A SURVEY OF Quakerism As it is STATED IN THE Professed Doctrine and Principles OF THAT PARTY With a Serious REFLECTION ON THE Dreadful Import thereof to Subvert the very Being and Reality of the Christian Religion By a Lover of the Truth LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the Lower end of Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1677. Licensed and Entred according to Order To the READER Christin Reader IT should be a sad and unpleasing Subject this to converse with in a time when so much is on every hand to cause grief if the defence of the Truth and a Being guarded against the contagion of so horrid a way did not necessarily require the same which besides a surprising call and pressing desire of some for whom I owed greatest respects hath occasioned these few lines to go forth to the World I may say with much aversion of spirit otherways thereto It seems peculiar to this Age to have out-gone all former times in a new and unusual way of sinning and a daring insolence to oppose the Truth whilse such amazing Prodigies of Atheism Prophanity and Error do at once meet together To let this generation see how inexcusable they are if Judgment from the Lord yea some unusual and stupendious stroke thereof do surprize them where so loud a cry goes before of its coming But it is well the Truth abides sure and immoveable and we know must out-live with a growing splendour and brightness this so remarkable an hour of the power of darkness yea hath that Authority not only on the Conscience of such who embrace it in love but on its Enemies as must enforce some awe and dread on the greatest blasphemers of the time whether they will or not The Virgin-daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee whom hath thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the holy One of Israel Should it not deeply affect such as love Our Lord Jesus Christ to see such a party crouding in the streets and high-ways of Britain whose express design is so obvious not to darken only but subvert the whole of the Gospel in the Incarnation Death and Sufferings of our glorious Redcemer and of his being truly God and Man in two distinct Natures united in one Person Oh if we should be bereaved of this inestimable treasure we were bereaved indeed Yea such whose work is to depress the credit and authority of that great and sacred Instrument of Truth the Scripture in the light whereof the redeemed of the Lord now in Glory have got thus safe to Land without any other Light or Rule besides this to walk by and on which so innumerable a company have adventured hitherto bearing their witness to its truth and faithfulness whose record we know to be true and some should reckon themselves under singular engagements to seal this Truth though with their dying breath That in all the steps of the Lords way even such as seem most dark to these who look on them at a distance assuredly he is what he hath declared himself to be in the written Word I shall only add what with much confidence I may here witness that as I know no quarrel but one with any of that way which is for the Truths sake I could not but judg I had too sure ground to charge these as their Principles and Doctrine upon them which they have publickly owned to the World if they keep not some reserved sence contradictory to their own words and so far as I can reach without any known retractation SECT I. THOUGH it is undeniably sad and one of the most searching Tryals of the Church at which many are ready to be shaken when the Truth seems intangled in a consusion of contrary Doctrines and the spirit of Error let loose to darken the same and that we see it also one of the greatest strokes from God inflicted here yea greater than that on the Affections in the delivering up of mens Reasons and Judgments to strong delusion with these fearful productions which are this way oft found because they received not the love of the Truth yet it is well we know the Faithfulness of God is sure and stands good to bring the Elect safe unto Glory whatever Rocks and Shelves be in the way on which so many have visibly made shipwrack nor can the Truth conflict with such a Tryal but for its farther Triumph and some more bright breaking forth of its light and that no evil eye nor the cursing of any shall ever blast that Interest which God hath blessed One thing I confess seems strange and most threatning in this time whilst Religion and the Christian Faith is in such eminent hazard and the Devil in an unusual manner let loose to deceive to see how great a part of those who professedly own the Truth are fallen as in a dead Palsey and indifference about the things of Christ though never more vigorously moving about their own things nor seem they with such suitable fear to be jealous of the corruption of the mind and intellectual Errors as they are of moral Corruption as though diseases in the Head were not to be feared which are usually found of all to be most mortal yea when so discernibly this is one of the depths of Satan and his known devices to bring in Atheism and Irreligion by Error and turn the World from all setled perswasion of the Truth by some high pretences thereto for which one sad instance I must here give that I am sure except men shut their eyes they cannot but see No engin could have a more native and effectual tendency to bring such as were unstable the farthest length of Vaninus and his followers even to deny and blaspheme a Deity than to unhinge them once from founding on the Scripture and turn them over to that way of the Quakers which now