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A84126 A Bermudas preacher proved a persecutor being a just tryal of Sampson Bond's book, entituled, A publick tryal of the Quakers, &c. : Fraught with fallacies, false doctrine, slanders, railings, aspersions, perversions, and other abuses herein detected, disproved and wiped off. : And that the True Christ is owned by the people called Quakers, plainly made manifest. Estlake, Francis.; Bond, Samson. Publick tryal of the Quakers in Barmudas upon the first day of May, 1678. 1683 (1683) Wing E3354; ESTC R225052 130,172 133

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Salvation had been wholy perfected by the ●ody without the Spirit of Christ then our Faith and Hope should have stood there but the same Apostle saith Our Faith and Hope is to stand in God 1 Pet. 1.21 And the Apostle to the Hebrews saith The Hope that anchors the Soul enters within the Vail Heb. 6.19 And John did bear witness to the Word which was in the beginning John 1.1 which Word the World was made by and saith of it that it was God in this Word was Life Vers 4. and the Life was the Light of Men and this was the Light which that Faithful Witness of God John bore witness to That is the true Light that Enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World Vers 9. So People that which enlighteneth both you and us and every Man that cometh into the World is not a Natural Light as some say the Priest sometimes nor yet the Light of the Devil as the Priest saith othertimes but it is the Light of him that made the World as V. 10. and this is he that was made Flesh V. 14. the Word was made Flesh dwelt amongst us we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten Son of God full of Grace Truth So here John bears a full Testimony to the Saviour of the World and so do we who is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World it is not said he takes away the Guilt o● Condemnation of Sin only but the Sin it self thus do we believe in him So let People judge whether this be not the true Christ So here John did not bear Record to a Body only but to the ●nal Power and Godhead so the Apostle Heb. 10.5 bears witness to him for whom the Body was prepared saying a Body hast thou prepared me to do thy will O God So it is clear that this Body was prepared for him that was before that Body was this was he who David in Spirit called Lord saying The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my Right Hand till I have made thine Enemies thy Foot-stool And in the 2 Cor. 5.19 the Apostle gives this Testimony God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself And Jesus himself said before Abraham was I am and in another place He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also So let any one judge that hath a good Understanding whether any of the Witnesses of Christ did ever bear witness against the Spirit in the Salvation of Man but doth truly and really bear a living Testimony to the Spirit Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death now at that time when Paul cryed out of the Body of Death he was a Believer and was come so far as to a willing mind to serve the Lord but yet the Captivating Spirit was felt the Law in the Members in which state Paul did not sit down in a belief of Christ at a distance only as People now a days do but crys out for Deliverance even from the Body of Death and afterward testifies to the Law of the Spirit saying The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the Law of Sin and Death So here is Salvation witnessed indeed he did not say Sin must live in him while he had a Body but saith Christ liveth in me Gal 2.20 And it is through the Spirit that Sin is mortified Rom. 8.13 and in Rom. 10.8 The Apostle testifies to Christ nigh and not to Christ at a distance saying The Word is nigh thee in the Mouth and in the Heart and in the 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whether ye be in the Faith try your selves know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates and in Col. 1.27 Which is Christ in you the hope of Glory For it is no other then that Christ the Saints did believe in in dayes by past It is his Spiritual indwelling in us through which we come to be sanctified and clea●sed from Sin and the Comforter the Spirit of Truth which Christ promised to send to his Disciples which they were to wait for at Jerusalem and accordingly they did receive it and this dwelt in them to direct them into all Truth and so it was not a Spirit without them or a Christ without them only but within according as Christ said John 17.14 He dwelleth with you ond shall be in you And the Apostle testified in his day Christ was in the Saints who was their Hope of Glory and this hope purified their Hearts in whom it dwelt and Anchored their Souls in that which is sure and st●dfast and in him is our hope and confidence who we believe is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by him And so People it is in the Name of Jesus we Witness Salvation which is his Power to which comeing we Witness Salvation thereby and so we know not another Name through which Salvation is Witnessed but through this Name and this is he whom we declare of who is not far from us and the efficacy of his Blood we feel as we abide in him