Now this certainly must be Unlawful to Give or Receive which hinders true Faith And what was this Hoâ—our but Salutations after the fashion of the Times As the Text shews Mat. 23. and for Calling and being Called of Men Rabbi Christ was so far from Commanding or Imitating them in such things that He expresly forbids it But the meaning of Christ's â—aying Mat. 5. And if ye Salute Your Brethren only what do ye more then Others do not even the Publicans so is this That in all Acts of Love Mercy and Goodness they were to Exceed the Practice of that time They were to take more notice of and to look more kindly and friendly upon All Men. But in another sense He that bid them Salute Enemies as well as Friends also forbids his Disciples to Salute any Man or call any Man Rabbi or Master for that One was their Lord and Master and they were all Brethren Mat. 23. 6 7 8. and Luke 10. 4. And between such Relations Worldly Honours were of no use as well as of no value And did a Primitive Spirit Prevail in those that so much pretend to be the Successors of the Apostles we should see them more Exemplary in Self-denial and Holiness Encouraging and not Undervaluing and Brow-beating the Serious and Conscientious But Trees are known by their Fruit for Grapes are not gathered of Thorns nor Figs of Thistles In the mean time if my Reader please to peruse the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of that Book Entituled No Cross No Crown he will I hope be satisfied that we are for Honour Respect and Civility according to Scripture tho' Non-conformists to the Empty and Troublesome Ceremonies of the Times left by us not of Rudeness but Conviction and forbore of Duty and no otherwise of Choice For Humanely Speaking that Contradiction to Custom cannot be Pleasant to us I have detained my Reader longer upon this Head than I expected or perhaps he desired I shall therefore proceed to the Bishops next Paragraph which contains his Exceptions to our Tenth gospel-Gospel-Truth about Baptism and the Supper and the â—ast he has to take notice of the Eleventh about Government being by him already granted in the beginning of his Paper He begins thus In your Xth Article you believe a Spiritual Baptism and a Spiritual Supper and Communion but acknowledge you disuse the outward Signs by us commonly called Sacraments Now did not Christ command Water-Baptism Go ye and Baptize all Nations Matth. 28. 19 20. He goes on The Baptism here commanded was Water-Baptism His reasons are first that Baptizing with the Spirit was God's work not the Apostles 2dly Primitive Practice Acts 10. 47 48. in Cornelius's Case Who can forbid Water But this is also gratis dictum For the first Reason is no Reason since it is not true And the second seems to me Defective and Short I am very sensible of the Disadvantage I am under and that I touch a tender Place and what I say upon this Head as also anon upon the Supper will be against Wind and Tide with the Generality But as I hope I shall express my self Reverently as well as Plainly upon this Occasion so I beseech my Reader for his Own sake as well as Ours not to Prejudge us as I am sure he will not if he be a Searcher after Truth and that I charitably suppose of him I say then The Bishop's first Reason is not true for God by the Apostles did Baptize Believers with the Holy Ghost It fell-upon them through the Powerful Preaching of the Word Thus Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spoke these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word By which it is evident that Peter in that Sermon was the Minister of the Spiritual Baptism to Cornelius and his Company And Peter gives this account to those of the Circumcision at Jerusalem Acts 11. 15. And as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning Then remembred I the Word of the Lord how that he said John indeed Baptized with Water but ye shall be Baptized with the Holy Spirit So that Peter evidently declares the Gift of the Spirit by the Ministry of the Gospel to be the Baptism of Christ or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire which Christ promised at his Ascension into Heaven But the Apostle Paul puts this Matter beyond all Doubt in his Excellent Account â—e gives of his Conversion and Commission to King Agrippa Acts 26. where my Reader will find these words dropping from the Mouth of the Lord Jesus to Saul Delivering thee from the people and from the Genâ—iles to whom now I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto GOD that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins and an Inheritance among them which are Sanctified through Faith that is in Me Verse 17 18. Now if this could be done without the Holy Ghost let my Reader judge 'T was with the Holy Ghost that Peter's Hearers were Prick'd to the Heart and fitted to receive more of It And it was by the same Holy Ghost that Paul's Hearers had the Eyes of their Minds opened to see the Mysteries of God's Kingdom and by which they were Converted from Darkness to Light that they might receive the Forgiveness of their Sins and Inheritance among them which are Sanctified So that the very End and Benefit of the Apostolical Ministry was Converting that is Baptizing them into Christianity in the Nature Power and Life of It by the Holy Ghost Now for the Bishop's Second Reason viz. Practice I say it is granted that Water-Baptism having got place among them by John's Ministry the Fore-runner it held after Christ's Coming but that was Ex Gratia and of Condescention not of Commission for that properly ceases when his Ministration begins of which John's was but the Fore-runner For Moses and the Prophets were till John and John till Christ And this John the Water-Baptist tells us Mat. 3. 11. I indeed Baptize you with Water unto Repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I He shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire see Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. Here 's a different Baptism and Baptizer the Servant and the Master the Water and the Holy Ghost One Transcient the Other Permanent One the End of the Jewish and the Other the Beginning of the Gospel Dispensation Wherefore says our Lord Jesus Christ the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is Greater than John Matth. 11. 11. Why is not John in Heaven No doubt of it at all and a Glorious Saint too But the Least in Christ's Dispensation viz. The Kingdom of God in the Soul the Work of Christ the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and Fire is Greater than John as to the Nature of his Administration See John 3. 30 31. He must Increase but I must Decrease What! John decrease or his Ministration His
