self-evidence but the evidence of the truth of them depends on the veracity of God the Original Author of them the next thing to be enquired into is what is the great and most principal motive of Credibility to move and effectually perswade the Mind that they are the Words of God surely he who believes that there is a God cannot but assent to this proposition that whatever God hath said is true that all the Words of God are Words of truth it hath as immediate evidence to him that has the least true knowledge of God as that the whole is greater than the part That then which is only requisite to move the Mind of Man to assent to any words delivered to us as the words of God is to have a sufficient motive of Credibility given us why we should believe them to be indeed the words of God That the Prophets and Apostles knew that all the words they delivered to Men as the words of God were infallibly the words of God is generally granted by all that own the Truth of Divine Revelation the manner of their Conveyance to their Understanding being with such a Divine Power Majesty and Glory and making such a Divine Impression on them as infallibly assured them and this many times without all Miracles proposed to their outward Senses Section 8. That the Faithful have as good Assurance of the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures by the ordinary Inspirations of the Spirit in the use of the outward Means as the Prophets had by Extraordinary and Prophetical The Distinction betwixt them explained THE great Question therefore that remains now to be considered and resolved is Whither the Faithful cannot have and actually have not as good Assurance in respect of all Fundamentals and Essentials of the Christian Faith at least that the words delivered by the Holy Prophets and Apostles were the Words of God as if they had received them in the same way and manner as the Prophets and Apostles received them which was without any external Medium such as the Ministry of Men and Books whereas the way that we now receive those words is by some external Medium to wit the Ministry of Men and Books I shall not here insist upon the external Motives of Credibility taken either from so many Thousands of the best and wisest of Men in the several Ages of the World since the words were committed to writing who have received and embraced them to be what really they are even the Words of the Living and True God or such as are taken from the Words themselves as outwardly delivered such as the Simplicity Purity Majesty and Efficacy of their Doctrine the Harmony of the several Parts the fulfilling of the many Prophecies contained in them the many other incomparable Excellencies of them the wonderful Effects they have had on many Thousands and Millions of Men in being instrumental to their Conversion from Idolatry and Ungodliness to true Piety and Sanctity all which are of great weight to convince the Reason of Men but because all this doth amount to no more but a rational Conviction and doth not beget a Divine Assent or Perswasion Therefore I conclude with all Orthodox and Sound Christians that our full Perswasion and Assurance of the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority of them is from the inward Work of the Holy Spirit by his Internal and Supernatural Illumination Inspiration and Revelation and secret and most inward Teaching in our Hearts by sensible and perceptible Impressions Sealing to the Truth of them upon our Hearts and Minds And here I think fit to guard against a two-fold Extream that I find too many run into both greatly and dangerously erroneous the one is of some that grant indeed that the Spirit doth inwardly operate in the Souls of Men and more especially in the Souls of the Faithful but this Operation or Agency and Efficiency of the Spirit they will have it only to be effective and no-wise objective that is to say no-wise perceptible or sensible to the Soul in which the Spirit doth so operate Hence it is that some of them have called this Internal Operation of the Spirit even in the Faithful Medium incognitum assentiendi the which Assertion being so repugnant to the Scripture Testimonies in many places that hold forth the Spirits internal Operations and Virtues to be as sensible upon the internal and spiritual Senses of Souls in any good degree inwardly quickned and made alive to God as the Operations of outward Light Heat Cold or the most affecting Objects of Sight Taste Smelling and Feeling are upon our outward and bodily Senses and also being so contrary to the Experience of many Thousands of true experienced Christians I shall not insist here any further to refute it The other as dangerous and erroneous Extream is of such of whom is W.P. and his Party as plainly appears by what he layeth down in this Treatise and oft elsewhere in his Books who hold That the Manner and Kind of the Spirits Internal Inspirations Revelations Illuminations and inward Teachings is the same with that which the Prophets and Apostles had that is to say that whatever they think they have a Divine Knowledge and Faith of the words which are necessary to be the Rule and Medium to the obtaining this Knowledge and Faith must be given them as they were given to the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures to wit without the external Medium of the Holy Scriptures and without any external Teaching whatsoever and that therefore their Faith and Knowledge so far as it is Divine hath no dependence on the words delivered in the Holy Scriptures but whatever they know or believe by a Divine Knowledge and Faith it is wholly from words inwardly given them from the Spirit without all outward conveyance of Men or Books Hence it is that W.P. calls his and his Brethrens Rule of Faith and Life the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in Mens Consciences but as for the Precepts and Words outwardly delivered in Scripture they are but to him what Pythagoras and other Philosophers quoted by him Page 6. judged of other Writings to wit liveless Precepts Hence many of his Party have presumed to call them a Dead Letter Death and Carnal Yet Page 25. he is so yielding and seemingly kind to the Scriptures that he grants them to be a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule Such a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule saith he we never said several parts of Scripture were not Here observe for all his professed kindness to the Scriptures he will not allow all the parts of Scripture but only some parts of it to be so much as a subordinate secondary and declaratory Rule though even the Ceremonial Precepts he has as great reason to believe them to be the Words of God and consequently a Rule of Faith though not of Practise as touching the external Types as truly as any other parts of Scripture But seeing every subordinate
