he hits not on the true one What 's this more than to say it's necessary man should do somewhat though he be dam'd for it And if it 's a dream to expect Salvation in being true to some Religion is it not a lethargy of impertinency that it 's necessary to be of some Religion and to live and die in it There are many false Religions in the world p. 15. It 's a mistake to think that there is such a multitude of Religious in the world p. 27. There being such diversities of Religions you had need to have your eyes about you p. 26. There are to speak properly but four Religions p. 28. These cross sayings must needs be manifest to the weakest capacity for if he speaks properly on one side he speaks very improperly on the other Sect. 2. It s not sufficient that it be delivered to you by tradition from Ancestors by education from Godly-Parents commended by the practice of wise and pious persons but make a wise choice for your selves p. 25. Man must discern the verity and certainty of these doctrins that he may venture his soul upon them for which end it s exceeding necessary to be conversant in those treatises which prove the verity of the Christian Religion p. 10. Those that take up Religion because it 's profest in the Country and commended by example how slight are they therein p. 19. I add one Rule of Caution more against a common but dangerous mistake Take heed of setting up your own apprehensions of the sense of Scripture though Fundamentals are plainly laid down yet points controverted are hidden from ordinary understandings that know not the Languages and proper Idioms of Scripture and other advantages of Learning p. 109. In one side this Guide is for every individuals chusing from a reason in himself in the other that he should accept things from the apprehensions and greater skill of others But it 's unseasonable to be contending about things not so clearly revealed in Scripture p. 44. Search the Scriptures and look well to them they are your Chard and Compass to steer your Course by try all things by them p. 47. But darkly laid down p. 47. Â Take heed of that great mistake that nothing is to be admitted in and about the Administrations of the Church of Christ but what is held forth in Scripture p. 99 100. Â O strange confusion A Rule and no Rule revealed and not revealed Is it not unreasonable to suppose that Christ instead of rendring his Church more glorious infallible than ever should leave her destitute of information in those things which concern her peace since contrary apprehensions about them have been the ground of all Division and Persecution through Ages and will be yet with most notwithstanding this Guide's directions Can the Scriptures be clear in deep and not in shallow matters God hath committed the care of Religion and the settlement of it to those in Authority in their Dominions in such a way as they judg most agreeable to the Rule of the Word p. 68. It 's not sufficient that 't is commanded by the Laws of the Land but make a wise choice for your selves p. 25. Let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind p. 53. They are to see all be administred according to the same and in the particular circumstances undetermined by God they have a power to order and settle things according to the general Rules laid down in the Word p. 104. And men that act according to Reason will look into the Oracles of God himself wherein God hath revealed his Will concerning Faith and VVorship p. 9. If God has invested Magistrates with the power of Interpretation and settlement of Religious matters accordingly is it not absurd to bid men chuse for themselves since they are to be concluded by anothers choice and how the Oracles of God should be perspicuous to all understandings and yet need an Interpreter I mean the Magistrate I would fain understand Sect. 3. The Christian Religion was confirm'd by many signs by the means of propagation of it by weak and unlearned men by whose preaching it overspread the world p. 31. The Quakers in respect of their want of learning and outward accomplishments are contemptible P. 62. The Fundamentals of Christianity are so plainly laid down in Scripture that the weakest Christians may understand them pag. 110. Controverted points are hidden from ordinary understandings that know not the Languages and proper Idioms of Scripture and customs of the Church and other advantages of Learning that its ordinarily impossible they should find out the mind of God therein p. 111. What Contradiction is here that what he designs to have been proof or argument to have recommended the more unquestionably the belief of the Christian Religion in old times to the primitive Christians he here should make the reason why he rejects and reviles the Quakers and their Testimony and that he should tell us the Spirit they received perfectly inform'd them and yet that Learning is to be the only means of knowing God's mind in these dayes whilst he confesses at the same time the weakest Christian may understand the Fundamentals of Religion God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth p. 70. The essence of Prayer lies in lifting up true desires to God in the Name of Christ p. 71. For who is there that knows not that forms of Prayer have been of exceediag long continuance in the Christian Church p. 91. To pray is part of God's Worship but whether it be in a Book or out of it is no part at all pag. 109. Set-forms are not only used and prescribed in the Old Testament but also in the New p. 94. How Worship in Spirit and yet by words of man's prescription Can any man bring the Spirit to so many words to begin with I and end with R or who knows the Spirit 's mind so punctually as to prescribe for Generations to come the words it will use for all persons and conditions that may be in the world who can pretend to know all states that he may write prayers for each Why not forms of sighs and groans Was it not a spiritual-Spiritual-Worship Christ Jesus set up above sixteen hundred years ago in opposition to the Jewish one and all other particular Worships in the World which are known to have been forms and such as this Guide pleads for at least the Jewish and produce me a Form put forth and establish't by any of the Apostles who were faithful in God's House But did not Forms creep up when the primitive Power and Spirit was lost imitating Prayer but not Praying And did not Tertullian in his Apology who is generally rank't in the beginning of the third Century write that the Christians prayed not by Book but as they were moved by the Spirit of God or to that purpose And I challenge this Guide or any living to make appear