Spirit to open and move upon our Hearts before we dare offer Sacrifice to the LORD or Preach to others the way of his Kingdom That we may Preach in Power as well as Words and as GOD Promised and Christ Ordained Without Money and without Price John 4. 23 24. 1 Thess 1. 5. Isa 55. 1. Rev. 22. 17. Matt. 10. 8. IX This also leads us to deny all the vain Customs and Fashions of the World to avoid Excess in all things that our Moderation may be seen of all Men because the LORD is at hand to see and judge us according to our Deeds Tit. 2. 12. Rom. 12. â— Philip. 4. 5. Eccl. 12. 14. Mat. 16. 27. Rom. 2. 6. Rev. 20. 12. X. We believe the Necessity of the One Baptism of Christ as well as of his One â—upper which he promiseth to Eat with those that open the Door of their Hearts to him being the Baptism and Supper signified by the Outward Signs which tho' we disuse we judge not those that conscientiously practise them Mat. 3. 11. Ephes 4. 1. 1. Pet. 3. 21 22. John 6. Rev. 3. 20. XI We Honour Government For we believe it is an Ordinance of GOD and that we ought in all things to submit by Doing or Suffering But esteem it a great Blessing where the Administration is a Terror to Evil Doers and a Praise to them that Do Well Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. This hath all a long been the General Stream and Tendency both of our Ministry and Writings as our Books will make appear notwithstanding what Ill-minded and Prejudic'd Persons may have strained to Mis-represent Us and our Christian Profession Dublin the 14th of the 3d Month 1698. William Penn. Thomas Story Anthony Sharp George Rooke THE TESTIMONY OF THE BISHOP OF CORK As to a Paper Intituled GOSPELâ—TRUTHS held c. by the PEOPLE called QUAKERS And Delivered to Him by an eminent Member of them Friends I Am such a Reader as in your Paper you desire I have read and soberly weighed the account you give of those things which you say are chiefly Received and Professed amongst you And I will exercise so much Moderation and Charity as to lay a great weight on that word chiefly hoping these are not the Only Things or All that you Believe I should have been heartily glad to have found that you had been in the Truth as I am well assured I my self am But as I professed when the Paper was given Me That if I took it you must expect I should bear my Testimony touching It or against It So I now must tell you I think my self bound in Conscience to perform what I then professed and that upon more Reasons than I will now trouble the World with You must not be offended if I say You have such a way of Writing and Speaking that it is very hard in many matters of Religion to know what you mean But as far as I understand you I will candidly acknowledge what Truths you have sufficiently or tolerably exprest I will shew you with meekness how far your Faith if this be your Faith comes short of being sufficient or Christian and I will sincerely tell you what I apprehend to be the cause of your Delusion and how dangerous a condition I really fear nay believe you to be in And first The only Articles in which you have exprest a sufficient Christian Belief are your IV. which is touching Justification and your last touching Government and your Submission thereto I wish you may always stick to this Belief and Practice And I heartily rejoyce to find you acknowledging the Necessity of Christ as a Propitiation in order to Remission of Sins and Justifying You as Sinners from Guilt 'T is the first time I have heard of it amongst you As to all the rest of your Articles I mean those which I understand I must tell you the declaration of your Faith comes so short of what is required from People to denominate them Christians that except under each Article you believe more than you have declar'd you cannot be accounted Christians For first in those Articles of Faith which you have thought fit to mention you have set down only some little Ends I had almost called them Snaps of the Article And Secondly many more whole Articles of the true Christian Faith and which are of no less import you have intirely omitted waved or suppressed You acknowledge in your I. Article there is a God and you own his Providence as to the other Life But that He made Heaven and Earth that He is the Almighty and at present by his Sovereign Power most wisely and holily Governs Orders and Sustains all by his Mercies as well as Judgments even in this World not â—â—aving Himself without witness you say not 〈◊〉 word Creation in the beginning and Providence as to this World at present are not here acknowledged by You. We hope you believe both Your II. Article is wholly true for it is express Scripture 1 John V. 7. But it is onely what the Apostle there had occasion to say and what was to his purpose touching the Father Son and Holy Spirit far from being the sum of what the Holy Scripture teaches of them and therefore iâ— not a sufficient Confession of Faith on that head In your III. Article you acknowledge indeed the Son of God to have been made Flesh but neither Conceived by the Holy Ghost nor Born of the Virgin Mary So that it does not appear by this your Confession but that He was at first an ordinary corrupt sinful Person Nay you own Him not so much as Jesus or the Christ the great Saviour who delivereth from the wrath which is to come or the Great Prophet Priest Lord and King of his Church You acknowledged him indeed to have dyed for Sin but not to mention the Articles inferible from and relating to the Circumstances of his death You have not one word of His Resurrection from the Dead or of His Ascension into Heaven which iâ— may be proved some of you have expresly denyed saying He is not ascended into Heaven He is in us Nor again of Hâ—… sitting now at the right hand of the Majesty oâ— high And so you seem not to own any thing of His Mediation Intercession or Appearing now in Heaven for us Nor further have you said a word of his coming again to Judgment or the End of the World Thus indeed You have here neither own'd the Creation nor Dissolution of the World so that it does not appear by this Account of your Faith whether you do not judge it Eternal and so otherwise Infinite Yet again Not a word of One Church which it may be feared you strike out of your Belief because you are resolved never more to return into the Unity of the Church but to make and maintain a Schism or Party for ever Nor further have you a word of the Resurrection of the Body which divers of you have been
of the Spirit of God within and the Scripture of Truth without is the Rule and Judge of Faith Doctrine and Practice yea that the Spirit is given to Believers to be the Rule and Judge by which they are to understand the true Sense and Meaning of the Scriptures Now let the Reader judge who gives the Truest Honour to the Scripture the Bishop or the People called Quakers They say the Scriptures have a Double Record that is the Evidence of the Spirit of Truth in the Hearts of Believers as well as their Own Or the Bishop who by his way of Treating us and our Principle will allow us no other Evidence of their Truth but Themselves For to say the Evidence of the Spirit of God with that of the Scripture make a Double and agreeing Testimony is with him to undervalue the Scripture and the Ground in his Apprehension of our Strong Delusions It must be my turn now to pity the Bishop and truly I do it with all my Heart to see him strain so Sound as well as Inoffensive an Expression as that which he makes the Reason of our Delusion that he might have an occasion to lessen our Credit with the Professors of Christianity and especially Protestants Can it Dishonour the Scripture to deny the Evidence of the Principal and Author of the Scripture to back the Authority of the Scripture Or doth not he rather lessen the Authority of Scripture that will not allow us another Evidence of the Truth of Scripture than its own for fear of Co-ordinacy which was not so much as once intended to be insinuated by us nor do the words import any such thing yet it had been no strong nor any Delusion at all to give