late not in any I marvel how you Quakers can have Christs person manifest in you and how you can speak in his person Let the Reader mind the Quakers Cheat they own Christs person without them yet this person of Christ without them is manifest within them See the deceit of this Fox I have read of Christ manifest in his Saints and Apostles by his Spirit or Seed of Faith but I never read that Christs person flesh and bone was ever manifest within any man that was alwayes without man and will be without man for ever distinct of himself Also Fox saith the Quakers speak in Christs person Here is another Allegorical speech without any distinction I have heard that an Ambassador hath represented the person of a King and his speech by vertue of a Commission from the King is in the Kings stead but the Ambassador is not in the Kings person though he represents the Kings person the Kings person is at a great distance from his Messenger So it is with Christs Ambassadors as Paul saith We are Ambassadors in Christs stead beseeching you to be reconciled unto Christ by our doctrine Now Pauls person and Christs person were at a great distance one from the other for Christs person was in heaven above the stars and Pauls person was here upon earth so that Paul did not speak in the person of Christ that being at such a distance as I said before but Paul and the rest of the Apostles by vertue of their Commission given from Christ were Ambassadors of him and so stood in Christs stead but Christs person was far enough off from them as a Kings person is far off when his Ambassador is in a strange Land who represents the Kings person as aforesaid But the Quakers they will get into Christs person and speak there or else they will get Christs person into them and so Christ must speak there in their persons so as I said before the Quakers will not be separated from Christ nor suffer him to separate himself from them though I know they never were in union together neither was Christ ever in them that I have damned nor never will be neither were they ever in Christ nor never shall be Neither doth Fox own indeed that person of Christ of flesh and bone that died at Jerusalem to be now living in heaven above the stars but Fox and the Quakers Christ they so much talk of is a meer Allegory without substance a Christ that may be blown away with the word of a true Prophets mouth as I said in The Neck of the Quakers broken Also Fox saith Solomons Books are good Scripture though I say they are not being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth Here I perceive that Fox and the Quakers are got into Solomons spirit just as they did get into Christs person I see Fox can get into spirits as he doth into persons but I perceive Fox is got into Solomons spirit and he blames me because I am not in Solomons spirit I do seriously confess that I am not in Solomons spirit and I am glad I never was in his spirit for who ever is in Solomons spirit doth not know the true God nor the right devil for Solomon knew neither of them though he was a wise man in things of nature but ignorant of spiritual and heavenly wisdom for Solomons wisdom hath the Ground-work of much lust of the flesh and idolatry for the Ranters practice was grounded upon Solomons practice who knew so many women so the Ranters thought they might have the same liberty seeing wise Solomons Writings were owned for Scripture-record thus they continued many of them in their practice of lust till many of them were weary of it as Solomon was when he was old and then they left off that practice and turned Quakers and so fell to be the greatest idolaters of any as Solomon did to his Heathenish-Wives drew his heart away from the worship of Moses to worship idols So is it with those Ranters that are turned Quakers they are become absolute Heathen idolaters for when they were Puritanes so called they were zealous for the letter of the Scriptures and did practice a good life as near as they could to the letter but after they fell to the practice of lust being encouraged by Solomons writings they left that legal Worship and civil practice the Law tied them unto and followed Solomons practice of lust And now they being turned Quakers are fallen to heathen idolatry that is to say the Quakers they worship an unknown God a Spirit without a body they adore a Christ within them and never mindes a body of Christ without them at a distance they believe their own spirits to be immortal and cannot die they believe their spirits go to God or into God again according to Solomons words they believe Gods Spirit being an infinite Being without a body and that this infinite bodiless Spirit taketh all things into it self and so their spirits being immortal they go into God when they die they will not acknowledge that life or soul doth die but departs out of the body they know not where notwithstanding the Scriptures are so full to prove the soul that sins shall die and experience shews it doth die So that the Quakers are become the greatest spiritual idolaters of any and the greatest fighters against a personal God of any for as Solomon did fall to worship the heathen womens visible Images or Idols so do the Quakers worship invisible Idols as a Spirit without a body and that their own spirits may subsist without bodies and that spirits may be capable of happiness or misery without bodies this is the Heathen Philosophers opinion they brought into the world that Principle of the Immortality of the Soul and that Spirits might go