seems to have such a formidable growth in the Church What these are who under this name and peculiar cognizance of Quakers have become so known and stated an adversary to the Truth this day the account they give of their own Doctrine and Principles can too clearly witness nor needs there any great search to be made about their rise and descent it is too late and but a few years since the World knew such a monstrous birth though I confess in its complex frame if it be seriously considered it is a most discernible compound of these ancient Heresies that have sprung up in the Church which did formerly each in their turn essay to ruin the Truth But this also we may know how at an ebb-tide after much former abuse of Light and in an hour of great Temptation on the Churches of Christ these did adventure to creep forth to whom once the Light and authority of the Truth would have been
how sad a subject the Truth of an immortal soul and its being for ever it to such whom the Devil hath so far got under his Command and Power as those visibly are at this day Pos 10. This they professedly own also That not the same individual body is raised again which is laid in the dust but there is a change thereof in substance as well as in qualities which is no new opinion but what was the Heresie of the Marcionites and the Valentinians of old but according to the Scripture it is clear 1. That there shall be a transforming of those vile bodies at the resurrection to be fashioned after the glorious body of Christ Phil. 3. 21. and no forming of a new one which could not possibly be understood if the same numerical body should not be raised and that this change here is but in qualities not in substance 2. If the resurrection of the Saints be conformable to the resurrection of Christ then must it be the very same numerical body that is raised up from the dead and not another 3. This was not Job's testimony only but the Holy Ghost's speaking in the Scripture to us what was his assured hope herein that though worms destroy this body yet in his flesh should he see God whom he should see for himself and his eyes behold and not another Job 19. 26 27. 4. We may humbly adventure to say it is suitable to the holy and unspotted Righteousness of God that the same very body which did accompany the soul here in the pain and labour of duty and under much tribulation for the Truth should be its companion in Glory that those who strove together and run in one race should be both interested in the same crown and reward and the same body also which was the souls Organ and Co-partner with it in committing of sin should partake also of that punishment after the resurrection One thing farther I must here add in which they seek to make themselves remarkable to the World by these austere appearances of Mortification and strictness in denying all civil respects to others which they seem to intend as a visible badg of their prefession but if this be a matter of such weight whereon serious Religion and Mortification to the flesh leans so much as they would have us believe it is then clear 1. That the Popish-Capucchins and Mahumetan-Dervices to whom this way hath so visible a resemblance can sufficiently pretend to and contend for a preference 2. Then the Christian Church must take a new Copy and have no regard to the Example and deport of the Saints this way in Scripture such as Nathan the Prophet of whom the Holy Ghost records when he came in to the King he bowed himself to the very ground 1 Kings 1. 23. Or the Apostle Paul in his expressing himself to Festus and Agrippa Acts 26. 25. Or Luke the Evangelist in the designation he hath of Theophilus Luke 1. 31. 3. If a conformity to this mode and way must be an essential requisite to Religion we must quit the Scripture-Rule also Lev. 19. 32. Thou shalt rise up before the boary head and honour the face of the old man the reason of which Precept is undeniably moral and founded upon immutable grounds and that Rom. 13. 7. Give honour to whom honour is due nor does this suit the Apostles Rule and practice in things indifferent I was all things to all that I might gain some which would be far from denying an humane civil deport to others where this might be gaining 4. But oh what amazing confidence is this for those who find it easie to turn the great Realities of the Gospel and most express institutions of the Word into a shadow and allegory yet to lay such a stress of duty on an outward gesture Do they think the World is such as they may impose upon it what they please and hath so far lost reason though there were no sense of Religion as not to discern such an imposture SECT III. HAving touched a little the most concerning Tenets which these great adversaries of Jesus Christ and his Truth do publick own in their Doctrine we would in the second place seriously consider what so strange and amazing an attempt against the Truth can mean or what these possibly intend except they have concluded the Christian World to be turned wholly Atheistical and to have so far lost all Sense and Impression of Truth as that they need not hide their design to perswade men to quit Religion and Reason at once whilst with so strange a confidence they own yea thus in the open Light dare offer such an assault to the Church 1. To give up at once the whole of Christian Religion and quit that good and old way wherein since Abel the Righteous and Enoch who walked with God it is so clear the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles yea the whole race of the Saints have to this day walked to come over