Translation out of the one into the other And was this Knowledge without Experience or by and through Experience I hope no Man will say the holy Pen-Men were not Witnesses of the things they wrote and if they were I would fain know by what other Way they came to understand and comprehend the Darkness that was within then by the Light within And to know the Temptations and Subtilties of the Spirit of Darkness the Discoveries Reproofs and Leadings of the Light the Tryals Travels Exercises and finally the perfect Translation so frequently expressed in these holy Writings but through the Manifestation of the Light of Christ in the Conscience their Obedience to it and ' its Operation to their Redemption and Sanctification So that the State of Judgment Repentance Remission Regeneration called the New Birth and perfect Justification were their Experiences or Witnessings for all T. Hicks from the Inward Work of God's Light upon their Hearts and their Souls which though the Scriptures declare of them they can never bring Man into nor can any Man groundedly aver the Truth of those things till he comes through Obedience to the Light in his own Conscience to
experience the same Judgment Repentance Remission Regeneration called the new Birth and perfect Justification before God Since then the Scriptures can do none of these things of themselves however Instrumental they may be of Good but the holy Light in the Conscience and that these things are not knowable though they may be read talked and writ of without being lead by the same Spirit and treading the same Steps of deep Experience the holy Ancients trod in and have left us for an Example it must be granted whether T. Hicks will or no That the Author of those Discoveries Convictions Judgments c. must be the Standing Immutable Rule to the Soul what how far and which way we are to deny or own reject or embrace relinquish or follow with Respect to those things that please God or that please him not His Objections I shall contract into these Four urged by him for the Scriptures and against the Light 's being the Rule of Faith and Practice and indeed they are the greatest Strength of his Book if any it has First The Light within cannot give a clear and distinct Account how Sin came to be if we consult the Wisest Philosophers we shall find a deep Silence touching this Point They saw Sin did overflow but could not by all the Improvements of the Light in them find out how Sin came to be I am perswaded T. Hicks never consulted so much as the meanest of them at least effectually had he his Dialogue would have savoured of more true Science and Morality for I will make it appear that he has contradicted himself abused the Philosophers and blasphemed the Light in this one Passage Where there is no Law there is no Transgression then where there is Transgression there is a Law Now T. Hicks granting that the Heathen knew there was Sin they must know it by Virtue of some Law that made it so This Law was not written but themselves declared God had imprinted it upon their Hearts as an Immutable and Infallible Guide to them in their Actions If so how could they be Ignorant of Sin 's coming into the World Who knew it to be a Deviation from God's living Commandment in their own Conscience and a Committing quite Contrary Things If T. Hicks means by clear and distinct Account the History of Moses that is that Adam and Eve were beguiled by the Serpent who tempted them with an Apple c. 't is no wayes to his Purpose For that which is Sufficient to that Faith which concerns Salvation is to know that God is that he is Pure and Holy that he has given Man the Knowledge of himself and his Will concerning Him by some Inward Law Command Light Grace or Spirit and that who acts not correspondently to this Guide is a Transgressor and incurs the Penalty and that the Heathen had this their Books at large tell us Nor does Tho. Hicks deny it so that he manifestly contradicts Himself and abuseth the Philosophers in saying They could not find out how Sin came since they expresly say That God made all Good and that Man's Erring from the Divine Law in him brought Evil into the World And I boldly affirm and in the next Head will prove that the meer History is not absolutely necessary to Salvation Now that herein he has Blasphemed against the Light is evident since it is to say That God gave Men a Law and Light not sufficient to let them see how Sin entered the World which is to say in plainer English what is Sin it will and must end there Besides suppose the Philosophers had been Ignorant must it needs follow that the Fault and Want was in the Light and not in them Will T. Hicks become their Warrant in the Matter that they arrived as high as the Light could teach them and that the Deficiency lay on the side of their Teacher and not on theirs Confident yea Impudent Man Why should either the Darkness of any Age be charged upon the Light or render it Insufficient or the more clear Breaking forth of Light in a following Generation be reputed another Light because another Degree then what obscurely shined forth in the former since it was not the obscurer in it self but through the gross Blackness that might have over-cast that People because of Disobedience it seemed so to them But let us hear him further 2. Nor can this Light give any Account of that Remedy which God in his infinite Wisdom provided Jesus Christ that he should be born of a Virgin dye for others and rise the third day This is the Pinch But I answer First That the Prophets saw it by this Light unless that they saw it without Light or that the Light they saw it by was not the Light of Christ as the Word that was with God and was God which I hope T. Hicks upon serious Thinking will not say for of no other do we speak 2 ly Those that believed him when he came could never have received him had they not seen him by an Inward Eye enlightned by that Light in measure in themselves which then so unmeasurably appeared in him For the Jews had the Scriptures and according to their Understanding of them they reputed him a Blasphemer and both plotted promoted and obtained his Crucifixion The Question will be Why did they not better understand them The Answer is because they Rebelled against that Spirit which could only so inform them Had they brought their Deeds to the Light they had received sound Judgment and a true Measure would have been given them which they rejecting that was both the Ground of their Ignorance and the Just Reason of their Condemnation Hence we see that Light and not the Scriptures was the higher Rule and Judge of Thoughts Words and Deeds yea and which way the Scriptures themselves were to be understood And truly it is strange that the Light in Men should not lead naturally to its own Being and Fountain 'T is Proverbial among Men The Way to the Fountain Head is to trace the Stream Iâ— the Light in Man leads not to Christ who gives thâ— Light let us leave off all Talk of Religion for tâ— what or whom else was it given to lead us But Thomas Hicks tell me Who or what wâ—â— Christ in that Manifestation it self but that Dâ—vine Word Life or Light manifested in Flesh Wilâ— not then a Measure of the same in Man lead him â—â— course to acknowledge the Fulness or in following its Leadings bring to Eternal Salvation Or can that Light resist that Manifestation as thou dost elsewhere seem to affirm If Christ his enlightned Men with the Light of his own Life and if they are required to bring their Deeds to be tryed by it and if they are invited to follow it and in following it are promised no more to abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life because of the Blood of Cleansing that is therein met with whereby
such are cleansed from all Vnrighteousness and yet the Light neâ—ther a Rule nor Saving then what else can be either a Rule or Saving But this Light says he could not tell any that Jesus should be born of a Virgin dye for Sinners and rise again But this is so great a Mistake that had he conversed with the Sibylls or other Heathen Writers he might in good part have informed himself to the contrary But here I distinguish of Faith There is an Historical and Saving Faith and there is an Historical and Saving Rule as the Faiths so the Rules differ If T. Hicks sayes that 't is the Scriptures that give the Knowledge of those Transactions I mâ—st then understand him to mean Historically if I assent which is not Saving for then all who believe those things to have been must therefore be saved the contrary to which is daily seen with our Eyes since who believes not that Report among those who are yet in great Wickedness But if we are to penetrate deeper and that T Hicks should hold as he seems plainly to do that what Faith we can have of the most weighty Truths declared of in the Scriptures is from it and not from the Light or Spirit within I must firmly deny it For Faith is God's Gift not the Scriptures Gift No so far is the Scripture from giving Faith that it is God's Spirit alone that gives both to understand and believe them The Scripture tells me of such Prophecies Histories and Epistles and of such Men as Moses Job David Isaiah Matthew Paul and John But what is it that gives me to believe the Things they writ of to be true Is it not the Testimony and most certain Amen in the Conscience and what is that there which seals to those excellent Truths Which way then can the Scripture be a Rule to me in believing the Scripture when that Faith is begotten of God by his Light and Spirit concerning the Scripture If the meer Scripture could give me Faith then it might be allowed to rule my Faith but when God by his Spirit alone begets Faith and without which I can neither understand nor believe the Scriptures tell me If God's Spirit be not the Rule of my Faith what how far and which way I am to believe them or the things believed Certainly they can never be my Rule How far and which way I am to believe themselves who of themselves cannot give me that Faith but it must be wrought by another thing so that what gives to believe rules the Belief and not the Thing believed Therefore the Scriptures cannot be the Rule of Faith Now as to this of Christ's Outward Manifestation I say so far as it is Historical the Scripture is that which furnisheth me with a Belief But I utterly deny that they give to believe it in that deep Sense which may be truly called a Saving Faith The Pharisees had the Scriptures and they pretended to admire Moses and the Prophets yet they crucified Christ and sought to countenance their Murder by Scripture Now had they believed and esteemed the Writings of Moses and the Prophets from an Inward Sence of Gods Spirit which the meer Scriptures could not furnish them with they had rightly understood them and not made so ill an Use of their Historical Knowledge as to crucifie the Lord of Life and Glory This shews that Men may have an Historical Faith and yet not the True Faith nor Knowledge of the Scriptures what then gives to believe aright now why truely that which did then the Light and Spirit of Truth no Man could call Jesus Lord without it that is truly so or upon good ground No Man could confess that Christ was come in the Flesh but whose Spirit was of God yet now nothing is more common yet nothing is more True then that Thousands of them are not of God but lie in Wickedness alienated from the Life of God c. what is the matter then why this Those who then confest that Jesus was come in the Flesh did it by Virtue of an Invisible Sight and through a Divine Illumination in their Souls For impossible had it otherwise been for them in any measure to have seen through the Vail of his Flesh into that Divine Life Power and Wisdom that Vnmeasurably filled it but having some inward Sence and Taste of that most excellent Being that was manifested in and by that bodily Appearance therefore did they confess to it and their Spirits truely reputed by John to be of God And as in that day it was Impossible for any truly and acceptably to confess to Christ without a Discerning given and Faith wrought by the Light and Spirit of God in the Heart which was the saving Faith so is it now equally Impossible for any to believe that Christ appeared and that he spake and did all these great things so as to be benefitted thereby and any wayes accepted of God therein but as the Light and Spirit of Truth open those Things to the Understanding and from a measure of that Divine Life which then immeasurably appeared for we have all received of his Fulness and Grace for Grace true Faith comes to be begotten in that Manifestation and a right Confession unto it In short He that calleth Christ Lord must now as then do it by the Holy Ghost that is from an Experience or Witnessing of his Dominion and Rule which through the Operation of the holy Spirit the Soul is to be subjected to so that who believes more then Historically that Christ came in the Flesh must do it by Virtue of the Divine Light and Spirit who alone gives to relish and savour the Truth Nature and End of that Appearance And though it may be allowed that the Scripture is a Rule respecting the History as it was to those of old in reference to the particular Prophecies fulfilled in Christ's coming yet as there was then a more Inward and Heavenly Sence of Christ which drew many after him and begot deep Faith in him so must there now be a more Inward Spiritual and deep grounded Faith of those things recorded in Scripture of Christs Appearance c. then the meer Letter is able to give And therefore that Light and Spirit which gives that discerning and works that deep Sence and Faith must needs be as well the Rule as Author of it and not the Scriptures For if the Scriptures be the Rule then either of Themselves or by Interpretation If of Themselves then either in their Translations or Originals Not in the Translations unless the Translators had been so inspired that they mist not a tittle which I am sure is not so and consequently none but Schollars have a Rule for the Unlearned are secluded therefore the English Bible is not a Rule If in the Originals of Hebrew and Greek Query In what Copies There are various Lections in Hebrew And for the New Testament so called there are no less then