appeal to the intelligent Reader if this blind Guide is not faln into the ditch that ascribes to such the title of Dissenters whom he at the same time characters for absolute sons of the Church for do the highest Conformists to the Church of England acknowledge more than that she 's pure in Fundamentals and things of a secondary nature and yet that such who confess her to be this should by this silly Guide be stil'd Dissenters away with this apparent Nonsense since none can properly be so esteem'd that differs not in one or both And how inconsistant aswell as saucy his expression is that will not allow Dissenters to be sober and intelligent when none are such in his account that allows not the Church of England what they can never do and properly be counted for Dissenters sufficiently appears in his admitting these very Dissenters to be Christian Churches and Children of the same Father though now he seems to represent them void of both understanding and sobriety Where his were when these rash and unadvised words were writ I leave for the Reader to determine Sect. 3. He speaks largely of the publick Worship loudly extolling the Constitution of the Church of England professing a separation there from to be unwarrantable and that corruption in manners both of Ministers and People should be no reason for disserting their Assemblies c. Contrary to the whole currant of Scripture-record and the best accounts that have been transmitted through Ages of the Primitive Christians who ever have withdrawn themselves from such as held the truth in unrighteousness and let the world judge if Paul was not thus perswaded when he strictly enjoyn'd separation from not only Schismaticks Hereticks and Apostates but such as held the form of Godliness which consisted in profession and external performances without the everlasting Power which alone could bring into true Obedience and give the possession of that eternal Life which rightly denominates people Christians or a Christian Church But as two strong Pillars to maintain and underprop his Assertion he tells us otherwise God would have no Publick Worship As if an Assembly in a House Field or Barn was not as capable to worship God in spirit as those who frequent the Parish Steeple-houses if not 't is fit this Guide should pay his acknowledgements to the Roman Society he calls Antichrist for his publick Worship But be it known to him and all the world that as God's Spirit is not tied to places so all Worship standing therein is truly Catholick and Publick Worship in Field or House whether three or three thousand convenient places being circumstantial not essential to God's Worship Sect. 4. His second Pillar is the example of Zecharias who sayes he disserted not his station in the Jewish Worship notwithstanding those many Corruptions that were innovated by which he would excuse his continuance in his Priestly Office in Wramplingam Parish But if this Guide will be inform'd he soon may see his error in this particular as upon occasion formerly was exprest to him the Jews were selected from all other Nations and impriviledged as God's peculiar People by an external Law and Ordinances all which were typical over whom he ordained Magistrates and a Priesthood which had no relation to any other Constitution that was contemporary or should succeed but were to continue till the times of Reformation and then to be abrogated yet inasmuch as Antitypes are represented by their Types it must be granted that many Legal Institutions did signifie and shadow-forth what afterwards should follow since therefore it must needs be granted that the Jewish State relates no further to us than typically it will not be unnecessary to examine how far this Guide can secure himself and justifie his many turnings from the confest constancy of faithfull Zicharias Consider 1. that the Jews were a People separated from among the Nations as his visible Church to whom he gave that intituling sign of Circumcision 2. That their Temple Worship and Laws moral judicial and ceremoninal were indisputably of Divine Institution 3. That as those who were their Priests were by the high Priest anointed thereunto so being once dedicated were to officiate with integrity and constancy at the Altar 4. That no addition was to be admitted to what God had so punctually ordered in any Circumstance Now unless this Guide can prove the Church of Englānd the Antitype 1. In being the Circumcision in Spirit by which she is rightly intituled to the Priviledges of the Spiritual Jewish Church 2. Can as infallibly and unquestionably prove the Divine Institution of her Faith Worship and Discipline 3. That her Ministry is the spiritually Anointed of God by that one High-Priest after the Order of Melchizedek and by him commissionated to preach the everlasting Gospel 4. And that in Faith Worship and Discipline she remains as clear and single from all Inventions Traditions and Ceremonies those only allowed as have their footing in the Divine Appointment and Order of God unless I say this be made good 't will declare great weakness in any to allow this Guide to argue from Zecharias's case to his own I grant that whosoever is annointed by Jesus Christ to preach his everlasting Salvation ought to do it incessantly not mattering the opposition or revolution of Powers and that NO defect in the generality can or ought to unminister him but rather that he faithfully should decry those Impieties and keep his station on God's behalf which righteous Zecharias did whose bold withstanding their Inventions and honest desire of preserving that Law pure of which he was instituted Priest procured no less than his Martyrdom from the Cruelty of those vain Superstitionists But what 's this to Clapham's case Zecharias was anointed by the High-Priest whence was Clapham's Ordination Zecharias was murder'd for opposing their unrighteousness and wicked Traditions where did Clapham do so but has he not preach'd for and against what he at times has own'd to keep his Parish Zecharias would not dispense with their Additions to God's Institutions has Clapham done so too how comes he then to call the Church of England Pure in secondary matters to wit her forms of Prayer Anthems Responses Litanies Baby-Baptisme Crosses Altars Steeple-houses East and West Bowings Organs Quiresters Surplices Caps Rochets Hoods with much more such like trash than my memory will serve at present to insert which fills up the English Worship and are known by persons moderately read in Story to have been brought forth by the womb of dark Popery that sink of Antichristianism But as there ought to be one Temple Worship and Priesthood to make Clapham's case resemble Zecharias's so that his may approach this Guide's let us suppose amongst the Jews three several Temples Worships and Priesthoods call'd Presbyterian Independent Episcopal If Zecharias had first been of the Presbyterian-Priesthood and as that should decline in esteem imbrace the Independents till by revolution of Government both
I shall see how this and what follows will consist Sect. 4. Although the beginning of his second page is manifestly opposite to his own Assertions and consequently but a further proof of my former Section yet since I am confident he never meant it so it may be requisite to present thee Reader with a Confutation in his own words But as it is a thing all do profess themselves interessed in so there 's nothing in all the world men are at greater difference about some taking up one Religion some another as pleases themselves best one serving Baal another Dagon some the Sun others the Moon or Stars c. If he would place the variety of Religions on the insufficiency of that instinct or impression mentioned in his first page so imply a necessity of somthing farther to act Man in that which may be pleasing unto God then will it manifestly follow that the capacity given of God could not discern nor rightly distinguish betwixt that Eternal Living and Omnipotent God from whence it came and Baal Dagon Sun Moon or Stars which very gross absurdity I hope none will have the confidence to assert But further to repute the authority of this impression pray let these words of his have but the Readers consideration viz. some of one Religion some of another as pleases themselves best Can a more Universal Answer be returned or Catholick Reason rendred to evince the verity of the Quakers Principle to the intelligible World for what has been the original of