of these Tracts If W.P. say it is because the Authority of the Light within is much gain-said among Men and the Dictates of it grievously perverted and made contradictory If both Parties even among the Quakers themselves may be believed G. F and his Party when alive and now W. P's and G. W's Party judging that which John Story and his Party believed to be the Dictates of the Light within to be the Dictates of a False Spirit and they judging the like of them Therefore Books and Tracts have been multiplied among themselves And as good and much better reason can be given why so many truly pious and edifying Tracts have been written by many Godly Men to vindicate both the Sufficiency of the Spirit and true Light within in all the Faithful and also the Sufficiency of the Scriptures without this as the Rule and that as the principal Teacher Agent and Efficient working with and by the Rule and yet none of the two how much ever sufficient excluding the Lord Jesus Christ God-Man without us from being our All sufficient Saviour each being sufficient in their own order and manner of acting As concerning such Gentiles to whom the offer of Faith has not been made neither by Men nor Writings none say that the Scriptures are a Rule to them but as they have no outward Rule of Christian Faith so nor doth it appear that they have the Christian Faith it self If any have it they have it not by the common Illumination but by some miraculous and extraordinary manner unknown to us And how God disposeth of the more Sober and Virtuous among them doth not at all reach the present Controversie which is not whither the Scripture be the Rule to all Mankind that ever lived or now live but whither it be the Rule of Faith and Life to them who have them or may have them by some possible means Page 16. Arg 13. Whereas he saith Doth not your own Language and Practise prove its viz. the Scriptures Insufficiency to that end at what time you both exhort to and go in secret to seek the Mind of the Lord in this or that important Affair Why do not you turn to Chapter and Verse for satisfaction if the Scripture be appointed of God for the General Rule Ans This Argument hath also as great force or rather much greater against the Light within being the General Rule for do none of the Friends both exhort to and go in secret to seek the Mind of the Lord in this or that important Affair Why do they not turn to the Light within to be forthwith without all Prayer or waiting informed and satisfied If they do not yea if W.P. do not both he and they are wofully deceived by neglecting Prayer and waiting on God to receive Satisfaction in this or that important Affair but if they find their need both for Prayer and waiting for direction then let him answer his own Argument and make due Application But to give a positive and direct answer if it be either a matter of Doctrine or Precept that any Christian wants due Instruction and Direction in they may both Pray and Read and search the Scriptures and Meditate Iad wait for God's inward Illumination and â—nspiration to give them a right Understanding and they may expect it will be given them if they sincerely seek it and use all due Endeavours and Means to attain it one of which is to consult and use the Advice of others whom they have cause to judge Spiritually more enlightned than themselves If it be in Cases that are neither matter of Doctrine nor Precept but where the matter is by it self indifferent and neither simply commanded nor forbidden as many such Cases there are they may and ought to pray and wait for direction and it may please God to give it to them by some secret Motion Impulse or Impression of his Holy Spirit which may sufficiently satisfie them without making that impression Motion or Impulse the Rule of either Faith or Obedience seeing the Matter is neither a Matter of Doctrine nor Precept wherein either Faith or Obedience as touching that particular is concerned but a Motion or Impulse simply from God upon the Will cannot be properly called a Rule because as is above-said a Rule properly speaking is a Form of Words and Propositions either outwardly expressed or inwardly conceived to which the Intellect either assents or dissents And if any true Christian finds such a motion or impulse on his VVill if after examination he find that it doth not incline him to any thing either contradictory to Scripture or true Reason he is in no great danger to yield to it and if he do not yield to it upon just suspicion or fear that it is not of God it will not be charged to be a Sin upon him for nothing is Sin but a Transgression of God's Law Page 19. The Law outward saith he as a Rule was but as Moses till the Son came the Servant abideth not in the House for ever the Written Law held its place but till the inward Rise in more Glory and Brightness or rather till People became more capable of being turned to it and living with and in it Answ Had not Mankind generally the Light within them under Moses How comes it then that it was not the Rule to them and did not dismiss the written Law But if there be no written nor outward Law given by Christ under the Gospel then all that he taught outwardly and for which he sent his Spirit upon the Apostles to bring it all to their Remembrance and to move them to commit it to Writing Yea the whole New Testament Writings must be dismissed and turned out of the Church the House of God as was Ishmael and his Mother out of Abraham's House because by his most false Arguing the written Law given by Christ and the Holy-Ghost under the New Testament is as much the Servant as the Old Covenant was O the Vanity and Folly of this manner of Arguing which wholly makes void Christ's Prophetical and Kingly Office as he was outwardly sent in the Flesh by the Father to give a more full and clear discovery of the way of Salvation as the great Prophet and to give forth his Royal Laws to the Church under the New Testament as King and Head thereof But he further enlargeth upon this Argument P. 17. telling us There are a Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our Plain and distinct Rule and Guide And he adds on the Margent There 's not laid down in Scripture any general Rule how to answer before Magistrates and to act in times of Sufferings To which I answer First he doth not well to confound Rule and Guide it is granted the Spirit of God is the Guide Teacher and Leader of the Faithful but it doth not therefore follow that the Holy Scriptures i. e. the many excellent Instructions Precepts and Examples given us therein for
the Government of our Life in all Estates are not the Rule which the Holy Spirit useth as his Instrument to Guide us in all parts of our Duty But he might have told us some of those Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our plain and distinct Rule whereby to know either our Duty to perform it or what is prohibited that we may avoid it though we have the inward assistance of God's Spirit to enlighten our Minds and set before them on all necessary occasions and emergencies such Scripture Precepts and Prohibitions as suit with the present occasions But if the cases be of things in themselves simply indifferent i. e. neither commanded nor forbidden either by any Precepts of God or Just Precepts and Laws of our Superiors we are left to our choice according as our rational Faculties and Christian Prudence shall direct us a due regard over all being had to the Glory of God and that whatever we do be done in the Spirit of true Love and Charity which are general Rules plainly given us in the Holy Scriptures the particular application of which in all particular Cases whither in relation to Superiors Inferiors or Equals the Holy Spirit by his special Illuminations in our Hearts will teach us as we faithfully pray and wait for them without the need of any other general or particular Rules than what already are given us in the Holy Scriptures Therefore in opposition to this extravagant and rash Assertion of W. P that there are a Thousand Cases in which the Scripture cannot be our plain and distinct Rule I affirm that there is not one Case respecting our Duty either towards God our selves or our Neighbours but plain Instructions and Precepts are given us in the Holy Scriptures concerning the same but we still need the Grace and Guidance of God's Holy Spirit to give us the Spiritual discovery of them and to enable us rightly to practise them Surely David had a far better and greater esteem of God's Laws Precepts and Testimonies even as outwardly delivered by Moses and also by himself than W.P. hath concerning which he said Psal 119.24 Thy Testimonies also are my delight and my Counsellors Though David was a Prophet yet as King over the People of Israel he was commanded of God to write him a Copy of the Law of God in a Book which was to be with him and he was to Read therein all the days of his Life that he might learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of that Law and these Statutes to do them c Deut. 17.18 19 20. And yet David was highly illuminated and inspired far above W.P. or any of his Brethren but the written