to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction Totally excluded And from Acts 10. 9. he concludes so that Remission came by believing his Testimony and obeying his Precepts and not by a Pretended Satisfaction Thus Reader do but observe how Proteus like he changes his shapes one while to argue against any Satisfaction of Christ to God for the Debt of our Sins by which the nature of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice is wholly destroy'd Another while after he has thrown down Christ's being our Propitiatory Sacrifice without us he sets up an Imaginary Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb slain within the high Priest within Whereas were his Arguments of any force as they are not they would be as much against Christ's being a Propitiation by his Satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins within Men as without them In one thing his Cunning is observable though mix'd with horrid Ignorance and Folly and bold Presumption that he makes the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity that distinguisheth betwixt the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction and the Doctrine of Justification by Christ's imputed Righteousness so closely joyned together that they fall together if the first of them falls and so he makes his bold attempt against the first that by throwing down the first he may throw down the second and by that means the third and having as he thinks effectually done the business he entitles his Book The Sandy Foundation shaken which is in effect to say The Foundation of the Christian Faith and Religion shaken in order to introduce Deism and Heathenism into Christendom But he shall one day know if he know it not before he dye which God grant that he may that the Foundation he calls The Sandy Foundation is not Sandy but stands on that Rock on which the Church of Christ is built that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against and if he repent not of this Blasphemy which I pray God he may this Rock will grind him to powder There is yet one main thing further that is needful to be noticed in this fourth Section before I leave it and that is That whereas he asserts there is an absolute necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and amendment of Life the Holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remission and Justification from Sin for which he cites Rom. 3. 22 to 26. 8. 1 2 3 4. 1 John 5 7. he mentions not one word of the absolute necessity of Faith in Jesus Christ as he outwardly suffered Death for our Sins and thereby became the Propitiation for Sin though he expresly asserts the absolute necessity of Repentance Obedience and amendment of Life and though one of the Scriptures quoted by him in Chapter and Verse viz Rom. 3. 22 to 26. expresly mentions Faith in his Blood for Remission of Sin yet he knowing himself in his own Conscience that he was not for any such necessity of Faith in Christ or in his Blood as above express'd he did purposely omit it And if he or any for him shall say he implied it though he did not express it I say as he did not express it so he did not imply it which I prove from the following Reasons 1. Seeing he not only express'd Repentance but asserted it to be absolutely necessary to Remission of Sin had he thought Faith in Christ as he outwardly died absolutely necessary to our obtaining Remission of Sins no doubt he would have expressed that too either there or some where at least in some of his Books but upon all the search I have made I have not found it any where in his books and indeed very rarely in any of the books of his Brethren 2. But on the contrary I have found that both he and G. W. especially and diverse others as I have proved by Quotations out of their books in my third Narrative have expresly opposed this Faith to wit in Christ as outwardly Crucified and in his blood as outwardly shed by way of Propitiation and satisfaction to Divine Justice for our Sins W. P. in his Quakerism a new Nick-name for old Christianity p. 6. saith Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation is a deadly Poyson these latter Ages has been infected with And in his Rejoynder to John Faldo p. 333. he saith Christ in the Gentiles is a greater Mystery than Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh It 's strange saith he in opposition to J. F. who asserted like a true Christian That Christ as he was made manifest in the Flesh was a greater Mystery than Christ in the Gentiles that should be counted most mysterious which was the Introduction to the Mystery and these Transactions counted most difficult that were by the Divine Wisdom of God ordained as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man And page 335. In short saith he it is to exclude the true Mystery of Godliness which is Christ manifested in his Children Thus we see he makes Christ's Death and Sufferings without us which he calls Transactions as so many facile Representations of what was to be accomplished in Man i. e. of his being Crucified within and his blood inwardly shed and his offering himself inwardly in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice to appease the Wrath of God Thus also we see how he hath destroyed the great Object of the Christian Faith which is Christ as he was outwardly Crucified being the great Propitiation for our Sins And G. Whitehead his elder Brother in Ignorance and Error hath given him a Copy to write after in his Truth defending the Quakers p. 65. he saith Faith in Christ without Men is contrary to the Apostles Doctrine And p. 66. he saith The Blood of Christ's Humanity the Apostle doth not tell us of Christ's Blood is Spiritual And in his Light and Life p. 56. he saith The Blood of the Covenant is inward and Spiritual P. 59 60. Christ's Blood that was outwardly shed not the Antitype or Substance signified by the Blood of Beasts shed under the Law And p. 8. he saith To look to Christ Crucified at Jerusalem and in Heaven and to be revealed in us by his Spirit is a Contradiction 3. According to that Fundamental Principle laid down by W. P. in his Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Life he must needs exclude Faith in Christ as he was outwardly born died and rose again not only from being absolutely necessary to our Salvation but from being given to us at all otherwise than barely historically for seeing according to him the Light in every Man only as giving the ordinary Discoveries that all Mankind have is the Rule of Faith to every Man no Man either doth or can believe otherwise than barely historically what the Light within hath not revealed but the Light within as it hath not revealed the Birth Death and Sufferings of
