This short discourse of the Bishop gives a more true and intelligible account of the Light within as it is in every true Christian which the Bishop has contained within three lines than W. P's ramble in his Ten pages of his Book and in the many hundred pages of his other Books that he hath scribbled about it to render it intelligible even to natural and unconverted Men for to such he did write as well as unto others and yet now he affirms it is not intelligible to natural Men such as he thinks the Bishop is for want of experience of the new Birth And positively asserts P. 49. that our Natural Rational Faculty is our sight but not our Light that by which we discern and Judge what the Divine Light shews us And in P. 50. he saith The Bishop's Natural Conscience must only mean a Capacity that Man has by Nature that is in his Creation of making a Judgment of himself his Duty and Actions according to the Judgment of God manifested to him by the Light of Christ within Now since W. P. must needs grant that the Bishop suppose but a natural Man as W. P. most uncharitably will needs have him to be has a Natural Conscience and the Natural Rational faculty of the Soul which is the Sight or Eye by which he can discern and Judge what the Divine Light shews him and also that W. P. strongly asserts that all Men have the Divine Light in them and consequently the Bishop must have it also what hinders but that the Bishop should understand W. P's Doctrine about the Light within were it really intelligible seeing by W. P's confession the Bishop has not only the Light within him the same that W. P. hath but the same Sight within him also that is as W. P. defines it the same Natural Rational Faculty and the same Natural Conscience which is the Capacity whereby to see or discern what the divine Light shews Besides it were all to no purpose for W. P. and all the Teachers among the Quakers to preach so frequently to Natural and Wicked Men exhorting them to mind the Light within obey it and give up to its Leadings if they were not capable to understand it as W. P. here saith they are not though in contradiction to his and his Brethrens daily Practise But according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture the Spiritual or inward Eye of the Mind of regenerate Persons whereby they discern Spiritual and Divine Objects is not the Natural Rational Faculty or Natural Conscience which all Men though vicious generally have but some more excellent Spiritual Faculty in the Soul superior to the Natural Rational Faculty as the Natural Rational Faculty is superior to the imaginative Faculty the which superior Spiritual Faculty of the Soul above the Natural Rational faculty is shut up or as it were extinct in meer Natural Men until it be opened and awakened in them by the Spiritual Regeneration and new Birth according to Eph. 1. 18. above quoted by the Bishop and Acts 26. 18. and Eph. 5. 8. And how much more agreeable is it to the Holy Scripture to say that true Divine Faith is the Sight of regenerated Persons whereby they look to Christ the great object and Author of it Heb. 12. 2. than that the Natural Rational Faculty is it as W. P. saith it is But by W. P's discourse both here and elsewhere he seems to be as ignorant of the Spiritual Sight of the regenerated Soul as of the Spiritual and Divine Light whereby it is enlightned and the Bishop has given a far more true account of both in three lines than W. P. has done either in this or all his other Books in which succinct and comcomprehensive definition of the Bishop these two things are worthily to be observed the first is that that which makes the Conscience of Man capable to know and believe aright the Doctrines and Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation is that the Conscience be opened by the Holy Spirit for which he citeth Acts 16. 14. How the Lord opened the Heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul And as by opening of the Heart in Acts 16. 14. is understood a special Illumination of the Holy Ghost by the Lord Jesus Christ given to Lydia whose Heart the Lord thus opened which she had not before notwithstanding of the common Illumination which she had before so no doubt the Bishop hath the same sence of it in agreement with the Doctrine of the 39 Articles of the Church of England that asserteth the necessity of a special Illumination of the Holy Ghost above and beyond the common Illumination given to Mankind in general to give the saving Knowledge and Faith of Christian Doctrine to any who have it But this special Illumination given to Believers only in Christ Crucified W. P. doth not acknowledge he thinks the common Illumination given to Infidel Jews Mahometans and Heathens is sufficient without any thing else or without any superadded Illumination in special for to grant any such superadded special Illumination being necessary to the Faithful would quite overturn W. P's Fabrick of the General Rule of Faith and Life to all Mankind And by this it appears that the Bishop's Doctrine about the Internal Illumination or Manifestation of Christ by the Holy Ghost as it is much more true than that of W. P's so it is much more excellent and sublime plainly distinguishing Christianity from Deism whereas W. P's Doctrine about the inward Illumination doth confound them and make them one and the same thing The second thing that is worthy to be noticed in this succinct and comprehensive Definition given by the Bishop is that the Conscience is thus opened i. e. illuminated and inspired by the Holy Spirit under the Ministry of the Word and so does and must take in its Light from Holy Scripture to wit the Light of the Christian Doctrine which the Conscience receives from the Scriptures instrumentally the Holy Scripture being the Instrument of the Spirit and of his preparing whereby he doth enlighten the Hearts of true Christians both to believe the Truth and understand the depth of the Christian Doctrine Section 7. A further account of W. P 's unsound Notion of the Light within and of the Bishop's sound Notion of it in all the Faithful the Spirits Light within and the Scripture Light without both necessary and well consistent in God's ordinary way of working to beget true saving Knowledge and Faith in Men. W. P. his various and equivocous Sence of the Light within Christ considered as the word God is in and to himself Life and Light essentially but to Men even the best of Men he is Light effectively by his Operations and is so called by a Metonimy We have no immediate Knowledge of the Essence of any Creature nor of the Creator but by his various Operations and Illuminations BUT this manner of receiving Light by means
that for their Sin of not believing in Christ God-man without them especially they were to dye in their Sins And as fallacious he is in interpreting John 16. 7. that the Comforter which Christ promised to send was the Light within or the Word God with respect only to his common Illumination reproving for common Sins whereas it 's plain from v. 9. that the Sin of which especially the Comforter viz. The Holy Spirit should convince Men should be the Sin of unbelief viz. For not believing that that very Man that spoke unto them was the Christ of God the promised Messiah the Redeemer and Saviour of the World Now unless W. P. can show that the Light within allowing it to be the Word God with respect to the common Illumination and by the said common Illumination universally given to Mankind without any superadded special inward Illumination of the Divine Word and without all external Revelation of Scripture-Light and Doctrine doth convince all Men of the Sin of not believing in the Man Christ Jesus that was born of a Virgin who spoke those words John 8. 21. 24. and John 16. 7 8 9. he but beats the Air and argueth to no purpose that the Light within every Man giveth a sufficient discovery of the way to Eternal Life and Salvation by the common Illumination without all special Illumination and external Revelation as aforesaid Why God hath not given the External Revelation of the Gospel Doctrine concerning Christ the Propitiation as he outwardly dyed for the Sins of Men nor the special Illumination nor conviction of the Spirit that ordinarily accompanieth the outward Preaching of the Gospel to many parts of Mankind belongeth to the depth of his most righteous Judgments against which we have no cause to dispute but to cry out with the Apostle Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out and also with Holy Admiration and Thankfulness to bless God that he has given us the Light of his Gospel both by the Doctrine of it outwardly and by the special Illuminations of his Spirit and Divine word inwardly which he has not given to many others though we were not more worthy of it than they So that what the Psalmist said concerning the Jewish Church of old may be well and fitly applied to the Christian Church and Nations in Christendom where the Gospel is preached Psal 47. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Nor doth all that I have said on this Head render Salvation impossible to these parts of Mankind to whom the Light of the Gospel hath not shined outwardly by any external Revelation of it seeing God can supply that defect by ways and methods unknown to us who worketh by his Spirit when where and how he pleaseth it is sufficient to us to know that the ordinary way and means that God hath provided for Mens eternal Salvation is by outward means of Instruction to wit the Doctrine of the Gospel as outwardly delivered us in the Holy Scriptures which is always accompanied with the special Illumination of Christ by the Holy Spirit to all that shall obtain eternal Salvation and that there is no other way or name under Heaven whereby Men must be-saved but the Name of Jesus nor no Promise of Salvation to any but through Faith in that Name even of Christ as outwardly he came and was and is a Propitiation for our Sins And though God can Save and hath saved some without the outward means of the Word as outwardly preached yet this will not prove that ever any was or shall be saved by the meer common Illumination given to all Men which yet is W. P's and his Brethrens great Fundamental and Evangelium eternum their everlasting Gospel from which they exclude the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Crucified and by Faith in him from being any part of it because not falling within the ordinary discoveries given to Mankind that Doctrine is none of the absolute necessaries of Deism is very true but that any were saved by meer Deism without all knowledge of Christ and Faith in him the great and only Propitiation for Sin which is W. P's great Fundamental he hath not proved and the Greek Calends will sooner come than ever he or any for him can prove it In his Page 21 he tells us The Nature of this excellent Principle the Light within every Man is to discover Sin reprove for it and lead out of it all such as love and obey the Convictions thereof That the Principle of the Light within even with respect to its common Illumination to and in every Man is excellent is granted and I do not think will be denied by the Bishop or any true Christian but he derogates greatly from the Excellency of it to tell us the Nature of it is to do so and so as if it were a natural and necessary Agent as it is the nature of the Fire to burn of the Sun to give light I ask W. P. Is it the nature of the word God to Create as a necessary Agent If it is the nature of the Divine word to Create he could not but Create otherwise he should change his nature as because it is the nature of the Fire to burn if it did not burn it should change its nature And if it be the Nature of the word God to discover Sin and reprove for it and lead out of it then that Divine word can do no otherwise and consequently is he not a necessary and not a free Agent It had been better and more Sound and Christian for W. P. to have said It is the good will and pleasure of the Divine word to reprove for Sin and also of the Spirit who bloweth where he pleaseth according to the old Latin Translation and which the Greek well beareth and was generally so understood by the Ancients both Greek and Latin Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit breatheth where he willeth and pleaseth in all to discover and reprove for Sin and yet not in all absolutely to bring them out of Sin or to work that Obedience in all so as to be brought out of Sin It had wont to be a Doctrine among the Quakers that God giveth a Day of Visitation which may expire and pass over some before they dye and yet even such after their day of Visitation is expired have that Light in them which reproveth for Sin And as the Visitation of some may be expired so the Visitation of others may be yet to come the outward Sun though a natural and necessary Agent yet shineth not to all at once when it is setting to some it is rising to others and when it is midnight to some it is mid-day to others that is an Emblem