to cleanse us from Sin So I do not matter what your Teacher S. B. saith viz. The Blood of Christ cleansith no Man from Sin It being so contrary unto the Apostles Doctrine 1 John 1.7 which is But if you walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the BLOOD of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin And we witness it in its Opperation Cleansing and Washing the Soul from the Spiritual Defilements of which some amongst us are come to the experience of in our measure So that we are not as those that beat the Air but we are come to experience in some measure as I said although S. B. did mock at it the Vertue and Power of that Grace of God which hath appeared to all Men through which the Saints were taught in dayes by past and in Ages and Generations long since to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present World now this Grace is the same t at ever it was and its teachings are the same to all that are Obedient in this day as it was then to bring Salvation indeed I do not know any Doctrine so plentiful in the Scripture as the Indwelling or Inward or Spiritual Appearance of his Spiritual Kingdom which whoso doth come to pertake of must be redeemed from the Kingdom of the Devil So having taken off that Reproach and Slander from Christ whom we believe in and is our Saviour the first and the last the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End of the Work of God Who S. B. call'd the Devil and said he would prove it by the Scripture but hath indeed fallen short of his
fit to take the Name of the Lord into thy Mouth who has published in Print so many Lies to the World and Blasphemys against the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus whereby thou hast strengthned the Hands of the Wicked For thy work in thy Book is to stirr up poor Ignorant People to Deride and Blaspheme God in the Appearance of his Spirit Light and Grace which thou thy self hast done which People should wait in Gods fear and in Humility for the Appearance of to cleanse their Hearts and preserve them out of Evil For it is by Grace ye are saved through Faith in Christ Jesus Ephe. 2.8 And so all that comes to this Faith which purifies the Heart will deny such as thou art and their Eye will be opened to see that the Lo●d is come to teach his People as it is written They shall all be taught of God and such know that they are of God and the whole World lyes in Wickedness and we k●ow that the Son of God is come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Christ Jesus this is the true God and Eternal Life Little Children keep your selves from Idols Amen 1 John 19 20 21. And Sampson Bond saith in the last Page of his Book O let us rather burn then bow to the Idol Light within which the Roman Nabuchadnezzer hath set up in peaching Quakers O let us dye rather for the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth then leave the mark of the Beast in us or on us c. Reply Sampson Thou begin'st thy Book with a Lie and Blasphemy and endest with it in thy Mouth and canst not dye for the Lord Jesus Christ but the mark of the Beast is on thy Fore-head and in thy Mouth and the Persecuting Idolatrous Spirit of the Church of Rome is in thy Heart who would'st stirr up the Magistrates in Bermudas to Persecution like thy Brethren in New-England who have out-done the Pope that we read of in our day in Persecution in Rifling Houses in Spoiling of Goods Whip●ing cuting off ears Banishing upon Pain of Death and Murdering and Drinking the Blood of the Servants and Martyrs of Christ Jesus whereby they are become a by-word to the Nations and if you can clear your selves from the Blood of the Innocent so may the Pope whose off-spring you are in these things and in much more which is further spoken to by G. F in his ●ook New-Englands Fire-brand quenched for Cruelty and Persecution I know none that exceeds you in this Age of the World But the Light never Persecuted any but teacheth the true believers in Christ ●esus to love their Enemies And S. B. saith in his title Page his Book was Printed at Boston in New-England Reply It is very like such a Book might be acceptable in Boston in New-England amongst his Brethren the Priests and Professors in Boston who encouraged the Printing of Roger Williams Blasphemous Book who said to wit Roger Williams That Christ was a Curruptible Man and his Blood was Corruptible Fit Companions for Priest Bond and Priest Intret Madder who said He had nothing that was Good in him But miserable Sheep are they who have no better Shepheards then S. Bond and I. Madder But we do not charge the tender Hearted and moderate People in Boston but such as have been Persecutors and Enemies to the Appearance of God and his People and have besmeared themselves with the Blood of the Innocent which will not be wip'd of in Generations to come no more then Caines who slew his Brother because his works where Righteous and his Evil. But as it is Recorded concerning the Blood of Zacharias which was shed between the Temple and the Altar that all the Blood that was shed from Righteous Abel to that Day should be required at their Hands And you who are become one with that Blood thi●sty Persecuting Generation are Recorded with them in the sight of the Lord to be Persecuters and Shedders of Innocent ●lood which