in a publick Meeting with Blasphemy for asserting it but whither the Body of Christ now since his Ascension is in all things and every where If not every where then but some where and that some-where is a Local Heaven which W. P. hath said is Mahometan E. Burrough charg'd John Bunnion with Wickedness for saying Christ was in Heaven in our Nature And for the same did G. Whitehead blame John Horn as I have shewn in my Narratives And saith G. W. in his Nature of Christianity p. 41. That Christ existeth outwardly bodily without us at God's right hand What Scripture hath he viz. his Opponent R. G. for these words W. Bailey will have it That Christ ascended into Heaven in no body but what came down from Heaven All which and much more is proved out of my three Narratives the third especially And whereas he saith Let it be never so true it cannot affect the People if not the act of the People the Church of England has Doctors of very differing Sentiments c. I answer what any one of your Teachers have asserted in Print especially it affects your Second days Meeting that licenseth all your Teachers Books and yet profess to be all one and the same in all that ye believe as God and Truth is the same And if the Church of England hath Teachers of different Sentiments in lesser Matters yet not in Fundamentals so far as she knows and if they had and she should know it and not censure them it would affect her From all which it appears that W. P. and his Brethrens Conciseness in their Gospel Truths was on purpose in general Terms to cover their gross Errors And where Men are sound in the Faith and of known Sincerity what is implied in their words may in Charity and Justice be granted but not if they be Insincere and given to equivocate as is the present Case Section 6. His Fallacy in asserting that his owning future Rewards and Punishments in his Sense doth imply his owning the Resurrection of the Dead which it is proved he hath disowned His unjust Offence at the Bishop's Censure of his unsound Notion of the Light within and his uncivil Treatment of the Bishop on that account as if he were a meer Natural Man a Persecuter a Nicodemus in the Knowledge of Regeneration The Bishop's Doctrine of the Light within more sound and intelligible than that of W. P. By W. P 's Definition of Light within and Sight within a Natural Man is capable to understand it though in contradiction to himself W. P 's Ignorance in making the natural rational Faculty to be all the Spiritual Sight even in Regenerated Persons The Bishop's Doctrine of the Light within and Spiritual Sight of regenerated Persons as more sound so more sublime than that of W. P. IN Page 43 he proceeds in the like Fallacy and Equivocation alledging That their acknowledging the future state of the Just and Unjust implys the resurrection of the Dead which as it is true in a Scripture sense it is as false in his sense and in the sense of all others of his Heathen Brethren many of whom professed to believe the immortality of Men's Souls both Greek and Latin yet that profession did not imply they believed the resurrection of the Body either of the Just or Unjust for they generally disbelieved it and opposed the Christians for asserting it And that W. P. himself hath opposed the Resurrection of the Body is above sufficiently proved In his Page 51. and 52. W. P. seems not a little moved with the Bishops saying their discourse about the Light within as far as he can see is perfectly such as we usually call Banter that is when Men have a faculty to speak things seemingly profound but in the end neither themselves nor others can make any distinct Sense of what they have said This Modest Censure of the Bishop upon his discourse of the Light within in his 5th 6th and 7th Sections W. P. calls one of the severest Persecutions This to me saith he is one of the severest Persecutions because Spiritual things are only to be Spiritually discern'd and understood I would fain know saith he how a regenerate Man can possibly make a Carnal Man understand the new Birth yea he chargeth it to look Antichristian as well as unreasonable and he quotes diverse places of Scripture which he at least implicitly levels at the Bishop as if the Bishop were the Unregenerate and Natural Man that because he is so he cannot understand W. P's profound Doctrine of the Light within And the Bishop is he that is born after the Flesh who persecutes W. P. that 's born after the Spirit and his Brethren with Tongue and Pen when he and others such as he can no longer commit violence upon their Persons and Estates and as if the Bishop were a very Nicodemus in the Doctrine of the new Birth All which it plainly appears and much more W. P. indirectly and implicitly levels at the Bishop otherwise why quotes he such places of Scriptures with such large discourses on them if not to point to him and that his want of the new Birth and being but a Natural Man tho' not wanting Academical Learning made him uncapable of understanding W. P's Spiritual Doctrine about the Light within and after his instance of the blindness of the Scribes and Pharisees and the High-Priest of the Jews in not discerning the Messiah when he came he infers let the Bishop also have a care and he further tells the Bishop he should be glad to see the Bishop's evidence for the knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Son of God in his own Soul To give my sense freely so far as I am able to understand the Bishop hath given a better account and evidence of his knowledge in the Mystery of God and of Christ by his Christian Scriptural and sound expressions than W. P. and I suppose in his manner of Life is nothing inferior to him And what evidence of his true knowledge by Internall Illumination or Revelation can W. P. give or has given that the Bishop cannot give yea hath not given in this very case Is it enough for W. P. to say he has it and the Bishop has it not Or wherein do W. P's fruits of a holy Life give more evidence of his knowledge and experience of the new Birth than these of the Bishop I shall first take notice of the Bishop's sound words in giving his sense how the Conscience of Man is enlightned to know and believe aright the Doctrines and Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation Conscience saith the Bishop opened by the holy Spirit under the Ministry of the word Acts 16. 14. does and must take in its Light from holy Scripture quoting Psal 19. 8. Eph. 1. 18. Psal 119. 105. Isaiah 8. 20. Now these things saith he are intelligible this Rule is fixt and certain nothing of which can be said of your Light within
This short discourse of the Bishop gives a more true and intelligible account of the Light within as it is in every true Christian which the Bishop has contained within three lines than W. P's ramble in his Ten pages of his Book and in the many hundred pages of his other Books that he hath scribbled about it to render it intelligible even to natural and unconverted Men for to such he did write as well as unto others and yet now he affirms it is not intelligible to natural Men such as he thinks the Bishop is for want of experience of the new Birth And positively asserts P. 49. that our Natural Rational Faculty is our sight but not our Light that by which we discern and Judge what the Divine Light shews us And in P. 50. he saith The Bishop's Natural Conscience must only mean a Capacity that Man has by Nature that is in his Creation of making a Judgment of himself his Duty and Actions according to the Judgment of God manifested to him by the Light of Christ within Now since W. P. must needs grant that the Bishop suppose but a natural Man as W. P. most uncharitably will needs have him to be has a Natural Conscience and the Natural Rational faculty of the Soul which is the Sight or Eye by which he can discern and Judge what the Divine Light shews him and also that W. P. strongly asserts that all Men have the Divine Light in them and consequently the Bishop must have it also what hinders but that the Bishop should understand W. P's Doctrine about the Light within were