that the Discoveries that he sets up for are not the same to all Nations and Persons as can easily be proved Ten thousands would break through the Hedge of his General Rule of binding them to the common Discoveries given to all Mankind as most of the People called Quakers do and would highly pretend to new and special Discoveries given to them by the Light within and to none others and the reason they will alledge that it is not given to others is their Unfaithfulness and especially that like Corah they Rebel against their Spiritual Guides and Leaders Thus we may see the great need of an outward Rule and the great Goodness of God that he hath given us one full and perfectly sufficient to be a Rule of our Faith and Life in all necessary Cases And besides If W. P's Argument have any Truth in it it would infer that Christ or the Spirit abstractly considered from all Revelation both Internal and External should be the Rule because he is the Ruler If the Ruler and the Rule must still be one and the same thing then suppose all Revelation Internal as well as External should cease Christ or the Spirit should be the Rule because the Ruler Who sees not the Fallacy and Sophistry of W. P's Argument here Hath not every common Artificer his Rule of Wood or Brass that is not the Man himself but the Instrument that he hath made and prepared for his use The Prophets Rule by which their Faith was ruled in what they Prophecied was not the Spirit but the internal Revelation of the Spirit the Spirit was their Guide and Ruler but not to speak properly their Rule but the Revelation they had or things revealed that was their Rule and so now the external Revelation of the same Truths is the Rule of our Faith whereby to believe them as the Spirit inwardly by his secret Illumination perswades us of their Truth and certainty not by any new verbal Record but by Sealing to the Record outwardly given Section 12. His falsly alledging that he has the first Reformers Fathers and Martyrs on his side viz. That the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith but the Light in every Conscience His Fallacy in this detected in the late Book called The Deism of W. P. and his Brethren c. The Spirits being superior to the Scripture proves not that the Spirit is the Rule of Faith His pretended ground of his pitying the Bishop for his supposed Ignorance Causeless and Fallacious His false Accusation and Charge against the Bishop and Church of England and all Protestant Opponents to the Quakers that they confine the Operations of the Spirit to the first or Apostolical Times That the Ministers among the Quakers are less acted by the Spirit of God in their Praying and Preaching than the Ministers among their Protestant Opponents evidently proved AND this leads me to detect another Fallacy of his which shall be the last I intend to notice though I could detect many more but these I think will suffice to shew how Fallacious he is Let us therefore hear him once more In his Page 106 and 107 after he has most grosly alledged that he has the concurring Testimony and Assent of the best and first Reformers as well as Martyrs and Fathers to confirm his Fundamental viz. That not the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures without but the Light within is the Rule of Faith and Life and that the Light or Spirit within is something at least co-ordinate if not superior and antecedent to the Scripture Which is more saith he than we said before and consequently is the Rule of Faith and Life superior to the Scripture Having in my late Treatise of W. P's Deism rescued the Fathers and first Reformers from his Perversions I shall only now take notice of his fallacious Inference by this his Argument The Light or Spirit within is something superior and antecedent in way of Excellency to the Scripture therefore it is the superior and antecedent Rule above the Scripture the Proposition is granted and I know none that ever denied it to wit That the Spirit which is God is greater and more excellent than the Scripture But then it followeth not that it is the greater or more excellent Rule because properly speaking it is no Rule at all Right Logicians will tell him if he will go and learn of them which it is to be suspected for all that he was a Student at Oxford he has great need to do that things in a different kind are not to be compared If it were asked of W. P. whither a Knife of Gold or a Knife of Steel were the best Knife he would answer surely though Gold is superior to Steel and more excellent yet it is not fit to be a Knife and Men make not the blades of Knives of Gold So though the Spirit be superior to the Revelation of it whither Internal or External yet not the Spirit but his Revelation is the Rule and Internal Revelation was the Rule to the Prophets whereby they believed their Prophecies and what internal Revelation was to them external Revelation is to us though we have not that internal Revelation that they had which was Prophetical and Extraordinary but the Spirit internally by way of Seal Sealing to us the Truth and Certainty of the external Revelation gives us as sure ground for the certainty of our Faith as they had of theirs But this inward Seal of the Spirit is no Rule either co-ordinate with the Scripture or subordinate to it because it doth not propose to us by it self all the things necessary to be believed by us in verbal Propositions as the Seal of a Bond though it is a Proof and Evidence to the Truth of the Bond yet it tells us not the Contents of it And now because the Bishop found fault with his calling the Scripture without and the Illumination of the Spirit within the double and agreeing Record of true Religion as indeed well he might so do in W. P's sense though in a qualified and sober sense it may be acknowledged as perceiving the fallacious sense that W. P. had of those words well observed by the Bishop That they will not believe what Scripture saith except the Light within them dictate the same And yet none of them can justly say that the Light within doth dictate to them by it self one Article of that called the Apostles Creed yea W. P. doth not so much as pretend that it doth to him yet most uncivilly he falls upon the Bishop p. 107 telling him It must be his turn now to pity the Bishop And truly saith he I do it with all my Heart And this it seems in retaliation of the Bishop's tender Expression of his Pitty and Compassion towards some well-meaning Persons among them who are mislead by their Teachers But for what must he needs Pity the Bishop Why for his supposed Ignorance that he will not allow the Spirit to be
how can this consist with his now saying that we are Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation Again in his Sandy Foundation from P. 24 to P. 32. he pretends to bring arguments from both Scripture and Reason to refute the Justification of impure Persons by an imputative Righteousness I shall quote a few passages out of many to shew the inconsistency of his late and former Doctrine about Justification from the guilt of Sin P. 25. from Ezek. 18. 20 26 27 28. He draws this Argument That the Condemnation or Justification of Persons is not from the imputation of anothers Righteousness but the actual performance and keeping of God's Righteous Statutes or Commandments otherwise God should forget to be equal Again in P. 26. he saith Christ is so far from telling them of their being Justified abiding in his Love by virtue of his Obedience imputed unto them that unless they obey his Commandments and obey for themselves they shall be so remote from an acceptance as wholly to be cast out in all which Christ is but our example Where note Reader the words BUT our example Again in the same Page Nor let any fancy saith he that Christ hath so fulfilled it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their acceptance BUT only as their pattern Where note again Reader these words but only as their pattern This is plain Socinianism Again in P. 27. he thus argueth If rejoycing and acceptance with God or the contrary are to be reaped from the Works that a Man soweth either to the Flesh or to the Spirit then is the Doctrine of acceptance and ground of rejoycing from the works of another utterly excluded every Man reaping according to what he hath sown and bearing his own Burden Thus Reader thou seest how earnestly he hath contended against all Justification from the Righteousness of Christ wrought in his own Person without us though in this late Paper of Gospel Truths he seems fully to assert it I shall not need to insist at large to shew his fallacious way of stating the question about Justification by Christ's Righteousness without us and of his reasoning against it As if these against whom he argueth did plead for a Justification or Righteousness of Christ actually imputed to Men wholly unsanctified and remaining altogether in a state of disobedience wherein hemost unfairly represents them But whereas he pleads at such a high rate that none are Justified while having the least Sin or impurity so as that none are Justified but who perfectly in all points without the least sinful defect or imperfection obey the Law of God and come up in their Obedience to the outmost demand of the Law as the whole strain of his Arguments run by this rate of arguing either W. P. and all his Brethren are under a state of Condemnation and the Curse of the Law If they have the least impurity or sinful defect and have not attained a sinless perfection which yet can be proved sufficiently they have not attained and some of them have so much ingenuity in them as to confess they have not yet arrived unto And W. P. would do but equally in the case to tell us whether he is such a Sinless Person that answers every demand of Justice and who in his obedience comes up to the highest perfection of Holiness that the most Holy Law of God doth now at this present require of him If he thinks he is he is miserably mistaken while his sinful Imperfections in his asserting such gross Untruths for Truths and some of them against the Conviction of his Conscience are so manifest that he who runs may read them besides a great vein of Pride Levity and Vanity of Mind and Scornful Disdain that appears running through his pretended Answer to the Bishop of Cork his modest Observations and his most uncivil Language and Epithets he hath used in his former Books never to this day repented of so far as we can understand given by him to his Opponents in his several Books of Controversie whereof the Author of The Snake in the Grass hath given a large Catalogue Section 3. His Fallacy in seeming to own Justification by Christ the Propitiation whereas by Christ the Propitiation he doth not mean the Man Christ without but the Light within His bold attempt in his Sandy Foundation to throw down three great Fundamentals of Christianity viz. The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity The Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness His excluding Faith in Christ Crucified from being necessary to Justification and placing it wholly on Repentance and Obedience his agreement with G. W. therein BUT under this seemingly fair acknowledgment of W. P. that we are only justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation let us search whither there be not even in this acknowledgment The Snake in the Grass If W. P. remain in his former Perswasion as he affirmeth he doth by his former Books I shall clearly prove that by Christ the Propitiation he doth not mean the Man Christ Jesus as he outwardly suffered Death and the shedding of his Blood outwardly for the Remission of our Sins being the great and only Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of Men and thereby by his most perfect Satisfaction paying to Divine Justice the Debt of our Sins In his Christian Quaker p. 97. he contendeth That the Sacrifices and Lamb in the Passover under the Law were not proper Figures of Christ without but of Christ the promised Seed within One outward thing saith he cannot be the proper Figure of another nor is it the way of Holy Scripture so to teach the outward Lamb shews forth the inward And in Page 145 he saith As the outward Jew had an outward Priest at whose mouth he ought to seek the Law so the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit has an inward and Spiritual High Priest the King Ruler Judge Law-giver High Priest Law Rule Temple are all Spiritual i. e. Inward And in his Rejoynder to J. Faldo p. 284. he affirmeth That Christ offers himself in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice to appease the Wrath of God Again in his Sandy Foundation from p. 16 to p. 24. he disputes against the Satisfaction of Christ giving this Title to his Disputation The vulgar Doctrine of Satisfaction being dependent on the second Person of the imagined Trinity refuted from Scripture to p. 20 and from p. 20 refuted from right reason to p. 24 where p. 17. arguing from Jer. 31. 31 33 34. he saith Here is God's meer Grace asserted against the pretended necessity of a Satisfaction to procure his Remission And p. 18. he argueth thus And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Where nothing can be more obvious saith he than that which is forgiven is not paid And if it is our Duty to forgive without a Satisfaction received and that God is
