as his Brethren uses to make Scripture for us as well as wrest it But as to the Interpretation by him advanced Though here be a Doubt or Ambiguity raised where there is none yet suppose not admit the Text doubtful However let that be the sense of it which the Saints in Scripture ever understood to be such If then they in whom CHRIST JESUS was already come and in whom he dwelt continually even by the power of his Spirit did notwithstanding this some of them dayly others every Lords-Day celebrate this his Supper Then this shewing forth his Death till he came was not by them understood of his Inward and Spiritual but of his Second Outward coming to Judgement For in such Case feeling so fully his being come in their Hearts they would have desisted But notwithstanding their having received the Holy Ghost and CHRIST's dwelling in them by his Spirit they in some places and while the Disciples dwelt together in Common dayly Celebrated the Lords Supper Acts II. 46. and in others where they were dispersed amongst the Heathens they met on the First Day of the Week to Celebrate it Acts XX. 7. Therefore the Saints in Scripture had no such Notion of our LORD 's coming in this case nor did they understand it as Mr. P. has wrested it of an inward but of an outward coming as the Church Universally has ever taken it since that day to this present Mr. P. has another touch which may stumble some for laying aside Baptism and the Lords Supper These visible Signs saith he which the Bp. calls the Badges of Christianiiy are not made an Article of any of the antient Creeds Had they been of that importance they are by some esteemed we cannot think they would have been forgot by the Compilers of those Creeds Answ Nor were they forgot Mr. P. either was never Catechised as he ought to have been or has forgotten what he was taught to be the meaning of that Article I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints That is in short I believe all the Faithful are made one Body by Communion in the same Faith Covenant and Ordinances of Worship especially Baptism and the Lord's Supper But in the Constantinopolitan Creed which was Compiled about the Year 379 or 380 when Re-baptising of Hereticks had been for some time matter of Controversie and had turmoil'd the Church it is exprest I believe one Catholick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins That is Persons being once Baptised and thereby ingrafted into the Church ought not to be Baptised again which is the true sense of one Baptism and not what Mr. P. suggests Further were Mr. P. such a thorough read Man as he would seem the Creeds of the Waldenses to whom he would have us as he pretends more conformable might have satisfied him in this point In one of which presented by them to Uladislaus King of Hungary extant in Fascic Rerum expet fugiend p. 162. there are two distinct Articles one of Baptism the other of the Eucharist too large to be here inserted And in another more brief which is to be seen in Hovedens Annalls fol. 319. we have these words We believe that no man is saved who Eats not the Body of CHRIST which Body is not Consecrated but in the Church and by a Priest We believe also that none is saved unless he be Baptised and that Infants are saved by Baptism This Creed is also produced by Arch-Bishop Usher in his learned Book De success stat Christ Eccl. cap. 8. To mention the Creeds of other Churches would signifie little in Mr. Ps. opinion and the Bp. knows not how much Authority he will allow the poor Waldenses now when he finds they are against him but let him take it as he pleases he must know the consent of all Christians from the time of the first Institution of the Lord's-Supper as has been shewn runs against this his Perversion of the Text. To summ up all in brief that has been now said of the Sacraments The Bp. says to Renounce or cast off the outward Badges of the Profession of Christianity which our LORD CHRIST Instituted and his Apostles delivered and which the Apostolical Churches received and constantly practiced which all Christian Churches ever since have held to is to renounce or cast off the outward Profession of Christianity Put M. P. and his Party renounce or cast off these outward Badges of the Profession of Christianity which Christ Jesus appointed and his Apostles delivered which the Apostolical Churches received and constantly practiced which all Christian Churches ever since have held to Therefore Mr. P. and his Party have recounced or cast off the outward profession of Christianity that is outwardly are no Christians As to their Hearts the Bp. leaves them to GOD and Judges not And thus as to the Sacraments The last Point which the Bp. thinks of moment in Mr. Ps. Book yet remaining untoucht is The great difference or Ground of Dissent betwixt the Quakers and the Establisht Church and this Mr. P. tells us is the great Carnality and Emptiness both of Ministers and People under the profession of Religion amongst us A humane and lifeless Ministry and Worship together with the great Worldliness of Professors The Ministry being made a Temporal Preferment Turning Alms into Dues and by Law making Gifts Rents p. 97 98 99. c. 1. As to Carnality Mr. P. must not be offended if he having exempted himself and Party from all this Guilt and charged it