omission of any words in the Theses prefixed to the Apology proceeds from my being ashamed of the name QUAKER since himself bears witness in the very same page that I fully acknowledge it in the explanation of the 11 Thesis Here he has a descant upon Trembling and seems to strange that any Quaker should bring the example of Moses and Habbakkuk to shew that such a thing was not so much to be wondred at in the Saints but why this should be esteemed impertinent by him he doth not tell us As for the foaming at the mouth he talks of both here and elsewhere it is returned upon him as a calumny and he is desired to prove it but it must be by some more credible impartial testimony than his Mr Stalham for Partys use not to be admitted as witnesses For his denominating us by that name of distinction I shall not quarrel but as for his insinuation in the begining of pag. 5. where he saith It is like we would gladly have them casting away their Bibles as no more to be regarded than the Turks Alcoran it bespeaketh the height of malice as to which I shall only say The Lord forgive him for so gross a calumny which he that is the Searcher of hearts knows to be a most horrible lye He goes on after his usual manner saying I inveigh against all humane learning that hath been any ways made use of in Theology but where he finds this asserted by me I know not whether the words he would deduce it from to wit that man has rendred the plain and naked Truth obscure and mysterious by his wisdom will bear such a consequence is left to the Readers judgment But he thinks he has found out our secret design of being against Learning and Schools of Learning which is neither our affirmation nor principle but his own false supposition We would saith he have all those banished that we might the more easily prevail with our errors But methinks the man should be more wary in venting his own false imaginations unless he could bring some ground for them for his assertion is so far untrue that if he had been rightly informed he might have known that we have set up schools of Learning for teaching of the Languages and other needfull Arts and Sciences and that we never denyed its usefulness only we denyed it to be a qualification absolutly necessary for a Minister in which case alone we have opposed its necessity ¶ 5. He confesseth I speak not amiss in saying the world is overburthened with books but thinks that my Apology of 50 sheets adds some considerable weight but methinks he of all men should have here been silent who has troubled the world with an examination of it a great deal larger albeit he confesseth all that is in it hath been refuted by the Orthodox long ago not only so but since that he has written a book near twice as large upon one point to prove the first day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath and yet it is but the first time and seems but to be the porch of what he intends upon that subject With his usual candor he saith I am against disputes debates or books written of that natur But to inferr simply that I am against all such because I reprove the vain jangling that hath been and is among the School-men is an ill consequence he shall not find me any where speaking against usefull and solid controversys for clearing and maintaining of Truth He seemeth not to disapprove what I speak against School-Divinity confessing the abuse of it albeit he thinks it hath been of use and as for this imagination of my being acquainted with it we will place it among his other mistakes He proceedeth pag. 8 to say I am against the labours of those that have writ commentarys but his conclusion here is like others of this nature When I mention commentarys it is with relation to what goes before he will not deny but many books are written under the notion of commentarys on the Scriptur by which the Truth has been more darkened than cleared will it therefore follow that he condemns Commentarys indefinitly As for such writings tending to the opening of the Scriptur in which the Authors are acted and influenced by the same Spirit from which the Scripturs came and which alone can give the true meaning of them I am so far from condemning them that I highly approve them as very beneficial to the Church of Christ. As for his talk here of our disrespect to the Scripturs I shall have occasion to take notice of it where they are particularly treated of but he is apt to think that the real ground of my prejudice against such books is because so much is to be found in them against my old errors for I can not but know saith he that whoever reads these must see my nakedness and folly without much study As for this imagination we must take it with much more upon trust but this helps to prove the needlesness of his large Examination ¶ 6. At his usual rate of Perverting he goes on to say that the account I make of all the learned men of the World is that they are Scribes and disputers of the World c. But for proof of this we have nothing he confesseth the words to be those of the Apostle and how he proveth that I have a different meaning from the Apostle I know not After he hath commended his learned men and loaded the Quakers with reproaches he concludes this Paragraph pag. 8. with another falshood and yet he will have it remarked to wit that according to my judgment the pure and naked Truth of God was never unfolded nor declared untill the generation of the Quakers arose but where he finds me saying so he tells not and indeed can not since such a thing was never asserted by me For answer to my saying that God has laid aside the wise and learned and made use of illiterat men as to letter-learning after he saith it is affirmed without proof not considering how improper it was not to expect any formal probation upon the occasion and manner it was delivered he gives us divers citations out of the Apostle Paul warning against seducers all which I acknowledge to be true but the question lieth in the right application and yet since albeit he believes they very appositly agree to us he thinks it not his present business to demonstrat it it will need no reply After he has proceeded in his 10 page according to his usual sort of railing affirming the great difference betwixt our doctrin and that of the Apostles he brings forth a mighty charge that I usurp the Throne of God and judg of mens hearts and intentions but how guilty himself is of that crime hath been in part already shewn and will hereafter more appear but why do I so because I say the Clergy have clouded the
