of what ever stands in his Way and refuses to receive his Mark in his Forehead or in his Right Hand This has occasioned so much Trumpery in Religion Ceremonies Shew and meer Formality have swallowed up the greatest part of It Now were Men brought to God's Heavenly Gift in themselves it would reclaim and leaven the Mind chain the Affections and bring Religion into Holy and Selâ—-denying Living and erect an Holy Regiment in the Heart and Soul by which the Heavenly â—mage would be renewed and Man become as one born again without which Translation there can be no entring into God's Heavenly Kingdom This the first Protestants made to be their Reason of their Revolt from Rome For though 't is true that they charged the Papists with making God's Tradition the holy Scriptures void by their numerous dark Traditions yet That which begot that holy Loathing of Rom's Superstitions Idolatries and Will-Worship was God's Grace in their Hearts their best Argument against Rom's Assault was this The Scripture which I believe from the Testimony of the Spirit of God in me which I can only understand from the Illumination thereof owns no such thing and therefore I reject it Such as converse with Luther and his Followers Zuinglius and his Followers will find this to have been the Foundation of their whole Work And our own Martyrology is full to our Purpose particularly Tindal Times and Philpot. I omit to mention a whole Cloud of Witnesses because I intend not to dwell here only this I would be at and I intreat you all to weigh it If any thing can give to understand aright and enable to practise those things of God which it is necessary for Man both to know and do then God's Light Grace or Word in the Heart What else can give us to relish the Divine Authority of the Scriptures themselves or to believe the Things therein treated of to be undeniable Truths Indeed the Want of This has been a great Occasion of Atheism for Man making practising and enacting That for Religion of which People has had no Assurance in themselves But if they should speak their Hearts 't is more probable They do not believe it but instead thereof deride it and so under a Shew of Religion live as Men without God in the World To prevent which and to bring Men to the true Understanding of what God expects from them in order to that great Account they are to give unto Him at the Revelation of his Righteous Judgments when he will judge the Secrets of all Men by Jesus Christ we do exhort all to Christ's Pure Unerring Light in the Conscience which is sufficient to daily Understanding Duty that what they believe and profess in Matters of so high Importance They maybe convinced in their very Conscience by the good Understanding the Inspiration of the Almighty gives of the Truth and Necessity thereof and not suffer themselves to be carried away with the Torrent of Fathers Councils Synods Doctors Scholars National Constitutions c. big and most times untrue and too often empty Words without that inward Conviction and Testimony of God's Good Spirit in Your Own Consciences the old Protestant and only primitive Ground of Truâ— Faith and Obedience I know and shall alwayes acknowledge that in the time of Ignorance the Almighty winked and that in every Age he has expressed his Regard to those under the various Forms of Religion ever in the World who have been Sincere-hearted and of Sober and Conscientious Conversation But I must also tell you that by how much the more needless and unwarrantable Customs Will-Worship and Human Religion built upon the dark and uncertain Conjectures of Men are receeded from and the Minds of People engaged in a diligent attendance upon that Divine Principle which only can clear up their Understandings and give them an experimental Knowledge of the True God and that Way of Worship and Service which may be most acceptable with him by so much more certain will they be of the Truth of their Religion in as much as they have over and above all external Record the Assurance of Unquestionable Convictions in their own Consciences Thus God that made Heaven and Earth knows we came to receive that Knowledge of him Which we now expose our selves to all Hardships to mantain We profest God but like our Neighbours in Works we denyed him We worshipt him after Men's Conceivings insomuch that I may say we worshipt the Unknown God in a False Way No doubt but we were stockt with the Common Talk of Religion but the Cross of Christ we were Strangers to His Blood we extolled whilst by Wicked Works we trod it under Foot And believ'd our selves Saved by it Who were Uncleansed from Sin The whole End of His Coming we esteemed the top of all Love but never knew enough of It truly kindled in our Hearts whereby to work such Faith and Resignation as could give us Victory over the World Thus were we Jews-like Children of God whilst we crucifyed the Son of God and of the Seed of Abraham whilst the Serpents Seed reign'd Heirs of the Kingdom yet not born again Free yet the Bondslaves of Vanity Oh! at this time of day it was that God â—ound us out and broke in upon our Souls with his Righteous Judgments for Sin and laid Judgment to the Line Righteousness to the Plummet within us the Book of Conscience was Opened and great Fear surprised us and Deep Sorrow fell upon us which brought that sudden and Strange Change that made us both the Derision of Prophane and Wonderment of Sober Men. The Author of the Account of Familism for want of more Skill and Seriousness calls it the Hypochondria as if it only had been a Flux of Melancholy overpowring the Strength of Reason and carrying the Understanding captive at the Impetuosity of its Fancies But having been thus made sensible of the Terrors of the Lord for Sin and being brought into a True Understanding of that Religion and Worship which most please God some of us were constrained and in Conscience bound to go forth into the World and publish these Tidings of Judgment for Sin and Conversion through Righteousness wrought by the mighty Power of God in the Conscience that all might be awakened to try their Works Faiths Worships and whole Religions whether they were of God or Men or they had been doing their own Wills or the Will of God that so they might be brought to experience God to be a God nigh at hand reconciled in Christ blotting out Sin and renewing a Right Spirit within by which their Religion might not longer stand in the Traditions of Men nor only Education of Parents but upon the Convictions and Operations of God's Grace in the Conscience And thus is all that Christ did without brought nigh and home to the very Soul The Seed of the Woman is known to Bruise the Head of the Serpent Christ the
Passage cited But he thinks G.F. has made much for his Purpose who in his Great Mystery p. 207 210. saith Christ is not distinct from the Saints and he that eats the Flesh of Christ hath it within him And what of all this Is Christ divided from his Saints Was he not in them of Old the Hope of Glory He that 's with you shall be in you And at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you For the other Part I wonder he cited it Certain it is That unless Men eat the Flesh of Christ they have no Life in them Now how a Man can be said to eat any thing and not have it within him is a Distinction past my Understanding But Geo. Fox saith p. 206. If there be any Christ but He that was crucified within he is a False Christ and He that hath him not within is a Reprobate Answ Our Return to this will be very short 1st By Christ crucified within he does not deny that he was once crucified without as the same Page proveth as our Adversary would insinuate 2ly There can be no False Doctrine in it unless the owning of Christ being crucified within through Wicked Works necessarily should imply our Denying that he was ever crucify'd without from the Danger of which Consequence the Scriptures of Truth sufficiently secure us Heb. 6.6 Seeing they crucify'd to themselves the Son of God afresh Also Rev. 11.18 3ly And that such are Reprobates in whom He lives not remember that unanswerable Passage 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is IN YOU except you be Reprobates But sayes our Adversary Ric. Stubbs a Quakeâ— told