Law was to be the Rule of his Actions as well as of other Men. Nor could David have excused himself from taking the written Law to be the Rule of his Life because he had it in his Heart and if it could be no excuse to David nor can it be to any Christian now King or Subject that because they have the Law writ in their Hearts and the Spirit put in their inward parts according to God's promise in the New Covenant that therefore the Laws of God both of the Old and New Testament that are of a Moral concern even as outwardly delivered do not bind them which is in very deed to take away the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and make void the Prophetical and Kingly Office of Christ yea and the Office of the Holy Spirit also who inspired the Holy Pen-men to commit them to Writing And it is no less extravagant and rash in W.P. to assert that there is not laid down in Scripture any general Rule how to answer before Magistrates and to act in times of Sufferings for though no particular words are given us limiting and determining us what to say yet the general matter of our Duty is plainly laid down in Scripture what and how to answer before Magistrates as that of Peter and John Acts 4.19 How that it is better to obey God than Men and that of the three Children to King Nebuchadnezzer Dan. 3.17 18. And how to act in Times of Suffering we have both excellent commands and examples in Scripture as Mat. 10.28 1 Pet. 2.20 1 Pet. 4.16 Luke 23.34 Acts 7.59 60. But seeing he doth so peremptorily require a general Rule to suit all Cases as well as all Persons of Mankind otherwise it could not be general which yet he will have it to be what those dictates or Revelations of the Light in every Conscience are of Jews Mahometans and Christians that can give such plain directions to all Persons in all Cases which the Scripture cannot give I desire him to tell at least some of them If he doth not it is a sign he cannot and that consequently his Argument is vain for the Light or Spirit abstractly considered without all Revelation can be no Rule Section 13. His fourteenth Argument which he calls his eighth answered Page 120. AFter he has given Thirteen Reasons and all false ones enough as I think I have sufficiently shewed he comes to that he calls his eighth reason after his former Thirteen at least Why the Scriptures cannot be the Rule under the New Covenant which is this Christ the Spiritual Leader of a Spiritual Israel writeth his Spiritual Law in the Heart as Moses the outward Israel's Leader writ the Law upon Tables of Stone This was God's Promise and the priviledge and blessing of the New Covenant that as the outward Jew had an outward Law for a directory the inward Jew should have an inward Law for his directory and as the outward Jew had an outward Priest at whose Mouth be ought to seek the Law so the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit has an inward and Spiritual High-Priest whose Lips preserve knowledge at whose Mouth he is to receive the Law of Life The King Ruler Judge Law-giver High-Priest Law Rule are all Spiritual so the Scriptures inform us My Kingdom said Christ is not of this World Again the Kingdom of God is within Luk. 17.20 21. I will write my Law in their Hearts They shall be all taught of me Heb. 8.10 quoting Rev. 21.3 Joel 2.28 Tit. 2.11 12. Job 32.8 Rom. 1.19 And here again he falsly quotes the words Whatever may be known of God c. Gal. 5.16 1 John 1.7 Isa 2.5 Rev. 21. 23. Gal. 6.15 16. as also he quotes unduly 1 Cor. 12.7 putting a measure of the Spirit for a manifestation of the Spirit Answ 1. If the Light within be a general Rule to Mankind then the outward Israel had it as well as the inward Israel Where is then the distinction and difference betwixt the one and the other 2. If the Rule of the inward Israel be within and the High-Priest within then as the inward Israel has no Rule to be the Rule of their Faith and Life but the Light in the Conscience so they have no High-Priest
even in them to wit the Doctrine of the Kingdom together with which some inward Seed of Light might have been sown in some of their Hearts by his Ministry beyond and above the common Illumination But what proof is this that the Gentiles had the Kingdom of God in them in this Sense who never to this day heard Christ or any of his Ministers nor received any Gospel Doctrine by any outward Testimony by voice or writing And Heb. 8.10 compared with Jer. 31.33 and all the other places do wholly respect that part of Mankind to whom the Gospel is outwardly preached and for most part such who did believe it or were in due time to believe it as that noted place Titus 2.11 12. by the Grace of God that had appeared to all cannot be understood the common Light or Illumination in all because v. 13. it was such a Grace that taught such who gave up to be taught by it and obey it to look for that blessed Hope and glorious Appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to dye for us that by his Death and precious Blood outwardly shed for us he might redeem us from all Iniquity Now can W.P. or any of his Deist Brethren prove that any Jew Mahometan Heathen or Deist that obey the Dictates of the Light within are taught thereby to look for this glorious appearing of Jesus Christ when he shall come in his glorified Manhood to judge the Quick and the Dead for that no doubt is the glorious Appearing here meant the most Obedient of his Jewish Mahometan Brethren to the Light within them and the most strict and exact Deists here in England will tell him they believe no such thing their Light within them hath taught them no such Faith nor Hope yea Cornelius that was a most excellent Gentile for Virtue and I suppose in his Gentile state surpassed for Piety and Virtue the best Deist in England was not taught by the Light that was formerly in him in his Gentile state to believe Remission of Sin through Faith in Jesus of Nazareth whom the Jews hanged on a Tree c. but was informed by the Angel to send for Peter to preach this Jesus to him nor did the Angel direct him to the Light in him simply for Information but to the Apostle Peter without him that by means of his Ministry he might receive the Christian Faith and the special Illumination of the Holy Ghost as accordingly was fulfilled And as to the words Jer. 31.34 compared with Heb. 8.11 they shall not teach every Man his neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord For all shall know me from the least to the greatest This Promise doth only belong to the Children of the New Covenant to wit the Members of Christ's Catholick Church and not to all Mankind therefore cannot be meant of the common Illumination in Heathens and Infidels nor of many Thousands living under a visible Profession of Christianity who are not so taught of God that they need not a Man to teach them or to say know the Lord for to be so taught is a high State and the words have their full and perfect accomplishment in the future State though in part here and comparatively they have their present fulfilling as often indeed many places of Scripture have a comparative meaning Besides that it is granted that that high degree of Divine knowledge above described that is a divine enjoyment of God by Spiritual Sensation Sight and Taste one Man cannot teach it to another for it surpasseth all words either uttered or conceived as one Man cannot teach another that is Blind to see or Deaf to hear or that hath not his Taste to Savour though as to the Doctrinal knowledge he may teach him and by means of that Teaching be made instrumental by the blessing and Grace of God to open his Spiritual Eyes and excite those Spiritual Sensations in him And what though Christ left nothing in Writing by himself for the Rule of Faith and practise as W.P. argueth what his Apostles and Evangelists committed to Writing by his Inspiration was sufficient why it should be received to be the Rule of our Faith that is the outward Instrument whereby Faith is wrought in us and whereby we may be helped through the Spirits inward Illumination and assistance how to discern what we are to believe to be true Doctrine and what we are to practise But it 's very strange what he further saith That had he intended the Rule of his followers to have been a written Rule note a written Rule he would have left it upon record with all punctuality this must be believed and that done on pain of Eternal Death His words plainly import as if such punctuality had not been recorded but as if People who read the Scriptures or hear them ever so truly expounded were left at liberty to believe this or the other thing or not belive it though written and commanded and also to do or not do without any danger of Damnation whereas the plain words of our Saviour are recorded by Mark 16.16 He that believeth not shall be Damned believeth not what surely both what Christ Preached and what his Apostles and Evangelists were inspired to write by his Spirit to whom those Writings should come for others to whom they have not come their Sins against the Law and Light in their Consciences are sufficient to render them without excuse But saith he nor did his followers write in the method of a Rule How knows he that Is he so great a Master of Method so as that he can prove they write not in the Method of a Rule What saith he to Christ's Sermon on the Mount and his other Sermons recorded by the Four Evangelist's which alone though we had no other parts of the New Testament are a sufficient Rule both of Faith and Life which yet makes not the other parts superfluous It is a good saying Abundance of the Law breaks not the Law as God's ways are not as Man's ways so God's Method in delivering us the Rule of Faith and Life is not as Man's Method And what saith he to Luke who Luk. 1.13 declareth that having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first it seemed good to him to write them in Order and said John John 20.31 These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name It is strange that a Quaker should argue against the Scripture being the Rule of Faith and Life for wanting the Method of a Rule who may be thought very improper Judges of Method being so immethodical themselves both in Writing and Preaching and cry out against others for Method and yet now the Scriptures must be rejected from being the Rule of Faith and Life for not being writ in the Method of a Rule If W.P. must be believed