those great Debates Contentions and Religious Duels through the World but SELF which being still impatient to be taught and nothing less abitious to be wise hath ever been the ground of those Distractions and Womb that hath brought forth those monstrous and mishapen Births so common amongst the sons of men and as the fallible spirit of a man or selfish part could not produce a nature different from its own which ever has been subject to fluctuation and incertainty so has their cross and various apprehensions in the zealous prosecution of them been like the impetuous billows of a raging Sea that have dasht each against the other to their irrecoverable foundring in the Ocean of eternal misery whereas if Mankind in that stilness and reverent patience becoming a creature had but waited on the great Creator of all things according to that impression and measure of his Spirit bestow'd upon him to encline and guide him in the well-pleasing path of Righteousness he doubtless had receiv'd such infallible instructions as should have freed him from those otherwise inextricable disquisitions and knotty intanglements his dark inventions and self-exalted opinions have perplext the World withal Sect. 5. In the same page he goes on thus How greatly then doth it behove every one to make a wise choice of that God he intends to serve and of that Religion he means to profess in the world and to live and die in it In pag. 5. he thus tautologizes a fault I find him very often guilty of with many other gross improprieties whilst he condemns the Quakers for illiterate to chuse delibratly what God we will serve or that Religion we will profess and then to labour to be established therein so as by no storms of temptations we be removed Will any God serve a very large and Libertine admonition but he suddenly reprehends himself the following lines of the second page flatly withstanding that latitude of serving any God for says he first chuse the true God and the rather because mans eternal happiness or misery depends thereon alas for him that has elected any God or has by this giddy Guides incouragement chosen what Religion he would profess with a fix't resolution that no storms should remove him What contradiction is here Can he be esteem'd a wise Counsellor that advises to an undertaking which by his own acknowledgment shall never have a prosperous success Surely his Fee was very ill deserv'd and much better were it to have no Religion but live insensible of all than to become a very Zealot for a false one nor is this the only contradiction of the like nature as the Chapter of his Contradictions will more largely manifest Sect. 6. I am now come to take a view of his Proposition or Basis on which his whole Discourse is grounded viz. That it 's a great point of wisdom to make a right choice of that Religion he means to take up and profess in the world that he intends to live and dye in and to venture his eternal Salvation upon Since Paul who very well knew the mind of God has left it as the Spirit 's record in the Scriptures That the deep things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God and looking on the true Religion to be what he intends by these following expressions The Mysteries of God's Kingdom Heavenly things Hidden Wisdom Redemption from all Iniquity All things to become new To be dead with Christ to the World and risen with him to seek the things that are above in short By the revelation of the eternal Spirit to fathom the deep and behold the mysterious things of God so as thereby to be translated from Darkness into his most glorious Kingdom of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit I can by no means subscribe my assent to this Guide's Proposition That Man with his tallest wisdom distinct from that Light or pure capacity the Quakers affirm God has enlightned and invested all men with is able to wade securely into the depths of Divine Mysteries nor allow him that Arbitrium of working out in his own strength time and mediums the knowledge of the true Religion much less can I concur with his esteeming any wise in rightly chusing what Religion they would imbrace since it doth not limit him to what is true in which the choice can only be called right but rather seems to give him the liberty of chusing where he will in which no election ought to be judg'd true or wise And lest I may be here censur'd by the Author of this Discourse under my examination let him peruse not only his Argument but his 14th Page where he affirms a necessity for a man to be of some Religion which by the following matter is manifest as well as from the words themselves the exceeding space given in the search and espousing of a Religion yet however necessary he has made it there and what liberty soever he has granted it 's his advice in the 26th Page to do it wisely lest you be deluded there being such diversities of Religion and so many false wayes in the world you had need have your eyes about you erring herein will not stand with the safety of your souls eternal happiness or misery depends upon it which argues strongly or else I know not what Argument means against the choice being right in any Religion and that it only can be so in imbracing the true
one let him but peruse his 17th page and tell me if he doth not find this amongst the many other contradictions that the Opinion or Dream that every man may be saved in his own Religion if he be true to it is more becoming Turks than Christians I must confess I have not met of late in any Author with such palpable confusion and can assure thee Reader I do avoid for brevity's sake the recital of much more I might instance in What Superstructure it 's possible for the best Artists to erect on a Foundation so imperfect and unsound he need be no exact Architecturist to determine but notwithstanding his mistake in his way to the true Religion he may prove Guide sufficient to his many following errors defects Sect. 7. I shall a little insist upon his second Chapter the head is this Shewing wherein the wise chusing ones Religion lys and acts concurring thereunto He needs must play the crack-Philosopher and imperfectly has manag'd his little distinctions in the pedantick phrase of the canting Priests and Accademists He tells us first what Election is in general and then divides the right-chusing of Religion into three Acts the Intellect precedingly discerning the nature of the thing that by the will is chosen And what in the 7th page he hath defin'd in the 8th he instances these following words to confirm his definition viz. Man being a Religious Creature by the common instinct of his natural conscience is mov'd strongly to worship a Deity as we see in all the Nations of the Earth much more when he is stirred up by a divine instinct Answ It hath been the unhappiness of many Ages as it is of this to darken and confound matters of Religion mostly with terms not more affected and difficult than very often impertinent of which this Guide is not a little guilty as must be obvious to such as will examine his most frivolous and contratradictory distinction betwixt Natural and Divine Not that I shall not allow them to be terms proper in their place but very improper where he puts them Let me perswade thee Reader to observe impartially the Confusion I have to do with one who characters himself a Christian and not a profest disciple of the Heathen Aristotle and I should therefore think it may become me best as it had him to use such a sound form of words as are warranted by and laid down in the Scriptures of Truth