following are left out viz. as received and proceeding immediately from that Spirit and spoken in the Sense thereof as Christ's Words were of greater Authority or Power when he spake than the Pharisees reading the Letter and them in whom that Spirit speaks not and their Speaking we deny whereby I did prefer the Spirit in it's Living and Powerful Ministry above the Letter but not a Word of preferring any Pamphlets to the Holy Scriptures God knows it never entred into my Heart to prefer any Pamphlets or Books extant in the World much less Lying Ones before the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but do prefer and esteem them before all other Books or Writings extant whatsoever When Humphry Smith 's True and Everlasting Rule came in date the Scriptures became no better than an Old Almanack this from a Story of Tho. Hicks against one Tho. Holbrow though we know no such Person Dialogue p. 27. to which Edward Paye c. addeth these Words viz. These are the Men that in their Pamphlets profess so high an Esteem for the Holy Scriptures Antichrist in Spirit p. 13. Pray observe here These Men here accused with esteeming the Scriptures no better than an Old Almanack are therein most wickedly belied and scandaliz'd being those of us who publisht the Paper in Print entituled The Christianity of the People commonly called Quakers asserted wherein we sincerely declare the quite contrary to what 's here implicitly charged by E. P. c. against us namely That we do believe and own the Holy Scriptures contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration c. Tho. Hicks in his Dialogue I. p. 24 25. and Edward Paye c. on his Credit Falsly and Wickedly Personate the Quaker thus viz. When we make use of Scripture it is only to Quiet and Stop their Clamours that plead for it as their Rule but for us had the Scriptures never been we could have known what is therein contained I hope quoth Edward Paye the Reader by this may perceive the Reason why the Quakers talk so much of Scripture in their Paper Observe we own not the Scripture we seemingly allow it but our End in this is only to stop their Clamours that plead for it as their Rule You see here quoth E. P. the condescending Spirits of these Men c. Antichrist p. 15. We do in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ utterly deny this Passage and Declaration as laid down in the Quakers Name and Person as no Declaration or Speech made or thus declarable by the Quakers on their Principle but a Horrid Abusive Forgery of Thomas Hicks long since detected and which you Baptists now may be horribly ashamed to bring forth or suffer to be renewed in Print The Names they i. e. the Quakers give the Holy Scriptures viz. No better than an Old Almanack a Dead Carnal Letter p. 18. But on second Consideration E. P. deems it a difficulty to prove that the Quakers do now in the present Tense say The Holy Scriptures are but a Dead or Carnal Letter as his other Pamphlet Raylings p. 23 24. and yet chargeth them in the present Tense with giving such Names to the Holy Scriptures but now 't is a Difficulty to prove his own Charge Among the Names which E. P. falsly chargeth the Quakers to give the Holy Scriptures viz. That they are the Precepts and Traditions of Men p. 18. That Obedience to the Scriptures is the Harlot's Child p. ibid. These are both utterly denyed by us the said People and the pretended Proof of the first is hereafter examined and proved false The latter I really believe could never be so said nor ever was held by the Quakers so to term sincere Obedience to the Holy Scripture but rather to reflect upon an Hypocritical Profession and Imitation of some Shadows and outwardward Things and neglecting the Substance of the New Covenant Dispensation That the Heaven they i. e. the Quakers intend wherein the three Divine Witnesses bear Record is No where else but within their Mortal Corrupt Bodies they intend no other Heaven than what is within them Antichrist in Spirit p. 20 21. This is expressly contrary to our known professed Principle of the omnipresence of God and his Spirit both in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain And I take the Charge to be but E. P's own Consequence which he himself has drrawn from some Words he has partially and mincingly taken up against James Parnell Thomas Lawson Edward Burroughs c. First For a Pretext quoting James Parnell's Book as he calls it Satan's Design Discovered But I know no Bok of James Parnell's so entituled upon the Reviewing the Titles of his Books nor any of the rest quoted that oppose or disown God's Omnipresence much less that the People called Quakers are guilty of any such Charge I would desire E. P. if he will still be so injurious as to reassume this Charge against the People called Quakers that he would yet be so ingenious as fairly and fully to cite the whole Passages of the Authors quoted by him relating to the Matter intended and for Proof of his Charge without his own Consequences and Perversions That if it shall appear that any of them have opposed or denyed the Omnipresence of God or his Eternal Spirit we may shew our dislike thereof But I believe there 's enough in our Friends Books to clear them if honestly viewed and cited and we have great cause to Question and detect his unfair Citations as I have this following Instance against my self for Proof of his said Charge 8. Quoting Dipper plung'd Christ without us is not Scripture Language but the Anthropomorphites and Muggletonians Antichrist in Spirit p. 22. But E. P. in his other Pamphlet Railings p. 29. varies in his Repetition of his Charge thus viz. G. W. Dipper plung'd Jesus Christ a Person without us is not Scripture-Language c. Observe here in the one it is Christ without us where after Christ E. P. leaves out God-Man a Person i. e. without us which I said is not Scripture-Language c. In the other it is Jesus Christ a Person without us is not Scriture-Language where after Christ he leaves out God-man again and yet both charged by the same Credulous Person E. P. though both be falsly cited and unjustly charged upon me as mine For to Tho. Hick's strange Phrase viz. Jesus Christ God-man a Person without thee Dial. p. 9. My Answer was This is not Scripture Language but the Anthropomorphites and Muggletonians who profess a personal God denying him to be an Infinite Spirit Dipper plung'd p 13. Wherein my Objection was not against the Words Jesus Christ without us for he is both without us and within us but my Question was of the Words God-man a Person without us including God as well as the Man Christ Jesus as
