weighty Scripture containing the very Work of Regeneration and sine qua non or that only certain Means Condition and Requisit without which there can be no obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation requires our best notice and consideration in order to which I shall divide the place into these two Heads and briefly raise my Argument thereon 1. Christ's most positive exclusion of all from any Portion in God's Kingdom who were not born again in answer to Nicodemus his carnal Conceit of the impossibility of an old mans entring a second time into his Mothers Womb. 2. That the Birth which all such as would inhererit God's Kingdom should be Witnesses of was and is the Birth of Water and the Spirit upon which I thus proceed to argue If none can Inherit God's Holy Kingdom but those who are regenerated of Water and the Spirit then none can inherit God's Holy Kingdom but such as are cleansed by Water and taught led and guided by God's Holy Spirit The first none can deny that own the Scripture it being but a part of the very verse quoted the second I evidently prove thus If Water and Spirit be the only operative to Regeneration and Regeneration the alone Way to the Kingdom of God then can no man inherit God's Kingdom that is not regenerated neither can any man be regenerated that is not washed by the Water of Life begotten work't formed inspired and acted by that Eternal Spirit to Newness of Life That to be begotten is to be principally guided and acted by that by which any is so begotten I prove No man can live move sensate or act but from the original Heat Life Motion and Action of that which did beget him because the Nature of that which begets being conveyed to the begotten truly renders him begotten or else there were no such thing but every regenerate man is the Begotten of the Eternal Spirit so far as concerns his Renovation or Regeneration therefore every such regenerated man was and is led motion'd and acted by that Eternal Spirit which begot him and consequently the Saints which are the regenerated are not left destitute of an infallible Teacher Judge Rule and Guide amongst them In short We look upon being born of Water and the Spirit to be Our being cleansed from all filthiness and quickened informed ruled and guided by the most pure and perfect Dictates and Operations of God's Eternal Spirit And how a Regenerated man can be made or continue such without the daily Guidance of that Infallible Spirit and the Scriptures kept clear from the Reflection of Contradiction if not gross Error is a Riddle too hard for me to explain and a Task I may without Presumption say too great for our trifling Antagonist to perform Twelfthly John 14. 16 17 18 20. 16. 13. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Again Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come be will guide you into all Truth Upon these Divine Passages thus particularly exprest by the Holy Ghost I offer these short Arguments 1. If the Spirit of Truth or most infallible Spirit be God's Gift to his Servants in Gospel times to abide with them forever then are they accompanied with an infallible Spirit but we see the plain Text proves that God gives his Spirit of Truth to his Servants that they might be assisted in all their Wants and therefore they are not without such an infallible Spirit And our Adversary is more to blame to reflect upon the Guidance of an infallible Spirit which is so consonant with the express Letter of a multitude of Scripture Passages then we are because we credit G. F. upon Conviction And if he tells us That unless we believe what our Eyes see of Contradictions as he pretends by him collected out of G. F's Book that he will not believe whatever we shall say or affirm we may on much better Grounds conclude never to believe what he asserts and wholy to decline writing or speaking to him to use his own words if hereafter he will dare to continue in the belief of so Anti-scriptural and Anti-gospel an Apprehension as that there is no infallible Spirit to guide men in the Way of Salvation which is as express and evident from many naked Texts of Scripture as that God is Truth else never did any Writing more delude Mankind because none could be more particular and plain in the Promise and allowance of it But let God and his written Will be true and our Vnspiritual Adversary in his confest Fallible Judgment of us a very Lyar. 2. If the not seeing and knowing of the Spirit of Truth be the Reason rendred by our Lord Jesus why the World receives it not then may we most justly infer that they never saw it neither know it but are of the World who cannot receive it but write against it in reference to its greatest Office viz. Of being the Saints Teacher Leader and Comforter And indeed because the Spirit is not some visible elementary thing that may be seen by their outward Eyes and be comprehended by their dark confused and disputative Brains which is contrary to the Decree and Way of God's manifesting of his Will from the conviction of the least sin to the enjoyment of the highest Glory therefore they dis-regard it as contemptible and dis-believe it as incredible 3. If the Ground of the Saints Knowledge of that Infallible Spirit be the Spirit 's inhabiting them for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you then were they not without that Spirit and consequently they were attended with an infallible Guide within them 4. If the Lord Jesus would not leave them comfortless but though visibly with-drawn yet in a more Spiritual and Invisible manner would come to them again and that at that day they should know that He was in his Father they in Him and He in them Then were his Servants not destitute of an infallible Judge Leader and Guide because they had Him that was the Way Truth and Life to whom all Power and Judgment were committed 5. If both the Spirit of Truth was promised to come and when come to guide into all Truth that is to say that whateve they scrupled were ignorant in or ought to know and practicer with what they were oblieged to reject and testifie against should be by that Eternal Spirit discovered unto them then undoubtedly they were not without an infallible Spirit to Judge Regulate and Guide them in all that concerned Faith Worship and Conversation but the first Proposition is purely Scriptural and therefore the consequent not
pressed thereby as a Cart is with Sheaves and that since the Foundation of the World 4thly He quotes G. F. thus The Promise is to the Seed the Seed is Christ and Christ is all and in all To which he sayes The Apostle has it thus And when all things shall be subdued unto Him then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God not Christ may be all in all He could not have doâ—â— greater Injury to the Holy Spirit 's words then to put Christ for God It will not be hard to clear this Mistake in our Adversary and that to his great Shame For who will think him fit to mannage Controversies that is ignorant in the very letter of the Scripture It is evident that he denies Christ to be all and in all and that G. F's so asserting him to be is the Cause of his Cavil at him Now hear what the Apostle sayes in the matter Col. 3. 11. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is All and in All And if Christ be All and in All and he that is All and in All be the True and Living God then because Christ is All and in All Christ is the true and Living God Now who has done the Injury G. F. to the Holy Writ or this obstinate and peevish Adversary to Christ Jesus the only Lord of Glory 5thly His next Socinian Clash at G. F's Citation of Scripture is in the same Page with the former and it is at his saying God is the Word instead of the Word was God adding That though the Word was made Flesh or was Flesh yet no considerate man will say that Flesh is the Word A great deal of do for fear Christ should be God but from this notable Distinction of his we are not without a Relief If the Word was God and the Word be God then God must needs be the Word that is If he that is called God be the same Being with him that is called the Word then God may as well be called the Word as the Word may be called God for instance If Christ and Jesus agree equally to one and the same Being what is the difference betwixt saying Jesus was Christ or Christ was Jesus Certainly we may justly say of him what he in a way of Reflection sayes of G. F. Methinks he is more Nice then Wise And for his Instance about the Word 's being made Flesh that is sayes he was Flesh I deny his Paraphrase for it is neither properly to be read was made Flesh nor was Flesh but rather The Word took Flesh and pitcht his Tent or Tabernacle in us Thus Clarius and almost all agree It to import a more Spiritual signification so Erasmus and Grotius especially and for the Ancients they were positive Ireneus Justinus Tertullianus Origen c. but above the rest Tertullian adv Praxeam but this is not so very material to the Point However if the very Word had become very Flesh I mean visible to Carnal Eyes it would not be inconsiderate in any man to say then Flesh is or was the Word and if our Adversary understood himself he would perceive that there would be only a Transposition of words and no material Alteration For that which is now Flesh or as the Hebrews have it Man is the Word as that which is God is also the Word But enough for this only we may observe by the way that the Man is not so hearty an Enemy to Transubstantiation as he would have us believe pag. 44. who can think the Word was properly made Flesh 6thly His Objection against G. F. for joyning Christ with God saying His Father and He are greater then all is Irreverent and Frivolous For who dares deny it and what abuse is it to Scripture Sure I am his saying so and that without any Reason shews him to be a man of Unreasonable Confidence 7thly He is angry that when G. F. mentions this Passage To whom every Knee must bow and Tongue confess to the Glory of God that he adds not Father I could not have believed that any man who loves Seriousness should bestow his Time so idlely Is this the earnest and deep Study â—e talkt of by which he hopes to obtain Divine Knowledge But sayes he Why did he not add the term Father to God nor insert that Jesus Christ is Lord But the truth of this Scripture consists not with their Doctrine that the Father and Son are one I confess it is somewhat hard to understand what he would be at but let it suffice that he who is called God is called Lord above an Hundred times therefore one to which Christ Himself bears Record I and my Father are one my Father worketh hitherto and I work for whatsoever things he doth those doth the Son To us a Child is born to us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon His Shoulders and his Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the same Power Spirit Light Life Wisdom and Being forever 8thly His next Antichristian Cavil is at G. F's making the Holy Spirit as well to proceed from the Son as from the Father The Scripture runeth thus But when the Comforter is come the Spirit of Truth whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father He shall testifie of Me But sayes he according to G. F. thus Christ is in the Father and the Father in Him and He will send them the Comforter that proceeds from the Father and the Son and for this quotes an Epistle writ by G. F. and J. S. and prefixt to G. W's Book of the Divinity of Christ It is past my skill to understand the Difference unless it be this That the Spirit he makes to proceed as well from the Son as from the Father and so it doth if I understand Scripture for the place it self saith it But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father which shews that not only God but Christ also sends forth the Holy Spirit into the Faithful Also But if I depart I will send Him unto you He shall not speak of Himself but whatsoever He shall hear He shall glorifie me and shall shew it unto you And when he had said this Peace be unto you my Father hath sent me even so send I you He breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost In short If the Holy Spirit be sent by Christ and received of Christ and is breathed on His by Christ then the Spirit must needs proceed or come from Christ and consequently what G. F. said is sound and Scriptural and our Adversary's Clamours are Vain and Envious For whilst he quotes G. F's calling upon Vincent Danson and