Spirit through his Holy Prophets and Apostles even Remission of Sin and Free Justification by Jesus Christ through Faith in him and not by any Works or Obedience that either the Jew did perform to the outward Law or the Gentile did perform to the Law writ in the Heart When Peter preached Remission of Sin by Faith in Jesus Christ whom the Jews hang'd on the Tree to Cornelius he confirm'd this Doctrine not from the eternal Precepts in every Man's Conscience or the common Dictates of the Light in every Man but from the general Testimony of the Prophets Acts 10.43 To him said Peter give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins But according to W. P's Doctrine the Apostle Peter should have said To him the Light in every Conscience gave the Dictates of that Light in every Conscience witness That whosoever gave up to the Requirings of the Light in them without all Faith in Christ God-man without them shall receive the Remission of their Sins And seeing whatever is the Rule of Faith must teach us all that is needful to Salvation by it self as W.P. argueth he must prove that the Light in every Man's Conscience dictateth to him this Proposition That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 Or if it doth dictate some other way than this then that and the like places of Scripture contradict the Dictates of the Light within But that this Proposition laid down Rom. 10.9 is no Dictate of the Light within in Mens Consciences is evident from W. P's plain Confession P. 32 33. who saith That the Light within should tell us that Christ suffered Death and rose again is not needed inasmuch as an account of that is extant in Scripture Whereby it plainly appears he holds it not needful to our Salvation to believe that Proposition Rom. 10.9 seeing the Light within that is the Rule of Faith doth not reveal it and such Revelation is not necessary and consequently according to him the belief of that Proposition Rom. 10.9 is not necessary to any for Salvation And if that be not necessary by the same method of Argument according to W.P. nor is the belief of all the other parts of Scripture necessary to Salvation which are not the common Dictates of the Light in every Conscience The only use of the whole Scripture according to W.P. is meerly Historical which though perhaps true is nowise necessary to our Salvation to believe the truth of it but we are left at liberty to believe or disbelieve all and every part of what is contained in the Scripture without any danger to our Salvation excepting these few absolute necessaries that the Light within every Conscience teacheth us as well as the Scriptures But none of all the twelve Articles of the Apostle's Creed according to the true Sense of Scripture or the common received Sense of all true Christians are taught by the Light within without the external Revelation of the Scripture therefore according to W.P. the belief of none of these twelve Articles is necessary to our Salvation The which being the plain Import of W. P's Doctrine laid down in his Book whither it be not Plain Deism appearing with open face I appeal to all sincere Christians Section 2. His Arguments from Scripture that the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life Answered HE begins with his Proofs Page 4. That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the general Rule of Faith and Life from Matt. 11.27 and 1 Cor. 2.11 he argues That because the Father cannot be known but by the Revelation of the Son and Holy Spirit consequently that Light metioned John 1.3 or Spirit must have been the general Rule of Mens Knowledge Faith and Obedience with respect to God Answ His Consequence is denied he gives no proof of it yea it is manifestly false and to discover its Fallacy observe how he confounds the efficient Cause and Author of Knowledge and Faith with the Rule which he ought to distinguish He might as well argue no Man sees what hour it is on a Sun-dyal but by the Sun and consequently the Sun and not the Dyal is the Rule whereby he knows the hour Page 5. His next Argument is from Eph. 5.13 Whatever makes manifest is Light therefore the Light in the Conscience is the general Rule Answ The Consequence again is denied it has the same defect as the former as will appear by forming the like Argument Whatever makes manifest an outward object to our Eye is some outward light of Sun Moon or Candle c. Therefore that alone without the object manifests it and also without the Organ of sight who sees not the Fallacy of this Argument and as much he may see the Fallacy of the other The next place of Scripture he argueth from is Rom. 1.19 which he falsly quotes as I have observed he hath misquoted this place both here and in pag. 21 for thus he quotes it WHATEVER might be known of God was made manifest within for God who is Light hath shewn it unto them But let the place it self be considered and it saith not WHATEVER but what is to be known of God is manifest in them to wit the Gentiles or Heathen Nations who had not the peculiar Doctrines of the Christian Faith revealed to them or Preached among them And that the words what is to be known of God cannot be meant of WHATEVER can or is to be known of God was manifest in them as the Text doth not say it so it is a manifest Falshood It cannot be said of the best Christians â—hat whatever is to be known of God is made manifest in them for the best know but in part and there is still more to be known of God even in the best of Christians than what is at present revealed or made manifest in them And it is very evident from the following words what Paul meant by that saying What is to be known of God or as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. The Eternal power and God-Head which was made manifest partly by the things made or created without Men and partly by some Divine Illumination within them But doth it therefore follow that because those Heathens had some knowledge of the Eternal Power and God-head that therefore they knew all the fundamental Princiles of the Christian Religion By no means more than it followeth that W.P. knoweth some things of England and some other Countries partly by History and partly by his sight of them therefore he knows the whole Earth so far as it is habitable He brings another Proof That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life from Micah 6.8 He hath shewed unto thee O Man what is good and what God requireth of thee
and secondary Rule pre-supposeth a primary Rule which hath no dependence on the Secondary though the Secondary is wholly from the Primary as the Transcript is wholly from the Original but the Original is intirely compleat and perfect without the Copy or Transcript it is evident that according to him he hath all what he thinketh to be a Divine Knowledge and Faith wholly from his primary Rule and nothing from the Scriptures which he calls the Secondary for the Excellency of the primary Rule is that it teacheth all that is to be divinely known or believed without the need or help of any secondary Rule otherwise it should not be primary nor should the Scriptures in that case be a subordinate Rule but co-ordinate and of equal Dignity Necessity and Use with what he calls the Primary for whatever is a primary full adequate and perfect Rule such as he will have only the Light within or by whatever other Name he designs it it must propose to him all the Credenda and Agenda i. e. all things he ought to believe and practise without any other Rule whatsoever And yet in Contradiction to his own Doctrine he grants p. 25. That by and through the Scripture as some Instrument this great and universal Rule which he will have to be the living spiritual immediate omnipresent discovering ordering Spirit of God may convey its directions Judge Reader if this be not a Contradiction to his former Doctrine and a great Impertinency surely as he who hath the Original has no need of the Copy nor great use of it for himself so if W.P. have such a perfect compleat primary Rule that teacheth him without Scripture all what he ought to know believe or practise I cannot understand of what great use the Scripture can be unto him or at least it is of no necessity to him this primary Rule hath taught him all before-hand otherwise it is not primary If it be objected That the Prophets and Apostles had the Spirits inward Teachings to be their primary Rule in what they delivered as Prophets and Apostles and yet they made use of the Scriptures such as were penned before them I answer Because neither the Prophets nor Apostles were taught in all things that they believed and practised by the Spirits inward Teachings as the primary Rule but only in what they spoke or writ as