and embrace a way that if no other were known for Religion in the World it might give Atheism some warrant to judg there were none at all What have we to leave to posterity so precious as the Truth or what can any other gain and advantage amount to if this be lost And why did such an innumerable company of Martyrs on whom the Spirit of God and of Glory was seen to rest seal it with their blood Was it not to stand in defence of the Gospel and of these Truths which they so visibly oppose 2. And is the Night so dark as such a Party dare come forth to have us believe there hath been no true Church in the World but since these twenty or thirty years past except what hath its rise from John of Leyden Thomas Muntzer c. whose steps in most of their Doctrine they seem to follow yea that the great substantials of Christian Religion until now have been but some imposture or mistaken thing and all such who were the excellent of the Earth in their time who expresly owned the same Doctrine and died in the Faith thereof which the Protestant Church doth at this day as can be unanswerably demonstrated have been but false witnesses against God for however they may seek to shift this by undeniable Consequence it must follow either Quakerism is a horrid Imposture or the Truth and way of God hath not been found out till now and the Church both under the old and new Testament hath steered her Course by a wrong compass in taking the Scripture for her Rule 3. Is all sight of the Truth so far lost as that it should be easie for some to come forth and impose upon the World a new Bible a new Guide to follow which every one may find within himself to perswade us to build on another Foundation than that of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone Ephes 2. 20 Yea thus put in our hand instead of
1. 17 which none can say lieth common to all 7. From this blessed Record it is likewise clear how inseparably these are conjoyned for the Churches conduct within time the written Word without and the Spirit within for opening our eyes to see the Truths that are there The Law without as the alone Rule and Pattern and the same Law within as the Transcript bearing both one witness 8. Is it not clearly seen also that where reason hath been most refined and the greatest improvement of mens natural abilities even there The world through wisdom knew not God 1 Cor. 1. 21. And none among the Heathens have made greater opposition to the Gospel than such Nor can an instance be given of any one among all those who by this Light or by the furthest length gone in a right use of natural abilities hath ever attained saving-grace or a discovery of those supernatural Truths revealed to us in the Word nor could this Light teach Aristotle that great Naturalist to know the Worlds having a beginning or restrain Cato the greatest Moralist that ever was among the Heathens from being his own murtherer For that Scripture John 1. 9. That is the true light which lightneth every man that cometh into the world on which they seem so much to build it is most clear what is the plain and express sense thereof That as no true and saving Light is but what must be derived from Jesus Christ so is he the alone Original being truly God whence every one that cometh into the world is eniightned also with that Light of Nature and Reason Pos 2. Since this Light which seems to be their alone Bible and the Scriptures of Truth are incompatible we find them enforced to disown these as the infallible Rule of Faith and Practice and to own them but as an Historical rule only and its Commands are but as Commands from the Letter which oblige not but in a silent posture of heart to wait on an inward teaching of this Spirit A Position were it once admitted we might then say the Christian Cause is lost they who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished who knew no other way for founding both their Faith and Practice but on the express Letter of the Word yea in what a strange mould should men frame a Religion to themselves if but once left to such a Rule within and not that given in the Scripture But it 's well the Holy Ghost speaking to us there taught never such Divinity but expresly sheweth 1. That such a rule the Scripture is as is suited to make the man of God perfect and is profitable for Doctrine Instruction c. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2. This is the Scriptures record that in the whole of Religion we must betake our selves to the Law and the Tistimony as the alone rule and measure thereof Isa 8. 20 and though strengthning physical power by which we are enabled to duty is from the Spirit working by the Word yet is it sure that all obliging power thereto is from the Letter of the Word alone nor is the Spirit without this a moral Rule for our acting now when the Canon of the Scripture is closed but to obey we must found this that it is intimated to us in the Word and to be strengthened in the inward man for the same is the immediate work of the Spirit concurring therewith 3. Is not the Scripture such a Rule as is given to be the sole Judg of all controversies To whose decision Christ himself refers the greatest question that ever was whether he be the Son of God or not Search the scriptures for they testifie of me Joh. 5. 38. 