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
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
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
deniable by such as own the Divine Truths contained in those Writings Nor is the dint of this to be avoided by saying That these Promises were only to the Apostles and no body denies them to have had all this for if we are to walk as having them for our Examples we are to have the like Sufficiency and Guide Nor does Christ leave the matter there for in his most solemn Prayer to his Father he thus speaks Neither Pray I for these alone but for all them that shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they all may be one in us which how it is possible for those who then believed and us of after Generations to be without being born of and baptized and drunk into the same one Eternal Spirit I know not to believe neither can any man that gives himself the use of his own Understanding Thirteenth Rom. 8. 1 9 14. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit but you are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God 1. If to be brought and kept out of Condemnation men must walk according to the Leadings and Guidings of the Spirit of God and that it is a state unto which Christian men should come then are they not without God's Infallible Spirit to lead and direct them in what Way they ought to walk and consequently the contrary Opinion is perniciously false since such must needs live ever under Condemnation who are so far from walking after the Leadings of God's unerring Spirit that they deny men to have any such thing Again 2. If to have the Spirit of Christ dwelling that is ruling in us be to live no more after the Flesh and not to have that infallible Spirit of Christ ruling in us be to be none of Christ's then both Christian men should not be without Christ's Spirit dwelling in them and such as are without that Spirit are none of Christ's But we plainly see that the Apostle asserts That every man that walks not after the Flesh has that Spirit dwelling in him and is guided thereby and that such as have not the holy Spirit of Christ are none of Christ's therefore it follows That Christian men are led by an Infallible Spirit But 3. If as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God as saith the Apostle then both God's Children are led by an Infallible Spirit and such as are not we utterly deny to have any part or portion in Him notwithstanding their Praying Preaching Writing Reading and Disputing but the plain unaltered words of Scripture testifie that both God has given his good Spirit to lead men into that holy Life Nature and Conversation by which they truly become his Image and Children and that such and we may say only such are his own begotten Children and Heirs of Eternal Glory Fourteenth 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12 14 15. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit teacheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the Things of God know no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the Things that are freely given to us of God 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 discâ—â—ued But he that is Spiritual judgeth or discerneth all things yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man Methinks the bare recital of these pathetical Sayings of the holy Ghost on the matter in controversie might be sufficient Proof for the affirmative of the Question did not our Adversary under all his Pretences of honouring the Scriptures either implicitly deny them their just Authority or by false Glosses disguise and pervert them to his sinister Perswasions and so I proceed as before to offer my Arguments upon them 1. If the Blessed Things which God hath prepared for them that love him are not revealable but by his Spirit and were then thereby revealed as says the Scripture quoted and contex then since there were those at that time who loved God and that there be many now who love God it will Naturally follow That both than and now the Things that God has laid up for such both then were and now are revealed by His Eternal Spirit and consequently God's People are not without a familiar Communion with the Holy Spirit of God 2. If the spirit of a man or humane intelligent spirit be that by which man comes to an understanding of those things that strictly and properly concern him in an humane capacity and that the Spirit of God is that only by which man comes to know the Things of God because the Things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God then it is utterly Impossible for our Adversary himself or any else to obtain the Knowledge of the things of God or His Kingdom but by the pure unmixt Revelation of God's Eternal Spirit from all the Comprehensions Conceivings or Imaginations of mans utmost strength or science For as saith the Apostle the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 3. If the Knowledge of those things that are fecely given of God is only to be had from the Revelation of his holy Spirit then since in every Age from the most primitive Times it has behoved every Christian man to understand those Good and Heavenly Things it follows That it has behoved them and still does all to wait for the Knowledge and Injoyment of those Blessed Advantages which only are revealed by the Eternal Spirit And is not that Science infallible which the Spirit of this World ever was and will be a Stranger too under all its disguised Shews of Religious Worship with which it has deceitfully adorned it self in a way of Scorn of and Opposition to the most Spiritual Appearances of God making good the Apostle's saying For they are but Foolishness unto them To conclude 4. If the Spiritual Man or that Man in whom dwelleth the Spirit of God and who is led by it discerneth and judgeth all things and is not judged or cannot be seen or discerned he being in the Light and the natural man in the dark then is or should God's Holy Spirit be the right Judge Leader and Guide of all because it alone gives true Discerning sound Judgment and leads in the Path of Life Eternal for it searcheth the deep