the Holy Ghost the Preference But I shall keep to the Terms of the Paper whatever the Bishop is pleased to do knowing that whoever Concludes an Argument in terms not in the Question nor plainly deduceable from the Premises is not a fair Dealer in Controversie In which the Bishop if he pleases may reasonably enough think himself more than once concerned Blessed be God we have known the Power and Efficiency of this Holy Light and Spirit of Christ in our selves and being in good measures Witnesses thereof we do not only speak by Report but by Experience We had the Scriptures in the Days of our Ignorance and Worldly-mindedness but disregarding the Reproofs and Instruction of the Light of Jesus in our Hearts we never could come to know the Power of those Truths the Scripture declares of But when it pleased God in the Riches of his Love to cause his blessed Light that had shined in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not to shine out of Darkness and gives us the Knowledge of himself in the Face or through the Manifestation of his Son Jesus Christ we saw and bewailed our selves and by an unfeigned Sorrow and Repentance returned as Penitent Prodigals towards our Fathers House and in this Turn we were brought to die daily to that Love and Satisfaction we once had in the Glory Pleasures Honours Friendships and Diversions of the World which now became Burdensome more than ever they were pleasing to us Hence it was and from no Sinister Ends or Self-righteous Conceits that we became an altered and a distinguished People in our Behaviour Garb and Conversation More Retired Watchful Silent and Plain than formerly equally avoiding Luxury and Avarice I say it was the Work of God's Spirit upon our Hearts who by his Light gave us to see the just difference of things and to distinguish between that which pleased Him and that which pleased Him not And this Holy Pattern he gave us in the Light of his beloved Son which we design to follow as did the Holy Ancients and is a full Answer to the Bishop's Unfriendly Queries upon our distinguishing Behaviour in his 14th and 15th Paragraph as if it were not out of Fear towards God or upon a Conscientious Bottom but to serve a worldly Turn For he asks us Is it not your main Aim End and Study by pretended Mortifications to make your selves a Party Considerable Again Are not to this Purpose your different Garb Speech Looks and Gestures and to make your selves remarkable rather than out of a Sense of Duty or Conscience of Obligation Which as it is the worst Construction that the most Irreligious and Prophane could make upon our Behaviour so I beseech God to forgive the Bishop and make him sensible how little such Treatment of strict sober Living advances the Common Cause of Religion and how much it indulges those that know no Reins or Check to their Excesses in his own Church But to go no farther than the Bishop and his Clergy pray who distinguish themselves more by their Garb from other People then they Tho' I cannot say as much of their Behaviour So indeed did the Chemerims or black Coats of old and Those that wore long Robes in our Saviours time but as I take it they went not without his Censure while I think the Bishop will find none in Scripture against our Plainness But the Bishops Pontifical Robes do in my Opinion look much more like Singularity and a Sight than ours for our Garb is like other Mens only freed of their Superfluity In short I wish him a better Understanding of the true Grounds of our stricter Conduct and Where and Who they are that make a Trade of Religion that if he has any Shot left against Mercinary Religionists he may not miss the Mark next time but may make it his main Aim End and Study to Expose Hirelings and Hypocrites in their Proper Colours And some are of Opinion he need not go far to find too many of them It is strange the Bishop should be so unsensible of the Advantage he gives me by his Queries and what a wide Door he opens to a severe Retaliation but my desire to be Modest and to be Silent upon such Advantages is I think to be abundantly so Howbeit I must take Notice of one Expression for it may too seriously affect us not to be observed to him When he asks If it be not our main End and Study by pretended Mortifications to make our selves a Party Considerable He adds and such to which for Reasons of State Peculiar Priviledges must be indulged If this were not more than Mockery I should wave my Notice but calling the meaning of the Government in Question about the Liberty of Conscience we enjoy He must forgive me if I bestow a few Remarks upon that Expression It seems then our Liberty flows not from the Inclination of the Government to Liberty less from Compassion and least of all from Justice and a Christian Principle Which Motives carry with them a Prospect of the Continuance of Liberty if not for Liberties sake But the Bishop believes no such thing and if he would not have us of his mind he did weakly to tell us so Well then we are all of
Supper can any Command be more Express than This do in Remembrance of Me Four times repeated in the New which you call the better Testament To which St. Paul adds It is a shewing forth the Lordâ— Death until He come 1 Cor. XI 26. Now if Christ and his Apostles have commanded this who hath Authorised you to disuse it Remember what St. Paul tells the Corinthians he received from the Lord that which on this Subject he delivered to them 1 Cor. XI 23. And 't is a severe Passage in another Epistle of his Gal. I. 8. If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed That which lays aside so much of the Old Gospel and sets up a New and Variable Rule oâ— Faith we know not what Light within is Another and New Gospel To draw towards a Conclusion I have written this short Paper in much and true Compassion to you It had been far easier to me to have said more than thus to have confined my self I look upon many of you as an harmless well-meaning People but under strong Delusions This your Deluded State proceeds from your making what you call The Light within you which is in many Cases nothing but your own Presumptive Perswasion or Fancy a Rule of Faith and Practice Co-ordinate if not Superiour and Antecedent to the Holy Scriptures These words in your Paper Which are the Double and Agreeing Record of True Religion intimate at least thus much That you will not believe what Scripture saith except the Light within you dictate the same and so make a Double Record Now my Friends do not flatter your selves GOD is not mocked you must Answer at the Dreadful Day of Judgment amongst other Points to such as these and therefore Examine your Consciences before-hand 1. Is it not your main End and Study by pretended Mortifications and Renouncing the World while there are no sort of Men alive that more eagerly pursue it nor have more effectual wily and secret ways oâ— getting Wealth than your selves Is it no I say your main Aim and End to make your selves a Party considerable and such tâ— which for Reasons of State peculiar Priviledges must be Indulged 2. Are not to this purpose many of your Distinctive Characters such as you Different Garb for it is plain not a few oâ— your Peoples â—loaths as to materials are more costly than many of ours your way of speaking yea even your Looks and Gestures assumed rather to make your selves remarkable and at first sight known from