Prophets and Apostles in other things which they had not by Prophetical Inspiration the Scripture what was then extant of it was the primary Rule to them as well as to others of the Faithful who were neither Prophets nor Apostles Section 9. That the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture is the Rule of Faith which Faith the Spirit of God being the principal Efficient begets and works in the Faithful by the Doctrine which is the Instrument of the Spirit That it brings Confusion and derogates from the Spirit to make the Spirit the Rule Arg. 6. ANother of W. P's great Arguments to prove that the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith p. 13. is How shall I be assured saith he that these Scriptures came from God If with the Spirit that gave them forth which searcheth the deep things of God a measure of which is given to me to profit withal then it is most congruous to call the Spirit by way of Excellency and not the Scriptures the Rule I answer denying his Consequence It is indeed allowed that it is congruous for that cause to call the Spirit the principal efficient and moving Cause together with Christ and God the Father but most incongruous false and pernicious to make him to be the Rule which is so far from giving the due Honour and Excellency to the Spirit so to do that it derogates from his Honour and Excellency for it confounds the efficient Cause with the Instrument and is as absurd as to say the Square or Carpenter's Rule that the Carpenter works with that is but of Wood is the Carpenter himself which is extreamly false it is no derogation from the Spirit to say that he useth the Rule or Instrument of his own preparing whereby to frame and fashion us according to his good pleasure as the Carpenter useth his Square or Rule to frame his pieces of Wood to put into a Building And for the better clearing of the matter a little further when all Orthodox Christian Writers say that we are assured that the Scriptures came from God with or by the Spirit that gave them forth they mean not that the Spirits inward Testimony or Witness to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is any new or repeated Testimony of the Words and Doctrines of the Scripture which is not necessary but only by way of putting a Seal on a Deed or Bond together with the Hand or Subscription of him that gives the Deed or Bond which Hand and Seal confirms the Truth of the Bond yet it doth not tell what the Contents of the Deed or Bond is nor is it necessary it should the Deed or Bond it self tells the Contents of it And to use the Schools Distinction a little in the case The Doctrines and Words contained in the Holy Scriptures are the material object of Faith to wit quod Creditur i e. what is believed but the Spirits inward Testimony Seal or Impulse and Motion which carrieth in it a peculiar Evidence that none knoweth but he who hath it is the formal Object of Faith to wit propter quod Creditur that inward Motion and Influence Impression and Influence of the Spirit that sensibly and perceptibly moveth the Faithful to believe the Truth of the Scriptures as being the Words of God Nor is this Controversie about the Rule of Faith and Life a Logomachy or strife of words as some may ignorantly suppose but a most material Case and of most dangerous Consequence to exclude the Scriptures which are the great and blessed Means that God has appointed us for begetting true Faith Knowledge and Obedience in us through the mighty Operation of the Spirit of God But if what the Spirit of God hath appointed us to be the Means and Instrument of our Knowledge and Faith and Practise and the Rule whereby to discern Truth from Error Right from Wrong with the Spirits internal Illumination we prove neglectful of it to wit of the Holy Scriptures in the frequent use of them by Reading Hearing Meditation and Prayer we provoke the Holy Spirit to depart from us and to leave us to our vain imaginations and Satan's suggestions and delusions to be received by us as Divine Revelations and Inspirations as hath happened to many to their unspeakable hurt Again as the Spirit nor yet his Internal Inspiration or Illumination and Revelation is not the Rule of Faith but the principal efficient of it and his Internal Inspiration Illumination and Revelation is the Objective Medium moving the Mind to assent to the truth of the Doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures but not the Rule of Faith nor
the Material object of it so nor is the Spirits Internal Illumination Inspiration and Revelation the Rule of Interpretation of Scripture but that which enlightens the understanding and opens the Spiritual Eyes of the Mind to understand the Scripture or so much of it at least as contain the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and beget a Saving Sanctifying and Savoury knowledge of them without any other Rule than the Scripture it self for as when our Eyes are opened and receive outward Light to see an object we need no new object whereby to see the Object proposed but that our sight be strengthned and enlightned so in receiving a Spiritual Understanding of Scripture truths we need no other Rule either outward or inward but the Scripture it self only we need the Spirits inward Illumination Inspiration and Revelation to assist and help us to a Saving Understanding of them by way of an objective Medium Section 10. His seventh Argument against the Scripture being the Rule of Faith from his arguing That they are obscure and have not the Method of a Rule Answered Page 10. Arg. 7. ANother Reason he gives which he calls his Third Reason is From the obscurity of them that they are not plain but to the Spiritual Man they seem not in their own Nature and frame to have been compiled and deliver'd as the general Rule and intire Body of Faith but rather Written upon particular occasions and emergencies the Doctrines are scattered throughout the Scriptures insomuch that those Societies who have given forth verbal Confessions of their Faith have been necessitated to toss them to and fro search here and search there to lay down this or the other Principle Besides here they are Proper there Metaphorical in one place literally in another Mystically to be accepted And after diverse other words of Complaint against their being the Rule he concludes Thus Peter said of Paul's Writings that in many things they were hard to be understood therefore not such a Rule which ought to be Plain Proper and Intelligible Answ Reader What think'st thou of this sort of Language in derogation from the Holy Scriptures What if I should say of W. P's and all his Brethrens Writings what he here saith of the Scriptures That they are neither Plain Proper nor Intelligible would he not account that saying a derogation from them If this be not to prefer the Friends Writings to the Scriptures in these Mens esteem let the impartial Judge most of which have the advantage above the Scriptures by his arguing The Scriptures were Writ upon particular occasions but some of their Books at least designedly Writ in the Scriptures the Doctrines are scattered here and there but in W. P's and G. W's Books the Doctrines and Principles are in excellent Order and lye together Paul's Writings in many things are hard to be understood and beside they were originally Writ in Greek which many understand not and we have not the Autographa but Copies and of these great variety and difference as he argueth against the certainty of the Scriptures upon the foundation of all others that are not one with them in making the Spirit the Rule of Faith P. 23. But we have the Autographa or at least the first Printed Copies of G.W. and W.P. without any variation or difference in matter and which is a great advantage their Writings are the Dictates