by no less than 22 Persons of Credit who testifie they have Compared Tho. Hicks his Citations with the Quakers Books out of which they were taken and find them truly cited Thus far Edw. Paye in Vindication of his Brother Tho. Hicks to regain his long since lost Reputation Which I did not think any of the Baptists would have undertaken to defend at this time aday especially since he was so publickly and often detected of many Gross and Notorious Forgeries Besides those few Passages wherein he pretended to clear himself as his 22 Witnesses also attempted who were of his own Party and willing to cover him what they could but all would not do they did but thereby disgrace and defile themselves as we made it plainly appear in a small Treatise Entituled The second Treatise wherein the Forgers Compurgators are Impeached in a strict Examination of divers Citations and doctrinal Matters in their Book Entituled The Quakers Appeal Answered In which Impeachment they are proved both Unfair and False Witnesses as well as Unjust Judges even in Matter of Fact as to Citations But of this Treatise E. Paye takes no notice but is willing to credit and vindicate his Brother Hicks 1. Upon his own Testimony wherein he is Witness only for himself in his own Cause 2. Upon the Credit of his 22 Compurgators who were of his own Party and willing to say as he would have them for a cover to himself whereby they got no good but shame and disgrace as is clearly evinced in the said Second Treatise And many of the said Hicks his deceitful Forgeries are discovered both in our Friends Narratives of the Two Meetings with the Baptists in 1674. And also in our Answers to Hicks one Entituled The Counterfeit Christian and the other Reason against Railing With more Books wherein his Deceits Forgeries and Abuses are detected And therefore the more shame for E. P. thus to credit and justifie Hicks as he has done whom we well knew to be a very Envious Person and so seems this Paye very much to resemble him therein by espousing so many of his Lies as he has done and now has the more pull'd an old House about his Ears by owning Hicks and his Romantick Fictitious Dialogues so much as he has done so that now E. P. is the more bound to stand or fall by Hicks his Dialogues seeing he has so cordially espoused his Interest And by E. P.'s Method of Writing against the People called Quakers we may charge all the Baptists and their Society with Hicks his Dialogues and E. Paye's disingenuous lying Pamphlets But some among them wiser than himself should consider whether his Method may be safe or reputable for them His crediting and quoting Hicks against us who was a bitter and virulent Adversary is somewhat like his quoting J. Faldo's confuted Book stiled Quakerism no Christianity to support his scurrilous Story from the Westmorland Petitioners viz. That Mr. J. Faldo saith How generally were their Meetings viz. the Quakers either silent or taken up with sudden and violent Eruptions of dismal Howllings and horrid Ravings Persons suddenly taken as with the Falling sickness Shaking and Foaming at the Mouth and some lying flat on the Ground as if stark dead p. 15. Here 's a long Question containing strange Stories but never the truer for his Mr. J. Faldo's mis-insinuating them by way of Question neither are Questions Proofs But we who have known our Meetings and the Manner of them all along do know it to be a great untruth That they were generally taken up with those sudden and violent Eruptions or Breakin gs out mentioned though many times silent we grant which is a far different posture from horrid Ravings dismal Howlings Foamings c. But how does your John Faldo make out his Story E. P. tells us viz. And saith Mr. Faldo some Such things as these I have seen and heard Which is short of proving these things according to his general accusation against our Meetings some such things as these are not the same things Then How poorly does E. P. come off against us herein Yet fain thus to fly to our Adversaries Books for such Subterfuges lame Proofs against our Meetings But would the Baptists be so serv'd would they take it well to have Books made out of their Adversaries against them Whereof I could instance not only that stiled The Anabaptist wash'd and wash'd and shrunk in the washing long since writ by Rich. Carpenter Independent probably as much a friend to the People called Anabaptists as John Faldo was to the Quakers or them either and many others of their Adversaries Books against them as E. P. has done against us which I presume these Baptists now would not take well nor accept as proof against them so that in suffering E. P. in such his credulous and unfair Dealing thus to gallop on against us surely they would not be so dealt by E. P.'s Story accusing the Quakers out of Hicks's Dialog 1. Pag. 24 25. with saying as for us had the Scriptures never been we could have known what is therein contained This E. P. saith he hath also heard from their own Mouths Antichrist in Spirit p. 14 15. But in the Name and Behalf of the