Letter whose Praise is therefore not of Men but of God And this Baptism Christ Preferred and Recommended at his Farewel to his Disciples in Reverence and Duty to whom to say nothing of the abuse of Water-Baptism we decline the use thereof Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. John 1. 17. Acts 1. 5. Rom. 14. 17. Rom. 2. 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 12. 9. VI. Concerning Breaking Bread c. BEcause we also disuse the Outward Ceremony of Breaking Bread and Drinking Wine which is commonly called the Lord's Supper we are therefore render'd Deniers and Contemners of the Lord's-Supper whereas the Inward and Spiritual Grace thereby signified viz. that Bread which came down from Heaven which Christ prefers to the Bread the Fathers eat in the Wilderness which did not keep them from Death and that Cup which he promised to drink a-new with his Disciples in his Father's Kingdom we not only Believe but Reverently Partake of to our unspeakable Comfort which is rightly and truly the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who said Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you have no Life in you John 6. 53 63. For 't is the Spirit that quickens the Flesh profits nothing It was also his Promise to all those that would open at his Knocks viz. That he would come in and Sup with them which Inward and Spiritual Coming we have both known and testified to feeling the blessed Effects thereof in our Souls and knowing the outward Breaking of Bread and Drinking of Wine in the way commonly Practised is no more than it is declared to be viz. An Outward and Visible Sign Why then should any contend about it and render us Unchristian for disusing what themselves allow to be but an Outward and Visible Sign And that none can reasonably believe to be an Essential Part of Religion as is the Bread from Heaven of which the Outward is at best but a Signification But the Wine that Christ promised to Drink with his Disciples anew is such an Essential that without it none have nor can have Eternal Life Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 25. John 6. 41 50 51 58 63. Rev. 3. 20. VII Concerning the Light of Christ BEcause we Assert the Sufficiency of the Light within it being the Light of Christ viz. That if Men live up to the Teaching thereof in all manner of Faithfulness and Obedience they shall not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and Salvation and the Blood of Christ shall cleanse them from all Sin Our Adversaries from thence conceive that we undervalue the Rule of Holy Scriptures and all outward Means as having no need thereof since we have such a Means and Rule within us and that this leaves us without any certain Rule and exposeth us to many Blasphemies c. Whereas the Light within or Christ by his Light inwardly Teaching was never taught by us in Opposition to or Contempt of any outward Means that God in his Wisdom and Providence affords us for our Edification and Comfort no more than did that blessed Apostle who said You need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no Lye John 12. 46. 1 John 1. 6 7. 1 John 1. 2 27. VIII Concerning the Father the Word and the Spirit BEcause we have been very cautious in expressing our Faith concerning that great Mystery especially in such School Terms and Philosophical Distinctions as are Unscriptural if not Unsound the tendency whereof hath been to raise Frivolous Controversies and Animosities amongst Men we have by those that desire to lessen our Christian Reputation been represented as Deniers of the Trinity at large Whereas we ever believed and as constantly maintained the Truth of that blessed Holy Scripture Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that these Three are One the which we both sincerely and reverently believe according to 1 John 5. 7. And this is sufficient for us to believe and know and hath a Tendency to Edification and Holiness when the contrary centers only in Imaginations and Strife and Persecution where it runs high and to Parties as may be Read in Bloody Characters in the Ecclesiastical Histories IX Concerning Works BEcause we make Evangelical Obedience a Condition to Salvation and Works by the Spirit wrought in us to be an Evidence of Faith and Holiness of Life to be both Necessary and Rewardable it hath been Insinuated against us as if we hoped to be saved by our own Works and so make them the Meritorious Cause of our Salvation and consequently Popish Whereas we know that it is not by Works of Righteousness that we can do but by his own free Grace is he pleased to accept of us through Faith in and Obedience to his Blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 5. 9. and 12. 14. X. Of Christ's being our Example BEcause in some Cases we have said the Lord Jesus was our great Example and that his Obedience to his Father doth not excuse ours but as by keeping his Commandments he abode in his Father's Love so must we follow his Example of Obedience to abide in his Love Some have been so ignorant or that which is worse as to venture to say for us or in our Name that we believe our Lord Jesus Christ was in all things but an Example Whereas we confess him to be so much more than an Example that we believe him to be our most acceptable Sacrifice to God his Father who for his Sake will look upon fallen Man that hath justly merited the Wrath of God upon his Return by Repentance Faith and Obedience as if he had never sinned at all 1 John 2. 