Throne c. Rev. 3.21 And John says he saw Thrones and they who sate on them Rev. 20.4 And after all the Exception that the Snake may take at it it is true that as many as through the Power and Authority of the Spirit of Christ in them do follow him in Regeneration they shall sit upon Thrones metaphorically speaking that is in the Power of God over that which heretofore while in Disobedience they were in Captivity to Ibid. p. 113. The Snake quotes part of a Letter said to be writ by G. F. but for any proof that he has given it may either be adulterated by the Snake or some Apostate or forged by them If they were G. F's why did not the Snake give the whole Letter To what purpose hath he made a break in it And what is left out at it The Editors of the Journal had no Reason why they should have left out or altered as p. 114. he says they have those words My Kingdom is not of this World and those words who is the Son of God which need not have given offence if they had been in For they whom Jesus Christ hath washed from their Sins in his own Blood are by him made Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 and to them it is their Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom Luke 12.32 which is not of this World And for those last words said by the Snake to be omitted and instead of which he says are added I set my Name what room or place was there for all that to come after his Name was set which the Snake hath given and omitted with a Ibid. p. 114. In a Book called News coming out of the North p. 15. G. Fox says I am the Door that ever was the same Christ Yesterday to Day and for ever Reader if now upon view of G. Fox's words they shall plainly appear to be by him spoken of Christ thou wilt I doubt not agree with me that the injustice of this Adversary must be very great who hath of set purpose traduced and perverted G. F's words insinuating that he spake them of himself when in truth it is no such thing This will best appear by giving the Quotation with the Marginal Scriptures from the page quoted by the Snake and is as follows P. 15. Now to all dear Ones and dear Hearts I speak The same Seed which is Christ the same Spirit takes upon it now as ever was the same World is now as ever was the same Temptations and the same Devils and the same Worship of the World twining into one another Form and Colour And Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life he is the Door that all must pass through and he is the Porter that opens it I am the same Door that ever was the same Christ Yesterday to Day and for Ever Look at the Captain Jesus Christ who hath passed before who was tempted the Captain of our Salvation and the same temptation to Worship the Devil and if thou wilt Worship the Devil thou shalt have the Glory of the World but if thou wilt not bow down and Worship the Devil thou shalt have none of the Worlds Glory but be called a Devil as Christ was and be called a Mad-man as he was This Reader with much more of the like Import which I have omitted G. F. does there speak concerning the Power of Jesus Christ to preserve Men out of Temptation and the workings of the Devil to destroy Men by them Yet this by the Snake is accounted part of the Quakers Idolatry The Snake's Quotation from the Introduction to G. F's Battle-Door I have already reply'd to p. 149. and therefore need not say more to it here The Snake 's next Quotation p. 114. is from The Title Page of News coming out of the North from whence he insinuates and charges G. F. with saying of himself that he was prophesied of His Quotation is this Written from the Mouth of the Lord from one who is Naked and stands Naked before the Lord Clothed with Righteousness whose Name is not known in the World risen up out of the North which was prophesied of but now is fulfilled here the Snake leaves off but G. F. continues The Army is coming out of the North against you Terrible Ones whose Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual G. F. Now from G. F's words it is plain that those words which was prophesied of relate to that Prophecy of Jeremy the 31.8 and not to himself or any Person and are only an allusion to those Prophesies of the H. Prophets concerning the Armies of the North which were to fight against and overcome the Jews and other Nations for their Disobedience and Wickedness Which as they litterally did do so by a usual allusion the People fulfilling this Prophecy Jer. 31.8 will through the Assistance of God's Grace their Weapons being Spiritual not Carnal go on in the Warfare of the Gospel-Day The Snake's next Quotation p. 114. is from Several Petitions answered c. p. 60. And he gives it thus My Name is Covered from the World and the World knows not me nor my Name G. F. Now who would not take this to be either all that G. F. had here spoken or else the words last delivered But Reader it is neither of these for G. F. is subscribed at the bottom of several lines more than these the Snake hath given and are continued by G. F. thus The Earthly Name the Earthly Man knows and he is afraid of Reproach and cannot bear it upon the Earthly Name he that overcometh hath the New Name and knoweth it Now Reader what is this but the sense of those Scriptures 1 Pet. 4.14 Rev. 2.17 and 3.12 which whether this Adversary did not know or had wilfully omitted to consider are yet sufficient to shew the falsity of his Charge of our Idolatry herein The Snake's next Quotations are from an Adversaries Book which was answered Yet such is his Injustice that he takes no notice of the Answer but objects as if they had not been reply'd to wherefore it deserves not to be taken notice of till he shall have reply'd to that Answer and disprov'd it And any Man may with equal Justice quote the Books of the Romanists to prove the Church of England Schismatical Heretical c. without taking notice of the Answers written to them Charges But whether such practice would be reasonable or not not only the Agrieved Party but all impartial Men can readily determine One of these Quotations is from part of a Letter writ by Josiah Cole to G. Fox and which had been formerly objected against by John Faldo and other Adversaries to which Objections W. P. did Answer in two several Books one Entituled Judas and the Jews the other Entituled The Invalidity of J. Faldo 's Vindication Of the first of these Books the Snake takes so much notice p. 115. as to say that W. P. does in p. 44.