in writing against a particular Person to prove a Charge against a People having already pointed at it in another place but shall fall to the Charge it self which I will faithfully lay down in his own words and the rather since it is one main part of his Proof against G. F. that he is an Impostor because he renders not the very words of Scripture though words importing the same sense Pag. 3. If you will but allow us competent Witnesses to prove that G. Fox killed a man supposing we have seen him at noon-day thrust him through the Heart with a Sword or if you will grant that we can read English and know that A. B. is not C. O. then upon these Concessions we will undertake to prove that G. Fox is a false Prophet a Lyar or Imposter This Reader is the Charge And dost thou not think it is rarely drawn up Well may I say rarely for I dare say it is the first of the sort that is extant in the World I must confess I am at a stand what he intends with his suppository Introduction to it for I as little understand what the man means by allowing Vs Competent Witness when the Vs are to see the thing done as he can pretend Difficulty in the obscurest Passage in G. Fox's Writings for either he should have said If you will but allow Vs to be competent Witnesses supposing we have seen him at Noon-day c. or if as by him already Phrais'd viz. If you will but allow Us competent Witnesses leaving out to be then say I it should be supposing They and not We have seen him at Noon-day c. for as exprest they are competent Witnesses But if this be so trivial as that our time might have been better spent and our Charity have over lookt it as a slip of the Mans Pen or in the Compositors Setting Methinks he was as lavish of his Time as penurious in his Charity that without any Just Provocation he should trouble the world with an entiâ—e Book containing little else but a Collection of such slender at most omissions enlarg'd with his own malicious Comments Well but it is now time that we should see this wonderful discovery he has made of George Fox and that so plain as killing a man at noon-day which unhandsom Comparison is no mean Instance of his own vexed base and murdering Spirit or as his Mathematical Demonstration that A. B. is not C. O. for which peculiar and easie way of well-expressing of a Charge we remain his Debtors To prove this Charge the only thing we want for of false Accusers and Accusations we have enough he thus goes about it to use his own words If G. Fox in matters of concernment not only to mens Bodies and Estates but also to their Souls and eternal Estates affirm that to be true which to your own Eyes is manifestly false or that to be false which is true Again If G. F. doth belye not an ordinary Person a mortal Man or Prince but God Almightâ— our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost Moreover If he deal thus through Design and Purposâ—â— then he is what I have said viz. a false Prophet Lyar and Impostor with a Witness This is but Petitio Principii or a meer begging of the question nothing is more proved here then in the Charge it self nay it is but the Repetition of the Charge expressed in other tearms Yet to it so expressed I return in short thus much First I deny that George Fox his affirming things to be true which are false and false which are true to be obvious to our Eyes or Sences for we can see no such thing And since we are so to see them in order to the Conclusion it follows that he is no false Prophet Lyar or Impostor by his own Rule But Secondly I utterly deny that George Fox so affirming or asserting supposing as our Adversary says of him renders him either a false Prophet or Impostor since he only is a false Prophet that either runs to instruct or teach a People and not sent of God but speaks other mens words not his own Visions or who prophesies such things to come as never come to pass but happen quite contrary in neither of which acceptations is George Fox proved a false Prophet therefore none The like may be urged to clear him from Imposture since he only is an Impostor that assumes to himself the Dignity of an extraordinary Ambassador from God and proves a Cheat as Simon Magus among the Samaritans and Romans Mahomet among the Turks and the late Jew in Italy So that if George Fox had singly affirm'd that to be true which were false it prov'd him no False Prophet or Impostor And therefore our Adversary shews himself a raw Disputant and meer Novice in the sound framing of an Argument For what man that understands an Horse from a Cow would thus argue If G. Fox in matters of concernment not only to mens Bodies and Estates then in matters of concernment in part to mens Bodies and Estates affirm that to be true which is false he is a false Prophet and Impostor He might as well have said if George Fox affirms he gave ten pound for an Horse when he gave but five then G. Fox is a false-Prophet and Impostor with a witness But I think it will not hurt us to let him have to himself the whole Reputation of this kind of proving to Peoples sences the Truth of his Charge who had he not been void of all Sence himself and Reason too would never have suffer'd so much weakness and untruth to pass the Press without Correction Nay though he could make it appear which neither his wickedness nor prejudice will ever be able to do that G. Fox has designedly and on purpose belyed the Almighty God the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost as he chargeth him to have done Yet still I affirm that he could not properly strictly be tearmd a false Prophet or Impostor though all but such would justly conclude him as wicked as our Adversary is malicious for might not a deboist fellow that mocks at God and Godliness when he kills lyes or commits Adultery say in his defence as the Apostle did on â—more serious account in another case that his Spirit was 〈◊〉 to have avoided such things but the Flesh was 〈…〉 not he which did those things but sin in him hereby 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost which in the Apostle intended quite 〈◊〉 thing Yet I hope none in their wits would count such a fellow a false Prophet or Impostor though very impious and prophane And that there are too many who from Nathan's words to David in the case of Vriah's Wife and from the liberty taken by some of the Ancients have interpreted and concluded that their boundless Lusts are by Scripture irreprehensible thereby making at first sight the holy Ghost an accessory to their licentious practices who was the Author of the truth