Eliz. Wetherly That the Jesus who was born of the Virgin and dyed at Jerusalem was a False Christ and an Antichrist But this needs no long Answer for it is an absolute Untruth raised by the Devil within and his Envious Emissaries without to bring us the poor despised People of God into Infamy with all who have any Reverence for the Name of Christ And God will plead our Innocency in this Mans Conscience by that Holy Light which he blasphemously saith leads down to Hell and the Devil carrying Man like an Ignis Fatuus into Bogs and Ditches causing him at last to fall into the Pit of everlasting Destruction For this I would have all the World to know that God Who is the Searcher of the Heart and Tryer of the Reins who alone sheweth unto Man his Thoughts is the great Spiritual Light John 1.1 â— And 't is as such â—hat he setteth Man's Sins in order before him as saith the Apostle Whatsoever makes manifest is Light Ephes 5.13 And saith the same Apostle Whatsoever may be known of God is manifest within men for God hath shewed it unto them Rom. 1.19 Such as bring their Deeds unto this Light may know whether they are wrought in God or no. And for this End hath the Eternal Word enlightened every Man that cometh into the World that he may come to the Light and walk and grow up in it For as all have given unto them out of his Fulness Grace for Grace so from his Fulness of Light hath he given all Men Light for Light not a meer natural Capacity or creaturely Understanding but that Divine Light or Grâ—ce which is able to teach sanctifie and govern the Soul to God's Glory and its own Everlasting Happiness In the Word by whom all things were made was Life and that Life was the Light of Men And as it was then so is it now the Condemnation of the World that Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil. Some with the Pharisee prefer their Formal Literal and Ceremonial Religion and Others their Pleasures Pastimes Worldly Honour and Profit before this Inward Pure Light and Law of the Spirit of Life the Leaveâ— of the Kingdom and Truth in the inward Parts which frees from Sin and brings into the Heavenly Liberty of the Sons of God And we do testifie in the Name of God that it is only by this Measure of that Divine Fulness which above One Thousand Six Hundred Years ago was manifested in the Flesh that any Man or Woman can ever come to a right Sight Sense Relish and Enjoyment of the Blessed End and Effects of his Gracious Appearance Heavenly Gospel Mighty Miracles Holy Life Death and Sufferings his Powerful Resurrection Glorious Ascension and Constant Mediation and Intercession And that all Knowledge Faith and Worship not grounded upon this internal Sight Sense and Operation of this Divine Measure of Grace Light and Truth in the Inward Parts are but Historical and Pharisaical making up but the Jew outward and Christian outward who are not Children of the Free-Woman nor Heirs according to the Promise And if for this blessed Testimony we must be thus abused defamed and set at nought by the Black-robed-Rabbies of this World as they did against the Prophets and Christ God will be our abundant Recompence who is the Author of that Good Reformation begun and will I hope be the Finisher of it to his own Immortal Honour and our Unutterable Rejoycing World without End CHAP. VIII Of some of our Adversary's Lyes and Slanders HIs next Chapter containing a short Account of the Quakers Pretences to Immediate Revelations hath been already effectually considered only I shall take notice of two or three Particulars First That he would have the Sadness and Dejection of those that turn Quakers and the Zeal and Fluency of those that Preach among them to be the Effect of the Hypochondria Answ This shews what an easie Religion our Adversary lives in who yet knows not the Terrors of the Lord How unfit is he to Warn Men He that ever knew God's Word to be as a Sword an Hammer an Ax a Consuming Fire and Everlasting Burnings against Sin and Iniquity the Pangs of a New Birth and how hard it is to become a True Disciple through the dâ—ily Cross he would never have made such a frothy dark and envious Construction of our serious Convictions But God's Fire will one day burn up his peaceable Habitation and in that Day of Alarm he and the rest of his Jâ—vial Crew shall know the Meaning of these Words They that pierced him shall see him and all the Kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him But whatever Disease we have his frequent and sensless Scoffs at us and our Holy Way shew that the Spleen is very prevalent in him For his Reflection on Edw. Burroughs it will do him no Harm his Soul is with God and his Memory shall out-live his Enemies Hate And for this Ranting Scribbler he is not worthy to carry his Books after him For his Gentle-man of New-Castle who affirmed Some Quakers came to Kendal Church and said They had a
Light and Lamb that taketh away the Sins of the World not only to take away Sins past through Remission but Cleanse from the Nature Root and Ground of Sin by His Holy Blood which sprinkles all Consciences that wait and walk in the Light the Just Man's Path from Dead Works to serve the Living Lord God in Uprightness for ever For this Cause are We brought out into the World behold the Vessel we are embark'd in our Lading and the Country we make for The Vessel Truth the Lading Faith and Good Works Our Souls the Passengers and the Country the Land of Everlasting Rest This I could not but present you with that no Endeavours of our Enemies may be able to lodge a False Character of us and our Principles with you Though I must faithfully tell you that I should wrong my own Reason as well as your Judgment and speak against my Conscience too if I should let in one Thought of this Man's Ability to do us any great Mischief with you for out of no Insult but in Real Truth I take Him for a very Unskilfull Pilot on our Coast a Man unacquainted with our Concerns and a most Incompetent Person for an Antagonist Accept for I can ask no Excuse for my Plainness I have not fawned I never could and now much less These Matters not only deserve but require greatest Plainness And Men that believe they shall have to do with God after they have left having to do with Men ought to act with greatest Circumspection and Sincerity Remember your Original remember your End and know assuredly that but Breath is in your Nostrils and for every Deed done in this Mortal Body whether it be good or whether it be evil will God the righteous Judge require an Account from You before his great Tribunal where may you all be able to answer with Joy I am Your Faithful Friend William Penn THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. HIs Epistle considered page 13. CHAP. II. His Comparisons of us with ancient Hereticks considered p. 21. CHAP. III. His Comparison between us and the Familists p. 30. Of Christ's Ministration p. 31. Of Revelation p. 37. Of Miracles p. 40. Of Forms of Prayer p. 43. Of Baptism p. 45. Of the Supper p. 57. CHAP. IV. Of Holy Dayes p. 63. Of Holy Places p. 67. Of Tythes p. 72. Of Gospel-Ministers p. 81. CHAP. V. That Quakery is not Saduceism as charged p. 88. CHAP. VI. The People called Quakers not inconsistent with Government p. 92. Swearing not lawful to true Christians p. 96. CHAP. VII Of the Nature and Sufficiency of the Light within p. 101. CHAP. VIII Of Lyes and Slanders promoted by him against us p. 110. CHAP. IX Of Perfection p. 114. CHAP. X. Our Wayes of Conversion Scriptural and justified p. 117. The Conclusion to the Justices of the Peace p. 131. ERRATA READER SOme Faults have escaped the Press which thou art desired to Excuse and Correct the Book otherwise asks and I hope needs neither Page Line Error Corrected 13 14 he I 35 5 and who 44 26 it be it to be 66 1 I I should 67 9 any any thing 71 28 a House Houses 91 28 object and Faith and blot out and Faith 98 19 to to be  26 their his 100 22 Affirming Affronting 107 25 Jo. 1.1 Jo. 1.1 5. 