to happiness or misery without bodies And the Quakers hath got the Heathen Principle to a hair therefore become Heathen Idolaters as Solomon was for the Scriptures declares another thing Where doth the Scriptures say that God is an Infinite Spirit without a body The Scripture saith God is infinite and so he is Also the Scripture saith God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth but it is not said God is a Spirit without a body for this I say that if a man may worship God in spirit and truth in this natural body as the disciples of Christ did in their natural bodies and as I my self do in my natural body then of necessity it will follow that God hath a spiritual body whereby I may worship him else I shall worship I know not what as you Quakers do And because Gods body is a spiritual body therefore Christ said when on earth God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth he knowing that body of his that was then a pure natural body should by his death and rising again be made a spiritual body and then all true Believers
should worship him in spirit and truth here in this natural body and so true Believers have worshipped Christ the onely God in spirit and truth in the Apostles Commission and so do we now worship God in spirit and truth for there can be no worshipping God in spirit and truth without a true Preacher sent of God as the Apostles John Reeve and my self were and in this sense God may be said to be a Spirit because he is a spiritual body and not a bodiless spirit as you Quakers do vainly imagine else why may not God be worshipped in spirit and truth without a body as well as God to be a Spirit without a body You Quakers do not do well in that you do not turn your souls out of your bodies they being as you conceive immortal me thinks you might sometimes let your immortal souls slip out of your bodies and go into that Infinite Spirit without a body and worship in spirit and truth and then come into those bodies again for I see you have by your own words got into Christs person and you have got into Solomons spirit and why can you not get your immortal souls into Gods Infinite Spirit without a body By this the Reader may see that the Quakers Principle is built upon the Heathen Philosophers and not upon the faith of the Prophets and Apostles who writ the Scriptures for Heathen men were the first broachers of the Immortality of the Soul and of God being an Infinite Spirit without a body and so the greatest Idolaters for those that writ the Scriptures never intended any such thing but altogether the contrary but the Quakers do cleave to the Heathen principles as God being a Spirit without a body and the Immortality of the Soul and so they become with the Heathen the greatest spiritual Idolaters of any people under the Sun for I am quite out of Solomons spirit indeed and am glad I never was in it 21. Page 27. Muggleton thou condemnest our Christ and light and Muggleton saith the Quakers think to have eternal life in the Scriptures But saith Fox our eternal life is in Christ before Scriptures were And Fox saith pag. 29. thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers CHAP. XXVII ANSWER AS for my words they are more largely opened in The Quakers Neck broken Also this saying of Fox that the Quakers had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were to this I say How comes it to pass that Christ hath turned George Fox Quaker and many more of them out of him now the world is Nay Christ hath turned them over to be judged and condemned by me to eternal damnation certainly if Fox had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were Christ would have revealed it unto me now the Scriptures are in the world for the Scriptures are given into my hands and I finde by the Scriptures that George Fox and many other Quakers were never in Christ at all neither before Scriptures were nor now the Scriptures are in being But I finde in the Book of the Scriptures that George Fox and other Quakers were in the Serpent that beguiled Eve and had eternal death in their seed before Scripture were but it was not visibly known till now for this I certainly know that you Fox and many more of you came out of the Serpents loins which was Cains father and you being the children of Cain may be said to be in the Serpent-devil before the Scriptures were and as sure as Cain the father of all the damned shall die an eternal death so I am certain that you George Fox with many other of your Quakers people shall be eternally damned deliver your selves from it if you can 2. Fox saith page 29. That thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers I cannot get Fox the Quaker and the man Christ Jesus to part for wheresoever Fox doth own Christ Jesus to be a man then presently this manhood of Christ gets into the Quakers bodies and so Christ is manifest in them Now I would very fain have Christs manhood by it self and the Quakers by themselves but Fox will by no means part with Christ that he might be spoken with alone but Christ being so much manifest in the Quakers bodies so that no Quaker can finde any Christ to be a man but what is manifest in their bodies And this Christ that is manifest in them I suppose is he that will bruise me in pieces but that man Christ Jesus that I believe in hath given me power to condemn and judge that man Christ Jesus that is manifest in the Quakers people for I know that Christ Jesus that is manifest in them is nothing else but the seed of Reason the devil that is