Enthusiasts both born in the Year 1650. for then it was Muggleton says he got his Inspiration If Muggleton did come forth in the Spirit of Deceit in the same Year that G. F. came forth in the Spirit and Power of the Lord What can be inferr'd from thence Theudas and Judas of Galilee came forth with their Impostors not much differing in time from our Saviour's coming in the Flesh Yet to correct the Snake's Lying Chronology the Reader may please to know that G. F. did come forth in the Power and Spirit of the Lord some Years before the Date the Snake assigns Ibid. p. 6. It will be proper in this place once for all to obviate a Prejudice which some may take at a little Railery I am forc'd to now and then in answer to such Sensless Arguments and Pretences as deserve no otherwise to be Confuted The Sober and Judicious Reader will no doubt but be Prejudic'd against such prophane Railery and manifest Contradictions as frequently appear of which these Lines are one Instance In pag. 34. foregoing We are the most subtle in Distinction of any Hereticks and it is not usual for such who Distinguish Subtilly to Argue Senslesly But Contradictions of this sort are frequent with our Adversary who throughout his whole Book as the Sober Reader may hereafter Observe doth frequently Contradict himself that he may Bely Us Mistake our Principles that he might have the Glory of a Triumph and Pervert and false Quote our Books that he might have the Reputation of Great Discoveries Of all which having gone through his Introduction remains next in order to be spoken SECT I. Our Principle of the Light of Christ in Men shewn to be Scriptural and our Books herein agreeable thereto THE Light preached and testified to by us ever since we were a People is no other than Jesus Christ the Son of the Father's Love who in due time was born of the Virgin Mary dwelt on the Earth and was in all things like unto Us Sin only excepted Who was Crucify'd under Pontius Pilate died was buried and rose again the third Day and ascended into Heaven This Jesus Christ while he dwelt on Earth preached himself the Light and Way to the Father and speaking of himself to his Disciples John 14.17 said He Dwelleth with you and shall be in you And of this Jesus Christ John Testifies He was the Word in the Beginning with God and that this Word was God and that in him is Life and that Life the Light of Men and that this Light Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1.1 4 9. This is that Glorious Truth testified unto by us which is not Notion except to those only who have barely an Historical Knowledge hereof For to those that do reverently attend its discoveries it is no more Notion but a Home-felt Truth With this Testimony it was that it pleased God to send forth his Servant George Fox who tho' despised mean and unlearned in the accounts of Men was of God made an Apostle in this Age and hath been instrumental in his hand for the directing of Thousands to the Light of Christ in Men. Upon which Light as Men come to attend it will fully teach them their Duty to God and enable them to perform it it will discover to them a System of Principles truly Orthodox with more certainty than Council or Synod can not taught by it for he is indeed a Wonderful Counsellor And this not in Notion not meerly Historical No! But in Practice according to their Obedience to it It will first fully and truly beyond any Casuist shew unto Man what is his Sin and if Man dispise not this Discovery but close with it it will beget in him a loathing of his Sin and then procede to work in him a repentance from Dead Works which if unfeigned it will go on to sanctify him and when Man by this Light Spirit or Grace is sanctified it will then witness to his Spirit that he is justified So will Man truly come to be redeemed This in short is the substance of what hath been by us declared concerning this Divine Light Christ in Men and which is not more than is witnessed of it in the Holy Scriptures in the words whereof our Friends have frequently given their belief in this as in other Articles and that with good reason for the Spirit of God in his Church in this Age can well agree with the Language of the same Spirit in and to the Churches in the former Ages And here I may fitly observe that too nice expressing and minute particularizing of Articles of Faith has been frequently one ground of Heresie and Schism and occasioned great disturbance in the World and indeed it 's no wonder that when Men forsake that teaching Grace which brings Salvation they should set up that Earthly Wisdom which in matters of Faith breeds confusion Ibid. p. 7 8. And this Notion of the Light within as a Ray only or Illumination from the Holy Spirit the Ingenious Mr. Penn has let us see in some of his late Books to draw us insensibly off the Scent of the Quaker Notion of the Light within This Adversary that he may scratch more undiscernedly he Hypocritically flatters W. Penn of which as we pass shall meet with divers instances But it is false that W. Penn hath in any of his Books explained our Belief of the Light within in terms contrary to what G. Fox or other our Ancient Friends have done He being a Scholar might use other terms but not contrary he might vary from the express words of G. Fox or others but not from their sense Of this Holy Writ affords instances The Holy Apostle Paul's rethorical forms of Speech might be more agreeable to the Rules of Art but not of the Holy Spirit than those of the rest of the Holy Apostles Yet his Learning and their Illiterature were both of excellent use the minds of the Persons being under subjection to the Spirit of God This was their great Rule so that though according to the Humane helps they had had they might use various yet not contrary terms in the same Article Ibid. p. 8. And that is to make this their Light within not only an Inspiration or Illumination sent from God but to be it self the Essential God and Christ. What Christ hath promised and by the Holy Spirit hath dictated concerning God and Christ's Dwelling in Men as in these places refer'd to among many others it may be seen is so experienced a Truth as well as good an Authority for such like Scriptural expressions that it will stand the Shock of any capricious Gramarian who would pretend to speak more properly and distinguish more nicely than it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost to do John 14.17 20. Rom. 8.10 1 Cor. 10.4 2 Cor. 15.4.10.6 7.14.25.13.7 Gal. 2.20 Heb. 2.11 Col. 1.27.4.19.2.6 Ibid. 8. And from hence O Blasphemy to repeat it they