Thirty Copies and all differing in fine there are many Thousands of various Readings Now let 's Dialogue a little upon Supposition only Quaker If by Interpretation who shall interpret Meer Man Anabaptist No. Q. The Light within A. No. Q. The Spirit A. No. Q. The Church A. What Church Q. Shall Right Reason interpret A. Yes sayes T.H. Q. I Query Which of them is the Rule And when that 's found out and determined then let T. Hicks prove that it is unquestionably true and has remained Uncorrupted through every Generation And by that time he has done all this he shall have done a great deal towards our Satisfaction But what is this Right Reason A. 'T is a Faculty in Man rectified Q. Very well But who has this rectified Faculty A. Thomas Hicks say Q. Has none it but he A. Yes Q. Have none Right Reason but such A. It was an old Saying Dip or Damn but Interest has taught us more Discretion Q. Well then Others may have Right Reason that are not dipped A. We say so whatever we think among our selves Q. What 's the peculiar benefit of Dipping A. Much every way Q. But which way A. We are brought into Church-Fellowship Q. Are you brought into Fellowship with God by it A. No I cannot say so Q. No! what 's your Fellowship worth then the Saints Fellowship was in the Light and the true Church-Fellowship was in Spirit What do you receive when you are dipt A. Nothing Q Are you no better A. No. Q Why I once thought you received the Holy Ghost out of hand A. I thought so too but was Mistaken Q. Why wert thou dipt then A. To fulfil the Scripture Q. But what led thee to it A My own desire Q. Is not that Will-Worship A. What to do as the Scripture exhorts Q. How knowest thou it exhorted to it A. I thought so Q. Is that enough Where 's your being lead by God's Spirit But to our Business Q. How shall I know Tho. Hicks has this Reason before mention'd A. He loftily sayes so Q. But is that sufficient Well but where is this Right Reason A. In Men. Q. Is it so Then it seems that which gives the true Knowledge of the Scripture is in Man But tell me honestly Do ye believe this Right Reason may Err A. No For then it were not Right Reason if it could be Wrong Q. Well argued But if a Man Errs is it not the Fault of Right Reason A. By no means Q. Thou speakest honestly But why then does T. Hicks charge the Light the Quakers profess with every short-sighted imperfect Saying or Action of this or any other Generation A. Does he Q. Yes it is the great Drift of his Books A. Truly that 's not fair Q. Honestly said But if this Right Reason cannot Err then Man cannot Err A. No that does not follow for Man may not submit to it Q. Why may Man have something in him that cannot Err and he not be Unerrable A. Yes Q Rightly said But why then does T. Hicks conclude so of â—â— A. It is unfairly done Q. Very well But you say that this Right Reason is part of Man's Soul or I am mistaken see Dial. pag. 32. If so then Man's Soul must be Infallible A. Oh Infallible that word affrights us What Infallible Pray what 's Infallible Q. Poor Man I see it scares thee indeed Why Unerrable and Infallible are all one Yea Right Reason is Infallible by the same Reason that it cannot be Wrong A. But the Popes talk of being Infallible are not you like them Q. Never the more like them for that Talking and Being so are Two Things Men should not deny the true Christ because of an Imposture nor any fear Infallibility because the Pope makes Market with such Pretences If thou art not certain of what thou believest thou hast not that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints for that was Certain and therefore Infallible A. Why Is Certain and Infallible all one Q. Yes Certainty and Infallibility is the same But what think'st thou of the Light in this Case under Debate for either it is the Rule or it is given to understand use the Rule or else it s given for nothing A. 'T is not the Rule we are taught to say and yet we cannot conclude it to be given for nothing Q. Very well then it must be given in order to understand and use the Rule Now supposing the Scriptures be the Rule that which informs me of my Rule and teaches me how to use it must be greater then my Rule in that it teaches me to know and do that my Rule cannot do of it self I query then If this Light be not my Rule how and which Way I come to understand and use this Rule So that it is eminently the Rule because of its Present Immediate and Certain Direction and Knowledge and the Scripture at most but a kind of Declaratory and Secondary Rule and therefore subject to the Holy Spirit in the Apostles and primitive Christians who took not Measures by it when it distinguisht the Ceremonial from the Moral Precepts so intermixed in the 19th of Leviticus and other places but their Minds being exercised and guided by that Holy Living Rule they left off or continued for a time several Jewish Observations as there might be a Service therein signified to them from that Living Rule The Light and Spirit of God then is both THE Rule of Faith and Guide of Life superior to the Scriptures and That by which only they can be rightly known believed and fulfilled A Doctrine Evangelical and not disowned by those first Protestants who testified that no Man could understand the Scriptures given forth by Inspiration but by a measure of the same Spirit To conclude Historical Faith Scripture is a Rule of but Doctrinal and Saving Faith the Light and Spirit of God can only be the Rule of for that which giveth Faith is only that which rules Faith 3 But says he how could you have known that Swearing in any Case were Vnlawful if it had not been written Swear not at all Is not then that Scripture your Rule in this Case But this shews both the Ignorance of T. Hicks in the Writings of the best Gentiles and his Acknowledgment of the Light 's Sufficiency in case we are able to prove Swearing disallowed and dispractâ—ised before Christ's Coming in the Flesh The Seven Wise Men famous among the Greeks and Contemporaries above five hundred years before Christ came in the Flesh esteemed Swearing but a Remedy against Corruption in Evidence To be sure they both believ'd and exhorted People to that State which needed it not Socrates plainly sayes that there is a Life more firm and unquestionable then an Oath Consequently Swearing not the best State And Xenocrates was had in that Veneration in Athens for his exceeding Virtue that the Magistrates thought it a questioning of his Honesty to offer
the Propagation of that Inward Religion however their Form may be more scriptural the same Spirit enters them that reigned in their old Persecutors and they at last run back and end in that from whence they at first reformed So dangerous is it to rest satisfied with a finer Form which in Truth is but a better Covering for the old Enemy of God's Spirit and Power to act more disguisely and securely in But lest any should think that all this is said to justle the Scriptures out of all Use and Service read these few lines following with Patience and Impartiality Though we eminently account the Light or Spirit of Christ to be the Gospel Living and Immediate Rule as the great Promise of the Father and that without being ruled and lead or guided by there is no being a Child of God yet we do not thereby intend an Exclusion of the Scriptures from being Obligatory or as not Declaratory of those heavenly blessed Truths that are fit to be read believed and practised God forbid No we know better and practise otherwise and have good Satisfaction therein Nor do we say that those essential Things relating to Faith and Godliness mentioned therein are by us to be sleighted or contradicted or that the Light and Spirit we are led by doth or can lead to any such thing for by its Holy Discoveries and Convictions are we made acquainted with them and our Faith concerning them is firm and they are thereby made our Duty and such is their Correspondence and Agreement that from an INWARD ASSENT AND LIVING AMEN FROM GOD's LIGHT IN OUR CONSCIENCES do we testifie of their Truth Vse and Dignity And very vain is T. Hick's Objection If your Light be Sufficient why do you read them since we may return to him the same If the Scriptures be Sufficient why dost thou use other Means Though God's Grace be Sufficient of it self therefore is the Creature always in that Condition wherein he needs not Means And notwithstanding it be the Dispensation of Light and Life more Immediately then has been known to former Ages yet we deny not the Use of such Means as may be used of God's Light and Spirit as will be spoken more largly to elsewhere Man's Mind being Carnal and abroad Means in God's Power are us'd not as settl'd Teachers but as Instruments in God's Hand to testifie of and direct to that one Great Prophet and Living Teacher in the Hearts of Men that all may come thither and be taught of him CHAP. V. Of his Insinuations against us concerning the Scriptures BUt T.H. that he may be true to his Ungodly Way of perverting our Principles would insinuate First That we esteem the Scriptures no farther then as they were the Experiences of Ancient Saints thereby rendering the many Prophecies and Promises therein recorded not yet fulfilled Vnprofitable But to take off all Credit to this evil Suggestion let our sober Readers know that by the Light of Christ in our own Hearts and Consciences as to confirm what of the Scriptures we have experienced and press after the Compleatment of those Enjoyments therein expressed so are we taught reverently to believe those holy Prophecies and Promises yet unaccomplished to have been given forth by the Inspiration of the Almighty and that they shall be as certainly fulfilled as they are written Yet we dare boldly affirm and that in the Name of the Lord before whom we shall give an Account for every Deed done in the Body that the greatest Reason of our Belief concerning them is not from any Outward thing but that Inward Testimony Record and Heavenly Amen that we have frequently received from the holy Light within us to the Truth and Faithfulness of those Sayings And if any Quakers there be that are not thus minded they are to me unknown and I publickly renounce and protest against that Principle that would in the least derogate from those Holy Writings which leads me to his Second Insinuation viz. As if because we do deny the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Practice in Honour to that Divine Light which was the Author of them in the Holy Pen-men that we should therefore deny all those holy Precepts Commandments and Rules relating to Life and Godliness that are therein