Propitiation in order to remission of Sins can hardly disbelieve any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion so by good consequence contrariwise whoever believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians to wit as outwardly Crucified Dead and Raised again c. can hardly believe any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion but W. P. believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in order to remission of Sin c. in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians therefore W. P. hardly believeth any fundamental Article of the Christian Religion to wit as peculiar to the same The first proposition is proved by the Rule of contraries from W. P's assertion as I think he will readily confess the second proposition which is the Assumption is fully proved from what is above at large quoted by me out of his former Books never to this day retracted by him And though he reckoneth up the Doctrine of the Trinity viz. of the Father of Christ the Son and of the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Heaven and Hell the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to be Fundamental Doctrines yea and the main of Christian Doctrine yet from what is above proved out of his Books he hath plainly opposed the true Christian Doctrine both of the Holy Trinity and of Heaven and Hell and as plainly he hath opposed the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust in their respective Bodies as I have fully proved in my third Narrative and so have his Brethren G. Whitehead Richard Hubberthorne and others only at present I shall quote these following passages out of some of his former Books in his Reason against Railing in answer to Tho. Hicks P. 138. he thus plainly argueth against the deceased Saints looking for any future Resurrection of the Body which Tho. Hicks argued for Is the Joy of the Ancients saith W. P. now in Glory imperfect or are they in Heaven but by halves But why must the Felicity of the Soul depend upon that of the Body Is it not to make the Soul a kind of Window to be without its beloved Body a better sort of Purgatory Again P. 134. If a thing can be the same and notwithstanding changed for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the absurdity of it is rather out-done than equalled by this carnal Resurrection Again in his answer to J. Faldo called the Invalidity of J. Faldo's Vindication P. 369. It 's sown a Natural Body It 's raised a Spiritual Body and I do utterly deny saith he that this Text is concerned in the Resurrection of Man's carnal Body at all but the States of Men under the First and Second Adam Men are sown into the World Natural but they are raised Spiritual through him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are Sons of the Second Adam Nor need any to wonder why W. P. and his Brethren should disbelieve all these fundamental Doctrines of Christianity which now he professeth to own and that as Fundamental but still quite in a most differing Sense from all true Christians for with what certainty can he or they believe them they acknowledge not the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule of their Faith in any of these things or indeed of any others they have no certainty of the Truth of any of these he now calls Fundamentals from the Rule of Faith set up by them which is the Light within them with respect to its ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind but none of these Fundamental Doctrines above mentioned fall within these ordinary Discoveries as W. P. hath confessed for they belong to extraordinary Revelation And if he should affirm they did belong to the ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind he cannot prove it What obscure Knowledge any of them called Heathen Philosophers had of any of these great Mysteries W. P. cannot prove they had it from the Light within but Traditionally either from the Jews and ancient Patriarchs and Prophets or from some among themselves prophetically inspired as it is reported of the Sybils the which report were it true doth not prove that the Knowledge and Faith of these great Fundamentals did fall within the ordinary discoveries of the Light within given to Mankind in general Section 5. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop as if he did render the Text 1 John 5. 7. defective whereas the Bishop only charg'd the Defect on W. P 's Confession which though given in Scripture words yet not in the true Sense of Scripture His Fallacious Argument against the Holy Trinity answered His Fallacy and Equivocation about his calling him who was born of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ and the Son of God whereas he hath denied him to be properly so And his abusive Treatment of the Bishop on that Head IN his Page 30 he proceeds in his unchristian and uncivil Treatment of the Bishop unjustly charging him as if the Text 1 John 5. 7. were defective with the Bishop and as if he did render the Text it self short which saith W. P. with submission I think is a bold Attempt in one of his Station If he believes the 39 Articles But all this is nothing but a Scandalous Reflection on the Bishop and a Shuffling and Cover wherewithall to hide his own Error and Incredulity The Bishop might well enough without charging any defect on the Text as he doth not in the least charge a defect on this Confession of W. P. and his Brethren because though given in one Scripture Text yet he had just cause to question not to be given in the true sense of that Scripture for most that are unsound as touching the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity even Socinians as well as others will profess yea and have professed to give their Faith in the Text yea and all other Texts of the like nature who yet are professed Unbelievers of the true Doctrine of the Holy Trinity And though W. P. and his Brethren will frankly confess they believe that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are one God one in Substance and Essence and thus think to clear themselves of Sociniansm yet he and they at the same time are grosly guilty of Sabellianism acknowledging no distinction betwixt Father Son and Holy Ghost other than Nominal or at most in Manifestation and Operation ad extra and with relation to the Creatures So that W. P's Notion and Faith of the Holy Trinity which he calls the Scripture Trinity but it is not the Scripture Trinity but the Sabellian Trinity is no other than this that as the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God one Essence and Being so the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father and the Holy Ghost is the Son and the Son is the Holy Ghost for as I have quoted him above in his Sandy Foundation he disputeth not
of the written word preached or read which is the Rule of Faith appointed and given us of God for that end and purpose W. P. doth not acknowledge but will needs have it that we receive all our Light from the inward Principle which sometimes he calls Christ at other times the Light of Christ otherwhile as in page 49. a Manifestation in the Soul of Man of Christ the word God the Light of the World c. without all Instrumentality of either the Holy Scriptures or Ministry of Men For to grant any such Instrumentality would quite marr his Notion of the Light within being not only the Guide and Ruler but the Rule it self of Faith and Life to all Mankind and he earnestly opposeth that Faith which is wrought by the outward Ministry of the Word in Preaching or Reading concerning Christ's Death and Sufferings Resurrection and Ascension c. as being but the Historical Faith that must pass away as the old Heavens For if he did grant the necessity of Scripture-Doctrine-Light received from without as well as the necessity of the Spirits internal Light or Illumination in God's ordinary way of working going along with the Doctrine-light of the Scripture there would be no Controversie betwixt the Bishop and him provided he did also grant that there is necessary a special Illumination of Christ by the Holy Spirit to be infused or inspired into the Souls of the Faithful to enable them to take in and understand the Light of the Doctrine of Salvation delivered in the Holy Scriptures Should W. P. own these two great things asserted here by the Bishop the Controversie should be none at all betwixt them but seeing he denies them both and the Bishop affirmeth both the Controversie remaineth great betwixt them and the Bishop hath far the advantage of W. P. that he hath proved his Doctrine from Scripture and thus he fairly distinguisheth Christianity from Deism neither of which W. P. hath done nor ever can do It hath been ordinary in the People called Quakers even their chief Teachers as to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God so to deny them that is the Doctrine delivered in them to be Light in any Scripture Sense turning all these places of Scripture that mention Light as with respect to Mens Knowledge and Faith to Light within only exclusive of all doctrinal Light of Scripture without as being the Rule of Faith or any necessary means of our Instruction in God's ordinary way of working though it has been God's ordinary way in all Ages by outward means of Doctrine delivered by Men as well as by the Spirits inward Illumination to beget in Men the saving Knowledge and Faith of the things necessary to Salvation the extraordinary Revelation of these Truths without all outward means of Instruction being given only to some singular Persons as the Prophets and Apostles but was never given in any Age to all Mankind nay nor to all the Faithful in any Age for even in the days of the Apostles when Prophetical Inspiration and extraordinary Revelation did most abound in the Church it was not given to all the Faithful but only to some as the Apostle Paul said Do all Prophesie Intimating they did not though a Manifestation of the Spirit was given to every one to profit withall yet that was not the extraordinary Revelation given to the Apostles and Prophets but the ordinary given to the Faithful to enable them to believe and understand what was outwardly taught them by the Apostles and Prophets Words and Writings Having thus taken a view of the Bishop's Christian sound Scriptural Doctrine both of Christ's Light within by the Illumination of the Holy Spirit and of the Scripture Light without as joyntly necessary in God's ordinary way of working to the Faithful the which Scripture Light as in respect of the Doctrine Laws Commands Precepts and Promises of God delivered therein the Bishop hath well proved from Psal 19. 8. Psal 119. 105. Isa 8. 