grateful is the lowest degree of Reason to us wheresoever we find it that we can no more deny it or occasionally refuse our selves the use of it then the greatest since its being so does not unreason it or render it no Reason in it self though confessedly a less degree of Reason nor is it possible that the meanest Appearance of Reason can withstand the greatest since Reason alwayes acknowledgeth and owneth her self in what Degree soever she meets It is not Stature that makes a Man nor Magnitude a Tree or Stone but the Nature and Property of each And truly we are well contented with our weak Reason as he is pleased to call it we know it to be God's Light Grace and Spirit of Truth that since we gave our Minds intirely to be governed and exercised by it We have found that Mortification of Sin and Corruption that Renewing of Heavenly Divine Life that holy Courage and Patience and it has brought us to so good an Vnderstanding of the Mysteries of God's Eternal Kingdom and Assurance as we are faithful to the same of Everlasting Blessedness that 't is beyond the power of the ratling of these Leaves of Charge and Reproach to scare us from our Standing or beget the least Question in us concerning the certainty of this Pure Unchangeable Way of God in which we walk but is invisible to his vulterous Eye who so disdainfully writes against it I had some hopes he had done with Personal Contest at least against the Body but I find him still in his Reflections For whilst you look upon your selves as led by an infallible Spirit though it be indeed nothing but the Fancy of G. Fox or some other of your Teachers you must needs reject the clearest Light that God hath given to Men 〈◊〉 Angels when it opposes your Sentments Though he could scarce say any thing of us more disingenious and scurrilous rendring us such deluded Sots and very Iddeots as to captivate our own Understandings if he can think we had ever any to the Dreams and Fancies of a few illiterate men under an Apprehension of being led not by them but an Infalible Spirit Yet since in this one Expression lies wrapt up if not his great undervalue of an Infallible Spirit at least his Disbelief of any such thing as the Guide of men and his unworthy Reflection upon us in crediting any such Doctrine I am more then ordinarily engag'd to state and vindicate that one most necessary Doctrine viz. Whether God's holy and Infallible Spirit be the proper Rule of Faith Judge of Controversies and Guide of a Christian Life or any other thing this I reckon as the main Hing on which all turns and I now make it my Post by which in God's Strength I am resolved to stand firm in its Defence and that by Scripture and Reason hoping whatever uncharitable Thoughts he entertains of us that he is not so devoid of all sense of either as that they may not be used with advantage to him under his present Ignorance and Presumption 'T is true this deserves an intire Discourse of it self as that which above all other Subjects disputed on in the whole World deserves mans most weighty Consideration and if the Lord make way it may be by some or other more distinctly and at large hanâ—llâ—d another time in a perticular Tract however I shall state and briefly defend the Question I hope to present satisfaction The Question Stated Whether God's Holy and Unerring Spirit for I am so Charitable as to think he believes God's Spirit to be so is or should be the proper Judge of Truth Rule of Faith and Guide of Life among men especially under the Administration of the Blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or not I affirm it and proceed to prove it both by Scripture and Reason First Gen. 6. 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is Flesh yet his dayes shall be an Hundred and Twenty Years c. If God's Unerring Spirit has been wont to strive with men either to convince them of and convert them from the Evil of their Thoughts words and Deeds or else to provoke them yet more fully to do the Will of God so as to press on from one degree of Glory to another then Men have had an Unerring Spirit to be their Teacher and Judge and Rule and Guide of that Truth concerning that Faith and in that most holy Way which leads to Eternal Life But the Scripture proves the first Proposition That God's Spirit has frequently strove with men and for the Ends before-mentioned and consequently they have not been without an Holy Vnerring Spirit to Teach Judge Regulate and Guide them Secondly Neh. 9. 19 20. Yet thou in thy manifold Mercies forsookest them not in the Wilderness the Pillar of the Cloud departed not from them by Day to lead them in the Way neither the Pillar of Fire by Night to shew them Light and the Way wherein they should go Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them c. If under the Dispensation of the Law God gave his good Spirit to instruct his People which is to say that it should teach them rule them and guide them in whatever was necessary for them to know or do otherwise God's Spirit would have been lame and defective in his holy Instruction which far be it from any sober man to affirm then will it follow that much more should the same Eternal Spirit be poured out under the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel But all that acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scriptures must confess to God's Goodness to his People in the outward Wilderness in the free Gift of his Eternal Spirit therefore the Eternal Spirit was and is the Teacher Judge Rule and Guide of his People now besides that state was but figurative of the Mystical Travel of the true Church in the dayes of the Gospel and how is God so propitious now as then if he be not as a Pillar of Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night I mean Spiritually and Invisibly so to illuminate his People concerning the way he would have them to walk in Thirdly Job 32. 8. Prov. 2. 6. But there is a Spirit in man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Vnderstanding For the Lord giveth Wisdom out of his Mouth cometh Knowledge and Vnderstanding If the Spirit in man be not of man as the foregoing words shew and therefore is that divine Spirit by and from which comes the Inspiration of the Almighty and if the Understanding he mostly intended be of Divine and Eternal Matters as the whole Subject treated on in the preceeding and following Chapters as well as that in which the words are manifests then is it not from the strength of mans Reason Memory or utmost Creaturely Ability that his Knowledge of Religious and Heavenly Things comes but from the Revelation and Discovery of the
he made a fit Tabernacle for the Glorious God to live in Thus is he King of Saints and will he be King of Nations who is God over all Heaven and Earth blessed forever Amen There be two Objections which I fore-see may be made by some to the way I have taken to prove That a Christians Judge Rule and Guide is the Unerring Spirit of God whom I shall endeavour to answer Obj. 1. Though you have said a great deal to prove that Christians should have an Infallible Spirit in general yet you prove nothing distinctly but confound a Judge Rule and Guide together To which I answer Answ 1. That to me there is no more difference then essentially there can be in the Wisdom Justice and Holiness of God which are but so many words that agree to express the Perfection of one and the same Beeing and so that as the one cannot be without the other but the same Eternal Godhead is all and that in all for he is truly Wise in being Just and both in being Holy and back again they are so interwoven that the one goes not without the other thus it is in being a Judge Rule and Guide for that which gives me a right Sense or Judgment of Truth from Error is as well to me a Rule what I should believe or dis-believe and a Guide what I should practice or not practice as at first it was my Judge of what was Truth from what was Error So that the same Informing Convincing Spirit is that Ruling and Guiding Spirit and not a dristinct Spirit or medium by which such as are convinced through the Illumination and Reproof of it are to be ruled and guided in all they believe and practice about Matters relating to God and his Worship Obj. 2. But at this rate you utterly contemn and seclude the Scriptures as having no Part nor Portion in being a Judge Rule or Guide to Christians Answ 2. By no means for though we acknowledge it to be our Principle That the Eternal Spirit who in several Generations hath revealed a great part of the things contained in the Scriptures to be superior to these Writings yet far be it from us forever to deny the absolute necessity of our Conformity to such weighty Christian Truths and Principles as are therein expressed and urged upon the Churches as what are indispensable to eternal Salvation So that we plead not that the Spirit of God should be a Judge Rule and Guide contrary to the Truth declared in Scripture nor yet exclusive of the Scripture but as the holy men of old time were ordered ruled and guided by that Eternal Spirit in reference to those weighty things which the Prophets and Apostles were moved to exhort those of that time to press after so that it is impossible for men now to come into a right Christian-frame and keep therein but by the Spirit 's being their Judge Rule and Guide as he was to the Ancients who trusted in God and obtained a good Report In short The Scripture is much like the shaddow of the true Rule which may give us some ground to guess what the Rule it self is as a Card or Map of a Country how it lies yet not be the very Place it self and in this respect it may