4. Did ever the Holy Ghost put such a stile as this on his own Word to be a Historical Rule and dead Letter only who so expresly shews that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 14. as one active mean instrumentally concurring with the Spirit to beget the same and how it is mighty through God for the casting down of strong-holds and every hight and imagination which exalteth it self against the Lord But we known this Honour doth the Spirit of God put thereon that he still moves and acts according to the Word as it moves and acts nor does he make intercession within the Saints or utter one groan but according to the will of God revealed therein Rom. 8. 26. But it is indeed not strange that to a dead Heart this is as a dead Letter and such who under a judicial stroke of induration have a Bar drawn betwixt them and the power of the Word 5. Can these possibly find another rule for tryal of the Spirits whether they are of God but by the written Word and to know that it is not the Devil in Samuels appearance they have met with who is not now to learn that Art of transforming himself into an Angel of Light Since it is so clear there is the spirit of the word 1 Cor. 2. 12. and a spirit which rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. a living spirit 1 Kings 22. 22. and a spirit of error and delusion 1 John 4. 6 And is it not too known so as the world cannot be in the dark here How an enthusiastick spirit leaving the Scripture hath licensed some to such abominations as the Heathens would abhor and from a pretended impulse hath the brother killed the brother Pos 3. However they seem to own the appearance of Christ in the flesh yet nothing can be more clear from most of their Writings than how expresly they turn the History of the Gospel and the incarnation death and resurrection of Christ into a meer dispensation and allegory and upon the matter deny Jesus Christ as a distinct person without us and a Being saved by him who died at Jerusalem holding forth such a view and pourtraiture of the blessed Redeemer of the Church as must leave the world in a muse how to take hold upon any Reality of the Gospel or to find Jesus Christ but in some airy abstract and mystick notion of the Light and Spirit within every one which they thus confound as reciprocal terms A design by which I may say Satan does at no ordinary and common rate essay to ruine the Truth whilst by some high pretences to the Spirit he seeks to make us part with the express Letter of the Word 2. He doth thus essay to shake Christians at the root and in the great foundation of their faith by putting the Gospel in such a dress as may put it beyond all possible understanding to know the same or on what solid reality they can found their soul 3. Thus doth he in a special way attempt to darken that great and most desirable mystery that ever was revealed to men the Incarnation of the Son of God that he is assuredly Man and this no Allegory O! blessed he in whom the fulness of the God-head dwells
bodily as though it were some low and carnal dispensation to know Christ and him crucified but as he is within But it 's sure if any reality be in the Christian Faith and the whole mystery of Godliness no delusion the Christian Church will never debate 1. That it is the same Jesus who is preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world that is received up into Glory 1. Tim. 3. 16. and the connexion there indissoluble nor can another true conception of him be possible than what the Scripture hath given 2. It is sure the literal sense of the Word is no new distinct sense from the spiritual though by a different Light and evidence understood and this great Truth That Jesus the Son of Mary is the Saviour of the World revealed within by the Spirit doth found no other objective Christ nor hath any different sense from what is objected to us in the Letter but is the very same though seen with another Light and irradiation thereof on the Soul 3. We know there was no dispensation nor Allegory meaned Acts 5. 30. The God of our Fathers hath raised up Jesus whom you hanged on a tree him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour and that we must seek him else where than within even he whom the Heavens must contain till the time of the restitution of all things 4. We have sure warrant to say let him be accursed though an Angel from Heaven should come to give another account of Jesus Christ than what we have in the Scripture and that this is he 1. Who was the Faith of the ancient Church to whom all the types and shadows under the Law did so expresly relate concerning whom the Prophets did diligently enquire searching to what or what manner of time the Spirit in them did point concerning his being revealed to the World and the precise time set thereto 2. He who hath passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God and is still there the glorious Object of our Faith and Worship 3. He who surely was wounded for our transgressions and hruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and by his stripes are we healed Isa 53. 