travelling Friends that went abroad c. It is not good manners to name Names upon such an occasion Yet if the Friends will plead Ignorance something may be done for their Satisfaction That Women as well as Men may forsake the Guidings of the Spirit of God and run into Wickedness is very true but that any who have so run into Wickedness are Preachers or as such Travelling Friends as he in scoffing Mood calls them and intimates is very false and I dare him to name any that are such I come now to his 6th Head of Distinction which is a continuation of Stories of particular Failings VI. But we may make a little more bold with the Mens Infallibility And I will not go to mean Ones The Great James Naylor was brought upon his knees before their Church where G. F. presided to acknowledge his Failings This James Naylor suffered himself to be Hosannah'd into Bristol as Christ was into Jerusalem Of this Adversaries Boldness and Scoffing we have great Proof but of his Honesty and Truth we have none of his Lyes here is also fresh Proof For it never was the Practice of any Church or Meeting of ours to bring any Transgressor upon their knees nor did G. F. ever preside in them or any other Person We neither have nor own in our Assemblies any Headship of Man or Men the only Head of them being Christ Jesus who dignifies whom he pleases with fit qualifications by his Holy Spirit for the Service of his Church and they that continue faithful in their Gifts such we with the Apostle esteem worthy of double Honour But now as to James Naylor of whom the Snake often makes mention I shall here at once speak concerning him J. N. was a Man who had been highly favoured of God with a good degree of Grace which was sufficient for him had he kept to its teachings For while he did so he was exemplary in Godliness and great Humility was Powerful in Word and Doctrine and thereby Instrumental in the hand of God for turning many from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God But he Poor Man Became exalted above Measure through the abundance of Revelations And in that Exaltation did depart from the Grace and Holy Spirit of God which had been his sufficient Teacher Then blindness came over him and he did suffer himself to be accounted of above what he ought Here he slipt and fell but not Irrecoverably For it did please God of his Infinite Mercy in the Day of his Affliction to give him a sight and sense of his outgoings and fall and also a place of Repentance And he did with the Prodigal weep bitterly and humbled himself for his Transgression and he besought God with true Contrition of Soul to pardon his offences through Jesus Christ God I firmly believe forgave him for he pardons the truly Penitent His People received him with great Joy for that he who had gone astray from God was now returned to the Father's House and for that he who had separated himself from them through his Iniquity was now through Repentance and Forsaking of it returned into the Unity of the Faith and their Holy Fellowship in the Gospel of Christ. And I do hereby testify that I do esteem it a particular mark of God's owning his People in bringing back into Unity with them a Man who had so dangerously fallen as did James Naylor And here let none Insult but take heed least they also in the hour of their Temptation do fall away Nor let any boastingly say Where is your God Or Blasphemously suppose his Grace is not sufficient for Men in Temptation because the tempted may go from and neglect the teachings of it David and Peter as their Transgressions came by their departing from this Infallible Guide the Holy Spirit So their recovery was only by it And for the Reader 's further satisfaction concerning James Naylor's Humiliation and Repentance I here subjoin his own Testimony Glory to God Almighty who ruleth in the Heavens and in whose Hands are all the Kingdoms of the Earth who raiseth up and casteth down at his Will who hath ways to Confound the Exaltation of Man and to Chastise his Children and to make Man to know himself to be as Grass before him whose Judgments are above the highest of Men and his pity reacheth the deepest Misery and thâ—s Arm of his Mercy is underneath to lift up the Prisoner out of the Pit and to save such as trust in him from the great Destruction which vain Man through his folly brings upon himself who hath delivered my Soul from Darkness and made way for my Freedom out of the Prison-house and ransomed me from the great Captivity who divides the Sea before him and removes the Mountains out of his way in the day when he takes upon him to deliver the Oppressed out of the Hand of him that is too mighty for him in the Earth let his Name be exalted for ever and let all Flesh fear before him whose Breath is Life to his own but a Consuming Fire to the Adversary And to the Lord Jesus Christ be Everlasting Dominion upon Earth and his Kingdom above all the Powers of Darkness even that Christ of whom the Scriptures declares which was and is and is to come the Light of the World to all Generations Of whose coming I testifie with the rest of the Children of Light begotten of the Immortal Seed whose Truth and Vertue now shines in the World unto Righteousness of Eternal Life And the Saviour of all that believe therein Who hath been the Rock of my Salvation and his Spirit hath given Quietness and Patience to my Soul in Deep Affliction even for his Name 's sake Praises for ever But condemned for ever be all those False Worships with which any have Idolized my Person in the Night of my Temptation when the Power of Darkness was above all their casting of their Clothes in the way their Bowings and Singings and all the rest of those Wild Actions which did any ways tend to dishonour the Lord or draw the Minds of any from the measure of Christ Jesus in themselves to look at Flesh which is Grass or to ascribe that to the Visible which belongs to Christ Jesus all that I condemn by which the pure Name of the Lord hath been any ways blasphemed through me in the time of Temptation or the Spirits of any People grieved that truly loves the Lord Jesus throughout the whole World of what state soever This Offence I confess which hath been sorrow of heart that the Enemy of Man's Peace in Christ should get this Advantage in the Night of my Trial to stir up Wrath and Offences in the Creation of God a thing the simplicity of my Heart did not intend the Lord knows who in his endless Love hath given me Power over it to condemn it and also that Letter which was sent me to Exeter by John
Sacrament of Baptism as Carnal and Hurtful And it may be asked how he would have censur'd the appointing for Institutions and Sacraments what was not so appointed by our Saviour himself or any of his Brethren the Apostles Ibid. And let me here seriously mind these Quakers and admonish others how their Neglect of the Outward Ordinances and Signs has lost to them the Reality and the Thing signified This Snake hath as before shewn pretended great Charity for us yet here sticks not to damn us all See Reader his Hypocrisie he pretends to object against us and hath made a particular Section on that Head That we damn all but our selves of which in its place Yet here in great Charity and as himself says seriously we have lost the Reality and the Thing signified which he will say is Christ then necessarily Salvation which is only by him But it is well for us that this Snake whether serious or scoffing whether profane or arrogant and at times he is all these is still wrong and false For we can in deep Humility of Soul thank God that thro' the Manifestations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts we are kept in fresh and living Remembrances of the Love of God in Jesus Christ to us ward and as we open at his Voice we do witness him to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 I will come into him and sup with him and he with me Ibid. For it had been impossible for any who had been kept in the constant use and practice of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to have forgot Christ's outward Dying and Shedding of his Blood And is it not as much impossible for those who witness Christ to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 in them to forget his outward Crucifixion and shedding of his Blood I think it is not less impossible and I am very sure it is not less Beneficial for a Man to witness the Spiritual Supper