contained A Consequence so foul that God forbid any of us should ever give any Just Occasion for it For we both believe Men ought to livâ— up to them and that they are highly Reprovâ—able if they transgress against them But the Reason why is that Conviction they meet with from the Light in their own Consciences wherefore the Scriptures are so far from being the great Rule of Faith and Practice that the Light of Christ within is both our Warrant and Rule for Faith in and Obedience to them And let T.H. say if he can that the Waldenses Albigenses Loâ—lards Hussites Lutherans Calvinists and other Protestants made not the Testimony of God in their Conscience the chief Ground of their Belief of the Scriptures to say nothing of the primitive Christians and most uncorrupted Fathers who are many and positive on our behalf 3 ly He insinuates that we equal nay prefer our Books before the Scriptures because of the Titles we give our own Books viz. The Voice of Wisdom A Testimony for God c. and what we give the Scripture namely Letter c. This I have largely spoken to in my Answer to J. Faldo but not knowing whether ever that may be where this probably may come I shal say thus much If at any time we call the Scripture the Letter it is not that we mean thereby our Books are the Spirit or that we would irreverently set them below our Writings but upon a Comparison only betwixt the Scriptures and the Spirit that gave them forth and that I hope may be done without the least Disrespect though such whose Religion stands in Letter and Time and not in Spirit and Power be angry at it But that we should be thought to sleight the Scriptures because we bestow such Names upon our Books is a strange kind of Consequence Are not our Books mostly written in a plain familiar and Scripture-stile Do we not earnestly endeavour to confirm what we write by Scripture which not only renders it a Paâ—t of our Book but the most Noble Part too And shall we notwithstanding be reputed Sleighters of the Scriptures Certainly if our Books are called The Voice of Wisdom and A Testimony for God because from the Voice of Wisdom and God's Witness in the Conscience by good Reason must the Scriptures be interested therein who are both a part of them and such a one too as unto whom our Quotation implies a Manifest Preference His next Insinuation is that it is Dangerous for Ignorant People to read the Scriptures flinging those hateful Names of Jesuit and Romanist upon us This Doctrine he layes to the Charge of G. Fox and Rich. Hubberthorn in a Book called Truth
that his Obedience unto Death was in order to make Men Righteous because it was in the Nature of a Sacrifice by which God testified unto the World his Desire of Reconciliation through the Remission of the Sins that are past which was held forth and came and was confirmed by that Obedience even to the Death of the Cross In which Sence the Just sufferd for the Vnjust and whilst we were Sinners Christ dyed He was made Sin that is to take away Sin for us an Hebraism and he justifieth the Vngodly that is remitteth the Vngodly upon Repentance and bore our Iniquities or bore away our Iniquities that is by this Offering for Sin was Remission for Sins past declared and confirmed unto all as an Vniversal Propitiation For God was in all these Sufferings shewing forth his Love and reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them But still Repentance was that which brought home the general Pardon promulgated in and by that holy Offering up of his Body once for all unto every particular Soul Thus by the Obedience of that one Man even to the Death of the Cross many come to be made Righteous that is justified from many Offences see Rom. 5.6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. But if this first part of Justification which is Remission of Sin be not obtainable by any however general it be in Christ without Repentance from dead Works which implyes Faith Contrition and Amendment of Life How miserably is T. Hicks out who brings this very Scripture we are upon to prove that we are compleatly justified which takes in both Forgiveness of Sin past and a being Inwardly made Just through the casting out of Sin by the just and holy Power and Spirit of God operating in the Heart and Conscience by Christ's Righteousness WHOLELY WITHOUT US I grant it that Forgiveness of Sin is God's free Love meer Grace and rich Mercy declared in and by Christ Jesus to the World and that this Grace abounded unto all for He was a Propitiation not only for the Sins of those that believe but of the Whole World yet the whole Benefit thereof should never redound unto any whilst alienated from God by wicked Works Peter preached another Doctrine For though Christ dyed for the Vngodly yet they were not thereby Justified that is pardon'd for Sin past while Unrepentant Peter sayes Repent and then they should receive Remission of Sins Now I would fain know how this Repentance is wrought by which as a Condition any come to have an Interest in that great Pardon held out to the whole World Is the Spirit of Christ unconcern'd in it Can we think one Good Thought of our selveâ— Are we not altogether degenerated Plants of a Strange Vine by Nature Children of Wrath c. Is not this frequently confest by the Professors of Religion in our times and the most affected piece of their Righteousness too Well then If we cannot repent of our selves and that Repentance is a Condition that it is in the Soul and that it cannot be there without the Spirit of Christ work it tell me plainly if something is not to be done within and therefore of the Nature of Inward Righteousness before any Benefit be procured deriv'd or receiv'd from Christ's Death and Sufferings to any particular Person This is close to our Point for therefore is it that we affirm that such as go on to transgress against the Law of the Spirit of Life and so disobey the Light and grieve the Holy Spirit by wicked Works are not in that State Justified I mean now that they are not so much as forgiven and least of all that they should be look'd upon as compleatly justified that is by Qualification and Participation of the Divine Nature truly and inwardly made Just since it would be to say that by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous who notwithstanding remain Disobedient and Rebellious to God's Grace which has appeared unto them We do say again that such a Doctrine so speaking Peace to a State of Sin and Death and shutting out an Inward Work many wayes necessary to the Forgiveness of Sin past or dayly Acceptante with God IS NO LESS THEN THE DOCTRINE OF DEVILS and the worst they have to propagate to the Dishonour of God and the Eternal State of People Souls In short here lyes the gross Mistake of our Adversaries They make the Sufferings of Christ which peculiarly relate to the first part of Justification Remission of Sins past to be that which has answered not only for Sins past but present and to come so as to acquit them from all Inward Work as necessary to Justification compleatly taken contrary to express Scripture Rom. 5.25 and the great End of Christ's Spiritual Manifestation in his People There might be much more said in this matter but because he thinks I have not made a little for him in my Book truly entituled The Sandy Foundation Shaken and that I am to be short I shall proceed to dispatch what remaines as God shall enable me To that Answer he gave out of the Romans by the Obedience of one c. already with other Scriptures explained and vindicated from his Abuse of them he makes me thus to answer him Quak. It is a great Abomination to say God shall condemn and punish his Innocent Son that he having satisfied for our sins we might be justified by the Imputation of his perfect Righteousness O why should this horrible thing be contented for by Christians Penn. ibid. p. 25.30 To which he returns Chr. How now Mr. Penn Is this the Doctrine of Christ's Sufferings for Sinners to make Satisfaction to Divine Justice an horrible thing and an Abomination to you Do you consider what you say And thus brings me in answering him Qu. This I do say that the Consequences of such a Doctrine are both Irreligious Irrational Penn. ibid. P. 16. Now that he has dealt Blasphem ously with God and Injuriously with me as well as that he has given me no account of his thoughts upon the Errour he makes me guilty of in case I held it besides that impertinent Question plainly appears First he has dealt Blasphemously with God in calling Christ's Suffering God's condemning and punishing his Innocent Son c. which his Censure of my so Phrasing their Opinion manifestly implyes Now I appeal to all Impartial People which of us two is most to be blamed I that confess to Christ's Sufferings as the Effect of Gods's Love thereby not to satisfie himself as a Revenger or as he could not forgive for none of that is in the Verse at all which yet is in their Sordid Opinion but as a God full of Mercy Forgiveness and Pardon to all true Penitents to declare to the World his free Remission of Sins and that he would not impute their Iniquities unto them if they would repent believe obey or T. Hicks who holds
and in which his Holy Spirit leads not by the which only Self is abas'd kept under and in perfect Obedience to and watchfull Observance of God's Holy Will But Tho. Hicks makes this a Strange and Dangerous Doctrine insinuating that we perform nothing but upon a kind of Spiritual Compulsion as if that God required Man to do all his Commandements without his holy Spirit alwayes ready to incline and help them either to begin or perform any such Duty or that there were no Difference between waiting for the natural Springs of Divine Power to assist and being compell'd to worship But this shews his great Ignorance of God's Spirit its dayly Movings upon the Heart of Men either as a Reprover or Comforter for Good for were he better acquainted with its Dealings it would not be so uncouth to him to hear of our Waiting to feel the holy Stirrings of it in order to every Religious Performance wherefore let not his Ignorance be any Argument against our holy Gospel Practice The Saints of old had a Warrant in themselves for what they did They were not wont to run into the Imitation of former Generations as to any External Appointments because then commanded and practised as proper but consulted the Anointing they had receiv'd about the Continuation or Dis-use of such Figures or outward Services and as they receiv'd Wisdom and Counsel therefrom either to use or decline the Practice of them they acted and no otherwise making good the Apostles Saying that as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Are we led by It in ALL things then in and about God's things Had it not been for this how could the Apostles have preach'd down the whole Ceremonial Worship of the Jews The meer Letter of Scriptures could never have been their Rule in the Case If any say they were extraordinarily Inspired I answer how did such as then believ'd know that if not from an Inward Testimony Nay what Rule had the many Thousands then to worship God by The Hebrew Bible was little or not at all known to the Gentiles The Scripture tells us that whole Churches were setled in the Faith before the Epistles were writ And it is hard to think when they were writ that they could be suddenly collected and when collected that every Individual could get a Coppy that to be sure ought to have a Rule for Printing was not so early in the World and Transscribing must needs have been to Irksome for every Person to obtain a Coppy for his or her peculiar Benefit But because we are taught to believe that they wanted not True Rule of Faith and Practice and that the Scriptures especially of the new Testament could not be all that to them our present Adversaries conclude to make the great Rule let them not be displeas'd if I infer from hence that a Measure of that Holy Spirit which was given to every one to profit with was their Rule and therefore ought to be our great Rule and Guide in all things relating to Faith and Worship And let it be remembred that Christ promised to send the Spirit of Truth to lead into all Truth as much as to say none are led into the Truth nor in the Truth but by the holy Spirit of Truth or that their Practice is a Ly or they are led into a Ly who are not led by the Spirit of Truth that alone leads into all the Wayes of Truth where