I can find them And I must say the like of that passage of his p. 15. Priest There is nothing in man to be spoken to but man Answ How then ministred the Apostle to the spirit I cannot find where the Apostle is said to minister to the spirit 14. The next I will note is in p. 9. thus Priest The Quakers are deceived because they say Christ is within them kept down by something within them Ans Corrected by the Apostle who saith to the Saints Christ is in you the hope of glory and he was prest down as a Cart with sheaves It 's manifest that Christ is the Antecedent to He but where is that spoken of Christ The Prophet Amos not the Apostle saith in the name of the Lord Ch. 2. v. 13. Behold I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves But it is referred to the Lord or Jehovah that brought them out of the land of Egypt v. 10. and not to Christ But our Prophet George will not allow the Father and the Son to be distinct but all one See p. 99. therefore frequently referrs that to Christ which is spoken only of God the Father 15. So he doth with that Text 1 Cor. 15.28 which he doth us the favour to cite Chap. and verse and to put the words in Scripture Character too for thus he saith p. 343. The promise is to the seed the seed is Christ Christ all and in all 1 Cor. 15.28 He 's very unhappy both in reciting words and Texts for the Apostle saith thus And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God not Christ may be all in all He could not have done a greater Injury to the Holy Spirit 's words than thus to put Christ for God for it mades them altogether absurd but whither will not the love of a false opinion drive men 16. Thus where the Scripture saith and the word was God G.F. saith p. 350. and 61. God is the word Jo. 1.1 I would gladly know of you my friends Whether the infallible spirit that leads G.F. into all truth doth not also bring things to his remembrance if it did at the time he wrote this then he sailed through wilful disobedience if it did not then G. F. is not infallible for here either his memory or his will fail'd him And this he is chargeable with though we should suppose there were no difference in the sence but I conceive there is a difference for though the Scripture saith And the word was made or was flesh yet no considerate man will say Flesh is the word neither is it in it self true 17. It seems to proceed from the same bitter root in him that he perverts the sence by so cutting short that Scripture Rom. 1.16 saying p. 160. And immortality not come to the light through the power of God which is the Gospel And p. 4. And the Apostle saith It the Gospel is the power of God whereas the Apostle saith indeed I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth c. which is far another thing than to say simply The Gospel is the power of God for what may not a man make of Scripture if he will take to himself this kind of license Then may we say of the like phrase 1 Cor. 1.18 The preaching of the cross is foolishness and foolishness is the power of God for the preaching of the cross is both 18. And if it had not been for the confounding of the person of the Son with the Father I see no reason why he should say p. 119. His father and he is greater then all For Christ saith Joh 10.29 My Father which gave them me speaking of the sheep is greater then all What would you say of your Adversary that should deal thus with your writings as G. Fox deals with Holy Scriptures 19. And he that dares thus to add and insert another person into the Text as he hath done in that now named what marvel is it that he adds the name of a person at all adventures whether it be right or wrong Thus doth he p. 134. and so deny Christ the Lord that bought them He had heard it's like formerly that Text 2 Pet. 2.1 so render'd by some or other and therefore it must be so though Peter saith only denying the Lord that bought them which may agree as well to God the Father as to Christ his Son 20. The two last Scriptures we noted we found addition in them here we have substraction which thought it might be pardon'd in another man that appears not to have any design in it or that condemneth not severely the like in others yet in him it cannot If he will quote Scripture why not as it lies plainly especially when brevity doth not constrain him to do otherwise Thus when he saith p. 165 Christ is come to whom every knee must how and tongue confess to the glory of God why doth he neither add the father to the term God nor insert that Jesus Christ is Lord as the Apostle doth both for he saith And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father But how the truth of this Scripture can consist with their Doctrine that say the Father and the Son are all one I cannot conceive 21. The 21 th Scripture which he hath notoriously and impudently added to is that in John Ch. 15. v. 25. which according to John runs thus But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testify of me But according to George thus Christ saith he is in the Father and the Father is in him and he will send them the spirit of truth the Comforter that proceeds from the Father and the Son Now that it may appear most evidently that he quotes this as Scripture and Christ's own words I will produce a passage out of the Epistle to G. Whitehead's Divinity of Christ subscrib'd by G.F. John Stubbs where he useth the words in the letter of Scripture saying also The Scripture saith and challengeth his adversaries to give him Scripture in plain words Thus it is read But we do charge Danson and his Brethren to make this good by Scripture in plain words For the Scripture saith The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father the holy Ghost proceeds from them I beseech you friends consider what spirit lead G. F. when he wrote these words What! Call and clamour upon his Antagonist for Scripture in plain words and then pretend to give Reader Scripture falsify it Can you produce an Author that ever wrote so inconsiderately If this be not a plain addition to the words of Christ I pray