it really intelligible seeing by W. P's confession the Bishop has not only the Light within him the same that W. P. hath but the same Sight within him also that is as W. P. defines it the same Natural Rational Faculty and the same Natural Conscience which is the Capacity whereby to see or discern what the divine Light shews Besides it were all to no purpose for W. P. and all the Teachers among the Quakers to preach so frequently to Natural and Wicked Men exhorting them to mind the Light within obey it and give up to its Leadings if they were not capable to understand it as W. P. here saith they are not though in contradiction to his and his Brethrens daily Practise But according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture the Spiritual or inward Eye of the Mind of regenerate Persons whereby they discern Spiritual and Divine Objects is not the Natural Rational Faculty or Natural Conscience which all Men though vicious generally have but some more excellent Spiritual Faculty in the Soul superior to the Natural Rational Faculty as the Natural Rational Faculty is superior to the imaginative Faculty the which superior Spiritual Faculty of the Soul above the Natural Rational faculty is shut up or as it were extinct in meer Natural Men until it be opened and awakened in them by the Spiritual Regeneration and new Birth according to Eph. 1. 18. above quoted by the Bishop and Acts 26. 18. and Eph. 5. 8. And how much more agreeable is it to the Holy Scripture to say that true Divine Faith is the Sight of regenerated Persons whereby they look to Christ the great object and Author of it Heb. 12. 2. than that the Natural Rational Faculty is it as W. P. saith it is But by W. P's discourse both here and elsewhere he seems to be as ignorant of the Spiritual Sight of the regenerated Soul as of the Spiritual and Divine Light whereby it is enlightned and the Bishop has given a far more true account of both in three lines than W. P. has done either in this or all his other Books in which succinct and comcomprehensive definition of the Bishop these two things are worthily to be observed the first is that that which makes the Conscience of Man capable to know and believe aright the Doctrines and Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation is that the Conscience be opened by the Holy Spirit for which he citeth Acts 16. 14. How the Lord opened the Heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul And as by opening of the Heart in Acts 16. 14. is understood a special Illumination of the Holy Ghost by the Lord Jesus Christ given to Lydia whose Heart the Lord thus opened which she had not before notwithstanding of the common Illumination which she had before so no doubt the Bishop hath the same sence of it in agreement with the Doctrine of the 39 Articles of the Church of England that asserteth the necessity of a special Illumination of the Holy Ghost above and beyond the common Illumination given to Mankind in general to give the saving Knowledge and Faith of Christian Doctrine to any who have it But this special Illumination given to Believers only in Christ Crucified W. P. doth not acknowledge he thinks the common Illumination given to Infidel Jews Mahometans and Heathens is sufficient without any thing else or without any superadded Illumination in special for to grant any such superadded special Illumination being necessary to the Faithful would quite overturn W. P's Fabrick of the General Rule of Faith and Life to all Mankind And by this it appears that the Bishop's Doctrine about the Internal Illumination or Manifestation of Christ by the Holy Ghost as it is much more true than that of W. P's so it is much more excellent and sublime plainly distinguishing Christianity from Deism whereas W. P's Doctrine about the inward Illumination doth confound them and make them one and the same thing The second thing that is worthy to be noticed in this succinct and comprehensive Definition given by the Bishop is that the Conscience is thus opened i. e. illuminated and inspired by the Holy Spirit under the Ministry of the Word and so does and must take in its Light from Holy Scripture to wit the Light of the Christian Doctrine which the Conscience receives from the Scriptures instrumentally the Holy Scripture being the Instrument of the Spirit and of his preparing whereby he doth enlighten the Hearts of true Christians both to believe the Truth and understand the depth of the Christian Doctrine Section 7. A further account of W. P 's unsound Notion of the Light within and of the Bishop's sound Notion of it in all the Faithful the Spirits Light within and the Scripture Light without both necessary and well consistent in God's ordinary way of working to beget true saving Knowledge and Faith in Men. W. P. his various and equivocous Sence of the Light within Christ considered as the word God is in and to himself Life and Light essentially but to Men even the best of Men he is Light effectively by his Operations and is so called by a Metonimy We have no immediate Knowledge of the Essence of any Creature nor of the Creator but by his various Operations and Illuminations BUT this manner of receiving Light by means
that for their Sin of not believing in Christ God-man without them especially they were to dye in their Sins And as fallacious he is in interpreting John 16. 7. that the Comforter which Christ promised to send was the Light within or the Word God with respect only to his common Illumination reproving for common Sins whereas it 's plain from v. 9. that the Sin of which especially the Comforter viz. The Holy Spirit should convince Men should be the Sin of unbelief viz. For not believing that that very Man that spoke unto them was the Christ of God the promised Messiah the Redeemer and Saviour of the World Now unless W. P. can show that the Light within allowing it to be the Word God with respect to the common Illumination and by the said common Illumination universally given to Mankind without any superadded special inward Illumination of the Divine Word and without all external Revelation of Scripture-Light and Doctrine doth convince all Men of the Sin of not believing in the Man Christ Jesus that was born of a Virgin who spoke those words John 8. 21. 24. and John 16. 7 8 9. he but beats the Air and argueth to no purpose that the Light within every Man giveth a sufficient discovery of the way to Eternal Life and Salvation by the common Illumination without all special Illumination and external Revelation as aforesaid Why God hath not given the External Revelation of the Gospel Doctrine concerning Christ the Propitiation as he outwardly dyed for the Sins of Men nor the special Illumination nor conviction of the Spirit that ordinarily accompanieth the outward Preaching of the Gospel to many parts of Mankind belongeth to the depth of his most righteous Judgments against which we have no cause to dispute but to cry out with the Apostle Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out and also with Holy Admiration and Thankfulness to bless God that he has given us the Light of his Gospel both by the Doctrine of it outwardly and by the special Illuminations of his Spirit and Divine word inwardly which he has not given to many others though we were not more worthy of it than they So that what the Psalmist said concerning the Jewish Church of old may be well and fitly applied to the Christian Church and Nations in Christendom where the Gospel is preached Psal 47. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them Nor doth all that I have said on this Head render Salvation impossible to these parts of Mankind to whom the Light of the Gospel hath not shined outwardly by any external Revelation of it seeing God can supply that defect by ways and methods unknown to us who worketh by his Spirit when where and how he pleaseth it is sufficient to us to know that the ordinary way and means that God hath provided for Mens eternal Salvation is by outward means of Instruction to wit the Doctrine of the Gospel as outwardly delivered us in the Holy Scriptures which is always accompanied with the special Illumination of Christ by the Holy Spirit to all that shall obtain eternal Salvation and that there is no other way or name under Heaven whereby Men must be-saved but the Name of Jesus nor no Promise of Salvation to any but through Faith in that Name even of Christ as outwardly he came and was and is a Propitiation for our Sins And though God can Save and hath saved some without the outward means of the Word as outwardly preached yet this will not prove that ever any was or shall be saved by the meer common Illumination given to all Men which yet is W. P's and his Brethrens great Fundamental and Evangelium eternum their everlasting Gospel from which they exclude the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Crucified and by Faith in him from being any part of it because not falling within the ordinary discoveries given to Mankind that Doctrine is none of the absolute necessaries of Deism is very true but that any were saved by meer Deism without all knowledge of Christ and Faith in him the great and only Propitiation for Sin which is W. P's great Fundamental he hath not proved and the Greek Calends will sooner come than ever he or any for him can prove it In his Page 21 he tells us The Nature of this excellent Principle the Light within every Man is to discover Sin reprove for it and lead out of it all such as love and obey the Convictions thereof That the Principle of the Light within even with respect to its common Illumination to and in every Man is excellent is granted and I do not think will be denied by the Bishop or any true Christian but he derogates greatly from the Excellency of it to tell us the Nature of it is to do so and so as if it were a natural and necessary Agent as it is the nature of the Fire to burn of the Sun to give light I ask W. P. Is it the nature of the word God to Create as a necessary Agent If it is the nature of the Divine word to Create he could not but Create otherwise he should change his nature as because it is the nature of the Fire to burn if it did not burn it should change its nature And if it be the Nature of the word God to discover Sin and reprove for it and lead out of it then that Divine word can do no otherwise and consequently is he not a necessary and not a free Agent It had been better and more Sound and Christian for W. P. to have said It is the good will and pleasure of the Divine word to reprove for Sin and also of the Spirit who bloweth where he pleaseth according to the old Latin Translation and which the Greek well beareth and was generally so understood by the Ancients both Greek and Latin Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit breatheth where he willeth and pleaseth in all to discover and reprove for Sin and yet not in all absolutely to bring them out of Sin or to work that Obedience in all so as to be brought out of Sin It had wont to be a Doctrine among the Quakers that God giveth a Day of Visitation which may expire and pass over some before they dye and yet even such after their day of Visitation is expired have that Light in them which reproveth for Sin And as the Visitation of some may be expired so the Visitation of others may be yet to come the outward Sun though a natural and necessary Agent yet shineth not to all at once when it is setting to some it is rising to others and when it is midnight to some it is mid-day to others that is an Emblem
God as to Preach and Pray by it But can it be supposed that Men are acted or moved by the Spirit of God to bring forth so many false Doctrines vile Heresies and Errors and gross Untruths and Fallacies and uncharitable Judgments and Perversions of their Opponents words as they commonly do in their writings generally But what way to the Kingdom do they Preach Possibly they will say Christ who said he was the way But how do they Preach him to be the way Just as W. P. hath here and elsewhere Preached him in Print to wit as the Word God and the Light within whose Nature is to discover Sin and lead out of it all such who Love and obey the Convictions of it and that only and alone by the common Illumination which by W. P's confession discovers nothing of Christ as he became a Propitiation for our Sins by his Death on the Cross The great subject of the Apostles Preaching was Christ Crucified and remission of Sin by Faith in him and how all Spiritual Blessings yea the gift of the Holy Spirit himself comes to us by the Crucified Jesus and Faith in him but little or nothing of this sort of Preaching is to be found either in your Meetings or Books but much against it though to cover your Vile Errors you will now and then seem to own it but forgetting your selves quickly disown it all again Yea W. P. knoweth in his Conscience how both publickly and privately he hath blamed me and charged me with my being an Apostate for my asserting the necessity of Friends Preaching this Faith to wit in Christ as he dyed for our Sins c. as being absolutely necessary to Regeneration for us to have this Faith and to know and experience Christ formed in us and to live dwell and Rule in us For this my Christian Testimony he charged me at Ratcliff Meeting that I did what in me lay to pluck up the Testimony of Truth by the Roots And at the Yearly Meeting at Grace-Church-street in the Year 1694 he stood up and accused me before some hundred Friends of them called the Ministry and others that I was seeking to bring in a New method of Preaching among Friends which was to Preach Christ without and the necessity of Faith in him in order to bring People to the knowledge and experience of the new Birth and Christ in them as he dwells in the Saints And also he knows in his Conscience when and where and to whom he hath accused me for Preaching Christ without in opposition to Christ within which God knoweth I never did And therefore in his so doing he hath falsly accused me though his and his Brethrens false Notions of Christ within as above explained I have opposed and by God's help shall oppose and witness against while I live But the true Scripture sense of Christ within as the Word God and of Christ the Word made Flesh without us who is still but one Christ and of his sufficiency to our Salvation both as without us and within us without us as he came to procure and purchase it for us by his Blood and Merits and within us by his Spiritual appearance and special Illumination of the Holy Spirit in the use of the outward means to apply it to us and to work the blessed and glorious effect of it in us I have owned and still hope to own it to the end of my days As for W. P's Arguments against Baptism and the Supper as outwardly administred I know not one of them but I have fully answered that may seem to require an answer and many more in my late Book called The Arguments of the Quakers against Baptism and the Supper Examined and Refuted which he ought more particularty to have answered being so particularly concerned than to have brought them up again as if they had been new Dishes which are nothing but the Old after some Fashion new dressed If the Bishop thinks fit to notice them he may for me to meddle with them were but Actum agere to do what I have already done Section 11. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop of Cork as if he were Ignorant of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought The Bishop has soundly and Christianly explained the Doctrine of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought W. P's great Fallacy in his definition of Regeneration and the way how it is wrought His Fallacy in seeming to agree to the Bishop's Assertion from that Text Rom. 10. 9. His Fallaeious Argument that because the Spirit Leads and Rules therefore the Spirit is the Rule detected the Ruler and the Rule distinct The great Blessing and Advantage of the Scriptures being a means to preserve us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit from Satan's Delusions and Impostures IN his 26th Page he saith I think nothing makes a Man a true Christian but Regeneration the Power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God And in his P. 29 he saith I would have my Reader reflect well upon this great and Essential Truth Tho he were as Big as a Bishop Reader what thinkst thou of this Uncivil Proud and Disdainful Treatment But so far as I understand W. P. sheweth himself as if he were much more big than a Bishop he treats the Modest and humble Bishop as if he were one of his meanest subjects But for all W. P's pretence to be so Skilful in that great and essential Truth of the necessity of Regeneration and the manner and way of its being wrought above and beyond the Bishop the Bishop has beyond all doubt in his short Testimony in three or four lines on that Head made it evident that he understands the Mystery of Regeneration and the manner how it is wrought better than W. P. for all his Big and Lordly thoughts he has of himself and for all his Big talk of the new Creature and Self-denial there is great a deal more of it in his Books than in his Life But mark how W. P. describes the manner how Regeneration is wrought That it is by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God which are such general words and terms and true when taken in a true Scripture sense that not only every Bishop but every Curate of the Church of England and every ordinary Christian can say the same But under these general Words W. P. hideth a great Fallacy what doth W. P. mean by the power of the Son of God revealed in the Soul converting it to God No other thing but the power of the common Illumination of the Light within given to Infidel Jews Mahometans and all moral Heathens who if they are but meer Just Men according to W. P's Gospel and System of Divinity they are Regenerated Persons though they have no special Illumination of the Holy Spirit giving them any inward and spiritual knowledge and Faith of the Son of God as the word Incarnate
superior to the Scripture But this is W. P's Fallacy and Ignorance and not the Bishop's the Bishop owneth with all true Christians the Spirit to be superior to the Scriptures as the Author and Lord of them and who useth them as his Instrument as the Work man useth a Rule or Tool that he worketh withal but the Bishop and all sound Christians think that it is no dishonour to the Spirit to acknowledge the Office proper to him which is to Rule and the Office proper to the Scripture to be the Rule and Instrument in the Hand and Management of the Spirit And thus the Office of the Scripture is a far inferior Office to the Office of the Spirit as the Servant and his Office is inferior to the Master and his Office but to put the Spirit in the Office of the Scripture is to degrade the Master and put him in the Servant's place The last thing I shall notice in this Book of W. P. is not so properly a Fallacy as a down-right open-faced Falshood and false Charge and Accusation against all Protestants whatsoever except themselves who though they affect the Name of Protestants yet for the vast disagreement of Doctrine betwixt them even in Fundamentals deserve neither the Name of Protestants nor Christians so much as at large The Accusation is this Page 97 That the Church of England and Dissenters and generally all Protestants Confine the Operations of the Spirit to the first or Apostolical Times as if these did not want them as much or that Christ would be less Propitious where his Gifts were not less needful This I say is a down-right false Accusation the contrary of which cvidently appears from all the several Confessions of Faith of all the Protestant Churches truly owned to be such and which also appears from the afore-cited words of the Bishop in his Testimony where he owns That Conscience must be opened by the Holy Spirit under the Ministry of the Word citing Acts 16. 14. to take in its Light to wit the Doctrine Instrumentally from the Holy Scriptures Can this be done without an Operation of the Holy Spirit If W. P. say Nay it cannot then his own words are an Evidence against the Falsity of his Accusation Again That he chargeth it on them that Ministers are made such and preach without the Spirit and the People worshipping without the Spirit which is too rash and uncharitable Judgment in him so to affirm without any Caution or Restriction How doth it appear that the Quakers Preach and Pray with the Spirit and all others do not Will the Quakers saying it prove it Or doth the great Noise of their Preaching and Praying by the Spirit from an elevated high-flown Conceit through their Spiritual Pride prove it to be so oft-times where there is greatest noise and shew there is least Reality and Substance Surely if Preaching and Printing more unsound Doctrine than all others do and uncharitable Judgments of them that do really excel them both in Knowledge and Piety be proofs that they are not acted by the Spirit of God commonly in either their Preaching or Praying and who are scarce ever heard to acknowledge their sinful Imperfections or ask Forgiveness of them If these be Marks of Men sensual and not having the Spirit notwithstanding of their Boastings Laodicea and Pharisee like they are abundantly to be found among them It is indeed matter of Regrate and Humiliation that there is so little Preaching and Praying with the Spirit among many of all sorts as the little Success it produceth doth manifest in many places yet blessed be God for what is among many of all the several Churches and were there but more Love and Charity Humility and Self-denial it might certainly be hoped that God would give more of his Spirit And for such a Time I joyn with all sincere Christians both to Hope and Pray G. K. A Synopsis or short View of W. P 's Deism and Scepticism collected out of his Book called A Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Life and Judge of Controversie first Printed in the Year 1673 as an Appendix to his Christian Quaker and Reprinted in this present Year 1699. Compared with some Passages in his other Books With some plain and necessary Consequences naturally flowing from the Positive Doctrine therein delivered by him 1. ALL Mankind hath one General Rule of Faith and Life Page 1 2 3 4 c. 2. This General Rule of Faith and Life cannot be the Scripture because all Men have not the Scripture and because of their uncertainty unless upon the ground of inward extraordinary Revelation and for their Imperfection and many other Reasons given by him in the following Pages to the number of about fourteen 3. The General Rule of Faith and Life must be the Light in every Man's Conscience P. 6 7. 