and that he with all others may know how far the Quakers are on all occasions ready to bring their Principles to be tried by that which the Spirit there declares I shall expose both his and theirs to the judgment of them and leave thee Reader to determine which holds the greatest harmony therewith although the contradiction of his own words might have been confutation evident enough Religion is by James a Prophet of the most high God thus defined Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Also to believe as Paul has it in thy heart and confess with thy tongue in and to the Lord Jesus Or as he hath it in another place to wit A subjection and obedience to that Spirit Light or Grace manifested from God to all men teaching them that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Taking these passages for the clear and compleat signification of that term Religion as I shall till some more ample be produced and not the whimsical conjectures of men from their wresting of the Scriptures patcht up into a formal Creed by their eclipst understandings as this Guide must not deny if he will own Scripture then will it consequently follow that no man can be truly stiled Religious from a natural instinct or cause for since the one and true Religion or Primitive is divine Religious or the Relative must necessarily participate of the same Divine Nature and if by Natural Conscience he means Reason abstractively the Relative cannot amount to more than Rational for as what is simply Animal cannot generate what 's Rational so is it altogegether impossible for what is but simply Rational to produce what is Spiritual nor can I understand how he will secure himself from gross impertinency in nominating Man a Religious creature from a natural instinct or to assert any thing but what is divine can act Man to worship a Divinity How far he may to save himself extend the signification of natural I know not but if he means it in the sense Paul often us'd it methinks the very letter of the Scripture should have barr'd his unsuitable expression for saith that Apostle The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he because they are spiritually discerned But if he will take Natura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro generatione viventium sive animalium id est nativitate or if he rather will accept it in the sense of him they call Divine Seneca that it imports a Deity or Divine Reason sown in all parts of the world he would do well to let us know for the incongruity of his Assertion with good sense lies very palpable He further confirms his opinion of the universality of that by him call'd Natural Instinct with his Parenthesis as we see in all Nations of the Earth much more when he is further stirred up by a Divine Instinct I must confess to the universality of it but how disguis'd it is through the various trims of mens Inventions and fore-fathers idle Traditions a person never so little spritualiz'd may see and easily discry the notorious foppery of most professions the cause of which vniversal darkness has been the Nations sacrificing their judgements to the implicite Faith of their deceitful Priests who have been and are a Monopoly to the Souls and Bodies of the whole Creation And what he ignorantly calls the father stirring of a divine instinct is not a difference from the former in respect of its nature or quality but measure or degree I have the longer insisted on this particular because most material as well to detect his weakness and grand inability to the work he forwardly has undertaken as from his own expressions to elucidate and maintain the Quakers Principles to be Orthodox although it was against them he mainly did design his Book but with what success the end will manifest I shall just hint upon his three branches into which he has split the first act of his Election 1 He advises to take a particular view of the Principal Doctrines and Misteryes of Faith and duty of Godliness taught in the Scriptures but doth not tell us by what infallible Expositor we ought to peruse them that might unfold those Mysteries he speaks of which imply a dubious intricate and obscure sense does he mean the Instinct
not because the Seed of God abideth in him As is the begetter so is the begotten It may be further observ'd that into the Kingdom of which they are called Children or Inhabitants other places will not allow an entrance for any thing that is unclean or makes a lye nor is it congruous with Scripture and common sense the same Temple should hold God and Mamon Christ and Belial or that any can witness a being dead and crucified with Christ whilst living in that which has no share in him And though he would imply a Salvo or Defence for the admission of all sorts to Sacraments so call'd under the notion of the Field's being the Church yet if he well observes it is call'd the World out of which the Church of Christ both as to Doctrine and Conversation was alwayes gathered otherwise those Heathens Turks Jews c whom he would exclude must be members of his Church and whilst he would intrude Tares or the whole rabble of unrighteous persons as members of Christs Church he has forgot the Testimony born by the Apostles concerning that spotless blamless and perfect Body of which Christ Jesus was the Head And if he would from Christs words of letting them alone cover his practice of admitting all as being ignorant who is a Believer since none knows but in plucking up the Tares he may pluck up the Wheat also for this Guide's a Latitudinarian what need his whole discourse for a particular constitution he might I am sure a let that alone as knowing it would be of little force yet may he better understand the passage if he please of Persecution for they were known to be Tares else how could the servant say Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy Field from whence then hath it Tares if he had not rightly discerned their nature and that the Wheat was to hold no communication in any religious sort with them nor were they to express severity or force but leaving them in supernatural cases to the determination and punishment of the great Judge live a self-denying example to the world In this sense Imperfection is granted I mean to the carnal and unregenerate but to the Redeemed of God and Children of the Kingdom Perfection I am now come to the examination of the essentials of his so much recommended Choice Sect. 12. His first Article is concerning the nature of God and what of him is to be believed by those that would be happy his words are these That there is one God of an infinit perfect and spiritual nature subsisting in three most glorious persons the Father Son and Holy-Ghost who is the Maker Preserver and Governour of all things and intends his own Glory in all his Works That the greatest concernment of reasonable creatures is to know and acknowledge this God fear love adore and glorifie him and their chiefest felicity stands in his love and favour in fullest conformity to his Image and in no earthly good separate from him Taking the former part of his Definition for granted to wit the perfection infinity and spirituality of his Nature how very unsuitable herewith is the Religion and practice of this Guide first in denying that Revelation by which only a knowledge of this glorious and invisible Deity can be obtained which was the Testimony Christ bore concerning him that no man knew the Father but the Son and him to whom the Son revealed him so that if such Revelation as gives to behold the Father see his shape and