by Truth is not to be understood the meer Letter of the Scripture which notwithstanding is True but the Living Powerful Truth Christ the Way the Truth and the Life of which the Scripture is but a Record or Declaration Many may run into a Practice of several Outward Things mentioned in the Scriptures to have been the Practices of the Saints of former Ages and yet not be led into the Truth for all that is but Will-Worship Imitation and Unwarrantable To be led into the Truth is to be led into God's Living Power Wisdom and Righteousness whose Fruits are Peace and Assurance for ever This is the Truth the Spirit leads and is all-sufficient to Certainly Christ intended This for the Great Evangelical Leader Rule Judge Law-giver and Guide through the whole course of Regeneration the only Way into the Everlasting Kingdom And all those who are not by this Holy Spirit prepared moved and assisted to perform Divine Worship unto God but run into that weighty Duty or any other supposed Ordinance without its pure Leadings which makes it a Spiritual and Living Worship they are but those anciently fore-told of LORD LORD-CRYERS whose Portion shall be that dismal Depart from me I know you not who has requir'd these things at your hands Let this therefore be a Warning unto all Professors in the Name of the Lord that they run no longer Vnsent nor think to be accepted for their many Words God regards the Heart that he has broken and is made contrite before him and which trembles at his Word 'T is not meer Worship but that which is Spiritual which he expects and accepts and to perform that Man must Cease from his own Spirit Strength Strivings and Imitations and become Dumb before the Lord and as a Man dead to Self-Performance and then will he breath into him the Spirit of Supplication and raise him up in the Newness of his own Divine Life whereby though but in Sighs and Groans a Spiritual and most Acceptable Worship shall be offered unto God in which his Soul will be well pleased and every such one come to be refresht and establisht in Righteousness For all Offerers and Vpholders of strange Fire of what sort of People soever they may be in the Great and Notable Day of the Lord God will he cause to lie down in Sorrow And because he thinks his Advantage is not small that he hath against us by basely inferring and aggravating such Consequences as this What of Duty we neglect we are to charge upon the Spirit 's not moving us to it or because we must not obey without a Motion we are acquitted from all Fault till then c. Let me tell him that he striketh himself and not the Quakers For they hold that God's Spirit ought to be daily waited for And that it is alwayes ready to inform and instruct Man's Soul and to move it to those Thoughts Words and Deeds with respect to God and Man as are Well-pleasing to the Almighty For we do not only teach that the Spirit of God is alwayes present to convince of Sin but to lead out of it and in that Way of holy Living which is well-pleasing unto God In short God's Worship stands in the Spirit and I testifie from the Eternal God all other Worship then what springs from a Mind touch'd sanctify'd and mov'd of his holy quickning Spirit is abominable to him His Righteous Soul loathes it And what else were their Sacrifices as theirs were who in my hearing said Pray
cited in Defence of his gross Conceit of the Râ—surrection are either relative of another Matter or directly opposite to and inconsistent with his Assertion 1. And this Mortal shall put on Immortality this Corruptible shall put on Incorruption 1 Cor 15.53 I grant that this implies a Change but I deny that it so much as intimates that Men shall rise with those very Carnal Bodies that were buried No the Apostle not only tells us that the Body sown is not the Body that shall be but that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God vers 50. If the Flesh and Blood be transmuted or changed into no Flesh and Blood I query and I think I may do it safely too Whether It be the same Flesh and Blood that is changed into no Flesh and Blood that is the Body raised O Absurd Dark and Carnal Man Nor am I afraid to tell him that the Scripture cannot rationally be taken strictly as translated neither ought many more for there are certain Figures Modes and Wayes proper to that Language in which this Epistle was written which are to be understood with Allowances for how can the Mortal taken for Mortality and not him who in part is Mortal put on Immortality It is Impossible Can Mortality be cloathed with Immortality then it seems that Mortality is the Person and Immortality the Garment If Thomas Hicks should tell me No it is meant that the Mortal Body should be changed into an Immortal Body it follows that he is gone from the Letter of the Text into an Interpretation as well as that it contradicts his absurd Identity or Sameness of Body If so it is as Lawful for me and more if in the Right to construe It thus That we who are Mortals respecting our Bodies put off the Mortal Part and put on instead thereof Immortality suitable to that weighty Passage of the Apostle Paul For We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in Heavens which as directly concludes the Charge not of Accidents but Bodies from an Earthly House or Tabernacle to an Heavenly House or Building as ever any thing can be spoken by Men or Angels To conclude Since Mortality can not properly put on Immortality but Man that is cloathed with Mortality may put off or exchange Mortality for Immortality because otherwise Mortality would have Immortality for its Garment a thing impossible and absurd I do infer that this place yields no Strength at all to Thomas Hicks's gross Apprehension of the Resurrection 2. His next Scripture is that in the Romans But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that rais'd up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But this is nothing to T. H's Purpose in the least For the Apostle treats not here of the Resurrection of Dead Carnal Bodies in our Adversary's Sence as the whole Chapter seriously read proves but of the Inward Work of the Spirit in order to the making Man's Body a fit Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in as he writ to the Corrinthians 3. The third place he brings is out of the Epistle Paul writ to the Philippians He shall change our Vile Bodies Upon which he sayâ—s This cannot be meant of a New-created Bodâ— because such a Body cannot be said to be either Vile or Changed But what makes this for his Conceit Surely nothing For if the Vile Body he changed then it is not that Vile Body therefore not the same Body Again to say that Scripture can't be meant of a New-Created Body because such one can't be said to be either Vile or Changed makes much against him For 1. It is to say that the Body that shall be is Vile else what means his Saying Because such a Body cannot be said TO BE not to have been either Vile or Changed 2. Though the Body That shall be may not be said to be either Vile or Changed yet it may be given of God in lieu of a Vile Body and so the Vile Body Changed for one that is Glorious It was either Ignorantly or Sophistically done in Thomas Hicks to imply That Body that shall be could not be said to be Changed since the Change lies on the side of the Vile Body that is exchanged for a more Glorious Body Therefore all along we must conclude it is not the same but another Body But how Disingenuous is Tho Hicks to repute G. W's Answer in the Apostle's Words a pressing the Metaphor too far and yet by so doing runs himself into this Dark Imagination of a Fleshly Resurrection But Tho. Hicks thinks The Joyes of Heaven Imperfect else I Answer Is the Joy of the Ancients now in Glory Imperfect or are they in Heaven but by halfes If it be so Unequitable that the Body which hath suffered should not partake of the Joyes Celestial Is it not in measure Unequal that the Soul should be rewarded so long before the Body This Principle brings to the Mortality of the Soul held by many Baptists or I am mistaken But why must the Felicity of the Soul depend upon that of the Body Is it not to make the Soul a kind of Widdow and so in a State of Mourning and Disconsolateness to be without its Beloved Body which State is but a better sort of Purgatory See T.V. and T.D. What made the Apostle willing to be absent from the Body that he might be present with the Lord if such a Dissolution brought Sadness instead of Joy as our Adversaries in the Point of the Resurrection suggest if not boldly affirm In short If the compleat Happiness of the Soul rests in a Re-union to a Carnal Body for such it is sown then never cry out upon the Turks Alcoran for such a Heaven and the Joyes of it suite admirably well with such a Resurrection The Reasons I have to give against this Barbarous Conceit I thus Contract 1. Because that the Scripture speaks of a Dissolution and no Resurrection of that which is dissolved being Earthly and Unfit for a Celestial Paradice and therefore holds forth a Building of God and House Eternal in the Heavens 2. If the Body be the same it must have the same Nature otherwise not the same Body But if it have the same Nature it will be Corruptible still Mortal Seeds bring forth Mortal Natures not Immortal Neither can Mortal be Immortal and yet the same Nature as before for that Change made tell me What remains of the Old Earthly Body 3. It makes the Soul Uncapable of Compleat Happiness without a Fleshly Body as if Heaven were an Earthly Place to see walk in and all our Outward Senses to be enjoyed and exercised as in this World though in an higher Degree which I call Mahometism For what Spiritual Happiness the Body now can have
little his Endeavour Vnrighteously to infer that those Moral Perpetual and Eternal Holy Precepts thou shalt have no other God but me thou shalt not Murder thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Steal thou shalt not bear False Witness c. are not binding upon us But that we give our selves the loose of such horrid Principles as the contrary and are therefore inconsistent with Civil Government Cont. pag. 59 60. As if that Eternal Holy Omnipresent Light with which we are enlightned did not continually declare and require these Just and Righteous Things at our hands God rebuke him 22. From our Use of the Scripture and a Ministry with such like Means though by the Assistance and Leadings of the Eternal Spirit for this End that all may come by them as Helps to the Life and Power it self the great End of all External Means He would insinuate the Insufficiency of the Light and does prefer the very Beggarly Elements of the Jewish Religion before it which holds as well against God Christ and his Power Grace and holy Spirit because the like Means are used notwithstanding to reclaim and restore Men to a State of Happiness but if that were Wicked what can his Reflection be upon the Light Dial. p. 37 41 42 49 23. Because we say that no Man can rightly worship God without the Preparation Motion of his holy Spirit which we daily wait to feel and accordingly are prepared drawn forth to worship the Lord whether in publick or private for we never sought his Face in vain This Envious Man suggests that we never wait to be so prepared or moved But if the Spirit of God compels us not God must go without his Worship and not blame them with such like making as if the Spirit were as far off as he would have Christ and that to stay till Men were mov'd were never to worship which sufficiently shews his Ignorance of that Spirit whose alone Leadings make a Child of God as well as the Wicked Vse he makes of that Holy and Christian Practice Cont. p. 60 61. 24. From our asserting that every Man ought to be convinc'd of what he does and that by the Light in him as his Rule of Faith Duty before he sets about to do or perform it He insinuates the Impossibility of our Renouncing and Rejecting any tenacious Disputer about unprofitable Questions that may go out from us as a Religious Society because such Person or Persons may plead the Light within for it Cont. p. 64 65. As if they might not as well plead the Scripture too upon his Belief of a Rule and give him the same Difficulty Must every one use the Scripture right that pretends to it as their Rule If not then why may not several pretend to the Guidance of the Light for that which the Light really condemns 25. From our denying the Resurrection of the Natural and Corruptible Body and leaving it with the Lord to give us a Body as pleaseth him This Caviller and Foolish Intruder into Sacred Mysteries endeavours to possess People with our being Shufflers about Denyers of the Resurrection of any Body to Life Eternal however Spiritual or Glorified Dial. p. 56 57 58 59 60 61 62. 