20. and which Scripture-light may in a true sense be called though more remotely the Spirits Light In the next place let us take a view of W. P.'s unchristian and unscriptural Doctrine of the Light within which he saith in his page 48 is with him and his Brethren a Fundamental which one while he calls Christ the Word God another while the Light of Christ a Manifestation in the Soul of Man of Christ the Word God This Light within his great Fundamental as given to all Mankind even to them who have not the Scripture nor any external Revelation of Christ as he outwardly came in the Flesh he will not have it to be the Law of God in the Heart of Man nor the Impressions and Principles which are born and come with us into the World page 50. As the Work is not the Work-man so they are not properly the Light of Christ but the blessed Fruit and Effect of the Light of Christ the word God in Man which shines in the Heart and gives him the Knowledge of God and of his Duty to him so that the innate Notions or inward Knowledge we have of God is from this true Light that lighteth every Man coming into the World but is not that Light if self But why then doth he so confound the Work with the Work-man as one while he tells us the Light within is Christ another while a Manifestation in the Soul of Man of Christ the Word God Is not the Manifestation of Christ in the Soul of Man a Work of Christ How then is it Christ himself the Word God W. P. may remember how his Brother G. W. in his Light and Life recommended by him hath argued against the Body of Christ being Christ for if it were it would have this Sense the Christ of Christ or the Jesus of Jesus which to him is Nonsence Is it not great Nonsence to say The Manifestation of Christ to wit the Act or Effect of his Illumination in the Soul is Christ himself The Body of Christ together with his Soul are constitutive parts of his Manhood Nature personally united to his Godhead and may and do receive the Name of Christ and Jesus as the parts do receive the Name of the whole but the Manifestation of Christ in the Soul of Man is no part of Christ's Manhood nor of his Godhead which hath no parts but is only a Work of Christ in the Soul of Man by which it is enlightned And as the Work supposeth the Work-man or Worker to be present in the Soul to wit Christ considered as the Word God which the Bishop to be sure in the true Sence will acknowledge so the Work-man supposeth the Work as necessary to be wrought in the Soul for Christ as he is the Word God considered simply whither as in himself or as in Men is no Light to Men but as he hath his Work and Operation in them to enlighten them though in and to himself he is Light and Life
Opponents as guilty of Blasphemy for denying the sufficiency of the Light within to Salvation without any thing else Seeing that Light within is Christ for it is as much as to say Christ is not sufficient to Salvation And thus some of them have charged me in particular to whom I have answered that seeing Christ is truly Christ without us as well as within us and much more gloriously manifested in the Flesh without us If it is no blasphemy to say Christ without us cannot save us without his being in us as they will readily grant so nor is it Blasphemy to say Christ within us cannot save us without Christ without us And with respect to Christ's inward Teaching and Illumination they grosly and fallaciously prevaricate in stating the question as whither the Light within to wit the Word God is a Light sufficient to Teach or Guide every Man the way to Eternal Salvation Thus they think to have their Opponents every way at a disadvantage and to catch them in their Dilemma if they say Yea the Quakers have gained the point as they imagine If they say Nay they are guilty of Blasphemy against Christ the word God within them as not being sufficient But this Sophistical Dilemma is easily discovered and answered for by the sufficiency of the Light within every Man to guide to Salvation is not meant what Christ the Word God can reveal to and in every Man for who questions that that he can do it abundantly but the true state of the question is What he doth reveal to and in every Man that is or may be a sufficient discovery to him for his eternal Salvation W. P. and his Brethren hold the affirmative the Bishop and all true Christians Yea all but meer Deists hold the Negative viz. That Christ considered as the word God doth not reveal to and in every Man As for example not to any of the Quakers or any others here here in England all that is sufficient to their Salvation by the common Illumination without special superadded Illuminations of Christ by the Holy Spirit that is more excellent than the common in the use of the outward means to wit the Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures outwardly Preached or at leastwise read to us or by us If they say it doth then let them not only tell us but prove to us intelligibly to convince our Natural Rational Faculty which W. P. calleth the Eye or Sight whereby the Soul of every Man is capable to discern what the Light within sheweth that the Light in them by its common Illumination without all outward means of Instruction from or by the Holy Scriptures hath taught them one or more of the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed according to the true sense of Scripture and generally received by all true Christians If they confess it hath not taugh them any one of them it evidently follows that they think not any one of them is necessary to their Faith or Christianity i. e. their Deism for Salvation And yet it is strange that W. P. should be so fallacious as as to affirm that the Doctrines of God of Christ of the Holy Ghost of remission of Sin and Justification from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation the Resurrection of the Dead are Fundamentals of the Christian Religion none of which the Light within them without Scripture hath taught him to believe as I think he hath plainly confessed and yet it hath taught him all that is necessary to his Salvation without Scripture he having denyed that the Scripture is the Rule of his or their Faith as touching any of these matters and consequently not so much as the Instrument whereby the Holy Spirit has wrought that Faith in him therefore what Faith he or they have of these things is but Historical and Uncertain and as the old Heavens that must pass away and which hath already passed away from them seeing they pretend they are come to the new Heavens already And yet he is so fallacious to say P. 97. It is generally thought that we do not hold the common Doctrines of Christianity but have introduced new and erroneous ones in lieu thereof This I have sufficiently proved to be true here and elsewhere and so have others done the same But what followeth Whereas saith he we plainly and entirely believe the Truths contained in that called the Apostles Creed Yes say I just so as he may say they plainly and entirely believe the Truths in the Turks Alcoran which may be supposed to have some Truths though many more falsities This saying of his seems to have a mental Reservation as if there were some things in that Creed that were not Truths W. P. would do well to tell us plainly what they are Section 9. Several places of Scripture rescued from his Perversions None are saved by the common discoveries of the Light within without special Revelation and Illumination which yet renders not Salvation impossible to virtuous Gentiles His Ignorance and Error about the Nature of the Light within considered as the Word God In his shewing what the Light within teacheth every Man he leaves out the chief matter that was necessary to his Argument to prove it sufficient without any thing else AND as for the places of Scripture which W. P. hath brought to prove the sufficiency of the Light within with respect to the common Illumination for every Man's Salvation without any super-added special Illumination and all external Light of the Holy Scripture which are these following John 8. 12. John 1. 9 14. Titus 2. 11 12. Eph. 5. 13. John 16. 7. Prov. 1. 20 to 24. John 8. 24. they are all one or two at most excepted that may be understood of the common Illumination as John 1. 9. to be understood of the Special Illumination given to Men under a Gospel-Ministry as is evident by the due consideration of them as for John 1. 9. allowing it to be meant of the common Illumination and diverse other places of Scripture that might be brought to prove that there is such a common Illumination from the word God in all Men as a preparatory Ministration this doth not prove that that common Illumination is sufficient without the special that is given to the Faithful And whereas he saith in his 6th Article or Section of his Gospel Truths They that turn not at the reproofs thereof to wit the Light within with respect to its common Illumination and will not repent and live and walk according to it shall dye in their Sins and where Christ is gone they shall never come Tho' there be a Truth in the words he has here set down yet he quite misapplies that place of Scripture John 8. 24. and fallaciously leaves out the foregoing words which are these For if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your Sins and as it is in v 21. And whither I go ye cannot come by which words it is plainly evident
of the shining of this Divine Sun in Mens Hearts and which if I well remember W. P. hath some where used in some of his Books but is not too far to be stretched for though the outward Sun shine to all at one time or another yet some parts of the Earth have not that Influence of the Sun that sufficeth to ripen the Fruits of the Earth to sustain Humane Life or preserve from unsupportable Cold as under the North and South Poles and near adjacent parts where scarce ever any of Mankind yet was or could come and no doubt the word God doth in some sort enlighten the Devils and all the Fallen Angels and reproveth them severely for their Sins so that they believe and tremble but is it the Nature of the Divine Word in them to lead out of Sin all such of the Devils and Fallen Angels as love and obey the Convictions thereof Were not this to supponere non suppmendum to suppose what is not to be supposed that any of the Devils or Fallen Angels can love and obey the Convictions thereof And is it not thus also with many Men though they have some real Convictions from the common Illumination of the Divine Word yet barely and meerly by the common Illumination given unto them by the same until God visit with special Illumination and his special Grace and Favour they are held as in Iron Chains and Bonds so that they cannot come out their Prison door is shut they are inclosed in great Darkness even thick Darkness like that of Egypt so that they cannot come out though they have so much Light that shineth in their Darkness as to discover Sin and reprove for it in many particulars yet power is not given them to leave their Sins and come out of them except God visit with some more powerful Visitation of his special Illumination and Grace above what is common to all Mankind The way for W. P. to have proved that this Light in every Man teacheth him sufficiently all that is needful to Salvation had been to have given a more full description of the Light within than he hath given and then made Application as thus The Light within whom ever it enlightneth with a saving Illumination that fully sufficeth to guide to Salvation without any superadded Illumination differing in specie only allowing the necessity of greater Degrees in the same specie it not only discovereth Sin to them convinceth and reproveth for it and woundeth the Heart and Conscience with the Sense of God's Judgment and Wrath and Curse due for Sin but sheweth them the Remedy the Lord Jesus Christ as he died for our Sins and by his Death on the Cross became the Propitiation for our Sins and is now the Propitiation for us as he is in Heaven at God's right Hand in the true Nature of Man ever living to make Intercession for us But all this the Light within doth by the common Illumination in every Man therefore c. But W. P. knowing that he could not affirm this of the Light within as only enlightning by the common Illumination fallaciously after his ordinary manner leaves out the chief Matter which was that the Light within every Man not only discovers to every Man his Sin but discovers the great Remedy to wit Christ the Propitiation for