manifest in them for I know they have no faith in the true Christ but the motions of reason working in their mindes taking occasion by the Law written in their hearts it doth cleanse them from the outward pollutions of the world and from the breach of some outward Laws and this is that Christ they so much talk of within them and this is that man Christ Jesus manifest within them This is a true description of the Quakers Christ manifest within them CHAP. XXVIII THese are the most considerable things for the Reader to take notice of in George Fox his Book so that the Reader may mind the Answer and the Interpretation I have given to those Scriptures which Fox the Quaker brings against me but he leaves the words of the Scriptures more dark to the Reader than they were in themselves but I have given the Interpretation of those Scripture words which Fox could not do and what I have written in this Treatise is for the most part left out in The Neck of the Quakers broken because in that Book all these things in which Fox doth rail and revile at me in as he calls it An Answer to the Neck of the Quakers broken but that Book of mine doth explain the Quakers Principle more plain and clear than this Treatise doth for he that would have read that Book and Fox his Answer to it would have seen all those things which Fox doth alledge against me more fully answered than he or any other Quaker could have questioned so that had it not been for the sake of others and for the Ages to come there need not have been any further discoveries of the Antichristian spirit of the Quakers concerning their Christ within them but that Book As also there is some things in this Treatise for the Information of the Reader which was never printed before There is many other sayings in Fox his Pamphlet which doth rail and revile both against my Commission of the Spirit and that Sentence I
Reader that the person that is accepted of God of that person the righteous Seed must and doth come of look what person is rejected of God of that person must and doth come the reprobate and cursed Seed as it was in Cain and Esau also Esau would have put his reasoning of his mind in practise had not Rebecca his Mother by her revelation of Faith sent Jacob away out of Esaus reach but Esaus resolution remained in his minde still and waited for an opportunity now was not this reason in Esau the devil for if Esau had had no reason to kill Jacob he would never have resolved to do such wickedness but Esau thought he had good reason to kill Jacob who had stoln away the blessing from him whose birthright he thought in reason it was so he thought it was but reason to kill his brother who had done him that injury or wrong was not this the spirit of reason the devil in Esau that would have killed his brother Jacob of whom the righteous Seed came of Again were not those reasonable men that talked with Christ to whom Christ said Why reason you in your selves saying you have Abraham for your Father saith Christ God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham so those Pharisees and Saducees that came to the baptism of John Mat. 4. were they not wise rational men and indued with a high measure of reason did not they ask a reasonable question whether John was the Christ or no yet John calls them a generation of vipers and Christ calls those wise rational men he talked with Serpents Devils yea and that the devil was their Father yet these were wise prudent men indued with a great measure of reason they were no distracted men nor possest with any witchcraft-fits as you Quakers are but were sober sensible men and would ask a reasonable question and required a reasonable answer yet this spirit of reason in these wise and prudent men it was but the devil reason in them For John calls them a generation of vipers and Christ calls them Serpents Devils and that they were the devils children yet these were wise men endued with reason and it was that wisdom of reason in them that would have intrapt Christ in his words that they might have had some reason to have put him to death for Reason propounds questions to catch him in his words that they might have had some reason to put him to death therefore Reason layd many snares to catch him So they reasoned amongst themselves if we let this man alone the Romans will take away our place and nation so when they had accomplished their desires by their reason and brought him before the High-priest and Councel of the Jews the Councel some of them reasoned that it was fit Christ should die for blasphemy in that he made himself the Son of God others reasoned again that he ought not to die by their Law not being justly accused So when he came into Pilates custody what reasoning had Pilate in his spirit his reason told him it was better to whip Christ than to kill him and Pilates wifes dream put him exceedingly to reason how he might deliver Christ but the reason of the High-priests and Elders and those that were below them their reason was too strong for Pilate and Pilate thought it more reason to obey Cesar then his wifes dream or the reasoning of his own heart So that his reason was he thought better to keep the favour of Cesar and the honor of this world than the peace of his conscience and favour with God so his reason and their reason together delivered up the Just One to be crucified by reasonable men for the Centurion and those that guarded him were reasonable men also and thought it but reason to obey their Rulers command in this as well as other