26. And from our asserting the Unity of God and the Soul and our Denyal of their Carnal Resurrection He blindly concludes that the Soul is part of God and so no future Rewards or Punishments at all to be expected by any Dial. p. 16 17. Thus much to give the World a Taste of the Man's Spirit He that can thus far believe him to be an Honest Man ought to be condemned for great Ignorance and Inhonesty God that made Heaven and Earth will Recompense it into his Bosom with a Vengeance if he Repent not A Collection of a Few of his Many GREAT LYES Arg. III. He that Lyes is not of God but Thomas Hicks is a Lyar therefore not of God then no Christian 1. First That our owning of Christ Jesus is indeed no other then A MEER MYSTICAL ROMANCE and that the Christ we own is no other then a MYSTICAL ROMANCE Dial. p. 10. Contin p. 9. A Prophane Untruth Vntruth in speaking so of us and Prophane with a witness to call the Light a Mystical Romance which he just now said ought to be obeyed Is this your Champion 2. That according to the Quakers Conceits Scripture and Reason must not be made use of Ibid. p. 26. A Lye our Books and Practice plentifully prove 3. That the Light in us sees no Necessity of a Mediator Ibid. p. 35. When God knows we feel the daily Benefit of one 4. That the Quakers account the Blood of Jesus Christ no more then they do the Blood of a COMMON THIEF Ibid. p. 38. An Ungodly Aspersion 5. That we deny his Visible Coming and Appearance in the World Cont. p. 37 45. Though a Contradiction to himself 6. That the Quakers hold they can work a Compleat Righteousness OUT OF THEIR OWN BOWELS Ibid. Epist p. 53. Dial. p. 38. and yet a while since all was to be done by the Motion and Operation of God's Spirit alone O Confusion it self 7. They own Christ in all he did ONLY as an Example Contin p. 54. yet just now he made us deny his Coming at all What strange Lying and Self-Contradicting is here 8. That the Quakers Dissemble when they tell People they own the Scriptures and that they render them of no more Authority then ESOPS FABLES Cont. Epist That a Quaker should say That which troubles thee is thy PUZLING thy self so much in that BOOK THE BIBLE thou wilt never be setled till thou throw that Book AWAY Cont. p. 76. A Wicked Lye Also That a Quaker should saâ— to one T. Hollbrow What dost thou tell me of the Scriptures they are no more to me then an old Almanack Which we renounce both as being a Lye and an Irreverent Expression For J. Nobbs on whom it is charged was a Ranter and if I mistake not it was spoken before the People Quakers were known in the Southern Parts if not before God's Breaking forth by them 9. That any thing against our Ministry though never so true must be looked upon as the greatest Lye Ibid. Epist But this is one to be sure God will clear their Innocency and confound their bitter Enemies 10. That Nicholas Lucas said to one of T. Hicks 's Acquaintance that he might burn the Bible and serve God as well without and that he might write as good Scripture himself if he would have any Ibid. pag. 5. A Lye he disowns and in the Appendix may be seen 11. That they appoint their Ministers afore-hand to speak in such a Place and at such a Time and that they go to Meetings only to encourage that is to decoy trapan and inveagle others Ibid. p. 66. Very Lyes I testifie in God's Fear 12. That the Quakers bid People follow the Light within and if they do so
Question Anab. Did the Primitive Christians use to answer thus Quak. We deny Imitation We are to speak as we are moved O Ungodly Mocker and Forger Here 's your Anabaptist a Preacher a Perverter a Forger and a Prophaner of wholesom Words Who moved him to this Romance but the Father of Lyes What Quaker can this be besides his I mean that Vnchristian Tho. Hicks God will avenge the Quakers Cause upon his Head as sure as he is God if he for these things repent not But yet a little more upon Perfection Anab. Will this convince me or any other of your Perfection Ibid. p. 72 73. Quak. Though it do not yet thereby we shall render you so Odious to our Friends that they will believe nothing that is spoken by you against us Anab. Then may I not conclude that the Reason why you so freely Rail against and Reproach your Opposers is only to secure your Credit with your own Proselytes Quak. I cannot deny but that there may be something of that in it O Unreasonable Man Anab. Will you be so liberal of your Revilings whether your Adversaries give Occasion or no Quak. It concerns us to render them as Ridiculous as we can and to make our Friends believe they do nothing but contradict themselves And if this fail we will insinuate something by way of Question that may be Reproachful to them O Horrible Impiety God our God vindicate our Innocency from these Hellish Slanders Anab. But doth not this signifie a very Dishonest and Malitious Mind in you Quak. We care not what you think provided our Friends think not so Again We will give it out that we have both Answered and Confuted our Adversaries and our Friends will believe us which is enough to us Observe Reader what a very Villain this Anabaptist has made of a Quaker But where will it light when the Anabaptist shall be known to be the Maker both of the Quaker and the Villain too If this be not Forgery there is no such thing in the World O my Heart trembles within me to think of this detestable Piece of Cheat. He writes as if he were hardened against God desperate against us and resolved to the Abuse of the poor People to make them believe his Fictions to be Truths But the Devil always spoils his own Business For who not quite distracted can think it to be more our Interest to please our Friends that we are already sure of then those who are not yet such with Design to make them ours I charge these things with abundance more relating to both our Doctrine and Practice upon him as abominable Forgery And the Weight hereof shallly upon his Soul in the day of his Death And the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth will terribly plead our Cause in his Conscience to his great Amazement and perpetual Anguish if he repent him not of these Undertakings But he objects what Fierce and Impertinent Language he has given in Answer to several Questions E.B. furnisheth him with in his Answer to one Philiâ— Bennet â— Priest As these Thou art a wicked Creature Blackneâ—s of Darkness is reserv'â— for thee Thou art a Serpent and the Curse of God is eternally upon thee Tâ—oâ— Beast to â—hom the Plagues of God are due with which he makes â— great Bâ—ast in his Continuation of the Dialogue written in part to prove the first no Fiâ—â—ion But till it be better done he will remain a Forger in the Minds of all Impartial People For that iâ— not the â—wentieth part of what he haâ— given under the Quaker's Name Should that be admitted for a Proof so â—ar as it extends We have little Reason to believe that to be a sufficient Proof of the Reality of the fâ—rst whose very first Question â—nd Answer is a downright Forgery in G. Whitehead's Name and that with no Quotation though he promis'd it at once proving himself Lyar and Foâ—ger too But in Defence of that worthy Sufferer and dâ—ceased Prophet of the Lord I have this to say 1. First God having raised him with others by his Eternal Power which was very dreadful lived as a flaming Fire in the bosome of them against the Formality Hypocrisy Covetousness Persecution and other Wickedness of that Generation of Covenant-Breaking Professors both with God and Men from whom they under-went bitter Mockings and cruel Sufferings He and they have been drawn forth of the Lord to check rebuke and strike dumb that Vnclean Vnregenerate and Serpentine Spirit and Nature which was predominant and that under the shew of Worship and Forms of Religion acted in a Mystery against the Life and Power of Godliness Wherefore when this Priest in his Subtilty and unclean Wisdom of the Tribe and Trade of the Ungodly Pharisee proposed these Deâ—p and Weighty Queries not so much to be inform'd as to ensnare that 's God's Word of Truth whose State was to come to Judgment for Sin and into the deep Fear Aw and Dâ—eaâ— of Allmighty God because of Iniquity that through God's Righteous Terrors and Judgments he might learn the true and experimental Knowledge of what was convenient for him to know For they that do the Will of God can only know the Life and Truth of his Doctrine I warrant it from God and by the Sence of his Eternal Spirit do declare that it was the Portion and only fit Answer to be given to those trapanning Questions And had E.B. gone into a familiar Opening to his Vulturous Unclean Serpentine Eye all the deep Things of the Spirit of God and Mysteries of his holy Kingdom who was in that Nature that crucified the Lord of them E.B. had brought the Wrath of the Eternal Allwise God upon himself instead of the Priest whose righteous Judgments were come and at that time abroad in the Earth And I do believe they struck him home or we had heard of him ere this For Hypocrites and Disobâ—dient Men sometimes are sooner struck with Judgment then Argument 2. Nor did the Priest enquire so harmlessly as Th. Hicks would falsly insinuate It is the Language of a white Devil onset to Carp Cavil Catch and Ensnare the Innocent for the Promotion of the outside and formal Religion then cryed up and secretly to smite at and withstand the Lord's Spiritual Appearance then breaking forth in the Nation But the Priest queries smoothly And what then Is it ever the farther from being Serpentine for that Was it not Then the Jews sought to entrap Christ by their Questions when they came with a seeming Veneration and Acknowledgment calling him Master and the like Are sharp Words a greater Provocation then a subtil Twining and Decâ—itful Spirit If Tho. Hicks can no better discern Spirits than to believe every thing fairly spoken to be true his Judgment is like to be little minded he is dead to all right Feeling Every Spirit and Question is not to be answered And can he so basely misconstrue our planest and most upright Assertions and
more full Relation of their Dangerous Tenets Continuation Epist pag 2. He saith The Doctrines delivered by them are such as neither themselves nor any for them can give us a distinct and intelligible Account of and that the Tendency of all their Writings and Declarings doth but lead People into the Thickets of Absurd Inexplicable and Vnintelligible Dotages Epist How plain is it that the Absurdity and Dotage yea and Falshood is his own let the Rational Reader judge in his pretending Faithfully to Represent those Opinions and Tenets which he confesses neither themselves nor any for them excluding himself with all others can give a distinct and intelligible Account of and that they are inexplicable I do not so much regard his absurd Lye herein as take notice how Inconsistent Fruitless and Absurd his Work against us is But why can neither themselves nor any else give a distinct and intelligible Account of their Doctrines If you 'le believe him he saith They talk like Mad-Men as having lost their Common Reason and were absolâ—tely Infatuated Cont. p. 67. and would make the World beliâ—ve as if they were either Distractâ—d or â—orse p. 70. and saith That scarce a Man that reads W. Penn but thinks him to be either Distracted or worse p. 87. Surely if this Man believed all this of us he would not perplex and trouble himself with so much Studying and Scribling against us as he doth his Vexation and Torment would not encrease as it doth What! Mad-men absolutely Infatuated Distracted or worse and yet their Doctrines and Tenets Dangerous How can this be especially if neither Intelligible nor Explicable His Lye against W.P. is so apparent that all in their Wits who read him may see it O T. Hicks why hadst thou not so much Wit as to have hid thy Folly in Silence Thy Prayer is The Lord in Mercy vouchsafe to us in this Hour of Tryal wherein the Spirit of Error doth so fearfully prevail that his Holy Truth may shine out c. Epist Shine out Must not that be in Man's Conscience then How agrees this with his opposing the Light