112 1 was done was not done Wisdom Justified OF HER CHILDREN From the Ignorance Calumny of H. HALLYWELL CHAP. I. His Epistle considered THe Adversary we have to do withal begins his Dedicatory Epistle thus The daily and Numerous Encrease of the Heretical Generation of Quakers in these Parts made me a little more then ordinarily inquisitive into their Doctrines and Perswasions which â—â— found not only Destructive of Civil Government but Religion it self 'T is natural with Ignorance to be Proud and Envy to slander His Enquiry has been at our Adversaries Door not ours They that read him and those Books that lately came out may know his Informers without further Cost But Book-Robbery though to Untruth is an old Priest-trick If his Sort of rendring us Unconsistent with Government could incense the Civil Magistrate to our Destruction we know very well Traducers would not be wanting Truth has never been persecuted under that Name Heresy is an old Blot the Devil has cast upon it that it may become suspected with the Simple And Christians were of old worried in Beast Skins Such Coverings the present Heathen Spirit has provided for us But as we cannot but bless the Name of Almighty God that he has brought us to the Knowledge of his good old Way of Truth in the Inward Parts So do we affirm it to be neither averse from Government nor destructive of Religion right Government being according to it and pure Religion being to keep our selves Unspotted from the World and to do or suffer which we have ever done and God knows to that is the Tendency of our Holy Principle to wit Moderation Justice Industry Temperance and Upright Conversation But the true English of this wicked Suggestion is no more then this The Quakers and their Perswasion are inconsistent with Will-Worshippers Hirelings Men-Pleasers Persecutors Oppressors They give the World an Alarm for these things and Round their Ears with the Necessity of walking in so streight and narrow a Way as gives great Disquiet to the Libertin and brings the Priests Qualification into great Question and his Trade into absolute Danger No wonder then so many hard Names are cast upon us to deter such as are unacquainted with us and beget Scruples in them that are Well disposed to us However this Contentment his Paragraph gives that notwithstanding all this Opposition we daily and numerously encrease for which my Soul is greatly glad and my Knees bow to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would continue to prosper and speed his own great Work of Redemption in the Earth But he goes on For what else can be expected from them who deny the Scripture to be the Word of God and Rule and Guide in matters of Salvation Answ We do not deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God and Rule and Guide in matters of Salvation out of any Undervalue of them but from that reverent Regard we have to Chrâ—st the Great and Eminent Word who was with God and was God by whom all things were made Who is the Way Truth and Life the great Prophet Judge Law-giver and Priest to his People whose Lips preserve Knowledge He is the New Covenant Rule and Judge and without him we can neither understand nor believe the Scriptures as we should do Nay so far are they from being a Rule c. that a thousand Cases may happen wherein they cannot be a Direction to us Nay they may be burned drowned torn lost mistranslated added to diminisht Men may be robbed of them imprisoned from them but none of all this can or ought to be said of the Great Gospel-Rule
God has ever been Sufficient to his People in every Age And since they only are Children of God who are led by the Spirit of God and that it is the Spirit of God alone which leads into all Truth It follows that the Law of the Spirit of Life writ in the Heart and not a Law writ on Paper a State less excellent then the Jews whose Law was written upon Stone is the great Evangelical Rule of Living Yeâ—â—re the Scriptures an Holy Declaration of thâ— Word of God and of the Rule and Guide in â—atters of Salvation And we reject for ever that Spirit which leads into those Principles and Practices that in the least contradict the standing and permanent Truths therein mentioned For they were written by Holy Men of God being inspired thereto and contain Godly Reproof Admonition Exhortation and Prophecies for the Edification of the Church and perfecting the Man of God to every good Word and Work through Faith in Christ Jesus and as such many Directions Precepts and Rules are therein laid down yet they all refer to the Grace Light Spirit Word or Anointing within as That by which Man ought to be Ruled governed and ordered to God's Glory and his own Comfort as they first were who gave them forth for they were Witnesses of the Truth of what they writ So that they are an Holy Declaration of the Way of God and that Holy Principle which leads to it and in it without which the Book is sealed the Scriptures are unknown and consequently not the Scriptures but that holy Key of David is the Rule how far and which way we are both to understand interpret believe and practise them This may be enough to shew the Disingenuity of our Adversary in representing us to his Knight For because We cannot give that Title and Office due to Christ himself from him to his bare Declaration he would insinuate that we refuse all Conformity to the Holy Examples and Testimonies therein related and exprest as if we were a most dissolute Crew of Libertines But he tells us that this Person whose Name I suppose we shall prove he has made too bold with so well knowing our obstinate and perverse Humor in the Discharge of his Trusts committed to him under his MOST SACRED MAJETSY he could do no less then present him with this Treatise that going under the Name and Protection of so worthy and accomplisht a Person it may in some measure obtain its desired Effect by putting a Stop to the growing Evil and confirming those who are not seduced in the Truth of their Profession A most non-sensical Expression Answ But I am willing to hope better things of him then that be should go upon the Priest's Message or turn their Knight Errant But what 's the Matter that the Quakers are so Perverse They cannot say right Worshipful because they think that of right belongs to God nor most sacred Majesty that being fit for no mortal Man Neither can they ly and flatter with Your most Obliged and Affectionate Servant for they are more obliged to God then Man and to one Man more then another He either knew not forgot or sleighted the Rebuke of Paulinus to Sulpitius Severus who said It becometh not Christ's Free-Men to subscribe themselves Servant c. But it is nothing with such as our Adversary to Cog Ly and Flatter 'T is one Part of his Manners I would fain know what Rule he had for all this Did the Holy Prophets and Apostles teach him any such Trash Will he prate of Scripture for a Rule and yet bridle his Flattering Tongue no better The Customes of the Heathens have entred the Profession of Christianity and that Old Spirit under this New Trim goes off for a very Good Christian Oh but the Quakers are Obstinate in other Cases for all this Answ Why so Because they will by all means stand to their Principles They will not play the Sycophants Threats do not fright them nor Promises gain them They love their Conscience above their Conveniency and seek to please God rather then Men. Perhaps this sort of Men the Knight has found them but could have wisht them more pliant to the Laws it may be that he might have some colour to be kind must therefore this Busy-Body entitule his Name to all his own Follyes Lyes and Slanders against us What can any moderate Person think but that the Patron of such a Discourse has been an eminent Persecutor whose Protection is so plainly called for to a Book that without doubt would have him so For my Part I think the Knight ought to repute that Ignorant and Disingenuous Discourse so far from being a Testimony how much the Author is his most obliged and affectionate Servant that for Interesting his Name and Power therein he should hereafter look upon him as an Enemy to Him his Name and Family Before I conclude give me leave to ask him why he sought for Protection Is his national Cause defended by Princes Parliaments Navyes Armies the Learned Rich and Powerful Clergy both Universities the generality of the Gentry and Commonality so weak and gasping or are the poor despised traduced and trodden down Quakers so potent and terrible