paragraph where he saith I say the Scriptur only beareth Testimony to some of them to wit of the Chief Heads of Christianity which I dare him to prove ever to have been said or written by me And of the like natur are his lying conjecturs and his malitious insinuations from my words in the two following paragraphs which I utterly renounce and return upon him as his own false and fictitious apprehensions for do not I declare the Authority of the Scriptur when I testifie they are from the Spirit and that such commands require obedience as has been above shewn But what he urgeth of this further p. 57 59 from the saying of some Quakers affirming that is not a Command to them which is given to another albeit I might justly reject it as impertinent till he prove it for the reasons upon this occasion above declared yet because he mentions Benjamin Furly in Rotterdam having some knowledge of that matter I answer Whether will he say all the Commands in Scriptur to every person there mentioned are binding upon every individual now If he dare not say they are as I know he dare not how must I then distinguish betwixt what binds me and binds me not Must it not be by the Spirit suppose it were only subjectively as he will confess inlightening the Understanding To make this distinction then it seems it is the operation of the Spirit that makes them know their duty and sure they can not obey before they know But if he say that though they should want that operation of the Spirit did not know nor acknowledge them to be their duty yet they are binding upon them neither B. F. nor any Quaker will deny but even the Commands of God's Spirit the Precepts of the Scriptur which now concern all are binding upon all so that they shall be justly condemned for not obeying albeit that by the perversness of their hearts and wills they either refuse to obey or will not acknowledge them So that his urging of that p 60 61. n. 13. and his pleading for it is unnecessary and needs no answer yet who would say they could obey to any advantage of their Souls without this operation of the Spirit since what soever is not of Faith is sin But as to these words said to be writen by B. F. he is here challenged to prove they are his without adding or diminishing and it 's wel known the adding or diminishing of two or three words in a few lines will quite alter the sense and before he has answered this challenge and free'd himself from the just censur of a Calumniator albeit he take the help of his Author Hicks he will find his folly in accusing men at second hand proofs and upon the testimony of their adversarys What follows in this paragraph and p. 60. is meer railing and perversions comparing us with Papists as is before observed and indeed all of it is overturned by that one assertion of mine that what revelations are contrary to the Scriptur are to be rejected ¶ 5. Pag. 57. n. 10. he faith I come nearer to the core of my designe which is to set up Enthusiasmes in affirming that the Scripturs are not the Fountain but a declaration of the Fountain and yet the man within 3 or 4 lines confesseth it himself ascribing it to my folly to dream any man thinks so thus he goes backward and forward which he illustrats by the example of Laws But if it be so are not they to be blam'd that account them the principal Original of all Truth and knowledge Whether the other branch of my deduction follow from this that they are not to be accounted the primary Rule of Faith and manners will appear when the arguments and objections relating to that come particularly to be mentioned And whereas he thinks this is absurd and not making for my designe because God himself is the Fountain and yet not the Rule he mistakes the matter as urged by me for I argue that the Scripturs are not the original ground of knowledge but GOD not simply considered but as manifesting himself in Divine immediat revelations in the hearts of his Children which being the New Covenant's dispensation as in the last section is proven is the primary and adequat Rule of Christians For I was never so absurd as to call God simply considered or the Spirit of God in abstracto not as imprinting Truths to be believed and obeyed in mens hearts not contrary but according to Scriptur for he can not contradict himself the Rule of Christians and this may serve to answer all his cavills upon this Theam And whereas he wondereth in the following page 58. why any revelations even from the Spirit should be more primary than the Scripturs since they are confessed to come from the inspiration of the Spirit for why he useth the Latine word afflatus and doth not interpret it I know not unless to fright ignorant folk that they may think it 's a piece of the witch-craft of the Quakers whom he accuseth it is strange he should have so little sense as to make it a matter of admiration as if that were not more primary to a man which cometh immediatly from the Spirit of God in his heart than that which albeit it come from the Spirit yet is through another and so must needs be but secondary albeit it be confessed they writ them not for themselvs but for others which I deny not Of the same natur is and the same way is answered what he saith p. 65. n. 19. to wit that I confound the Principal Leader with the Original Rule because I say the Spirit is the Prime and Principal Leader but I deny his consequence neither doth his example of the Wind and Compass prove it the Spirit is the Principal Leader as imprinting upon man's Soul the Rules he should walk by but indeed he would prove a very uncertain Pilot that had no compass but only a description of it and a journal how other men had steered that course and such Pilots is he and his Brethren according to their own confession But he thinks I drive at something more intolerable to wit that the Revelations the Quakers pretend to or the Light within is to be preferred as the more primary and principal Rule to the Scripturs If the Quakers did affirm any revelations they speak of as coming from that Light either were or could be contrary to the Scripturs he would say something otherwise it will amount to no more but that commands as they are imprinted upon the Soul that is the Law writen in the heart by the Spirit is more primarily and principally the Rule than the same things writen and received only from another as to which I will only ask him Whether those things which the Apostles received immediatly from the Spirit commanding them to go here or there to preach the Gospel or the like were as to these ends more