another Rule of Faith and Life than what is the true Rule indeed If he persist in so doing he will not only bring his own Blood upon himself but the Blood of many others that are and may be mislead by him And whether he will yet better consider it or not which I heartily wish and pray that God would be pleased to open his Eyes and give him Repentance and a better Understanding It is a plain Case That the true Knowledge of the true Rule of Faith and Life is very necessary yea so necessary that the Danger for want of it is Perishing or Destruction Yet I mean not that every Error in Circumstance about the true Rule is of that Danger or that some loose and indeliberate Expressions that some have used in Preaching or Printing while their Meaning hath been more sound than their Words even about the RULE are of that Consequence It hath happened to some well-meaning People as it had happened to my self that they and I have both spoke and writ unadvisedly As in some other Matters so in this running along or rather being carried along with the Stream of some of the ancient Friends so called of the Ministry in asserting both in Speech and Print too frequently that the Spirit within meaning the inward Evidence of the Spirit as touching the great Matters of the Christian Faith and Practise was the principal Rule of Faith and Life wherein I acknowledge my Error and great Mistake and do here particularly retract it notwithstanding the general Retractation I have lately made in my late Book called G. K ' s Explications and Retractations But tho' I was then in an Error and under a great Mistake in my way of wording the Matter and darkned too much and clouded in my Understanding in that very Point yet I crave leave of my Reader to shew that even then my Error was not Fundamental nor such as this is of W. Penn's and his Brethren whose Error in the Case has carried them to plain Deism My Mistake chiefly consisted in this in confounding the Term Rule of Faith with the Term Inward objective Medium which I ought to have distinguished for the Rule of Faith is not properly speaking that formal object of Faith called by some Objectum formale quo or objective Medium and Motive of Credibility but the material Objects of Faith to wit all the Credenda or things in Scripture that ought to be believed are the Rule of Faith And therefore instead of saying the Spirits inward Evidence and Testimony was the Rule of Faith and principal Rule I should have said it was the principal objective Medium of Credibility Which as I then did believe and assert so I do still and hope never to retract it And therefore while I continue adhering to this Perswasion I remain as to the main the same I was in my Judgment as when I wrote my former Books touching these Matters my chief Bent and Zeal being against that which I judged a very Erronious Opinion and Hurtful held by some counted Learned Men and which I judge still that so it is to wit That the inward Evidence of the Spirit in the Souls of the Faithful to the Truths of the Christian Religion is only Effective and not Objective and I pleaded warmly that the Spirits inward Evidence otherwise called Testimony Witness Inspiration Illumination or Operation in the Souls of the Faithful is not only Effective but Objective also to wit by way of formal Object or objective Medium and Motive of Credibility And this I reckoned then and do still the greatest Certainty and Assurance that the Scriptures are of Divine Authority and infallibly true wherein I knew and still know I had the best Protestant Authors both for Piety and solid Learning on my side as also my Feeling and Experience to the Praise of God's Grace I say it in the Case hath confirmed me though I know some called Learned Men who have more of that called Divinity Learning in their Heads than in their Hearts do contradict it yea to a Degree of Ridiculing it under the Name of Fanaticism and Enthusiasm not well regarding the Authority of their worthy and judicious Ancestors who in the Articles of the Church have expresly mentioned the Feeling of the Holy Ghost in his Operations and Motions But I erred in calling this either inward Feeling or the Object of it the principal Rule for properly and rightly speaking it is not the Rule of Faith but the principal Motive of Credibility That which is only strictly and properly speaking the Rule of the Christian Faith is the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures especially respecting the great Fundamentals and Essentials thereof To give a preference to the inward Operation of the Spirit and his writing his Law in the Heart to the same Law as writ on leaves of Paper and to the experimental part of Christianity above all that can be outwardly told or heard or read I think no true Christian will deny but when it is askâ—d which is the greater Rule the Inward or the Outward they compare things that are not to be compared that cannot be said to be either the greater Rule or the lesser which is properly speaking no Rule at all but the moving or impulsive Cause that moves and inclines me to take the Holy Scriptures to be my Rule being infallibly true and of Divine Authority And whoever be yet in the same Mistake and Error that I then was in God forbid that I should judge so uncharitably of them as to conclude they err Fundamentally for want of not giving right Names to things or not having so clear inward Idea's and Conceptions of them when as to the main they mean well I am bold to appeal to my Books from first to last whither according to the Strain and Intent in all that I have Printed on that Subject I have not always acknowledged that the Doctrine of Christ Crucified and Remission of Sin by his Blood and other Doctrinal Principles of Christianity were absolutely necessary to be believed by us for our Eternal Salvation And that the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures as outwardly conveighed to us by Preaching or Reading is the ordinary Means whereby God works Faith and Conversion and Regeneration in them that shall be Saved And that therefore so long as we live we are not to lay aside either that or any outward means of Grace and Salvation that God has afforded And how far I have formerly denied that the Scripture was the Rule of Faith I meant that as it was not the Letter or Writing so nor the Doctrine as simply and wholly limited and confined to the Letter As if it should happen by Divine Providence that a Person or Company of Persons should have the Holy Bible by Violence taken from them or not have it in any Language they can understand that therefore they are not in a possible State of Salvation For though in God's ordinary way the