People called Quakers I deny both Hick's and Paye's Accusation and that he hath heard this from their Mouths This I look on as a Lie of his own making my self and many thousands never spoke those words nor so believed viz. that we could have known what i. e. or whatever all that is therein contained c. we disown the Expressions as they relate to our selves And E. P. has varied and fallen from his own Testimony as 't is general against the Quakers Now to tell us He has heard it from a Quaker himself in p. 18. of his Railings and Slanders So in one Book 't is thus I have also heard from their own Mouths In his other Book 't is I have also heard this from a Quaker my self Thus the Man faulters and varies in his own Evidence to defend a Falshood And his unlearned Questions or rather Challenge he pretends to be grounded on the said false Story against the Quakers they are as impertinent and insincere on his part namely to resolve him what those things were that Jesus did that are not written Joh. 20.25 or what were the the Contents of that Writing on the Ground Joh. 8.6 8. or else let their proud boasting of Immediate Inspirations be condemned to perpetual silence Which is a sad Sentence both unnaturally and unjustly deduced from a Proposition made altogether in a disbelief and contempt of the Matter proposed viz. To resolve all those other unwritten things that Jesus did c. by immediate Inspiration But now the Challenge is altered and abated too Now let him resolve me in some of those things that Jesus did that was not written and what was wrote on the ground and let him or any other Quaker do it either
by a Mediate or Immediate Inspiration or Revelation p. 21. And what follows If by neither of these ways we can resolve him then not to pretend to Immediate Inspiration And yet he himself pretends to Mediate or more Common Gifts of the Spirit and then confusedly tells of the use of these more immediate or common Gifts p. 19 20. And yet by these his pretended more immediate or common Gifts of the Spirit or rather mediate Gifts in his sense I presume he cannot resolve himself his Two Questions before nor can he upon his own Principle either resolve them or be resolved them either by any mediate or immediate Gifts For the immediate he has disclaimed he needs it not he says but pretends the Scriptures to be the Only Rule of Faith By what Rule then should he be resolved what those or any of those other things were that are not written John 20.25 Therefore he has insincerely and temptingly imposed unlearned Questions and Propositions which he does not believe can be resolved to his conviction or satisfaction and thereupon has past unjust Judgment against our having immediate Inspiration yet in contradiction to himself tells us of common and more immediate Gifts and Graces of the Spirit and of the use of these more immediate or common Gifts to help our Infirmities p. 19 20. Altho I presume he would be loath to have his own Judgment and Condemnation against us return'd upon himself on the same condition For 't is certain he that has not the Spirit of Christ is none of his And what are these more immediate Gifts and Graces of the Spirit he pretends to the use of seeing he and his Brethren pretend not to immediate or extraordinary Inspirations p. 19 20. There 's another Contradiction in the Case to prove their Call to Baptize People in Water He saith they have a sufficient Call for it from the Commission of Christ our Great Prophet who is to be heard in all things Matth. 28. Mark 16. and the frequent Examples of his Apostles c. So that we need not immediate Inspirations for our Call or Authority herein p. 21. Ans. Which is to tell us you may take upon you to be Preachers and Baptizers in Water without being inspired by Christ because he gave a Commission to his Disciples to teach all Nations baptizing them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost But 1. This is no proof that you are called by Christ to either 2. Here 's no Water mention'd in the Commission 3. And to baptize into that Name is a work of the Spirit attending a living and spiritual Ministry given and authorized by Christ himself which this proves not yours to be no more than that the false Prophets were true and truly commissionated because they said thus saith the Lord when yet God never spoke to them no more than Christ hath spoke to you to Preach and Baptize with Water when as you do both without his immediate Inspiration Commission or Spirit and consequently you do not hear him in all things 4. Neither does it follow that you hear Christ because you Preach and Baptize People in Water by imitation of others whom he sent to Preach and Convert People by his Spirit whereby they did Minister 5. You might as well argue that because Peter James John and Paul c. were Apostles and Ministers of Christ therefore we Edward Paye and William Allcott c. are Ministers of Christ. 6. If Reading Christ's Commission to his Disciples Mat. 28. Mar. 16. be sufficient authority for persons to turn Preachers and then to tell People they hear Christ because they read his said Commission and presume to take it upon them without immediate Inspiration from him why may not the Priests of England c. be his Ministers as well as you and why do you dissent from them Thus we see how you have proved your Call and Authority for what you pretend even as well as any sensual Impostors blind Guides and Deceivers may On Rom. 10.6.7 8. E. P. saith neither did the holy Apostle understand the Word here to be Christ p. 22. Ans. How does he answer the Questions then which the Righteousness of Faith gives answer to Say not in thy Heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ from above Or who descend into the Deep that is to bring Christ again from the dead But what saith it The Word is near