of Christ in and with him than it is for a Man without such Spiritual Knowledge to have only the Outward Remembrances of Christ by outward Bread and Wine Now if the Snake will say and prove that it is impossible for all such who have the Outward Ordinances to miss of the Spiritual Knowledge of Christ that might be somewhat to the purpose but the Contrary is too plain Yet it is absolutely and always impossible for all those who do Spiritually Sup with Christ as mentioned Rev. 3.20 while they do so Sup with him to forget him No it cannot be but that Daily Bread which he breaks to those who seek him will preserve the Soul which does receive it alive to bless and praise his Name Ibid. p. 70. The Devil having stoln from us the Body or Outward Part of Religion the Soul soon disappeared If the Devil has done so by this Snake it is otherwise than we may observe he commonly does by Mankind For it was the Complaint of God by his Prophets against the Jews of old that they had lost the Soul of Religion while they kept the Body or Outward Part. The like Complaint our Saviour made of the Pharisees who had clean outsides The like Complaint was made against the Romanists by our first Reformers viz. that they had the Body or Outward Part of Religion but the Soul of it was disappear'd And for all the Snake's suggestion the Devil holds the same Course And he may have as Gay an outside as he will while he continues so deceitful within as he is Ibid. Religion can no more live and be preserved to us here while we are in the Body without outward and corporal means than the Soul can live to us here while we are upon the Earth without our Body and hence the Corporal Service Rom. 12.1 The Snake has here as in many other places advanced a false and dangerous Tenet little if any thing differing from the opus operatum of the Papists which he would shrowd under the Patronage of Rom. 12.1 which Scripture is directly opposite to his Assertion as we shall presently see He hath asserted Religion cannot be preserved without Corporal Means Now it is an undoubted Truth that true Religion cannot be begotten in the Heart of Man by other means than the secret and inward influences of the Holy Spirit and as this only and alone can beget it so it is this only and alone that can preserve it When it is thus begoten inwardly in the Heart it is indeed the means of those outward services being acceptable to God But outward services cannot be the means of it for we cannot present our Bodies a Living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service Rom. 12.1 By any other means than by having our Souls and Spirits subjected to the Guidance and Influences of the Holy Spirit and therefore it was that the Apostle advised Timothy 1 Tim. 4.8 For Bodily exercise profiteth little but Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And to be sure this Godliness must be first inward before it appear outward And it is the means of all our outward reasonable Service but outward Service cannot be the means of inward Obedience But further When the Apostle advises Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service He is not bidding the Romans take the Corporal Means of Bread and Wine no such matter But is directing them to an Inward Work for he says vers 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your Mind And if this Corporal Means Bread and Wine did thus transform and renew the Mind this Snake with many others who partake of it could not be so wicked as they are Ibid. This is so necessary and plain a Truth that those who take upon them to abrogate the Outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up others of their own as has been before observ'd of the Quakers Institution of Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings Concerning Womens Preachings and Meetings hath been sufficiently spoken therefore need not repeat it here But to his Argument that they who abrogate the outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up new ones c. I have this to say That if from the Commission Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. must of necessity be understood Baptism with Water and that Infants must be understood to be within the Limits of it It may be convenient for the Snake to shew without taking to himself the liberty of a Despotick and Arbitrary Interpretation why Infants are not within the limits of 1 Cor. 11.25 26. and that they must not communicate of the Bread and Wine If the Snake will take a liberty so differently to interpret places of Scripture and
Divinity but the Incarnation of Christ is denied by them Again Great Mystery must prove that Popish Emissaries set up Quakerism in England And it must also prove that the Quakers Damn all the Christian World but themselves Again Great Mystery must prove that the Quakers are pure and sinless And it must also prove that they are Venemous and Nasty These with many other no less Contradictory and for which the Book affords no true Ground does the Snake by the help of a prolifick fancy draw Ibid. p. 195. G. F. in his Great Mystery p. 89. says That the Quakers have a Spirit given them beyond all the Fore-Fathers since the Days of Apostles In the Apostacy G. Whitehead would fain come off of this and thus endeavours to excuse it in his Charitable Essay Printed 1693. p. 5. in these words The very intent and meaning of G. F's words herein was not beyond all the Fore-Fathers without exception but beyond all in the Apostacy And indeed it is very plain that G. F's meaning must be so because the natural import of his words shew as much But the Snake says Here it would have been incumbent upon G. W. to have named those whom he or G. Fox did believe were not in the Apostacy Why so incumbent To what purpose should they be named who were not in the Apostacy The prophet shews not any Incumbency there was to have the Seven Thousand named whom God said he would spare and for whom he testified that they had not bowed their Knees unto Baal 1 Kings 19.18 Ibid. p. 195. Let us hear G. Fox explain himself in other places of the same Book you will best know his meaning from himself A Wonder The Snake has once spoke Truth But it mightily contradicts himself for in other places speaking of this very G. Fox whom he here supposes capable to explain himself He says he was a Fool one of such an immoderate degree of Dulness and lack of Vnderstanding as could hardly befall any thing in Humane Shape But to proceed let us hear G. Fox as quoted by the Snake from Great Mystery p. 217. He says That since the Days of the Apostles all the World went after him i. e. after those who as he there expresses it did inwardly raven in Sheeps Clothing And now says he are People but coming from them to a Rock This the Snake calls hearing G. Fox explain himself but is in Truth nothing less because the Snake has miserably cut assunder and disjointed G. Fox his words and by the help of i. e. he has put a meaning of his own upon them To prove which I shall only give the place as it is in Great Mystery by which we have the Snake's word we shall best know his meaning which with the occasion of them is as follows G. Fox his Opponent had said False Prophets and Christs and Deceivers many shall come if it was possible to deceive the very Elect. To this G. Fox says Yea Christ said they should come to his Apostles which before their decease did come and went forth from them which Christ said should inwardly raven and get the Sheeps Clothing And since