Sin by whom the Guilt and Curse due for Sin is taken away from all such as sincerely believe in him which sincere Faith is always accompanied with sincere Repentance and new Obedience Section 10. His Fallacy in making as if it were an Article of his Faith that we are justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation that Faith being neither grounded upon the common Illumination given to all Mankind which discovers not that Faith nor upon inward extraordinary Revelation which he confesseth is not given to him or his Brethren nor upon any external Revelation in the Scripture which he denieth to be the Rule of Faith The Historical Faith grounded upon the external Revelation in the Scripture concerning Christ the Propitiation his Birth Death and Sufferings of no value with him His and his Brethrens Pretence of being assisted by the Holy Spirit to Pray Praise and Preach generally understood in Matter of Fact proved False His and their unsound and unscriptural way of Preaching the way to the Kingdom They do not Preach the Necessity of Faith in Christ Crucified for Remission of Sin for Regeneration and eternal Salvation For the manner of Preaching the Necessity of this Faith W. Penn accused G. K. at Ratcliff Meeting to be an Apostate and at the Yearly Meeting at London some time before in the Year 1694 he accused him to Friends of the Ministry for bringing in a new Method of Preaching Christ without among Friends in order to Regeneration His Arguments against Baptism and the Supper answered in the Book called The Arguments of the Quakers against Baptism and the Supper examined and refuted AND though he makes it as it were an Article of his Faith and one of his Gospel Truths Sect. 4. that we are only justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation yet it is a notorious Fallacy and Juggle How is it an Article of their Faith As it is an Historical Faith neither grounded upon the common Illumination which discovers no necessity of any such Faith nor upon extraordinary Revelation and special Illumination which is not necessary nor is given to him by his plain Concession but upon the outward History or Letter of the Scripture but alas this Historical Faith is so far from being of any valuable account with W. P. that he hath told us it is as the old Heavens that must pass away and belike is passed away from his long since though to deceive the World he would seem still to hold it for he hath said concerning it in his Quakerism a new Nick-name far Old Christianity Page 6. Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation is a deadly Poison these latter Ages has been infected with In his 7th and 8th Sections he proceedeth with the like fallacy telling us how he and his Brethren are prepared and assisted by this principle in Praying Praising and Preaching to others the way of God's Kingdom as they wait in their Assemblies to feel God's Spirit to open and move upon their Hearts that they may Preach in Power as well as in words and that they thus wait before they dare offer Sacrifice to the Lord. How far this is false in matter of Fact is well enough known to their own Consciences and the unsound words they most frequently use both in Preaching and Praying is a plain Demonstration of it that they are not generally acted or moved by the Spirit of God in their Prayings or Preachings If the manner of their Praying and Preaching is as the manner of their Writing which they will say is the same for they as commonly pretend to write by the Motion of the Spirit of
God as to Preach and Pray by it But can it be supposed that Men are acted or moved by the Spirit of God to bring forth so many false Doctrines vile Heresies and Errors and gross Untruths and Fallacies and uncharitable Judgments and Perversions of their Opponents words as they commonly do in their writings generally But what way to the Kingdom do they Preach Possibly they will say Christ who said he was the way But how do they Preach him to be the way Just as W. P. hath here and elsewhere Preached him in Print to wit as the Word God and the Light within whose Nature is to discover Sin and lead out of it all such who Love and obey the Convictions of it and that only and alone by the common Illumination which by W. P's confession discovers nothing of Christ as he became a Propitiation for our Sins by his Death on the Cross The great subject of the Apostles Preaching was Christ Crucified and remission of Sin by Faith in him and how all Spiritual Blessings yea the gift of the Holy Spirit himself comes to us by the Crucified Jesus and Faith in him but little or nothing of this sort of Preaching is to be found either in your Meetings or Books but much against it though to cover your Vile Errors you will now and then seem to own it but forgetting your selves quickly disown it all again Yea W. P. knoweth in his Conscience how both publickly and privately he hath blamed me and charged me with my being an Apostate for my asserting the necessity of Friends Preaching this Faith to wit in Christ as he dyed for our Sins c. as being absolutely necessary to Regeneration for us to have this Faith and to know and experience Christ formed in us and to live dwell and Rule in us For this my Christian Testimony he charged me at Ratcliff Meeting that I did what in me lay to pluck up the Testimony of Truth by the Roots And at the Yearly Meeting at Grace-Church-street in the Year 1694 he stood up and accused me before some hundred Friends of them called the Ministry and others that I was seeking to bring in a New method of Preaching among Friends which was to Preach Christ without and the necessity of Faith in him in order to bring People to the knowledge and experience of the new Birth and Christ in them as he dwells in the Saints And also he knows in his Conscience when and where and to whom he hath accused me for Preaching Christ without in opposition to Christ within which God knoweth I never did And therefore in his so doing he hath falsly accused me though his and his Brethrens false Notions of Christ within as above explained I have opposed and by God's help shall oppose and witness against while I live But the true Scripture sense of Christ within as the Word God and of Christ the Word made Flesh without us who is still but one Christ and of his sufficiency to our Salvation both as without us and within us without us as he came to procure and purchase it for us by his Blood and Merits and within us by his Spiritual appearance and special Illumination of the Holy Spirit in the use of the outward means to apply it to us and to work the blessed and glorious effect of it in us I have owned and still hope to own it to the end of my days As for W. P's Arguments against Baptism and the Supper as outwardly administred I know not one of them but I have fully answered that may seem to require an answer and many more in my late Book called The Arguments of the Quakers against Baptism and the Supper Examined and Refuted which he ought more particularty to have answered being so particularly concerned than to have brought them up again as if they had been new Dishes which are nothing but the Old after some Fashion new dressed If the Bishop thinks fit to notice them he may for me to meddle with them were but Actum agere to do what I have already done Section 11. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop of Cork as if he were Ignorant of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought The Bishop has soundly and Christianly explained the Doctrine of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought W. P's great Fallacy in his definition of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought His Fallacy in seeming to agree to the Bishop's Assertion from that Text Rom. 10. 9. His Fallaeious Argument that because the Spirit Leads and Rules therefore the Spirit is the Rule detected the Ruler and the Rule distinct The great Blessing and Advantage of the Scriptures being a means to preserve us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit from Satan's Delusions and Impostures IN his 26th Page he saith I think nothing makes a Man a true Christian but Regeneration the Power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God And in his P. 29 he saith I would have my Reader reflect well upon this great and Essential Truth Tho he were as Big as a Bishop Reader what thinkst thou of this Uncivil Proud and Disdainful Treatment But so far as I understand W. P. sheweth himself as if he were much more big than a Bishop he treats the Modest and humble Bishop as if he were one of his meanest subjects But for all W. P's pretence to be so Skilful in that great and essential Truth of the necessity of Regeneration and the manner and way of its being wrought above and beyond the Bishop the Bishop has beyond all doubt in his short Testimony in three or four lines on that Head made it evident that he understands the Mystery of Regeneration and the manner how it is wrought better than W. P. for all his Big and Lordly thoughts he has of himself and for all his Big talk of the new Creature and Self-denial there is great a deal more of it in his Books than in his Life But mark how W. P. describes the manner how Regeneration is wrought That it is by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God which are such general words and terms and true when taken in a true Scripture sense that not only every Bishop but every Curate of the Church of England and every ordinary Christian can say the same But under these general Words W. P. hideth a great Fallacy what doth W. P. mean by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God No other thing but the power of the common Illumination of the Light within given to Infidel Jews Mahometans and all moral Heathens who if they are but meer Just Men according to W. P's Gospel and System of Divinity they are Regenerated Persons though they have no special Illumination of the Holy Spirit giving them any inward and spiritual knowledge and Faith of the Son of
God as the word Incarnate or word made Flesh and as he was Miraculously conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Blessed Virgin dyed for our Sins and rose again None of all this doth the common and ordinary discoveries of the Light within teach W. P. and his Brethren and yet this is all he sets up in order to bring People to the work of Regeneration and to become the Sons of God Not only the Bishop but the meanest Curate in his Diocess I charitably think can give a better account according to Scripture of the manner how Regeneration is wrought in Men to wit by receiving Christ through a lively Faith wrought in them by the Spirit and Power of the Son of God inwardly revealed in them and by the Doctrine of Christ outwardly Preached in God's ordinary way and believing in his Name according to all his Offices viz. his prophetical priestly and Kingly Office The Faith and perswasion of the great Love of God in giving his Son to dye for us and of the great Love of Christ who gave himself for us inwardly revealed in us not by the common Illumination given to Heathens but by special Illumination of Christ in our Hearts perswading us of the truth and certainty of the Scriptures Doctrine and Testimony concerning this Love works that change in us that the Scripture calls Regeneration or the New Creature for thus the Scripture witnesseth John 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave them Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name And this believing in his Name was not only a believing his inward appearance or Light in them but by special Illumination and operation of his mighty power in them believing in him as he outwardly came in the Flesh dyed for our Sins and rose again as our King Priest and Prophet without us as well as the Light within or Word God within us as Paul testified ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. 26. to wit as outwardly Crucified and raised again And as John testified 1. John 5. 