other People than out of any Perswasion Sense of Duty or Conscience of Obligation 3. What reasonable or tolerable Warrant can you plead for waving suppressing at least not confessing much the greater part of the Christian Faith and Rejecting all Outward Positive Parts of Worship especially Baptism and the Lords Supper which have such plain and Repeated Evidences in Holy Scripture Your Light within or Sense and Perswasion which you say you have and are sure is from Christ forasmuch as in the present Cases it dictateth against Holy Scripture can never be proved even to your selves much less to others to be from Christ But must rather in all reason be resolved to be one of the Heights or Depths of Satan transforming himself into an Angel of Light And for any Persons to yeild to such Conduct besides or against Holy Scripture is plainly to abandon themselves to the Delusions of the Devil In a word therefore I again require you as you will answer all your Secret Arts and high Pretensions at Christ's Tribunal that you either Embrace and Profess the intire Christian Faith in the Points wherein I have shewn you to be defective and that you receive the Christian Seals or Badges Baptism and the Lord's-Supper or else that you desist to lay claim to the Name of Christians It is not for me to Judge you but again I say unto you truly from GOD as His Minister Judge your selves This is the Case If Men who take away even from the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints at least Two Thirds besides many main Points of the other Third who Equal their own Presumptuous Conceits to the Divine Oracles and Revelations who use and disuse at pleasure what parts of GOD's Instituted Worship they think fit even the very Badges of Christianity I will not here Interpose your Making Gain your Godliness but if the aforesaid Men are in a Way of Perdition what can you conclude of your selves In the Name of GOD Repent and Return And from my Soul I pray That GOD will please to give you Repentance EDW. CORK and ROSS Cork July the 2d 1698. A DEFENCE OF a PAPER Entituled gospel-GOSPEL-TRUTHS c. I Have given the Bishop's Exceptions together at Large as he did our Paper and shall now Consider their Validity He is pleased to say at the beginning of his first Paragraph he is such a Reader as in our Paper â—we desire Words that gave me great hopes of not only fair but friendly dealing and I heartily wish it had been so But since it seems to me the Reverse of his Promise he must not take it ill from me if I stop a while and shew him a little to himself and how much he is mistaken in his own Temper as well as in our Principles For tho' he begins with the Names of Moderation Charity and Meekness that 's all He quickly Loses sight of them and forgets them with himself almost all the way And unless my Taste be Extreamly Depraved there is little Relish of those Vertues in his Management or a tolerable Temper shewn towards us respecting either our Belief or Practice We desire such a Reader indeed as had rather we were in the Right than in the Wrong One that did not Prejudge our Case and would give us and not our Enemies the wording of our own Belief While the Bishop but too plainly shews he would not have us in the Right Even where he dares not say however freely he suggests it that we are in the Wrong Which appears First by his Unnecessary Exceptions to such Truths as we have Declared in our Paper and he cannot deny as imperfectly Exprest because we have not said all that might be said to Branch them out or Illustrate them tho' enough to be understood by such as are not Captious Secondly by Suppositions Incongruous and that can have no other Service than to Expose us and that in a very ill Manner Thirdly by rendring us to Deny what we don't Express in our Paper Tho' indeed we Believe it Fourthly in not taking due notice of what is Implied as well as Exprest Which had been but Just Fifthly in making the worst of what is not concurrent with his Belief and not the best where we believe the same thing Sixthly by Grosly Misrendering our Pretences to Strict Living Lastly by Condemning us upon Rumour All which is more than leaning
hardly to be supposed that we could intend so Gross a thing or that it is inferrible from the Manner of Expressing of ourselves in Reference to Christ's Manifestation in the Flesh Where Enough is said to Comprehend the Rest all is Meant though all be not Exprest We call him the Beloved Son of God the only Begotten of the Father Pray what is that short of being Conceived by the Holy Ghost To be sure it is very far from a Corrupt and Sinful Person a Supposition as remote from what we said as from what the Bishop promised viz. Charity He that Confesses the Word was made Flesh Confesses Him made Flesh by God and therefore made Holy Flesh For God never made any Corrupt or Sinful Flesh If the place is read as some do viz. the Word took Flesh the Flesh must be Holy for he would not take or dwell in Sinful Flesh And had the Bishop well remembred what he Acknowledged upon our Believing Christ to be a Propitiation for Sin not many lines before he could never have Suggested so unreasonable as well as uncharitable a conceit since Sinful Flesh or a Corrupt Person could never be any part of a Sacrifice for Sin So that in Commending that part of our Belief he has sufficiently secured us against this part of his Insinuation But the Bishop proceeds to Aggravate our Shortness in Expression to a Severe Imputation viz. that we own him not so much as Jesus or the Christ This must be a great oversight of the Bishop not to say worse when the very Fourth Head about Justification by Christ of which he declares himself so well satisfied Thrice confesses him to be Christ viz. in the First Third and Fourth Lines Again we call him Christ in the First Line of the Fifth Gospel Truth likewise in the First and Fourth Lines of the Sixth we call him Christ We do the same in the First and Fifth Lines of the Eighth and in the First Line of our Tenth Gospel-Truth How the Bishop came to miss in so Palpable a Point of Fact in the Compass of one half side of a Sheet of Paper I cannot Imagine and am unwilling to Censure Nor would I willingly think the Bishop so Trifling as Well as Disingenious as to Excuse himself herein because we do not call the Word that took Flesh by the Name of Christ in that place since the Bishop Repeats it from us out of our aforesaid Fourth Head about Justification by Christ where we call him by the Name of Christ as may be seen in the Second and foregoing Paragraph of his Reflexions Besides we have not Confessed his Name less than Nine times in that Paper But if the Bishop could yet insist upon the word Christ not being in our Third Head I say the Thing is there though the Word be not For what is Christ but the Word made Flesh and who is the Word made Flesh but Jesus Christ Again who is the Beloved Son of God but Christ and who else but Christ is the Beloved Son of God and Only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and full of Truth For these High and Distinguishing Characters are to be found in That very Head of Doctrine where the Bishop will not have us to acknowledge him to be Christ So that unless a Corrupt and Sinful Person can be full of Grace and Truth I wonder how the Bishop came to suppose a thing in our Name so very Gross But he proceeds in the same