upon the Establisht Church and Ministry the Bp. hereby enforced speak out He says then that if Eating the Fat and Drinking the choicest be Carnality if minding worldly Gain and being so intent on it Day and Night as to pass most Days in the Week without a Prayer to GOD either in publick Assembly or Family if the slyest ways both to get Money and keep it be worldliness he knows no sort of People according to the degree of each more given to these Vices than the Quakers There is nothing to be Eaten which is better than Ordinary that comes into our Markets here which the People observe not presently bought up by the Quakers They are still the earliest and best Chapmen every Market-Day for such Commodities and much good may they do them The Bp. could mention more scandalous Particulars or Instances both of Carnality and Worldliness amongst them but it is not agreeable to his Temper And indeed how they should be a Heavenly minded People who so much restrain Prayer that is lay a side forbear or neglect it as to common Practice at least have done so till of very late Years and defended the same as the Bp. could speak upon his own knowledge is not accountable Next as to the point of their being Spiritual because we of the Establisht Church are often taxed of want hereof and so charged of being unable to understand the Works of the Holy
Ghost which they feel Mr. P. must give the Bp. leave to be a little more particular also on this Term. Let Mr. P. then know that whatever mens attainments may be it is not good to boast so much of their being Spiritual and greater boasting certainly there cannot be than for men to claim Spirituality to themselves alone and pronounce all the rest of the Christian World Carnal To speak to the true Notion of Spirituality such Spiritual Persons as Mr. P. pretends to be and as the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. XI the place so much insisted on by Mr. P. p. 53 And ever and anon alluded to by him and his followers neither Mr. P. is nor any Person that we know now living Namely they can none of them Preach in demonstration of the Spirit and Power vers 4. They have not those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as that they are able to speak with Tongues and Prophesy or to Heal the Diseased by word or touch or to tell us the secrets of mens Hearts Which Miraculous powers were the demonstration of the Spirit their intended They cannot by such works convince the World that they have Mysteries and the Wisdom which has been hidden from the very Princes and Wise-men of the World revealed to them by the Spirit of GOD as those Persons had vers 10. The knowledge of CHRIST Crucified and GOD's design of saving Mankind by him of making him to us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1. Cor. I. 3. The Mysteries St. Paul delivered to the Corinthians were not by our Quakers attained by any other Revelation than that of Scripture nor could they ever have been attained unto much less proved by Mans Wisdom or natural abilities and methods ver 13 14. But thoâ—e things Paul and others then spiritually received namely by Revelation of the Spirit as vers 10. Now such Spirituality as this Let Mr. P. pretend to what he will is long since ceased and it was foretold it should cease Whether there be Prophesies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge of such inspired kinds as above it shall vanish away 1. Cor. 13. 8. Accordingly all these as to what was Immediate and Extraordinary we see long since not to have been in the Church And further as to those Heroick or Transcendent degrees of Holiness or of all Christian Virtue so suddenly infused into many Primitive Saints and accompanying the aforesaid Miraculous Gifts at the first great effusion of the Spirit whereby men were after a sort created Saints of the first Magnitude the Bp. is well assured that the experience of Mankind has long amply convinced the World this kind of Spiritual men are ceased People are now made holy by the use of outward means and grow up in Grace by degrees Yet in both cases as to Gifts as well as Holiness there are those who by Analogy and Proportion may be still termed Spiritual that is there are Persons who by Study and Industry attain to speak with Tongues c. Others who having from the Holy Scriptures which were Indited by the Spirit of GOD learnt the mind of the Spirit and been in their Hearts perswaded of the Truths and Duties they have thence learnt and felt their Souls strongly moved by the power of the Spirit under the Ministry of the word to the Performance of such Duties have yielded themselves and submitted to the Conduct of the Holy Ghost leading them by Scripture into all Truth as well as Holiness They allow themselves in no known Sin nor in the neglect of any known Duty If they are overtaken through human frailty by any Evil they immediatly repent and return with new Zeal to their Duty purging themselves to their power from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit Now having their Hearts habituated to such new Life which by the power of the Spirit they have been brought over to these Persons may justly be called in their degree Spiritual And having their Passions mortified their Sense and Belief of true good changed their Counsels and Wills by such belief