Spirit through his Holy Prophets and Apostles even Remission of Sin and Free Justification by Jesus Christ through Faith in him and not by any Works or Obedience that either the Jew did perform to the outward Law or the Gentile did perform to the Law writ in the Heart When Peter preached Remission of Sin by Faith in Jesus Christ whom the Jews hang'd on the Tree to Cornelius he confirm'd this Doctrine not from the eternal Precepts in every Man's Conscience or the common Dictates of the Light in every Man but from the general Testimony of the Prophets Acts 10.43 To him said Peter give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins But according to W. P's Doctrine the Apostle Peter should have said To him the Light in every Conscience gave the Dictates of that Light in every Conscience witness That whosoever gave up to the Requirings of the Light in them without all Faith in Christ God-man without them shall receive the Remission of their Sins And seeing whatever is the Rule of Faith must teach us all that is needful to Salvation by it self as W.P. argueth he must prove that the Light in every Man's Conscience dictateth to him this Proposition That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 Or if it doth dictate some other way than this then that and the like places of Scripture contradict the Dictates of the Light within But that this Proposition laid down Rom. 10.9 is no Dictate of the Light within in Mens Consciences is evident from W. P's plain Confession P. 32 33. who saith That the Light within should tell us that Christ suffered Death and rose again is not needed inasmuch as an account of that is extant in Scripture Whereby it plainly appears he holds it not needful to our Salvation to believe that Proposition Rom. 10.9 seeing the Light within that is the Rule of Faith doth not reveal it and such Revelation is not necessary and consequently according to him the belief of that Proposition Rom. 10.9 is not necessary to any for Salvation And if that be not necessary by the same method of Argument according to W.P. nor is the belief of all the other parts of Scripture necessary to Salvation which are not the common Dictates of the Light in every Conscience The only use of the whole Scripture according to W.P. is meerly Historical which though perhaps true is nowise necessary to our Salvation to believe the truth of it but we are left at liberty to believe or disbelieve all and every part of what is contained in the Scripture without any danger to our Salvation excepting these few absolute necessaries that the Light within every Conscience teacheth us as well as the Scriptures But none of all the twelve Articles of the Apostle's Creed according to the true Sense of Scripture or the common received Sense of all true Christians are taught by the Light within without the external Revelation of the Scripture therefore according to W.P. the belief of none of these twelve Articles is necessary to our Salvation The which being the plain Import of W. P's Doctrine laid down in his Book whither it be not Plain Deism appearing with open face I appeal to all sincere Christians Section 2. His Arguments from Scripture that the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life Answered HE begins with his Proofs Page 4. That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the general Rule of Faith and Life from Matt. 11.27 and 1 Cor. 2.11 he argues That because the Father cannot be known but by the Revelation of the Son and Holy Spirit consequently that Light metioned John 1.3 or Spirit must have been the general Rule of Mens Knowledge Faith and Obedience with respect to God Answ His Consequence is denied he gives no proof of it yea it is manifestly false and to discover its Fallacy observe how he confounds the efficient Cause and Author of Knowledge and Faith with the Rule which he ought to distinguish He might as well argue no Man sees what hour it is on a Sun-dyal but by the Sun and consequently the Sun and not the Dyal is the Rule whereby he knows the hour Page 5. His next Argument is from Eph. 5.13 Whatever makes manifest is Light therefore the Light in the Conscience is the general Rule Answ The Consequence again is denied it has the same defect as the former as will appear by forming the like Argument Whatever makes manifest an outward object to our Eye is some outward light of Sun Moon or Candle c. Therefore that alone without the object manifests it and also without the Organ of sight who sees not the Fallacy of this Argument and as much he may see the Fallacy of the other The next place of Scripture he argueth from is Rom. 1.19 which he falsly quotes as I have observed he hath misquoted this place both here and in pag. 21 for thus he quotes it WHATEVER might be known of God was made manifest within for God who is Light hath shewn it unto them But let the place it self be considered and it saith not WHATEVER but what is to be known of God is manifest in them to wit the Gentiles or Heathen Nations who had not the peculiar Doctrines of the Christian Faith revealed to them or Preached among them And that the words what is to be known of God cannot be meant of WHATEVER can or is to be known of God was manifest in them as the Text doth not say it so it is a manifest Falshood It cannot be said of the best Christians â—hat whatever is to be known of God is made manifest in them for the best know but in part and there is still more to be known of God even in the best of Christians than what is at present revealed or made manifest in them And it is very evident from the following words what Paul meant by that saying What is to be known of God or as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. The Eternal power and God-Head which was made manifest partly by the things made or created without Men and partly by some Divine Illumination within them But doth it therefore follow that because those Heathens had some knowledge of the Eternal Power and God-head that therefore they knew all the fundamental Princiles of the Christian Religion By no means more than it followeth that W.P. knoweth some things of England and some other Countries partly by History and partly by his sight of them therefore he knows the whole Earth so far as it is habitable He brings another Proof That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life from Micah 6.8 He hath shewed unto thee O Man what is good and what God requireth of thee
and secondary Rule pre-supposeth a primary Rule which hath no dependence on the Secondary though the Secondary is wholly from the Primary as the Transcript is wholly from the Original but the Original is intirely compleat and perfect without the Copy or Transcript it is evident that according to him he hath all what he thinketh to be a Divine Knowledge and Faith wholly from his primary Rule and nothing from the Scriptures which he calls the Secondary for the Excellency of the primary Rule is that it teacheth all that is to be divinely known or believed without the need or help of any secondary Rule otherwise it should not be primary nor should the Scriptures in that case be a subordinate Rule but co-ordinate and of equal Dignity Necessity and Use with what he calls the Primary for whatever is a primary full adequate and perfect Rule such as he will have only the Light within or by whatever other Name he designs it it must propose to him all the Credenda and Agenda i. e. all things he ought to believe and practise without any other Rule whatsoever And yet in Contradiction to his own Doctrine he grants p. 25. That by and through the Scripture as some Instrument this great and universal Rule which he will have to be the living spiritual immediate omnipresent discovering ordering Spirit of God may convey its directions Judge Reader if this be not a Contradiction to his former Doctrine and a great Impertinency surely as he who hath the Original has no need of the Copy nor great use of it for himself so if W.P. have such a perfect compleat primary Rule that teacheth him without Scripture all what he ought to know believe or practise I cannot understand of what great use the Scripture can be unto him or at least it is of no necessity to him this primary Rule hath taught him all before-hand otherwise it is not primary If it be objected That the Prophets and Apostles had the Spirits inward Teachings to be their primary Rule in what they delivered as Prophets and Apostles and yet they made use of the Scriptures such as were penned before them I answer Because neither the Prophets nor Apostles were taught in all things that they believed and practised by the Spirits inward Teachings as the primary Rule but only in what they spoke or writ as Prophets and Apostles in other things which they had not by Prophetical Inspiration the Scripture what was then extant of it was the primary Rule to them as well as to others of the Faithful who were neither Prophets nor Apostles Section 9. That the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture is the Rule of Faith which Faith the Spirit of God being the principal Efficient begets and works in the Faithful by the Doctrine which is the Instrument of the Spirit That it brings Confusion and derogates from the Spirit to make the Spirit the Rule Arg. 6. ANother of W. P's great Arguments to prove that the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith p. 13. is How shall I be assured saith he that these Scriptures came from God If with the Spirit that gave them forth which searcheth the deep things of God a measure of which is given to me to profit withal then it is most congruous to call the Spirit by way of Excellency and not the Scriptures the Rule I answer denying his Consequence It is indeed allowed that it is congruous for that cause to call the Spirit the principal efficient and moving Cause together with Christ and God the Father but most incongruous false and pernicious to make him to be the Rule which is so far from giving the due Honour and Excellency to the Spirit so to do that it derogates from his Honour and Excellency for it confounds the efficient Cause with the Instrument and is as absurd as to say the Square or Carpenter's Rule that the Carpenter works with that is but of Wood is the Carpenter himself which is extreamly false it