man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new The Apostle speaks of the new creation as a thing done G. F. as a thing a doing and not done for that agreed better with his design in tha place 30. But we have not yet done with the 2 nd Epistle to the Corinthians where Ch. 2. v. 16. the Apostle saith To the one that perish we are the Savour of death unto death and to the other the saved the Savour of life unto life But G. F. I suppose as he had heard it sometimes from some Priest applies it to the word thus For the word it self is immediate for it is the Savour of death to the death and of life to the life Thus when it is for the honour of his phrase the word must be put for the Apostles and Preachers of it 31. The Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 3. prophesying of the wicked ones that should come in the last dayes saith p. 6. of this sort are they which creeps into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth But G. F. that he may lay load upon all those Preachers that are not Quakers saith of suoh as have got the good wonds c. who are reprobates concerning the faith which crept into houses before the Apostles decease which have kept people always learning but never able to come to the know ledge of the truth led away with dibers lusts Now the Apostle doth not attribute to these false Teachers which yet were bad enough that they kept people always learning c. but they led captive such as were so He should give him without wrong to the holy spirit in the holy Apostle 32. And that our Prophet G. may seem to have some colour for disparaging the other Ministers upon the account of their humance learning he saith p. 70. So all your tools ye have wrought withal since the Apostasy hath been taken out of the stops of humane learning which is earthly this proves ye are Apostates and the spirits gone out into the world And Luke saith the tongues of the Hebrew Greek and Latine was set up a top of Christ by Pitale who crucified him But where Luke saith so he leaves us to ghess I have found indeed that Luke saith Ch. 23.38 And a super scription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latine and Hebrew but I could never yet find Luke saying The tongues of the Hebrew Greek and Latine was set up a top of Christ This came out of George's own brain that is not over fraught with those tongues I dare warrant you but yet he will undertake to correct the Translatours and he never doth it with greater advantage than in the rendering of that passage of the Apostle to the. 33. Colossians Ch. 1. v. 23. which we read thus If ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven The use of this last clause in G. Fox is this p. 41. Priest He dare boldly assert that the Gospel is not first made known by the seeing within but by hearing tidings without c. G. Fox's Answ Contrary to that which they call their original which saith the Gospel is preached in every creature That which is to my purpose chiefly is that puts is for was that it may be accommodate to his Doctrine of the Gospel in these days and all days of the world preached within them that never heard or saw a tittle of the Gospel either by word or writing Thus when our Lord said unto his Disciples Mar. 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature in is not there he bade them do that which was done already and was always done ever since there were men in the world And them it would have been hand for the Apostle Paul to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named Rom. 15.20 It seems G. F's Gospel of Christ is preached where Christ is not named This excellent use doth G. Fox make of his skill in the Orginal as they call it But more of that afterward 34. But is it not pretty that whil'st G. F. charges the Translators with corrupting the Scripture because they render en to in English and sometimes with or among that yet himself when they have translated it in should change it into within as he chang'd it into with which I observed before upon Eph. 2. Thus p. 105. Now the Scriptures cannot lead into all truth but it testifies of that that doth so And if Christ be not within people they are reprobates The Apostle and the Translators say know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2. Cor. 15.5 But G. thinks he may boldly and to the Scripture when he doth not alter the sence though he reproves it very sharply in others As if in you could admit of no other sence but within you Let us see then whether the words of Christ will always admit that sence Mat. 20.26 27. But it shall not be so within you but whosoever will be great within