of the Holy Ghost originally in English whereas we have nothing of the Scriptures originally in English but the whole is a Translation very imperfect and differing from other Translations both of English and other Languages and which is best the unlearned know not at all and even the learned many times are not certain all which give the advantage by very far to the Writings of the Friends above the Scriptures upon the supposition that they are the immediate Dictates of the Holy Ghost as these Men do not suppose but positively affirm many of them to be especially such as they say are given forth from the Spirit of Truth But suppose divers parts of the Scripture were writ upon particular occasions and emergencies as to Men yet many other parts were writ designedly and intentionally for general instruction to all the faithful and these so writ contain all the essentials and fundamentals of Christian Faith and Practice and even these writ upon particular occasions and emergencies seemingly to Men accidental or occasional yet with respect to God were designed by him for a general good without whose wise and all-ruling provividence nothing can happen What seemed more occasional than Joseph's being sold into Egypt yet God Almighty had a glorious design in it though he was neither the Author nor Approver of their Envy who sold him But is it any prejudice against the Scriptures being the Rule that they must be searched to find out the Doctrines contained in them Or that some places are hard to be understood though all the fundamental Doctrines necessary to Salvation are sufficiently plain to all the Faithful who are Spiritually enlightned to understand them Do not the like Objections as much and rather much more lye against the Light within all Men being the Rule of Faith and Life For excepting the common Principles of Moral Justice and Temperance all other things relating either to Faith or Life with respect to the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion are not to be found at all in the Light within every Man abstractly and by it self considered Otherwise if W.P. think's they are let him tell me what one peculiar Doctrine of Christian Religion or peculiar Precept of it distinct from Deism or Gentile Religion has the Light within him taught him If he say to believe that there is one great God Almighty that Commands him to be Honest Just and Temperate I say these are not peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of Christianity but common to it with Deism And if he hath no other Principles or Precepts taught him by the Light within but what every Deist Mahometan or Jew who are Enemies to the Christian Faith have then let him speak out yet more plainly though I think he has spoke very plain already If the Light within him has taught him any other Principles or Precepts than what Deists Jews and Mahometans have let him tell us that he may convince us that the Light within every Man is the Rule of Faith and not the Scriptures without but let him not only tell us so but give us some effectual Reason to convince any ratinal Man that the Light within him only has taught him that peculiar Principle and Precept of Christian Religion without the Scriptures being so much as Instrumental in his being so taught For all Orthodox Christians by affirming the Scriptures to be the Rule they give no more to the Scriptures but to be the Instrument of the Spirit in giving all Saving knowledge and Faith of Divine Truth and if he allow them in God's ordinary way to be the
without them but only within them that is the Light in the Conscience and so there is no High-Priest without us nor no Heaven without us into which the Man Christ Jesus is gone nor King Christ without us but only within us for to say he is both without us and within us also will spoil W. P's Argument altogether and mar his Analogy betwixt the Law without under Moses and the Law within under Christ the High-Priest without then and the High-Priest within now If he grant there is a High-Priest without us and who is also King as well as Priest and that he is more without us than within us as all true Christians believe who have not the fulness within them but receive of his fulness and Grace for Grace and therefore that fulness is in the Man Christ without them he must also grant that the Law and Rule of Faith is as well without us as within us and so his Argument is spoiled but that he will be loth to grant for then the fundamental Principle of him and his Brethren is pluck'd up by the Roots by confessing to the Man Christ a High-Priest without us or King without us which will necessarily infer the Law and Rule of Faith delivered us by Christ without us is not within us only but without us also as Christ the Law-giver is Thus we see for Love of their supposed Rule of Faith only within them W.P. and his Brethren who approve his Book abandon and reject utterly any Christ High-Priest or King without them as also he has done in his Christian Quaker where he will have P. 97. The Lamb without in the Passover to shew forth the Lamb within to wit the Light in the Conscience but not the Lamb Christ without as he was outwardly slain And yet W.P. for all this hath said in his late answer to the Bishop of Cork That the Quakers differ little in Doctrine from the Church of England setting aside some School Terms And in his answer to the Bishop of Cork P. 97. he saith We i. e. he and his Brethren plainly and intirely believe the Truths contained in the Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed But possibly some fallacy is latent here also as if he had said they believe the Truths Contained in the Jews Talmud or Turks Alcoran for doubtless there are some Truths contained in them both but many Falshoods and so he may think there are in that Creed for all his seeming fair Confession to it and I offer to prove they have disbelieved them all But how this consists with their having only their High Priest King and Prophet within them as they have the Law and Rule of their Faith only within them as W.P. here doth Argue I leave to the intelligent to Judge and whither this palpable contradiction bewrayes not their great disingenuity considering that they will not grant that they are in any one point changed in their Faith or Doctrine from what they were ever since they were a People but as God and Truth is the same so his People to wit the Quakers are the same as they have in so many express words lately Printed in the Book called the Quakers Cleared c. 3. As concerning the several places of Scripture quoted by him that he brings to prove the inward Teachings of God Christ and the Holy Spirit and God's writing his Laws in the Hearts of the Faithful all this is granted by all Sound Christians but that is not the true State of the Controversie betwixt the People called Quakers and their Opponents But the true State of the Controversie is this whither the inward Teachings of God of Christ and of the Holy Spirit come to believers without all outward means and without all outward Ministry and Service of Men or Books and whither the Law and Rule of Faith that Believers have in them put in them yea and writ in their Hearts by the Lord himself is without all outward Instruction and Teaching or Service of Men or Books or whither the Law and Rule of Faith and Practise within in respect of all the peculiar Doctrines and Precepts of the Christian Religion be not so to speak a Transcript or Copy from the Law and Rule of Faith without us as delivered in the Holy Scriptures which therefore may be called the Original as to us though that Original Law and Rule without us came from an inward Original in the Holy Prophets and in the Man Christ and his Holy Evangelists and Apostles which yet had a higher Original