Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A60617
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The Baptists sophistry discovered in a brief answer to a late pamphlet entituled The Quakers subterfuge or evasion overturned : wherein all people may plainly see ... / by William Smith.
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Smith, William, d. 1673.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing S4289; ESTC R34257
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16,696
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24
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THE BAPTISTS SOPHISTRY DISCOVERED In a Brief Answer to a late Pamphlet Entituled The Quak 〈…〉 Subterfuge or Evasion Overturned Wherein all people may plainly see how Unjustly the Baptists deal with the Quakers and how Strongly they 〈…〉 d their Bow and shoot their Arrows at them without a Cause Published to give Satisfaction unto all who simply desire to know the Truth By William Smith He that deviseth to do Evil shall be called A Mischievous Persâ—â— Prov. 248. If any man among you seem to be Religious and bridleth not his Tongue but deceiveth his own heart this man's Religion is vain Jam. 1. 86 Printed in the Year 1672 3 THE Baptists Sophistry DISCOVERED c. IF Necessity did not constrain me to enter upon this present Concernment I could willingly have been silent in the Matter but as I see the Baptists so violently prosecuting their Design 〈◊〉 the People called Quakers and so furiously endeavouring 〈…〉 der them and their Principles the most obnoctious I feel a weight upon me to appear at this time on the behalf of those People and their Principles for I dearly own and love such as are called by that Name who are Faithful to that Light with which Christ Jesus doth enlighten them And I certainly know with many more That whosoever are Faithful to the Light of Christ Within that they are Led and Guided by it out of Darkness and from under the Power of Satan and so come to walk in him who is the Way to the Father and partake of the Grace and Truth that comes by him and herein we can stand with Boldness against all the Calumniations which you Baptists endeavour to cast upon us for we shall not own any of your oblique or crooked Envy though you would impose it unavoidably upon us in your account But I shall not be large by way of Introduction but come to the Matter intended which though seemingly carry'd on by Ralph James only yet believ'd that he was not without some assistance in mannaging his Work but however the Matter was composed either by him or others for him we do not much regard it for we certainly know That the Head of the Serpent must be broken by that Seed which is Blessed forever and though for a time the Serpent may bruise the Heel of that which is to break his Head yet his Head must be broken by it and his Authority fall before it for the Seed must Raign according to Promise yea it doth Raign and is glorified over the Serpent and his Enmity Everlasting Praises be unto him that lives forever And now Ralph James I shall come to thy Matter and the Reason why I call it thine is because I do not find any other Name subscribed and so I shall only take notice of thee as being the Subscriber and as to what hath been already answered to thy Procacity or what may by any other hand be replyed to what I have in Consideration which may be termed thy Proclivity to thy first Matter I shall leave it to its own Method and speak distinctly to the most considerable Matters as to thy last Portraiture Come then and duly observe thy own Proceedings and be more ready to hear then to offer the Sacrifice of Fools For how hast thou endeavoured to make the Nation believe through what thou hast offered and sacrificed That the Quakers are a Deluded People and that of 〈◊〉 it must be so from something that happened between Richard A 〈…〉 son of Panton in Lincolnshire and thy self as thou assertest and in that particular Matter thou hast concern'd the whole Society of the People called Quakers and hast endeavoured to insinuate their Principles and Practices to be the same with that which thou chargest upon R. A. to be Erroneous And hast not thou appeared very insolent in this thy Folly For what man of Prudence and Humility would have concern'd a whole Society of People with a particular Matter of a particular Person supposing the thing to be true when he never was in Society or Fellowship with them at any time But I shall proceed to try thy own way of proving R. A. to be a Quaker for that is the most principal to be taken notice of as being the very Basis upon which thou and thy Brethren have raised your Structure and if the Basis or Foundation be Falsly and Deceitfully laid then the Structure or Building will fall of it self to the Shame of the Builders and therefore I shal examine the most considerable Passages which thou hast produced to prove R. A. a Quaker And First To the Reader thou sayst That R. A. did attempt the Propagation of the Principles of the Quakers by denouncing a Curse upon thee in the Name of the Lord only because of that Testimony which upon just Occasion thou wast ready to bear against their Errors Reply It is not the Quakers Principles to denounce Curses in the Name of the Lord and therefore R. A. did not Propagate their Principles in doing so if so he did and for thy Testimony against their Errors it was like the Testimony of the Unbelieving Jews against Christ and his Apostles if thou didst bear any Testimony of that Nature But thou hast manifest nothing further to satisfie any people that R. A. did propagate the Quakers Principles or of thy own Testimony against their Errors but thy bare word who art neither a competent Witness or Judge in the Case and so no cause to believe that R. A. was a Quaker 2dly Thou goest on to query What man of Reason will believe that any man should voluntarily accuse himself and complain of the Hand of the Lord and what he could propose to himself c And then concludest saying Surely in vain do men go about to out-face a thing so manifest Rep. Thoâ—â—â—â—uld have queried these things and been satisfied concerning 〈◊〉 before thou hadst endeavoured to have made R. A. a Quaker and to fall upon the Quakers with such Violence from thy supposing him to be such a one this would have manifest more Wisdom and Peace then to send thy Stories abroad into the Nation with such Confidence as not to be disputed against and now forced to query Why R. A. should do so Surely in vain hast thou wrought all this while in thy dark Imaginations who art now querying after the Ground or Cause of R. A's accusing himself and of his proposals to himself Is this the thing thou countest so manifest that it is in vain for any man to go about to out-face it Is that manifest which lies obscure and is not that obscure which cannot be demonstrated And here the Face of Truth can look upon thee and Shame may cover thy own for thou hast manifest thy Folly as not knowing the state of R. A. and yet wouldst make him a Quaker 3dly Thou say'st Seeing then that it cannot be denyed but R. A. was led by the spirit of Falshood and Prophesied falsly in the Name