guided and governed they do certainly judge at another rate in all cases of Practice than they themselves did or the vain giddy worldly wicked part of Mankind do They have their daily frequent retirements to Devotion and besides their Hearts even amidst their common business much with GOD. Their thoughts and affections dwell much in Heaven and they are ever and anon in their Souls breathing and secretly gasping after their Country Now let such Persons as these be allowed to be Spiritual and if so the Bp. says he doubts not but there will be found more such who are no Quakers than who really are Particularly the Bp. claims to be such a one himself and Challenges Mr. P. to prove the Contrary And being in this sense which is all by any can be justly pretended to a Spiritual Man he is able thus Spiritually to discern the things of GOD to discourse of them with feeling and favour and he thanks GOD he is no stranger to such Light and Operations of the Holy Spirit let Mr. P. censure of say what he pleases In the mean while the Bp. does not Monopolise Spirituality either to himself or the Church he his of But touching both rather chooses to take up the words of the Holy Apostle 2. Cor. X. 12. We dare not make our selves of the number or compare our selves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves perhaps are not wise And thus much as to the Quakers imputing 〈◊〉 Carnality to those of the Establisht Church and ingrossing Spirituality to themselves 2. As to our Emptiness The Bp. craves pardon if he be at a loss what Mr. P. means hereby If Emptiness signifie the Ministers Sermons being barren with little Substance or solid Matter in them the Quakers are much more guilty as far as ever the Bps. Experience could reach Witness the first things they Published if compared to the Printed Sermons of the Conformable Clergy Since Mr. Ps. Accession to them it must be confest he has much improved them and brought them to Write what looks like Sense and Coherence But the Bp. would willingly know of Mr. P. what there was in Betty Wheadons holding forth who on a certain day spoke in their Meeting after Mr. P. at Cork and would be heard when he put his Hat before his Face and Laughed And whether She be the only Person from whom in their Assemblies he has often heard such Stuff Let Mr. P. be ingenuous and no more of this Lastly That the Altars being made a provision for those who with wait on the Altar should alienate any Mens minds from Religion seems as monstrous and unreasonable injustice as well can be imagined and if there be any truth in that of the Apostle 1. Cor. IX 13 14. most contrary to GOD's Ordinance It appears that
of it the things of God which yet are certainly all spiritual things and of their certain Experience thereof and that they are able to make it appear to be true he talks much Now that our Lord Jesus should by his death have purchased for all Men and Women a new Spiritual Substance which subsists in all even in wicked Men and in a certain day inlightens them all so as they may be saved and that even without the knowledge of the Gospel that People should be able to smell and feel and handle things which being intellectual and immaterial can no wise be incident to these senses nor are ever so much as Metaphorically said to be smelt or handled the Bp. does aver unintelligible that is Banter And such is also his further Explication of it § 13 14. p. 94 95. too long to transcribe And as for their reply which must be expected that the Bp. is a carnally minded Man to whom all this seems strange it shall be answered anon In the mean while it must be demanded of Mr. P. what is become of his double record The knowledge of the Scripture though comfortable and profitable is not needful saith his Brother B. to whom he refers the Bp. for better understanding their Light Which Light though both of them say they feel and can make it appear to be true the Bp. professes sincerely he can not from any thing they have made appear apprehend intelligible But by what has been produced out of Barclay in his own Words it appears Mr. Ps double and agreeing Testimony of the Light within and the Scriptures of truth without is but a new bubble upon the World A thin leaf of Gold to make the Poysonous Pill of their Light within go down with less reluctancy or even suspicion Yet when he has thus gloss'd the matter he sticks not to alledge all the best and first Reformers Zwinglius Luther Melanchthon Calvin Beza Bucer Peter Martyr and Erasmus too also our Excellent Martyrs viz. Lambert Rogers Philpot Bradford Hooper Woodman c. to concur in this Assertion and Testimony much at the same rate that he cites Clemens Romanus Tertullianus Gregory Nazianzen Clemens Alexandrinus Augustin Gregory the Great c. And within a few lines more Petrus Belonius Gratian Cardan Luther without producing one Word out of them or referring to any treatise or page After all which Pomp Mr. P. must not take it ill if he be told he cites Authors like a Man that never read them or rather like one that never saw them Zwinglius who has writ the least of the Foreigners of the first Class he mentions has three thick Folio's oftner are they bound in four Luther besides the Collection of his Works printed at Wittenberge in 7 Folio's has one more of Postills and his