things so that it may be cleer to those that are truely inlightned that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and that the spirit of reason did kill the righteous in the beginning and the spirit of reason did kill the Just person even Christ Jesus CHAP. XXIII AGain it may be cleer that the spirit of reason in man is the devil as may plainly appear by those Chief-priests and Elders of the Jews as in Mat. 21 23. these Chief-priests and Elders would know of Christ by what authority he did those things but Christs answer was Is the Baptisme of John from Heaven or of men and these Chief-priests and Elders of the Jews reasoned in themselves if they should say from Heaven then their reason told them they fought against God and if they should say John Baptist had his commission from men to baptise with water then their reason told them that the people would stone them So they reasoned in themselves it was better to say they could not tell which was a lye against the light of their own conscience Here the Reader may see that the spirit of reason in man is the devil for these Chief-priests and Elders were wise prudent men endued with a great measure of reason else they would not have bin chosen Governors and Expounders of the Law and Prophets to the people of the Jews yet these reasonable men were devils even those who Christ called Serpents Devils and John Baptist called a generation of vipers So that it may be cleer to those that are inlightned that the reason in man is the devil and not onely a devil but a damned devil for it was the spirit of reason in man that always blasphemed and fought against God and persecuted and killed the Just and the righteous because God would not accept of the devil reasons worship as he did of the Just and innocent worship of the spirit of Faith and as for that saying of Paul who desired to be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith I am of Pauls mind in that for I have had experience in a measure of the bad dealings of unreasonable men as Paul had but I shall shew the cause and why Paul calls them unreasonable men it was because the rude multitude or some envious men upon the report of other envious people would beat and abuse Paul without any authority from the Rulers or without the command of some officer as is cleer in the Acts concerning Demetrius and the Goddess Diana how were some of Pauls friends beaten by unreasonable men and Paul himself would have bin served so and worse had he not bin rescued by the Town-Clark's speech which speech of his shewed that the people did that which was not lawful by their Law therefore unreasonable and were in danger to be called to account by the Judges of their Law as Deputies and such and to be punished as offenders of the Law for their unreasonable practice to beat and kill men uncondemned by the Law as you may see Acts the 19.18 and so in Acts 23. How Paul had
have passed upon many of the Quakers people As first Fox saith He believes that my Sentence will return back upon my self as in pag. 6. 2. Fox saith That those I have cursed are clear over my spirit as in pag. 12. 3. Fox saith Had the Quakers nevar seen letter of Scripture or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the divine light of Christ had he never seen letter of Scripture nor man as in pag. 18. 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that Curse and Sentence I have passed upon them as in pag. 20. 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou owns thy self to be but a mortal man Oh how Fox despiseth that a mortal man should be the Quakers Judge of their immortal souls as they imagine for saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things as in pag. 21. 6. Fox blames me for saying that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and Fox seems to justifie the Magistrates that persecuted me because I say they were reasonable men And Fox further blames me for fleeing from the devils malice yet he judgeth that if those Magistrates devils had inflicted more corporal punishment upon me than Imprisonment it had been but reason the devil still for saith Fox thou canst no say it was unreasonableness in them according to thy own saying as in Page 23. 7. Fox calls me a laying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in Heaven to interpret Scripture For saith Fox doth not the Scripture say all shall be taught of God and that he opens and no man shuts and doth not John say no man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and was not Christ anointed to preach as in page 24. CHAP. XXIX ANSWER FIrst as for that sentence that I have passed upon the Quakers people and others it is irrevocable and will be as sure upon you as if God had said it with his own mouth for as I said in that book we are as true Ambassadors of Christ as Moses the Prophets and Apostles were and if they were sent of God we are sent of God and if there were any power in their Sentence and Judgement to those people in their time so sure will the Sentence and Judgement of us the Witnesses of the Spirit be upon you and as many of the Quakers people as hath or shall fall under it Neither shall that curse I have passed upon you despising Quakers return upon my self no more then the curse of Moses which open'd the ground to swallow up wicked rebellous men alive for desiring the Priests office So wil it be with you Fox the Quaker in that you have rebell'd against the Messengers of Christ and strove for to be a Minister of Christ when as he never