1. Whosoever believeth to wit with a sincere Faith that Jesus even that very Jesus that was born of Mary is the Christ is born of God But none of all this Faith doth W. P. think necessary to Regeneration or Eternal Salvation for otherwise it would exclude all his Deist Brethren and moral Just Men among Jews and Mahometans and Heathens from being Regenerate Persons and his sort of Christians whereas the Bishop hath plainly owned the necessity of this Faith to Regeneration and eternal Salvation in his sound but short Christian Testimony and W. P. taken notice of it and seems but most fallaciously to agree to it in his Page 44. In the first part of his note saith W. P. I agree with him that all who rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved for that must be by the Illumination and working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart that he can so believe Here W. P. and the Bishop would seem to agree for no doubt the Bishop doth so believe But O the stupendious fallacy of W. P. in this very thing All that Rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved But what if they do not believe it at all or but only Historically and in the mean time Love and obey the convictions and common discoveries of the Light within given generally to Heathens according to W. P. they are Regenerated and shall be saved Can there be a greater fallacy and greater Jesuitical Equivocation under Heaven The Illumination and Working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart he will have it to be none other either in him or any of his Brethren or any else but the common Illumination that every Heathen hath or may have which yet he confesseth discovereth nothing of Christ as he outwardly dyed and rose again that discovery belonging to extraordinary Revelation as he acknowledgeth and yet pretends not to have any such thing In his 150th Page he thus Argueth That which Leads Rules and that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But the Spirit Leads Rom. 8. ergo c. It is just such a Sophism as this That which ploweth is the Plow but the Plow-Man Ploweth therefore the Plow-Man is the Plow This is a piece of dull Sophistry and shews W. P. to be no very good Logician But further to shew his Sophistry by an Argumentum ad Hominem that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But W. P's Justices of Peace in Pensilvania Rule the People there and so doth his Deputy Governour Ergo he and they are the Rule to that People But then what need of any Laws It seems when Governour Penn goes over to Pensilvania because he is to Rule them he must be their Rule also Stat pro ratione voluntas his Will and not the Laws established by the general Assemblies of that Province must be the Rule according to which he proposeth to Rule them Can any King on Earth be more Arbitrary It hath pleased God Almighty whose Will is most Holy and Just for ever to give us an External Revelation of his Will concerning our whole Duty and that as well to us under the New Testament as to them under the Old and that that External Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures setting aside some Ceremonial precepts and some other peculiar to the Jewish Nation should be our general Rule to instruct us both what to believe and what to do and this partly to give example to all Kings and Governments to do the like as all good and pious Kings and Governours have done viz. To give forth Laws and publickly to have them recorded that the People may have the due notice of them and regard to them and partly to prevent the Delusions and Impostures of Deceivers and Spirits of Delusions who would wonderfully prevail to deceive the Professors of Christianity were there no outward Rule of Faith and Life established by God himself one would pretend his Revelation and another his and Thousands of contradictory Revelations would daily appear and deceive many were it not for the established Rule of God's Will and Word outwardly revealed and recorded in the Holy Scriptures It 's true there are too many Deceptions still and Deceivers and all pretending that their Doctrine is conformable to the Holy Scriptures But notwithstanding so long as the publick Standard of God's Holy Word and Will remains with us in the Holy Scriptures they are a sufficient Armory to us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit out of which to bring sufficient Armour both to withstand and overcome all Heresies and pernicious Doctrines Nor would W. P's Fundamental Principle of bringing all to the General Rule of the common and ordinary Discoveries of the Light within given to all Mankind be any Remedy in the case for besides
superior to the Scripture But this is W. P's Fallacy and Ignorance and not the Bishop's the Bishop owneth with all true Christians the Spirit to be superior to the Scriptures as the Author and Lord of them and who useth them as his Instrument as the Work man useth a Rule or Tool that he worketh withal but the Bishop and all sound Christians think that it is no dishonour to the Spirit to acknowledge the Office proper to him which is to Rule and the Office proper to the Scripture to be the Rule and Instrument in the Hand and Management of the Spirit And thus the Office of the Scripture is a far inferior Office to the Office of the Spirit as the Servant and his Office is inferior to the Master and his Office but to put the Spirit in the Office of the Scripture is to degrade the Master and put him in the Servant's place The last thing I shall notice in this Book of W. P. is not so properly a Fallacy as a down-right open-faced Falshood and false Charge and Accusation against all Protestants whatsoever except themselves who though they affect the Name of Protestants yet for the vast disagreement of Doctrine betwixt them even in Fundamentals deserve neither the Name of Protestants nor Christians so much as at large The Accusation is this Page 97 That the Church of England and Dissenters and generally all Protestants Confine the Operations of the Spirit to the first or Apostolical Times as if these did not want them as much or that Christ would be less Propitious where his Gifts were not less needful This I say is a down-right false Accusation the contrary of which cvidently appears from all the several Confessions of Faith of all the Protestant Churches truly owned to be such and which also appears from the afore-cited words of the Bishop in his Testimony where he owns That Conscience must be opened by the Holy Spirit under the Ministry of the Word citing Acts 16. 14. to take in its Light to wit the Doctrine Instrumentally from the Holy Scriptures Can this be done without an Operation of the Holy Spirit If W. P. say Nay it cannot then his own words are an Evidence against the Falsity of his Accusation Again That he chargeth it on them that Ministers are made such and preach without the Spirit and the People worshipping without the Spirit which is too rash and uncharitable Judgment in him so to affirm without any Caution or Restriction How doth it appear that the Quakers Preach and Pray with the Spirit and all others do not Will the Quakers saying it prove it Or doth the great Noise of their Preaching and Praying by the Spirit from an elevated high-flown Conceit through their Spiritual Pride prove it to be so oft-times where there is greatest noise and shew there is least Reality and Substance Surely if Preaching and Printing more unsound Doctrine than all others do and uncharitable Judgments of them that do really excel them both in Knowledge and Piety be proofs that they are not acted by the Spirit of God commonly in either their Preaching or Praying and who are scarce ever heard to acknowledge their sinful Imperfections or ask Forgiveness of them If these be Marks of Men sensual and not having the Spirit notwithstanding of their Boastings Laodicea and Pharisee like they are abundantly to be found among them It is indeed matter of Regrate and Humiliation that there is so little Preaching and Praying with the Spirit among many of all sorts as the little Success it produceth doth manifest in many places yet blessed be God for what is among many of all the several Churches and were there but more Love and Charity Humility and Self-denial it might certainly be hoped that God would give more of his Spirit And for such a Time I joyn with all sincere Christians both to Hope and Pray G. K. A Synopsis or short View of W. P 's Deism and Scepticism collected out of his Book called A Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Life and Judge of Controversie first Printed in the Year 1673 as an Appendix to his Christian Quaker and Reprinted in this present Year 1699. Compared with some Passages in his other Books With some plain and necessary Consequences naturally flowing from the Positive Doctrine therein delivered by him 1. ALL Mankind hath one General Rule of Faith and Life Page 1 2 3 4 c. 2. This General Rule of Faith and Life cannot be the Scripture because all Men have not the Scripture and because of their uncertainty unless upon the ground of inward extraordinary Revelation and for their Imperfection and many other Reasons given by him in the following Pages to the number of about fourteen 3. The General Rule of Faith and Life must be the Light in every Man's Conscience P. 6 7. 4. The Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life not abstractly and seperately considered from the inward Discoveries it giveth but with respect thereunto For without some inward Discovery it teacheth Men nothing and therefore it can be no Rule to any Man but with respect to its inward Discoveries 5. The inward discoveries of the Light within are of two sorts P. 32. the one extraordinary such as were given to the Prophets and Apostles concerning Adam's fall and the extraordinary manifestation of God in the Flesh of that Man called Jesus Christ whom some call the Son of God But that he was properly the Son of God we utterly deny faith W. P. in his Serious Apology P. 146. The other ordinary such as fall within the ordinary discoveries given to all Mankind 6. The Light within is the general Rule of Faith and Life not with respect to these extraordinary discoveries above mentioned P. 32. but with respect to the ordinary discoveries given to Mankind in general universally 7. We have no need that the Light within should give us any of these extraordinary discoveries P. 32. concerning Adam's fall and that extraordinary manifestation of God in the Flesh of that Man improperly called the Son of God and Jesus Christ because the Historical account of these things is extant in Scripture and it not being needful to be given us by any new inward Revelation we may conclude it is not given to any of us it sufficeth we have the Historical account of them given us in Scripture which is sufficient to beget in us a Historical Faith of these things without any new inward Revelation of them such as was given to the Prophets and Apostles 8. The Historical account of these things though it may be called a Historical Rule of the Historical Faith of them yet it cannot be called the Rule of Faith and Life that is necessary to Salvation For as all have not this Historical Faith because the History hath not reached them so to them who have the History the Historical Faith doth not profit them to Salvation but doth far rather hurt