is no derogation from the Spirit to say that he useth the Rule or Instrument of his own preparing whereby to frame and fashion us according to his good pleasure as the Carpenter useth his Square or Rule to frame his pieces of Wood to put into a Building And for the better clearing of the matter a little further when all Orthodox Christian Writers say that we are assured that the Scriptures came from God with or by the Spirit that gave them forth they mean not that the Spirits inward Testimony or Witness to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is any new or repeated Testimony of the Words and Doctrines of the Scripture which is not necessary but only by way of putting a Seal on a Deed or Bond together with the Hand or Subscription of him that gives the Deed or Bond which Hand and Seal confirms the Truth of the Bond yet it doth not tell what the Contents of the Deed or Bond is nor is it necessary it should the Deed or Bond it self tells the Contents of it And to use the Schools Distinction a little in the case The Doctrines and Words contained in the Holy Scriptures are the material object of Faith to wit quod Creditur i e. what is believed but the Spirits inward Testimony Seal or Impulse and Motion which carrieth in it a peculiar Evidence that none knoweth but he who hath it is the formal Object of Faith to wit propter quod Creditur that inward Motion and Influence Impression and Influence of the Spirit that sensibly and perceptibly moveth the Faithful to believe the Truth of the Scriptures as being the Words of God Nor is this Controversie about the Rule of Faith and Life a Logomachy or strife of words as some may ignorantly suppose but a most material Case and of most dangerous Consequence to exclude the Scriptures which are the great and blessed Means that God has appointed us for begetting true Faith Knowledge and Obedience in us through the mighty Operation of the Spirit of God But if what the Spirit of God hath appointed us to be the Means and Instrument of our Knowledge and Faith and Practise and the Rule whereby to discern Truth from Error Right from Wrong with the Spirits internal Illumination we prove neglectful of it to wit of the Holy Scriptures in the frequent use of them by Reading Hearing Meditation and Prayer we provoke the Holy Spirit to depart from us and to leave us to our vain imaginations and Satan's suggestions and delusions to be received by us as Divine Revelations and Inspirations as hath happened to many to their unspeakable hurt Again as the Spirit nor yet his Internal Inspiration or Illumination and Revelation is not the Rule of Faith but the principal efficient of it and his Internal Inspiration Illumination and Revelation is the Objective Medium moving the Mind to assent to the truth of the Doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures but not the Rule of Faith nor
the Material object of it so nor is the Spirits Internal Illumination Inspiration and Revelation the Rule of Interpretation of Scripture but that which enlightens the understanding and opens the Spiritual Eyes of the Mind to understand the Scripture or so much of it at least as contain the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and beget a Saving Sanctifying and Savoury knowledge of them without any other Rule than the Scripture it self for as when our Eyes are opened and receive outward Light to see an object we need no new object whereby to see the Object proposed but that our sight be strengthned and enlightned so in receiving a Spiritual Understanding of Scripture truths we need no other Rule either outward or inward but the Scripture it self only we need the Spirits inward Illumination Inspiration and Revelation to assist and help us to a Saving Understanding of them by way of an objective Medium Section 10. His seventh Argument against the Scripture being the Rule of Faith from his arguing That they are obscure and have not the Method of a Rule Answered Page 10. Arg. 7. ANother Reason he gives which he calls his Third Reason is From the obscurity of them that they are not plain but to the Spiritual Man they seem not in their own Nature and frame to have been compiled and deliver'd as the general Rule and intire Body of Faith but rather Written upon particular occasions and emergencies the Doctrines are scattered throughout the Scriptures insomuch that those Societies who have given forth verbal Confessions of their Faith have been necessitated to toss them to and fro search here and search there to lay down this or the other Principle Besides here they are Proper there Metaphorical in one place literally in another Mystically to be accepted And after diverse other words of Complaint against their being the Rule he concludes Thus Peter said of Paul's Writings that in many things they were hard to be understood therefore not such a Rule which ought to be Plain Proper and Intelligible Answ Reader What think'st thou of this sort of Language in derogation from the Holy Scriptures What if I should say of W. P's and all his Brethrens Writings what he here saith of the Scriptures That they are neither Plain Proper nor Intelligible would he not account that saying a derogation from them If this be not to prefer the Friends Writings to the Scriptures in these Mens esteem let the impartial Judge most of which have the advantage above the Scriptures by his arguing The Scriptures were Writ upon particular occasions but some of their Books at least designedly Writ in the Scriptures the Doctrines are scattered here and there but in W. P's and G. W's Books the Doctrines and Principles are in excellent Order and lye together Paul's Writings in many things are hard to be understood and beside they were originally Writ in Greek which many understand not and we have not the Autographa but Copies and of these great variety and difference as he argueth against the certainty of the Scriptures upon the foundation of all others that are not one with them in making the Spirit the Rule of Faith P. 23. But we have the Autographa or at least the first Printed Copies of G.W. and W.P. without any variation or difference in matter and which is a great advantage their Writings are the Dictates of the Holy Ghost originally in English whereas we have nothing of the Scriptures originally in English but the whole is a Translation very imperfect and differing from other Translations both of English and other Languages and which is best the unlearned know not at all and even the learned many times are not certain all which give the advantage by very far to the Writings of the Friends above the Scriptures upon the supposition that they are the immediate Dictates of the Holy Ghost as these Men do not suppose but positively affirm many of them to be especially such as they say are given forth from the Spirit of Truth But suppose divers parts of the Scripture were writ upon particular occasions and emergencies as to Men yet many other parts were writ designedly and intentionally for general instruction to all the faithful and these so writ contain all the essentials and fundamentals of Christian Faith and Practice and even these writ upon particular occasions and emergencies seemingly to Men accidental or occasional yet with respect to God were designed by him for a general good without whose wise and all-ruling provividence nothing can happen What seemed more occasional than Joseph's being sold into Egypt yet God Almighty had a glorious design in it though he was neither the Author nor Approver of their Envy who sold him But is it any prejudice against the Scriptures being the Rule that they must be searched to find out the Doctrines contained in them Or that some places are hard to be understood though all the fundamental Doctrines necessary to Salvation are sufficiently plain to all the Faithful who are Spiritually enlightned to understand them Do not the like Objections as much and rather much more lye against the Light within all Men being the Rule of Faith and Life For excepting the common Principles of Moral Justice and Temperance all other things relating either to Faith or Life with respect to the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion are not to be found at all in the Light within every Man abstractly and by it self considered Otherwise if W.P. think's they are let him tell me what one peculiar Doctrine of Christian Religion or peculiar Precept of it distinct from Deism or Gentile Religion has the Light within him taught him If he say to believe that there is one great God Almighty that Commands him to be Honest Just and Temperate I say these are not peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of Christianity but common to it with Deism And if he hath no other Principles or Precepts taught him by the Light within but what every Deist Mahometan or Jew who are Enemies to the Christian Faith have then let him speak out yet more plainly though I think he has spoke very plain already If the Light within him has taught him any other Principles or Precepts than what Deists Jews and Mahometans have let him tell us that he may convince us that the Light within every Man is the Rule of Faith and not the Scriptures without but let him not only tell us so but give us some effectual Reason to convince any ratinal Man that the Light within him only has taught him that peculiar Principle and Precept of Christian Religion without the Scriptures being so much as Instrumental in his being so taught For all Orthodox Christians by affirming the Scriptures to be the Rule they give no more to the Scriptures but to be the Instrument of the Spirit in giving all Saving knowledge and Faith of Divine Truth and if he allow them in God's ordinary way to be the