within as a Rule By Spirit of Error no doubt but he means the Spirit of the Quakers But what need this Hour of Tryal thereby come so near him or he fear its prevalency with Errors if it appear in such Distraction and so unintelligible and inexplicable therein as he renders it But how Mad and Distracted soever he represents us his charity and pretended Christianity leads him not to pitty us but grosly to Revile Slander and Abuse us both as Men and as Professors of Religion His Malice cannot enough vent it self against us by counting us Mad-Men absolutely Infatuated Distracted c. but also Cheats Wicked or Vile Impostors Monsters in Religion Dissemblers Prophane Immoral Knave Impudent Fellow and guilty of Deceiâ— and Hypocrisie Equivocation Idle Praâ—ing Horriâ— Blasphemy Arrogance little Respect to Magistrateâ— Wilful Lying Vile Hypocrisie and Deceit the most Implacable Enemies to the Christian Religion as Vile Impostors as ever were Destructive to all Humane Society Horrid Enormities c. But how well this kind of tâ—â—aâ—iâ—â— us with most Calumnious Reviling agrees eitâ—eâ— with his Accusation before of Mad Men Distracted c oâ—â—ith his Pretence to Meekness and Fear p. 3â— Scripture Language and Terms p. 38. or with his intending only our Conviction and Recovery let all sober Readers judge we are sure that this Way of Desâ—ming rendering a People so grosly Odious to the Nation and Obnoxious to the Powers is not the Way either to convince or recover them if deceitved or mis-guided much less to Belye and Slander them in Matters wherein they know themselves clear as he hath done by us As when we declare ouâ— Faith in a Matter and give as plain and sincere Answers as we can that according to plain Scripture he tells us We do notoriously Equivocate and Dissemble p. 54 that we do not in truth believe what we perswade many well-meaning People we do p. 69. Such is the measure we meet withal from this Malitious Accuser who most falsly presumes to be a Judge of our Minds and Intentions contrary to what we in Plainness express wherein our Consciences bear us Recoâ—d in the Sight of God he grosly belyes us and the Deceit and Falshood lies upon himself and he cannot wash his hands of it He told us in his Dialogue p 90. That if the Quakers return him the Common Answer that they are Lyes and Slanders and that he is an Envious Railing Man To the first he should not think himself concerned to give any Reply because he is fully satisfied c. Upon which as I had sufficient Ground I did charge him with being Guilty of â—oth Lyes and Slanders against the Quakers of which â—instanced Seven Dipper Plung pag. 16 17. Notwithstanding he hath promised he should not think himself concerned to give any Reply on this Occasion yet he hath not only written a second Dialogue to vindicate himself from bâ—ing a Slanderer and a Forger but for â—roof of his own Lyes and Forgeries hath added more against us And for the most â—art of his Contradictions I charged against him in the said Dipper â—lung'd he has not so much as made â—n Essay to reconcile them Neither has his Brother V. Kiffin nor any else of his Brethren appeared in â—rint either to vindicate or excuse him though rferred to therein but he must either stand solely â—on his own Legs or fall In that they do somewhat Wisely and Warily but neither Prudently â—r like Christians to suffer their Brother Hicks thus Headily and Out-ragiously to persist in his Perverse Spirt to Clamour Vilifie Reproach and Defame both particular Men and a Body of People fearing God together with their Religion and Sufferings nor will he Grace the Anabaptists Cause with â—is Defaming Pamphlets nor they in spreading them being patcht up with both Lyes and Falshood Be it further observed That Tho. Hicks would perswade the Reader of his Honesty and Conscienciousness touching his Work against us in his seeming Solemn Appeal Epist p. 2 saying God forbid that I should be guilty of such vile Injustice as to charge them with false things Examine the Quotations and thâ—â— judge He would make the World believe he is very Just But let us try him though he be fully handled before if he be not guilty of such vile Injustice as he mentions Where he saith The Holy Scriptures are esteemed by them viz. the Quakers inferiouâ— to their own Pamphlets yea they render them to be of no more Aâ—thority then the Fables of Aesoâ— Epist Where are his Quotations from the Quakers that they thus render the Holy Scriptures He refers us to none at all I charge him with an Abominalle Slander Vile Injustice and Gross Deceit in thâ— And we utterly Disown and Abominate such an Undervaluing Comparison of the Holy Scriptures as here he hath accused us of O seared
Conscience to appeal to God as one not guilty of such vile Injustâ—ce as that of charging us with false things and refer the Reader to Examine the Quotations when here â—s not one Quotation nor the colour of one that the Quakers did ever thus speak of or render the Holy Scriptures to be of no more Authority then the Fables of Aesop What will not Envy and Wickedness had this Man to say against us Doth this agree with â—is Pretence That all he intended was only our Conviction and Recovery Dial. p. 10. Is it not rather to do us what Injury and Mischief he can by Slanders and Forgeries Tho. Hicks's Charge against Nicolas Lucas viz. That N.L. a Real Quaker was moved to declare his Mind thus to one I know very well Thou mayst burn thy Bible and when that is done thou mayst serve God as well without it and if thou hast a mind to have a Scripture thou mayst write as good a one thy self N. L's Answer follows These words whereof T. Hicks hath thus publickly and positively accused me and that divers times over in his Pamphlet were never spoken by me nor was it ever my Principle Way or Motion to Dis-esteem Undervalue or speak evil of the Holy Scriptures for I really believe that Holy Men of God spake them forth as moved by the Holy Spirit Therefore this Charge against me is an Abominable Lye and Wicked Slander And with a clear Consience I speak it I do neither know nor remember that ever any words past from me whereby Tho. Hicks could so much as colour this Lye and Slander against me And I cannot but look upon my self to be greatly Injur'd and Abus'd by T.H. until he oâ— his Brethren do me Right in this thing in as publick a Manner to the World as he hath done me Wrong Which iâ— they do not I commit my Cause to God to judge between us and clear my Innocency herein London the 29 th of the 3 d Moneth 1673. Nicolas Lucas Whereas Nicolas Lucas was referr'd to Owen Horton and his Wife for Proof of Tho. Hicks's Charge before to whom Nicolas spoke about it and she referr'd her self to Hen. Stout to witness the Charge to which Hen. Stout answers thus viz I Hen. Stout of Hertford never in all my dayes heard Nicolas Lucas speak the Words nor any of the like Import or Tendency as charged on him before nor any Man else before Tho. Hicks that I can call to mind But am satisfied in my Conscience that he hath most grosly Wronged Nicolas Lucas To which I subscribe H. Stout Another Accusation is viz. That S. Eccles discoursing with a Friend of his in London told him The Scriptures were a Lye But that this may appear a very likely Lye against S.E. he adds 'T was replyed Why then dost thou mention them that The Quaker answer'd To silence thee That he should say the Scriptures were a Lye or that he made use of a Lye to silence his Opposer appears a most absurd Slander and where is his Quotation the Reader must examine for Proof Hath he not here Abused his Reader But let S. Eccles's own Words clear him of this Lye and Slander In his Book Mus Lect. he often cites the Scriptures calls them The Holy Scriptures pag. 13. Thou that sayst the Quakers deny the Scriptures belyest the Innocent pag. 20. Do not belye the Scriptures nor the Spirit that gave it forth for Holy Men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost pag. 22 Whereas Tho. Hicks begins his Continuation thus Chr. I have formerly detected you of several Pernicious Opinions concerning the Scriptures the Light Within the Person of Christ and the Resurrection c. I presume by this time you have considered what say you thereunto To this he feigns the Answer thus viz. Quak. I say the Plagues and Judgments of God will follow thee G. Whitehead Rep. I testifie against this as a Fiction for this was not my Answer neither has he referred us to any Quotations of mine though upon this he is pleased to accuse me with Passion Furious Replies and Sarcasms for his own Fiction to which he hath counterfeited my Name I question not but the Judgments of God will follow him and such Forgers and Spreaders of Lyes But that was not my Answer to the said Objection This Dialogue-Man's Liberty in these Forgeries and silly Botcheries is neither Christian nor Civil As to what he sayes pag. 3. I answer 1. That the Life which is the Light of Men John 1. is not a Creature but Divine and of the very Being of God I still affirm and have else-where proved though the whole Essence or Being of God is not contained in Man yet enlightens all Men. And 2. That the Inward Speaking or Living Ministration of the Spirit of Truth is of greater Authority then the Scriptures or Writings in the Abstract 3. S. Crisp doth own the True and Real Christ the Son of the Living God in his Spiritual Divine Being to be without either Beginning Date or End This he hath fully answered else-where 4. That the Soul or Spirit of Man as it relates to the Creaturely Being is a distinct Being from the Infinite Being of God and is not properly a Part of God For he is not divided into Parts or Particles but with respect to its Original Life whereby it immortally subsists we are God's Off-spring and the Breath of Life or Immediate Inspiration of God by which Man became a Living Soul or the Original Life of Man's Soul Of this G.F. spoke when he said Is not that of God which cometh out from God viz. the Breath of Life His words are perverted and mis-cited by T.H. For in another Consideration and State he owns the Infinite Being of God and the Soul or Spirit of Man to be distinct Beings where he speaks of the Soul being in Death in Transgression Man's Spirit Vnsanctified the Soul being in Death Transgressing the Law see Great Myst p. 91. This he could never intend or speak of the Infinite Incorruptible Being of God for that never sinned 5. That G.W. denies the Resurrection of the Body that is of the Dead or any Body at all is false nor is this prov'd against G.W. from his Saying Thou sowest not the Body that shall be it 's raised a Spiritual Body and Flesh Blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1. Cor. 15. And T.H. may as well charge it upon the Apostle and upon his Brother Tho. Collier who in his Marrow of Christianity p. 40 94 95. plainly saith The Form in which they shall be raised that is in a Spiritual Form not in a Fleshly c. All Flesh shall be swallowed up in Spirit and our Body shall be changed and made like his glorious Body But Tho. Hicks plainly contradicts him saying That the Apostles and all true Christians say This Body of Flesh and Bones shall rise again Dial. p. 59 60. which he could never yet