be a kind of secondary Rule carrying with it a Testimonial Confirmation that what we are led by is the TRUE SPIRIT because the People of God in old time enjoyed the same as the Eternal Spirit first of all confirms the Divine Authority of the Scriptures unquestionably to us That they are a Declaration of the Will and Pleasure of Almighty God to the Sons of Men in several Ages of the World He that is so inward with a Prince as to know viva voce what his mind is heeds not so much the same when he meets it in Print because in Print as because he has received a more living Touch and sensible Impression from the Prince himself to whose Secrets he is privy And this the Scriptures teach us to believe is a right Christian's State and Priviledge for said the Apostle We have the Mind of Christ and the Secrets of God are with them that fear Him and guide me by thy Counsel and bring me to thy Glory To Conclude The Scriptures we own and the Divine Truths therein contained we reverence and esteem as the Mind and Will of God to men and we believe that they ought to be conformed to according to the true intent of the Holy Spirit therein and we know that all good People will respect them read them believe and endeavour to fulfil or obey them And those who trade neither Ministerially or Controversally with them and are out of that Cleansed Holy and Self-denying State they testifie of and believe it not attainable the Plagues therein declared of shall be their Portion forever I Know that AUTHORIâ—Iâ—â— are of no great force with him but since I writer more one of an expectation of benefit to others on whom this Libel has taken any hold perhaps it may not be unseasonable to subjoyn a few and the rather since we have not only the suffrage of some who are called Socinians whom he pretends to follow but thereby we may justly take occasion to detect him of contradiction to their Sentements whilst one of them 1. Then first Upon that remarkable Place in John where Christ promised to send his holy Spirit Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth c. Those two famous Commentators I mean so accounted by the Romanists Tolletus and Maldonatus and the last very frequently and with great Respect commemorated and quoted by Crellius one of the most redoubted of the Scoinian Party Tollet thus He shall when he is come manifest all those things which ye are not able to bear and to discover to you all that Doctrine that is fit for my Church to believe and practice He shall teach you the compleat Truth and to this end God gives it to the Faithful and to his Church that in Doctrine Life and Government she may inerrably be guided Maldonat Shall lead you into all Truth that is sayes he Discover unto them and to the Church of God all that Truth which is convenient or fit for them to know concerning Salvation Thus says Cyrill Theophil August and Beda too Beza tells us That Protestants believe God to have given his Spirit not only to his Apostles but to his Church that by her Testimony the World may be convinced of Sin that many Consciences may be compelled to confess that they have sinned in not believing on him c. Dr Hammond thus But when the Holy Ghost comes whose Title is the Spirit of Truth he shall instruct you what is to be done which he shall reveal to you And I will ask my Father and he shall send you the Holy Ghost to Interceed Exhort and Comfort and when he is come
vere sayes he in the Person of the Apostle ego gaudeo de vestro profectu in Christo ita verum est me quotidie paratum mori As I truly rejoyce at your profitting in Christ so true it is that I am daily ready to dye for it is wanting but may be understood To this of Grotius a considerable but nameless English Annotator does agree And let me further add that the Various Lections have it by way of Correction propter not per for and not by And now it may be time for me to tell our Adversary in general and mine in particular that though I don't blush to read his Impertinencies perhaps I am not ingenious enough for such he sayes will he ought at least to be ashamed of writing them and I am truly in pain for him that he should both afflict himself for the poor man has an irksome way of telling his Tale and is fain to churm long before any thing comes and also disturb others with any thing so meanly inviting and little profitting the People To Conclude If any would in short know the plain and honest Reason of our refusing to Swear to omit the many Arguments that might be urged what Glosses might be given or Authorities produced 't is this That as Christ Jesus is the Author of so perfect a Religion that the least Affirmative or Negative be it but Yea or Nay is compleatly and unquestionably true so it is below his Evangelical Righteousness and such as are gathered not only to the belief but possession of it to so much as admit of an Oath as being fitter to be enjoyned equivocating Pharisees then Honest-Hearted Disciples with whom it is the same thing to Lye as to Forswear for an Oath having been made from the Distrust of Honesty in Him that was to take it where the Cause is removed Lyes Equivocations mental Reserves c. the Effects or that extraordinary scrupulous way of Evidence should cease And if any object the Law of the Land or the Ignorance of Magistrates of our Truth and Innocency I Answer The Law is either answered by Truth being spoken or satisfied by an infliction of the same Penalty upon the Lyar that is incurred by a perjured Person we need no Fines Racks nor heavy Imprecations to scare us into Truth-speaking who Believe in Fear and Worship the God of all Truth and that in Spirit and Truth The next abuse of us so far as concerns our Belief belongs to respecting of Persons he calls it our great Doctrine in a way of Reproach and often cavilling not without his wonted Folly at G. F's Wo unto them that are called of Men Master in which he only sayes what is certainly imply'd in Christ's Prohibition which he should have first confuted he undertakes the Refutation of it thus True indeed sayes Christ Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren c. Now I will take the Liberty to argue a little because the Text seems to be so plain on your side first you do restrain it from extinding all Men from being called Master whilst you allow your Servants to call you our Masters because you are their Masters which Exception is not in the Text why may not another call you Masters because you have Servants and are Masters I Answer First then he has broke his word with us which in plainer English is he has told us a Lye in assuring us at the beginning He would deal with us neither from Scripture nor Reason and yet undertakes both Certainly he is ill able to maintain Right Swearing that is wanting in True Speaking or writing at least We may well suppose his Evidence so much boasted of has left him now that he betakes himself to Scripture and Reason for defence but considering how little they will prove friendly to his Cause he is no otherwise to be complained of for Breach of Word then that the Will may be accepted for the Deed. But next The Text also must be blamed Why may an honest-hearted man say Because upon our Adversaries Principles it seems to be against mens being called Rabbi and yet is not Strange â—rreverence to Holy Writ What make it say one thing in most express termes as much as Thou shalt not Steal and yet mean the quite contrary Who makes it their Rule now We or our Adversary But let 's examine his Meaning and he is so absurd that I am confident I have heard a better Argument out of Bedlam however let us once more repeat it If you call men Masters that are really your Masters why may you not call your very Servants Masters if they have Servants which is as much as to say If you call men Masters that are really your Masters why should not you call other men Masters though they are not really your Masters O I but they are other men's Masters are they Then let other men call them so For there is no more Reason that we should call other Men Masters that are not our Masters because they are really some bodies Masters then that 〈◊〉 should call other men Fathers and Servants and other Women Wâ—â—es that are not our Fathers Servants nor Wives because they are really Fathers Servants and Wives to other Persons We can call Him Master Father Servant or Her Wife who really is so to us but in doing it otherwise we believe we should Err. A Master and Father of old I confess to have signified a Religious as well as Civil Honour I mean Sect-Masters among the Jews but since both are as well repugnant to common Truth as the Christian Religion we renounce the Title and are the rather so to do because of that great Thirst which this Age as well as that in which our Lord so severely reproved it has after that very Vanity Deceit and Wickedness and this simple honest Practice and Zeal for it we are not ashamed to have weighed in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary against all the flattering cringing Customs of Personal Respect whether by Word or Gesture now practiced in the VVorld VVell But he is of the mind that the Scripture is not a little for him since the Apostle both in his Epistle to the Ephesians and in that to the Collossians exhorts Fathers not to provoke their Children and Masters to give what was equal to their Servants in which the poor man is as much besides himself at least the matter as in all the rest for he might as well argue against what he takes for granted viz. That we refuse not to call such Masters as really are our Masters as to suppose we deny that an Apostle or Minister of Christ might not exhort the Fathers of Children to be tender to them and Masters of Servants to be just to them Certainly none can be so stupid as to imagine that the Apostle called them Fathers and Masters in a way of Title or upon singular Respect We may as