Instrument of the Spirit in giving him and us all the Knowledge of Christian Doctrines and Mysteries peculiar to the Christian Religion he has all this time been fighting with his own Shadow for if so he agrees with them all from whom he seeks so much to differ and writ against That the Spirit of God can reveal in every Man all necessary Truth is granted by all Christians but the Question is not what he can do but what he doth in God's ordinary way of working Section 11. His eighth Argument answered That the Scriptures cannot give Faith therefore they are not the Rule of Faith And his ninth tenth Arguments answered Page 11. Arg. 8. HIS fourth Argument as he numbers them against the Scriptures being the Rule is Because the Scripture cannot give Faith therefore is cannot be the Rule of Faith Ans The Consequence is denied and he gives no offer of proof for it his Argument is as weak as to argue a Carpenter's Rule or Square cannot build a House therefore it cannot be a Rule or Instrument for him to work by in building a House This his way of arguing destroyeth all use of service of Instruments and secondary Causes the like Failure hath his arguing against the Scriptures being the Rule of Practise Arg. 9. Because it cannot distinguish of it self in all Cases what ought to be practised and what not Well but what if it cannot of it self as the Carpenter's Rule cannot of it self as measure one piece of Wood more than another without the hand of him that useth it doth it therefore follow that the Rule cannot do it when applied by the Hand of the Man himself Page 12. This saith he was the Case of Christ's Disciples who had no particular Rule in the Old Testament for the abolishing of some part of the Old Testament Religion on the contrary they might have pleaded for the perpetuity of it For instance God gave Cirumcision as a Sign for ever Answ By his favour he is mistaken in saying they had no such particular Rule for the abolishing he should rather have said expiring of some parts of the Old Testament Religion Let him read Jer. 3.16 and 31.31 32. compared with Heb. 8.8 and he may find the contrary the word for ever in the place mentioned by him in relation to Circumcision and other Jewish Types signified not to the end of the World far less endlesly but for a certain limited time as the Jews themselves confess at times it so signifies yea and some of the most judicious of them have confessed they were to cease before the end of the World In his tenth Argument he but too much gratifies his Deist Brethren and Profane Atheists by his bringing their and other Popish Arguments against the Scriptures being the Rule Page 13. As that they are not in the Original because that is not extant nor in the Copies because there are Thirty and above in number and it is undetermined and for ought we see saith he indeterminable And the variety of Readings among those Copies amount to several Thousands And if the Copies cannot how can the Translations saith he be the Rule And so goeth on disputing against the Translations being the Rule And then argueth against their being the Rule from diverse of the Books of Scripture being rejected by some and received by others all which Pleas both of Deists and Papists have been abundantly answered by Protestant Writers see Dr. Tillâ—tson's Book called The Rule of Faith in answer to J.S. a Papist whole Arguments against the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith are so much of the same sort with these here of W.P. as if he had taken them from him And the inward Testimony of the Spirit sufficiently asserted to the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures without taking away from them their due Honour Use and Service of their being the Rule of Faith and Life in all things necessary to Salvation which yet W.P. labours to rob them of under a pretence of exalting the Spirit but really is a degrading and dishonouring both as is above proved beside the great Mischief it causeth in casting all People who believe W.P. and his Party loose from the Scriptures that Satan may have the more advantage over them to deceive them as he hath wofully done for if the whole Scripture and every part of them be not to them the Rule of Faith they may chuse what to believe and what not to be believe and to believe no more than what the Spirit within which as it may be and often is not the Spirit of God teacheth them to believe for they may hence infer since the Spirit that is the primary Rule teacheth them not to believe any such Doctrines or Precepts it is but Spurious and Apocryphal and no part of the Secondary Rule as sometimes they are pleased to call it though the distinction of primary and secondary Rule will not be found in their first Authors for then the Spirit was the only Rule and the only Means and the Scriptures were Carnal and the dead Letter and liâ—eless Precepts as W.P. seemeth to call them else why doth he quote Philo and Phythagoras and others that called all outward Precepts such Section 12. His eleventh twelfth and thirteenth Arguments answered Arg. 11. HIS eighth Argument is That the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith and Life because they cannot be the Rule in their Translations Page 26. Supposing the ancient Copies were exact it cannot be the Rule to far the greatest part of Mankind Indeed saith he to none but learned Men which neither answers the Promise relating to Gospel-times which is universal nor the Necessity of all Mankind for a Rule of Faith and Life Ans Why not in their Translations by the help of the Spirit as above declared It may be supposed that W. P's Learning is not so great that he needs not the Translation as well as other Men it is well known that the Translations and all the various Copies and Readings make not the least Alteration in any of the Fundamental or Essential Doctrines of Christianity yea scarcely in any much material whatsoever Arg. 12. His ninth Argument is from those voluminous Discourses of Cases of Conscience that are extant among us For saith he had the Scriptures been as Sufficient Note here his fling at their Sufficiency as the Nature of the Rule of Faith and Life requireth there had been no need of such Tracts Answ This Argument equally fighteth against the Light within being the Rule of Faith and Life for if it actually doth all that the Nature of a Rule of Faith and Life requireth then pray What need had there been of so many Tracts of the Quakers Writings about Doctrines and Principles as well as Cases of Conscience which have amounted to a prodigious Number within these Fifty Years seeing all Men have the same Light within them to be the same Rule in all Is not that sufficient without any
without them but only within them that is the Light in the Conscience and so there is no High-Priest without us nor no Heaven without us into which the Man Christ Jesus is gone nor King Christ without us but only within us for to say he is both without us and within us also will spoil W. P's Argument altogether and mar his Analogy betwixt the Law without under Moses and the Law within under Christ the High-Priest without then and the High-Priest within now If he grant there is a High-Priest without us and who is also King as well as Priest and that he is more without us than within us as all true Christians believe who have not the fulness within them but receive of his fulness and Grace for Grace and therefore that fulness is in the Man Christ without them he must also grant that the Law and Rule of Faith is as well without us as within us and so his Argument is spoiled but that he will be loth to grant for then the fundamental Principle of him and his Brethren is pluck'd up by the Roots by confessing to the Man Christ a High-Priest without us or King without us which will necessarily infer the Law and Rule of Faith delivered us by Christ without us is not within us only but without us also as Christ the Law-giver is Thus we see for Love of their supposed Rule of Faith only within them W.P. and his Brethren who approve his Book abandon and reject utterly any Christ High-Priest or King without them as also he has done in his Christian Quaker where he will have P. 97. The Lamb without in the Passover to shew forth the Lamb within to wit the Light in the Conscience but not the Lamb Christ without as he was outwardly slain And yet W.P. for all this hath said in his late answer to the Bishop of Cork That the Quakers differ little in Doctrine from the Church of England setting aside some School