chose nor sent you yet you will proudly contend with those that God hath chosen anointed and seal'd to declare the highest mysteries that ever was declared by man yet you look upon your self to be better able to preach the Gospel then we you who knoweth not the true God nor what the devil is nor that your soul must die nor any one true principle of Faith yet you are taken by the people to be a man of knowledge and so you encourage your self to be a Minister of Christ and yet knows not what the true Christ is nor where he is and do you think that Hell shall not open its mouth and swallow you up alive Yea I say it will and you shall not escape for I know and see it will be so and you shall find my words to be true to your eternal pain and shame as Corah Dathan and Abiram did by Moses 2. Fox saith those I have cursed are clear over my spirit CHAP. XXX ANSWER IT is a marvellous thing that damned men should be over his spirit that hath a commission from God to condemn despisers of the Holy Ghost it is as if a prisoner that is condemned by the Judge for his breach of the Law should have that curse he pronounced upon the man over his own head By Fox his conceit the man is in a better case then the Judge for the man may as truely say that the sentence and curse the Judge hath passed upon him is clear over the Judges spirit as if the condemned man were in a better condition then the Judge yet the one goeth to be hanged according to the Judges sentence and the Judge goeth to his Palace So is it with you George Fox and many other of you Quakers you must go to the damnation of eternal death according to my sentence and I shall enter into everlasting life that condemned you so that you shall never clear your selves from that curse I have passed upon you but it shall be over your spirits and upon your spirits to eternity 3. Fox saith had the Quakers never seen letter of Scriptures or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the Divine light of Christ CHAP. XXXI ANSWER HEre Fox sheweth plainly that the Quakers light of Christ within them is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts their thoughts accusing and excusing as the Heathen have the Apostle speaks of and no divine faith of Christ at all Mind the Scripture saith by faith we know the world was made and by faith Abraham offered up his son Isaac and faith is the evidence of things not seen and the Apostles preached the word of faith and this I say no heavenly spiritual or divine light can be truely understood but by faith And this I say further that the letter of the Scriptures were spoken by the word of Faith and by faithful men for there is no writings under Heaven that are the ground of Faith nor doth give satisfaction to the mind of man as to his eternal salvation as the letter of the Scripture doth if understood and believed by man how could man have known the creation of the world and how God appeared to Noah before and after the Flood or whether there were any Flood or no but by faith Or how can any man know that God appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and gave them to prophesie so many hundred years before of God becomeing flesh and that he should save men from sin by his death even as many as should believe in his name with great and mighty things that hath been done by the power of faith which the letter of the Scriptures doth relate which no man could comprehend nor know but those that have faith in the letter of the Scriptures yet Fox the Quaker he could have spoken in the power and spirit of the Divine light of Christ though the Quakers had never seen letter of
to Darby Goal any more But this is that I would have the Reader minde that if I had been taken in a Meeting as the Quakers are then the Judge would have had the Law on his side and all other things I was accused of as blasphemy and how I had power to damn and to save and that I was one of the two Witnesses spoken of in the Revelation and that their believing the Scriptures now they were damn'd by me would do them no good these with such like things were given in against me I say all things would have been swallowed up in one meeting and the Judge would have took up that Law and would have given Judgement and Sentence upon me as he did to Baptists and Quakers in my sight onely for meeting contrary to the Act. Therefore if you Quakers would forbear meeting you need not suffer for your faith at all and if you would be ruled by me or take my advise not to meet at all for I am sorry that many innocent harmless people should waste their estates suffer Imprisonment and impoverish their health and suffer banishment and so bring their lives to an end before their time for that which is not truth For you do but imitate other mens Commission and practice so that you are traditional people as all other Churches are for if you do not meet contrary to the Law you need not suffer the loss of a groat for your Faith nor your Christ within you for the Powers of the Nation are of your minde as to your doctrine the Pope will agree with you as to that but all the strife amongst you is about Discipline this I am very sensible of Therefore I never rejoyced nor desired the sufferings of the Quakers for their meetings though I knew they suffered for a Lie yet I always pittied them when they were imprisoned and banished for meeting though I know they rejoyced at my Imprisonment and were sorry there was not worse punishment inflicted upon me the truth of this is clear by the writings of