to wit the Archetypal Law as it was in God before the Copy or Transcript of it came to be in the Prophets and from them committed to writing outwardly and from that outward writing transferred and transcribed into the Hearts of the Faithful where it becomes an inward Law or Rule in them And thus the Faithful have the Law and Rule of Faith both without them and within them first without them in the Holy Scriptures next within them put in them by the Lord in their Hearts by means of outward Instruction as Preaching Reading c. And if the Question be asked Whither is best to have it without them or within them I answer to have it both ways is very necessary for in God's ordinary way of working we cannot have it within us if we had it not first without us no more than we can have Food within us if we had it not first without us for as our outward and bodily Food that nourisheth our Bodies comes into our Bodies from without us by the Door so to speak of our Mouth so the wholsome Doctrine of eternal Salvation by Christ our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer by means of which our Souls and inward Man are nourished being accompanied with the Divine Influences of the Grace and Spirit of God and of Christ comes into our Souls by the Door of our outward Hearing and Reading in the Holy Scriptures Again though there be ever so good Food and ever so Plentiful without us yet if we receive it not within us it neither doth nor can nourish us And as the clean Beasts under the Law did chew the Cud of what they did eat for their Nourishment so the Faithful what they outwardly hear and read of God's Word in the Holy Scriptures must meditate upon inwardly for their Spiritual Food Thus the great necessity of having the Law and Word of God both without us and within us the Rule of our Faith and Life is evidently apparent so long as we live in these mortal Bodies And therefore God hath appointed and Christ hath given an outward Ministry together with his other Gifts and Graces to his Church to continue to the end of the World and to his last coming But again if it be asked Is there not an Internal word Voice or Teaching of Christ distinct from the outward word Voice and Teaching that outwardly soundeth in our outward Ears I answer There is but in God's
the Spirit has given them of their Truth much or indeed most of all this is again denyed by W.P. telling us in answer to that Objection Page 32. This Light you speak of could not tell you which way Sin came into the World that there was an Adam and Eve that they fell after that manner and that Sin so entred the World that Christ was born of a Virgin suffered Death and rose again c. He roundly answereth that inasmuch as an account of those things hath been already revealed and is extant therefore any new Revelation of such things is not needed I answer How not needed and yet certain to you upon the Spirits inward Evidence and Testimony and to none but you and such as you who pretend to the same Revelations with the Prophets and Apostles However seeing he grants he and his Brethren have no Revelation from the Light within them That Christ was born of a Virgin suffered Death and rose again therefore he must needs confess all these things concerning Christs Birth Death Resurrection are uncertain to them and so no matters of their Faith And then seeing other Christians believe these things upon an inward Evidence and Testimony of the Spirit though not by the same Revelation in Kind or Specie with that of the Prophets and Apostles yet by way of Seal to the truth of them as above explained the proper consequence of which is this that all these great things recorded in Scripture concerning Christ's birth of a Virgin his having dyed for our Sins his Resurrection Ascension and Intercession for us in Heaven are altogether uncertain upon the Quakers foundation because as W.P. confesseth not inwardly revealed to them which yet are certain upon the foundation of all true Christians to wit the inward Testimony and Evidence of the Spirit by way of sealing to the Truth of them as by an objective medium as above explained But why are not these things concerning Christ's Birth Death revealed to the Quakers by W. P's confession Why because they are not necessary to be believed they are none of the Eternal Precepts of the Spirit in the Consciences of all Men Teaching some few things of owning a great God Almighty and some few moral Principles of Temperance and Justice as doing as we would be done by this is the Quakers Evangelium Eternum their everlasting Gospel whatever is more is unnecessary and Superfluous Page 32. He saith To say the Light or Spirit could not do it viz. reveal that Christ was born of a Virgin suffered Death and rose again c. is blasphemous as well as absurd Answ I know none that saith the Spirit or God and Christ considered as the Light could not do it but that 's not the Question what the Spirit could do or what the Light within taking it in the highest Sense as to signifie the divine Word could or can do but the proper state of the question is whither the Spirit or Light within hath given generally any such Revelation of these things which if he hath not given and that to all Men then to be sure even by W. P's confession such Revelation is no part of the Rule of Faith for it is not what God who is Light or the Spirit can reveal but what he hath revealed that is the Rule of Faith and doth ordinarily reveal And seeing the Quakers as W.P. hath granted have no inward Revelation of these things viz. That Christ was born of a Virgin c. It is no part of their Faith or Creed for the Rule of their Faith hath not taught it them If any have said the Light within every man cannot reveal these things they do not mean by the Light within either Christ or the Spirit but that common Illumination that is in all Men that is neither Christ nor the Spirit but yet is a gift of Christ and of the Spirit Section 17. His Proofs out of the Fathers and Primitive Protestants for the Spirits being the Rule of Faith all Fallacious An Instance of Calvin quoted by him in some Passage of his Institutions expresly to the contrary Whither the Esseni Pythagoras Clinias and the Scythians before our Saviour's Incarnation thought Swearing unlawful from the Light within AS for these many Authors some Fathers and other late Protestant Authors that he quotes in confirmation of his Assertion viz. That the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith and Life but the Light in every Conscience none of all these quotations which I have diligently read and considered say any such thing viz. That the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith and Life or that the Light in every Conscience is that Rule Either he is very ignorant and unacquainted in Calvin and Beza's wriings and other Protestants or very unfair to quote them when he cannot but know in his Conscience if he be acquainted with them that all those Protestant Authors did Zeolously contend that the Scripture was the Rule of Faith and Life and though they did Zealously assert the necessity of the Spirits Internal Evidence and Testimony to Seal to the Truth of the Scripture and give the understanding of it yet none of them all that he has quoted say or hold that the Spirit or Light in every Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life I rememno such Doctrine taught by them and yet I suppose I know their Doctrine as well as he and were it needful I could produce sufficient Testimonies from their Books that he has manifestly wronged them but he who takes so great liberty to wrest the Scriptures no wonder if he make bold to do the same with these Mens Writings His Quotation out of Calvin is this Inst Lib. 1. Cap. 8. It is necessary the same Spirit that spake by the mouth of the Prophets should pierce into our Hearts to perswade us that they faithfully delivered that which was committed to them of God This doth not prove that Calvin denyed the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith having expresly taught that they were But to shew how little acquainted W.P. is with Calvin's Doctrine in this point whom he hath quoted for him to prove that the Scripture or written word is not the Rule of Faith but the Light in every Conscience or the Spirit abstractly considered from the written word or how unfair and fallacious in so doing if acquainted with his writings I shall give some passages out of his Institutions That is in English For when the mind of Man for its weakness could by no way come to God unless helped and assisted by his Holy Word it was necessary that all Men the Jews excepted did walk in vanity and error because they sought God without the Word Thus we see according to Calvin how necessary was the Word of God to wit the Doctrine outwardly delivered of God to Men by the Holy Prophets to bring them to God out of error and vanity for by the Holy Word it is manifest Calvin meant not the