thee c. Is this all one as to say the Scripture is near thee even in thy Mouth and Heart Or was the Enquiry after the Scripture Who shall ascend or descend to fetch me the Scriptures No sure Was not the antecedent Question of Christ And surely none can savingly believe with the Heart and in true Faith confess with the Mouth that God hath raised Christ from the dead so as to be saved but by that Living Word of Faith in the Heart which works a true and living Faith therein and therefore that Word of Faith which begets and works this Faith is Christ in Spirit who is the Author of this Faith otherwise the Questions who shall fetch Christ c. are not answered For where with the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth maketh Confession unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 he must needs first feel that Living Word of Faith in his Heart to work that Faith in him which produceth that Righteousness in Man which attends Salvation 'T is true that I did complain of E. P.'s injurious way of Writing in accusing us with giving better or higher Titles to our own Books than to the Holy Scripture instancing that of H. Smith's Book where E. P. gave these words only for the Title A True and Everlasting Rule being but the first words of the Title and leaving out the next following in the same Sentence viz. From God discovered This I did deem very disingenuous Now to extenuate and excuse the Offence he asks me Does those Words from God discovered added to The True and Everlasting Rule diminish the Heighth of the Title p. 23. Answ. Yes as the first Part was only by E. P. attributed to the Book contrary to the Design of the Title and Matter contained in the Book to which the Title had plain reference as taken together entirely that True and Everlasting Rule from God discovered being the Holy Spirit the Eternal Light and Manifestation of Christ within or what may be known of God being manifest in Man plainly testified unto in the said Book as that True and Everlasting Rule that was from God discovered so the Perversion and Abuse is plain I think E. P. might have spared his Labour of giving the Reader a Breviate of what he Ironically calls The Sweet Convincing Language the Quakers use to treat their Antagonists withal unless his own Language had been sweeter and more convincing than it is and less Partial and Abusive in his Accusations as to Matter
The Contemned QUAKER AND HIS Christian Religion DEFENDED Against Envy Forgery In Answer to two Abusive Invective PAMPHLETS The One stiled Antichrist in Spirit Vnmasked The Other Railings and Slanders Detected Promoted by some Persons commonly called Anabaptists at Deptford in Kent who have unwarily begun the Contest Jer. 48.30 His lies shall not so effect it LONDON Printed for Tho. Northcott in George-yard in Lombard-street 1692. THE CONTEMNED QUAKER AND HIS Christian Religion defended WHereas in a small Treatise entituled Antichrist in Flesh unmask'd and the Quakers Christianity vindicated from the Malitious and Injurious Attempts of Edward Paye William Alcott and Henry Loader in their late Defaming Confused Book falsly stiled Antichrist in Spirit Vnmask'd I did near the Conclusion of the said Treatise seriously enquire only of William Alcott and Henry Loader in these four Questions following viz. I. Was Edward Paye Deputed and approved by your Congregation or any Select Assembly of Elders or Mininisters of the Baptized People or Churches to Write and Publish his said Book against the People called Quakers or did he do it on his own Authority and Head with your Approbation only II. What Ministers or Elders of your Churches besides your selves did peruse and approve of Edward Paye's said Book before printed and of the Printing thereof to Defame us as a People III. Is the said Edward Paye indeed esteem'd among you and your Society a good Christian a Person of a Godly and Sober Conversation of Sound Judgment Piety and Parts meet to manage Matters of Controversy about Religion IV. Do you intend to stand by him the said Edward Paye in all Matters that he has written in Charge both against certain Persons and against the People called Quakers in his Book Having also given my Reasons for these Questions in the said Treatise Antichrist in Flesh p. 26. Now let it be observ'd that to these Questions I find no answer from the said William Allcot or Henry Loader to whom they were put but a pretended and evasive Answer from Edward Paye himself having only his own Name subscribed a few Lines after but no William Allcot nor Henry Loader subscribed thereto but Edward Paye left to shift for himself and they slunk back for all they highly commended his Work and defamed us in their Commendatory Epistle to his other Pamphlet i. e. Antichrist in Spirit against us And yet as if he had a Plurality of Advocates to answer for him he gives us his slim Answer in the Plural thus viz. We will give an answer to G. W's impertinent Questions though I think they are not worth taking notice of His Questions are four but his Reasons for asking them vanish in answering the first And in the pretended Answer it is said E. P. did Write and Publish his Book by the Approbation of the majority of this Congregation and so he did not do it on his own Head neither did we see it needful to desire the Approbation of others herein though several have approved of it since p. 37 38. But what We are these give this Answer besides Edward Paye we find no Body's Name else to it but his own If by WE will give an Answer neither did we see it needful to desire the Approbation of others be meant William Allcot and Henry Loader why did they not put their Names to it Why do they now shrink back and decline their Brother in his Work seeing the Enquiry was so fairly made of them Can they or Edward Paye either reasonably suppose