Terms And in his answer to the Bishop of Cork P. 97. he saith We i. e. he and his Brethren plainly and intirely believe the Truths contained in the Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed But possibly some fallacy is latent here also as if he had said they believe the Truths Contained in the Jews Talmud or Turks Alcoran for doubtless there are some Truths contained in them both but many Falshoods and so he may think there are in that Creed for all his seeming fair Confession to it and I offer to prove they have disbelieved them all But how this consists with their having only their High Priest King and Prophet within them as they have the Law and Rule of their Faith only within them as W.P. here doth Argue I leave to the intelligent to Judge and whither this palpable contradiction bewrayes not their great disingenuity considering that they will not grant that they are in any one point changed in their Faith or Doctrine from what they were ever since they were a People but as God and Truth is the same so his People to wit the Quakers are the same as they have in so many express words lately Printed in the Book called the Quakers Cleared c. 3. As concerning the several places of Scripture quoted by him that he brings to prove the inward Teachings of God Christ and the Holy Spirit and God's writing his Laws in the Hearts of the Faithful all this is granted by all Sound Christians but that is not the true State of the Controversie betwixt the People called Quakers and their Opponents But the true State of the Controversie is this whither the inward Teachings of God of Christ and of the Holy Spirit come to believers without all outward means and without all outward Ministry and Service of Men or Books and whither the Law and Rule of Faith that Believers have in them put in them yea and writ in their Hearts by the Lord himself is without all outward Instruction and Teaching or Service of Men or Books or whither the Law and Rule of Faith and Practise within in respect of all the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion be not so to speak a Transcript or Copy from the Law and Rule of Faith without us as delivered in the Holy Scriptures which therefore may be called the Original as to us though that Original Law and Rule without us came from an inward Original in the Holy Prophets and in the Man Christ and his Holy Evangelists and Apostles which yet had a higher Original to wit the Archetypal Law as it was in God before the Copy or Transcript of it came to be in the Prophets and from them committed to writing outwardly and from that outward writing transferred and transcribed into the Hearts of the Faithful where it becomes an inward Law or Rule in them And thus the Faithful have the Law and Rule of Faith both without them and within them first without them in the Holy Scriptures next within them put in them by the Lord in their Hearts by means of outward Instruction as Preaching Reading c. And if the Question be asked Whither is best to have it without them or within them I answer to have it both ways is very necessary for in God's ordinary way of working we cannot have it within us if we had it not first without us no more than we can have Food within us if we had it not first without us for as our outward and bodily Food that nourisheth our Bodies comes into our Bodies from without us by the Door so to speak of our Mouth so the wholsome Doctrine of eternal Salvation by Christ our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer by means of which our Souls and inward Man are nourished being accompanied with the Divine Influences of the Grace and Spirit of God and of Christ comes into our Souls by the Door of our outward Hearing and Reading in the Holy Scriptures Again though there be ever so good Food and ever so Plentiful without us yet if we receive it not within us it neither doth nor can nourish us And as the clean Beasts under the Law did chew the Cud of what they did eat for their Nourishment so the Faithful what they outwardly hear and read of God's Word in the Holy Scriptures must meditate upon inwardly for their Spiritual Food Thus the great necessity of having the Law and Word of God both without us and within us the Rule of our Faith and Life is evidently apparent so long as we live in these mortal Bodies And therefore God hath appointed and Christ hath given an outward Ministry together with his other Gifts and Graces to his Church to continue to the end of the World and to his last coming But again if it be asked Is there not an Internal word Voice or Teaching of Christ distinct from the outward word Voice and Teaching that outwardly soundeth in our outward Ears I answer There is but in God's
whereas the best skilful in the Method of Teaching both pious and learned have not only greatly esteemed but highly admir'd the Method of the Scripture even when it seems least to have Method and most especially the Method of our Saviour's Sermons recorded in the Four Evangelists and of that most excellent form of Prayer he taught his Disciples And if the Scriptures must be rejected from being not only the Rule of Faith and Life but a written Rule as his express words above noted are though in contradiction to himself who elsewhere calls them a Rule but not the Rule now he will neither have them to be the Rule nor a written Rule for want of the Method of a Rule he may quarrel against diverse parts of God's Creation as not being placed in that Method and Order that his Wisdom thinks meet Sure I am some Atheists have argued at such like rate against the Worlds being Created by an infinite Wisdom and Goodness because as they imagined things lye in great disorder throughout the visible World here a spot of the Earth fruitful there a great part of it unfruitful and uninhabitable some parts have too much Water that drown the dry Land overflow Cities fruitful Fields and pleasant Meadows other parts are scorched with drought and uninhabitable for want of Water other large parts not fit for Habitation for Cold. Also the Providences of God towards Mankind are greatly disputed by Atheists because of that seeming disorder and want of method in things and Events that happen to Men of all sorts virtuous Men neglected oppressed afflicted and vitious Men exalted honoured and praised It is a great Default in W.P. thus to argue against the Scriptures for want of Method as being the Rule wherein he too much resembles the Atheists arguing against the Ways and Methods of Divine Providence from thence concluding there is no Rule of Divine Providence in the World as W.P. concludes there is not the Rule of Faith and Life in the Holy Scriptures Section 15. Whither the Laws and Precepts of God and Christ as written in the Holy Scriptures do bind the Faithful to Obedience W.P. his absolute Necessaries of Religion no other but what are generally owned by Infidel Jews Mahomitans Deists and the greatest Hereticks HAving thus finished my Answers to his Arguments against the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith and Life yea not only against being the Rule but a Rule as above noted in contradiction to himself who sometimes calls them a Rule to wit a Subordinate Secondary and Declaratory Rule but yet he will not allow this to the whole Scripture but that several parts of it are so that is so much of it as Heathens and Deists have taught them by the Light within to wit Precepts of Moral Honesty c. but Salvation by Christ Crucified and Remission of Sins by his Blood is not taught them by their Light within therefore this Doctrine of the Scripture is not so much as a Secondary Rule to W.P. and his Deist Brethren the unsoundness of which Distinction I have above shewed I shall now briefly point at some other Impertinencies in his Book now before me and so conclude Page 25. We confess saith he the reason of our Obedience viz. to the Precepts written in the Scriptures is not meerly because they are written for that were legal but because they are the Eternal Precepts of the Spirit in Mens Consciences Here divers things need Correction First I know none that ever said that the reason of our Obedience to those Precepts is meerly because they are written but chiefly and principally we are obliged to believe and obey them being the Commands of God but though the reason of our Obedience to them is not meerly that they are written yet being now written and the Wisdom of God having so appointed it that they should be written and the Writers being inspired to that very purpose to write them for our Instruction and that we should believe them and obey them we ought both to believe them and obey them as they are outwardly written otherwise if their deliverance to us by writing have no Influence on us to believe them and obey them we may wholly disregard them as such and only mind those eternal Precepts of the Spirit as he terms them in the Consciences of Men to wit Jews Mahometans Heathens Deists Again that he saith It is legal to obey them meerly because written I see not how it was legal for the Law did not command them to obey them meerly as written but because they were