him into all Truth as he obeyes it Bap. Abel Enoch Abraham Isaac Jacob Noah c. had a Sufficient Rule before the Scriptures were written viz. the Spirit 's Rule God's Speaking and Directions from his own Mouth and that they had a more Infallible Word to waâ—k by then now is to us For 't is possible that some Scriptures may be corrupted having been in the hands of corrupted Men. The Scriptures may be and is corrupted by Man This may be graâ—ted that the Spirit is the Rule Of more Efficacy then the Letter The Spirit is greater then the Letter Jo. Newman's Light Within page 19 20 104 105 106 108 110 112. VIII Qua. 'T is possible for True Believers through the Power and Help of Jesus Christ to attain to such a Perfection in this Life as the keeping the Commandments of God Bap. The Spirit of God assures us that they who are subject to and keep the Commandments of God are the Children of God and they who do not are Lyars 1 John 2.3 4. cap. 5.2 3. Contin p. 61. IX Qua. That Remission and Pardon of Sins past thrâ—ugh the Blood Righteousness of Christ Jesus tâ—e Justification of Persons whether it import the making or declaring them Righteous in Christ by a Living Faith are neither imputed nor reckon'd of God tâ— thâ—m in an Unconverted Unsanctified Disobedient or Ungodly State but to the truly Repentant Converted Believing and Obedient Souls Bap. I know of none that hold Justification of Persons in their Vngodliness We plead not for a Righteousness Imputed to overthrow a Righteousness Inherent or the Exercise of Christian Vertues He that is pardoned were a Sinner till justified not such that remain so being satiâ—fied Contin p. 55 56. The Saints are made the Righteousness of God that is God now as in Christ dâ—â—â—'s and â—â—â—s in the Saints hâ— hâ—â—â—pirit writes his Law in their Hearts makes them Partakers of his own Nature and so goes oâ— in Fulfilling his own Righteousness in thâ—â— For the Righteousness of the Law in the Spirit is fulfilled in us Marrow Christian p. 38. X. Qua. Though the Soul and Spirit of Man be not of God's Divine and Infinite Being but related â—o the Being of Man and as Corruptible hath a mutâ—blâ— Habit yet as we are his Off-spring and Man is the Image and Glory of God the Original â—ife oâ— Soul of the Soul that came from God and is immutable is of his own Being In short God in whom we live move and have our Being is the Life of Lives and Great Soul of Son's and the Soul thâ—t is Saved and United to God doth partake of his Divine Nature and he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Bap. The Condescension of God and Christ into the Hearts of his People to woâ—k up his Saints into the sâ—â—â— Nature with himself c. God aâ—d Christ iâ— Holy so his Word is Holâ— and through Faith in tâ—is 〈◊〉 Christians are wrought up into the Nature of it self and into God J. Newman 's Book Light Within p 78 84 87 88. There were the Propeâ—ties oâ— Gâ—â— iâ— some measure imparted to Adam Adam was in the Image of God in respect of Eternity he hâ—d given hâ—m an Everlasting Being Marrow of Christianity pag. 4 5. Christ was both the Power and Wiâ—dom â—f God and as Christ so all the Saints are 〈◊〉 one iâ— thâ—s Wisdom Christ is made unto us Wisdom nâ—t only by wâ—y of Imputation but by the Operatiâ—n of the same â—pirit who dwells as truly in every Believer as in Christ ibid. pag. 34 35. And have not sâ—me of their Brethren confâ—st That there is a kind â—f Infiniteness in the Soul XI Qua. The Children of the Resurrection shall be equal unto the Angels of God in Heaven and their Bodies not Natural Earthly and 〈◊〉 the very Gross Mâ—ttâ—r that nâ—w they are 〈…〉 Celestial Spiritual like uâ—to Chriâ—â—'◠〈◊〉 Body God giveth a Body as it plâ—asâ—th 〈◊〉 in Subjection to whose Good Pleasure we 〈◊〉 quiesce till it be effected as he seâ—th 〈…〉 own Praise Bap. That there shall be a Resurrection of the â—ody at the Last Day is Evident John 5 〈◊〉 11. with 1 Cor. 15. Rev. 20. although 〈…〉 some denyed and by others too caâ—â—lly looke◠〈◊〉 Some thinking that our Bodies of Flesh shall be Raised in the same Form in which it Dyed c. The Form in which they shall be raised that is a Spiritual Form not in a Fleshly It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body When Christ who is our Life shall pâ—eâ—r we shall appear with him in Glory all Flesh shall he swâ—llowed up in â—pirit and our Bodies shall be changed and made like unto his Glorious Body Marrow of Christianity by T.C. pag. 93 94 95. And those Saints who are alive at the Coming of Christ shall be changed in a Moment in the Twinkling of an Eâ—e 1 Cor. 15.51 52. and so shall be caught up in the Spirit to meet the Lord in the Air 1 Thes 4.17 Ibid. p. 92. XII Qua. The Son of God doth not consist or is not made up of a Humane Body of Flesh Blood and Bones For he was the Word and One in Being with the Father from Everlasting But in the Fulness of Time he took upon him Flesh or that Body prepared for him and being Ascended into Glory his Body is a Glorious Body surpassing all Humane Earthly Carnal and Corruptible Bodies Bap. Christ was a Son by a Spiritual Proceeding and Coming from the Father who was Eternally One in the Father Marrow of Châ— p. 30. Our Bodies shall be changed and made like his Glorious Body Ibid. p. 95. Theâ— shall be raised in a Spiritual Form not in a Fleshly p. 94. The â—on took Flesh upon him the Word took Fleâ—h the Father did prepare him a Body Dialogue p. â—5 4â— and 83. XIII Qua. Christ being so highly exalted and Glorified as it God's Right Hand as he is can be neither Proof nor Argument that he is not iâ— any Man nor that either Christ or God's Right Hand is limited and circumscribed to such Remotâ—ness as not to be in the True Believers to save and uphold their Souls Bap. When a Soul is satisfied from its Vnion with God and its Dwelling in God that all the Administrations and makings forth of God is Love unto it thus it dwells in Love and from hence is filled with Joy It causeth the Soul alwayes to dwell at the Right Hand of God where is Joy and Pleasure for evermore Marrow of Christian p. 28. Christ the Son was Eternally one in the Father so in him all Believers are made by the same Spirit the Adopted Sons of God being made Partakers of the same Divine Nature Marrow of Christian p. 30. Christ dwells Spiritually in all the Saints If Christ be in you you shall be sensible of it Ibid p 31.32 Tâ—is Indwelling of Christ in his People God and Christ cannot be
the value of a Thousand Pounds whilst he is not really or personally worth a Groat from the Imputation of another who has it all in his Possâ—ssion Dangerous because it begets a confident Peâ—swasion in many People of their being Justified â— whilst in Captivity to those Lusts whose Reward is Condemnation whence came that usual Saying amongst many Professors of Religion That God looks not on them as they are in Themselves but as they are in Christ not considering that none can be in Christ who are not New Creatures which those cannot be reputed who have not disrobed themselves of their old Garments but are still immantled with the Corruptions of the Old Man In all which I see nothing Unsober or Unsound But he thinks he has caught me fast in my Caveat against Popery where in distinguishing betwixt Grace and Merit I say Grace is a Free Gift requiring nothing and now ask sayes he was not Abraham Justified by Works and that Good Works may be said to procure deserve or obtain Apol. 198. Is this writ like an Infallible Dictator Thus far T.H. There is an old Proverb That some love the Treason but hate the Traitor No Man that writes rants it more imperiously then Tho. Hicks It is hard to say whether his Dishonesty or his Impudence be the greater I think I never used Tho. Hicks so ill or any of his Way as to deserve so many Scoffing Taunts Base Detractions and Down-right Scurrilities from his hand But let that pass To the Point Hear what I have said in the Caveat p. 12. Grace and Merit as stated by Calvinists and Papists are taken for Faith without Works and Works without Faith like the two Poles Doctrines the most opposite Now Rewardableness is neither but something in the middle and indeed the most true for Grace is a Free Gift requiring nothing Merit is a Work proportionable to the Wages Rewardableness is a Work without which God will not bestow his Favour and yet not the Meritorious Cause for that there is no Proportion betwixt the Work that is finite and temporary and the Reward which is infinite and eternal in which sense both the Creature obeyes the Commands of God and does not Merit but Obtain only and God rewards the Creature and yet so as that he freely gives too Now what Contradiction is there in all this I plainly distinguish the Word Merit in the strictest Acceptation of it from that which is truly Scriptural respecting us at least That I did not mention Merit in my Sandy Foundation Shaken the Book proves Is there no Difference between obtaining the Justifying Presence of God by the Fruits of the Spirit in our Heart and Lives and strictly meriting his Acceptance of us by Works and those of our own making too as what T.H. doth wickedlâ— suggest I say Abraham was justified in offering up his Son because he had been condemned if he had disobeyed But sayes T. Hicks He was Justified before And why was not his whole Life mention'd to his Justification But I must tell T.H. that as among Men the Will is taken for the Deed so the Lord finding Abraham right in his Heart that he believed and would obey he was as much justified therein as if he had actually done it We have cause to believe T. Hicks never knew what the Consequence of that working Faith and offering up an Isaac to God is Nor was it needful to recite the whole of his Life Measures are frequently taken by some eminent Tryal If he was accepted in that Obedience being the Condition where that was before he was before accepted no doubt But sayes he see the Caveat p. 12. and Apol. p. 198. How do they agree Truly very well For Grace is Free requiring nothing How Nothing at all By no means How then is it free Grace is free because it was the good Pleasure of God both to give Remission of Sins and Eternal Life to as many as should Repent Believe and Obey to the End and thereby come to be conformed to the Image of his Son But may T. Hicks say Is Repenting nothing Believing nothing Obeying nothing No T.H. not one jot of Merit in all that It is the great Grace of God to give us Eternal Life upon so small Conditions They obtain it but that is God's good Pleasure and no Purchase therefore Grace still All that is our Duty the Reward is Free God giveth it but chuses a Way by which to do it If T.H. will understand Grace as my Caveat condemns it I cannot help that sure I am I never writ such Doctrine as my Faith and therefore no Contradiction to my self whatever it may be to him But sayes he Your Apology speaks that good Works may be said to procure deserve or obtain c. My Apology as my self and other Books are not Apology enough for me and my Friends against such Envious Perverters as T.H. though I doubt not but they may be effectually such with more moderate Persons thus it speaks The Word Merit so much snarled at allows a two-fold Signification the First a Proportion or Equaliâ—y betwixt the Work and Wages which is the strictest sense and that which he S. Fisher least of all intended The Second something that may be said to procure AND IN SOME SENSE to deserve or obtain and so good Works do since without them there is no Acceptance with God nor Title to Eternal Life Where it is observable how basely he has left out both my absolute Denyal of the strict Sense of the Word MERIT and those qualifying and distinguishing Words which come after Procure and before Deserve namely AND IN SOME SENSE to deserve or obtain with the last Clause Certain it is that whatever sense I had T. Hicks took me in the worst he could invent yea in that very sense which all along I have most particularly refused and condemned A Baseness and piece of Forgery unworthy of any Man pretending to Good Conscience But he proceeds still much after the same manner he would have People believe That we assert the Ground of our Rejoycing and Acceptance to be not in and from the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us by Faith where observe that WHOLELY WITHOUT US is omitted to render us Denyers of Christ's Righteousness in any sense but only in a Righteousness inherent in us and done by us Which great Untruth he gives the Lye to in his own Book But because he pretends to fetch this out of my S.F. Shaken p 27. let 's hear what I have said But let every Man prove his own Work and then shall he have Rejoâ—cing in himself alone and not in another Be not deceived for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he reap If Rejoycing and Acceptance with God or the contrary are to be reaped from the Work that a Man soweth either to the Flesh or to the Spirit then is the Doctrine of Acceptance and Ground of Rejoâ—cing from the