12. Rom. 3. 26. and 10. 9 10. Heb. 5. 9. XI Concerning Freedom from Sin BEcause we have urged the Necessity of a perfect Freedom from Sin and a thorough Sanctification in Body Soul and Spirit whilst on this side the Grave by the Operation of the Holy and Perfect Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of Holy Scripture we are made so Presumptious as to assert the fulness of all Perfection and Happiness to be attainable in this Life Whereas we are not only sensible of those humane Infirmities that attend us whilst clogged with Flesh and Blood but know that here we can only know in part and see in part The Perfection of Wisdom Glory and Happiness being reserved for another and better World John 8. 24 25. Heb. 13. 20 21. Heb. 6. XII Concerning Worship to God BEcause we say with the Apostle that Men ought to Pray Preach Sing c. with the Spirit and that without the Preparation and Assistance of it no Man can Rightly Worship God all Worship without it being Formal and Carnal From hence Ignorance or Envy suggests against us that if God will not compel us by his Spirit he must go without
A TESTIMONY TO THE Truth of God As held by the People called QUAKERS BEING A short Vindication of them from the Abuses and Misrepresentations often put upon them by Envious Apostates and Mercenary Adversaries Psal 56 5. Every day they wrest my words All their Thoughts are against me for Evil. The Second Impression London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street 1699. READER OCcasion having been given us which we never sought we continue to improve it to the further Explanation and Defence of our so much abused Profession that if possible People may see at least the more Sober and Candid that we are not at that distance from Truth nor so Heterodox in our Principles as we have been by too many either rashly or interestedly Represented But that indeed we hold the Great Truths of Christianity according to the Holy Scriptures and that the Realities of Religion are the Mark we press after and to disabuse and awaken People from their false Hopes and carnal Securities under which they are too apt to Indulge themselves to their Irreparable Loss That by our setting Christian Doctrine in a true Light and reviving and pressing the Necessity of a better Practice They may see the Obligation they are under to redeem their precious Time they have lost by a more careful Employment of that which remains to a better purpose In this short Vindication of our mistaken Principles the Ingenuous Reader may easily discern how Ill we have been treated and what Hardships we have laboured under through the Prejudice of some and the Unreasonable Credulity of others and that we are a People in Earnest for Heaven and in that Way our Blessed Lord hath trod for Us to Glory A TESTIMONY TO THE Truth of God As held by the People called QUAKERS c. BY the Observation we are led to make from Fra. Bugg's late Book upon the Bishop of Norwich's giving him his Recommendatory Letter to the Clergy c. in his Diocess to Relieve by a Collection the Necessities of that Beggerly Apostate a Copy of which Letter the said F. B. hath Published in his said Book And also by the Observation we have made on the malicious Attempts of the Snake in the Grass in his First Second and Third Editions which is a disingenuous and unjust Collection from F. Bugg and some other Deserters of things for the most part long since answered as also lately by the Book Entituled An Antidote c. Though because his Second and Third Edition have some Additions to his first and that being new vamped for a better Market he may expect a Melius inquirendum after a while Yet should we follow the Example of this Rattle-Snake against the Church of which he pretends to be a Member but at present a suspended one we might in Retaliation not only exceed the Cobler of Gloucester but the Scotch Eloquence and that Master-Piece the Ground of the Contempt of the Clergy And Lastly By the Observation we have made on the Relation subscribed by some of the Norfolk-Clergy dated Octob. the 12th 1698. We cannot forbear thinking that as their Confederacy is deep so it aims at nothing less than the Ruine of us and our Posterity by rendring us Blasphemers and Enemies to the Government and to be treated as such The Norfolk-Relation from the Clergy aforesaid charges the said People with Blasphemy First Against God Secondly Against Jesus Christ Thirdly Against the Holy Scriptures with Contempt of Civil Magistracy and the Ordinances which Jesus Christ Instituted viz Baptism by Water and the Lord's Supper by Bread and Wine And Lastly That the Light within as taught by us leaves us without any certain Rule and exposes us to the Blasphemies aforesaid with many others Now because this Charge refers to Doctrine rather than Fact or particular Persons we think our selves concerned to say something in Vindication of our Profession and to wipe off the Dirt thereby intended to be cast upon us in giving our Reader a plain Account of our Principles from the Perversions of our Enemies But to manifest how Uncharitably and Unjustly the said Clergy-Men have Reflected upon the People called Quakers with respect to the said Charge we are contented the Reader goes no further than their own Printed Relation dated Nov. 12. 