the Commandments of God but to reject them as having any Influence on us or laying any Obligation on us as written is to reject Christ's Prophetical and Kingly Office a part of which was to inspire his Evangelists and Apostles to commit them to writing But again That nothing is to be obeyed for a Rule or the Rule but the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in Mens Consciences as he affirmeth This indeed makes a very short and near way to Heaven were it as true as short and near He seems to give us an account what these eternal Precepts are Page 44. But most Perswasions saith he are agreed about the absolute Necessaries in Religion from that Light and Witness God has placed in Man's Conscience viz. That God is that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him that the way of God is a way of Purity Patience Meekness c. without which no Man can see the Lord. Answ Note well Reader these few things That every Deist Jew and Mahometan that are sober and rational will acknowledge are all the absolute Necessaries in Religion that he lays down But how falsly doth he alledge that most Perswasions are agreed that these without all the Articles peculiar to the Christian Faith as concerning the Holy Trinity the Incarnation of the Word the Satisfaction of Christ by his Sacrifice on the Cross to Divine Justice c. in a word all the twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed are all the absolute Necessaries in Religion Is the whole Christian Catholick Church of Christ throughout the World in all Ages no considerable part of Mankind having Religious Perswasions Or if they are let him tell us what part of Christ's Catholick Church ever held or doth now hold that none of all the twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed or few of them are the absolute Necessaries in Religion together with other Moral parts relating to Moral Virtues I think he can tell us scarce any but such as may be justly doubted or disowned to be Members of the Church of Christ If he bring in himself and his Party and Deist Brethren he but begs the Question to say they are a part of the Christian Church while they deny the great Fundamentals of her Religion to be absolutely necessary But let us hear him further in the same Page he saith Nay they accord in some considerable Matters super added as some of
the Light in every Conscience as W.P. saith here in this Book or some New Revelation or discovery that neither Jews nor Turks nor other Deists have nor all Christendom but only and alone the People called Quakers But if these new Revelations be their Rule in the Case it quite overturns W. P's Fabrick of setting up a general Rule of Faith and Life in every Man's Conscience For a new Revelation that only one part of Mankind hath cannot be a general Rule W.P. makes not the Light within which he will have to be the Spirit or God himself or Christ in every Man abstractly considered from the inward discoveries Dictates and Precepts there delivered to be the general Rule which he calls the Eternal Precepts of the Spirit in the Conscience and the Noble precepts writ in Man's Heart Phrases that he has borrowed from some Heathen writers as Pythagoras and Sophocles and which are to be owned in their place to be such and to be a general Rule of Moral Justice and Temperance as is above owned but not either the general Rule of the Christian Religion with respect to its peculiar Doctrines and Precepts nor indeed so much as any Rule at all in that state nor indeed is it at all proper to call the Spirit the Rule in his Sense but rather the Dictates and discoveries of the Spirit which W.P. calls sometimes Revelation to wit Internal and the Internal Testimony of the Spirit Eternal Precepts and noble Laws writ in all Men's Hearts for the Spirit abstractly considered from all Internal and External discovery Revelation and Testimony teacheth Men nothing at all and therefore can be no Rule to them as such And seeing W.P. hath cast away the Holy Scriptures from being the Rule of Faith and Practise even to us Christians that is all and every one of the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of Christianity that are to be sure no part of those Eternal Precepts and Laws writ in all Mens Consciences not one of them nor all of those peculiar Doctrines and Precepts are so much as a part of the Christians Rule of Faith and Life for if it were then the Christians the Deists the Mahometans and Infidel Jews should not have one general Rule of Faith and Life which he contends for Page 41. He proposeth an Objection and pretends to solve it Obj. But is not the Scripture the Judge of Controversie He should rather have made the Objection run thus Is not the Scripture the Rule whereby the Spirit of Truth who is properly the Judge doth by his inward ordinary illumination in the Faithful determine the Controversie in all the necessary things of Salvation Yea and also in many other things though not absolutely necessary yet very profitable He Answers How can that be since the Question most times arises about the meaning of Scripture I reply yet still the Scripture is the proper Rule to determine the Controversie even when the question ariseth about the meaning of the Scripture because what seemeth obscure in some places of Scripture are opened and made plain by other plain places of Scripture treating on the same Subject that are as a Key to open them with out any other Rule than the Scripture it self only there is need of the Spirits Internal Illumination and assistance to help us to use that Key especially in reference to the saving knowledge of them He proceeds in his answer to the Objection saying Is there any place to wit in Scripture tells us without Interpretation whither the Socinian or Trinitarian be in the right in their differing Apprehensions of the Three that bear record c. Also the Homousian and Arian about Christ's Divinity or the Papists or Protestants about Transubstantiation If then things are left undefin'd and undetermined I mean literally and expresly in the Scripture and that the Question arises about the Sense of words Doth the Scripture determine which of these Interpreters hit the mark From all which he concludes that not the Scripture but the Interpretation must decide the Matter in Controversie and that Interpretation must be given from the Spirit of God to be a true and infallible Interpretation Answ Seeing that Interpretation according to W.P. cannot be given from the Spirit without an extraordinary Revelation the things in Controversie being such according to W. P's Phrase and Confession P. 31. as fall not within the ordinary Discoveries that are absolutely necessary to Man's Salvation and that W.P. also grants that he and his Brethren have no such extraordinary Revelation for it is not needful being none of the absolute Necessaries to our Salvation P. 33. It evidently follows that neither W.P. nor any of his Brethren nor indeed any other Men now living whatsoever have any certainty whither the Socinian or Trinitarian be in the right that is whither Christ is God and whither Christ had any Existence before Mary and whither Christ be in any of the Faithful yea or nay yea W.P. hath no certainty of this Fundamental Principle that Christ is in him or in any of his Brethren the great reason of their Assertion that Christ is in them being that Christ is God so that if it be not certain from Scripture that Christ is God and if the Socinian Doctrine should prove true that Christ is only a Man it will evidently follow as I think W.P. will grant that it is utterly false that Christ is in any Men whatsoever and that that Light that is in Men even the most Faithful is not Christ for how can that which is only a meer Man and a meer Creature as the Socinians say that Christ only is be in all Men. Again If it cannot be determined from Scripture without extraordinary Revelation which W.P. grants neither he nor his Brethren have as touching these Matters whither the Arians or the Homonsians be in the right it evidently followeth that neither W.P. nor his Brethren are certain whither the word mentioned John 1.1 be any other than a meer Creature and consequently they are not certain but that they themselves are Idolaters who give any Divine Worship to Christ as he is that Word Also if it be not certain from Scripture whither the Papists or Protestants be in the right about Transubstantiation without extraordinary Revelation according to W. P's way of arguing If the Papists should happen to be in the right and W.P. by his Confession knoweth nothing to the contrary but that they are he and his Brethren should be guilty of horrid Contempt and Blasphemy to call that which is the Body of Christ nothing but Bread And is not this Assertion of W.P. a fair Inlet to Popery that the Scripture doth not determine expresly without Interpretation and that Interpretation cannot be had without new Revelation whither the Papists Doctrine of Transubstantiation be true So that to him at present it is a Matter of Indifferency and if W.P. should turn Papist or suppose him to be one when he declares himself he