4. The Light in every Man's Conscience is the Rule of Faith and Life not abstractly and seperately considered from the inward Discoveries it giveth but with respect thereunto For without some inward Discovery it teacheth Men nothing and therefore it can be no Rule to any Man but with respect to its inward Discoveries 5. The inward discoveries of the Light within are of two sorts P. 32. the one extraordinary such as were given to the Prophets and Apostles concerning Adam's fall and the extraordinary manifestation of God in the Flesh of that Man called Jesus Christ whom some call the Son of God But that he was properly the Son of God we utterly deny faith W. P. in his Serious Apology P. 146. The other ordinary such as fall within the ordinary discoveries given to all Mankind 6. The Light within is the general Rule of Faith and Life not with respect to these extraordinary discoveries above mentioned P. 32. but with respect to the ordinary discoveries given to Mankind in general universally 7. We have no need that the Light within should give us any of these extraordinary discoveries P. 32. concerning Adam's fall and that extraordinary manifestation of God in the Flesh of that Man improperly called the Son of God and Jesus Christ because the Historical account of these things is extant in Scripture and it not being needful to be given us by any new inward Revelation we may conclude it is not given to any of us it sufficeth we have the Historical account of them given us in Scripture which is sufficient to beget in us a Historical Faith of these things without any new inward Revelation of them such as was given to the Prophets and Apostles 8. The Historical account of these things though it may be called a Historical Rule of the Historical Faith of them yet it cannot be called the Rule of Faith and Life that is necessary to Salvation For as all have not this Historical Faith because the History hath not reached them so to them who have the History the Historical Faith doth not profit them to Salvation but doth far rather hurt
Spirit and these three are really one yet in his former Books particularly in his Sandy Foundation never yet retracted by him he hath sufficiently discovered his gross and vile error in that fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Faith thus arguing not only against their being Three Persons but their being Three otherwise than Nominally which was the Sabellian Heresie since the Father is God the Son is God and the Spirit is God which their opinion necessitates them to confess then unless the Father Son and Spirit are three distinct nothings they must be three distinct Substances and consequently three distinct God's And he bringeth Five Arguments against their being a Holy Three P. 12 13 14. In his Third Section he seemeth to profess his and his Brethrens Faith in Scripture terms But this his professed Faith is quite inconsistent with what he hath delivered in his other Books here he saith That the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among Men and was and is the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth his beloved Son c. who tasted Death for every Man and dyed for Sin that we might dye to Sin But as it hath been above shewed out of his Sandy Foundation he hath argued against any such distinction as of the Father and the Son in the God-head as inferring a plurality of God's and though here he professeth to believe that this only begotten Son dyed for Sin yet in his Serious Apology Page 146 he saith That the outward Person that suffered was properly the Son of God we utterly deny And in his guide mistaken P. 25. Christ Co-essential and Co-eternal with his Father c. of being made Man of his Dying Rising and Ascending into Heaven c. he saith of all this that it is confused Babble and by Rote Canting by paths of vain Tradition and Invention results of Factious and corrupted Counsels And in his Rejoinder to John Faldo Page 299. he plainly denyes that the Body of Christ was any constitutive part of Christ and for seven leaves together contends against John Faldo That Christ did not Dye nor hang on the Cross but only the Body which he will not have to be any part of him To this Doctrine of W. P. doth that of G. Whitehead agree a Man as great or rather much greater among the Quakers as W. P. who saith in his Dipper Plunged P. 13. Jesus Christ God-man is not Scripture Language And in his Christian Quaker P. 140. 141. though he grants that Christ had a humane Body of Flesh and Bones yet he denys that he consisted of it and saith he distinguisheth betwixt Christ's having a Body and consisting of it And in a Book given forth by the Quakers from their second days Meeting whereof G. W. is supposed the Author called A Testimony for the true Christ and his Light in confutation of R. Cobbet printed 1668. They deny the Humanity of Christ as Humanity signifieth the Earthly Nature of Man's Body as coming from Humus the Ground but as Humanity signifies Meekness Gentleness Mercifulness as opposite to Cruelty in this last sence they own Christ's Humanity but deny it in the former which yet is the true sense of Scripture and of all true Christians Section 2. His Fallacy in pretending to own Justification by Christ the Propitiation in Contradiction to what he hath delivered in his Serious Apology and Sandy Foundation and his fallacious way of stating the Doctrine of Justification wherein he misrepresents his Opponents IN his fourth Section as seemingly Orthodox as he professeth himself to be as fallacious and insincere he is seeing he knoweth in his own Conscience that what he hath here delivered is utterly inconsistent with what is extant in his other Books never as yet retracted by him nor doth either he or his Brethren own any change of perswasion from what they had ever since they came under the profession of Quakers but as one of them hath lately said in Print As God is the same and Truth is the same so his People are the same viz. the Quakers I shall first set down his present profession of what he believes concerning Justification as followeth That as we are only Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by works of Righteousness that we have done so there is an absolute necessity that we receive and obey to unfeigned Repentance and amendment of Life the Holy Light and Spirit of Jesus Christ in order to obtain that Remissionand Justification from Sin c. But in contradiction to this see what his Doctrine is in his Serious Apology P. 148. And indeed says W. P. this we deny viz. Justification by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which does now deluge the whole World Note Reader If according to W. P's former words we Only are Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the Propitiation and not by works of Righteousness that we have done then it is plainly evident by the same Doctrine that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us