1698. not doubting but by that very Relation and the Letters therewith Printed he will meet with intire Satisfaction with respect to the Reasonableness and Justness of the Quakers Proceedings in that Affair and how ready they were to come to the Test and to bring the pretended Charge upon the Stage and to Purge themselves from the Guilt of the same Provided they might be accommodated with what the Common Law allows Malefactors viz. a Copy of their Indictment but this could not be obtained And tho' the said Clergy have thought fit to Print the Charge in General without any Proof we think our selves obliged to Vindicate our Profession by freely declaring as now we do without any Mental Reservation our sincere Belief of the very things they most unjustly Charge us with denying I. Concerning GOD. BEcause we declare that God is a God nigh at Hand and that he is according to his Promise become the Teacher of his People by his Spirit in these latter Days and that True Believers are the Temples for him to Walk and Dwell in as the Apostle Teacheth and Experiencing something of the Accomplishment of this Great and Glorious Truth amongst us and having therefore pressed People earnestly to the Knowledge and Injoyment thereof as the Blessing and Glory of the latter Days We have been Ignorantly or Maliciously Represented and Treated as Hereticks and Blasphemers as if we owned no God in Heaven above the Stars and confined the Holy One of Israel to our Beings Whereas we believe him to be the Eternal Incomprehensible Almighty All wise and Omnipresent God Creator and Upholder of all things and that he fills Heaven and Earth and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him yet he saith by the Prophet Isaiah To that Man will I have regard that is poor and of a contrite spirit and which trembles at my word So that for professing that which is the very Marrow of the Christian Religion viz. Emanuel God with us we are represented Blasphemers against that God with whom we leave our innocent and suffering Cause Isaiah 7. 14. 40. 28. 48. 17. 66. 1 2. 2 Cor. 6. 16. Rev. 21. 3. II. Concerning Jesus Christ BEcause we believe that the Word which was made Flesh and dwelt amongst Men and was and is the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and whom we ought to hear in all things who tasted Death for every Man and Died for Sin that we might Die to Sin is the Great Light of the World and full of Grace and Truth and that he lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and giveth them Grace for
his Worship Whereas nothing can be more absurd since without it no Man can truly call Jesus Lord Besides it is our Duty to wait upon him who hath promised not to compel but fill them with Renewings of Strength that so wait upon him by which they are made capable to Worship him acceptably be it in Prayer Preaching or Praising of God And how warrantable our Practice herein is from Holy Scripture see Psal 25. 5. 37. 7. 27. 14. 130. 5 6. Hosea 12. 6. XIII Of God and Christ's being in Man BEcause we say as doth the Holy Scriptures that God is Light and that Christ is Light and that God is in Christ and that Christ by his Light lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and dwelleth in them and with them that obey him in his Inward and Spiritual Manifestations People have been told by our Adversaries that we believe every Man has whole God and whole Christ in him and consequently so many Gods and Christs as Men Whereas we assert nothing herein but in the Language of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures of Truth and Mean no more by it than that as God is in Christ so Christ by his Spirit and Light dwelleth in the Hearts of his People to comfort and consolate them as he doth in wicked Men to reprove and condemn them as well as to call enlighten and instruct them that out of that state of Condemnation they may come and by believing in him may Experience their Hearts cured of the Maladies Sin hath brought upon them in order to compleat Salvation from Sin here and from Wrath to come hereafter 2 Cor. 5. 9. 1 Joh. 1. 5. XIV Of Christ's coming both in Flesh and Spirit BEcause the Tendency generally speaking of our Ministry is to press People to the Inward and Spiritual Appearance of Christ by his Spirit and Grace in their Hearts to give them a true Sight and Sence of and Sorrow for Sin to amendment of Life and Practice of Holiness And because we have often opposed that Doctrine of being actually Justified by the Merits of Christ whilst actual Sinners against God by living in the Pollutions of this wicked World We are by our Adversaries render'd such as either deny or undervalue the coming of Christ without us and the Force and Efficacy of his Death and Sufferings as a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World Whereas we do and hope we ever shall as we always did confess to the Glory of God the Father and the Honour of his dear and beloved Son that he to wit Jesus Christ took our Nature upon him was like us in all things Sin excepted That he was born of the Virgin Mary went about amongst Men doing Good and working many Miracles That he was betrayed by Judas into the Hands of the chief Priests c. That