that we as a People defamed and injured by E. P. will accept of his own Answer or Justification of his perverse Work and himself too and believe that he says true in saying That he did Write and Publish his said Book by the Approbation of the majority of their Congregation at Deptford For my Part I do not believe him herein in Point of Charity I do not suppose the majority of the Congregation or Hearers of the Baptists at Deptford are so grossly corrupted and deluded into Envy and Prejudice as really to believe and approve of such a Bundle of Malicious and Numerous Slanders Forgeries Notorious Lyes Perversions and Abuses as are contain'd and apparent in the said Pamphlet styl'd Antichrist in Spirit by Edward Paye and many of them repeated in his second and highly approved by William Allcott and Henry Loader But if either the majority or minority of their Congregation have given their Approbation for the Writing and Publication thereof as is pretended I and others of us should be very sorry for their sakes that they should be so miserably deluded as not only to believe but approve of the Publication of such gross Slanders and Defamations against their Innocent Neighbours as are contained in the said Pamphlet And that they should be so implicit and blindly credulous of such gross and notorious Falshoods and Reproaches invented by envious Persons and Persecutors And you E. P. W. A. and H. L. who have so far deluded any of your Hearers have much to answer for and a sad account to give before the Righteous Judge of all But now seeing the Writing and Publication of E. P's said Envious Pamphlet i. e. Antichrist in Spirit is at last so far dedicated to the majority of the Baptist's Congregation at Deptford as having their Approbation it may not be unseasonable to shew them and others some of Edward Paye's and William Allcot's notorious Falshoods Slanders and Perversions contained therein and in his last Pamphlet also stiled Railings and Slanders c. which I shall here recite in their own Words as in Charge against them and all that approve or publish them to their Shame and Disgrace The Holy Scriptures this Generation of Men i. e. the Quakers contemn and vilifie Commendatory Epistle by William Allcott and Henry Loader to Antichrist in Spirit and that the Quakers are great Enemies to and Contemners of Holy Scriptures p. 20. This is their General and a most odious Charge which in our very Souls and Consciences in the Sight of God we the said People do utterly deny with Detestation and I find that all their pretended Proofs do fail of any real Proof of the Matter charged the chief whereof being hereafter examin'd more particularly That the Quakers prefer their Lying Pamphlets above the Scriptures p. 9. Their pretended Proof is That G. W. affirms That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scripture and greater p. 11. quoting Apology p. 49. In which Apology no Pamphlets at all are preferred above the Scriptures but the immediate Living Ministry of the Holy Spirit within above the Letter the Divine Inspiration which was before the Scriptures were written for they proceeded from it I am very unfairly and unjustly dealt with in this Charge my Intentions and Words perverted after the Word Scriptures in mine or Chapters are here left out and after the Word Greater all these
preaching People to a lost God a lost Christ and then E. P. c. cries out of G. K's being Inspired by the Prince of Darkness to talk of a lost God and a lost Christ to be Sought and Saved p. 42. Oh horrid and abominable Falsifying and Perversion See G. K's own Answer and Detection to Tho. Hicks in this very Matter entituled George Keith 's Vindication from the Forgeries and Abuses of Thomas Hicks shewing that when he speaks of a lost God and a lost Christ he saith whom they i. e. People had lost and from whom they were separated by their Sins And this Hicks and his Brother E. P. take no Notice of in their Citation or False Inferences much less of G. K's Vindication p. 8 9. viz. The Plain and Open Sense of my Words is this That as Jesus Christ came to Seek and Save the lost Souls of Men and to Raise up and Recover the Image of God in Men again so all the true Ministers of Christ Preached People to God and Christ near them whom though Men had lost yet were near unto them to save them and to bring them into the enjoyment of him and Fellowship with him His other Instance in p. 42. is against James Naylor's Love to the Lost falsly quoting p. 30 47 48. citing him thus viz. That there is a Seed to which the Promise of Redemption is which Seed is that which ONLY wants Redemption and that Christ is the Elect Seed And then draws this Consequence from a false Position That Christ came to Redeem Christ. We do not find the Citation true no more than we own the Position we find not that his Words are That this Seed Christ ONLY wants Redemption but WHEREIN only Redemption is seen and received namely That in the promised Seed Redemption is only to be seen and received by Man or the Creature that wants it Now I find a Distinction in J. N's Writing of the Seed as between the Seed Christ who is the Redeemer and the Seed of Abraham i. e. Believers whom Christ Redeems the Children of the Kingdom the Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed And this Distinction appears in J. N's own Words following That 't is the Seed of Israel whom Christ redeems as J. N. saith and tells man no further art thou Redeemed by Christ Jesus And that Salvation IN the Seed is placed and the Heritage of Faith is the Seed that is Redeemed which all who know Redemption by the precious Blood of Christ are redeemed from the vain Conversation for this End he gave himself for us to redeem us from ALL Iniquity thus far J.N. Love to the Lost p. 59 60 61 62. concerning Redemption but no such Words