Spirit and these three are really one yet in his former Books particularly in his Sandy Foundation never yet retracted by him he hath sufficiently discovered his gross and vile error in that fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Faith thus arguing not only against their being Three Persons but their being Three otherwise than Nominally which was the Sabellian Heresie since the Father is God the Son is God and the Spirit is God which their opinion necessitates them to confess then unless the Father Son and Spirit are three distinct nothings they must be three distinct Substances and consequently three distinct God's And he bringeth Five Arguments against their being a Holy Three P. 12 13 14. In his Third Section he seemeth to profess his and his Brethrens Faith in Scripture terms But this his professed Faith is quite inconsistent with what he hath delivered in his other Books here he saith That the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among Men and was and is the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth his beloved Son c. who tasted Death for every Man and dyed for Sin that we might dye to Sin But as it hath been above shewed out of his Sandy Foundation he hath argued against any such distinction as of the Father and the Son in the God-head as inferring a plurality of God's and though here he professeth to believe that this only begotten Son dyed for Sin yet in his Serious Apology Page 146 he saith That the outward Person that suffered was properly the Son of God we utterly deny And in his guide mistaken P. 25. Christ Co-essential and Co-eternal with his Father c. of being made Man of his Dying Rising and Ascending into Heaven c. he saith of all this that it is confused Babble and by Rote Canting by paths of vain Tradition and Invention results of Factious and corrupted Counsels And in his Rejoinder to John Faldo Page 299. he plainly denyes that the Body of Christ was any constitutive part of Christ and for seven leaves together contends against John Faldo That Christ did not Dye nor hang on the Cross but only the Body which he will not have to be any part of him To this Doctrine of W. P. doth that of G. Whitehead agree a Man as great or rather much greater among the Quakers as W. P. who saith in his Dipper Plunged P. 13. Jesus Christ God-man is not Scripture Language And in his Christian Quaker P. 140. 141. though he grants that Christ had a humane Body of Flesh and Bones yet he denys that he consisted of it and saith he distinguisheth betwixt Christ's having a Body and consisting of it And in a Book given forth by the Quakers from their second days Meeting whereof G. W. is supposed the Author called A Testimony for the true Christ and his Light in confutation of R. Cobbet printed 1668. They deny the Humanity of Christ as Humanity signifieth the Earthly Nature of Man's Body as coming from Humus the Ground but as Humanity signifies Meekness Gentleness Mercifulness as opposite to Cruelty in this last sence they own Christ's Humanity but deny it in the former which yet is the true sense of Scripture and of all true Christians Section 2. His Fallacy in pretending to own Justification by Christ the Propitiation in Contradiction to what he hath delivered in his Serious Apology and Sandy Foundation and his fallacious way of stating the Doctrine of Justification wherein he misrepresents his Opponents IN his fourth Section as seemingly Orthodox as he professeth himself to be as fallacious and insincere he is seeing he knoweth in his own Conscience that what he hath here delivered is utterly inconsistent with what is extant in his other Books never as yet retracted by him nor doth either he or his Brethren own any change of perswasion from what they had ever since they came under the profession of Quakers but as one of them hath lately said in Print As God is the same and Truth is the same so his People are the same viz. the Quakers I shall first set down his present profession of what he believes concerning Justification as followeth That as we are only Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by works of Righteousness that we have done so there is an absolute necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and amendment of Life the Holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remissionand Justification from Sin c. But in contradiction to this see what his Doctrine is in his Serious Apology P. 148. And indeed says W. P. this we deny viz. Justification by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which does now deluge the whole World Note Reader If according to W. P's former words we Only are Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by works of Righteousness that we have done then it is plainly evident by the same Doctrine that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us for these two manners of Speech are perfectly equivalent viz. That we are only Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the propitiation and that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person wholly without us The word Only plainly importing the Righteousness of Christ Wholly without us unless there be some great fallacy in W. P's words as the sequel will make appear a little after But if we take these two quotations in their genuine Sense the one that we are Justified by the Righteousness of Christ Only i. e. Wholly without us from the guilt of Sin and the other that this we deny i. e. that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils c. it is a perfect inconsistency and contradiction And yet now W. P. doth teach the same Doctrine which formerly he called the Doctrine of Devils without any change of his perswasion as he plainly tells in the conclusion of his Paper This saith he hath all along been the general stream and tendency both of our Ministry and Writings as our books will make appear But what a Forehead of Bras must W. P. have with so great confidence to assert so known an untruth Again the same W. P. in his forecited Serious Apology thus argueth P 148. against Christ's imputative Righteousness Death came by actual Sin not imputative therefore Justification unto Life came by actual Righteousness not imput ative Note Reader If we are not Justified by Christ's imputed which he calls imputative Righteousness as here he asserts
to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction Totally excluded And from Acts 10. 9. he concludes so that Remission came by believing his Testimony and obeying his Precepts and not by a Pretended Satisfaction Thus Reader do but observe how Proteus like he changes his shapes one while to argue against any Satisfaction of Christ to God for the Debt of our Sins by which the nature of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice is wholly destroy'd Another while after he has thrown down Christ's being our Propitiatory Sacrifice without us he sets up an Imaginary Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb slain within the high Priest within Whereas were his Arguments of any force as they are not they would be as much against Christ's being a Propitiation by his Satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins within Men as without them In one thing his Cunning is observable though mix'd with horrid Ignorance and Folly and bold Presumption that he makes the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity that distinguisheth betwixt the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness so closely joyned together that they fall together if the first of them falls and so he makes his bold attempt against the first that by throwing down the first he may throw down the second and by that means the third and having as he thinks effectually done the business he entitles his Book The Sandy Foundation shaken which is in effect to say The Foundation of the Christian Faith and Religion shaken in order to introduce Deism and Heathenism into Christendom But he shall one day know if he know it not before he dye which God grant that he may that the Foundation he calls The Sandy Foundation is not Sandy but stands on that Rock on which the Church of Christ is built that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against and if he repent not of this Blasphemy which I pray God he may this Rock will grind him to powder There is yet one main thing further that is needful to be noticed in this fourth Section before I leave it and that is That whereas he asserts there is an absolute necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and amendment of Life the Holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remission and Justification from Sin for which he cites Rom. 3. 22 to 26. 8. 1 2 3 4. 1 John 5 7. he mentions not one word of the absolute necessity of Faith in Jesus Christ as he outwardly suffered Death for our Sins and thereby became the Propitiation for Sin though he expresly asserts the absolute necessity of Repentance Obedience and amendment of Life and though one of the Scriptures quoted by him in Chapter and Verse viz Rom. 3. 22 to 26. expresly mentions Faith in his Blood for Remission of Sin yet he knowing himself in his own Conscience that he was not for any such necessity of Faith in Christ or in his Blood as above express'd he did purposely omit it And if he or any for him shall say he implied it though he did not express it I say as he did not express it so he did not imply it which I prove from the following Reasons 1. Seeing he not only express'd Repentance but asserted it to be absolutely necessary to Remission of Sin had he thought Faith in Christ as he outwardly died absolutely necessary to our obtaining Remission of Sins no doubt he would have expressed that too either there or some where at least in some of his Books but upon all the search I have made I have not found it any where in his books and indeed very rarely in any of the books of his Brethren 2. But on the contrary I have found that both he and G. W. especially and diverse others as I have proved by Quotations out of their books in my third Narrative have expresly opposed this Faith to wit in Christ as outwardly Crucified and in his blood as outwardly shed by way of Propitiation and satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins W. P. in his Quakerism a new Nick-name for old Christianity p. 6. saith Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation is a deadly Poyson these latter Ages has been infected with And in his Rejoynder to John Faldo p. 333. he saith Christ in the Gentiles is a greater Mystery than Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh It 's strange saith he in opposition to J. F. who asserted like a true Christian That Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh was a greater Mystery than Christ in the Gentiles that should be counted most mysterious which was the Introduction to the Mystery and these Transactions counted most difficult that were by the Divine Wisdom of God ordained as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man And page 335. In short saith he it is to exclude the true Mystery of Godliness which is Christ manifested in his Children Thus we see he makes Christ's Death and Sufferings without us which he calls Transactions as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man i. e. of his being Crucified within and his blood inwardly shed and his offering himself inwardly in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice to appease the Wrath of God Thus also we see how he hath destroyed the great Object of the Christian Faith which is Christ as he was outwardly Crucified being the great Propitiation for our Sins And G. Whitehead his elder Brother in Ignorance and Error hath given him a Copy to write after in his Truth defending the Quakers p. 65. he saith Faith in Christ without Men is contrary to the Apostles Doctrine And p. 66. he saith The Blood of Christ's Humanity the Apostle doth not tell us of Christ's Blood is Spiritual And in his Light and Life p. 56. he saith The Blood of the Covenant is inward and Spiritual P. 59 60. Christ's Blood that was outwardly shed not the Antitype or Substance signified by the Blood of Beasts shed under the Law And p. 8. he saith To look to Christ Crucified at Jerusalem and in Heaven and to be revealed in us by his Spirit is a Contradiction 3. According to that Fundamental Principle laid down by W. P. in his Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Life he must needs exclude Faith in Christ as he was outwardly born died and rose again not only from being absolutely necessary to our Salvation but from being given to us at all otherwise than barely historically for seeing according to him the Light in every Man only as giving the ordinary Discoveries that all Mankind have is the Rule of Faith to every Man no Man either doth or can believe otherwise than barely historically what the Light within hath not revealed but the Light within as it hath not revealed the Birth Death and Sufferings of