he suffered Death under Pontius Pilate the Roman Governour being Crucified between two Thieves and was buried in the Sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea Rose again the third day from the Dead and ascended into Heaven and sits at God's Right Hand in the Power and Majesty of his Father and that by him God the Father will one day judge the whole World both of Quick and Dead according to their Works But because we so believe must we not believe that Christ said He that dwelleth with you shall be in you John 14. I in them and they in me c. Chap. 17. When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1. The Mystery hid from Ages is Christ in the Gentiles the hope of Glory Col. 1. Unless Christ be in you you are Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. Or must we be industriously represented Deniers of Christ's Coming in the Flesh and the Holy Ends of it in all the Parts and Branches of his Doing and Suffering because we believe and press the Necessity of Receiving and Obeying his Inward and Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation of himself through his Light Grace and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Men and Women to Reprove Convict Convert and Change them This we esteem hard and unrighteous Measure nor would our warm and sharp Adversaries be so dealt with by others But to do as they would be done to is too often no part of their Practice Yet we are very ready to declare to the whole World that we cannot think Men and Women can be saved by their belief of the One without the Sense and Experience of the Other and that is what we oppose and not his Blessed Manifestation in the Flesh We say that he then overcame our Common Enemy foiled him in the open Field and in our Nature triumphed over him that had overcome and triumphed over it in our Fore-Father Adam and his Posterity And that as truly as Christ overcame him in our Nature in his own Person so by his Divine Grace being received and obeyed by us he overcomes Satan in us That is he detects the Enemy by his Light in the Conscience and enables the Creature to resist him and all his Fiery Darts and finally so to Fight the Good Fight of Faith as to overcome him and lay hold on Eternal Life And this is the Dispensation of Grace which we declare has appeared to all more or less teaching those that will receive it to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for which none else can justly do the blessed Hope and glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ c. Tit. 2. 11 12 13. And as from the Teachings Experience and Motion of this Grace we minister to others so the very drift of our Ministry is to turn Peoples Minds to this Grace in themselves that they may all come to do even the good and acceptable Will of God and work out their Salvation with fear and trembling and make their High and Heavenly Calling and Election sure which none else can do whatever be their Profession Church and Character For such as Men sow they must reap and his Servants we are whom we obey Regeneration we must know or we cannot be Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Glory And to be Born again an other Spirit and Principle must prevail to leaven season and govern us than either the Spirit of the World or our own depraved Spirits and this can be no other Spirit than that which dwelt in Christ for unless that dwell in us we can be none of his Rom. 8. 9. And this Spirit begins in Conviction and ends in Conversion and Perseverance And the one follows the other Conversion being the Consequence of Conviction obey'd and Perseverance a natural Fruit of Conversion and of being Born of God For such Sin not because the Seed of God abides in them 1 John 3. 7 8 9. but through Faithfulness continue to the end and obtain the Promise even Everlasting Life But we do acknowledge that Christ through his Holy Doing and
may be bound and his Goods spoiled his Works destroyed and Sin ended according to 1 John 3. 7. For which end says that Beloved Disciple Christ was manifested that all things may become New New Heavens and New Earth in which Righteousness dwells Thus thou wilt come to glorifie God in thy Body and in thy Spirit which are his and live to him and not to thy self Thy Love Joy Worship and Obedience thy Life Conversation and Practice thy Study Mediation and Devotion will be Spiritual For the Father and the Son will make their abode with thee and Christ will manifest himself to thee for the Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him And an Holy Unction or Anointing have all those which leads them into all Truth and they need not the Teachings of Men They are better Taught being Instructed by the Divine Oracle no bare Hear-say or Traditional Christians but fresh and living Witnesses Those that have seen with their own Eyes and heard with their own Ears and have handled with their own Hands the Word of Life in the divers Operations of it to their Souls Salvation In this they Meet in this they Preach and in this they Pray and Praise Behold the New Covenant fulfilled the Church and Worship of Christ the Great Anointed of God and the Great Anointing of God in his Holy High Priesthood and Offices in his Church XVI Concerning the Resurrection BEcause from the Authority of Holy Scripture as well as right Reason we