that will not meet this case Those 1 Tim. 1 19. who are said to make shipwrack of a good Conscience are such who believed the true doctrin of faith in Christ as himself before acknowledgeth Now albeit a man may be said to live in good Conscience to other principles while ignorant of this yet he should prove how a man can be said to have a good Conscience with respect to the true faith of Christ held by him and yet without saving or true grace With railing he tels me pag. 358. n. 18. that Phil. 1 6. 1 Pet. 1 5. God's beginning and perfecting the condition And what then yet God doth not this against our wills it is with a respect to our performing the conditions on our part which yet we can not do without him Then he goes about to prove that Paul could not fall in answer to my saying from 1 Cor. 9 27. that Paul supposeth a possibility that he might become a reprobat but if the Reader consider how I bring that in my Apology he will find he had no reason for this cavill for I alledged it only to reprove those that are too too secure shewing where sin was there was always a ground of jealousy since the Apostle did reckon it needfull to keep under his body to subdue sin that he might not become a reprobat which since the Apostle did but upon this supposition if he did not keep under his body suppose possible others had no reason to presume Section Eleventh Wherein his XVI Chapter Of the Church his XVII Of the Ministerial Call his XVIII XIX and XXI Of their Qualifications Office and Maintenance and his XX Of VVomens Preaching is considered ¶ 1. HIs chapter of the Church is soon dispatched for it contains scarce any thing but perversions and railing for after he has given a large citation out of their Confession of Faith and then added some enlargements of his own and some little nibling cavils to what I say of no Salvation being without the Church pag. 361. he goes on with his old reiterated calumny that I suppose men may be made members of the Catholik Church by the Light of Nature which is utterly false And upon this false supposition is built his n. 5. pag. 362. as also what he saith pag. 364. But n. 4. he screws this to a greater pitch of falshood affirming that what I say of a Particular Church gathered together in the faith of the true Principles and Doctrins of Christ by the Spirit of God and testimony of some of his Ministers is that these are persons only taught by the Light of Nature and by such Ministers as preach nothing of the Gospel Against a man thus desperatly resolved and determined to lye and calumniat there can be no guard but sure all sober Readers will abhorr such dealing What I speak of a Church in this respect is only of such as have the advantage of the outward knowledge of Christ as my words afterwards shew where I say such were the Churches gathered by the Apostles of which the Scriptur makes mention And therefore what he objects that can not be don by Pagans is wholly impertinent and doth but verify the grossness of his calumny which he endeavours to inculcat as a truth to his Reader pag. 363. as if what I say further of the things requisit to be a member of this Particular Church were a third sort and not a more particular description of the former which the Reader may easily observe by looking to the place to be a meer fetch of his to afford himself some matter of cavill which imagining he has got he fills-up the paragraph with gross lyes and railing saying That the Quakers believe not the holy Truths set down in the Scripturs because they oppose and contradict them That they believe not in nor maké profession of Jesus Christ revealed in the New Testament because they oppose him and all his Institutions That faith according to them is not wrought by the Spirit of God but that Nature can sweetly and naturally incline yea compell thereunto All which are gross calumnys And then he concludeth saying And thus we have run round and are again where we began which is very true for he began with calumnys and having run round the same way his work resolvs in them Pag. 364. he affirmeth Men may be Members of the visible Church and consequently ought to be reputed such who are ungodly and without holiness and offereth to make it good if I will form a dispute upon it but I leave him as to this to disput with his learned Dr. Owen whose works he has applauded in this Treatise and whom his Postscript-Brother R. M. has in his preface to this B.'s book highly commended as a gratious man As for his silly argument that from the Apostle's saying Act. 2 39. the promise is unto you and to your children and 1 Cor. 7 14. it follows men become members of the Church by birth I leave him to debate it with his great Author Thomas Hicks who will tell him if he be consonant to his own principles it is a Babylonish invention But I. B. hath here unawares contradicted himself for if these Scripturs prove men become members of the Church by birth then the sprinkling them with water sometime after they are born or their Baby-Baptism is not necessary to make them members of the Church and they are to be accounted such without it He saith I am mistaken when I say Antichrist built his structure upon this foundation to wit that men without holiness may be members of the true Church because he applieth all the priviledges of the invisible Church unto his visible synagogue of Sathan where as this sheweth that I am not mistaken but that my affirmation is true for if he to wit Antichrist did believe holiness to be necessary to make a member of the true Church he could not apply the privileges of the invisible Church unto his visible members most of which he wel knows as often-times himself are not only void of but enemies to holiness It is false that I agree with him in his not distinguishing betwixt the Visible and Invisible Church and yet much more in unchurching all who are not of his combination in which albeit I. B. most impudently insinuats I approach to him yet himself can not but know it to be a most manifest falshood since I suppose some of all sects of Christians may be members of the catholik Church and he knows and has observed here how contrary the Pope is to this doctrin At last he concludes this chapter with a fit of Railing of which the last words must not pass without observation to wit that in stead of true holyness I press upon them a natural dead and anti-Evangelical Morality Now this Morality as pressed by me he himself confessed before to be such as the Law of Nature taught albeit in truth I pressed none but what