in a publick Meeting with Blasphemy for asserting it but whither the Body of Christ now since his Ascension is in all things and every where If not every where then but some where and that some-where is a Local Heaven which W. P. hath said is Mahometan E. Burrough charg'd John Bunnion with Wickedness for saying Christ was in Heaven in our Nature And for the same did G. Whitehead blame John Horn as I have shewn in my Narratives And saith G. W. in his Nature of Christianity p. 41. That Christ existeth outwardly bodily without us at God's right hand What Scripture hath he viz. his Opponent R. G. for these words W. Bailey will have it That Christ ascended into Heaven in no body but what came down from Heaven All which and much more is proved out of my three Narratives the third especially And whereas he saith Let it be never so true it cannot affect the People if not the act of the People the Church of England has Doctors of very differing Sentiments c. I answer what any one of your Teachers have asserted in Print especially it affects your Second days Meeting that licenseth all your Teachers Books and yet profess to be all one and the same in all that ye believe as God and Truth is the same And if the Church of England hath Teachers of different Sentiments in lesser Matters yet not in Fundamentals so far as she knows and if they had and she should know it and not censure them it would affect her From all which it appears that W. P. and his Brethrens Conciseness in their Gospel Truths was on purpose in general Terms to cover their gross Errors And where Men are sound in the Faith and of known Sincerity what is implied in their words may in Charity and Justice be granted but not if they be Insincere and given to equivocate as is the present Case Section 6. His Fallacy in asserting that his owning future Rewards and Punishments in his Sense doth imply his owning the Resurrection of the Dead which it is proved he hath disowned His unjust Offence at the Bishop's Censure of his unsound Notion of the Light within and his uncivil Treatment of the Bishop on that account as if he were a meer Natural Man a Persecuter a Nicodemus in the Knowledge of Regeneration The Bishop's Doctrine of the Light within more sound and intelligible than that of W. P. By W. P 's Definition of Light within and Sight within a Natural Man is capable to understand it though in contradiction to himself W. P 's Ignorance in making the natural rational Faculty to be all the Spiritual Sight even in Regenerated Persons The Bishop's Doctrine of the Light within and Spiritual Sight of regenerated Persons as more sound so more sublime than that of W. P. IN Page 43 he proceeds in the like Fallacy and Equivocation alledging That their acknowledging the future state of the Just and Unjust implys the resurrection of the Dead which as it is true in a Scripture sense it is as false in his sense and in the sense of all others of his Heathen Brethren many of whom professed to believe the immortality of Men's Souls both Greek and Latin yet that profession did not imply they believed the resurrection of the Body either of the Just or Unjust for they generally disbelieved it and opposed the Christians for asserting it And that W. P. himself hath opposed the Resurrection of the Body is above sufficiently proved In his Page 51. and 52. W. P. seems not a little moved with the Bishops saying their discourse about the Light within as far as he can see is perfectly such as we usually call Banter that is when Men have a faculty to speak things seemingly profound but in the end neither themselves nor others can make any distinct Sense of what they have said This Modest Censure of the Bishop upon his discourse of the Light within in his 5th 6th and 7th Sections W. P. calls one of the severest Persecutions This to me saith he is one of the severest Persecutions because Spiritual things are only to be Spiritually discern'd and understood I would fain know saith he how a regenerate Man can possibly make a Carnal Man understand the new Birth yea he chargeth it to look Antichristian as well as unreasonable and he quotes diverse places of Scripture which he at least implicitly levels at the Bishop as if the Bishop were the Unregenerate and Natural Man that because he is so he cannot understand W. P's profound Doctrine of the Light within And the Bishop is he that is born after the Flesh who persecutes W. P. that 's born after the Spirit and his Brethren with Tongue and Pen when he and others such as he can no longer commit violence upon their Persons and Estates and as if the Bishop were a very Nicodemus in the Doctrine of the new Birth All which it plainly appears and much more W. P. indirectly and implicitly levels at the Bishop otherwise why quotes he such places of Scriptures with such large discourses on them if not to point to him and that his want of the new Birth and being but a Natural Man tho' not wanting Academical Learning made him uncapable of understanding W. P's Spiritual Doctrine about the Light within and after his instance of the blindness of the Scribes and Pharisees and the High-Priest of the Jews in not discerning the Messiah when he came he infers let the Bishop also have a care and he further tells the Bishop he should be glad to see the Bishop's evidence for the knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Son of God in his own Soul To give my sense freely so far as I am able to understand the Bishop hath given a better account and evidence of his knowledge in the Mystery of God and of Christ by his Christian Scriptural and sound expressions than W. P. and I suppose in his manner of Life is nothing inferior to him And what evidence of his true knowledge by Internall Illumination or Revelation can W. P. give or has given that the Bishop cannot give yea hath not given in this very case Is it enough for W. P. to say he has it and the Bishop has it not Or wherein do W. P's fruits of a holy Life give more evidence of his knowledge and experience of the new Birth than these of the Bishop I shall first take notice of the Bishop's sound words in giving his sense how the Conscience of Man is enlightned to know and believe aright the Doctrines and Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation Conscience saith the Bishop opened by the holy Spirit under the Ministry of the word Acts 16. 14. does and must take in its Light from holy Scripture quoting Psal 19. 8. Eph. 1. 18. Psal 119. 105. Isaiah 8. 20. Now these things saith he are intelligible this Rule is fixt and certain nothing of which can be said of your Light within
essentially but to Men he is so by his Operations in them and so is called Light to Men by a Metonimy of the Name of the Effect given to the Cause Such is Mens weakness at least in this Mortal State that we have no immediate Knowledge of the Essence of any Creature we know their Essence but by their Operations nay we have no immediate Knowledge either of the Essence of our Bodies or of our Souls but only by their Operations Hence it is that the greatest Philosophers are at a loss to define the Essence of any thing because our Knowledge doth not immediately reach their Essence but only by their Operation when we see the Body of a Man Beast or Tree we see not the Essence of these Bodies but the outward Forms and Shapes and Colours of them all which are but their accidents and not their Essence or Substance and if we have no immediate Knowledge of any Creatures Essence or Substance great or small how can or dare we presume to say or think we see even with our inward Eyes or Sight what W. P. calls the natural rational Faculty for that 's all the inward Sight even of the Light within that he acknowledgeth in the best of Men the Essence of the Divine Word the Word God by whom all things were created by immediate Sight or Perception for as John said John 1. 18. 1 John 4 12. No Man hath seen God at any time to wit as in himself in his own infinite Essence and essential Glory And as Paul said He dwelleth in the Light which none can approach unto whom no Man hath seen or can see 1 Tim. 6. 16. If then we see not or know not this Divine Work-man who is in us and in all things because he is omnipresent by any immediate Perception Sight or Knowledge of him it is only by some inward Manifestation and Operation of him in us which is only and alone what he pleaseth to give us as a most free Agent Section 8. W. P 's equivocating way of giving his Sense of the Light within His Contradiction to G. F. who affirm'd that whole Christ God and Man was in Men both Flesh and Spirit His and G. F 's and G. W 's Ignorance and Error as if God had parts and did suffer in his Godhead by Mens Sins He denieth the special Illuminations of the Holy Spirit given to all the Faithful concerning Christ His and his Brethrens Fallacy in stating the Question about the Sufficiency of the Light within to Salvation the Question truly stead and resolved His Fallacy in affirming the Doctrines of God of Christ of the Holy Ghost Remission of Sin Justification from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation the Resurrection of the Dead to be Fundamentals of the Christian Religion seeing in his Discourse of the General Rule be hath excluded them from the absolute Necessaries of Religion in order to eternal Salvation IN the next place let us consider whither the common Illumination that Christ giveth to all Men as he is the Word God in all Men be a sufficient Medium or means to furnish us with all necessary saving Knowledge and Faith and other Evangelical Virtues without all special and peculiar Illuminations of Christ by the Holy Ghost in the use of the ordinary outward means as the Holy Scriptures especially preached or read to us or by us which is the proper and true state of the Question which W. P. seeks to jumble by shifting the terms of the Question and his equivocating way of his giving the Sence of the Light within as one time to be Christ the word God the Work-man another time the Manifestation of Christ which is not the Work-man but his Work and Operation in the Souls of Men universally And W. P. to hide his Fallacy will rather have to be understood by the Light within every Man Christ himself the word God than his Illumination in every Man though contrary to what both himself and G. W. hath professed elsewhere who have affirmed that they are wronged by their Adversaries charging them with holding that Christ is in every Man Which say they we never affirmed that Christ was in every Man but a Light from Christ was in every Man and since that they vary it thus that they do not affirm that whole Christ is in every Man or in any Man though contrary to the Doctrine of their great A postle G. F. who hath affirmed Great Myst p. 249. that they i. e. the Quakers have whole Christ in them Christ-God and Christ-Man Flesh and Spirit which W. P. hath desended arguing that seeing they eat his Flesh it must be in them falsly reasoning from a Metaphorical eating to a literal Now if the by the Flesh of Christ which W. P. saith they have in them they mean not Christ's Body of Flesh which was Nailed to the Cross and yet have whole Christ in them both God and Man Flesh and Spirit it evidently followeth that that outward Flesh was not part of him for they have whole Christ in them God and Man Flesh and Spirit and yet they have none of that Flesh in them which was Nailed to the Cross besides how improper or rather absurd it is for W. P. to talk of whole Christ considered as the word God and measures or parts of Christ seeing the Godhead of the Word which is one and the same Godhead of the Father hath no parts nor passions as both the Doctrine of the Church of England and of all true Christian Churches doth hold though G. F. hath made the Godhead to have parts and that the Soul of Man is a part of God and G. W. hath affirmed that Christ suffereth by Mens Sins as he is God or in his Godhead See his Divinity of Christ Page 56. And let W. P. shift and shuffle and wind and turn ever so much he can never make it intelligible to any Man that the Light within simply as the word God and abstractly considered without all special Illumination and without the Doctrine of the Gospel as outwardly delivered us in the Holy Scriptures doth teach us and all Men all things necessary to Salvation seeing by his plain confession in his discourse concerning The general Rule of Faith and Life he acknowledgeth that the Light within by its common discoveries giveth not to Men the knowledge of Christ's Incarnation Birth Death and Sufferings but that they belong to extraordinary Revelation And therefore that knowledge and Faith to wit of Christ's Incarnation Birth Death and Sufferings by W. P's Doctrine is not necessary to his Salvation though he has a Historical Knowledge and Faith of it yet that is not necessary for it is not certain to him whither true of false he has no extraordinary Revelation of it and that in common to all Mankind teacheth nothing of it And W. P. and his Brethren are guilty of a great Fallacy and piece of Sophistry to cry out against all their