you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief within you let him be your servant Here if G. please to consult that which they call the Greek he will sind it en by min in you and then we must read it as I have done And is not that excellent sence let the impartial judge The like fault is G. F. guilty of in relation to 1 Joh. 2.27 where the Apostle speaketh of the anointing which abideth in you but G. p. 79. the Apostles brought the Saints then to the anointing within them and a little below in the same page no one knows the eye of the soul but who comes to the light within 35. But that charge will not lye against him for the term within in Luke 17.21 because he finds it in the Text but it 's rare with him to use any Text and not abuse it therefore in stead of The kingdom of God as it is in the Text he makes it go for the kingdom of heaven p. 64. But that 's a small matter and might be passed by but he will not leave it so for his Adversaries do often press him with the many Scriptures which speak of Christ's being in Heaven and consequently absent from the Saints on earth as far as heaven is from earth this Text now must be press'd for his service at this turn and must prove that Heaven is within men Therefore he said p. 101. And the Scriptures doth witness heaven within Is not this fair dealing first to change the Kingdom of God into he Kingdom of heaven and then to leave out Kingdom too and put Heaven for the
come before in your Judicatories you are not of another mind before you hear the Judgment of those your Elders and sometimes afterward also and whether you do verily believe that in all cases that have been decided by you every particular person would have been of the same mind being alone as the Society was of in their determination Nay do you not sometimes find your selves aggrieved at the Judgment of men and are you not forced sometimes to set up the Judgment of a part or of the Elder against the Judgment of another part of the people If you are then how is the light in every one of you extended to every particular case or is the light contrary to it self in this and that man or number of men And where is the Infallibility you speak of in particular persons in all cases If you consider this well I am perswaded you will perceive that the light in every man especially in those whose Judgments have been prepossed with false notions as many of you have been before you were Quakers doth not teach him all things whatsoever but all things that are necessary for him to know in order to a holy trust in God and sincere obedience in the general course of his life Besides Doth not the light in every man teach him to make use of such helps and assistances as God has afforded him And doth not the Apostle Paul say whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 And the Apostle John These things 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 Joh 20. 31. Now supposing the light in every man would teach him every particular thing it is always to be understood if he be obedients to what he knows and diligent in the use of those means God has afforded him of which we find the holy Scriptures are very great means and perhaps he has been negligent in the use of these indeed who can think any less of you who have suffered a Book to be set out in your names about 12 years agoe wherein I have shewed you about fifty false quorations not only false Interpretations or meanings besides non-sence and other faults and yet I am apt to think that scarce one in 500 of you that have read that Book have observed any such falsities And must we believe that God will still give you a light actually teaching you all things whatever how negligent soever you have been or are in the following of that he hath given you Must God be bound with his divine light and Inspiration to supply the defects of you Idleness and pride For when other men count it great mercy and favour in God that he is pleased through the vilest means that may be and through their earnest Study and diligence to grant them the knowledge of his will inlightning their minds by his holy Spirit you must have it like the Angels that always behold his face by immediate Revelation and without labour and Industry So now my friends I deny not that there is a light in every man which he is obliged under pain of the displeasure of the Almighty diligently to eye and follow that so doing it will lead him by degrees into all necessary truth and at length to eternal life I deny not but some of you have received and done much good by following this light but I must say again and that with great sorrow of heart that your preachers especially G. F. have greatly mistaken both the Teachings of and the Obedience to the Lights that your zeal been in great part not according to knowledge that you lay great snares in your onw way by binding your selves to those things to which God hath not bound you that in stead of worshipping God in spirit and truth you require the observation of ceremonies things in themselves neither good nor evil such are your not putting off the hat in Salutations not saying you but thou to a single person not calling him Master that is a Master and the like which your negative precepts no man in the world is one jot the better for your are the worse But above all your allegorical way of interpreting Scripture