manifested upon you my witness is in heaven I am one who desires not the evil day but am willing to embrace all the sweet opportunitys of the drawings of my Father's love and the arisings of his Life to stand in the gapp for the single-hearted among you and I must declare for the exoneration of my own Conscience I am an experimental witness how grievously thou violatst the Truth in misrepresenting the things which thou callest the bitter root springing up in these sprouts of hell 1. Mens not receiving the love of the Truth 2. Their pleasing themselves with names and notions while Christ was not received to dwell in the heart 3. Their not departing from iniquity who seemed to call on his Name I am a witness when the Lord called me out from among the Presbyterians I was one who according to my education and information and inclination from my child-hood was a true lover of that called the Glorious Gospell and a constant attender upon the declarations thereof and the messengers feet that published it were beautifull to me so long as those Ordinances of man were unto me as the Ordinances of Christ which was more than 30 years I loved them more than all things in this world I passed through them hungry and hardly bestead for many years feeling after Life and immortality but could not find that somewhat was raised in me that words and reports could not feed names and notions I minded little but Christ to dwell in me was that and is that more and more I press after And now I must for the Truth 's sake say somewhat which I humbly mention with a fresh remembrance of the Love Power and tender Mercy of God who enabled me I know the Lord will not impute it to be boasting in that season wherein the Lord revealed the true way to life and immortality to me by his inward appearance in my Soul it was a time wherein he had mercifully turned me from all that ever his Light inwardly and Law outwardly had condemned me for my heart also did bear witness for me that whatsoever I had known would please him I was chusing to do that not that thereby I was seeking justification in my own righteousness but a sure evidence of my interest in him who was made unto us Righteousness Justification c. This blessed glimpse of my begun freedom was given me in a seasonable time that I might thereby be enabled to speak with mine enemy in the gate and be encouraged to believe in the Light and wait upon the Lord to feel his vertue perfectly to cleanse me from all filthyness of flesh and Spirit Neither was I an undervaluer of the Scripturs they were my Rule then and I hope for ever my life shall answer them I think they honour the Scripturs most who live most according to them and not they who call them the only Rule yet do not make them their pattern The Scripturs of Truth were pretious to me and by them was I taught not to walk nor worship in the way of the People the Spirit shewing me his mind in them and then I saw in his Light that it is not the Scripturs many adore so much as their own corrupt glosses upon them neither can my experience go along with what thou affirmest of the hazard of converse with that People It is very wel known to all that lived in the place where I sojourned I was none who conversed with them I was never at one of their meetings I never read one of their books unless accidentally I had found them where I came and lookt to them and laid them by again So now it remains with me to tell thee what was the occasion I joyned with them since it was none of those thou mention'st which I will very singly and can very comfortably do it was that thing ye school-men call Immediat Objective Revelation which my desire is ye were more particularly and feelingly acquainted with whereby the Lord raising in my Soul his feeling Life I could not sit down satisfied with hearing of what the Son of God had done outwardly though I believe thereby he purchased all that Grace and Mercy which is inwardly wrought in the hearts of his Children untill I should be a partaker of the vertue and efficacy thereof whereby I might possess the Substance of things hoped for I saw an historical faith would neither cleanse me nor save me if that could save any the Devils were not without a door of hope I felt I needed the Revelation of the Son of God in me All that ever I read or heard without this could not give me the Saving knowledge of God None knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him through the vertue whereof mine eyes were more and more by degrees opened for the tender-hearted Samaritan had pitty upon my wounded Soul when both Priest and Levit passed by and the watch-men rent my vail and when there was no eye to pitty nor hand to help me he drew near and poured in wine and oile as he saw needfull and fulfilled the promise in measur wherein he had long caused me to hope he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life and that sweet saying whereby I am confirmed and comforted if evil Parents know how to give their children good things how much more will the Lord give his holy Spirit to those who ask him When your children ask bread will ye give them a stone or when they ask a fish will ye give them a serpent These pretious Scripturs and many such like being opened up and applied by the Spirit of Truth powerfully and seasonably in saying be not faithless but believing times above number before and since hath made me set to my seal to these words of Christ The words that I speak are Spirit and Life and as I walk with him and abide in him watching at the posts of Wisdoms gates travelling in Spirit more and more to bring forth fruit unto him and walk worthy of him unto all wel-pleasing daily to dye unto self that Christ may live in me I becoming a passive creatur and he an active Christ in the encrease of his Government I feel the encrease of my peace And so my friend thou hast here by some touches at things occasion to see how far thou art mistaken concerning us and how far contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus thou represent'st many things to the world speaking evil of things which thou knowst not and if thou dost the greater is thy sin two Particulars indeed I can not strain charity so far as to believe thou thinkst do we deny Jesus Christ and justification through his Righteousness because we make the sufficiency thereof of a more universal extent than ye or because we love whole Christ so much and his seamless coat that we will not have it divided Nay we dare not divide