Richard Farnsworth and George Fox and other Quakers that I know who justified the Magistrates in what they did unto me and thinks the Magistrates might have punished me worse if they would but I know they would not have spared me so much as they do the Quaker had they had the Law on their side as they have against the Quakers But no more of that here 7. Fox calls me a lying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in heaven to interpret Scripture Yet saith Fox doth not the Scripture say all shall be taught of God and that he opens and no man shuts And doth not John say No man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah And was not Christ anointed to preach CHAP. XXXV ANSWER HEre the Reader may see the ignorance of Fox the Quaker and all the rest of them of the true meaning of the Scriptures also I shall make it appear to those that have any true light in them that the interpretation of Scripture doth not belong unto Christ now nor never did but it belongs onely unto such men as he sends and hath given them the gift as thus First Moses was a man and did not he interpret unto his brethren the Israelites in Egypt the sayings of God unto him concerning their deliverance out of that bondage Did not Moses and Aaron interpret and shew signs and wonders in Egypt of those things God had revealed and made known unto them Was not these men that did this 2. Was not Joseph a man that did interpret his own dreams and the dreams of Pharaohs Butler and Baker and Pharaohs own dream Will you Fox say it was God that did interpret Pharaohs dream was it not Joseph a man like himself therefore promoted to great honor 3. Was not Daniel a man that did interpret the King of Babylons dreams Did God interpret the Kings dreams or Daniel that was a man did not those Kings of Babylon promote Daniel to honor in that the Spirit of the Holy Gods had given a man such wisdom and understanding to interpret Dreams Visions and hard Sentences all this was done by a mortal man and not by God himself 4. Was not the Prophets mortal men and not God yet they did interpret to the Kings of Israel and Judah the councel of the God of Israel what he would do if they would not forsake their idolatry and turn unto the worship of the Law of Moses he would make them desolate yet these Prophets were but men and not God Though Eliah did call for fire from heaven and destroyed two Captains and their fifties and fire to burn up the Sacrifice in the sight of the people and destroyed four hundred of Baals priests and shut the heavens that it rained not yet he was but a man it was not God himself that the King would or did seek after to kill him it was a man like himself Also Jeremiah when he unfolded and interpreted the Councel of God that other Prophets had foretold of concerning the destruction of Jerusalem to Zedekiah was it God himself that did interpret it to the King or was it Jeremiah a mortal man or no So all the Prophets little or much gave interpretations of the Councel of God concerning Jerusalem they were all but men and were not the people of the Jews bound to believe those men whom God sent except God would come himself Why then doth the Prophet Isaiah say Who hath believed our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed His meaning is this whosoever doth believe we that are Prophets sent of God believe but our report and you shall know the true God the God of Israel and the strength of his arm to save and deliver you from your sins but except ye believe our report who are men like your selves the arm of Gods saving health will never be revealed unto you for God will not do it by himself but by us his Messengers who are men will his arm of salvation be revealed unto if you believe our report 5. Was not Philip a man that did interpret that saying in Isaiah the Prophet which the Eunuch read Act. 8.32 He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before the shearer so opened he not his mouth Here Philip ran to the Charret and asked the Eunuch Vnderstandest thou what thou readest as verse 30 mark Said the Eunuch How can I except some man guide me Here you may see that the Eunuch did not expect that God himself should interpret Scripture unto him but saith he how shall I know the interpretation of Scripture except some man guide me that is except some man interpret it to me as the words doth imply for Philip opened those sayings unto him which made the Eunuch to understand and believe and be baptised Now will you Fox say that Christ
himself did interpret this Scripture to the Eunuch or did it belong to a mortal man I think you will not be so grosly ignorant to say that Christ himself went into the Eunuchs Charret and interpreted those Scriptures to him Surely if the interpretation of Scripture had belonged onely unto Christ and not unto man as Fox doth assert then Christ must have come from heaven and have went into the Charret in Philips stead because Philip was a man and interpretation of Scripture doth not belong to man as Fox the Quaker saith May not any man that hath but the light of sense and reason in his understanding see the gross darkness of these Quakers which pretends to be in the clearest light of all the seven Churches but to my knowledge the darkest of all in point of doctrine And as for that saying of Scripture We shall be all taught of God it is not meant that God will teach every particular man and woman himself do you Fox believe so why then do you prattle to the people when you meet as if you would interpret