the Days of the Apostles all the World went after them as thou mayst read in the Revelations and now are People but coming from them to the Rock and now shall the Everlasting Gospel be preached to them that dwell upon the Earth over the Heads of the Beast and False Prophet and they shall be taken and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the Victory This is what the Snake blinded by the Dim suffusions of Malice says is to condemn all the Christian World but our selves But whether it be so or not we will now examine by Scripture and there our Saviour tells us Mat. 24.24 that false Christs and false Prophets should come And the Apostle 2 Thes. 2.7 testifies The mystery of Iniquity doth already work c. and so great was the increase of its workings in the space of fifty years for it was hardly more from Paul's writing to the Thessalonians to John's writing the Revelations that John in the Revelations 13.3 says all the world wandred after the Beast I would here ask the Snake Did John the Divine herein condemn all the Christian World Did he condemn all those who at the writing of that Book did yet persevere in true Faith and Obedience to Christ Surely he did not Why then must G. F. using the Apostles words and having respect to the same Apostacy of which the Apostle speaks be so understood They cannot be justly so understood because their natural import as used by the Divine and from him by G. Fox is all the World that is all that were entred into the Apostacy which was foretold by our Saviour should come and declared by the Apostle Paul was come in its beginnings and which John testifies was more generally come at his writing of the Apocalyps To the same purpose with the Quotation last made by the Snake he makes about twelve more from several places of the same Book in all which the Snake would pervert G. Fox his words to be meant of such who were not in the Apostacy but offers not one Argument to shew that those to whom G. F. did speak were not so To which it may be convenient here to observe that as the Apostacy from the Spirit and Life of Christianity had its beginning very early even while several of the Apostles were yet alive and was more generally overspread before the death of John So it did by general confession continue for many Ages after Nay it is not yet quite done away for all those who do resist and withstand the Spiritual Appearance of Christ in People and do endeavour to keep them from witnessing that Faith of which he is the Author and Beginner and which gives Victory over the World may be and are truly said to be in that Apostacy which did overspread the Nations through their forsaking the right way of the Lord. And to such who are in that Apostacy to tell them of it and admonish them to come out of it is not to Damn them No it is the Office and Duty of those to whom God giveth the Ministry of his Word as to the Prophet Isaiah 58.1 Cry aloud and spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgression and to the House of Jacob their Sins And this the Prophet did do very sharply many times yet he did not therefore Damn them nor include every particular of the People and House of Jacob under his Charge no more hath G. F. or any other of our Friends For fuller evidencing of this past all the little tricks by perversion insinuation or false quoting of the Snake I shall for conclusion to this Section subjoin somewhat out of a piece writ by Isaac Penington which was first Printed 1660. and reprinted in his Works 1681. p. 313. and bears for Title An
we were a People And therefore where it is said p. 235 236. Such of us whose Principles were once so viz. for Fighting are chang'd c. the meaning is not as the Snake would pervert it that such were for Fighting though of us before the Restoration but are chang'd now since that but that such of us whose Principle was once for Fighting before they were of us are now since they came to be of us chang'd And whereas it is there also said We are all of that mind that in the Administration of the Gospel it is on all Occasions whatsoever Vnlawful to War and Fight with Carnal Weapons This respects those who are in and under the Gospel-Ministration of which I have already spoken and not those who are not yet come under it But the Snake thinks now he has a full Proof for he says p. 237 238. When a fair occasion seem'd to offer towards the Re-asserting the Good Old Cause in Monmouth 's Rebellion 1685. several of the Quakers in the West where he Landed took Arms and Fought Yet we heard nothing of their Repentance or that they were any way Censur'd for it by their Yearly Meeting or any other Authority of theirs That Seeming Fair Occasion as the Snake calls it for Rebellion was I doubt not he will own snatch'd at by many who did profess to be of his Communion but whether they were therefore Censur'd I shall not inquire it is sufficient for us that if any who had pretended to be of us did do so that they were therefore disown'd And if the Snake hath neither heard this or whether they Repented it had well become one who pretends though herein as well as in many more Instances it appears falsly to so much Charity to have Inquired Whether either of these had been But since it appears not that he has I will here subjoin concerning this Matter the Testimony against and Denial of such who were so concern'd and their Practices as given from our Friends in the Counties of Somerset Devon and Dorset and then Presented to Authority in the Terms following A Faithful Testimony from the Peaceable People called Quakers in the Counties of Somerset Devon and Dorset upon Occasion of the late Insurrection and Rebellion Humbly Presented to Authority WE whose Names are Subscribed do hereby Solemnly Testifie and Declare on behalf of our selves and the People of God called Quakers with whom we have Christian Society in the aforesaid Counties And that in the Presence of Almighty God who knows our Hearts and whom we Reverence and Trust in His Son Christ Jesus our Lord being our Foundation on whom we Build and Believe in Him for Wisdom and Power to inable us to do and suffer whatever He requires of us in whom is our Life and Salvation manifest by his Spirit Light and Grace given us in which we Worship God as Christ our Lord hath Ordained We being Taught to Deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to Live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present Evil World By the same we are taught to be Subject to that Government and those Governours which it hath pleased God to set over us To the King as Supreme and those in Authority under him Praying for them that they may so Rule in Mercy and Truth as God thereby may be Honoured and they Everlastingly Happy and we under them may lead our Lives in Peace Godliness and Honesty utterly denying all Plotting Sedition Contriving or Assisting in any Insurrection or Rebellion or to use any Force or Violence whatsoever to relieve defend or deliver our selves from any Suffering we lie under It being our Christian Persuasion and Principle to yield Active or Passive Obedience unto Authority without Resistance And if any particular Person or Persons under our Profession or Reputed a Quaker c. either as not being grounded in this our Peaceable Principle or through the Temptation and Subtilty of the Evil One or Unfaithfulness have been overcome to Join in the late Insurrection and Rebellion the same are wholly disowned and testified against by us and their Miscarriages