own Opinion better then another man Hast thou not much mistaken thy self in thy Assertion for there may be a better Testimony in this case then a man 's own Confession because a man may make an Ignorant Confession of his own Opinion in relation to the Principles of other People whereas another that duly observes the course of his Life and Conversation may be more able and fit to testifie how he answers their Principles and such a Testimony is far beyond the Party 's own confessing his Opinion and so it will unavoidably follow That whatsoever R. A. hath confessed or said in relation to the Quakers according to his own Opinion doth not make him a Quaker And where thou speakest of the Impossibility for you to prove what Conversation in all respects he had with us because remote from him and not concerned in our Congregations we do believe it for how is it possible for you to prove a thing to be that never was for he never had his Conversation with us at any time in any respect neither did he frequent our Meetings or Congregations at all and so it is not possible for you to prove it And thou ask'st this Question Whether a man 's own Confession for matter of Opinion being attended with thâ—se Demonstrations of the Matter of Fact hereby observed be not a cogent Proof to satisfie indifferent men and here thou ask'st a Question after thy Affirmation for thou first saidst Nor can we have a better Testimony then a Man 's own Confession in this case and now thou queriest Whether a man 's own Confession be not a Cogent Proof and so it may well and safely be concluded that thou affirmest a thing that lies doubtful in thy own Judgment and that ever R. A. confessed that he was a Quaker is beyond thy skill to prove by Undeniable Evidence and therefore thy Folly is manifest giving him a Name which no Man or Woman did ever know him by before for there is nothing more certain but R. A. would soon have been called a Quaker by several of his Neighbours if he had received their Principles and been acted by their Spirit as thou wouldest have it and thou mightest have had the Evidence of several concerning his Alteration from the Wayes Customs and Fashions and Traditions of the World and of his bearing a Testimony for God in the Quakers Spirit but seeing it never was so nor by him confessed to be so thou art left as a Naked Man without any Covering And thus thy Subterfuge is overturned and thou art without a Hiding-Place and thy own Lye is turned upon thee in calling R. A. a Quaker who never was known to have Fellowship with them or they with him and so the Quakers not at all concern'd in R. A's Errors if he did err as thou wouldst fabulously impose upon them I shall now take notice of some Passages in thy Narrative which seem to reflect upon the Truth and to justifie Error and thereby thou mayst see how darkly and ignorantly thou hast manifest thy Judgment and how vainly thou hast endeavoured to make R. A. a Quaker 1st Thou sayst That R. A. came to your Meeting and was convinc'd and said He did believe that Baptism in Water was an Ordinance of God Rep. It seems he was convinced at your Meeting and confessed his Belief to your way of Water-Baptism and did you own him as a Baptist because he confessed his Belief of that which you hold and maintain to be of such absolute Necessity Now here are two things more considerable to make him a Baptist at that time then any you have brought in all that he has confessed can make him a Quaker and yet it may be supposed that you did not at that time own him as a Baptist notwithstanding his Convincement and confessing his Belief to your Water-Baptism as an Ordinance of God 2dly Thou sayst That before he came again he met with the People called Quakers who told him as himself confessed That he must not look upon those outward Ordinances for they were low but that he must mind the Light Within and be guided by it and not by the Scriptures for they were a Dead Letter Rep. It is to be observed that thou didst not know whether he met with any of the Quakers or no but as he confessed and yet he must be a Quaker in Print Would ever any man that had the right use of his Wits have spread such Stories abroad as thou hast done and have no certain knowledge of what thou writest And your outward Ordinances as you call them are Temporal and may be seen and the Apostle would not have such things looked at and they that will not be guided by the Light and follow it they disobey the Doctrine of Christ and abide in Darkness and they that abide in Darkness do not know the Scriptures nor the Power of God and this is testified upon Truth 's account whatever R. A. might say unto thee 3dly Thou sayest That when R. A. came again to the Meeting he much contended against the Baptism of Water and said That now they were to be Baptized with the Baptism of the Spirit and not with Water Rep. As for R. A's Contention if he did so it doth not concern the matter in hand and you Baptists do not so well agree in all Points of your Belief but you can sometimes contend one with another and if thee and R. A. could not agree it doth not follow that he was a Quaker and if you be not Baptized with the Baptism of the Spirit how are you One Body for it was by one Spirit that the Saints were Baptized into One Body whether Jews or Gentiles And if you can you may demonstrate which of you all have a Commission from God to be an Administrator of Water in order to Baptize any 4thly Thou sayst that R. A. said The Spirit was to try the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Spirit And then saith that thou saidst Thou believed'st the Scriptures were to try the Spirit and not the Spirit to try the Scriptures Thus in thy first Narrative Rep. If you discoursed on this manner you were both at work in your Imaginations for the Spirit and Scriptures agree and do not Try each other and thou hast sufficiently manifested thy Ignorance both of the Spirit and of the Scriptures who would have the Scriptures to try the Spirit Canst thou produce a Scripture to make good thy Belief but in thy last Narrative thou seem'st to state the matter otherwise and so would'st alter the case to cover thy self where thou hast over-shot thy self and some other Alterations which thou hast made in thy last which I shall wave at present And why hast thou altered this matter and put thy Meaning to it For thou sayst in thy last That thou believest the Scriptures were to Try the Spirits and not the Spirits to Try the Scriptures meaning sayst thou as before is said