THE Spirit of Truth VINDICATED Against That of Error Envy Unseasonably Manifested In a late Malicious LIBEL Intituled The Spirit of the Quakers Tryed c. By a Friend to Righteousness and Peace W. P. Ever Learning and never able to come to the Knowlege of the Truth But Evil Men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3. 7 13. But unto you that fear my Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with Healing in his Wings And ye shall tread down the Wicked for they shall be Ashes under the Soles of your Feet Mal. 4. 2 3. Printed in the Year 1672. To the Impartial READER I Have at last with some Difficulty obtained a small Respit from more serious Affairs to the Examination of a late Discourse intituled The Spirit of the Quakers tryed according to the Discovery it hath made of it self in thei◠great Prophet and Patriarch George Fox c. And whilst I was willing to inform my self of the Design and Temper of the Author by a very careful perusal of his Book at least expecting something that might pretend to claim a Reputation in Controversie excelling all other of our Adversaries who never struck higher then at our Doctrines whilst this man ventures to tell the World what Spirits we are of I find him in reallity filled with nothing but disingenious Reflection empty Stories and unprofitable Cavils about a few Scriptures he mostly confesseth that but one of us hath mis-cited either in reference to a disorderly Quotation of the words or an unsuitable Application of them The Judgment I then made of the Man and still continue in is this Had he not wonderfully lov'd being some body in Print he needed not to have given himself or other People the trouble of so many unserviceable Sheets nor a small trifling Solicitor for their kind reception in the World the toil of so much Insinuation even to Nautiating But I design not to be long and theresore shall briefly contract my Exceptions against the Author to the Reader into these four Particulars 1. Then He hath behaved himself the most unjust of any that ever yet undertook to write against us which so ill becomes a man that would reform others that it rather insenseth all worthy minds and is Reason enough to beget a Jealousie both of the Truth of his Cause and his own Honesty For who truly Just would draw a general Charge from a particular Failing in case it were so And what good Christian would stigmatize an entire Body for the Defects of any individual Member He finds fault with George Fox and to be revenged of him bespatters a whole Society so that if I should grant him all he would have against that Person whom I doubt not to defend from his base Abuse yet why he should place his Infirmities suppose them such to our account cannot be resolv'd me by any that is not willing to suffer for other mens Faults George Fox he thinks has mis-cited a Scripture Ergo He is an Imposter and the Quakers a pack of Hereticks It is after this lofty manner of Disputing he undertakes our Overthrow but if this be good arguing the man is Orthodox with a witness and deserves the Chair Nemine Contradicente 2. My second Exception is That if he had been provock't to any hard Thoughts against George Fox from the perusal of his Book it had been handsome and well-becoming a Christian to have visited that so much mistaken Person in his account and have endeavoured either a better understanding of him or his better Information in the Scripture and not at a juncture when he might understand him to be at so great a distance as America to exhibit an angry Charge against him in England But his generosity here is much like to his Reason elsewhere 3. But why above all times of the World does the man chuse the present season to shower down his Displeasure against us just when we should make the best of an unexpected Tolleration to the Refreshment of our afflicted Minds and Bodies by the late Persecutions that have been What! Is he angry that we have Liberty or does he think that none deserve it but himself I wonder what Testimony there had been or how few to have receiv'd a Liberty of Conscience if the Quakers had squar'd their Carriage in the Storm according to his sorded creeping into Holes and Corners or else to publick places of Protection And if he tells us that he had no mind to add to our Troubles he deals deceitfully for as it is almost impossible for him to write against us but he must expresly or implicitly contradict the avow'd Principles of the Church by his scattered Seeds of Socinianism so knowing the Danger that would ensue such undertakings as well as the difficulty of Printing his Self-safety and not Charity to us was the Hindrance 4. And Lastly 〈◊〉 why was he ashamed of his Name I cannot but make his own words good by such an Inquiry without concluding him a Prophet and great Reason there is that we should ask him a Reason for it if we may lawfully ask that which his whole Discourse seems to character him a Stranger to for since he tells us That he declines all wayes of Controversie with us but that of matter of Fact however able we may be to clear our selves from such Indictments yet our ignorance of his Name deprives us of that scope we might otherwise have for producing perhaps as large a Catalogue of Doctrinal Mistakes in what he himself or those to whom he adheres have writ as he hath of Verbal ones out of any Writings belonging to the People called Quakers And though he seems to excuse the absence of his Name by that Occasion he pretends we take to abuse our Adversaries Yet the truest Reason is a Consciousness of a disingenious and unjustifiable Practice in himself perhaps he also was afraid of such Truth as may be seasonably told of him to the discrediting of his Enterprize But till he had been so served by us it had become him not to have reproach't us in the vindication of other men in whose Opinions he will by no means allow himself to be concern'd otherwise then to explode them for Heretical Thus the Man 's for any Game he cares not whom he defends if he can but have his End upon the Party he designs to mischief sometimes he will be a Church-man against a Non-conformist and back again sometimes either against a Quaker then for him against them both and lastly a Socinian against them all His seeming Labours against us for common Principles being but a plowing our Backs with their Heifers for the promotion of his Biddlean or Socinian Cause which Owl-light way of stabbing men or deceiving People under the Livery of every Perswasion whilst for none of them is very remote from being either Christian or Manly nor will the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth bless or
prosper such ignoble clandestine Projects and maskt Attempts as what our Adversary and his small Cabal are plentifully guilty of 'T is true I cannot say all are equally concealed in their Endeavours against us for when the man has writ and printed his Book there is a small Cryer of his that like an Eager officious Broaker runs too and fro to disperse it most commonly known by smelling his Breath stinking of such foul Epethites as Knave Puppy Fool Rascal Loggerhead Cheat which with much more of the same loathsome Sent he is pleased to bestow upon George Fox as a necessary Introduction to our Adversary's Confutation of his Book Certainly Reader we have little Cause to esteem these men the Restorers of Paths to dwell in Defenders of the true Religion and Tryers of other mens Spirits who give such little Proof of the Knowledge of their own as to be wanting in the very Alphabet or first Principle of Common Civility But Reader I will not longer detain thee in an Epistle whatever variety of matter I may have to invite me hoping that the ensuing Discourse will abundantly satisfie thee in those very things for which our Adversary thinks us most unfit of all to be believed I have not given my self the common range that other Writers do few caring to buy and fewer to read large Discourses but as the Matter briefly and naturally riz upon every Head without any other artifice or dress it is presented to thee I omit more then an Hundred Things that would engage to personal Reflection for my Soul hath no Pleasure in striving therein as knowing the inconsistancy of that uncharitable virulent Temper with a Christian Spirit which I am assur'd is quite another thing from what is Verbose Abusive Cavelling Airy and meerly Notional which had our Adversary duely considered he would have found it more his true Interest to have liv'd in a daily Subjection to the pure Grace that brings Salvation and have kept his mind diligently exercised therein to the perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord then thus to exalt himself against an inoffensive People but I leave all with God whose Will be done recommending thee Reader to his holy Witness in thy Conscience to be by that alone Condemn'd or Justify'd in this Apologetical Undertaking W. Penn. READER THE Author's Absence from the Press and that Difficulty which otherwise attends our Printing have occasion'd several Errors as well in Words as Letters besides in many places a neglect of due Stops a brief view of which is here presented to thee and the common Curtesie in both Excusing and Correcting them is now desired and expected from thee Page Line Errors Corrected 11 1 is are  14 obstruse abstruse  32 o to 13 17 ruin run 29 8 Contex Context 30 25 sence sense  30 into body into one Body 33 7 Paul Peter 37 28 and so that as and so as that 38 15 these those 39 19 neither either 52 17 faith far the 53 9 he be 54 9 the of the Light of  14 that comes coming  15 the this  17 thaet comes coming 18  20 that comes coming  22 that comes coming 60 8 as blot it out Page Line Error Corrected 76 28 worldly creaturely 78 35 what could what more could 79 21 Motions Notions 81 28 Eternal External  32 or or as 83 38 our your 84 â—1 read fall 92 29 and blot it out 105 11 degree decrâ—e 114 7 sayes he he sayes 115 33 are were 126 6 scarce by scarcely THE Spirit of Truth VINDICATED Against That of Error Envy Unseasonably Manifested In a late Malicious LIBEL Intituled The Spirit of the Quakers Tryed c. I Cannot but esteem it a peculiar Providence of Mercy from the Most High God to us his poor Despised People though an Instance of great Unkindness in our Adversary that after our several years pressure under the Heavy Calumnies of being involved with a Socinian Confederacy he should so suffer it to come to pass that without the least Provocation given on our parts one of that sort of men should become our Compurgator indeed our best Advocate in pleading against us for whilst he goes about to detect the Quakers of an Erronious Spirit it is to be supposed that he denies them any share in his and therefore no Socinians I hope whatever comes of this Debate we shall no longer suffer for being what we are not it would be hard that we should both be condemned for Socinians and then abused for refusing to be so Let them not be offended with me if I use the word it s not from any undervalue of the Man they take it from nor out of any Reproach to them but only as a word of Difference to distinguish Persons or Perswasions by And without any other Prologue or Introduction I shall discend to the Book it self § 1. First then He is pleased to allow us at least a great many among us To be Honest-hearted yet wonderfully deluded and very Dangereus to the Christian Religion I confess it is no wonder when men will make themselves Work and rather then want it bestow their Cavils at the Truth it self that they should fall into strange and impertinent Contradiction but that any man pretending so highly to Reason and Religion should shew so little Understanding in either as to conceive that a Man can be properly Honest-hearted and yet Deluded and Dangerous to the Christian Religion I confess is beyond my skill to reconcile I desire God knows to be the Honest-hearted Man and let him take the rest to himself For that which reduces man fallen short of the Glory of God to an Honest Heart and a Life good and Laudable as our Adversary speaks of us must be the Grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and not another thing and consequently who has that is not Deluded nor Dangerous to the Christian Religion § 2. If we Excel in all things as he confesseth which is to say that there are but few things wherein we don't transcend all others how possibly can we be Dangerous and Dishonourable to the Christian Religion Is the Christian Religion among the few things wherein we are supposed wanting which is the main thing of all if so What are the many § 3. It was ill done and an Aggravation not only of his Uncharitableness and Incivility but his great Injustice and Deceit to refuse us his Name upon a Pretence of avoiding a Subject for our Personal Reflection whilst both his Beginning and End is an entire Abuse against our Persons and Practices And what he owns Praise-worthy in us is not because he would be honest to us but that he might by paying us our due in lesser matters the more plausibly Rob us of our Right to what is of more weighty Importance namely The true Life and Doctrine of Christianity which shews how little a share he has of either § 4. Nor does