as that the Seed which is Christ ONLY wants Redemption Is it not a great Shame and Reproach to Religion that any Preachers should be so Credulous and Envious as to receive such down-right Lyes and gross Perversions to Reproach their quiet Neighbours and thus confidently to Expose them to the World as these Anabaptist Preachers have done and thereupon to roar out and cry Blasphemous Absurdities Gross Contradictions to Truth p. 43. When such Absurdities and Gross Contradictions are their own Malicious Forgeries against us Fomented and Exposed by Thomas Hicks and on Trust from him by Edward Paye Henry Loader and William Allcott Whereas Christ hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given him and he is our Saviour and Redeemer and as he had Power to lay down his Life and take it up again so his own Seed of Life Word or Plant in the Soul though for a Time under Suffering and the Load of Man's Iniquity he hath Power to Raise it up and therein to bring forth an Immortal Birth and Holy Generation which is his Seed whom he shall see as the Fruit of his Soul's Travel Such his Condescension and Humiliation under Suffering both inwardly and outwardly argues no Deficiency nor Impotency in Christ himself who is the very entire Christ of God in whom all Fulness dwells and who received the Spirit not by Measure but 't was his own free Love and Act of pure Condescension and Humility to descend into the Heart of Man to Redeem and Raise up Man his Soul and Spirit out of his Fallen and Captivated Estate and from under the Bondage of Corruption who in that State ONLY wants Redemption and not Christ for how much soever he Suffers or is Spiritually pierc'd or grieved by Men's Iniquities he can take unto him his great Power when he pleaseth and ease himself of his Enemies and his own Arm can bring Salvation to him We never Entertained or Believed any such Doctrine as these Adversaries enviously and falsly insinuate as that the Seed Christ ONLY wants Redemption for so to render him Impotent were to oppose his All-sufficient Power and Dignity but that 't is the Soul of Fallen Man and Woman that wants Redemption and not Christ who is the Redeemer and Saviour of it this does plainly appear to be our Belief from our Apprehension of the Nature and Being of the Soul of Man as a Creature and not the Creator viz. That the Soul of the Creature Man is not God nor Christ But the Spiritual Being and Principal Part of Man Created in the Image of God and Divinely Inspired and Enlightned by its Creator and Redeemer who formed the Spirit or Soul of Man within him for the Soul or Spirit of Man as distinguished from the Body is often in Scriture rendred one and the same thing more livingly perceived and felt in that Divine Light and Life of Christ whereby our Souls live to God than by any Philosophical or School Definitions Edward Paye's Second Pamphlet styled Raylings and Slanders Detected Examined WHereas in my late Brief Treatise entituled Antichrist in Flesh unmasked I did complain against the Envy and Persecuting Spirit of Edward Paye and his Abettors William Allcott and Henry Loader as appearing Envious against our present Liberty 1. By seeking to make void one Condition thereof which was our Profession of Faith In the three Divine Witnesses in Heaven c. according to 1 Joh. 5.7 and acknowledging the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration being sincerely owned by us before the Parliament when proposed to us and accordingly accepted and more fully inserted in the Statute for Exempting their Majesties Protestant Subjects dissenting c. from the Penalties of certain Laws and therein confessed to be a Profession of their Christian Belief 2. That in Contradiction thereunto these Persons aforesaid have grossly Belied and Misrepresented us the People called Quakers accusing us with vilifying and contemning the Holy Scriptures and with saying We own not the Scriptures but seemingly allow them and that the Quakers are great Enemies to and contemners of Holy Scriptures Epist. and p. 14. and 20. of their first Pamph. Antichrist in Spirit both contrary to our Sincere and Christian Profession and
they know not but what they know naturally as Bruit Beasts in those things they corrupt themselves 11. Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain c. 12. These are Spots in your Feasts of Charity c. 13. Raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own Shame wandring Stars to whom he is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever Many other Instances might be given of the Prophets Christ his Servants and Ministers giving severe Judgment against the Wicked And what think you now do not these Instances contain as much Sharpness of Language and Judgment if not rather more as either the said E. B. or any of our Friends have given their Envious Adversaries and yet 't were not warrantable to compare them to the Muggletonians much less to the Devil's Vileness or prodigious Arrogancy The Lord open these Men's Eyes and soften their hard Hearts and make them more charitable if it may yet stand with his good Pleasure And I perceiving the very same Bitter Envious Spirit of Persecution in these present Adversaries Pamphlet styled Antichrist in Spirit I could do no less than tell them of their Hypocrisy Envy and Bitterness their Turbulent Persecuting Lying Spirit their Gross Lyes and Falshoods c. for which I am not condemned of the Lord nor conscious to my self of Wrong done them for these Evils are apparent in them but really believe the Just God will Rebuke and Judge them and plead our Innocency And seeing Ed. Paye upbraids us with the Sweet Convincing Language of the Quakers I will not so unequally retaliate and say I shall give the Reader a Breviate of the Sweet Convincing Language the Anabaptists use to treat their