Light within which all Mankind had as well as the Jews but the outward Word of Doctrine delivered by the Prophets according to Psal 147.19 He shewed his Word unto Jacob c. The which external Word he calls Sect. 1. Aliud melius adminiculum i. e. another and better help which was necessary to direct us rightly to the Creator of the World comparing it with whatever other helps God had given to Mankind without them or within them which he calls Communia illa Documenta those common Documents the which external Word he saith is Rectior certior ad ipsum Cognoscendum nota i. e. a more right and more sure Mark whereby to know him which also he calls the Rule of the Eternal verity and cap. 9. Sect. 1. l. 1. inst He calleth them Nebulones i. e. Knaves and chargeth them with Nefarious Sacriledge that divide the Word to wit the external Word from the Spirit which God hath Joyned together by an inviolable Bond and in the Title of that Chapter he calleth them Fanaticks and saith They overthrow all the Principles of Piety who despising the Scripture to wit considered as the Rule flee over to Revelation pretending to be taught by the Spirit without the external Word Where it is evident he doth not mean that whoever are taught by the outward Word are sufficiently taught without the Spirit but that whoever are taught Savingly to know God as the Creator or Christ the Redeemer they are taught of the Spirit with and by the external Word as the instrument of the Spirit which he hath given to us for a Rule of Faith and Life not that it 's the Rule to the Spirit but the Rule to us of the Spirits giving and preparing and which he perswades us to be Truth by his secret operation in us And as unfair and fallacious as W.P. hath been in wresting misapplying and abusing Calvin's words to prove that he was not of another Mind than W.P. viz. That the Scriptures is not the Rule of Faith and Life he is as unfair absurd and fallacious in his quoting other late Protestant Authors as Bish Jewel Dr. Ames Dr. Owen all which are sufficiently known by their Books to be of a contrary Mind as much as one thing can be to another The Quotations indeed taken out of those Authors prove that they did assert the necessity of the Spirits inward Operation in the Souls of Men to perswade them to believe the Truth of the Scriptures and the necessity of his Internal Illumination to give the Saving understanding of them as particularly the quotation given out of J. Calvin instit lib. 1. c. 8. who gives the Sense of all those Authors and indeed of all true Christians viz. It is necessary the same Spirit that spake by the Mouth of the Prophets should pierce into our Hearts to perswade us that they faithfully delivered that which was committed to them of God which he illustrates by the word Obsignare elsewhere in that Book that is by Sealing to the truth of them but this does not prove that this inward Obsignation of the Spirit is the Rule of Faith even in Calvin's sense or that the Scripture was not that Rule Page 36 It 's strange that W.P. should bring a proof against the Lawfulness of Swearing from the Conviction of the Light within some Jews long before Christ came to wit the Esseni that when the Scriptures of the Old Testament made it lawful to Swear in some Cases if W.P. believes that the Spirit of God did Dictate these Scriptures that the same Spirit in the Esseni should teach them that it was unlawful even while the Mosaical dispensation was yet standing But how proves he that the Esseni did think Swearing unlawful from a Conviction of the Light within them when others of the most faithful of the Jews both then and before that time did Judge Swearing Lawful and that from the declared and revealed Will of God in the Old Testament that came from the Light within in Moses and the Prophets that was in force until Christ suffered as to all the other parts of it If he will allow that the eternal Precepts of the Spirit in the Conscience command one thing to some and the quite contradictory to another surely at this rate the Light within must be a very uncertain Rule for by this Concession one may take the liberty to say his Light within commands him to Kill to Steal to commit Adultery though the same Light in another forbids it I had thought that by the Eterprecepts in the Conscience W.P. had meant those unchangeable Precepts and Laws of Justice and Temperance c which in all Ages have been the same to all Men and will ever be the same to all so long as the World lasteth But now it seems even the Precepts of Light within are not Eternal but Temporal and may be changed and one may be commanded to Swear or permitted without Sin to Swear and another forbidden But there are two things that W.P. in his instance of the Esseni that would not Swear which he quotes out of Josephus and Philo. That they shun Oaths worse than Perjury for they esteem him Condemned for a Lyer who without it is not believed should prove neither of which he hath done First That they held it Unlawful in any Case to Swear even when called before Authority for it may rather be thought it was common Swearing they were against a thing that was too ordinary among the Jews seeing the Law did allow Swearing in a Judicial way Levit. 5. that was then in force Secondly Suppose they were against all Swearing that they had this from the Light within them it is much more probable it was an erronious Opinion in them which could not proceed from the Light within otherwise it had contradicted the standing Law of God without then in force which not only allowed Swearing but commanded it upon necessary Occasions And as idle and impertinent are his Instances of Pythagoras the Scythians in King Alexander's time and Clinias all which lived some hundreds of Years before Christ came in the Flesh Now if Swearing was lawful by the Law of God among the Jews in those Ages How can we suppose it unlawful among the Gentiles since I know not one Instance can be given that the Light in any Gentile did condemn what the Light within or Law of God without in the Jews did justifie for this were to set Light against Light It 's nothing to the purpose if some in these ancient Times were against Swearing but the Question is Whither it was the Light in them that taught them so or rather whither it was not an erronious Opinion like that of not eating Flesh said to be taught also by Pythagoras was that thinks W.P. from the Light within If so How does the Light in him allow him to eat it and to take his liberty in diverse things that the Severity of Pythagoras's Doctrine did not