5. O blessed and unexpressibly sweet Truth that we know to be no notion or allegory and that all these Sin-offerings and sacrifices under the Law pointing at this were not the true Victim offered to God but had a discernible respect to that one great propitiatory sacrifice now offered up for the Sins of the people 4. It was in truth and an undoubted reality that Thomas knew a Christ without when his Master gave him leave to put his hand in his side and when his Disciples beheld his Being taken up into Heaven whilst a cloud received him out of their sight even the same Jesus who shall in like manner come again at the last day We know there is an unexpressibly near and spiritual Union betwixt Christ and his People here which is undoubtedly sure and that as he is truly revealed within so he leaves a resemblance of himself on the soul such as neither the World nor the Powers of darkness can ever put a counterfeit in his room but such is this Union as his body here upon the earth doth still know her head to be in heaven at the right hand of God rejoycing in hope of that day when they shall be translated to that blessed place where he is to see and for ever wonder at that inconceiveable mystery of the glorious God-head dwelling bodily in the man Christ Pos 4. This also is a part of the known Doctrine of the Quakers That by no righteousness without us which Christ hath fulfilled in his person we are justified but by a righteousness wrought within and that there is no truth in Christs Satisfaction to justice for the sins of the Elect but in this they are not alone nor is it strange that in all times now under the new Testament men have been acted forth in a high degree of opposition to this head of the Imputed Righteousness of Christ even beyond other Scripture-truths and that so great an assault is made to poyson this Fountain when of such import to the Church as it may be called articulus stantis cadentis ecclesiae But I must say in this the Quakers seem to have taken the most effectual way and have the advantage of others who own the same Doctrine with them that they first essay to depress the credit and authority of the Scripture without which their Cause is lost since nothing possibly can be more express and clear than it is there 1. That our high Priest hath entred into the holy Places having obtained eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. and is that sacrifice which being offered without spot to God pacifies all whose blood alone could silence that cry that sin hath for vengeance having nailed that hand-writing of ordinances which was against us and contrary to us to his cross Col. 2. 14. and hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. 2. Is it possibly conceivable if our sin was imputed to Jesus Christ as the Surety and on him all our iniquities were laid but there must be an imputation of his Righteousness to us and if the Debtor be acquitted by the Cautioners payment and the fruit of Christ's Satisfaction at all redound to us that it must needs be by Imputation of the same Now it is clear thus the Scripture reasons yea I may say with such a plainness as it is strange men can be in the dark here without making it their choice He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 1 Cor. 5. 20 21. and having fulfilled all Righteousness and so fully satisfied the Law as Surety in our stead as a common person representing the whole elect Church Must it not undeniably acquit those at the hand of Justice and be accounted theirs who were then thus represented and judicially one with him 3. We know the Scriptures shew one great end of that blessed contrivance into which the Angels with wonder desire to look is not only to manifest grace but to declare the righteousness of God that he is just and the justifier of them that believe Rom. 3. 20. And no way could ever have been conceived like this to make these two shine forth together in one and the same work or how the Law and Justice could have had such satisfaction as by this blessed Surety who at once and to the full hath satisfied beyond all that the united Obedience of Angels and Men though extended and multiplied to Eternity could ever have done 4. Nor is it possible to suppose how works should be concauses with Faith in the Justification of a Sinner since this acts only instrumentally as the hand embracing that inestimable jewel of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ as
professors in this time be under an irrecoverable woe in the matters of Eternity when profession is so much turned into the form of godliness without the power thereof which should be nothing else when it is native but as the shadow appearing that must needs be because it cannot cease to follow the body Secondly As we must not despise or look lightly on such an amazing sight as that Party now is so it should concern us to guard also against any stumbling at serious godliness on this account but how to improve the same for being more fixed and confirmed in the good ways of the Lord when it is so evident 1. How one and the same spirit and with one concurrence to the same work moves in this Party with the most flagitious and open persecutors and though under some different form yet they do all vigorously unite in that common Interest to counteract Truth and Holiness to decry the Scripture cast reproach on the great Ordinances thereof and how to make that Ministry given by Jesus Christ to his Church contemptible and vile which as it may be seen is the very same work the most profligate Atheists are at and so must have from one airth their Incitements thereto 2. Whatever be of the falling in of some to that way who once seemed to love the Truth and embrace it yet is it not evident as to most of this Party how remarkable the earth hath been made to help the Woman by drinking in such a flood as the Devil had cast forth to ruine the Church whilst so many have thus parted with the Truth of whom no known or convincing evidence could be given that ever they had received it but a most discernible tendency in their way to such an infection had broke forth before the spots of it from that small regard they were known to have to the solid saving and substantial Truths of the Word 3. This sad subject with such shaking winds as now blow almost from every airth on the Church should it not press