Inspiration of the Almighty And if by such Divine Inspirings it be that the Will of God comes to be understood then certainly must God's unerring Spirit be the Judge of what is God's Will from what is not and the Rule how and in what we ought to believe unto Salvation and that Guide which infallibly leads in the Way that is most acceptable with the Lord. Nothing can be more Natural then these Consequences Fourthly Psal 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If God's Unerring Spirit be so nigh and the sense of it so certain it must either be to reprove for Evil done or to inform uphold lead and preserve in reference to all Good Now in which of the two sences it shall be taken the Presence of God's Eternal Spirit and his being the Saints Instructor Judge Rule and Guide are evidently deduceable from the words Fifthly Psal 143. 10. Teach me to do thy Will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Vprightness The Question will be Whether it was David's intent and the scope of his desire that God should teach and lead him by his good Spirit or some other thing but methinks it is resolvable in the affirmative in two respects 1. In that David is so very frequent in his desire to the Lord for the Assistance Strength Teaching and Guidance of God's unerring Spirit otherwise declaring how that the Word was hid in his Heart and largly speaking of the Force of that Internal Law Word and Spirit of God which plentifully shews how much he was an Enthusiast and Quaker in the sense this man esteems us most hetrodox 2. The very words imply the thing we urge them for and can import no other sence viz. That God would please to teach him to do his Will and lead him into the Land of Vprightness by his good Spirit else what did that Claws do there the Unerring Spirit being that by which God vouchsafes to discover his Divine Knowledge and convey his most Spiritual Succor and Consolation to his People and consequently his Saints have ever known but do more especially under the Gospel injoy an infallible Judge Rule and Guide in and about Faith and Worship Sixthly Isa 30. 1. Wo to the Rebellious Children saith the Lord that take Counsel but not of me and that cover with a Covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin From whence I plainly argue thus If they are Rebellious against God and add sin to sin who take not Counsel of him and are not covered with his Holy Unerring Spirit that leads into all Truth Innocence Patience Faith Hope Charity and every good Word and Work Then 1. God's Children have an Immediate Councellor and need not another and are covered or encompast about by the infallible Spirit of God to all Soundness of Mind and Holiness of Life And 2. They must be Heinous Offenders and obstinately Rebellious and Adders of sin to sin with a witness that not only neglect or refuse to be so counsel'd and cover'd but dispute fervently against it as a meer Whimsie and Effect of an Ignorant Erronious spirit for besides that such deprive themselves and others of the unspeakable benefit that comes thereby they are most ingrateful to God and do certainly incur his fierce Wrath in their so wicked requital of him for his Heavenly Gift Seventhly Isa 59. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them 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 think it is granted by all that own the Christian Religion that this remarkable place refers to Christ the true Seed and Heir of promise who bruiseth the Head of the Serpent in whom alone all Nations of them that believe come to obtain the Blessing But whether it will be allowed or another Interpretation allotted as that the Promise was to the Church to be sure here is enough to maintain our Position viz. That God in the dayes of the Gospel more particularly has given his good Spirit for an Instructer Judge Rule and Guide in all that concerns the Eternal Well-being of the Souls of Believers as I proceed to prove If that very same Eternal Holy and unerring Spirit which God poured out upon his only begotten Son be in a way of succession ordained to continue with and upon all the Faithful his Seed and Seed's Seed begotten unto a lively Hope by the raising of Christ Jesus from the dead and so become Members of his own Glorious Body then are not the Children of God destitute of his Vnerring Spirit not left to their own frail and fallible Judgments to determine of what is Right or Wrong what Men should believe and what not how they should walk and how not But so gratious is the Promise and so certain is the performance as we livingly witness against all the dry cavelling Letter-mâ—ngers in the World who Quarrel about the holy-mens words and are Strangers to the Convictions Judgments Tryals Tribulations Temptations and Travels they underwent in order to that knowledge they had and which frets their serpentine natures whose vulterous Eye would in its unregenerate state of Worldly Wisdom that knows not God fain without the Death of the Cross creep into the knowledge of the mystery of the Resurrection which state alone knows the things that are above at the Right-hand of God Therefore I conclude That God's Unerring Spirit under the Gospel does attend assist direct and finally establish his Children in the Way of Truth and that his so doing is but the Answer or Accomplishment of the most eminent Prophesies referring to the Transcendent Glory of the last Ages of the Church Eighthly Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them Behold a most pregnant Instance in the express Language of the Holy Ghost brought to the proof of our Assertion that with reverence we would say it scarcely could it have been more exactly and emphatically worded as I proceed to shew 1. That this Passage has a relation to the Times of Reformation or Coming of the Messiah and Dayes of the Gospel Covenant read the whole Chapter I know not that it was ever doubted or otherwise taken by any no not the very Rabbies themselves who from such places have observed the coming of a Messiah and Glorious times that would ensue 2. That if it be granted then the Vnerring Spirit of God was to be placed within the Hearts and Consciences of his People and consequently they could not be properly and truly under the new Covenant and be without it since the having of that Eternal Spirit for the Ends and
from Falshood the Rule of what ought to be received and embraced and the Guide of Life be the Anointing which none denies that I know of to be the Spirit of God then both the only way to be taught all things necessary to be believed and performed is the Anointing and that Anointing is in Believers respectively but the Scripture so asserts And consequently the right Christian is not without that Infallible Spirit to teach and lead him into all Truth 1 John 3. 24. And he that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us If the Union betwixt Christ and his Children be that they dwell in him and he in them and that they thereby know it by the Spirit that he hath given them which implies that they had the Unerring Spirit of Christ then true Believers are not without Christ and his Spirit dwelling in them to Guide Rule and Instruct them in all things necessary to Eternal Life and Salvation He that denyes the first denyes the Scripture and he that rejects the second Proposition had as good deny that Day is an Effect of Light Jude 19 20. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost c. If such as have not the Spirit are sensual then because the true Children of God are not sensual it follows that they have the Spirit and that those who have it not are not the Children of God because such are sensual This the Apostle further manifests to be his mind because leaving the sensualists he addresses himself to the Sanctified of God exhorting them To build up one another on their most holy Faith Praying in the Holy Ghost which shews that they performed their Worship to God in the Motion of the Eternal Spirit and consequently they could not be destitute of an Unerring Spirit in what concerned them either towards God or Men. Thus have I briefly run through the Scriptures of Truth and doubt not but I have made it appear That God has afforded his People in all Ages such a measure of his Eternal Spirit as hath been sufficient to Inform Rule and Guide them infallibly in and about those things which are absolutely necessary to be known or done unto Eternal Life It remains That I evidence the Truth of my Assertion by Reason also which I shall endeavour with what convenient brevity I can That Christian Men have an Infallible Principle to Judge Rule and Guide them I prove by REASON First I Shall take it for granted That no man whom either Education or Conviction gives to believe there is a God can be so unreasonable as to tâ—ink That any man may be farther able to understand what this God is and his Divine Pleasure concerning him then the same is discovered to him by some external or internal Operation from the same infinite Beeing this then must either be by the visible Creation or that invisible Taste or Rellish the Soul has by vertue of the divine Touches Influences and Discoveries that the Almighty Invisible God is pleased to approach his Creatures by as the next clearest way to communicate unto them the knowledge of himself Secondly And as I know not any who professeth Religion that makes the least scruple of this so how is it possible that such Discoveries as God himself is pleased to make should be fallible or subject to any Defect in themselves for were that admitted as must be upon the Principles of our Adversary then must we conclude an Imperfect Knowledge nay an uncertain not to say Erronious Knowledge of and Faith in God to be from God's own defective Manifestations of himself which however truly deduced from his Positions is a most Vnworthy and False Reflection upon the Mercy and Goodness of God Thirdly There is an absolute necessity That what it is convenient for man to know should be certainly and infallibly discovered to him because