Works of another utterly excluded every Man reaping according to what HE hath sown and bearing HIS OWN Burden The Question will now be Whether I meant this of the Creature alone or by the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit by which his Children are led Concerning which I need say no more then what that Book speaks in my Defence yea that very Page from whence he fetches this pretended Dangerous Assertion For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God How clearly will it appear to any but a Cavilling and Tenacious Spirit that Man can be no further Justified then as he becomes obedient to the Spirit 's Leadings For if none can be a Son of God but HE that 's led by the Spirit of God then none can be justified without being led by the Spirit of God because none can be Justified but he that is a Son of God so that the Way to Justification and Son-ship is through Obedience to the Spirit 's Leadings By all which it appears that I am not speaking of Remission of Sins as if by our Conformity to the Spirit it self we could so justifie our selves No but that by being Led by the Spirit of God and Fulfilling of his Royal Law Men come to be accepted as Children of God and the Ground of their Joy is from their own Experience of the Work of God in them What was it made the Faithful Servants that improved their Talents be accepted and gave an Entrance to the Wise Virgins into the Bride-groom's Chamber Were it not the Improvements of the one and the Oyl in the Lamps of the other And if T. Hicks come not to know that holy State he shall never know Eternal Rejoycings that is the Word of Truth to him For such as he sows such shall he reap in God's Day of Account Wherefore that Scripture by him brought out of Isaiah makes greatly for us Surely shall one say in or from the Lord have I Righteousness that is not in or from my self In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Is there no being in the Life Power Nature and Virtue of that Seed then no Salvation Also that of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Christ is made unto us Righteousness wherefore let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. For this I affirm and that with Boldness and Truth that Isaiah and Paul speak of a Real and Inward Righteousness not the less in the Creature because not of the Creature but of Christ Was not Paul's Righteousness the Son of God revealed â—n him that everlasting Righteousness that Christ binding and casting out of the strong Man making an End of Sin and finishing of Transgression he brought and brings into the Soul For that their Righteousness should be in or from him or that he should be made their Righteousness they never know a being cloathed and made Righteous by it were Absurd and Impossible In short As we know no Righteousness out of Christ our Lord so knowing his Appearance in us and that Grace for Grace received of his Fulness in whom are hid the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and being obedient thereunto we know and witness a Participation of his Everlasting Righteousness Holy Wisdom and Saving Knowledge which qualifie and adorn the Soul for the blessed Marriage of the Lamb who takes away the Sins of the World not only the Guilt of Sins past by Remission upon Repentance but as a Redeemer from under the Power and Nature of Sin present and to come through the Virtue of his Holy Life in the Soul which is the Compleatment of Justification and the Thing now insisted on Lastly he gives under the Quakers name as a dangerous Doctrine this Passage Justification goes not before but is consequential to the mortifying of Lusts and the Sanctification of the Soul Penn Sand. Found Sh. p. 27. To which he answers Doth not this import that a Man must be formally just before he be justified I would ask whether Remission of Sins be not one part of Justification Qua. I suppose it may Chr. Can one be forgiven that is not Guilty It looks like a Contradiction to pardon one that is Innocent Certainly he that is pardoned must be a Sinner To all which I return this much were he True and Honest in his Reasoning I had been to blame for my Ignoronce and T. Hicks to be commendable for his Answer but he dodges basely He would avoid my Argument about the second part of Justification by suggesting that I meant it of the first to wit Remission of Sins as much as if he had said What must all Sin be mortified before a Man be pardoned his old Score and can a Man 's own Good Works so remit Cancel or justifie But his Sleight will not do I have oftâ—n declared that upon Repentance God doth not impute past Iniquity to any therefore that part of his Answer which seems most smart upon me that is Can one be forgiven that is not Guilty c. vanisheth of Course for the Question is not Whether Man in his natural Estate is Guilty before God and such can be no otherwise so justified that is Remitted then by the free Love of God which is the first part of Justification as David speaks Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin But whether Men are daily accepted as Children of God redeemed and saved of the Lord and justified as such in his Presence further than as they come to be led by his holy Spirit and know Victory over Sin which is the second part of Justification So that he did dishonestly with me to suggest my Denyal of Remission of Sins past upon any other Score then the Mortification of Sin in the Party so pardoned For though Sin may not be mortified yet if there be a Foundation of true Repentance laid the Guilt of former Iniquities I have often said is not imputed It was therefore very unfairly done of him from my Asserting daily Acceptance and Fellowship with God to be the Consequent of a Self-denying and mortified Life through the powerful Working of the Spirit of Christ in Man to infer that before this Work was done there could be no Remission of Sins past as if it were the procuring Cause of Pardon and not the free Love of God upon Repentance In short it is to say that because I deny Men may be justified in the second Sense without being made truly and really Just that therefore Men are to be made Just and Innocent before they are forgiven which is Justification in the first Sense And thus has he dodg'd disingenuously with me throughout this Point Where I meant by Justification Remission of Sins he has run It the other way And when I have understood it of a State of Fellowship and daily Acceptance with God then he has taken it for Remission with manifest Design to render me as confus'd
though such Vngodly Persons partake not of his Holy Life and Power neither are subject unto his Government 6. From our affirming God's Promise made good that he would be the Teacher of his People and Directing People to God's Light in them as the Gospel-Instruction to the Way of Life He wickedly infers against us yet as our Meaning that we deny all Ministry all Visible Worship c. though they stand in God's Power and Spirit Dial. p. 41 43 A thing never believed nor intended 7. When we speak of Christ's Manhood or Christ's Visible Appearance and when we speak of his Eternal Godhead or as he is now to his Saints People saying he was never as such Visible to Wicked Men. He is not ashamed to tell the World in our Name that Christ was never Visible to Wicked Men as to that Bodily Appearance and therefore that we deny any such Appearance at all Cont. p. 37 40 41. 8. From our Believing Christ to be in his People according to express Scripture and our asserting that as such he is Crucified by Wicked Men. He infers that we deny Christ to be as well without as within not that he was ever Crucified in the Flesh Dial. p. 44. Oh Wicked Man 9. From our Denyal of their rigid Satisfaction that is that Christ was punished by his Father for our Sin and that Sins past present and to come are answer'd for and that Men may be Holy in Christ by Virtue thereof whilst not New but Old Creatures and so Unholy in themselves their Consciences not being Purged from dead Works He unworthily concludes that we disown Christ's Death and Sufferings as a Propitiation that his Body was an Offering for Sin that he bore the Weight of the Iniquity of the whole World that he carry'd away sins past sealed Remission in his Blood to as many as believe and that we expect to be both forgiven and accepted not for Christ's sake nor in his Sacrifice and Righteousness but our own Works Dial. p. 9 10. Cont. 48 49 50 51 52 53. All which is an horrid Abuse of us 10. From our asserting that the End of Christ's Coming to be not only the Forgivenes of Sin past upon Repentance but the finishing of Transgression in the Creature by the Operation of his Power in his Inward and Spiritual Appearance He Wickedly infers that we make his Visible Appearance of no Value and deny the End of Christ's Sufferings Dial. p. 10. Cont. p. 50 51 52 53 44 55. 11. Because we say that Men are not accepted of God but upon the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit in the Soul as to daily Comunion with God And that there is not another Way to be saved from Sin present and to come then by Christ's Inward Manifestation and Operation He Insinuateth as our Faith that we purchase our Forgiveness by our own Good Works and not that Christ was Gods Propitiation by whom Remission of Sins past came which is the meer Love and Mercy of God declared then by him in the World more eminently and now by the Light in the Conscience to all that Repent Ibid. p. 51 52 53. 12. Becauce we make Obedience a Condition to Salvation He would have People believe that we make it the Meritorious Cause and so Papists Dial. p. 2 63. 13. Because we say that Christ is but our Example in his abiding in the Father's Love by keeping his Commandments So Wicked is he as to conclude that we believe Christ to be in ALL THINGS BUT AN EXAMPLE Ibid. p. 54. Behold this Wickedness 14. From our pleading for a Perfection from Sin and a Growth to the Measure of the Fulness of the Stature of Christ in this Life He confidently infers our Denial of a Perfection in Dâ—gâ—â—es and our Belief of as high a State of Perfection of Glory in this World as hereafter Dial. p. 48 49 50 51. 15. From our asserting True Rejoycing to be the Result of God's Work in Man and Man's Conformity to him and what Man sows he reaps This Person basely infers our utter Denial of any Cause of Rejoycing from what Christ had done for us when bodily in the World or by his Righteousness now in us Ibid. p. 53. 16. Because we say that such Works as are wrought by the Holy Spirit in us are necessary to Eternal Life and may in a sense be said to obtain it since the Lord hath so freely offered it upon the condition of Believing Obeying the Fruits of the Spirit of God in Man He wickedly suggests in our Name that we expect to Merit Eternal Life by Good Works and those of our own working as the Spider Weaves his Webb out of his own Bowels Thus does he pervert and misconstrue our pure Faith Dial. p. 38. Cont. p. 51 52. 17. Because we say all True Spiritual Liberty stands in God's Power that loses from Satan's Snares He unrighteously infers That who are not of our Way should have no Liberty Cont. p. 87. O Impious Man God will reckon for these things with thee 18. From our asserting that the Breath of Life which came from God by which Adam became a Living Soul to God was something of God himself That he may keep his old Wont he falsly renders it as our Meaning that the Soul is a part of God and then fastens all his hideous Consequences Dishonestly upon us Dial. p. 45 46. 19. From our Preaching the Redemption of the Seed from under the Weight and grievous Pressures of Sin and calling it the Lost Groat and Pearl in the Field c. He dares to give it as our Faith that we believe that Holy Seed to be in a Lost Undone or Polluted State Dial. p. 47 Cont. p. 49. then which what can be more Wicked 20. Because we say the Scriptures are not the great Gospel-Rule but the Spirit because the Dispensation of the Spirit is that of the Gospel more peculiarly and that without it we cannot understand or savingly believe any thing declared of in the Scripture and therefore that it is our Rule for believing the Scriptures themselves He basely suggests that the Quakers cast off all Precepts in the Scriptures and will not bound either their Doctrines or Lives thereby so will not bâ—ing their Cheats Impostures to the Test thereof counting them of no more Authority THEN ESOPS FABLES Dial. p. 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 32 33 34 35 36. Cont. Epist to the Reader Behold your Anabaptist Preacher Indeed an Vngodly Wrester to his own Destruction 21. From our asserting that what was a Commandment to any Servant of God in old times is not so to us because so to them that is such as going to Pharaoh going Naked going to the Kings Chappel as Moses Isaiah and Amos did as also those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed for a Season and to pass off That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit anew It is not a