that a Book of eight Sheets dare not peep out against them but a big Title must be got to recommend and patronize it But how Worthy soever the Knight be that will not hinder my Proceeding to shew the Unworthiness of the Book therein of the Author as well to his Patron as the despised Quakers CHAP. II. Containing an Answer to his first Chapter in which he pretends an Agreement to be between the Quakers and other Ancient and Modern Hereticks The Comparison examined and proved defective OUr Adversary that he may the better prejudice his Reader against us introduceth his Discourse with a Comparison of us to the most noted and odious of the reputed ancient and modern Hereticks doubtless hoping that what he wants of Argument to render us such may be supplied by that ill Opinion Men have of those he brings us into parallel with The first Man he thought fit to pitch upon is Simon Magus a Man famous for his infamous Sorceries with whom he wickedly yoaks that faithful Minister of God George Fox because saith he Simon Magus gave out that he was God the Father And George Fox before the Justices at Lancaster that he was equal with God Answ There is no believing a decimating persecuting Priest against a Quaker till he makes more Conscience of telling Lyes who have given too many Demonstrations of their Desire to have us run down at any rate to be credited by those who love Truth more then Partiality George Fox denyes the Words they were never so spoken by him much less were they ever intended in that Way our Adversary takes and improves them For though there be not an Equality yet there is an Unity as testifyeth the Scripture Let the same Mind be
and his Apostles which how true soever it may be of them I am sure is False enough of us for those hideous Consequences he makes are not deducible from any unperverted Saying to be cited out of Truth 's Defence And least any should think we deny with the Papists the Perusal of the Scriptures to Ignorant People from what our Adversary sayes know that they spoke of such Ignorant and Unlearned Persons as in reading wrested them to their own Destruction now unless it be not Dangerous to read to Destruction they are not chargeable witâ— Bâ—ame in that Matter But who are the Knowing and Learned The Jewish Doctors and Greek Philosophers No but Fishermen and poor Mechanicks discipled in Christ's School for the Excellency of whose Knowledge Paul reputed his Gamaliel-Acquisitions but Dross and Dung So that their Knowing and Learned are many times the Ignorant Unlearned we speak of whose Wisdom God will confound and whose Understanding he will bring to nought His last Comparison of us in this Chapter is with Marcus an old Heretick The Agreement he makes betwixt us lyes in our mutual Pretences to Inspiration and Prophecy For as he reports him to have abused many silly Women under colour of conferring on them the Gift of Prophesying and that he had a familiar Spirit by which 〈◊〉 brought himself into Credit with his deluded Followers So he tells us that he has had it confidently affirmed That about the first rise of the Quakers in the North of England several Persons by Gloves and Ribbands and divers Charmes were really bewitched by them And doubtless many of their Quaking fits were real Possessions by the Devil Answ What Marcus was is nothing to us If he has done amiss he has answered for it by this time I confess I am not over-fond of the Characters left us of ancient Hereticks knowing what kind of Creatures the best Protestants are with Papists and what fearful Monsters several sober Separatists are reputed among some Protestants But this I know if what he hath said of several Ancients be no Truer then what he hath said of us he has grosly abused their Doctrines and their Memories For the Witchcraft of our Gloves Ribbands and Charmes 't is scarce worth my Notice his Folly in mentioning it being a sufficient Reproof and Confutation to himself A Story fit for none at this time of day to report or believe but a Man of his size I thought they had been worn out by this time But let the sober Reader judge which savours most of Satan's Design this Idle yet Scandalous Story or our Fearing and Trembling at the Word of the Lord and those Terrors that broke in upon our Souls because of Sin and Iniquity 'T is but the old Spirit of Mockery that acted the Jews and Heathens against the Christians and Papists against Protestants and too many Protestants of several Sorts against some more reformed Separatists For had the Reverent Fear of God possessed our Adversary's Heart in the writing of this Discourse there had been no room for such Irreligious Scoffs against an inoffensive People But the Devil because he would be God calls God the Devil Christ Beelzebub Light Darkness and the Power of God the Power of Satan and the Fear and Trembling brought by the one the Possessions and Witchcrafts of the other Certainly such Men live in a dry Land they see not when Good cometh But what will not an Enraged Tything Priest do to destroy us who he knows are Discoverers of such Deluders CHAP. III. His pretended Agreement between the Authors of Familism and the Quakers considered His Objections answered I Now come to consider the Reason of the Title of his Book and what Ground he had to name us the Revivers Propagators of Familism with the most weighty Objections he makes against us if in Truth I may repute the strongest of them such and that with what Brevity Truth and Faithfulness I can The great Authors of this Doctrine of Familism he sayes were David George and Henry Nicolas but more especially the latter as having more improved and disseminated the pernicious Errors introduced by the former He bestows many severe Expressions upon them more I think then becomes a Man of any Charity to give I am not their Advocate But so much Splene and so little Reason against Dead Men can be neither Christian nor Manly What he sayes they held and how far we are concerned in it it is our Business to enquire § 1. Of Christ's Ministration And first he tells us that H.N. should say that not only the Law of Moses but the Ministration of Christ and his Apostles were only Temporary things instituted to bring Men to the perfect Reign of the Spirit and then like Horn-Books and Primers to grown Understandings to be thrown away pag. 10 11. And that this is the full Sense of the Quakers sayes our Adversary Hear John Crook a Quaker We believe by the same Gift of Grace that there are several Ministratitions and several Operations according to 1 Cor. 12. And all by the same Spirit as before and after the Law by Moses and after by John the Baptist and Christ and his Apostles And by this Spirit were the Scriptures given forth and the Holy Men of God did speak prophesy preach and pray as they were moved and to answer the Service God had for them to do they were to wait as Christ commanded his Disciples to receive the Promise of the Father And therefore as it was the Practice of the People of God in old time to wait for the Moving of this Spirit that they might speak as it gave them Utterance in the Evidence and Demonstration thereof so do this People called Quakers now Upon which our Adversary dares to observe that we with the Familists deny the Ministration of Christ to be the Ministration of the Spirit and consequently a Blasphemous Derogation from the Honour of our Blessed Saviour who said to his Apostles Joh. 16.14 He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Answ If our Adversary's Weakness has run him into this strange Parrallel he is to be pittyed but if his Envy he is severely to be rebuked Will any Man that has Sense or Honesty say it is all one to affirm that Christ's Ministration is an Horn-book that time casts off with Infancy and that it is a Waiting to receive the same Spirit Christ commanded his Apostles to wait for as the Promise of the Father and the peculiar Gift and Priviledge of his own Ministration Does not J. Crook expresly draw a Parallel between the Holy Men of God of old and the Quakers of our time that as they then so the Quakers now wait to be taught moved and ordered by the same Eternal Spirit through which all come to be baptized into One Body How was that then no Spiritual Ministration when we desire to be conformed unto the Spirit and Holy Example thereof not making this anew