of that great Corruption Idolatry and Superstition which through that misty and uncertain Prospect they say man has of the Divine Will he may be subject to fall into and like the vain Worshippers of old conceit an Ape Serpent or Crockedell to be a Deity or some other Beeings or Fancies though less gross yet too gross for a Christian man Fourthly Upon our Adversary's Principles there can be no assured Ground of Comfort for when a man shall think he hath workt out his Salvation in the Way he Conceives most acceptable with God perhaps he hath followed an Erronious Judgment and Unsubject Affection and when Repentance may be too late he is to be fob'd off with such an Award as this You had no Infallible Knowledge and having lived in an Erronious sense of your own you must inherit the Displeasure that follows thereby making well or ill believing or doing a meer Lottery or doing of things by Chance and not from any certain knowledge in themselves of what God required of them A Conceit worthy to be disdained by every sober man Fifthly And were I as our Adversary I would never beat my Brain about what is true or false since upon his Principles when Truth meets me I know her not from Error and after I should have writ Volums I am as certain of the Truth of what I oppose as of what I assert so that the Quakers may be in the right for ought he knows nor have they any certain grounds from him on which to alter or believe the contrary Sixthly Nor does this Opinion of our Adversary that there is no such thing as man's being now led by an infallible Spirit end there for it rendereth the Almighty more injust then the worst of men since first he seems to offer men the clearest Discoveries of so much of his Will as he requires them to live conformable unto yet means nothing less by leaving Mankind to labour under the perplexity of an uncertain Knowledge And secondly Concludes him notwithstanding under the greatest certainty of eternal Punishment Methinks then If these things seem unreasonable though the genuine Effects of a fallible Guide our Adversary should by this time think it fit to allow us 1. That God cannot be known but by the Discoveries he makes of himself through his Eternal Power and Spirit unto Mankind 2. That though such Discoveries may be imperfect in Degree yet not in kind 3. That such Revelation Discovery or Instruction is infallibly true and that there is nothing wanting on God's part to accommodate man with a Spiritual Certain Infallible Discovery and Knowledge of Almighty God his Creator and therefore man has to rectifie and assist his fallible Judgement an Vnerring Certain Infallible Spirit Power or Principle which as man listens unto it and follows it his Vnderstanding becomes illuminated his Reason purified and a sound Judgment restored and in all things is
he shall abide with you that is all that shall suceed you in the Faith forever As in his Comment on the 28th Chapter of Matthew upon these words I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World And though I shall now shortly part with you yet I will by sending the Spirit upon you to lead you into all Truth and by my perpetual Presence and Assistance afforded you and by that Authority that I have received of my Father and now commit unto you John 20. 21 22. continue with you and your Successors unto the End of the World Now if we read that Scripture he quotes as an Interpretation of what he understands by Christ's being with them and their Successors to the end of the World we shall find it to be this Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost What can be fuller then that in his apprehension not only the Apostles but their Successors in the Faith were to have continued unto them the perpetual Presence and Assistance of the Holy Ghost And sayes no mean Protestant upon the Place and very truly It is by the Spirit only that men who do not profit under outward means will be enabled to profit who when he cometh reveals Truths clearly and bears them in with Life and Power upon the Heart and doth renew mens spirits to embrace and submit to them And on the 14th Chapter thus The Spirit of God in Believers is not only a Comforter to apply and bear in the Consolations of God purchased by Christ upon their Hearts but is their Advocate also who pleads their Cause with God by furnishing them with Prayers and Groans that cannot be uttered I shall now produce the sense of several Persons so great in the Socinian way conformable to what has been asserted concerning the Holy Spirit that one would think our Adversary ought to be concluded by it And the first shall be Socinus himself who in his explication of the 1st verse of the 8th Chapter to the Romans speaks in short thus Neque enim jam carni sed spiritui obsequuntur spiritus namque vitalis imperium cui et ego omnes qui Christi sunt subduntur nos a jugo peccati mortis assernit For neither do they now follow or live after the Flesh but the Spirit for the Power of the living Spirit to which both I and all who are Christ's are subdued hath freed us from the Yoak of Sin and Death Slichtingius who in his Comment upon the Passage already mentioned especially that part He shall lead you into all Truth gives us his mind thus Quando autem veniet ille nempe Paracletus spiritus ille veritatis ducet vos nempe interna illuminatione in omnem veritatem nempe ad salutem aeternam pertinentem ita ut omnia sciatis intelligatis quae vera sunt ad salutem pertinent That is When the Paraclet to wit the Spirit of Truth shall come by his internal Illumination or inward Enlightening he will lead into all Truth and to the Knowledge and Vnderstanding of all those things which are true and necessary and do pertain to Eternal Life Now since all are concerned in the End namely Eternal Life methinks it is most reasonable that all should be in a share in the means to it I mean the Teachings and Guidings of that Vnerring Spirit Thus much for this place I will instance one place more and the thoughts of these men upon it I mean this last cited and one not less Famous in the same way Crellius in his Comment upon the Romans Chap. 8. vers 14 15. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God for ye have not received the spirit of Bondage c. sayes Etenim quotquot spiritui illi divino se regendos tradunt ejusque ductum sequuntur quemadmodum sane faciunt ij qui ejus ope carnis opera in se perimunt eque non admittunt illi Dei ipsius sunt Filij qui quemadmodum jam naturae ipsius sunt quodammodo participes ejusque similes Ita etiam vicissim a 〈◊〉 â—iliorum loco habentur ab eoque sunt adoptâ—ti in Filiorum jus adsâ—iti Eos autem qui a Deo instar Filiorum diliguntur vitae sempiternae fore participes quanquam per se unicuique videtur patere mox tamen planum faciam Certainly then our Adversary if he hath any regard for Crellius will not oppose himself to the necessity of Christians being accompanied by an infallible Spirit when this Author plainly tells us That without that Spirit of God and the Operation of it to a Regeneration of Soul there is no being a true Child of God and Heir to the possession of Glory as he further speaks upon the 17th verse Slichtingius gives us the same Interpretation differing only in the Expression sayes he Probant illos victuros esse si spiritu actiones corporis mortificent Again Spiritu Dei agi ferri impelli regi spiritu actiones corporis perimere They prove themselves to be Conquerors if by the Spirit they mortifie the Deeds of the Body Again To be acted led moved perswaded governed ruled and directed and to overthrow and destroy the Works of the Flesh by the Spirit of God this is to be a true Child of God Crellius is most express upon the 12th verse of the 2d chapter of Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians Sed spiritum qui est ex Deo id est qui ex Deo proficiscitur seu derivatur in homines ideoque Dei Spiritus merito vocatur But the Spirit which is of God that is which proceedeth from God or is derived from God into men it is therefore deservedly called the Spirit of God Crellius upon that remarkable Passage of the same Apostle and in the same Chapter But the spiritual man judgeth all things c. speaks thus Opponit animali homini spiritualem Spiritualis autem homo ille est qui non soluâ— spiritu Dei praeditus est sed etiam ejus ductum sequitur a spiritu ipso totus pendet Sayes he The Apostle opposeth the Spiritual to the Natural man that is the spiritual man who is not only endued with God's Spirit but is also under the Spirit 's Conduct and wholy depends upon it What man speaks more pathetically for inspiration then Crellius doth in whom out Adversary pretends to believe Nor is Slichtingius much behind him who on the same place gives us his mind thus Spiritualis autem id est homo divino spiritu non tantum praeditus sed illi etiam totus deditus But the Spiritual man that is saith he not only the man who is adorned and over-seen as by his good Angel by the holy Spirit but who
They were Brethren as being of the same Blood and Fathers as Elders of the Tribes under that particular Constitution Besides both his own and if Married his Wifes Fathers and Grand-Fathers might be then living and either of the Council or concurring with it In short We therefore refuse the style of Master and are very cautious of being in the least lavish in Titles of Worldly Honour because We with Lamentation behold through the Illumination of God's blessed Light the Spoil Cruelty and manifold Evils that Proud Flattering Honour-seeking and Honour-giving Spirit has made amongst the Sons of men who to compass unjust Dominion hath sacrific'd the Blood Wealth and Peace of Nations to its ambitious aims and esteem'd it no small accession to the Magnificâ—nce of its exploits that almost in all Ages she hath led the Rights Properties and Persons too of Millions as Captives in Triumph after her and through the Gulf of Rapine and Blood laneâ—t into the vast Ocean of unlimited Power What Impiety is there in the World that may not in some sence be resolved into that of Pride or Covetousness after Honour as its proper Center Mens over-value of themselves and their Displeasure against such as have not the like thoughts of them beget Revenge which taking its opportunity breaks forth into Blood and Murder O! let men learn to dread the Living God and fear all their dayes before him and that will sweep the mind of these vain thoughts and bring it from such exalted conceits and its insatiable Thirst after Honour and will establish it in the Humility and Lovely Plainness of a Meek and Quiet Spirit which is of great Price in the Sight of the Almighty God which because the World is not adorned with but doth both seek and give wordly Honour and Personal Respect whilst perhaps such entertain deadly Hatred against each other and resolve one anothers Ruin for outward Ends we are constrained by the Meek and Lowly Spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord to testifie against the World's Vain Honours and to hold forth an Example to them what they must all expect to come to before they can receive that Honour which is from God And this is that Honest Reason why We of this Age do with Elihu say We know not how to give flattering Titles for in so doing our Maker would soon take us away Thus much in Answer to his Cavills whose Emptiness might have been enough to sound out their own indesert of any but for the sake of the Honest-Hearted I have said some thing enough for the place and occasion If any desire further Satisfaction they may please to peruse a Book entituled No Cross No Crown and the Serious Apology for the Principles and Practices of the People called Quakers pag. 139 140 141 142. which with several others sufficiently vindicate both our Principle and Practice in this particular as also others of the same Nature and tendency His fourth Fling at us is about Womens Sâ—aking in the Church in which point he would seem to Triumph not a little over G. F. Let your Women keep Silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak bnt they are commanded to be under Obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them ask their Husbands at home for it is a shame for Women to speak in the Church 1 Cor. 14. 