the meaning of Scripture and teach the people the knowledge of Christ for you are but a man why do not you let Christ teach the people himself seeing you will have all taught of God and allow no man to interpret Scripture nor teach the people For if you say Christ doth interpret Scripture and not Muggleton because Muggleton is a man and the interpretation of Scripture you say belongs to Christ and not to Muggleton for Muggleton is but a man so Quakers are all taught of God and not by man I marvel why there is so many Men-teachers amongst the Quakers seeing teaching knowledge of heavenly things and the interpretation of Scripture belongeth to God and Christ and not to man If I were of your faith I would give over teaching and talking of the Scriptures and leave it to God and Christ to whom it doth and it would be well for you Speakers of the Quakers if you had done so before you took upon you to preach Christ within you you have undertook to teach that which you say God will do and to interpret Scripture which you say doth belong unto Christ But I see all those people that will be taught of God and have the Scriptures interpreted unto them by Christ himself and will not receive the interpretation from man I say those people are more ignorant and dark in their mindes than those that are taught by man And I am sure the Quakers people would have known more truth if they had been taught by man that hath a Commission from God as Reeve and Muggleton hath than they do by all that God ever taught them in their lives And the Interpretation of Scripture we have given if understood would have informed their Judgements more than all the Interpretation of Scripture that Christ ever did interpret unto the Quakers people since the name of Quakers was put upon them yet we are but mortal men and must die But to clear the scruple that may arise in mens mindes because I speak thus I shall shew in a few words how men may be said to be taught of God and how the Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ First when God chuseth any one man or more to be his chosen Prophet Messenger or Minister God doth furnish such with wisdom and understanding and revelation to declare the minde of God to the people what God would have the people do and look how many people or who ever doth believe this Messenger sent of God they may be said to be taught of God and are taught of God So likewise he that hath the gift of Interpretation of Scripture as Prophets Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit hath our Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ and that it is the true Interpretation of Christ himself because we had our Commission from him to teach the people and to interpret Scripture to as many as believe us to their great peace and satisfaction of their souls And in this sense people may truely say they are all taught of God and that Christ hath given the true interpretation of Scripture by his servants the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit to our everlasting peace and comfort yet all this is declared by men yea by mortal men and not by Christ himself as the Quakers do vainly imagine 6. Also Fox saith Christ opens and no man shuts and saith Doth not John say No man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah And saith Was not Christ annointed to preach CHAP. XXXVI ANSWER THis beareth the same sence as the other whatsoever the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit doth it may be said Christ doth it as the Prophets they preached of Balm in Gilead and of Eye-salve to anoynt the peoples eyes that they might see what did belong to their peace and where they might have salve to heal the wound in conscience which sin had made in their souls this is called the preaching of Christ by his Prophets 2. The Apostles had power given them by Christ to open the eyes of the blinde and to give light unto them that were in darkness and in the shadow of death and brought those that believed their doctrine into the light of life eternal Also they had the Keys of Heaven and of Hell to bind sin upon the consciences of unbelievers never to be forgiven and to loose the sins of those that did truely believe their doctrine of Christ and thus they did open the Book of conscience in the believer and no man could shut up that conscience which the Apostles doctrine opened neither could any man open that conscience the Apostles shut up in unbelief This also is called the preaching of Christ and opening and shutting the Book of Conscience by Christ yet this was done by men and not by Christ himself But in regard they did preach the Gospel by vertue of Authority from Christ and they were anointed by him to preach the everlasting Gospel and had power given them to open the Book of Conscience in some whereby they did believe in Christ and shut the conscience of others up in unbelief and thus that saying of the Scripture is fulfilled that Christ was anoynted to preach the Gospel of glad tidings of salvation for what his Messengers doth it is as if he did it himself Again we the Witnesses of the Spirit are anoynted and chosen of Christ to preach the everlasting Gospel and Christ hath given us power to set life and death before men and we have power to binde and loose and to open and shut the Book of Conscience and no man can shut that conscience we have opened neither can any man open that conscience we have shut up in darkness as to any spiritual knowledge or true peace this many can witness on both sides if