but reviving that old and durable Ministration of the Spirit Therefore Blasphemous Derogations will return to our Adversary as unduely charged upon us with a Charge upon him of base Derogation from the Truth of our Belief But he thinks that Humph. Smith has made much for him in thus Querying Whether should People be led in these dayes by Moses according to his outward Ministration or the Person of Christ limiting it to his Visible Appearance or the Spirit of Truth which he promised to pour out after his Ascension which contains the Substance of what he quotes out of H. Sm. to which he thus answers There is no sober Christian can read this Passage without Anger and Disdain to see such wicked Wretches scoff and fleeringly insult upon the sacred Person of our Lord Jesus The whole History of whose Life and Death in the Letter of it they esteem no better then one of Aesop's Fables Answ But our Adversary will not so easily escape the Hands of the Just God whose is Vengeance for these Ungodly Defamations as he well knows he may do ours Anger Disdain and Lyes become him and it is little to be wondred that he should be guilty of them all against a Quaker If H. Sm. had asserted that Moses could not be our Leader neither the Visible Person of Christ but the Spirit of Truth he had not exceeded the Warrant of Scripture nor the very Judgment of this Reviler It is not two pages off that he quoted Joh. 16.14 He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Which if I understand any thing imports thus much That those things which they knew not whilst Christ was with them after his Ascension the Holy Ghost should reveal unto them as these two preceeding Verses fully prove I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come Nay Christ himself sayes in the 7th Verse Nevertheless I tell you the Truth It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you And in the 14th Chapter he speaks thus I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter 〈◊〉 will abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth So that the personal Ministration was manifestly transient and temporary but That of the Spirit was to abide for ever But I would not any should think it to be less Christ's Ministration because the Ministration of the Spirit for the Lord is that Spirit as his own Words manifest Again I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Yet a little while and the World seeth me no more but ye see me Because I live ye shall live also For he that dwelleth with you shall be in you At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And that this Comforter is Christ in his Spiritual Coming and Appearance let it be further observed that the same Word for Comforter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in John 16.7 is the Word used by the same Apostle in the first Verse of the 2d Chapter of his first Epistle for Advocate when he sayes We have an Advocate with the Father Christ Jesus the Righteous In short the Dispensation of his Visible Appearance was but Temporary It is expedient for you that I go away But his Ministration who so appeared then dis-appeared and after re-appeared in a Spiritual and unalterable Ministration Lo I am with you to the End of the World And truly thus much our Adversary in Contradiction to himself grants us that the Ministration of Christ was indeed the Ministration of the Spirit Now what Scoffs Fleerings or Insults against the sacred Person of our Lord Jesus any can see in this Doctrine to incite a sober Christian to Anger and Disdain I leave to any but such an Angry and Disdainful Enemy to judge I cannot forget his horrible Ly of us concerning the Scriptures stolen probably out of an Anabaptists lying Dialogue lately printed against us Prelaticks and Sectaries can sometimes agree against Quakers Aesop's Fables have more worth in them then all the Books that ever were written against the Quakers I do not at all doubt but there are Twenty Fables in Aesop that well considered would have taught them more Discretion and it should have been their own Fault if not more Honesty too then any or all of them have shown in their utmost Endeavours against us But that we have no more Regard to nor Belief in the Holy Scriptures of Truth then in Aesop's Fables is a Story more prophane and fabulous then any Fable in Aesop and God will recompence with a Vengeance this Defamer of an Innocent People unless diverted by his unfeigned Repentance §. 2. Of Revelation He tels us the second thing wherein the Familists and Quakers are all one is the Pretence of Immediate Revelation Dav. Geo. and H.N. both pretend to receive their Doctrine from the Angel Gabriel And W. Gibson the Quaker sayes that the Gospel which they preach they have not received it from Men nor from Books nor from Writings but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in them and then denyes the Scriptures of the old and new Testament to be the revealed Will of God Answ After what manner D.G. and H.N. received their Commission I know not but sure I am that W. Gibson's Assertion is sound Take away Revelation and the Gospel ceases of course Christ is put besides the Dignity of his Prophetical and Priestly Office the Promises of God will be broken and the most excellent part of the Scriptures God's Traditions made void Who was it said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me Him shall ye hear in all things There is a Spirit in Man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding As for me This is my Covenant with him saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed's Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever I will REVEAL unto them the Abundance of Peace and Truth I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast REVEALED them unto Babes And no Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will REVEAL him No Man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him But God hath REVEALED them unto us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God If anything be REVEALED to another that sitteth by
Water which say we must be as Spiritual as the NewBirth it produceth but also the Renewing of the Holy Ghost to answer being born again of the Spirit That as the washing of Regeneration or Renewing of the Holy Ghost are Synonymous or Expressions to the same Purpose so being born again of Water or being born again of the Spirit are equivalent But if our Adversary will have this Water to be material in Honour of his Baptism Let him never refuse the like Liberty to us in Construction of that great Water-Baptist's own Words But he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with Fire that is material Fire My Judgment is if that were the Church of Englands Baptism he had never been her Son though such Sons are ready to Christian many with that Fiery Baptism But if such an Interpretation be absurd let him not esteem his own Rational And if it must be the holy Ghost or Fire then let it be Water or Spirit for indeed they are but so many Words intimating the various Operations of one Divine Power In short John was but a Forerunner therefore not to be perpetuated He was the Water but Christ the great Spiritual Baptist The Former to decrease the Latter to increase And the least in Christ's Kingdom which is not of this World is greater then John not then his private State but outward Administration Paul whose Commission was larger then any Priests in England tells us He was not sent to baptize with Water but to Preach And instead of enjoyning the Practice of it upon others he thanks God that he baptized but very few himself which surely he had never done if it had been part of his Commission or the durable Baptism of the Gospel For he had just Reason to suspect some disaffected would make that Ill-Use of his Liberty that it was to ingratiate and set up himself being conscious that he had no Authority for what he did This he further gives us to believe in that pertinent Passage to our Purpose There is One Body One Spirit One Lord One Faith One Baptism One God and Father of all If more Baptisms then one then more Bodies Spirits