34 35. Here if the Apostle sayes he doth not command Silence to Women by Sex in those cases wherein he allows men by Sex to speak I understand nothing that is written But G. F. pag. 380. sayes Now the Woman here hath an Husband to ask and not usurp Authority over the Man but Christ in the Male as in the Female who redeems from under the Law and makes free from the Law that man may speak c. Now if we may take Liberty to expound the Scripture thus it will be a Nose of wax that may be turned which way we please Besides it seems to be built upon a misreading of Husband for Husbands because Christ who is but One is made the Husbands that must be asked at home So one of your Authors saith But what Husbands have Widdows to learn of but Christ And was not Christ the Husband of Philip's four Daughters and may not they that learn of their Husbands speak then But before I go any further it may be observed how very slight his return is to G. F's Sense of the place and especially that though he quotes another Friends Query on the matter he never offers to give it any Answer and I am really perswaded he was confounded by it However why is it so abusive of the Scripture to say that which the Scripture saith it self Are not the Spirits of Believers properly the Lambs Bride as being the â—â—ue Church to which he is a Bridegroom and â—f which he is the Head Methinks he must never have read or at least have forgot what he read in the Scriptures of Truth who denies this If so then why is it Improper or Abusive as he calls it to say that when Mens Spirits of themselves especially in the unlearned State speak it is that Woman which is forbidden to speak of her self since the Context saith that though they may all speak one by one yet it is if any thing be revealed to them which because that cannot be without Christ reveal it whom the Father hath ordained to be his eternal Word by which to declare to man the invisible things of his Kingdom it follows that it is Christ the Bridegroom and Husband of his People who by his Power speaks through his People to the Edification of his Body And as the Woman is the Weaker Vessel so is Man in comparison of Christ and therefore may not unfitly be accounted a Woman from his comparative imbecillity So that as Christ Presides or Governs in the Assemblies of his People it may be rather said the Man thâ—â— is the Bridegroom and Husband of his People speaks in them and by them then they themselves who without him are but as the Strength of a Woman and it being her place to yield to the Soveraignity of her Lord and Husband to whom is ordained the Rule she ought to receive the Law from his mouth who is the everlasting High-Priest and Prophet of his People But now suppose I should yield it to him that the Apostle chiefly intended the Words in a Literal Sense and not so mystically as we have already discours'd will it therefore be untrue mystically by no means it is frequent to find both a mystical and literal Sense in the same passage as when the Evangelist alludes to Isaiah's Prophecy Chap. 5. 3. proving it to be fulfilled by Christ's bodily Cures which is true in that Sense yet hath one more inward and mystical But to be short I utterly deny from the Literal Text that Women are prohibited to preach singly as Women or of that Sex
But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the Thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel whose Goings forth have been from of Old from Everlasting the Hebrews phrase it from the dayes of Eternity Mich. 5. 2. Observ 4. Where we have and for but Ephratah not quoted though thou be little for thou art the least among the Princes for among the Thousands out forth and shall come a Governour that shall Râ—le my People Israel we have for shall he come unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel whose Going forth have been from of Old from Everlasting For it is written in the Law of Moses Thou shalt not muzzle the Mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn 1 Cor. 9. 9. Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox when he treadeth out the Corn Deut. 25. 4. Observ 5. In this Passage we also have an addition and alteration the Mouth of the Ox for the Ox and that treadeth for when he treadeth c. which though all one in sence yet had been matter of Crime enough against G. F. had he but made the same alteration Of this man's Seed that is David the Son of Jesse hath God according to his Promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus Acts 13. 22. And there shall come forth a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his Roots Isa 11. 1. Observ 6. The great Difference of which I mean as to expression one would think might sufficiently justifie G. F. and I believe will in the Judgment of all such as reverence the Scriptures of Truth for I don't see that there be four words alike yet the sence one Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in Victory Oh Death where is thy Sting Oh Gravâ— where is thy Victory 1 Cor. 15. He will swallow up Death in Victory Isa 25. 8. Oh Death I will be thy Plagues Oh Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13. 14. Observ 7. The alteration here is manifest also Death is swallowed up for He will swallow up Death and Oh Death where is thy sting for Oh Death I will be thy Plagues c. We shall conclude with one more out of the Epistle to the Hebrews But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is forever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Heb. 1. 8. Thy Throne O God is for forever and ever the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a Right Scepter thou lovest Righteousness Psal 45. 6 7. Observ 8. Here we have A Scepter of Righteousness iâ— the Scepter of thy Kingdom for The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a Right Scepter Thus beside many more places past over for brevity sake have I made it evidently appear that G. F. cannot be accused by any that would not accuse Christ Jesus and his Apostles themselves as to Mis-citation of Scriptures if their not Citing of these express words may be justly so reputed which though I utterly reject it yet since our Adversary hath made it a Crime so capital in G. F. it may not be â—â—seasonable to offer That he doth inevitably conclude Christ Jesus and his Apostles under the same Fault which how suitable soever it may be to his Religion we have more Godly Fear and Reverence upon our spirits then to so much as admit of any the least Detraction from them any where and least of all would our Understandings let us in this Occasion But what if we were unable to render those obvious Reasons already offered Would it follow that G. F. must necessarily be condemned as a Perverter of Scripture and as having censured others for that wherein he is as inexcusable himself By no means For it is granted on all hands that what most of all aggravates the Blame of any Dispuâ—â—nt is erring from or falling short of or contradicting his own avow'd Principles This was the Case of the Priests G. F. disputed against but not his They say That the Scriptures or Writings of the Holy Men of God as they are transmitted to us with every Point Iota or parcel of them are such a Sufficient Infallible Perspicuous and Constant Rule as that God hath not left or given unto men any thing more clear certain c. But G. F. and we who are called Quakers although we heartily acknowledge the Scripture so given forth to be a Declaration of the Mind of God so far as it pleased him to discover it and that men ought to believe read obey and fulfil them as the Ancients did yet that the Eternal Spirit is by way of Excellency the Rule and Guide of Christians who convinceth the World of Sin reproves for and redeems from it into the perfect Liberty of the Sons of God as received and obeyed And this only gives the Knowledge of the Truth of the Scriptures and brings into those States of which the Scriptures are but a Godly Narrative And that this Infallible Living Divine Spirit is therefore the most Certain and Unerring Rule above and beyond the meer Letter which hath been and is subject to any Miscarriages Wherefore G. F. had good Reason to put the Priests upon Scripture Proof and that so critically as that they might not foyst in any Doctrines upon Abstruse and disputable Consequences of their own drawing but grounded on express Texts of Scripture For if they defended the Scriptures in every Iota to be the very Word of God and only standing Rule of Faith Worship and Conversation under the Gospel it was but reasonable in him to tye them to their own Rule whilst on the contrary G. F. not believing them to be that alone most excellent standing Rule of Christians however he might otherwise esteem them as rightly believing That not a Law engraven on Tables of Stone much less writ on Paper but an invisible Spiritual Law of Life writ in the Hearts and Consciences of Men and Women was and is the Great Living Infallible and Perpetual Gospel-Rule he was not confined to the very express Words and Points thereof as his Rule So that there is not there cannot be the same Reason for reproving G. F. of what they are most deserving of severe censure Nay G. F. is very excusable in what they by their own Principle are condemnable And therefore he cannot be upon the same terms with them For it would be to say that because I obliege a man with strictness to his own Rule therefore I am an Impostor if I do not as precisely square my self by the same which is to beg more then becomes a Modest Man to ask or a Reasonable Man to grant for it is the very thing controverted Whether that Light Life Power and Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures at several times on several Occasions be that only Infallible Rule of Christians or the Letter so subject to variety of Corruptions Additions Diminutions c.