and Evil Actions whatever they Profess ought no more to be charged on us who are Innocent than the Treachery of Judas on the Faithful Disciples of Jesus Christ. And further To manifest our Innocency as a Christian Society and People from having any Hand in the late Insurrection At a Publick Meeting of the said People called Quakers near Taunton the same Day that the late D. of Monmouth Marched with his Army thither it was Testified by the said People That whatever our Sufferings were we must not expect Deliverance by the Arm of Flesh but look unto the Lord from whom our Salvation comes and who will not Save us by Sword nor Spear but by his own Spirit And therefore our Friends were Warned not to concern themselves in this War and all Unanimously consented thereunto So that if any one hath followed the Counsel of his own Will or Instigation of Satan contrary to our peaceable Principle Profession and our Christian Advice and Counsel so openly given such a one hath excluded himself from our Society and Fellowship and must bear his own Burden whose Offence as it cannot be justly charged upon us as a People much less upon the peaceable Truth professed by us And moreover to manifest our Care and Innocency on this occasion it deserves to be noted That some of our Friends being Prisoners at Ivelchester for Conscience sake as they have been for several Years past a Party of the late D. of Monmouth's Horsemen on the 18th of the 4th Month last past Rid thither and turned out of Prison several that were detained on his account and also forcing out one of our Friends left him in the Market-place but he immediately returned to Prison again and though they strictly charged the Keeper no more to detain our Friends yet they took no Advantage of that Liberty but continues Prisoners as formerly which plainly shews they did not own that Authority nor accept of their Liberty in such an indirect way This Testimony and Account have we given forth in the Sincerity and Singleness of our Hearts in Vindication of Truth and the Lord 's innocent People to clear them from such Scandal and Reproach as may through Mistake Ignorance or Envy be cast upon them by any Person whatsoever and as much as in us lies to remove all occasions of Stumbling and Offence against our Principle or Profession committing all to that God that Searches the Heart and Tries the Reins and knows our Integrity herein with full purpose and resolution to Persevere in this our Peaceable Principle and Profession as before Declared through the Assistance of our God while we have a Being in these Earthly Tabernacles in full Assurance That when our Testimony is finished and this Mortal Life ended we shall have a Dwelling-place in that Kingdom of Glory which Christ Jesus hath prepared for us and purchased by his
the Fatherless and the Widow ver 29. And the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow which are within thy Gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest This is a brief Account of these Ceremonial Tythes and the manner of their Payment according to that Law from whence the Snake pretends to fetch his Authority for their continuance at this Day Now according to this Rule let me ask the Snake Whether the Tythes at this Day claim'd by the Priests be first offer'd as an Heave-offering unto the Lord which those in the Law were to be before they were given to the Levites And to offer these Tythes as an Heave-Offering does necessarily infer both a Sacrifice and an Altar without which the Tythes given by that Law were unholy 2. The Priesthood at this Day are under no Sentence of Deprivation from Inheritances in the Land as were the Tribe of Levi they may and do many of them acquire large Possessions 3. Do they let the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow to whom of Right they did belong as well as to the Priests and Levites partake with them of the Tythes Or do the Priests at this Day let the Persons with their Housholds from whom they exact the Tythes partake of them with themselves For to them that paid the Tythes it is said Numb 18.26 And thou shalt eat thereof before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou and thine houshold Indeed The Snake says p. 266. all their Arguments as to the Law and Levitical Priesthood being superseded operate nothing against Priests of a Superiour and more excellent Priesthood But they are not superseded for the Objections still remain and the Arguments heretofore offer'd by our Friends are Unanswer'd as are these I have here already given and more that follow So that they do operate effectually against the claim of Tythes from the Law and Levitical Priesthood upon the false and vain pretence of being Priests after the Order of Melchisedec to pretend to which Bishop Reynolds p. 528. says Is Most Sacrilegiously to Rob Christ of his Honour Ibid. And there being as Ancient mention of Tythes as there is of Priesthood in the World I have no manner of doubt but they are as Ancient as Priesthood it self that is as Adam â— have already observ'd That the earliest mention of Tythes in the World is in Gen. 24.18 concerning Abraham and Melchisedec less ancient than Adam by more than Two Thousand Years and therefore I have no manner of doubt which is Answer Sufficient to such Insufficient Arguing that the Snake is quite out in making Tythes as ancient as Adam But if Tythes were as Ancient as Adam who paid Tythes To whom were they paid And when were they paid That the Knowledge of Tythes as of Sacrifices and Priesthood descended from Adam Is Gratis Dictum much of Confidence and Assurance but no Proof That the one was the Maintenance the other the Office of the Priesthood and therefore one must be as Ancient as the other Is no true Consequent For in those elder times and before the Levitical Priesthood was Instituted every one was in a Sense his own Priest and offer'd for himself as appears in the first Recorded Instances of Sacrifice offer'd by Cain and Abel each in his own Person and so downwards whereas after the Institution of the Levitical Priesthood it was peculiarly the Priests office to offer the Sacrifices for all the People And till the Priesthood was settled in Levi's Tribe there was no need of a settled Maintenance nor does there any footsteps of any such appear Ibid. They were all alike received by the Heathen World by an Immemorial Tradition from the beginning Immemorial Tradition A Fable which in many things has been long and often falsly pretended in the Church of which in the lump hear Bishop Taylor in his Liberty of Prophecying p. 95. Printed 1647. To Dispute says he concerning the Truth or necessity of Traditions in the Questions of our Times is as if Historians Disputing about a Question in the English Story should fall on wrangling whether Livy or Plutarch were the best Writers And the earnest Disputes about Traditions are to no better purpose For no Church at this Day admits the one half of those things which certainly by the Fathers were called Traditions Apostolical and no Testimony of Ancient Writers does consign the one half of the present Questions to be or not to be Traditions Thus he which as it shews the light esteem and little dependence which is to be had on Tradition pretended Apostolical so necessarily it includes at the least as great if not greater uncertainty and as little if not less dependence on pretended Heathen Immemorial Traditions But for his more full Conviction herein I shall add one more