Lords Faiths Gods and Fathers of all who were above all and through all and in them all unto whom Paul wrote If this be absurd and that there is but one Baptism I hope it will not be denyed to be that of the Holy Ghost which is both most suitable to the Evangelical Ministration and the peculiar Baptism of Christ Jesus our Lord. I shall touch upon one Passage more The like Figure whereunto even Baptism also doth now save us as our modern Translation has it From which though our Adversary would infer that Water-Baptism is to be used as co-assistant with the Answer of a good Conscience to Salvation I doubt not unanswerably to mantain from it our foregoing Assertion This Verse admits of various readings in ancient Copies and diverse Interpretations by learned Men. We shall a little disquisite the matter that he may see we shall not refuse Learning where it may perform the Office of an honest Servant not an Usurper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the modern Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustin has it Vos and our old Books saith Zegerus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Vatabalus makes the truth relative to the Type Flood And saith Grotius Vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est communis utrique relatâ— i. tam figurae tribuitur quam rei per figuram significatae signifiing Type and Antitype or the thing signified by the Type Erasmus hath it cui nunâ— simile sive respondens Baptisma so that Baptism may answer as the thing typified not another Type 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Dr. Hammond a famous Man of the English Church is certainly best renderd Antitype yet there be â—wo different senses sometimes Contradiction thus Zenophon and Hesychius Then Destruction was by Outward Water now Salvation by Inward otherwise pro or in lieu of another as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that supplies the Consul's place so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in an old Coppy in Oxford is the Ark inward supplying the place of the Ark outward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Capellus understands to be Baptismum internum quo fimus mortis resurrectionis Christi participes Hujus interni baptismi typos aliquot habemus in V.T. imprimis autem arcam diluvii et arcam Noae By Inward Baptism we are made Partakers of Christ's Death and Resurrection Of this Inward Baptism we have several Types in the old Testament of which Noah's Ark was one Grotius refers us to these Scriptures for an Apostolical Exposition Rom. 6.3 4. Ephes 4.5 Gal. 3.27 Col. 2.12 all which refer to Man's being baptized into Christ's Death his putting on of Christ and to the One Lord One Faith One Baptism And indeed Beza shewed them the Way who will have it that the Baptism which answered to Noah's Ark was not material Water but the Power of Christ within wich preserves us cleansed and enables us to call on God with a good Conscience Nor is Doctor Hammond of a different Judgment in this Case who not only will have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred Antitype but the Baptism that is that Antitype answering to Noah's Ark to be the Inward Washing of Men's Consciences from Pollution and delivering them from the Deluge of Sin and Destruction Not only from all this do I conclude the Baptism mentioned in that place to be the Antitype or Truth answering to the outward and typical Salvation of Noah's Ark but for those Reasons which were with me before my Perusal of these Authors and which I shall now briefly offer First If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were but a Type or Figure one Type would answer another which is not proper 2 dly It were both to suppose that the Gospel were a State of Figures which is the Substance of all and of such Figures too as are less demonstrative or significant for what is that Sprinkling Baby-Baptism for Dipper or dipped I suppose our Adversary to be neither to the Worlds Deluge and Noah's Ark. 3 dly The Baptism in the Text must be such a one as hath Efficacy enough in it to save which outward Water can't do Besides the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or saveth hath Relation to Noah's Ark wherein the eight Souls were saved Therefore the Antitype or Truth answering to That as Type 4 ly It is such a Baptism as saves by the Power of Christ's Resurrection answerable to Rom. 6.3 4. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in Newness of Life 5 ly And this the Parenthesis in the Verse undeniably proves
we would tyranically use our selves But he thinks he has enough against us in this Expression All Governours ought to be accountable to the People and to the next succeeding Rulers for all their Actions which may be enquired into upon occasion This sayes our Adversary with a great Rant borders upon Treason respecting his Majesty the King of England Answ But what if he was not then in England but a sort of People that held this very Principle and who had sworn to God before Angels and Men to mantain it and broke their solemn Oaths Was it not Argumentum ad hominem to such a Generation And does not our Adversary know that there are Elective Governments in the World and annual Choice of Officers in our own Country that are accountable both to the People and their Successors But since he has brought the King of England's Name on the Stage upon this Occasion I shall briefly tell him and the World two things and let Men relish them as they please First That it is not for the Interest or Honour of his Government for any to be over officious in the enlarging his Prerogative beyond those bounds the excellent fundamental Laws of England have circumscribed the whole Government with No Princes Crown in Europe stands more firm then his upon English Law The Law gives both Right and Might It has been the part of such as dare not trust their Lives and Actions with the Law to whisper unlimited Power into the Ears of Prines but their ultimate Aim was not their Soveraigns Greatness but their own Protection We are no Sycophants yet we fear God and honour the King 2 ly It is not our Business to meddle with Government but to obey or suffer for Conscience sake can our Adversary ask more Several of us have been the faithful Servants both of Him and his Father and God knows their Kindness is not changed with their Religion though it admits not of their former way of shewing it And this I may truly say in general That not only our Principle leads to no such Nice and busy Medlings but we are actually unconcerned in any such things We speak not this out of Fear or Flattery the Truth has placed us far above both but knowing the World will never be good till every one mends one and that God's Grace has therefore universally appeared and yet doth in the Hearts of Men It 's both our Desire Duty Practice to endeavour after that Holy Righteous and Innocent Life it leads to and that as well for others as our selves Of Swearing But he sayes Inasmuch as we refuse to swear before a Lawful Magistrate we contradict the Word of God and throw away the greatest Tye any Prince hath upon his Subjects Insinuating as if we had been dabling with the Jesuit in this matter Answ 'T is strange that such an Illiterate sort of Mechanicks and Rustick Rabbyes as he is pleased to call us should hold such Correspondence with one of the most learned Classes in the World But as there is more Difference between us and the Papists then the Protestants the Papists by how much the Protestants have many things that are Popish and we have not so have I ever found these silly thred-bare Slanders to be the Refuge of Shallow Heads and Weak Causes But I would have all know as I have else-where said The Ground of Swearing is either through Distrust of Honesty in Him that swears or Weakness in Him to whom the Oath is made The first takes in all the Swearing that is now in the World the last those Oaths God condescended to make to the Jews So that it is either an extraordinary way of Evidence to awe Witnesses into Truth or an extraordinary Way of Promising to work Belief in the Incredulous Now Incredulity and Dishonesty are both Unchristian For as none are Christians but those who