contemplate the excellency of his Nature be wholly rejected by this Guide methinks it is either arrogancy to intrude into things he doth not know or folly to tell a tale received from other people for infallible truth without a demonstration in himself Next If there be no other way to have communion with this invisible God that thereby the Conformity he talks of may be known for being a Spirit it 's preposterous to imagine a knowledge of him obtainable by other mediums than what are aedequate to his Divine Nature but by this Revelation of Himself through his Son Christ in us except we are Reprobates it will necessarily follow that he must either deny Christ's Doctrine or else confess himself ignorant of what he writes and since the God he would advise all to know fear and love is that perfect Spirit I fain would know what Worship can be termed suitable thereunto but the internal and spiritual one which is altogether void of those Ceremonies Formalities Will-performances and perishing Observations once used as condescending signs to the weakness of some seasons which at this day fills up the Sacrifices and in which stands the Religion of those called Christians through the World whose ignorance of God's once dispensing with beggarly elements for their sakes whose understandings were vailed and too weak-sighted to behold at first the glorious Light has put many upon the imitation of past generations though void of their spirit and not answering the end for which they were then practised vainly conceiting them an offering acceptable to the eternal Spirit when it were as well-pleasing to present a dogg's neck as anciently was said What shall I hence conclude but as the Almighty God is a Spirit so cannot he otherwise be known or served and since he has required homage from his creatures and yet 's so purely just as to but expect what he has impow'red them to do how absolutely necessary is it that all Worship Godward should stand in the ability given of him thereunto and reasonable to believe that the occasion of all the Apostacy Darkness Inventions and whole variety of Forms and Constitutions of Religion has been from the neglect of that pure spiritual capacity once given of God to act and order them in all things that did concern their duty both to God and man As for his strange distinction of the Deity which he inforces on the faith of all that value their eternal welfare I cannot find one Scripture that will bear him out and if they had been of so much credit with this Guide as to have been by them led into their undeniable form of sound words he would not have intruded Tradition for Scripture to the creed of any but rather have inserted the Text or phrase it self whose Authority might have commanded an assent And it had more become him to give the world a Reason for his requiring a submission to and credence of his Doctrine rather than barely to draw up so many Articles and thus impiously to call on all for a subscription as they would be saved especially since he cannot but know how strongly these very points have been debated in ancient Councils and not less controverted by modern persons of Reputation and Learning Some owning one Eternal God void of all personal relations as Arrius with many Prelates and some Emperors in former Centuries F. Socinus L. Socinus Crellius Slictingius c. of later dayes
Others contend for the existence of this Divinity in the relative persons of Father and Son as Macedonius of old and many in these times to say nothing of particulars both which may properly be call'd Anti-Trinitarians or opposers of this Guide's Trinity But because the Scriptures do not warrant that division into and appellation of three persons that he slightly passes over this weighty matter recommending it for an Article of Faith but never arming him with Reasons that receives it for his defence against the strength and great subtility of his Adversaries I here shall offer him by way of Query what every sober person would desire satisfaction in before he entertains his principle Query 1. Whether that Eternal and Almighty Being called GOD implies more than one pure and simple Act 2. Whether He can be said to subsist in three Persons 3. Whether any thing can rightly be called GOD that is not Infinite and without beginning 4. Whether if God did beget a Son that Son had not a beginning and if the holy Ghost proceeded from both whether he was contemporary with the Son and both co-eternal with God since the Begetter precedes the Begotten and that the Begotten cannot exist before it is 5. Whether these three Persons are indistinguishable or distinct from the Godhead and each other by incommunicable properties 6. Whether if GOD implies the Fulness Perfection and Glory of all and that no addition can be to his Greatness and Delight but what was in his most Pure and Perfect Self from all Eternity as that one pure Act the successive acts of those personal relations can soberly be predicated of him unless they all are co-eternal which seems in terminis to confute a conception progression and perfection of the distinct relations If he will tell me it is a mysterious Point and therefore did forbear a farther discussion of it I answer it did the more require his explanation for that I conceive a Religion or hope will do a man but little good for which he has not a reason in himself and to believe things by rote is quite as ineffectual as not to believe at all If he shall say That Reason is not to be consulted or rendred in this case I answer That either it's what deserves silence and so condemns himself amongst those fools that will be medling or if it 's to be pried into then to be understood before believed or else his three Philosophical Acts of Election are defeated Sect. 13. His second fundamental Principle to be received runs thus That God made man at first in a very holy and happy state from which he soon fell through Satans temptations and all mankind became plunged into sin and misery that we are all hainous offenders against the God of Heaven under his dreadful wrath and the curse of the Law bar'd out of Heaven and happiness and lyable to eternal torments if not speedily reconciled to God and pardoned and by renewing grace sanctified and converted which neither we nor any meer creature is able to do for us He has here drawn up an Article out of Scripture-Record but never tells us what he has experienced in the matter confidently bidding all embrace and believe it without any farther examination of its verity or conviction from the Spirit of God whose office it is to convince the World of sin And I shall boldly affirm That this forward putting people upon the entertainment of Notions though of Truth it self whilst the Spirit of the Living God is not at work or moves not on the Waters is but the forming up that very Righteousness which is the second office of the eternal Spirit to convince of and condemn the World for A confutation to his own Principles and Practises is apparent in the latter part of this second Fundamental for if they who are sanctified and convicted are no hainous offenders then will it reasonably follow That such as are hainous offenders are not sanctified and converted But this Guide with all his Tribe that are daily crying They do the things they ought not and have no health in them are hainous offenders therefore they never knew the saving health of all Nations nor yet have felt the Blood that purges that Spirit which sanctifies that Word which converts to God Again the Holy God is perfect and has no fellowship