Authority particularly respecting his pretence of Heathen Immemorial Tradition upon this Point of Tythes It is Richard Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Printed 1622. Book V. p. 427. Sect. 79. His Words are these And as Abraham gave voluntarily as Jacob vowed to give God Tythes so the Law of Moses did require from the Hands of all Men the self same kind of Tribute the Tenth of their Corn c. Insomuch that Paynims being herein Followers of their Steps paid Tythes likewise And that the Heathens were herein as in several of their Religious Performances borrowers from the Jews is not only the Opinion of this but many other Learned Men. Ibid. p. 267. God reserv'd the Tenth Part of our Substance as the Seventh of our Time to be paid as a Tribute and an acknowledgment to Him from whom we receive all c. Non constat No such Reserve ever was or can be made appear from Adam to Moses By Moses 't is granted God made a Reserve of a Tenth part not of our Substance but of some part of the Substance of his then peculiar People the People of Israel outwardly of the Increase of the Land of Canaan when they should come into the Possession of it And this Reserve he made as I have before shewn for the Maintenance of the Tribe of Levi the Poor Fatherless c. which Tribe he then Consecrated wholly to the Priesthood and excluded from their share of the Land at the Division thereof among their Brethren And as this is the only Reserve of the Tenth which it appears God did ever make So neither the Heathens at that Day nor the Christians in this were or are at all oblig'd by it or concern'd with it The Heathens were not oblig'd by it or concern'd with it because what the Law said it said to those that were under it Rom. 3.19 which the Heathens were not The Christians are not oblig'd by it or concern'd with it because the Tenth was appropriated to that Priesthood Worship and Oeconomy of the Jews which lasted no longer than till the time of Reformation Heb. 9.10 till
Spirit through the Flaming Sword into the Paradise of God c. And I do Testifie there is no other way to come into it than by obeying the Teachings of Jesus Christ and this Obedience is so far from raising any mad Joy as the Snake does Blasphemously call it that it is Impossible for a Man to have more evident Demonstration of any thing in the World than he may have of his future Happiness if he grows up in Obedience and Faithfulness to Jesus Christ the way that leads to it Ibid. He tells as a wonderful opening to repeat his Cant which the Lord gave to him thus p. 5. About the beginning of the Year 1646 as I was going to Coventry and entring towards the Gate a Consideration arose in me how it was said That all Christians were Believers both Protestants and Papists And the Lord open'd to me that if all were Believers then were all born of God Here was a mighty Discovery And after all the Snake's Prophane Banter of Wonderful Opening and Mighty Discovery It is a great Truth and it was a wonderful Opening in John the Apostle where he testifies 1 John 5.4 Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even your Faith This Divine Truth when it was again opened to G. F. by the Openings of the same Holy Spirit did well deserve to be mentioned by him to shew the Unity and Harmony that there is in its Discoveries the same may be said with respect to that other Opening from the Lord mentioned by the Snake p. 334. which G. Fox mentions p. 5. of his Journal That being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualifie Men to be Ministers of Christ. Which is agreable to what the Apostle testifies Gal. 1.11 12. But I certifie you Brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. What the Apostle does here certifie the Primitive Christians concerning his Commission it pleased God to open to G. Fox was the way and means by which all that were truly his Ministers came to be such And tho' the Snake would suggest and insinuate as if the contrary was never the belief of any one Man in the World It is false nor can those who receive their Ordination from Men either after the mode of the Church of England or otherwise say they neither received it of Man nor were taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Ibid. p. 335. He tells p. 6. at another time it was opened in me That God who made the World did not dwell in Temples made with Hands And this at the first seem'd a Strange Word because both Priests and People use to call their Temples or Churches Dreadful Places and Holy Ground Thus G. Fox upon which the Snake adds a Prophane Lie It seems Fox did not know before but that God dwelt in a Church as a Man does in a House so as to be lock'd up and to be no where else when he was there No Snake there seems no such thing of G. F. but if the People who continue to call them Dreadful Places and Holy Ground do know no better their Superstitious Ignorance if it be as described by the Snake will much of it be laid to the Priests Charge who have so blindly led the People But if none of all this Gross Blindness there is yet a Reprovable Misapprehension not grounded upon any Example or Authority from the Gospel-Day so far as it 's recorded in the New Testament That is calling their Churches Dreadful Places and Holy Ground from a supposition that after their Consecration there is a kind of Inhabitation or more Immediate and Powerful Presence of God in them by vertue of it This Reprovable Misapprehension as Peoples Minds did continue under it so they were therein liable to let it increase to a Superstitious Reverence And God in the Calling Forth of his Servant did in this as in other things open his Understanding and let him see according to the Testimony of the Proto-Martyr Acts 7.48 The Most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands And he there further shews that Consecrations of Houses are vain Nor indeed is there from the Authority of the New Testament any Holiness to be attributed to Place The Doctrine there deliver'd is 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and agreeable to this is 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Ibid. And such are all his Discoveries all his New Light even this Fundamental Distinguishing Principle of the Quakers of the Light within The Discoveries before-mentioned I have shewn to be agreeable to the Scripture and the Snake hath been so far from offering to prove them otherwise that he would have it supposed they are the Concessions of every Man in his Right Wits Where is then the Objection Why they are Truths of Common Notice or in the Snake's Prophane Railery they are Notable Discoveries the Commonest Notions in the World which G. F. has here taken for Supernatural Revelations and because the Snake supposes them to have been the Common Knowledge of Mankind therefore he Concludes they were no Openings from the Spirit of Truth in G. Fox But this is a false Conclusion because he may find in Holy Writ that the Supernatural Revelations Discoveries and Openings which it hath pleased God to give to particular Persons have frequently been such Truths Thus the Apostle Paul had a Supernatural Revelation in answer to his Petition My Grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 And I would know of the Snake who then there was that had received the Christian Faith that did not believe as much And had the Corinthians been as Blasphemously Prophane as this our Adversary they might have queried in his words p. 335. Why so sottishly Ignorant as to take the Commonest Notions in the World for such Wonders such Supernatural Revelations But how common or mean soever this Snake may judge many of those Truths to be which the Holy Spirit hath and doth at this day reveal and discover upon the Spirits of those who are obedient to it in the Openings which it gives of the Scriptures I must needs say that were it possible for a Man Distinctly to remember and repeat the whole Old and New Testament so that all the Truths therein contained were of easie and common notice to him yet the advantage he would thence reap would be nothing in comparison to the advantage he may reap from having but some of the Truths therein recorded opened upon his Spirit by the Holy Spirit which did at first Dictate them And the Reason is because men cannot be made Holy by Imitation but only by Regeneration which as it is the work of the Holy Spirit so that work is began in what the Scripture calls the Day of Small Things The first