Colloquia Mensalia make up another and there are other lesser peices not contained in any of these Calvin in the Old Edition eleven Folio's besides diverse French Works never translated into Latin Now to add no more Being that no Answer can be returned to an Argument from a Testimony till the Testimony be produced which ought to be in express Terms all this Allegation ought to pass for nothing But because he and his followers may not go on in insulting too much the Bp. fairly avers and takes upon him to prove if Mr. P. or his Abetters shall deny it that the principal of these Authors we will take the four first which as to time should have been ranged in this â—â— Order Luther Melancthon Zwinglius and Calvin as well as all other the Reformers or reformed generally hold amongst other points these three that are expresly contrary to what the Quakers teach of their Light within They maintain 1 The Necessity of Revelation or that the Knowledge of God by Scripture is necessary to Salvation in an ordinary way This is expresly contrary to a Light within the purchase of Christs death for every Man enlightning all in a day even without the Knowledge of Scripture 2 The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and that all Illuminations of the Spirit or pretended motions thereof are to be tryed by the written Word This is contrary to making an Imaginary Light within the Rule of Mens Actions and that even without or sometimes as it comes to pass in their Vagaries against Holy Scripture 3 The Scriptures being its own Expositor or that particular Texts are to be interpreted by others or by the Analogy of Faith and not by a private pretended Light of Mens own If they shall say the Bp. wrongs them in saying they make their Light within 〈◊〉 the Rule of their Actions at any time without or against Holy Scripture besides what may be produced out of their Books by way of Doctrine and particularly out of W. P. p. 105. Let them answer amongst others to these two matters of Fact known all over the County of Cork One Knight on a certain Lords-Day in the time of Divine Worship stripping himself and leaving his Cloaths with his Brother in the Church-Yard came wrapt in his Cloak into the middle of the Congregation and placing himself before the Minister then in the Pulpit after some time threw off his Cloak and stood there stark naked not so much as covering his Pudenda but crying out Behold here the naked truth Again Workman in the Town of Ross in the same County gave out for a Miracle he would Fast i. e. Eat nothing for Forty Days and having Fasted many of them being examined utterly denyed he had Eaten any thing onely said he had washed his Mouth with Water But though he gave off before the Forty Days were near at an end yet it was discovered that in a Rick of Beans near his Chamber he had made a great Hole and devoured a suitable quantity of them If these Men acted by a strong impulse of mind as the First of them is reported to have said he did the Bp. demands of Mr. P. Whether every strong impulse of mind is to be followed as being the Light within If not what Rule have we to try the Light within by If it be said Scripture agreed But can Mr. P. produce a double and agreeing Record for these and the like Actions If he cannot let him no longer palliate matters but instead of seeking excuses confess plainly the ground of his Brethrens miscarriage to be the dangerous principle he and they have taken up and let him profess he is now for reforming it but let him and them do it thorowly and effectually For there is no project so wild that their pretended Light within may not lead them into The Bp. could within this County have assigned more Frantick yea immoral instances the effects of this pretended Light but for diverse reasons he has forborn them And this is all he now thinks needful to say as to the Light within But Mr. Ps Citing of Authors being now mentioned notice should be given of his repeated
Cunning as well as Unfaithfulness in citing another particular Writer against the Bp. His Cunning and Mr. P. ought to have remembred who lately Printed that amongst his Maxims Cunning Borders upon Knavery in that he never produces his Authors Words And his unfaithfulness in representing the sense widely different if not contrary to what it is Ouzelius in his Notes on Minutius Foelix tells us the Primitive Christians forbore the Heathenish Customs and particularly therefore they rejected the Custom of Crowning their Dead with Garlands This Mr. P. refers to if he refer to any thing to be found in that Author to Justifie the Quakers affecting Dresses different from other Christians of their degree Is there no difference betwixt Idolatrous Rites and the innocent Fashions of Christians ordinary Apparrel But to return to Minutius whereas Coecilius the Heathen had there objected to the Christians that as soon as they saw one another they knew each other Occultis notis insignibus by secret Marks and Signes Octavius the Christian Answers they knew one another onely by their Innocence and Humility not by any Bodily Mark. This the Bp. takes to be rather against the Quakers singularity in Dresses Fashions and Behaviour And as to their Language after all Artifices Mr. P. has not been able to produce which was a pressing point of his Business one