us to some further length than most seem to satisfie themselves with in a sure and solid founding on the Scripture when it is so clear that none can ossuredly know the Scriptures being the Word of God but may have a sufficient antidote against this deadly poyson and by these great Demonstrative evidences thereof must thus know 1. That it is undoubtedly a full and perfect Rule such as the whole race of the Saints to this day could not have wished it another thing than it is for their Counsel and Conduct within time and takes off all possible ground for the adding either Traditions or any Revelation thereto yea that it is such a Rule as manifests it self with that sufficiency of Light to all as none can reject this one evidence but these whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded since there is no want of Light in the Truth it self but from mens blindness and a defect in the â—isive faculty 2. It is thus they assuredly know how it is no dead Letter by that Divine Power and Efficacy thereof and to be no Historical Rule which is sharper then any two-edged sword to a dividing asunder the soul and spirit with the joynts and marrow Heb. 4. 12. that gives Law to the Conscience makes it tremble and searches in to the most secret recesses of the hearts of men 3. Thus also we know the Holy Ghosts speaking in and by the Scripture to be no private voice and such an Impression as comes in a divided way or by bearing witness to the Truth and Authority of the Scripture in any other way than by the Scripture and an imparting thereto its Power Efficacy and Majesty and enabling us to know and discern the same 4. That such are these great supernatural Truths revealed there as could only have been revealed from Heaven and never possibly could have been once thought of or conceived in the mind of Man by any reasonings or natural helps without Divine Revelation so as it is no pretended Light within can let us know what are the things of God further than it is derived from the Scripture 5. And is it not thus known also what an undoubted certainty is in the verification of these supernatural Truths in the experience of the Saints as they can know they live or breath which is not witnessed to some individual persons only as if from any advantage of Nature and Edification they might have it but in every time in all the Churches of Christ yea by the whole generation of the Saints hath still with the greatest oneness of consent been undeniably attested when it is so clear also How much a great part of professedChristians is wholly stranger thereto and how it is no less above mens reach by Nature to know or discern what thus belongs to the state of the Saints than for a Beast to know what concerns the state of Man and what advantage should it then be as this Party pleads for all persons to follow a Light within themselves Fourthly Though we must own no such austere mode or appearance of Mortification as this Party of the Quakers seek to amuse the World with being visibly stretched beyond the Rule of the Word yea so false and ridiculous a shew of strictness therein as is a reproach to serious Religion yet is it a clear and indispensable Duty to guard against conformity to the World in these sad extravagant fashions of the time so as Christians may let their Moderation be known to all and their faith of the Lords being at hand may commend the Truth by that true adorning which is in the hidden man of the heart and a meek and quiet spirit not by plaiting of the hair or putting on of apparel 1 Pet. 3 4. Which oft as a publick sign stand at the door to let others know what pride lightness and vanity dwell there as though they had not an eternal salvation to work out with fear and trembling or did not believe the third of Isaiah from the 16. vers to the close to be the Scripture of God and to have the same Authority the same theratning Aspect in this generation whic in had then on Israel yea is this a being accountable in the Improvement of what some have beyond others of the World as a Trust put under their hand now when it is such an hour of great Tribulation on the Churches I confess this ground I have last mentioned is such as may cause many in this age fear they be under a sad mistake in their Claim and Title to Heaven and hath oft put me to wonder what kind of peace many have on this account who seem to out-run others in a profession of the Truth Since if the Scripture be undoubtedly sure and no falling to the ground of the least Tittle thereof should not these clear discoveries which are there he as that hand-Writing on the Wall to make their knees smite
a terror and while the Watchmen slept hath the Devil essayed to sow such seed having that advantage which in the like case Calvin said of Servetus Fatuitas dogmatum me securum reddit It 's true they are skilful to put themselves in such different forms as may make it something difficult how to handle them being under a visible awe and dread to be found out in what they are But I am sure if what they own to the World in their Writings bear any sense and their words be not such as none possibly but themselves can understand it may be easie to see the undoubted tendency of this way is to subvert the Christian Faith to explode the Scripture from being the alone rule and standard of our Religion and incite those they converse with to a real Apostacy from Christianity Now in speaking to this subject which is such as should make it a sad and unpleasant work to rake in so horrid a dunghil as the known Tenets of this Party are if a testimony to the