Antagonists withal But to speak in his Terms of the Sweet Convincing Language which Edw. Paye and his Brethren Will. Allcott and H. Loader have treated the People commonly called Quakers withal in their said Pamphlet Antichrist in Spirit viz. Quakerism a great Delusion their Deceit their pretended Faith proved a Counterfeit Title their Profession a Labyrinth of Confusion a Compound of Heresies corrupt Notions Equivocal Reserves Proud Boastings the Pride and Ignorance of these Impostors these deluded Impostors the Quakers great Enemies to and Contemners of Holy Scriptures The Quakers dream This Generation of Impostors the Quakers who say Behold he Christ is within thee to deceive the Hearts of the Simple Horrid Blasphemy They labour to keep a Christian-Mask over their Anti-Christian Face a Bundle of Blasphemy Could the Devil himself have been more Vile Why should these Impostors talk of the Blood of Christ their Pofession but a Painted and Deceitful Flourish The Quakers Grand Deluders Blasphemous Absurdities By no means their Word must be taken blasphemous Confidence The Title on each Page is Quakerism a great Delusion above 70. times over and Turn to the Light within saith the Quaker 7. times over in three Pages repeated in Derision and set in Opposition to Christ's Doctrine c. The Spirit of Delusion and gross Ignorance in the Quakers These Clouds of Popish Darkness These Men care not for the Scriptures except it be to abuse them A Spirit of Delusion Their impertinent Evasions and manifold Corruptions of the Scriptures The Quakers are greatly deluded What Horrid Contradictions and gross Absurdities attend this Spirit of Delusion The Quakers vainly feed themselves with Wind in Imagining that they have the Holy Spirit who rebel against Christ contemn his Blood despise his Ordinances c. With much more such like Treatment in their said Pamphlet in pages 8 16 18 20 24 25 28 29 34 35 37 39 40 43 46 54 55 56 58 62 64 69 70 71 75 76. which as 't is unmerited so it is utterly denyed by us Take a View farther of some of Edw. Pay's Sweet Language he treats us withal to convince us in his Second Pamphlet styled Railings and Slanders detected viz. The Folly and Heresies of the Quakers Quakerism a great Delusion in the Title Slanderous confused Raileries Ill-shapen Cub Your Defects in Truth and Reason Gross and abominable Errors All their Authors Books full of Railings and Blasphemy that they have formerly called it a Doctrine of Devils viz. Justification by Christ's Works Righteousness and Merits which is an abominable Falshood I have seen them Quake and Foam at the Mouth Your Corrupt Notions and Deceivable Gestures Suppose you formerly used to Quake Tremble Roar Swell Foam c. G. W. an old Stickler for Quakerism Mr. J. Faldoe saith How generally were their Meetings either Silent or taken up with sudden and violent Eruptions of dismal Howlings and horrid Ravings Shaking and Foaming at the Mouth c. G. W. is so daringly Confident his Impertinent and Absurd Evasions This small Bundle of Railery written by G. W. Like raging Bears Their Ragings The confused Profession of Faith that G. W. makes p. 1 2 6 7 9 10 11 12 15 22 24 27 28 34. I am not willing to trouble the Reader in this Place with more of E. P's sweet Treatment or rather his sowre scurrilous Contemning and undeserved Detractions he had better have let what he calls the Quakers Sweet Convincing Language alone than to have reflected so scornfully upon us unless his own had been sweeter than 't is and more Convincing and obliging though I confess this his latter Pamphlet is not quite so bad as the other An Examination of those Exceptions and Passages which Edward Paye has set opposite as the Quakers Contradictions of their Profession of Faith in his said Pamphlet styled Railings and Slanders detected Excep SMith's Primmer p. 9. They that are false Ministers preach Christ without and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above p. 29. and not within also nor in Peoples Hearts they preach Christ without and in Heaven only excluding him Men's Hearts as William Smith's Book shews that to be his Intention Excep Your Carnal Christ. Who so wrote and on what occasion We know not But suppose if any Quaker did he struck at some Carnal Imaginations about Christ for the true Christ of God could not be intended for he is a Spiritual Divine and Heavenly Christ. Exc. Your imagined God beyond the Stars Who hath so writ I know not nor on what occasion but if any among us did the Intent was this viz. That the True God is not such a God as you or some Men imagine he is not an imagined God limited or circumscribed only beyond the Stars but is also on this Side the Stars a Real True Infinite and Omnipresent God both in the highest Heavens and lowest Hearts 'T is true I did question some Socinians and Baptists their defining Christ under the Terms of a Personal Being a Human Body and consisting of a Human Body asking them what they meant by Human Body in Heaven And if Human Body be not an Earthly Body Appendix to Reason against Railing printed in 1673. p. 21 22. This is impertinently alledged against me by E. P. p.