needs only pretend a Revelation for that and all the other Matters in Controversie betwixt Protestants and Papists to justifie him and prove him to be no Changeling And at this rate of W. P's arguing not only all the peculiar Doctrines of Christianity are wholly uncertain and Papists Socinians and Arians and other the worst of Hereticks that oppugn the Christian Doctrine and Faith may happen to be in the right and these called the Orthodox to be in the wrong but the great Fundamental of the Quakers is overthrown and rendred uncertain also yea this very Position that he laboureth so much to establish That not the Scriptures but the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life to every Man For this Position of his is not literally and expresly in the Scripture so that according to W.P. not the Scripture but his and his Brethrens Interpretation must determine this Controversie and this cannot be done without extraordinary Revelation it being none of those things that fall within the ordinary Discoveries of Men to wit that the Light in every Man's Conscience is Christ and God for then Christ would be God and the Socinians would be Blasphemers that deny him so to be By all which it evidently appears that this Argument of W.P. not only renders all the peculiar Doctrines of Christianity meer Scepticism and Uncertainty but the great Fundamental of the Quakers as concerning the Light being Christ in them and the Rule of their Faith to be equally Scepticism and Uncertainty But that he saith Christ's Divinity is left undetermin'd in Scripture literally and expresly is false for it is in several places literally and expresly affirm'd that Christ is God and that and many other Truths suppose not literally and expresly mentioned in Scripture yet by good and necessary Consequences without all extraordinary Revelation from plain places of Scripture can be certainly inferred And if he will not allow that there is any certainty by arguing from the Scriptures by Consequences of true Reason his whole Discourse in this his Book that I am now answering is disallowable for he has not brought one place of Scripture that literally and expresly saith the Scripture is not the Rule of Faith or that the Light in every Man's Conscience is and he doth not pretend to extraordinary Revelation in the Case and if he did of shall he must give us leave to distrust him until he bring sufficient Evidence for it which I believe he will never be able to do Yea the Falsity of his Reasonings by way of Consequence to prove his Position That not the Scripture but the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life is evidently apparent from the answers already given And suppose he should pretend to extraordinary Revelation in the case and that that is the ground of his Certainty and Rule of his Faith even that Pretence destroyeth his Fabrick for seeing all Men have not that extraordinary Revelation it cannot be a general Rule If he say The common discovery that every Man hath teacheth him sufficiently without either Scripture or extraordinary Revelation That the Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith I answer How can that be unless it were a self-evident Proposition as that the whole is greater than the part and if it be a self-evident Proposition why hath W.P. taken so great pains to prove it Men commonly think it needless to prove any self-evident Proposition and properly speaking it is impossible to be proved But if his said Position has no self-evidence of the Truth of it how shall it be proved not from Scripture for that would make the Scripture the Rule nor from Humane Reason for that would make Humane Reason the Rule which W.P. seems not to set up for the Rule It is granted that the Light in every Man's Conscience in respect of some Moral Principles of Justice and Temperance has a Self evidence and so far is a Rule but that it is the Rule of Faith to Christians is denied and by whatever Medium he proveth it that must be his Rule by his manner of arguing which runs him into the like vitious Circle as the Papists are run into when they prove the certainty of Tradition by the Church and the certainty of the Church by Tradition so W.P. proves that the Light within is the Rule of Faith by the Scripture and the certainty of the Scripture by the Light within Section 20. His Proposal of the way to determine all Controversie destructive to the Christian Religon le ts in Deism and Heathenism to overspread the World a Remedy worse than the Disease His misrepresentation of sound Protestants and false and uncharitable Judgment of them Several Scripture places that prove the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Life to all Christian People I Confess he hath one very notable and plausible Answer to an Objection made by himself P. 44. were it as true as seemingly fair and plausible The Objection is this How will this determine Controversie viz to cast away the Scriptures from being the general Rule of Faith and Life and to set up the Light in every Man's Conscience according to the general Discoveries it gives to all Mankind and allay the Fury of Debates that are on foot in the World He answereth roundly Nothing like it if Men adhere to it But first were it true it would have this mischievous and yet most necessary Consequence that the Christian Religion would be utterly lost so far as it hath any peculiarity or peculiar Dignity Worth and Advantage above Deism or Paganism A rare Cure indeed that W.P. here prescribes to all Christendom to heal their Breaches and end the Disputes and Controversies betwixt the worst sort of Hereticks and the most Orthodox Christians and betwixt Papists and Protestants such a Remedy here prescribed by him is worse than the Disease He saith Most Perswasions he should have come out more plainly with his Expedient saying most Hereticks Arians Nestorians Sabellians Eutychians and them of the opposed side called Orthodox yea Papists and Protestants agree in his general Rule of Faith and Life that is they own the common and general Dictates of the Light in the Conscience and so doth the civilized part of the whole World of Mankind and agree about what he makes the absolute Necessaries viz That God is that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him that the way of God is a way of Purity Patience Meekness c. without which no Man shall see the Lord. Now all Hereticks commonly few I think excepted own these Generals and many of them have Moral Lives Is this enough to their eternal Salvation though they deny the Lord that bought them with his precious Blood as he outwardly suffered on the Cross on this pretence that their general Rule set up here by W.P. teacheth them nothing of any such Lord that bought them