with one unfruitful work of darkness but this Guide allows that man must be reconciled or else he lies under the curse of the Law therefore there is a possibility nay a necessity of mans being perfect which to deny is to contradict his allowed reconciliation unless he can tell where to fetch a proof That the most pure God will have fellowship with or be reconciled to whatever is not of his most perfect Nature nor is it sense to say the Creature can be reconciled whilst in the commission of that the curse for ever lies upon His terms Sanctifie and Convert imply as much especially if he be of Pauls mind that prayed the Primitive Saints might be sanctified throughout and if he has an art to make convert imply more or less than a being changed turned from or made new he would do well to let us know it for how a man in good sense can be changed and the same sanctified and polluted turned from his way and yet in it reconciled and under the curse at the same time is a kind of Antitheses I never understood But I haste to his third Sect. 14. His next great Principle he recommends is this That the Lord Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God Coessential and Coeternal with his Father upon the appointment and designation of his Father voluntarily undertook the office of a Saviour and Redeemer to mankind and being made Man took upon him our sins and the curse of the Law and giving himself up a Sacrifice and an Offering to God for us purchased by his death all things conducing to Grace and Glory and having by his own power risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven he is become an all sufficient Saviour and will effectually confer Pardon Grace and Salvation on all those who shall truly believe in him and that there is no other Name under Heaven to be saved by but the Name of Jesus Christ O the confused babble of the World the by-rote caâ—â—ing of this Guide how does he wander in the by-paths of vain tradition and invention Romancing over the weighty must 〈◊〉 of eternal life And from the dark results of several factions and 〈◊〉 Councils has prec'd up a Fundamental to recommend as dispensibly to be embraced by all He tells us Christ is the begotten Son of God And in his next words says him Coeternal I am as far from questioning Christ's Eternity as ready both to scruple and reject his praise it carrying manifest opposition to it self A little further he sayes Upon the Fathers designation of the Son he voluntarily undertook the Office
Authority to declare There is not another Leader by whom Salvation is attainable and in obedience to whom the Nations of them that are saved must walk Although I needs must say this objection of our Ignorance had much better become a person whose abilities surpass this Cantabrigian Sizer's education whose inexpertness in Story Tongues and Opinions might have barr'd him from these uncivil as well as untrue reflections and so much of Literature is to be found amongst the Quakers though it 's not their strength as does and very likely will remain unanswer'd by Scholars of a higher Form than this conceited Guide Sect. 2. 2. His charge of obstinacy we deny nor am I much solicitous to enlarge in our vindication since 't is the sense I know he has of all who withstand a Conformity to that Establishment his Interest leads him to imbrace and bow not with him to the Rising-Sun In this sense we own his Epichite and adjunct of Singular also being indeed most so in sufferings having by all Powers since we were a People separated by the Lord from their Inventions been killed all the day long in Reputation Liberty Estate and sometimes Life but in all other respects our Consciences excepted we are alwayes ready to express complacency and willingness to assist our very enemies Sect. 3. 3. He does accuse us with a total Apostasie from Christianity but if the definition Paul gives of a Christian ought to decide the case then he is one in whom Christ reigns and by the fruits of his Spirit manifests to the world he is redeemed from it and from fulfilling those lusts which once had absolute dominion over him But whether this Guide or the so much calumniated Quakers are fullest of self-denyal most separated from the World or in greatest subjection to that pure Spirit of Grace which teaches to deny all unrighteousness and to live soberly in this present World impartial Reader speak For if the preceeding qualities denote men truly Christian and that a pious diligent and inoffensive Conversation is the most express Character of Christ's Followers I make my appeal to thee and the whole World if there lives among the Sons of men a people less deserving to be called Apostates and consequently any that so visibly carry with them the badg of true and primitive Christianity as they And whereas he sayes we scarce retain any Article of the Christian Faith We do in so many words reject his aspersion being made partakers of that Divine Faith in Jesus which sanctifies and is held in a pure Conscience Sect. 4. 4. His next accusation is That they extol the Light in all men as the only sufficient Rule to walk by to the apparent slighting of Scriptures and Preaching Reader If yet thou art a stranger to this Light he thus explodes and vilifies let me beseech thee once to observe it in thy self and tell me then if it has not that Divine quality to discern betwixt the Precious and the Vile and manifest every Thought Word and Act whether it is well-pleasing or the contrary to the great God If it be criminal to own those Scriptures he falsly sayes we slight the case is chang'd otherwise we all confess that God is Light and that he hath enlightned every man by heeding and obeying the Dictates of which we may be preserv'd in that capacity as the same Scripture sayes shall bring us into the pure Fellowship and that the Blood of Jesus shall cleanse us from all sin Nor do they own a Principle in the Clouds but above all people have demonstrated the power and authority of their Principle by that Redemption it has wrought for them and alteration it has made from that condition which nakedly expos'd their immortal Souls to the snares and entanglements of this Worlds perishing glories to experiment the Blood which cleansed from all iniquity the unspeakable peace of perfect reconciliation with God And for his confident affirming we slight both Scriptures and Preaching I have this to say That as there is not any who discover more respect for them by a conformity of life to what they require so do they both read and as often quote them in Preaching or Declaration as any who profess them for their Rule And Reader that thou mayest the better be informed concerning the esteem we have them in taking but the pains to visit our Assemblies and that shall be a sufficient vindication of our innocency which also may answer him as to the advantage that 's confest the Jew had above the Heathen 5. His fifth reflection is Our openly denying the Doctrine of the Trinity but me thinks it would become him who is reproving others for not paying that respect they ought unto the Scriptures to be a little more exemplary in using their unquestionable phrase and sound expression for I am altogether ignorant of any Scripture that mentions that word Trinity and t is his own Opinion that Fundamentals should not be drawn from dubious and obscure places but rather that the Scriptures were evident and perspicuous as to what was necessary to be believed yet if by Trinity he understands those three Witnesses in Heaven Father Word and Spirit he should better have