I do not therefore conclude that the Divine Doctrin therein contain'd may be no means of our knowing God for in Christ's hand and by his opening it to us and our understandings therein it may be and is A Means of Divine knowledge to us Christ being the Way and the Means original of Divine and Saving-Knowledge Obj. against G. W. again viz. Who also affirmeth that Faith grounded on the Scriptures is but an empty implicit Faith and bespeaks such persons void of the knowledge of God and Christ and Salvation and that such Men walk by their own Fancies and Imaginations Quoting Christ ascended p. 11. Observ. This Baptist has again apparently miscited and wrong'd my Answer 't was none of my affirmation or words That Faith grounded on the Scripture is but an empty implicit Faith c. I affirm they are not my words but E. P.'s fallacious abuse put upon me The Case was this viz. John Newman in his Book stiled The Light within c. having affirm'd p. 45. That without the Scriptures to be the Rule we know not that there is any God or Christ or Salvation c. all Men are left in the dark and no man knoweth how to enjoy Life Eternal neither do we know what God counteth unclean and what holy without the Scriptures we know not any Promise c. It leaves men to walk by Fancy and Imaginations Thus far he My Answer was Poor Men You have shewn your selves sufficiently herein and what an empty implicit Faith you are in and how void both of the Knowledge of God Christ and Salvation you are and how yet in your sins having denied Christ and his Light within to be your Rule Way and Foundation as he is to his Followers And so you are walking by your Fancies and Imaginations who set the Scriptures in the place of Christ as your only and absolute Rule and Ground of your Faith and Knowledge c. So that I did not own nor grant that their Faith was really grounded on the Scriptures herein but on their own unscriptural Fancies and Imaginations vid. Christ ascend p. 12. contrary to Scripture-Testimony of Christ. And I further oppose their Ignorance of God and Christ thus viz. And then what a sad Sentence of no less than condemnation doth this pass upon all People and Nations who have not the Scriptures as being all void of knowledge that there is either God Christ Salvation Good or Evil without the Scriptures whereas there is a Living Evidence throughout the Creation or Works of God therein of the Eternal Power or Maker thereof See Ps. 19. Rom. 1. Job 12. and many do know and have known these things written of which concern Salvation by the Light of God and Christ in them that never could read nor had the Scriptures outwardly as those Gentiles which had not the Law yet did those things contained in it and shewed the Effects of the Law written in their Hearts Rom. 2. Tho' the Scriptures are profitable to the Man of God who hath them being led by his Spirit which opens them Christ ascend p. 11 12. And now E. P. to prove thy Brethren W. Allcot and H. Loader's false Charge That the Quakers contemn and vilifie the Holy Scriptures in their Epistles and thy own horrid Slanders also that they are great Enemies to and Contemners of Holy Scriptures p. 20. of thy Antichrist in Spirit Thou summest up thy Argument with divers If 's but assumest no Assumption pursuant to thy general Charge as in thy 33 and 34 Pages of thy Railings and Slanders detected thus viz. Now if the Scriptures be a dead carnal Letter Ink and Paper saith Parnel If they are the Precepts and Traditions of Men saith Naylor in his Love to the Lost. If they are no better than an old Almanack as Holbrow said Hick 's Dial. p. 29. If to say an Ass hath as much Authority essentially in himself to teach and rebuke as the Scriptures c. be not to Contemn and Vilifie them I am yet to seek what is Ans. The Assumption or Minor Proposition intended i. e. but the Quakers say all these of the Holy Scriptures is here wanting and the Argument is lame and fallacious as well as falsly stated also in the first Proposition being not in the terms of the Charge For 1 st The Charge is general against the Quakers That they are great Enemies to and Contemners of the Holy Scriptures yet the word Holy not mentioned in the particular Instances fallaciously alledged for proof though it be in the general Charge 2. If some of the Instances were true yet to charge them upon the People called Quakers in general is an absurd and unjust way of arguing a particulare ad universale and no better than to argue thus If Edw. Paye the Baptist has raked up and charged divers of Hicks's Lies and Forgeries upon the Quakers and added many more of his own to them then the Baptists are all Forgers But Edw. Paye hath so done is apparent Ergo They may justly deny the Major though the Assumption or Charge alone stands good being plentifully proved against E. Paye in particular 3. Neither are the particular Instances true in fact the Holy Scriptures are not a dead Letter in the Quakers esteem tho' none of us ascribe Holiness to Ink and Paper or the dead Characters but to the living Divine Precepts and Doctrine therein contained nor did we ever think the Holy Scriptures to be but the Precepts and Traditions of Men or much less no better than an Old Almanack as the People called Quakers are most unjustly accused by these Adversaries Antichrist in Spirit p. 18. And 't is far from J. N. or any of us either to say or think that an Ass hath as much Authority essentially in himself to teach and rebuke as the Holy Scriptures For shame E. P. retract and leave off such foul gross and horrid Lies and Reproaches against the People called Quakers To prove that we name or call the Holy Scriptures the Precepts and Traditions of Men charged against the Quakers in general Antichrist in Spirit p. 18. Thou E. P. hast repeated this again in thy Railings p. 33. and quotest James Nayler's Love to the Lost for it but not in what Page and therefore I have been at the pains to view over that Book to see if I could find any such words but find nothing like them but the contrary namely 1 st That the words of the Scripture were given forth from the Light which he calls the Eternal Light Love to the Lost p. 4 20 21. And that the Ministers of Christ who have the Word who are begotten by the Word through such came the Scriptures which came not by the Will of Man but by the Spirit and so are of no private Interpretation Love to the Lost p. 73. which Spirit is the Eternal Spirit the Spirit of Light and Truth p. 13 18. Thus J. N. All which is far enough from calling or