True Vnfeigned Repentance nor Living Faith by which to overcome the World and to live unspotted in it walking with God till the time of Dissolution comes Oâ— this is the Life of Christians indeed and Blessed are they forever who having found that Living Holy Light and Power abide with it certainly it will never fail them in any Time of Streight or Hour of Temptation but will alwayes reveal it self to their Defence and Protection as their Minds are circumspectly eyeing the same though whole Armies should besiege them both within and without to their utter Ruin and Destruction This is that Foundation which can never be moved and that durable Rock which the Gates of Hell could never shake nor prevail against them that built thereon in any Age for which the Holy Host of Heaven and we on Earth Magnifie the Name of God and return and ascribe to Him by Jesus Christ all Honour Glory Praise Wisdom Power Strength Majesty and Dominion who alone is worthy now and forever THus in the Fear of God and in a measure of good Understanding which I have received from him have I gone through what I promised in the beginning do believe the Lord will make my Labour effectual to the vindication of his Righteous Truth and Servants in the hearts of many which is the alone Mark I have in my Eye and not to gratifie their desire or as esteeming my self though they do the single man that was best able to encounter them which though fawning enough cannot but manifest the contradiction of that Person from whom it came who a little after that creeping Invitation to answer him sayes That if I do he shall ever after have a better opinion of the Popish Writers that defend Transubstantiation implying That I should be the absurdest of men by how much there is not a more ridiculous Position in any Religion then that but this Absurdity and Abuse I return upon himself since no such Writer could spend his time more unprofitably then our Adversary in his trivial Objections against G. F. and perhaps scarce so scurrcously I forgive him his small Essays at me for they pinch me not only I will tell him that the Eighteen pence Apology he would seem to lash both me and G. W. for contains that Truth Reason and Evidence as are not refutable by a greater man then himself and will stand over the Heads of those pee vish perverse Spirits concerned in it for ever And for the Excuse he makes why he seruples to tell us who he is I have already Answered it and therefore need not reiterate the same things only one Passage may be further considered and that is where he sayes If you had my name it must be considered what Party I am of whether Episcopal Presbyterian Independant c. and accordingly all that is odious either in the Doctrine or Practice of the whole Party or any Particular Person thereof must be reckoned up against me or if I should chance to be an old man as your Adversary Jenner that would help to render me doting at every turn or if I have been a Brasier or a Taylor the World must be told my name with Tinker and Taylor at the end on 't and if this won't do you have a way of suggesting as G. Whitehead against Mr Danson that he was given to Gaming Bowls and Nine-Pins and if it prove false you may come off as he by saying you did but query c. To all which I say First That he horribly belyes us for we never charged the Infirmities of a single Person farther then upon that guilty Person unless he were connived at or justified in his Wickedness by any whole Party I charge him to give us one Instance to prove his Reflection Secondly We know him to be neither Episcopal Presbyterian nor Independant but a Vizarded Socinian either ashamed or afraid of his Profession Thirdly In the worst sence he is an old man for Malice Slander Pride and Enmity reign in him the nature of the Old Man that is Accurst and if he be otherwise Young he is so much the more blameable that he should dote before he is old Fourthly We never told the World mens Trades in a way of Detraction or Reproach our Souls abhor it it is well known what we are our selves not of the great Tribes of the Earth and therefore ought the less to dispise others for being Mechanicks whilst we are mostly such our Selves though were we what we are not It were a token of Pride and Incivility as the other would be of Insolency to disdain either Poverty or Labour It may be indeed that the Trade of some man may more generally denote him then his Name because there may be many of the same Name but not of the same Calling as many Bunnions but not many Bunnions that are Tinkers and being generally so stiled not in reproach that we know of since that title neither adds nor diminishes but in a way of distinction perhaps we may have so distinguished him but certainly if our Adversary were either of an honest Calling or sought not after a reputation in the World above it he need not be ashamed of telling us who he is Lastly his base Suggestion of G. W. is manifest for who knows not that the Priests give themselves the Liberty of more then that what Game almost do they scruple to play at But indeed their religious Game they are most constant and expert in which they get most by for in other Sports they sometimes lose but in that Game they alwales win the poor People are the Losers And if G. W. to detect the Priest since others gave themselves that lose did therefore make that Query must it therefore be taken for granted that he concluded him such Would this malicious Adversary be so served in every Query that may be put by him But I appeal to all the reasonable men that shall ever read us if his apprehension of our calumniating him be a Good reason for him to refuse us his name â— whilst he takes his whole fill in abusing of us and that by name too thereby condemning that in others by way of anticipation which he is actually guilty of himself Well but the holy and just God will certainly one day avenge our Innocency upon the head of this malicious Slanderer and all such as wilfully take part with him to traduce it unto whom we recommend our selves in all our endeaours for the promotion of his holy Truth being freely resigned to do his Will in our Generation knowing that he is a plentifull Rewarder of those that truly fear him though the time hastens that he will also take vengance upon the Ungodly and I doubt not but in that day our Adversary will wish he had as well concealed his Book as his Name Postscript I Am to advise the Man if he intends any farther Controversie with us That he should not lose his time nor
things of God which all Natural Understanding can never fathom because they are Spiritually to be discerned Fifteenth 1 Cor. 6. 19. What Know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own The Apostle treating of the great nearness that every Believer stands in to the Lord and that Blessed Union which the Dispensation of the Gospel brings to by the putting away the Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and the Answer of a good Conscience before God in winding up this subject he thus smartly and as if his Query were enough to clear up all that he had to say to them as to their Duty and his Exhortation What know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you From whence I draw this Argument If Believers be the Temple in which the Holy Ghost dwells as evidently speaks the Scripture then are they not left without an Infalible Spirit as Judge Rule and Guide to repair to but it is apparent to sence that the holy Ghost is by the Apostle affirmed to inhabit or take up his abode in believers therefore they must needs be attended with an iufallible Spirit and for what if not the End before-mentioned Sixteenth 1 Cor. 12 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be Bond or Free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit By which Divine Sence of the Apostle we cannot but allow that if they were both baptized by one Spirit into one Body and made to drink into the same Spirit that the Saints were not without an Infallible Spirit since such Baptizing and Drinking do emphatically imply the whole Work of the Spirit in their Regeneration and their daily Union with and intimate Enjoyment of it the whole course of their lives And certainly If by that Eternal Spirit they were baptized ito that one Body Christ It was as impossible for them as Members thereof to live without the Life Vertue and Spirit of Christ Jesus their Head as for any natural Body to live without the same Life Blood Heat and Motion which belongs to its Head And how this man can be esteemed a good Christian who would render Christ Jesus the Head of a Fallible Body by divesting Christians of an Infallible Spirit I leave to Persons of better Judgment more Honesty and greater Moderation then himself to judge Seventeenth 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This whole Chapter is an admirable account of the Super-Excellency of the Gospel Administration of Life to that of the Law how far it did transcend it as to all spiritual Knowledge Priviledge and Enjoyment which I desire the Reader seriously to read as well as to consider what is offered from the Verse cited If a Christian's Change into God's Image from Glory to Glory be the Work of the Eternal Spirit in men it follows necessarily That Christians can no more be without the Discoveries Leadings and Orderings of God's Spirit then they can be his Children without his Image since whatever they think say or do in reference to Religion should bear a near Relation to that resemblance of God which above all things they ought to act correspondently with but we see how very expresly and profoundly the Apostle describes the exceeding Blessedness of the New Covenant namely A being changed into the Image of God from Glory to Glory not by our own Notions or Comprehensions from the strength of our natural Reason or any Book without us but by the Spirit of the Lord operating in us therefore God's Children are not without an infallible Spirit unless he should deny God's Spirit to be such which methinks I cannot believe him to do Gal. 3. 3. Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect in the Flesh If Christians are both to begin and end in the Spirit or if a Christian throughout the whole course of his Life from the first step or measure to the fulness and perfection of his stature is to be informed regulated and guided by the infallible Spirit of God as the Apostle's Reproof of the Galatians for their declining to be ordered thereby evidently proves then Christians ought to begin and end in the Strength Knowledge Wisdom and Guidance of an Infallible Spirit aud consequently that Doctrine which denies such an Unerring Spirit to be the Judge Rule and Guide of Christians is Antichristian Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts If God sends forth his Spirit into the Hearts of his Children then are they not without an Infallible Spirit but the express Letter of the Scripture affirms it and consequently our Adversary's Reflection upon us for making it part of our Belief is unsound and condemnable Gal. 5. 16 18. This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh They that walk by the Spirit must first have it and next be led by it but the Apostle exhorted the Church so to walk therefore the Church had and Christians have the Spirit and should walk in or by it that is according to the Motions Leadings and Rule of â—it Eph. 1. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Him If the Heavenly Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of God be through the Spirit then as without Revelation there is no Knowledge of God so without the Spirit there is no divine Wisdom and Revelation And if the Church was attended with that Wisdom and Revelation then with that Spirit from whence they came and consequently Christ's Church is not without that Eternal Vnerring Spirit as saith the Apostle in the 5th Chapter Be not Drunk with Wine wherein is Excess but be filled with the Spirit which signifies the Apostles mind to be quite another thing from the Judgment of our Adversary who thinks All men ought to be empty of it esteeming such as are filled therewith as the Jews did Paul Drunk with New Wine 1 Thes 15 19. Quench not the Spirit If those could not quench the Spirit who had it not then those to whom he gave that Caution had the Spirit consequently the Primitive Churches were not without an Vnerring Spirit because they were not without the Spirit of God which is Unerring 1 John 2. 27. But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him If the Judge of Truth