Precedent or Shadow of a Testimony that the Primitive Christians used not the ordinary Civilities in their common Discourse and Salutations but affected a different Style or Way by themselves Contrarily he might have remembred that the beloved Disciple being to Write to a Christian Sister of Quality Salutes her by an Inscription To the Elect Lady The next Head worth taking notice is Baptism Touching which the Bp. sincerely professes he Mourns to see Men so hardned as it appears by Mr. Ps. wresting Scripture to elude the Truth he is in this matter Mr. P. first in a manner confesses himself put to his Shifts I am sensible of the disadvantage I am under c. saith he p. 68. yet proceeds he to shift on But to reduce all into as short a compass as may be The Bp. had avouched those words of our LORD Matth. XXVIII 19. to be an Institution and Command of Baptism with Water And gave two substantial reasons which he holds to 1. Baptising with the Holy Ghost said the Bp. was not in the Apostles power Therefore it could not be the thing commanded them 2. Baptising with Water was the Apostles and Primitive Practice and has been ever since the Practice of the Church To the First of these Mr. P. answereth it is not true and to make that good alledges Acts X. 44. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all those that heard the word Hence he infers that Peter Baptised Cornelius with the Holy Ghost Now was there ever any thing more impertinent and inconsequent While Peter spake c. the Holy Ghost fell on them c. Therefore which was the Point to be proved was it Peter's Act and in his power to Baptise with the Holy Ghost No The Spirit breatheth where it listeth John III. 8. But GOD says Mr. P. by the Apostles did Baptise Believers with the Holy Ghost Did he so Then 't was GOD Baptised them with the Holy Ghost and not the Apostles They were only instruments at pleasure as long as the Act was not principally theirs it cannot be concluded hence to have been in their power Baptising with the Holy Ghost and with Fire the words Mr. P. alledges p. 69. and runs upon was a special Prerogative of our Lord Christ predicted only of him Matth. IV. 11. and fulfilled only by him Acts II. not by any man ever living The Bps. First Reason then is true But his Second says Mr. P. seems to be defective and short yet all the substance that Mr. P. speaks in 12 or 13 Pages to prove it so is Practice is no Institution Nor was the Bp. so weak as to pretend it is But by Mr. Ps. leave continued Practice in obedience to Command and such Practice allowed urged and re-inforced by the Holy Ghost is a good Explication of the sense of the Institution or of the words of the Command The summ of the Command was Baptise them that Believe The summ of the Practice pursuant is All those that believed wereby the Apostles or Persons Commissionated by them Baptised with Water Yea though they had been before Baptised with the Holy Ghost as the Bp. pleaded from Acts X. 47. Was ever any Institution more clearly evidenced and asserted As to all Mr. Ps. agravating Excursions on this Subject he full well knows the Church of England-men no more allow Water-Baptism to be sufficient to the Salvation of adult persons without the New Creature or Baptism of the Spirit then he does But some Persons have the faculty to be blind when they list to contradict and accuse even against their own Sense Thus as to what Mr. P. has Replyed touching Baptism As to the Lords-Supper that stands upon the same unmoveable Foundation with Baptism viz. our LORD's Institution and the continued Universal Practice of the Church To what the Bp. had mentioned of the first of these Mr. P. excepts in these words The Bp. will have this Supper Four times repeated in the Scripture of the New Testament besides that of the Apostle Paul which must be his mistake Whereto the Bp. says To report his words thus is not Mr. Ps. mistake but in all appearance his wilful prevarication The Bp. said no Command could be more express then that touching the Outward use of Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper Four times repeated namely the Command in the New Testament and that St. Paul adds as a reason of the Command and Argument for its Observation it is a shewing forth the LORD's Death till he came All this being undeniable Mr. P. that he might have something to except against was forced to misreport the Bps. words Is there not a vast difference betwixt rhese two Assertions This Supper was Four times repeated and the Command for this Supper is Four times repeated or recorded in the New Testament Which last was most evidently the Bps. sense But having to his Credulous Readers that is his own Party convinced in his way that is charged the Bp. of a mistake he proceeds to what is more dangerous plainly to diffuse his Poison This coming of CHRIST was Spiritual and the words may reasonably be Read he means Paraphrased thus Eat this Supper of outward Bread and Wine till I come and Sup with you and be your Supper that am the Bread and Wine from Heaven c. By Mr. Ps. favour the Scripture no where styleth CHRIST Wine from Heaven In respect of the Union of the Saints with him he is styled a Vine and his Grace or Spirit in respect of its indeficiency Water and Living Water but no where Wine This a fetch of Mr. Ps. who