was to remove an Offence taken against my Friend J. P. for using the same And it would have become this Adversary to have forborn his blasphemous Scoffing at my Light as George if thy Light has hitherto forgot to tell thee I bless the Lord my God who is my Light Life and Salvation he has shewn me the new and living way of the New Covenant which our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ consecrated prepared or set open thro' the Veil that is to say his Flesh yea through his Sufferings and Death as being the Testator he hath enforced that New Testament or Second Covenant he took away the First that he might establish the Second and so hath open'd the Passage into eternal Life into the Holiest of Holies within the Veil and beyond all the Shadows and Veils under the Law It was in the most Holy Place within the Second Veil in the Tabernacle which was called the Holiest of all in the Old Covenant that the golden Censor and Ark of the Testament were put and the Golden Pot which had Manna and Aaron 's Rod that had budded and the Tables of the Testament and over the Ark the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-Seat Heb. 9. Exod. 26. So the most excellent things were within the Veil tho' there was a Beauty and Glory also without it All which I doubt not were Shadows of the New Covenant and the Spiritual Dispensation thereof in Christ Jesus in whom the Most Holy Place of that Divine Service and Worship in the New Covenant-Sanctuary which the Lord has placed in the midst of his People is in the Spirit and in the Truth And all our Spiritual Blessings and Heavenly Treasures are in Christ Jesus who is our Sanctuary and Hiding-place And it is in the inmost or most inward and Spiritual Dispensation of the New Covenant that Mercy and Forgiveness is receiv'd and Christ most livingly and effectually known to us and enjoy'd and in him the most holy and heavenly Places wherein the true Spiritual Believers sit down with him and as being washed from their Sins in his Blood by his Spirit are his Church and Sanctuary also and thereby have boldness to enter into the Holy Place even by that new and living Way which Christ hath prepared for us through the Veil that is to say his Flesh Heb. 10. that we may follow him therein into Heaven it self And what entrance through Christ our Mediator we have here in Measure received into this new and living Way and Holy and Heavenly Places in him we doubt not but it is to us an Earnest of a more full Enjoyment of Heaven and Glory hereafter with Christ Jesus our Fore-runner Leader and Captain of our Salvation we continuing faithful to the end in this his new and living Way as true and constant Followers of him God in his great Love and Wisdom has afforded several Dispensations one higher and more glorious than another in order to bring Man nearer and nearer to himself as that of the Law and of Shadows and Types that of the Prophets that of John the Baptist that of Christ in the Flesh and that of Christ in the Spirit and New Covenant which is higher more powerful and more glorious than the former and therein a more clear knowledge of Christ than in all the former wherein there was some Sight of him through Shadows and Veils but by his Divine Light shining in our Hearts God is pleased to give us the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the Face of his dear Son Christ Jesus that we all with open Face as in a Glass may behold the Glory of God and be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 and Ch. 4.6 7. Now tho' our Adversary has made a deal of Dispute and Quarrel with us about calling Christ's Flesh the Veil as in Heb. 10. yet he is fain to grant That Christ's Body is called a Veil in Relation to its Type the Veil of the Temple p. 182. but he 'll have this not to be in the Quakers Sense They call it a Veil that is saith he a Garment in contra-distinction to its being Christ's Substance and of his Nature Whereas it 's rather in contra-distinction to its Being his Divine Nature or to its Being in the first place or principally or chiefly Christ himself who is the Son of God for whom the Body was prepared because he did pre-exist it or was in Being before he took upon him that Body even in his Father's Glory before the World began wherewith he is Glorified However the Veil which was Christ's Flesh through which he set open the new and living Way we never deny to be Christ's Body or to be a real Body but own it was and never believed it be a Fantastical Body as I have often said but that Christ the Son of God took upon him real Flesh and Blood of our Nature yet pure and incorrupted in him And as his Flesh was called the Veil it answers its Type or Figure i. e. the Veil of the most Holy Place or Oracle where God gave Answers 1 Kings 6.20 and 8.6 8. and 2 Chron. 3.10 16. And these Most Holy Places in the Tabernacle and Temple being Places of Divine Service then peculiar to the High-Priest to enter into their Antitype is in Christ Jesus the New Covenant where in Spirit and in the Truth God is truely worshipped and meets with and speaks to his People even by Christ Jesus their High-Priest who is present in the midst of his Church and Assemblies of his People the true and Spiritual Worshippers who meet in his Name Spirit and Power whose Light and Truth brings its Followers unto his Holy Tabernacles Psal. 43.3 And as to Christ's Substance and Nature what does our Opposer mean thereby how has he distinguished in this Point Christ has in him a Divine Nature as well as that of Man which he hath also in the purest Sense But which is the greatest Is not the Divine Nature the Deity in him greater than the Manhood As he said My Father is greater than all greater than I John 10.29 Nevertheless as our great and only Mediator and Intercessor it was necessary he should be Man as he is the most glorious heavenly Man and as the Christ of God he is Spiritually in Us in the Saints and Members in some measure by his Spirit Light Life and Power even as the incorruptible immortal Seed in Man is of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and therein all true spiritual Believers do in measure partake of the Divine Nature being born again of this incorruptible Seed SECT XXIII Some Reflections by G. W. upon A Supplement pretended upon occasion of his Answer to the Snake in the Grass p. 343. THE very Entrance into the said Supplement consisting of divers Falshoods I need take the less notice thereof and spend the less time in its strict Examination besides