tends utterly to make it void and of no use and consequently to the ruine and overthrow of all Christian Religion Now I doubt not but there will be found among you more then one Solomon Eccles whose blood will boile within him and stir him up to the vindication of this great Prophet I can easily perswade my self that there is scarce any one of you that at least has at any time wrote any thing in your cause but he or she will think him or herself as soon they read the Title-page able to give a confuting answer to all that can be said against so worthy a person but I should think that as none of you is so able so none should be more provoked to defend him than your late Apologist William Pen who from Jenner's relation did observe that the only blasphemy was against G. Fox in speaking evilly of the Lord's servant p. 170. of that Apol. If he be moved to ingage in it I only beg of him that he would first be satisfied in his own conscience and light concerning that underta king and if he can do that I shall ever after have a better opinion of the Popish writers that ingage in defence of Transubstantiation Here I easily foresee one substantial Objection against me and Defence of George will be that I was ashamed of my name and durst not subscribe it to the charge Now I am almost ready to grant the last part of the Objection for I have some fear upon me on that acount and my reasons for it are such as these 1. There are some of your writers that make it a great part of their answers to Books the reproaching of the Author and they are very Rhetorical in that point and truly I desire rather a pertinent answer and am not willing to put into your hands an occasion for an impertinent one If you had my name then it must be considered what party I am of whether an Episcopalian Prechyterian Independent c. and accordingly all that is odious or so reputed either in the Doctrine or practice of the whole party or any particular person thereof must all be raked up against me and serve for a very plausible Answer Or if I should chance to be an old man of sixty six like your Adversary Jenner that would help as it doth against him to render me doting at every turn and be matter for a good part of an eighteen pence Apology Or if I have been a Brasier heretofore or a Tayler the world must be made to know what a pitiful mean fellow I am and must be told my name with Tinker or Tayler at the end one See the Apol. p. 2. But if this will not be enough you have a way that will serve you effectually to disgrace any man living so far as it is in your power and that is by suggesting as G. Whitehead against Mr. Danson Divinity of Christ p. 49. that he was given to Gaming Bowls and Nine-pins any crime whatsoever and when the suggestion is proved to be false if it so fall out unhappily you may come off as he by saying you did but quaere whether it was so or no you did not positively affirm it Will these things incourage any man to put his name into your hands that can keep it out Judge yee Besides I known not what disadvantage it will be to you not to know my name for what I have written will be as true without it as with it I confess that perhaps you will lose some of that sweetness of Revenge you would take in lustily bespattering me and that I am not willing to gratify you with I thank God through Jesus Christ I have a full testimony in my own Conscience both touching the causes and Inducements of my present writing viz. my hearty love and affection to Truth and your persons for whom I have longtime dayly prayed God who is light to lead you into the true light and the acknowledgment of the Mystery which was hid from Ages and Generations and also touching my faithfulness and Intergrity in the collection and Citations and Observations I have made so that whoever of you have a true discerning of spirits which you lay so great a claim to I am sure ye must justify me in what I have done and receive it as that which I was moved to in the general by the light of God and Christ in my heart But however you receive it or judge of it he that justifieth me is the Lord to whom I commit my self and it still praying for you for I am Your affectionate Friend FINIS The courteous Reader may be pleased to take notice that the words relating to Scripture in the Citations out of G. Fox should have been Printed in a different Character as they are in G o F's Book such are these p. 6.1.7 l. 12. p. 7. l. 21.14 p. 8. l. 12.13.24.25.27 p. 9. l. 15.17 them l. 30. p. 10. l. 20.29 p. 11. l. 25.26 p. 12. l. 〈◊〉 p. 13. l. 16.27 p. 14. l. 21.26 the Spirit l. 32. 82. ERRATA Page 7. l. 33. non read not p. 11. l. 18. r. found there p. 13. l. 〈◊〉 for I am only to 1. It 's enough that l. p. 31 l. 12 for 1 far p. 38. l. 25.1 think * In his Book called The Quakers Challenge thus Stand up Muggleton the sorcerer whose mouth is full of Cursing Lies and Blasphemy who call st thy last Book A looking Glass for George Fox whose name thou are not worthy to take into thy mouth who is a Prophet indeed and hath been faithful in the Lords business from the begâ—nning It was said of Christ That he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not So it may â—o said of this true Prophet whom John said he war not but thou wilt feel this Prophet one day as heavy as a milstone upon thee and although the world know him not yet he is known