led by a spirit of error Then the Quakers err in affirming inward and immediat Revelation to be the ground and foundation of true faith But the Quakers are led by a spirit of Error Therefore c. Which is just as if I should argue thus If I. B. be a Knave a manifest Lyar and Calumniator Then he is not a true Minister of Christ nor fit to write in Religious matters But I. B. is such Therefore c. Is not this a notable way of arguing and a quick way to dispatch controversies What saith Rob. Macquair Doth not this wel become his singularly acute solidly learned and truely gracious Author Postscript pag. 559. ¶ 3. The next thing to be considered is his stating the controversy where according to his custom he all along beggs the question for having writ down his opinion and taken it for granted without offering to prove it he goes on and builds thereon without more difficulty as if it were not to be further questioned This appears in pag. 20. 28. 29. 30. 34. 35. 36. 37. 40. 43. 44. in which places he states his opinion of the Immediat Revelation of the Spirit as not being such as presents any Truths to be believed objectively but only in removing the Vail of the Eye of the Understanding and spiritually Illuminating the Mind and Working effectually upon the Heart to embrace and receive the Truth already revealed and proposed in the Scripturs Now for not using this distinction and holding revelation in this his sense he greatly blames me as jumbling things together and darkning and prejudging the Reader and bestows upon me ever and anon many railing words with the repetition of which I will not trouble the Reader And yet notwithstanding this accusation in contradiction of himself he cites me pag. 42 28 taking notice of this very distinction as used by some and also refuting it Surely the man must have miserably forgot himself and will verifie the Proverb Lyars should have good memorys Next since he judges I err in not holding this manner of Revelation and that he builds all his superstructur upon it as the Truth he should have offer'd to prove it to be such for since he saith they willingly grant to these Scripturs noted by me as many as are led by the Spirit of God c. Rom. 8 9-14 together with 1 Joh. 2 27. Joh. 6 45. Joh. 14 16 17. By which Scripturs he can not deny but the manner of the Apostles being led as wel as of all Christians is included since some of them were directed to the Apostles particularly in all which there is no ground for his distinction and assertion It is not said The Comforter that I will send shall lead you the Apostles immediatly by proposing Truth to be believed objectively to you and this shall be accounted extraordinary but after you it shall only lead other Christians by illuminating their Understandings and that shall be the ordinary leading And since then it is a rule granted by all that we must hold to the plain words of Scriptur unless an urgent necessity force us to the contrary he should shew us where this necessity lies and prove his assertion to be the true and genuin meaning of the words and that we ought not to take them as we do according to their plain and naked signification and import For I would willingly hear any ground from Scriptur of this natur of Extraordinary and Ordinary Revelations as pertinent to this debate for albeit things extraordinary may be reveal'd to some and not to others that only respects the things revealed not the manner of Revelation For a man telling me extraordinary things and ordinary albeit the things may differ in their natur yet neither my manner of hearing nor his of speaking do thence necessarily differ ¶ But perhaps the man doth apprehend that what he saith pag. 20. 30. 31. 40. 44. 45. is some proof of his assertion which if he do the Reader may easily observe his mistake where he would insinuat as if the manner of Immediat Revelation by the Spirit asserted by me rendred all other means even those of Teaching and Exhorting which are appoynted by God useless and took away all obligations of obeying the commands of God conveighed by others And yet he taketh notice pag. 23. that I acknowledge other means of Knowledge as profitable neither has he ever heard me deny but men are obliged to obey the commands of God through one another as wel as in themselves as the children of Israel were those of Moses and the Prophets and the Christians those of Christ and his Apostles But I suppose he will affirm with me that no man's Obedience to any command will avail him any thing unless upon inward belief and conviction that the thing commanded is of God since Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin If he say that albeit I do not deny such an obligation yet it necessarily follows from my Principle That this is untruely alleged will easily appear since I suppose he will not deny but the rest of the Apostles who were alive when Paul's Epistls were writen were obliged to receive them and obey them as the dictats of the Spirit yea and were benefited by them and so the Apostle Paul by others albeit on both sides he will acknowledge them to have had such revelations as he accounts Immediat and Extraordinary And so we see that to have such revelations and yet to be mediatly instructed are not inconsistent nor do they render one another useless and indeed to affirm they do so is rather a presumptuous accusing of God who has appynted both in their order for the edification of his Church than a refuting of such as assert them Such are his reasonings pag. 45. Besides that this objection may be easily refuted for since I. B. affirms as particularly pag. 42. that the Scriptur is a compleat Rule in all things concerning Faith and manners in reference to Salvation might it not be said that this takes away the use of all Commentarys and expositions and other books especially since he and his Brethren do with all affirm that it is clear and intelligible to all in things essential to Salvation let him shew how this is weaker as to him than the other as to me With the like presumption he blasphemously asserteth that even these revelations which he himself calleth and acknowledgeth to be inward immediat and extraordinary are uncertain for this reason because many men have been deluded by the Devil on which he also insists in the following page And pag. 34. 48. where he sums up his matter in this question How comes that others pretending to Revelation as much as I have been deceived But as I said before How comes that others pretending to be led by the Scriptur as the Rule as much as I. B. have been deceived since the Scriptur declares nothing but Truth But how silly this is I have above shewn and