are buried with Christ by Baptism and are raised up unto Newness of Life so in that pure Law of the Spirit of Life Swear not at all is recorded And so far is this from Contradicting the Word of God that the great Word of God hath so enjoyned us for all our Adversary's Paraphrase upon it to wit Swearing in Communication for the Swearing prohibited was such as the Law allowed as Bp. Sanderson well observes It was not needful that Christ should forbid what was forbidden in it self or was alwayes Unlawful which Swearing in Communication was is as by the third Commandment Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain Christ brought forth a Righteousness that needed it not for that Grace Faith and Truth which came by Jesus Christ take away the Necessity of an Oath Consequently so far as any are in that Incredulity or Dishonesty which needs it so far they are not the Followers and Disciples of Christ nor qualified with his Evangelical Righteousness Indeed 't is a shameful thing and very dishonourable to the Christian Religion that they who pretend themselves to a Christian Society should be so un Christ-like to want and use the scareing and affrighting Asseverations dispensed with in some of the weakest times of Knowledge by which to assure one another of their Faith and Truth In such Cases where is their Evangelical Link and Tye of Unity Certainly a true Christian 's Yea should be Yea and Nay Nay that is in Answer to all Questions whether it relate to matter of Evidence or Promise they should speak the Truth and mean and do what they say which is enough This Truth is so natural that it is familiar with some to say I had rather take his Word then the other's Oath which shews how much Honesty is more credible then Swearing This made the primitive Christians not only Refuse to Swear by the Fortune of Caesar but to swear at all telling their Judges in their Answers It was Unlawful for a Christian to swear And Bp. Gauden himself assures us that they were so strict and exact that there was no need of an Oath among them Yea they so kept up the Sanctity and Credit of their Profession among Unbelievers that it was Security enough in all Cases to say Christianus sum I am a Christian And that if any urged them further they repeated this as the only Satisfaction they would give The Veracity of their Word And that he might further shew how dishonourable and needless a thing it was for Good and Holy Men and true Christians to Swear he brings in the Whole Body of the Essaeans several wise Heathen Christian Fathers Indeed it was a primitive maxim Non oportet ut vir qui Evangelice vivit juret omnino It behoves not that a Man of an Evangelical Life should swear in any Case And this Doctrine was closely follow'd by Crysostome Theophylact and several other ancient Christian Doctors Nor were the Heathen wholly insensible of the Truth of this Matter as Bp. Gauden further informs
Impure and Antichristian But what have we Seduced People to Drunkenness Whoredom Perjury Wantonness Idleness or any such Unseemly or Irreligious Practice Let him tell me who of us are less Serious less Moral or worse Livers then we were before But the Truth of the Matter is this Our Way of Devouring Peoples Souls as he calls it is that which hinders the Hireling Pâ—iests from Devouring the Peoples Pockets and endangering their Souls too who teach for Hire and divine for Money and make Religion but a Stalk to Preferment who have the Shell without the Substance the Form without the Power From such in obedience to God's Spirit we have turned away and because we have dared no longer to put into their Mouthes their Covetous Spirit has swelled notwithstanding their Pretences and their Sheep-Skin burst and an arrant Woolf has come forth no true Sheep but a Sheep-Fleecer and a Sheep-Sucker of their Blood whose Innocency and Patience have plainly proved them such But the Wolf and the Fox's Skin have been always good enough for us any thing to disguise and make the Dogs fasten and worry to Death Our Conscience they call Enthusiasm and our solemn Confession Collusion and Equivocation our Perseverance is reputed Obstinacy our Plainness Singularity our Industry Worldly-mindedness and our Retired-Living Penuriousness our Rebukes of Evil they will have to be Censoriousness and our Disregard of Company Pride and Sullenness Whatever God by his Light has made Conscience to us there are a sort of Men that have so little Conscience as to construe it all backwards rendring us instead of Honest Conscientious Men A Pack of Fraudulent Cheating Fellows But we cannot help it if Men will Rage they must Their Shame and our Patience will the more appear He sayes Our Second Stratagem is to bring the People out of Love with their Pastors who have the Care of them Answ I know not a Quaker in the World that would not administer both Food and Rayment to the worst Persecutor as a necessitous Creature But I hope they would suffer unto Death before they would contribute either to him as a Priest No God's Witness in our Consciences never said Amen to their Ministry They have the Scriptures true But the Word of Reconciliation that brings to God and of which they declare they want I know that some of them can talk well so can some Mountebanks And Comedians Do they witness the Truth of what they speak Their Heads know but do their Hearts feel the Operation of That Truth they will sometimes in Words declare Have they travelled the Way and traced the many anxious Steps of that new Birth which is the only Door into the Heavenly Kingdom But alas Oxford and Cambridge make them and their Parents and Patrons prefer them a good round Maintenance is mostly their Aim on all hands Tell them of the Necessity of an Inward Work that it is the Spirit of God that only makes a Man a Minister of God and that the Anointing which true Christian-Men receive is Sufficient to their Instruction and presently the Cry is Donatism Pelagianism Familism Brownism Jesuitism Quakerism or any other Name that begets Jealousie Undervalue and Hatred In short we do believe that the setled Ministers of the World are so far from being Beneficial to People that on the contrary they excercise their minds with a sort of unexperienced unauthoriz'd Preaching from the secret Strivings Discoveries and Leadings of that Spiritual Minister of the Everlasting Covenant which is able to bring Man into that way of Holiness without which no Soul shall ever see the Lord And this is the true reason why we are turned unto God's Minister Christ Jesus who says Learn of me of whom God said this is my beloved Son hear him reject the Ministry of Man Our Third Artifice by which he sayes we gain our Proselytes is decrying all Human Learning Use of Reason That we are the most sottish Ignorant Sect that ever appeared in the World Yet for our own turn we will be nibling at it as G.W. in mentioning a Moth-eaten Manuscript mentioned by Beza in his Annotations Answ We have already said enough to defend Christianity from the absolute Necessity of Human Learning either to understand or vindicate it and so false is his Assertion that since Prophecy has ceased in the Church secular Learning hath been of greatest Use and Benefit to Religion that there is nothing more true then the contrary as it is commonly understood promoted and practised in the World I would fain know how many Rabbies Greek and Latin Philosophers yielded themselves Proselytes to the Christian Religion though they had his Presence Ministry Miracles Death and Resurrection amongst them who was and is the Author and Master of it If such Learning be so great a Friend to Truth How comes it that the greatest things have fallen to the Share of Poor and Illiterate Men And that such have been most apt to receive and boldest to suffer for it Why not Rabbies rather then Fisher-Men which was before the Pouring out of the Spirit of Prophecy And for what Reason should so many learned Academies since the pretended * Ceasing of it be overrun with such Foul Idolatries Gross Superstitions and flagitious Living as 1200 years past will witness Nay on the Occasion of any Reformation with whom is there more to do and who harder to be brought to yield then Universities have been