for these two manners of Speech are perfectly equivalent viz. That we are only Justified from the guilt of Sin by Christ the propitiation and that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person wholly without us The word Only plainly importing the Righteousness of Christ Wholly without us unless there be some great fallacy in W. P's words as the sequel will make appear a little after But if we take these two quotations in their genuine Sense the one that we are Justified by the Righteousness of Christ Only i. e. Wholly without us from the guilt of Sin and the other that this we deny i. e. that we are Justified by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils c. it is a perfect inconsistency and contradiction And yet now W. P. doth teach the same Doctrine which formerly he called the Doctrine of Devils without any change of his perswasion as he plainly tells in the conclusion of his Paper This saith he hath all along been the general stream and tendency both of our Ministry and Writings as our books will make appear But what a Forehead of Bras must W. P. have with so great confidence to assert so known an untruth Again the same W. P. in his forecited Serious Apology thus argueth P 148. against Christ's imputative Righteousness Death came by actual Sin not imputative therefore Justification unto Life came by actual Righteousness not imput ative Note Reader If we are not Justified by Christ's imputed which he calls imputative Righteousness as here he asserts
Propitiation in order to remission of Sins can hardly disbelieve any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion so by good consequence contrariwise whoever believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians to wit as outwardly Crucified Dead and Raised again c. can hardly believe any Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion but W. P. believes not in Christ as a Propitiation in order to remission of Sin c. in the true sense of Scripture generally received by all true Christians therefore W. P. hardly believeth any fundamental Article of the Christian Religion to wit as peculiar to the same The first proposition is proved by the Rule of contraries from W. P's assertion as I think he will readily confess the second proposition which is the Assumption is fully proved from what is above at large quoted by me out of his former Books never to this day retracted by him And though he reckoneth up the Doctrine of the Trinity viz. of the Father of Christ the Son and of the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of Heaven and Hell the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to be Fundamental Doctrines yea and the main of Christian Doctrine yet from what is above proved out of his Books he hath plainly opposed the true Christian Doctrine both of the Holy Trinity and of Heaven and Hell and as plainly he hath opposed the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust in their respective Bodies as I have fully proved in my third Narrative and so have his Brethren G. Whitehead Richard Hubberthorne and others only at present I shall quote these following passages out of some of his former Books in his Reason against Railing in answer to Tho. Hicks P. 138. he thus plainly argueth against the deceased Saints looking for any future Resurrection of the Body which Tho. Hicks argued for Is the Joy of the Ancients saith W. P. now in Glory imperfect or are they in Heaven but by halves But why must the Felicity of the Soul depend upon that of the Body Is it not to make the Soul a kind of Window to be without its beloved Body a better sort of Purgatory Again P. 134. If a thing can be the same and notwithstanding changed for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the absurdity of it is rather out-done than equalled by this carnal Resurrection Again in his answer to J. Faldo called the Invalidity of J. Faldo's Vindication P. 369. It 's sown a Natural Body It 's raised a Spiritual Body and I do utterly deny saith he that this Text is concerned in the Resurrection of Man's carnal Body at all but the States of Men under the First and Second Adam Men are sown into the World Natural but they are raised Spiritual through him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are Sons of the Second Adam Nor need any to wonder why W. P. and his Brethren should disbelieve all these fundamental Doctrines of Christianity which now he professeth to own and that as Fundamental but still quite in a most differing Sense from all true Christians for with what certainty can he or they believe them they acknowledge not the Holy Scriptures to be the Rule of their Faith in any of these things or indeed of any others they have no certainty of the Truth of any of these he now calls Fundamentals from the Rule of Faith set up by them which is the Light within them with respect to its ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind but none of these Fundamental Doctrines above mentioned fall within these ordinary Discoveries as W. P. hath confessed for they belong to extraordinary Revelation And if he should affirm they did belong to the ordinary Discoveries given to Mankind he cannot prove it What obscure Knowledge any of them called Heathen Philosophers had of any of these great Mysteries W. P. cannot prove they had it from the Light within but Traditionally either from the Jews and ancient Patriarchs and Prophets or from some among themselves prophetically inspired as it is reported of the Sybils the which report were it true doth not prove that the Knowledge and Faith of these great Fundamentals did fall within the ordinary discoveries of the Light within given to Mankind in general Section 5. His uncivil Treatment of the Bishop as if he did render the Text 1 John 5. 7. defective whereas the Bishop only charg'd the Defect on W. P 's Confession which though given in Scripture words yet not in the true Sense of Scripture His Fallacious Argument against the Holy Trinity answered His Fallacy and Equivocation about his calling him who was born of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ and the Son of God whereas he hath denied him to be properly so And his abusive Treatment of the Bishop on that Head IN his Page 30 he proceeds in his unchristian and uncivil Treatment of the Bishop unjustly charging him as if the Text 1 John 5. 7. were defective with the Bishop and as if he did render the Text it self short which saith W. P. with submission I think is a bold Attempt in one of his Station If he believes the 39 Articles But all this is nothing but a Scandalous Reflection on the Bishop and a Shuffling and Cover wherewithall to hide his own Error and Incredulity The Bishop might well enough without charging any defect on the Text as he doth not in the least charge a defect on this Confession of W. P. and his Brethren because though given in one Scripture Text yet he had just cause to question not to be given in the true sense of that Scripture for most that are unsound as touching the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity even Socinians as well as others will profess yea and have professed to give their Faith in the Text yea and all other Texts of the like nature who yet are professed Unbelievers of the true Doctrine of the Holy Trinity And though W. P. and his Brethren will frankly confess they believe that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are one God one in Substance and Essence and thus think to clear themselves of Sociniansm yet he and they at the same time are grosly guilty of Sabellianism acknowledging no distinction betwixt Father Son and Holy Ghost other than Nominal or at most in Manifestation and Operation ad extra and with relation to the Creatures So that W. P's Notion and Faith of the Holy Trinity which he calls the Scripture Trinity but it is not the Scripture Trinity but the Sabellian Trinity is no other than this that as the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God one Essence and Being so the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father and the Holy Ghost is the Son and the Son is the Holy Ghost for as I have quoted him above in his Sandy Foundation he disputeth not