perswasion and assurance in them was the formal object of their faith as the things spoken were the material Even as the Light serves by way of formal object to make us see what is proposed unto us ¶ 8. Pag 31 32. he acknowledgeth that Divine and inward revelations need not be tried by the Scriptur as a more noble Rule by him who hath such a revelation but by those to whom he delivers it and then giveth the instance of the Bereans being commended to which I shall willingly assent judging no man that delivers or declares a revelation to another ought to be offended that he try it by the Scriptur which no true revelation can contradict But that such may not also try it by the Testimony of the Spirit of God in their hearts I can not deny and that it is the more noble Rule as being most universal since some Divine revelations such as Prophecys of contingent truths or things to come can not be tried by the Scripturs as was that of George Wishart concerning the Cardinal's death for had another taken upon him at that time to prophesy the quite contrary I would willingly be informed by what Scriptur it could be deduced or known that the one was false or the other true yet who will be so absurd as to deny but that it could by the immediat Testimony of the Spirit As for his proof that the Scriptur is the most certain Rule taken from those words 2 Pet. 1 19 20. We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy c. it is but a begging of the question in supposing that Peter by this understood the Scriptur and indeed is most ridiculous to affirm For since the Apostle reckons this Word more sure than the voyce they heard with their outward ears and the vision they saw with their outward eyes it were absurd to affirm that the description or narration of a thing were more sure than the immediat seeing and hearing it Can any description I may receive of I. B. however true give me so certain a knowledge of him as if I saw him and spake with him Yet without any absurdity it may be said that the Inward Word or Testimony of the Spirit in the heart is more sure in things spiritual than any thing that is objected to or conveighed by the outward senses as that vision was of which the Apostle there speaks since the inward and spiritual senses are the most proper and adequat means of conveighing spiritual things to the Soul by which the saints after they have laid down this body and have no more the use of the outward senses which are seated in it do most surely enjoy the blessed vision of God and fellowship both with him and one another As for that of Isa. 8 20. To the Law and to the testimony c. and that of Joh. 5 39. Search the Scripturs c. mentioned here by him I shall have occasion to speak of them hereafter It 's true John tels we are not to believe every spirit but it will not thence follow that the Scriptur is a more sure rule than the Spirit for such a trial Pag. 35. he thinks my saying that the Divine revelation moveth the understanding wel disposed confirmeth what he saith and spoileth all my purpose because then every revelation pretending to be Divine is not to be submitted to But where did ever I say so What he talks further of this wel disposed intellect pag. 36. I spake to in my answer to Arnoldus pag. 18 19. to which I referr For I believe all men in a day have by the gratious visitation of God's Love an understanding wel disposed to some Divine revelations which becomes disposed for others as these are received which will after in its place be discussed And some Divine revelations which are prophetik of things to come may so far manifest themselves by their self-evidence even to men not regenerat as to force an assent as in the case of Balaam mentioned by him did appear What he saith further pag. 36 37. inquiring how and after what manner these revelations were the object of the Saints faith of old is easily answered by applying it to what is before mentioned in answer to his querys and conjecturs of the formal object For those of old that had these revelations immediatly the formal object of their faith was God manifesting himself and his will in them to them by such revelations and those who received and obeyed the things delivered by the Patriarchs and Prophets those things so delivered as he confesseth were not the Formal but Material Object of their Faith but the Formal Object was GOD by the secret and inward Testimony of his Spirit perswading them in their hearts that these things declared to them were really his command and thence inclining and bowing their minds to an assent and obedience to them And albeit pag. 38 he terms this a wild assertion yet he hath but said and not proven it to be so and till he prove he needs no further refutation neither is it non-sense nor yet a destroying of the cause as with the like proofeless confidence he affirms p. 37 that where revelations are made by outward voices or in a manner objected to the outward senses the cause or motive of credibility is not so much because of what the outward senses perceive as because of the inward testimony of the Spirit assuring the Soul that it is GOD so manifesting himself Which testimony to answer his question is distinguishable from what is objected to the outward senses albeit it go always along with it simul semel as they use to say since he with me accounts it a serious truth to say the Devil may delude the external senses and he can far more easily deceive them than the true inward and spiritual senses of the Soul by counterfeiting the inward testimony of the Spirit since by that the Apostle saith we know and partake of that which neither eye hath seen nor ear heard ¶ 9. Pag. 39. He confesseth with me that the formal Object of the Saints faith is always the same But yet that he may say something he spendeth the paragraph in railing accusing me as writing non-sense and being an Ignoramus because I bring instances which relate to the material object which himself confesseth also to be the same in substance But by his good leave for all he is so positive in his judgment I must shew the Reader his mistake for those exampls of Abraham and others are adduced by me to shew the one-ness of the formal object neither has he shewn that they are impertinent for that end since as the formal object of Abraham's Faith was God's speaking to him by Divine revelations so is the same the Formal object of the saints now and therein stands the unity or one-ness of our faith with him and not in the material object which often differs for to offer up his son was