with any Blood outwardly shed for them Is not this the ready way to open the Flood-gate and to let in Deism and Heathenism to over-run not only England but all Christendom and not only to destroy the Protestant Christian Religion but any remains of Christian Doctrine that are in the Popish Countries But from this Cure of W.P. we have all great cause to pray Good Lord deliver us But nor would this Cure he proposeth be successful upon the Hypothesis of his general Rule if universally received for a Rule The Heathen Philosophers many of whom professed and owned the Light in every Conscience as it did enlighten their Reason yet how many great Controversies were there among them notwithstanding and oft great Heats and Animosities And if this Cure of W.P. be so effectual how comes it that it has not healed the breaches and great Controversies that have been on foot these Forty Years chiefly about G. Foxes orders his party contending that they were the Dictates of the Light both in G.F. and all his followers the other party as strongly denying it that they were any Dictates of the true Light within and let W.P. tell us when any such Controversie arises which are the true Dictates of the Light and true Spirit abstractly considered from the Scripture what shall be the Cure in that Case He seems indeed to give an answer to this in Page 42. Answ By the same Spirit as well said Gualt Cradock the way to know whither the Spirit be in us is its own Evidence and that is the way to know it in others too and the Man that hath the Spirit may know the Spirit in another There is saith he a kind of Sagacity in the Saints to this purpose To this I answer where the Spirits Doctrine which is the Doctrine both of Christ and the Father goeth along with the Spirit according to Isaiah 59 21. and many other places of Scripture there is a great Truth in it but whatever Spirit either teacheth another Doctrine or draweth Men away from the necessary belief of Christ's Death in the Flesh in being a Sacrifice for our Sins and other Fundamental Principles peculiar to Christianity is not the true Spirit of Christ whatever Unity or Sagacity W.P. and his Brethren may think they have to know it in one another while he and they make nothing to be the Rule of Faith but the Light in every Conscience John 2.9 which teacheth not this Doctrine of Faith nor proposeth this great Object of Faith to wit Christ Crucified to the Conscience they destroy all necessity of that Faith as concerned in our Salvation However with plausible shews he and they will say it is necessary where the History as he terms it has reached but how not for Salvation but historically as we believe the History of Alexander or Julius Cesar or as W.P. and his Brethren pretend to believe G. F's Journal The Difficulty that he moves P. 41. about Interpretation of Scripture is easily resolved without any new material object of Faith if the Spirit of God be acknowledged inwardly to enlighten the Understandings of the faithful and that they faithfully receive the same it will infallibly give to all the Faithful so much of the true knowledge and Faith of all Scripture Doctrine as is necessary to Salvation Page 46. As unfair and fallacious as he hath been in his Definitions and Arguments about the Rule of Faith and Life no less unfair and fallacious is he in his representing many Orthodox and sincere Protestants as if they Judged the Quakers for their asserting an unerring certain or infallible Judgment in things necessary to Salvation This is a very unfair representation of them The Question lyeth not about an unerring certain and infallible Judgment given by the Spirit of God to all the faithful in the things necessary to Salvation which they fully assert But the Question lyeth here whither they have this infallible Judgment either by the common Discoveries and Dictates of the Light in every Man's Conscience or by any new discoveries of the Spirit abstractly and seperately considered from the Scriptures so that the Doctrine as delivered in the Holy Scriptures is not the Rule or Instrument whereby the Spirit works or begets this infallible Judgment in them in all the necessary things of Salvation which â—et are more and others than those assigned by W.P. to wit Faith in Christ crucified and raised again and other fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion A Second part of the question is Whither all or any of the Quakers when met in their Yearly Meetings or any other Meetings or the most enlightned among them have an infallible Judgment given them in all things as their chief Teachers have asserted so that they are not only infallible in the most necessary things but in other things Yea in all that they have given forth either in Preaching or Writing as the Word of the Lord and with an Authority the same in kind with the Prophets as W.P. doth in the Concluâ—ion of this Book where he pretends that he has a Message to tell them and that from the Spirit of the Lord God of Truth and that is Page 48. That Men unregenerated for all their external imitations of the Ancients in some Temporary and figurative parts of Worship will never be accepted But this is no extraordinary Revelation it is a Doctrine that is daily taught and generally believed among all true Christians that never were under the profession of Quakers But the fallacy is here that all are unregenerate in his Sense who own that what they are taught and helped to believe know or practise is by the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures as the Rule of their Faith and Life and Instrument of the Spirits preparing and giving them the Spirit himself being the principal efficient Author and Cause and primary principle of their Knowledge Faith and Practise Yet all this is Judged by W.P. here in his Conclusion to be nothing but a literal Knowledge Historical Faith and outward Religion that is but as the Old Heaven that are to be wrapt up as a scroul and the Old Wine and Bottles that belong not to the Kingdom of God For which Uncharitable and False Judgment I heartily pray God that he may forgive him and giving him a better understanding and reclaim him if it be the blessed Will of God from those most dangerous errors he is intangled in and especially from this that is the foundation of his other errors to wit his Deism and setting up the Light within or Spirit or whatever he calls iâ— abstractly and seperately from Christ's Doctrine and Words even those divine Oracles and Words which the Father gave to Christ and Christ gave them by his Holy Spirit to the Apostles John 17.8 And by the same Holy Spirit by means of the Apostles writing has given to all the faithful since thus dividing what God and Christ have Joyned together surely this cannot be the true Light nor Spirit in him or his Brethren that leads away People from hearing the true Shepherds Voice either as it is outwardly sounded in the outward Ministry of the Word outwardly Preached or as it is inwardly sounded and Eccho'd by the Holy Spirit in Teaching the faithful to believe the same Doctrine that is outwardly delivered in the Holy Scriptures My Sheep said Christ hear my Voice they that draw from Christ's Doctrine being the Rule of Faith and Life to every true Christian draw from the Spirit of Christ and from his Voice whatever seeming pretences they fallaciously make to exalt the Spirit by rejecting that Instrument to wit the Rule of the Holy Scriptures by which the Spirit doth both enlighten the faithful and beget Faith and Hope and Love in them by the precious Oracles and Testimonies therein contained and also doth refresh quicken and comfort them If the Spirit and his divine influences be the Wine that refresheth and cherisheth them the Scripture so to speak are the Flagons that convey it to them according to the words in the Song Cant. 2.5 Stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples and many other plain Testimonies of Scripture that hold forth in God's ordinary way the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures as outwardly delivered to be the means and therefore the Rule by which the Spirit doth both Teach and also Quicken Comfort and strengthen them such as these following places which I recommend to W.P. and his Brethrens Consideration Psal 19.7 8 9 10 11. Prov. 6.23 Psal 119. 4 5 6 18 49 50 105. Psal 147.19 20. Isaiah 8.20.59.21 John 10.3 John 17.8 20. John 20.31 John 5 39. Acts 10.44 Rom. 16.17 Rom. 16.25.26 Gal. 3.2 Eph. 1.13 1 Thes 1.5 1 Tim. 4.16 2 Tim. 1.13 2 Tim. 2.20 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. 28th of the First Month 1699. G. K. FINIS Nam cum humana mens pro sua imbecillitate pervenire ad Deum nullo modo queat nisi sacro ejus verbo adjuta sublevata omnes tunc mortales exceptis Judaeis quia Deum sine verbo querebant necesse fuit in vanitate atque errore versari Calvin Instit Lib. 1. c. 6 S. 4