deny the Resurrection of the same gross and corruptible Body and are neither over Inquisitive nor Critical about what Bodies we shall have at the Resurrection leaving it to the Lord to give us such Bodies as he pleases and with that we are well pleased and satisfied and wish all others were so too From hence we are made not only Deniers of the Resurrection of any Body at all however Spiritual or Glorified but Eternal Rewards too Whereas if it were true as it is notoriously false we were indeed of all Men most Miserable But blessed be God it is so far from being true that we most stedfastly believe that as our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the Dead by the Power of the Father and was the first Fruits of the Resurrection so every Man in his own Order shall arise they that have done well to the Resurrection of Eternal Life but they that have done Evil to Everlasting Condemnation And because we are a People whose Education hath not afforded us an Accuracy of Language some Passages may perhaps have been mis-express'd or improperly worded as for Instance One of us hath denied in his Book the Soul to be Finite by which he plainly meant Mortal or Final to die or have an end which Finis signifies from whence Finite comes our uncharitable Opposers have concluded we hold the Soul to be Infinite and consequently God Whereas the Words before and after as well as the Nature of the things shews plainly he only meant that it is Eternal and so not Finite that is not Terminable or that which shall come to an end And also because we have not declared our selves about Matters of Faith in the many and Critical Words that Man's Wisdom teacheth but in the Words which the Holy Ghost teacheth we have been esteemed either Ignorant or Equivocal and Unsound Whereas it is really Matter of Conscience to us to deliver our Belief in such Words as the Holy Spirit in Scripture teacheth and if we add more for Illustration it is from an Experience of the Work of the same Spirit in our selves which seems to us the truest way of Expounding Scripture in what concerns Saving Knowledge XVII Concerning Separation c. BEcause we are separated from the publick Communion and Worship it is too generally concluded that we deny the Doctrines received by the Church and consequently introduce a new Religion Whereas we differ least where we are thought to differ most For setting aside some School Terms we hold the Substance of those Doctrines believed by the Church of England as to God Christ Spirit Scripture Repentance Sanctification Remission of Sin Holy Living and the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to Eternal Rewards and Punishments But that wherein we differ most is about Worship and Conversation and the Inward Qualification of the Soul by the Work of God's Spirit thereon in Pursuance of these good and generally Received Doctrines For 't is the Spirit of God only Convinces and Converts the Soul and makes those that were Dead in Trespasses and Sins and in the Lusts Pleasures and Fashions of this World alive to God that is Sensible of his Mind and Will and of their Duty to do them and brings to know God and his Attributes by the Power of them upon their own Souls and leads to Worship God rightly which is in his Spirit and in Truth with Hearts Sanctified by the Truth which is a living and acceptable Worship and stands in Power not Formality nor in the Traditions and Prescriptions of Men in Synods and Convocations but in the Holy Spirit First in shewing us our real Wants and then in helping our Infirmities with Sighs and Groans and sometimes Words to pray for a suitable supply for which we in our Meetings wait upon God to quicken and prepare us that we may worship him Acceptably and Profitably for they go together Now because we are satisfied that all Worship to God and Exhortations to Men as Praying Praising and Preaching and every other Religious Duty ought to be Spiritually Performed and finding so little of it among Professors of Christianity the Spirit of God having not that Rule and Guidance of them in their Lives and Worship as It ought to have and seeing them too generally satisfied with a Ministry and Worship of Man's making being not qualified nor led by God's Spirit thereunto we cannot find that Comfort and Edification our Souls crave and want under so cold a Ministry and Worship And for this cause and no presumptious Contempt or selfish Separation or worldly Interests are we and stand we at this day a separate People from the Publick Communion and in this we can comfortably Appeal and Recommend our selves to God the great and last Judge of the Acts and Deeds of the Sons of Men. Lastly BEcause at the time of our Friends first appearing in this Age there were a Sect of People newly sprang up and truly called Ranters that were the Reverss to the Quakers for they feared and quaked at nothing but made a mock at Fearing of God and at Sin and at Hell who pretended that Love made Fear needless and that nothing was Sin but to them that thought it so and that none should be Damned at last whose extravagant Practices exactly corresponded with their Evil Principles From hence some ignorantly and too many maliciously involved us and ours with them and many of their Exorbitances were thereby placed to our account tho' without the least Reason