is not inward since the Spirit of God by which Christians are led and instructed is said to be within them But pag. 424. n. 16. he saith that watching is not a turning inward but a looking outward also Indeed they who look outward go the way to be tempted for outward objects is not that which delivers men from temptations but often draws them to them But it would seem according to him that men if their eyes be shut or in a dark room can not watch in a Spiritual sense and then what became of many Saints that have been put into dungeons As to what he adds out of Dr Stillingfleet's book of the idolatry of the Church of Rome and Taulerus sermons which takes up about 7 whole pages by which the Reader may see how his book grows so bulky he misseth his aim for he will never prove that the first and most eminent Preachers among the Quakers who both practised and commended this way of Worship as wel as thousands of them yet did ever know that there was such a thing spoken of among Papists or that there ever lived such a man as Taulerus So that he but wasts his paper in seeking to prove they have borrowed their doctrin thence and albeit I will not justify many of the expressions used in the pages cited by him yet I will not scruple to affirm that some of them favour more of Christianity than his lyes calumnys and railings ¶ 3. He begins his 23th chapter of Preaching that he may be like himself with a calumny saying I have something against Preaching Praying and Singing which is false I am against none of those dutys as truely performed according to the right Gospel method as by the sequel will appear And that he may go on at the same rate he seems to be glad that I acknowledge the necessity of Worships being consonant to Scriptur but then that he may not want something to cavill he entreats me to reconcile this with what I say of the Scripturs but he should first have shewn me wherein the difference is for I profess I see none He desires also to know from Scriptur the necessity when men are met together of turning their minds inward which he still will express to make it the more frightfull by the Latine word Introversio and this he thinks so hard that he often insists upon it as pag. 446 447 448. But is it not needfull to assemble in the Name of Jesus And can that truely be without turning the mind inward unless with superstitious Papists he thinks it is enough for meeting in the Name of Jesus to say when they begin In Nomine Domini however their minds be abroad Can there be any true sense of God's Majesty as him to whom we draw near which himself confest before to be needfull without a serious turning of the mind inward that is an abstracting from all worldly and vain thoughts to mind GOD and the operations of his Spirit in the Soul Let him read Psalm 46 14. 62 1. Eccles. 5 2. Zach. 2 3. It were hard for him to forget his old often reiterated calumny and therefore he hath it here oftner than once as pag. 441 442-447 alledging most falsly that all that by which the Quakers preach or require as needfull to preach is but the dimme and darkned and malignant Light of Nature neither will he forget here his constant trade of Railing take one instance pag. 447. where he sayes that before I want revelations I will go to the Devil to get them as Saul did to the Witch of Endor More of such railing stuff the Reader may find and that very plentifully pag. 440-442-448 He wants not here also his malitious insinuations as pag. 439. that the Quakers use legerdemaine to make People believe they speak all without a previous thought in their Preaching and yet have all to a word wel studied If he accuse the Quakers of this let him prove it if he can for we deny it as a gross calumny Another is pag. 441. That we would have all study all meditation all Prayer and wrestling with God in Prayer laid aside which is also false But to proceed he foundeth what he saith in this matter upon two great mistakes which being removed the superstructur will fall of it self The first is pag. 438. where to prove the usefulness of study and premeditation to Preaching he tels how Paul made use of what he had read out of a Heathen Poet his recommending reading to Timothy his desiring Titus to hold fast the faithfull Word as he had ben taught c. and Apollos being instructed by Aquila and Priscilla all which are nothing to his purpose for we never said it was unlawfull for men to read books especially the Scriptur or that by such reading men may not acquire knowledge which may prove usefull in Preaching or defending the Truth but the question is Whether men may make use of these things in publik Worship otherwise than as led and acted and influençed by the Spirit so to do and Whether any of these places will allow men to preach in the strength of their natural or acquired parts without being acted therein by the Spirit Let him prove this if he can for this is the matter in question and remember Robert Bruce his censur of Robert Blair his sermon recorded in the fulfilling of the Scripturs His second mistake is pag. 443. where he supposeth that to be led by the Spirit excludeth or is inconsistent with reading Scriptur and with all the particular instructions given by Paul to Timothy and Titus who might have said as this man argues I can not be stinted unto these doctrins which you desire me to put the brethren in remembrance of for I must speak as the Spirit speaketh in me and the like But will he say that Timothy was not to speak as the Spirit spake in him To suppose this as inconsistent with such instructions is to beg the question and that these are consistent I have shewn above in my third section of Immediat Revelation or let him tell plainly if Timothy could do those things acceptably without the Spirit since all worship is commanded by Christ to be done now in the Spirit And yet he seemeth to agree to the necessity of the Spirit else why quarreleth he me pag. 448. for insinuating as he saith that their Ministers preach not in the demonstration of the Spirit giving an enumeration pag. 439. of several ways which he saith I know not but their Ministers are led to preach by among which this is one What know I saith he but there may be some that never digest their preachings so as not to lye open to the influences of the Spirit and to welcome his seasonable and usefull suggestions and so speak many things which they had not once premeditated But I would ask him Whether it be lawfull for any so to digest their matter as not to lie thus open