acquainted himself with what we disown than ignorantly thus to blaze abroad our open denyal of what we most absolutely credit and believe 6. His next slander runs thus The Person of Jesus Christ as to his humane Nature with all his Offices assigned to him by his Father they utterly reject though this is an Arcanum that is kept hard from their Novices Fain would he here insinuate to people by his most invective impostures hard thoughts concerning an inoffensive people whilst in reality they own no other name by which Salvation is obtainable than the Christ of God and all the Offices that ever were assigned him by his Father are by them acknowledged and so remote are they from hiding their sentiments or being jealous of exposing them to all that whosoever will but give himself the time of frequenting their Meetings or perusing their Books will soon perceive how very far this Character is wide of Truth 7. His next report is We call not upon God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ But Reader that thou mayest not thus be dogmatized upon and better satisfied in thy sober inquiries assure thy self the Quakers never knew an other Name than that of Jesus Christ through which to find acceptance with the Lord nor is it by any other than Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant by whom they expect Redemption and may receive the promise of an eternal Inheritance Sect. 5. He farther sayes They trust not in his death for Pardon and Salvation but in a pretended sinless perfection They are so far from disowning the death and sufferings of Christ that there is not a people in the Earth that so assuredly witnesse and demonstrate a Fellowship therewith confessing before Men and
Angels that Christ died for the Sins of the World and gave his Life a Ransom Perfection from sin they hold attainable because he that 's born of God sins not and that nothing which is unclean can enter the Kingdom of God no Crown without victory the little Leaven leavens the whole lump the strong man must be cast out Paul prayes they might be sanctified Wholly Be ye perfect as God is perfect be perfect be of good comfort unto a perfect man as many as be perfect that the Man of God may be perfect The God of peace make you perfect in EVERY good Work the God of all Grace make you perfect let us cleanse our selves from ALL filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God leaving those things behind let us go on unto perfection and this will we do if God permit If perfection were unattainable it would be strange that the Scriptures should speak of such a state and very preposterous that Paul Peter c. should so sollicite and pray for the antient Saints that they might come thither even to the spirits of just men made perfect nay he positively avouches to have arrived there at the Heavenly Jerusalem at the Church of the first Born c. And notwithstanding that this excellent State should never be enjoyed seems to me no less than a giving the Apostles Doctrine the lie and tacitly impeaching them of gross dissimulation and contradiction But Reader 't is not onely my Opinion that Perfection is attainable for if thou pleasest to remember the many passages of his Discourse already past my observation as well as to remark the following Chapter of his contradictions thou certainly will find Perfection an Article of this Guides Creed without the least violation to his matter Sect. 6. They deny any necessity of special Grace of the Spirit to Conversion and Sanctification saying The Light within is sufficient hereunto and scoff at them that pray for more His malice and his lies run parallel Are there amongst the Sons of men any that so contend for that Grace which brings Salvation and so strongly plead as well with sufferings as otherwise the absolute necessity of Faith therein subjection thereto and sanctification thereby to this blind professing World And for his distinction between the Light and Grace Reader if thou dost well observe the Apostle Paul's description of their properties and effects I question not but thou wilt soon condemn this Guide for ignorant and very inobservant of the Scriptures For he to the Ephesians writes That whatsoever makes manifest is light and bids them thereby to walk circumspectly So that the Apostle sets it as the distinguisher between good and evil as a Guide or Leader And thus was Jesus Christ the fulness of Light nominated by the Prophet A Light unto the Gentiles a Leader unto the People for Salvation unto the ends of the Earth who by the Evangelist is said to have enlightened every man and by the Prophet 't is determined as well as by the same John in his Revelation That the Nations of them which are saved must walk in that Light and how it can be different from that Grace whose properties are the same in teaching to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World cannot be rationally suppos'd for sayes the Apostle John If ye walk in the Light as God is in the Light ye shall be cleansed from all sin which Paul expresses thus If ye walk in the Spirit ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh and sayes Christ I am the Light of the World he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life It must be therefore evident to every common understanding that this so much blasphem'd Light Spirit and Grace spoken of leading to the same condition and bringing to the same end are one in essence and virtue though diversly denominated according to the variety of its operations and who is 't can be thought a Christian that denies the sufficiency of this Glorious Light which graciously is given of God as a Leader to the Nations and for Salvation to the ends of the Earth And surely had this Guide but ever been acquainted with its pure instructions and walk't therein the benefit that would have certainly accru'd had better taught him the excellency of its Nature and the reverent observance he ought to pay it and not to make a scoff at it as he most wickedly sayes the Quakers do at Grace who generally are known to be no mockers but have been made a laughing-stock by all Perswasions being reviled they bless persecuted they suffer defamed they intreat accounted the off-scouring of all things unto this day and made a spectacle unto the World Angele and Men. Sect. 7. 10. He follows on much at the same rate Sabbaths and Sacraments and all instituted Worship they cast off the great Doctrines of the Resurrection Last Judgment Heaven and Hell they turn into Allegories c. How long wilt thou immagine write and utter lying vanities to bespatter defame and expose to vulgar rage the innocent People and royal Inheritance of the most high God Canst thou expect thy dayes shall terminate in peace and that the Judge of all will not account with thee for all thy slanders yea Clapham be it known unto thee the dreadful God shall recompence it on thy head nor shall thy peevish malice surpassing all I know escape a pledge of Gods displeasure on thee ere thou takest thy farewel of this Earth he will rebuke thy unclean Spirit too full of nasty venom and lies ever to have admittance where nothing enters that defiles or makes a lie It 's not a rage I am in as thou may'st think and willingly wouldst have others to believe God bears me record but the infallible sence I have upon my Spirit of thy deep ensnating hypocrisie to betray if possible others more moderate and faithful into the same wicked yeelding spirit with thy self and also I fear thy immortal enmity to us the innocent People of the Lord provokes to a holy indignation and judgement 's for that unrighteous nature to eternity But that I may not leave the Reader unsatisfi'd as to this last most impudently wicked aspersion know in the name of all true Quakers the Sabbath that is reserv'd for the People of God is so far from being by them rejected or denyed that they admonish all to the exact and punctual observation of it not to think their own thoughts speak their own words nor do their own works for the word Sacraments 't is no where scriptural and till he explains his meaning I am not bound to find him one but for such Worship as is of Scripture-institution and perform'd by the Spirit of God they own and practise disowning as there is good reason all other Institutions The Doctrine of the