Scripture and Story give it clear against him Not that I would be thought to oppose a Sort of Learning neither It has been Man's Erring from his Divine Guide that has made way for those numerous Theses Distinctions Books and Controversies the World for Ages hath been infested with Such are the Obscure Unintelligible and Unprofitable Metaphysicks of the Heathen too greedily received and mischeiveously increased by Fathers Councils School Men and our modern Universities to the corrupting of Christian Doctrine and disputing away the Benefit of Christian Life An unbounded Curiosity and Phancy have been the Womb that hath brought forth so much troublesom and unprofitable matter which began with a Degeneration of Philosophers True Philosophy in the beginning of it being no more then the Way of Holy Living by the Mortification of Passions But Learning as Religion failing by Corruption of Men is now degenerated into quite another thing Socrates taught proper Speech and good Life and such a Course of Learning turned to daily Practice and Profit severely forbidding all Curiosities and Niceties as what turned not to Good Life which he reputed the best Science And Plato would have the Poets banished out of his Common-Wealth as corrupting it with Fables thus was Learning as Religion once pure and Simple In short all right Learning is to be divided into these two True Knowledge and proper Language This Knowledge relates first to God and that 's only to be received from the Spirit of God and 2 ly the things of this
Life and therein the Spirit of Man has a large field to act in to the Enlargement of its own Understanding and Benefit of the whole Creation as subject to God's Grace as knowing the Nature and Order of things in the Creation Building Improvement of Land Medicine Chyrurgery Traffique Navigation History Government with many other honest useful and profitable Arts and Inventions for the help and good of Man-kind And if Man had kept in God's Counsel the many superfluous and unnecessary Arts and Inventions that are in the World had never been brought forth by him and time will work them out as it brought them in so that what is Plain Honest Serviceable and of good Report shall be preserved for the good 〈…〉 he Creation As for Language it must be granted that there is a Propriety and Decency in Language But as Men have followed the out-side of Religion and left the Substance behind so have they done with Learning They have neglected Matter the most beneficial part of Learning and devoted themselves to an Excess of fine Speaking of which Bp. Wilkins in his real Character complains not without a Cause when he sayes that this grand Imposture of Phrasing hath eaten â—ut all solid Learning Yet Language is very convenient for Men's converse with Books and Nations of a different Tongue However we utterly deny them to be absolutely necessary to the true Knowledge of the Mysteries of God's Kingdom So that the true English of the Quakers denying all Reason and Learning is this We refuse to commend or practise unnecessary Studies nice Controversies voluminous and intricate Disputations Obscurity of Language Affectedness of Style Excess of Elegancy beliveing that Learning as well as Religion stands in need both of great purging and reducing and that those Subjects and Employments which are most serviceable and beneficial to Man-kind and agreeable to God's Grace digested into easy and familiar Methods and treated on in the plain and ordinary Way of Speaking best deserves Man's time and regard And for his Reflection upon G. Whitehead It no further deserves our notice then that he flung a greater upon Beza whose Learning he makes a little to bold with To say no more of his Moth-eaten Manuscript then this That the best Copies he has had for his Rule has been near a kin to such Moth-eaten Manuscripts And if such a Manuscript was the Holy Scripture as I believe it was he was too bold and Irreverent as well as Unwary and Foolish in calling it a Moth-eaten Scripture thereby implying it to be a Moth-eaten Rule not that I take it to be his Rule who has so fearfully erred strayed from the holy Precepts and Exhortations of it The 4 th thing by which he reports us to proselyte People is to deceive and associate first with Women therein imitating the Devil Answ First we deny it as being like the rest of his idle Stories and those that not only in the Primitive Times by the Heathen but in several Ages since and Degrees of Breaking-forth of Truth and Reformation from Apostate Generations have been by them fastened upon the sincere Professors thereof as Waldenses Lollards Hugonots Protestants themselves in their first day as well as more modern Dissenters We must take our share it is no new nor strange thing But supposing it to be true that our Endeavours are first directed towards the Women I see no Evil in our Beginning to Undeceive where the Devil began to Deceive If they are so easie to be perswaded why not to Good as well as to Evil But these idle Shifts and pittiful Reflections deserve rather to be disdained then considered Lastly For our pretending to higher Degrees of Holiness and Cracks and Boasts of Inspirations with Our Bewitching Language which is nothing but Canting and Scripture Phrase fitted to feminine Fancies by which he sayes we have the Advantage of all other Heresies I return thus much Answ It is our Faith that God who made Heaven and Earth will judge the Secrets of all Men by Jesus Christ so that it is not only my Duty but my Interest to speak the Truth of my Conscience in this Matter We dare pretend to no higher Degree then we have attained but we must make a Difference between what we were whilst under the Ministry of Man and what we are since our being turn'd to God's Powerful Word in the Heart Christ's Ministry We should be False to God Injurious to our Neighbour and Smother and Belye our own Convictions if we should not say That we have found our Judge near us our Guide Law-giver and Rule very â—igh unto us and those Infirmities Temptations and Corruptions God has by this Heavenly Grace given us Power against by which we have known that Mortification of Sin and Conformity to the Will of God which the utmost of our former Profession could never free us from And if this Plain and Christian Confession must be called by all those Hard Names our Adversary finds for our Honestest Intentions we must as we have done recommend our Cause to God and his Holy Witness in all Consciences and him to be judged by him to whom we desire to stand and fall in all we say do and take in hand to whom alone we owe the Honour of our Experiences and Preservations However the Irreverence of the Man deserves both our Notice and the Reproof of all that read him What! Is Scripture-Language become a Cant and a sober and seasonable Use of It Canting fitted to feminine Fancies But we think it not more his Folly Contradiction Blasphemy to speak with that Contempt of the Holy Scriptures and his pretended Rule then an Advantage he gives our Cause to tell the World that of all others the Quakers speak preach the Scripture-Dialect But it is the Mother Tongue of such frothy Minds so to prophane and for all their pretended Respect to the Holy Scriptures the Spirit and Life that belong unto them are made but Matter of Jeer and Mockage They would not be thought to undervalue Christ the Scripture nor his Religion but with the hight of Formality seem to Reverence and Applaud them all yet Persecute to the Death those that are his Holy Off-spring by the Spirit of Regeneration which shows their Esteem of Christ Scripture and Religion to be but a kind of blind-fold Respect and that indeed their very Spirits turn within them against that which is truly Christ-like Scriptural and Religious The Devil ever understood his Interest better then to persecute Truth under that Name yet for all his fair Pretences to Saintship he constantly became a fierce Devourer of those that have been the Children of the Truth And I may truly say to this Opposer That for all his Religion Learning Church-Communion and that stir he maketh against us as a Crew of Hereticks and Impostors he knows not what Spirit he is of who has writ a Book rather to Abuse then Inform