to the Spirit 's influences He would seem to say it were since it is but some and a may be some too with him that do so And whereas he tels of some that are constrained to change their text and what they bad purposed to speak upon it this shews the case is but rare and therefore I am not to be blamed for what I say in general of Preachers among Papists and Protestants whose general way is to prepare aforehand what they preach and then speak it to the People at a set hour without waiting for the leading of the Spirit or whether they have its influence or not And for all the weight that this man would seem to lay sometimes upon the Spirit 's influence and concurrence yet he gives shrewd presumptions that he doth it but pro forma else how comes he to urge as an absurdity pag. 445. that all that Ministers preach by the Spirit must be true And why not If it be from the Spirit it can not be other ways yet men whose principle it is to speak from the Spirit may through weakness and mistake preach false doctrin yet the Spirit is not to be blamed for it but those who keep not purely to it I suppose he will not deny but all that which men preach according to the Scriptur is infallibly true it will not thence follow that all that which men whose principle it is to preach acccording to Scriptur preach is true because that through weakness they may mistake the true meaning of the Scriptur Also what he adds if the matter be thus it is all one whether the Preacher be young or old for it is not he that speaketh but the Spirit in him for this savoureth not of a Christian Spirit to seek to draw an absurdity or make a mock of that which is no other than Christ's express words Matth. 10 20. Mark 13 3. and indeed what he saith in this page N. 9. in answer to these Scripturs seemeth rather a mock at Christ his Apostles than any answer asking me if I know not that Christ gave them their Preaching with them telling them what they should say And as ye go preach saying The Kingdom of God is at hand And a little after he saith they had their sermon taught them before hand But dare he say that Christ's words before mentioned were therefore false This he must say or else prove nothing Or will he say that the Apostles in all that progress said nothing but these seven words The Kingdom of God is at hand For according to him this was all they said which they had learned aforehand and not as the Holy Ghost taught them in that hour what to say albeit it be Christ's express words Luk 12 12. Pag. 447. to my argument that according to their doctrin the Devil himself ought to be heard seing he knoweth the notion of Truth and excelleth many of them in learning and eloquence he answers Why doth the man thus speak untruth Do we say that every one though he were the Devil if he speak truth should be heard Do they not say that men ought to be heard and accounted as Ministers albeit void of the true Grace of God if having the formality of the outward call And to prove this do not they bring the example of Judas whom Christ called a Devil And they suppose him to have been such even when sent by Christ deserved to be heard as his Apostle Let him consider then how he can shun what I have affirmed And albeit the Devil may speak without study yet he can not be said to speak by the Spirit of God which is the thing we affirm needfull to Gospel preaching And for his last argument pag. 448. that since extraordinary gifts ceased there hath been no ordinary way of Preaching but by ordinary gifts studied and acquired it is but a bare begging of the question and the same upon the matter with his new enforced objection which I answered towards the beginning of my third section of Immediat Revelation ¶ 4. I come now to his 24th chapter of Prayer and as to his first paragraph there needs no debate for except some railing intermixed I own what is asserted in it as to the necessity of Prayer and its being through Christ as Mediator In the next he alledgeth I speak untruely in saying that the acts of their Religion are produced by the strength of the natural will for they can pray when they please but how truely this is affirmed concerning them will after appear albeit in opposition to it after citing a passage out of the larger Catechism he saith they owne the influences of the Spirit as absolutely necessary to this duty which if he would hold to there needed no further debate I should agree to it for he doth untruely state the question when he saith a little after that the motions and inspirations I plead for are extraordinary which is false and never said by me and therefore his building on it is in vain as wel here as pag. 452. 457-459 461. where he insinuats that I judge not the gratious and ordinary influences of the Spirit a sufficient warrand to pray which is false What he saith pag. 451. of the necessity of Prayer at some times and of the Scripturs mentioning Prayers being made three times a day I deny not nor is it to the purpose The question is Whether any can pray acceptably without the Spirit We see he hath granted they can not then the thing to be proved is Whether the general command authorizeth any to set about it albeit in a manner which is granted will not avail and is unacceptable So the matter resolves in examining what he can say from Scriptur or other ways to prove this and that there may be no mistake let it be considered that I deny not the general obligation to pray upon all so that they who do not pray sin albeit they be not sensible of the Spirit 's help enabling them to do it but that the way to avoid this sin is not to commit another to pray with out the Spirit but to wait for the Spirit that they may pray acceptably seing without it though they should use words of Prayer it would be no fulfilling of the command And first then to what he argueth pag 452. from the reïterated commands of God to pray I answer that God's command lays upon man an obligation to pray I deny not but God commands no man to pray unacceptably God commands the right performance of Prayer and this he has confessed can not be without the Spirit therefore God commands no prayer without the Spirit neither is the command answered or fulfilled by such as pray without it To this he objecteth pag. 453 458. that the same Moral dutys might be shifted untill the Spirit lead to them and also natural acts of sleeping eating c. which are abomination in the wicked yet to go round he