Paragraph You acknowledge indeed he died for Sin but you have not one Word of his Resurrection from the Dead or of his Ascention into Heaven which it may he proved some of you have expresly denied saying he is not ascended into Heaven he is in us With more to this Effect I should be sorry to tax the Bishop here of Absurdity and Uncharitableness but who can help it For if Christ be not Risen He is still in his Grave He is no more How then do we assert him to be a Propitiation and the Light and Life of his People See Gospel Truth 3 4 5 and 6. Can that which is Dead Sanctifie and Justifie Believers Can the Dead give us Grace and the Holy Spirit Or have we not said so of Christ that he is the Giver thereof And if we have said so must not the Bishop be Extreamly beside the business His Uncharitabliness is as obvious I will not say his Untruth but I must pray him to Reflect a little better upon what he has writ for unless he would make us to mean the Grave when we say that Wicked Men shall never come where Christ is gone Gospel Truth 6 he must allow that we acknowledge Christ to be in Heaven and Consequently Ascended What shall I say to his Story of some of our Friends whom he makes to affirm that Christ is not ascended into Heaven he is in us Can it touch us or should he have said it and not have proved it Is that fair and candid Is it Charitable Supposing it were true which does not appear Or is it Just to Insinuate it upon the People as Dubious But let it be never so true it cannot Conclude the People if not the Act of the People The Church of England has Doctors of very different Sentements would the Bishop think it fair the Common Belief of the Church should thereby be concluded It is true and a great and Comfortable Truth that Christ is in us according to 2 Cor. 13. 5. Gal. 2. 16. Col. 1. 26. 27. but not Confined to Man He is not so there as that he is no where else and least of all that he is not in Heaven For the Apostle tells us Eph. 4. 10. that He Ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things then he is in Man certainly So that our asserting that Doctrine of the Indwelling of Christ in Man does not make void his being elsewhere because he is every where Tho' in Heaven most Gloriously without doubt being there Glorified with the Glory that he had with the Father before â—he World began And they that Thus believe in Christ cannot deny his being at God's Right Hand which signifies according to Scripture Philip. 2 9 10 11. the Highest Exaltation Nor yet to be their Mediator for that is inseparable from his being their Propitiation So that tho we did not dwell upon Points but were Concise in our Expressions yet whatever is Implied or is Implicable from any Assertion Justice as well as Charity always grants and so wound the Bishop have done had they been Uppermost in his Mind when his Pen ran so fast against us I must own it was not writ for Criticks but for such Readers as the Bishop says he was or should have been to wit who Exercise Moderation and Charity more of which I hope he thinks as well as I will do him no harm But it disturbs the Bishops that we have said nothing of Christ's coming to Judgment nor
God The Nature of it is to Discover Sin Reprove for It and Lead out of It all such as Love and Obey the Convictions thereof It is a Principle of Divine Life that Quickens the Obedient Heart to Newness of Life It Raises the Mind above the World to God and searches out and reveals the Deep things of God to the humble and waiting Soul And be it known to the Bishop and all that with him profess Ignorance about what we mean by the Light of Christ within Man This is It I have been treating of and I have writ I bless Almighty God My own Experience the Taste and Relish I have had of Its Excellency and Sufficiency in the Course of far the greater and best part of my Life But the Bishop must excuse me if I say I â—annot but take it very Ill at his hands to â—orbid us in his following Words to pretend â—o give an Account of what we Believe unless â—e can make him understand our meaning And â—ecause he does not penetrate our Sense to â—all our way of Wording that blessed Prinâ—iple of the Light of Christ in Man a Perâ—ect Banter This to me is one of the seveâ—est Persecutions because Spiritual things â—re only to be Spiritually discerned and unâ—erstood I would fain know how a Regeâ—erate Man can possibly make a Carnal Man understand the New Birth It is cerâ—ainly the Gift of God to understand Divine Truths as well as Rightly to Believe So that supposing our Assertion of the Nature Power and Excellency of the Light of Christ in Man to be true not to have leave to say so unless we could make every Man rightly take our Sence and Meaning whether he be Spiritually Discerning or not looks Antichristian as well as Unreasonable We speak Wisdom says the Apostle among them that are perfect 1 Cor. 7. 6. It seems others understand him not must He therefore not have wrote of the things of God The very Preaching of the Gospel was Foolishness to the Wiselings of Jews and Greeks they could make neither Head nor Tail of It by Their way of Judging of Truth Must not the Gospel therefore be preach'd When the Apostle Paul preach'd to the Athenians some of the Men of the Gown the Philosophers of that Time Opposed and Despised him saying What will this Babbler say But had they known what he meant we cannot think they would have said so to Him Waâ— the Aposlte then or the Athenians in faulâ— that they did not understand Him Or was it Bantering as well as Babbling because he did not make them understand his meaning which is only the Work of the Holy Ghost to do Who was it I pray thaâ— said The World by Wisdom knew not God And can we suppose any thing else blinded the Scribes and Pharisees and the High-Priest of the Jews from discerning the Messiah when He came For they wanted not Academical Learning if that could have enlightned them nor yet the Scriptures but they Resisted the Holy Ghost their only True Interpreter and so stumbled and fell Let the Bishop also have a Care In the Second Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians he will find that the Aâ—ostle spake the Wisdom of God in a Myâ—tery which the Prinees of this World knew â—ot with all their Wisdom For the things â—f God fays the Apostle knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God by which those Christians knew those things that were freely given to them of God Which thing also we speak says He not in the Words which Mans Wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teachetb comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual But the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned Now according to the Bishops treatment of us the Apostle ought not to have writ of Faith and Salvation unless he could have made all that read his Writings understand his Meaning And it must be a perfect Banter to talk of speaking Wisdom in a Mystery and not in the Terms that Man's Wisdom teacheth But the Lord Jesus Christ was of another Mind when he said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things the Truths of the Kingdom from the Wise and Prudent and Reveal'd them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seem'd Good in thy sight It is hence beyond all Dispute that God hideth the Mysteries of His Kingdom from the Wisdom of Man when Simplicity and Sincerity