Truth and for its Vindication did not necessarily require the same 1 must here offer a few things to be considered which in this following discourse seem to be of greatest use to be cleared 1. What Positions these of the Quakers are in which they do most visibly agree and unite and how direct a sendency they have to subvert the Faith in the great Foundations of Christianity 2. What should be the meaning of this so strange and amazing an assault they do adventure upon against the Faith and how sad an account it gives of the temper and complexion of this time when with day-sight such dare come sorth to express themselves at this rate 3. It is of special use to consider what advantage Christians have here even from the strange appearance of this Party to clear the holy and unspotted way of the Lord and for being more sixed and strengthned in the Truth whatever cause others may pretend on this account for stumbling 4. It seems needful also to consider the great influencing cause of this contagion and it 's too evident growth now in the Church whilst such horrid things are by these vented with an amazing confidence as we should think a natural Conscience in men who have but any sense and impression of a Deity and are not wholly given up to Atheism could not but tremble at 5. We would consider what is of greatest use to guard Christians now against such mortal poyson that they fall not from their stedfastness nor be carried about with this cloud driven with such a tempest 6. I must shut up this with a twofold appeal one to that Light which Quakers so much cry up in every one which I am sure in the most favourable sense it can be taken is the Conscience that high Court of Justice set up under the Authority of the great Judg in every mans Breast which doth enforce the soul to some reflexion on it self even when they tremble at that sight if before this Light these can possibly stand and be but in earnest therewith without horror and amazement at themselves A second is to the most ordinary observers in the time if without shutting of their eyes they can shun the clear discovery of the horrid imposture of such a Party whatever high pretences they seem to have how visible a contradiction their way is not only to Scripture and Reason but to it self SECT II. FOr the first of these which concerns their Doctrine and Principles That I am sure none needs pretend is latent and hid from the World except what an expressing themselves with a reserved sense and palcable equivocating may cause to some I have confidence to say that without passion or prejudice in the least or without any quarrel but for the Truths sake I have in earnest sought to know the certainty of what they own herein which in these following Positions I shall briefly touch Position 1. It is undeniable they own a sufficient light in every man to guide him in the way to salvation which he is expresly obliged to follow and lean to a Tenet above all they most closely keep by and on which their whole Doctrine seems to found it self We know such a Light did once shine brightly in Adam in the State of perfection so as he needed no light or voice without to be his guide but since that time none ever knew how to guide himself and they must think the Christian World in a strange darkness if it be easie to obtrude such a Light upon them which when brought to the test of Scripture and solid Reason doth resolve in most direct Paganism and is an express setting up of a Light and Spirit in opposition to the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the Word where we are taught 1. That such a Spirit is not of God which hears not Gods voice as Christ reasons with the Jews John 10. 3 4. Nor can it be his which leads not into all truth and brings not these things shewed forth there to our remenbrance John 14. 26. 16. 13. Which made Luther say if any Spirit should suggest an opinion for which he had not Scripture he should spit in his face knowing assuredly that it was the Devil 2. This expresly owns a common universal and sufficient grace to all as that which knocks at every mans door whether Christians or Pagans and that it is in his power to open and entertain the same and that no spiritual advantage doth accrew to Christians by the Scriptures being revealed unto them but what Pagans may have also by this Light within yea that they have no other Teacher but that inward teaching and guide common to them with the most savage Indians 3. But is there a sufficient and saving Light in these who are spiritually dead Ephes 2. 15. Or could that Light be a sufficient instructer to Paul when he thought verily he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth and in his following that Light within did consent to Stephens Death 4. How should this Light possibly be known when so oft stated in a direct opposition to the Light within others who may reckon they have as much advantage for the same as they if both be not brought to the Scripture for tryal 5. Did this Light within give the Heathens a check for Idolatry or could it let them see the alone way of being saved by that unconceiveable contrivance of the Gospel or restrain these from swearing to whom that moral prohibition of the third Command was never known 6. The Scripture shews that the natural man cannot discern the things of God which to him are foolishness 1 Cor. 2. 13. and that there is a necessity of the spirit of wisdom and revelation that the eyes of our understanding being enlightned we may know what is the hope of our calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Ephes