that a Form of Prayer was establish'd till sometime after his death And this Guide himself acknowledges in his Stone smiting the Image on the feet that the Apostacy was began the Empire yeelded up to the Papacy the primitive purity of Christian Worship fail'd and became corrupted and let him tell me if the Worship of the Church of England had not its beginning there at least those things he calls Additaments and Modes so that they are not concluded as necessary by any Light or Prudence but innovated by a vain formal and superstitious nature Besides examine the contradiction of his own Assertions God must be worshipped in Spirit and yet in Form Forms are not only of Legal but of Gospel-Institution and yet whether Prayer be within Book or without Book it matters not It s a vain delusion to think that the Spirit should discover all deep Mysteries p. 111. VVherein you are otherwise-minded He will REVEAL the Truth the Mystery unto you pag. 46. The Spirit of God teaches not by such immediate Enthusiasms or Revelations p. 111. God will REVEAL his Secrets to such as fear Him and lead you by his Spirit p. 46 47. If it be a vain delusion to say the Spirit only can discover all deep Mysteries pray what is it to say it shall reveal the Truth which comprehends all and that it will reveal God's Secrets what are they but Mysteries And if God's Spirit does not teach immediatly why does Clapham say that it will REVEAL God's Secrets and lead us which implies the familiarity and constancy of his presence What contradiction's this Sect. 4. For who is there of the highest Form of Christians that are ascertained that in every particular doctrine and practice that these be in the right seeing the best of men are imperfect and may and do erre p. 53. Let the Doctrins and Mysteries of Faith you receive influence your hearts lives sanctifie change them Rest not in the Form of Godliness without the Power of it p. 27. God only is to be sanctified of all them that come near to him p. 70. Who is in all things free from error What Church or Person upon Earth p. 65. For what Churches are so pure but they have some defects errors or corruptions p. 81. In the Church of England is a professed renunciation of the Devil the World and the Flesh with ALL their sinful works and lusts p. 70. The Quakers trust in a pretended sinless perfection p. 63. Let this Truth influence your hearts and lives so as you sincerely obey the Gospel and live in the daily expectation of the coming of the Lord and give diligence to be found of him without SPOT and BLAMELES p. 40. Here 's the perfection of his contradictions 1. Is it sence to affirm that Societies are sanctified and chang'd and yet imperfect corrupt and erroneous 2. If God is to be sanctified of all that come near unto him then such as can't sanctifie him cannot approach him but Clapham and such as cry They have no health in them and consequently unsanctified cannot sanctifie the Lord therefore can't they approach him 3. He asks the question What Church is without corruptions and as patly answers it The Church of England for she renounces the Devil the World and the Flesh with all their deceitful works and lusts So that perfection is an Article of Clapham's Faith as being of that Church 4. And why should he be angry that the Quakers trust in a sinless perfection as that which will exceedingly rejoyce at the appearance of their Lord Since he has found so suitable a defence that in so many words admonishes all to give diligence to be found of him in peace without SPOT and BLAMELES And Reader though he never did intend by his Discourse a Vindication of the Quakers Principles yet may'st thou easily perceive how he is left of God in this conceited undertaking to manifold gross contradictions and whil'st he would be thought competent to enervate such Opinions as don't quadrate or agree with his his Book is made his confutation Nor have I hinted at the moity because I would avoid prolixity professing in sincerity I scarce have ever read such a compendium of absurdities although when first I saw his Treatise I was in expectation of some essay or new Atlantis in Religion as might if not deserve an approbation of its Doctrine at least have manifested the ingenuity of its Author but to find the gleanings of some mouldy Authors and dark suggestions of unwarrantable Tradition venture to put a cheat upon the World under the specious Title of a Guide who had not gone a page before he lost his way at once exprest more ignorance and impudence than any piece I have met with since I have held the least intelligence with Books and I hope what hath been already writ will by thee be esteem'd a sufficient answer to this Guide and so unvizard his designs as neither thou or any else from thence shall take the least encouragement to embrace his Religion or give entertainment to his false Aspersions but rather am willing to believe that persons ingenious and deliberate will never look upon a time-serving Priest thus circumstantiated with great variety of misdemeanours or any thing his parts and mallice can suggest so favourably as to accept his sentiments to the apparent prejudice of such whose carriage and correspondence amongst men are in the general confest to be discreet and friendly for if the Persons invested with Authority shall once admit of implicit apprehensions for their Rule and that from one whose very actions carry such undeniable malignity with them those differing Perswasions against whom he may have treasur'd up revenge must certainly expect the effects of their severity and displeasure let them in other matters where publick preservation is concern'd appear never so ready and contributory But such procedures relish rather of Romish bigottry and inhumane inquisition than Christian tenderness and humane prudence For as a gentle treatment of Dissenters has ever been the most effectual way for uniting differences in Religion at least preserving of the peace so should all Magistrates remember if they please that their Authority cannot reasonably extend beyond the end for which it was appointed which being not to inthrone themselves Sovereign Moderators in causes purely Conscientious and relating to a World in which they cannot pretend the least Jurisdiction but onely to maintain the impartial execution of Justice in regulating civil matters with most advantage to the tranquility enrichment and reputation of their Territories they should not bend their Forces nor imploy their strength to gratifie the self-seeking spirit of the Priests or any private interest whatsoever An Exercise below the dignity of their Office and much too narrow for that universal influence it should have upon the Publick Sect. 5. But to conclude judicious Reader hold not so slight an esteem of the Quakers Principles because decri'd by such