fail not to Reach and Understand them Here it was that poor Nicodemus was absolutely at a loss for Christ's meaning when Christ said Unless a Man be born again he can in no wise enter the Kingdom of God John 3. Insomuch as he asked Christ upon his Discourse of the New Birth How can these things be At which Christ seems to admire in a sort of Reproof upon Nicodemus Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things As much as to say Art thou a Man of thy Station in the Church of God Ignorant of the Way to Heaven Whoever reads that notable Interview between Christ and Nicodemus will find that Christ resolves the Matter into Two Births That which is Born of the Flesh and That which is Born of the Spirit and these are Contrary And therefore no wonder if they differ in their Understanding of the Holy Scriptures being a Declaration of the Faith and Experience as well as Doctrine and Practice of the Servants of God that were Enlightned and Born of the Holy Ghost Nor is this all for they that are Born of the Flesh Persecute them that are Born after the Spirit So that when they can no longer commit Violence upon their Persons and Estates they will Persecute them with their Tongues and Pens They are Hereticks Blasphemers Illiterate and Ignorant yet Presumptuous Enemies to Caesar and Disobedient to Government if they will not give God's due unto Man viz. Conscience And if they choose to deliver themselves in Scripture Stile and speak earnestly of the Necessity of the Work of the Spirit of God in order to an Experimental and Saving Knowledge of the Truth declared in Holy Scripture and that Christ's Ministers are made by the Holy Ghost and not by Humane Learning and that the Worship which is acceptable to God must be in the Spirit and in the Truth that is with Clean Hearts and Right Spirits Kindl'd and Inflam'd with the Holy Spirit of God They must be called Enthusiasts Unintelligible Men of Cant and Banter And here I leave the Bishop upon this Paragraph desiring him to Consider whether his Knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ whom rightly to know is Life Eternal John 17 be by the Revelation of the Son of God in his own Soul since Christ himself Teacheth and Affirmeth that no Man knows the Father but the Son and He to whom the Son Reveals Him I should be glad
to see the Bishop's Evidence for this Knowledge For in the Conclusion of this Paragraph he turns us to the Scriptures who in the beginning of it makes us Unintelligible and Banterers in Religion for Expressing Ours in the Terms of It which may well merit the Bishop's Serious Reflexion His Ninth Paragraph refers to our Eighth Article as he calls it of which he cites these Eight Words only Worship under the Gospel is Inward and Spiritual upon which he says If you mean that Outward Worship ought to be accompanied with Inward and Spiritual Worship 't is what we Preach Press and Practice but if as it would seem you mean that all the Worship God now requires is from the Inward Man or from the Spirit this is abominably false for our Bodies are God's Handy-work and God by the Apostle commands Glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Not to tell you that you your selves now a-days perform somewhat of Bodily Worship Indeed we do and Ever did and Ever shall I hope while we have Bodies to Worship God in We are so â—ar from denying the Body what share is â—ue to it that with the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. â—9 we say What know ye not that your Boâ—ies is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is â—n you which ye have of God and you are not â—our own Of which I would have the Biâ—hop well Consider For if our very Bodies are under the Influence of the Holy Ghost how much more reasonable is it to believe that It dwells in our Souls and that our Hearts must be Prepared and Animated by the Holy Spirit in all our Devoâ—ion towards God But two things I must Remark to the Bishop First That we did not give him the least Occasion to suspect we deny'd Bodily Worship as appears by the gospel-Gospel-Truth now in question For 't is plain there by these words Worship in this Day is Inward and Spiritual That we only distinguish'd between Gospel Worship and the Ceremonial and Pompous Worship of the Law and that by Spiritual Woship we understand Praying Praising and Preaching by the Preparation and Sanctification of the Spirit of God which the Bishop does not and I hope dares not Deny Yet Unkindly and I think Unjustly brings in His as it would seem to make us by an Uncharitable Innuendo look to his Reader as if we denied Bodily Worship And yet to avoid so hard a Chapter as Maintaining this Aspersion would prove to the Bishop he is forced to confess that now a-days we perform some-what of Bodily Worship as if we did not perform any formerly and but a little now Which shews not that Candor that his Character ows us and but too plainly tells every Impartial Reader how muck more mind he has that we should be in the Wrong than in the Right I must Confess we have leâ— Pomp and Gaudiness in our Worship as welâ— as in our Cloaths than is the Custom oâ— some other Churches and think it our Happiness that we are freed from such an Unprofitable as well as Unsuitable Incumberance Whatever It be 't is such as we believe God by his Holy Spirit hath led us into And tho' it be not so Entertaining to those who are Govern'd more by their outward Senses than their Souls yet I hope it will be allowed us to be Grave Solemn and Fervent The other Remark I make upon the Bishop's Exceptions is this That the Spiritual Worship he there allows of seems to be but the Worship of Man's Spirit and not of the Spirit of God working upon the Spirit of Man I would not Imitate him lest I â—â—ould be Uncharitable too For if my â—eader can make more of it he has my â—onsent but that seems to me to be the â—ishop's Interpretation upon Christ's words â—ted by us on this Occasion viz. God will 〈◊〉 worshipped in Spirit and in Truth Tho' â—ere is a Truth in that also yet this nor â—eing so peculiar to the Gospel Dispensaâ—on could not be the Extent of Christ's â—ords whose Drift certainly was to draw Mens Minds to a more Inward and Spiriâ—ual Worship Not only to have less Cereâ—ony than was Practis'd among the Jews â—ut to feel more of the Power and Spirit of God in our Adoration and Praises than beâ—ong'd to the Former Dispensation and with which I heartily wish the Bishop a â—etter Acquaintance Upon the whole Matâ—er I am apt to think my Reader believes with me he might as well have spared his Pains upon us about the first Part of this gospel-Gospel-Truth as he is Silent of the latter viz. That we may Preach in Power as well as Words and as God Promised and Christ Ordained without Money and without Price The Bishop in his Tenth Paragraph is pleased to Endeavour to lessen the Authority and Credit of our Ninth gospel-Gospel-Truth relating to the vain Fashions and Customs oâ— the World His words are these You teâ— us of denying all the vain Customs and Fashion of the World as also Excess in all things 〈◊〉 know no sort of Christians who teach otherwiseâ— I wish I knew none even of your selves thaâ— practis'd otherwise it is one part of our Câ—techism we teach our Children He first Concurs with our Doctrine for he says 〈◊〉 knows none that Preaches otherwise and thâ— they do the like in their Catechism