or word made Flesh and as he was Miraculously conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Blessed Virgin dyed for our Sins and rose again None of all this doth the common and ordinary discoveries of the Light within teach W. P. and his Brethren and yet this is all he sets up in order to bring People to the work of Regeneration and to become the Sons of God Not only the Bishop but the meanest Curate in his Diocess I charitably think can give a better account according to Scripture of the manner how Regeneration is wrought in Men to wit by receiving Christ through a lively Faith wrought in them by the Spirit and Power of the Son of God inwardly revealed in them and by the Doctrine of Christ outwardly Preached in God's ordinary way and believing in his Name according to all his Offices viz. his prophetical priestly and Kingly Office The Faith and perswasion of the great Love of God in giving his Son to dye for us and of the great Love of Christ who gave himself for us inwardly revealed in us not by the common Illumination given to Heathens but by special Illumination of Christ in our Hearts perswading us of the truth and certainty of the Scriptures Doctrine and Testimony concerning this Love works that change in us that the Scripture calls Regeneration or the New Creature for thus the Scripture witnesseth John 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave them Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name And this believing in his Name was not only a believing his inward appearance or Light in them but by special Illumination and operation of his mighty power in them believing in him as he outwardly came in the Flesh dyed for our Sins and rose again as our King Priest and Prophet without us as well as the Light within or Word God within us as Paul testified ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. 26. to wit as outwardly Crucified and raised again And as John testified 1. John 5. 1. Whosoever believeth to wit with a sincere Faith that Jesus even that very Jesus that was born of Mary is the Christ is born of God But none of all this Faith doth W. P. think necessary to Regeneration or Eternal Salvation for otherwise it would exclude all his Deist Brethren and moral Just Men among Jews and Mahometans and Heathens from being Regenerate Persons and his sort of Christians whereas the Bishop hath plainly owned the necessity of this Faith to Regeneration and eternal Salvation in his sound but short Christian Testimony and W. P. taken notice of it and seems but most fallaciously to agree to it in his Page 44. In the first part of his note saith W. P. I agree with him that all who rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved for that must be by the Illumination and working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart that he can so believe Here W. P. and the Bishop would seem to agree for no doubt the Bishop doth so believe But O the stupendious fallacy of W. P. in this very thing All that Rightly believe the Text Rom. 10. 9. Will be Saved But what if they do not believe it at all or but only Historically and in the mean time Love and obey the convictions and common discoveries of the Light within given generally to Heathens according to W. P. they are Regenerated and shall be saved Can there be a greater fallacy and greater Jesuitical Equivocation under Heaven The Illumination and Working of the saving Power of Christ in the Heart he will have it to be none other either in him or any of his Brethren or any else but the common Illumination that every Heathen hath or may have which yet he confesseth discovereth nothing of Christ as he outwardly dyed and rose again that discovery belonging to extraordinary Revelation as he acknowledgeth and yet pretends not to have any such thing In his 150th Page he thus Argueth That which Leads Rules and that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But the Spirit Leads Rom. 8. ergo c. It is just such a Sophism as this That which ploweth is the Plow but the Plow-Man Ploweth therefore the Plow-Man is the Plow This is a piece of dull Sophistry and shews W. P. to be no very good Logician But further to shew his Sophistry by an Argumentum ad Hominem that which Rules is a Rule to them that follow it But W. P's Justices of Peace in Pensilvania Rule the People there and so doth his Deputy Governour Ergo he and they are the Rule to that People But then what need of any Laws It seems when Governour Penn goes over to Pensilvania because he is to Rule them he must be their Rule also Stat pro ratione voluntas his Will and not the Laws established by the general Assemblies of that Province must be the Rule according to which he proposeth to Rule them Can any King on Earth be more Arbitrary It hath pleased God Almighty whose Will is most Holy and Just for ever to give us an External Revelation of his Will concerning our whole Duty and that as well to us under the New Testament as to them under the Old and that that External Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures setting aside some Ceremonial precepts and some other peculiar to the Jewish Nation should be our general Rule to instruct us both what to believe and what to do and this partly to give example to all Kings and Governments to do the like as all good and pious Kings and Governours have done viz. To give forth Laws and publickly to have them recorded that the People may have the due notice of them and regard to them and partly to prevent the Delusions and Impostures of Deceivers and Spirits of Delusions who would wonderfully prevail to deceive the Professors of Christianity were there no outward Rule of Faith and Life established by God himself one would pretend his Revelation and another his and Thousands of contradictory Revelations would daily appear and deceive many were it not for the established Rule of God's Will and Word outwardly revealed and recorded in the Holy Scriptures It 's true there are too many Deceptions still and Deceivers and all pretending that their Doctrine is conformable to the Holy Scriptures But notwithstanding so long as the publick Standard of God's Holy Word and Will remains with us in the Holy Scriptures they are a sufficient Armory to us by the Grace of God and assistance of his Holy Spirit out of which to bring sufficient Armour both to withstand and overcome all Heresies and pernicious Doctrines Nor would W. P's Fundamental Principle of bringing all to the General Rule of the common and ordinary Discoveries of the Light within given to all Mankind be any Remedy in the case for besides