Head then Flesh nay it can better dispâ—nse with the loss of much Flesh and many Bones then the Head for if that be absent the Body quickly dyes Christ is the Head Root and Life of his Church without which she can never live one Comfortable Day Besides it contradicts positive Scripture I will not leave you Comfortless I will come to you I will be with you to the End of the World because I live you live also He that is with you shall be in you c. Fifteenth G. F. and the Apostle said The deep Things of God was revealed by the Spirit of God But the Apostle saith our Adversary speaketh not so But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep Things of God Let all Sober People judge whether this man does not groundlesly cavil at us For if God reveals his deep Things by his Spirit then does the Spirit give unto us the Revelation of the deep Things of God Could he blush he might be ashamed to shew himself such a frivolous Busi-body Sixteenth G. F. And so who is in Christ is a New Creature old things pass away Our Adversary The Apostle thus Therefore if any be in Christ he is a New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become New 2 Cor. 15. 17. The Apostle speaks of the New Creation as done G. F. as a thing doing but with great Patience for a little would be tired I Answer Where old things are done away and all things become new there the New Creation is done But in such as he that believes the Church of Christ to be spotted wrinkled c all things are far from being made new since old things are not past away and in such there can be no New Creation as yet Seventeenth G. F. For it is the savour of Death to the Death and Life to the Life The Apostle saith our Adversary thus To the one the savour of Death unto Death to the other the savour of Life unto Life Thus that he may be true to his Way he undertakes the Confutation of G. F. and Proof of him to be an Impostor the Difference betwixt the Apostle's saying and G. F's citation is imputting the before Death and Life which is the same in Sence and Intention But again Eighteenth The Scripture quoted by our Adversary thus Of this sort are they which CREEP into Houses and lead captive silly Women laden with Sins and led away with divers Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth But G. F saith Of such as have got the words c. who are Reprohates concerning the Faith which crept into Houses before the Apostles decease which have kept alwayes learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth 〈◊〉 led away with divers Lusts Very well and what 's the Error or Perversion here Why the Apostle does not attribute to these False Teachers that they kept People alwayes learning but they led captive such as were so And what then therefore is it not true in the sence in which G. F. quotes it What wrong is there done to the Text or such Teachers either For who knows not that false Teachers do keep People alwayes learning but never bring them to the Knowledge of the Truth And certainly they cannot be false Teachers that are not led away of divers Lusts therefore they are both led away of divers Lusts and they lead others too But it is worth our notice That he who has so frequently and with such Derision reflected upon G. F's Syntax and false English is so far from being unblamable himself as to make that Elegant Apostle guilty for in the Epistle it is They which Creep in his Quotation They which CREEPS But we delight not to spend our time so unprofitably such are his Contests about the Hebrew Greek and Latine being set over Christ's Head by his Crucifiers for he would have it written as said in the Scriptures and G. F. sayes Set atop of Christ that is over His Head and true it is what he observes That all Languages have crucified Him and those that have been most Learned have been furthest from the Kingdom that is resembled to little Children I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wife and Prudent and revealed them unto Babes Nineteenth G. F. sayes the Gospel is preached in every Creature Our Adversary sayes was preacht to every Ceature and both are true for in time past it Was and now I hope he will not deny but it Is. In every Creature or To every Creature may be the same For when the Gospel of Repentance and Faith in God are by his Light and Spirit secretly revealed and declared in eveey Heart doubtless 't is also to the Heart as well as in it And though there may be outward Preaching of the Gospel yet that which is Effectual comes from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel and reacheth into the Innermost Parts and the same Spirit gives there the true Discerning and Sense and makes the Effectual Application thereof so that his Carping there is like all the rest Malicious and Troublesom But he hath something to the same Purpose XX. Again G. F. If Christ be not within People they are Reprobates The Apostle and Translators say Know you not your own selves that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 15. 5. as if in you could admit of no other Sense but within you Let us see if the Words of Christ will alwayes admit that Sense Mat. 20. 26 27. But it shall not be so within you but whosoever will be Great within you let him be your Minister c. thus far our Adversary But certainly the Man can't think that because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sometimes signifie among that therefore in all cases it must do so for let us read the verse cited so Know you not your own selves that Christ Jesus is among you except ye be Reprobates This in his Opinion of Christ's Residence would be most false Besides if it should be read within you it might be understood thus within your Precinct Company or Society and the Sense very good still However it shews he hath but little to do who shall employ his time in correcting within you for in you since whatever is in any thing is within that in which it is or else I know nothing But he tells us that G. F. is guilty of the like fault in relation to John 2. 27. where the Apostle speaketh of the Anointing which abides in you but he thus the Apostles brought the Saints to the Anointing within them To which I say that He is Guilty of the like Fault of Fooling as before For a School-Boy would be whipt for so much Ignorance and Ill-spent Time He might have learn't