Sâ— far then he allows us to be sound But hâ— wishes he knew none even of Us that Practice otherwise This is a sort of Charge and being not Prov'd looks like a Calumnyâ— Some perhaps do not walk quite so strictly as becomes them to their Profession but are they own'd by us therein Or Indulged it self If not what are we to Concludeâ— but that the Bishop's Insinuation is to Ballance Accounts with us for the failures of his own People But pray are our Excesses equal or the Numbers that in Proportion do transgress I would not have him Comfort himself with his Uncharitableness to his honest and friendly Neighbours As it will not Excuse his less exact Friends that any of ours live larger than they profess so it cannot justly affect our Body â—here so few are faulty when 't is so well â—nown that such are sure to meet with due â—eproof But he adds that There are many Innocent â—nd Laudable Customs We call vain This 〈◊〉 all in a Heap and a Reflection by Wholeâ—ale I can truly tell him I know of none â—nd if he had been more particular so would too Perhaps he thought Generals bes◠〈◊〉 make his Reflection Safe But if it were â—y place to be Plaintiff I could treat the â—ishop with a large Catalogue of very Ofâ—ensive Customs that would concern him â—o think upon However he is pleased to â—e particular upon us in one of them which â—lmost turns his Stomach he says to think of viz. Would it not make a Man's Stomach â—urn to hear one forbear in point of Conscience saying you to a single Person because â—t is Improper
us to take his Advertisement that our Liberty hangs but by slender Threads and a Reason of State and not of Nature Right or Christianity which certainly is not to bespeak this Considerable Party to the advantage of the Government And for which I think the Bishop a very moderate States-man and the Government as little beholding to his Politicks as we are to his Charity However we will have a better Opinion of our Superiors Regards to Liberty and conclude that their Inclination equals their Discretion and that their Judgment as well as Prudence is of that side Let the Bishop say what he pleases And tho' he deserves it not at my Hands I could almost perswade my self to think that he does not begrudge us and means not so loosly as he writes But be it as it will That God that has upheld us by hit free Spirit to this Day through many and great Afflictions we firmly believe will suffer nothing to attend us that shall not in the Conclusion work for his Glory and our Good if we continue stedfast to the End in the blessed way of Righteousness wherein he has so often and signally Owned and Preserved us notwithstanding the Violence of Open Enemies and the Treacherous and Restless Endeavours of False Friends His 16th Paragraph multiplies Reflection as before observed and Repeats what I have already largely answered particularly that we own the Christian Faith which he makes us to Wave Suppress or at least not to Confess and have express'd it even in the Paper he has faulted so much of Shortness and that more fully in all Points than in the Creed commonly called the Athenasian except that about the Trinity which seems to me less plain by that Copious way taken to explain It. He also says We Reject all Outward Positive Parts of Worship which we deny For we own and use Prayer Preaching and Praising in the Spirit without which they cannot be Owned or Joined with for they cannot be so performed to Edification by a true Christian Worshipper since God who is a Spirit will be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth which Christ's Spirit must enable us to perform And such Worshippers Only God the Father seeks to Worship him Implying he regards not other Worshippers But Especially the Bishop says we reject Baptism and the Supper We say we do not Reject but Disuse the Signs because we felt the Invisible Graces in our Souls they were Signs and Shadows of and therefore not in Disrespect to the Signs but in Reverence to the Divine Substance they shew forth we discontinue their use among us They obtain'd place in the Infancy and Twi-light of the Church in her more weak and Ceremonious time directing as I may say that Inter-regnum between the Law and Gospel before the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost had Fully obtained Place and Preheminence in the Church But of this I have been already very particular He grows warm in his 17th Paragraph and Episcopal for he says In a word I again Require you as you will answer all your Secret Arts and Pretensions at Christ's Tribunal that you either Embrace and Profess the Entire Christian Truth in the Points wherein I have shewn you to be Defective and that you receive the Christian Seals or Badges Baptism and the Lord's Supper or else that you Desist to lay claim to the Name of Christians But first I must return the Bishop his Secret Arts and Pretensions In all which he is Greviously Mistaken For either I do not understand his meaning or I abhor it Next be it known to him we Wave not we Suppress not but heartily Embrace and Profess before the whole World all Points of Christian Doctrine according to the mind of the Holy Ghost as I have amply signified before upon this subject And where the Bishop takes leave of the Text he must excuse me if I leave him to keep company with it We did not Entitle our Paper All Gospel-Truths but Gospel-Truths which extended so far as we were Tax'd with Error about those Truths And yet he must have but a little Charity that will not allow a Believer and Follower of those Truths to be a Christian Nor indeed has the Bishop given us the Articles of Faith he says we Wave or Suppress or told us his own or that One Churches Faith he would have us receive as I have Complained already But that the Bishop should forbid us so much as to lay claim to the Name of Christians unless we will Practice what he calls the Seals or Badges of Christianity which divers Churches in Christendom think he misuses is very Uncharitable and Dogmatical But besides what I have said at large in our Excuse and Defence in that Matter he produces not one Scripture that calls them either Seals or Badges But yet there are other things that are so represented by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles which he takes no notice of As Mat. 16. 24. where they that will he reputed Christ's Disciples must take up his Cross and follow him Christ's Cross is a Christians Badge and Seal of Discipleship Again John 13. 35. He said to his Disciples By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Likewise Mat. 25. 34 35 36. The Distinguishing Character of the last Day is not Water Baptism and the Outward Supper but Love Mercy and Compassion Bowels and Charity not being Ashamed or Afraid of Owning and Helping the Lord's Servants in their Afflictions viz. I was an Hungry and ye gave Me Meat I was Thirsty and ye gave Me Drink I was a Stranger and ye took Me in Naked and ye Cloathed Me I was Sick and ye visited Me I was in Prison and ye came unto Me. This is the Christian Badge that will be Recognized by our Lord Jesus Christ at the last day We have his own Word for It. In all which He is so far from mentioning either of the other Badges that Luke 13. He brings in the Unhappy that are on his left hand using this Argument to engage him to receive them into blessedness viz. We have Eaten and Drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets A plain Instance they had the use of such Ordinances as the Bishop reputes Badges of Christianity but it is as plain that such Pleas would not do For behold the Lord Jesus says unto them in the Parable I know you not depart from me ye workers of Iniquity I recommend the perusal of the following Verses to my Reader which confirm my sense of the Text For He spoke to an outside People that counted themselves the People of God and were observers of Meats and Drinks and Divers Washings And that which was Doctrine and Caution then is Doctrine and Caution now for Truth holds the same to the End I might add Holiness for a Characteristick without which no Man shall ever see the Lord And that neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor
A DEFENCE Of a PAPER Entituled GOSPEL-TRVTHS Against the EXCEPTIONS OF THE BISHOP of CORK'S Testimony By W. Penn. The Second Edition Printed in the Year 1698. THE PREFACE Reader IT was the Wise Counsel of an Ancient and Great Prelate of the Kingdom of Ireland at a late Visit I made him there to discourage Controversie and endeavour to abate Strife among Christians For said he Heaven is a Quiet Place there are no Quarrels there and Religion is a Holy and Peaceable Thing and Excites to Piety and Charity and not to Genealogies Strife and Debates But the Bishop of Cork seems to be of another Mind that could not pass by so Inoffensive a Paper as that Stiled Gospel-Truths given him by me in a Private Way at a Friendly Visit upon his own Desire without his Publick Animadversions and those Exprest not with so much Justice and Charity as might have been expected from him to his Dissenting Neighbours I am I confess very sorry my Christian Visits to the Bishop have met with no Better Returns than Controversie But because that 's his and not my fault it shall be my Satisfaction I did indeed Perceiving him Conversant in our Writings and his Character to be Moderation casually Present him with one of those Papers but as the Nature of it is Far from Provocation so my design in it was purely to Improve his Temper and not to Excite his Contradiction Nor was it Writ for an Exact and Compleat Account of our Belief but Occasionally to prevent the Prejudices that the Attempts of a Course and Scurrilous Pen at Dublin just before might provoke in some against us as to the Points touched upon in the Gospel-Truths And though we have been so Unhappy as to be therein Mistaken by the Bishop yet it 's some Comfort to Us that our Christian Declaration hath had quite another Reception with the Generality of those to whose Hands it has come And I heartily wish That hath not been the most prevailing Motive to his Undertaking However since he has been pleased to fault it both with Shortness and Error which we thought Healing at least Inoffensive I esteem my self Answerable for it and shall with God's Assistance Defend it against the Force of his Exceptions and I hope with Clearness and Temper For though I may be plain as he may expect I desire to be neither Rude nor Bitter I ask Reader but the Common Justice due to all Authors especially in Controverted Points of Religion to wit Attention and Impartiality and then judge whether our Pacifick Paper deserved so Sharp a Censure and the Manner of its being given him so Publick a Return Though I hope the Consequence will be Good To Almighty God I leave the Success and am in all Christian Obligation Thy Assured Friend W. Penn. Bristol the 23d of the 7th Month 1698. GOSPEL-TRUTHS Held and briefly Declared by the People called QUAKERS for Satisfaction of Moderate Enquirers SOBER READER IF thou hadst rather we should be in the Right than in the Wrong and if thou thinkest it but a Reasonable Thing that we should be Heard before we are Condemned and that our Belief ought to be taken from our own Mouths and not at theirs that have prejudged our Cause then we intreat thee to Read and Weigh the following Brief Account of those Things that are chiefly Received and Professed among us the People called Quakers according to the Testimony of the Scriptures of Truth and the Illumination of the Holy Ghost which are the Double and Agreeing Record of True Religion Published to Inform the Moderate Enquirer and Reclaim the Prejudic'd to a better Temper which GOD grant to his Glory and their Peace I. It is our Belief that GOD Is and that He is a Rewarder of all them that fear Him with Eternal Rewards of Happiness and that those that fear him not shall be turned into Hell Heb. 11. 6. Rev. 22. 12. Rom. 2. 5 6 7 8. Psal 9. 17. II. That there are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are really One 1. John 5. 7. III. That the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among Men and was and is the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth His Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and whom we are to hear in all things who tasted Death for every Man and Dyed for Sin that we might Die to Sin and by his Power and Spirit be raised up to Newness of Life here and to Glory hereafter John 1. 14. Matth. 3. 17. Heb. 2. 9. IV. That as we are only Justified from the Guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by Works of Righteousness that we have done so there is an absolute Necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and Amendment of Life the holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remission and Justification from Sin Since no Man can be Justified by Christ who walks not after the Spirit but after the Flesh for whom he Sanctifies them â—e also Justifies And if we walk in the Light as he is Light his precious Blood â—leanseth us from all Sin as well from the Pollution as Guilt of Sin Rom. 3. 22. to 26. Chap. 8. 1 2 3 4. 1 John 5. 7. V. That Christ is die Great Light of the World that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and is full of Grace and Truth and giveth to all Light for Light and Grace for Grace and by his Light and Grace he Inwardly Appears to Man and teaches such as will be taught by him That Denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts they should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World John 8. 12. Chap. 1. 9 â—14 Tit. 2. 11 12. VI. That this Principle of Light and Grace which is GOD's Gift through Christ to Man is that which shews us our Sins Reproves us for them and would Lead all all out of them that obey it to serve GOD in Fear and Love all their Days And they that turn not at the Reproofs thereof and will not Repent and Live and Walk according to it shall die in their Sins and where Christ is gone they shall never come who is Undefiled and separated from Sinners Ephes 5. 13. John 16. 7. Prov. 1. 20. to 24. John 8. 24. VII This is that Principle by which GOD prepares the Heart to worship him aright and all the Duties of Religion as Praying Praising and Preaching ought to be performed through the sanctifying Power and Assistance of It other Worship being but Formal and Will-Worship with which we cannot in Conscience joyn nor can we maintain or uphold It. Rom. 8. 26. 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. VIII Worship in this Gospel-Day is Inward and Spiritual For GOD is a Spirit as Christ teacheth and he will Now be worshiped in Spirit and Truth being most suitable to his Divine Nature wherefore we wait in our Assemblies to feel GOD's