God hath and will require at your Hands except a place of Repentance can by you be found And Sampson Bond in the pride of his Heart hath cited Hes 5.2 Pro. 21.24 In the title Page of his Book in reflection upon others without a cause which I justly here turn it back upon his own Head to wit The revolter is profound to make Slaughter Proud and Haughty Scorner is his Name And further he calls himself late Preacher of the Gospel in Bermudas but his work in his Book makes him manifest to be no Preacher of the Gospel but an Enemy to it For the Sacrifice of the Wicked is Abomination how much more when he brings it with a Wicked Mind Prov. 21.27 But thou through a notion might P●each up thy self with fained Words and fair Speeches whereby thou might deceive the Hearts of the simple for thy Dishonest Gain and for thy ●elly like the rest of thy Brethren But the Lord is opening the Understandings of People and will redeem them from under that great Bondage and Captivity wherein you as Instruments under the Power of the ●east hath held them for your gain to satisfy the Lust and Pride of your Hearts that you might still lord it over them But the Lord is breaking your Bonds and scattering your clouds of Darkness and Ignorance wherein you have wrapt up your selves as with a Cloak and by your Sorceries and Divinations you have kept the People under the same Ignorance and Darkness with you and as the Lord by his Spirit hath begotten a tenderness in People and opened an Eye in them in some measure to see where you are and can no longer put into your Mouths then like your fore-fathers you prepare War against them and your anger and malice doth then appear but your Torment and Sorrow will it Encrease For God hath opened a Spiritual Eye in Thousands which see you thoroughly and can buy your Merchandize no more for the Light shines and will shine more and more unto the perfect day and Thousands shall come to the brightness of its rising and we know why you are Angry and Rage and Blaspheme at the Light it is because it discovers your Kingdom of Darkness and your holes where you have hid your selves but your Rage and Fury signifies no more then the Doggs barking at the Moon for the Light vvill shine and the Day vvill dawn and your Darkness must fly avvay although you may rove and make a noise like the Sea yet your Egyptian Tongue must be dryed up and avvay hath God prepared for his ransomed and redeemed to walk in and the Wayfaring-Man though a fool to your earthly-wisdom yet he shall not err therein Glory to the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb for ever vvho sits upon the Throne vvho is and is to come from Everlasting to Everlasting vvho is the antient of Days vvho shall stand last upon the Earth
by 4 Apostolical Arguments First Because Jesus Christ of Nazareth a Man approved of God among the People was and is the true Christ and our only Saviour for to prove which he notes many Scriptures Acts 2.21 22 23 24. Acts 4.10 11 12. Acts 10.38 39 40 42 43. From these Scriptures mentioned S. B. draws this Argument If Jesus Christ of Nazareth a man approved of God among the People of Israel be the true Christ and only Saviour then a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is not the true Christ But Jesus Christ of Nazareth a Man approved of God among the People was and is the true Christ and our only Saviour ther●fore a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is not the true but the false Christ Reply The Apostles Testimony we believe that this Jesus of Nazareth was he that was to come of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote and of whom the Apostles bore so strict a testimony especially before the Jews under the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Because they having read of the glory of this Saviour did expect it to be outward and visible and that he should have come with the Pomp and Glory of this World and that the Redemption which should have been wrought by him should have been outward and that he should have sat upon the Throne of David as an outward and visible King and when contrary to this their expectation he was raised up of so mean a place as Galilee and Nazareth and of so mean Parentage they slighted him saying Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Joseph His Father we k●ow and his Brethren are with us we know whence he is But when Christ cometh w● know not whence he is search and see say they for out of Gallilee ariseth no Prophet So they slighted and scorned him and put him to Death therefore the Apostle did bear so strict a Testimony to this Man and we do believe that this vvas he that was to come and we look not for another But that the Apostle by this Testimony did deny the Godhead or Invisible Power that dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth by which he became a Saviour we do not believe Neither do we believe that the Man Jesus of Nazareth only as Man was the Saviour of the World For in him dwells the fullness of the God-head Bodily Coll. ● 9 And Christ himself testifies that he was in the Father and the Father in him John 14.10 11. And in the same place he testifies That the Words he spake and the Works he did were done by the Father that dwelt in Him Now if the whole work of Mans Salvation had been wrought by the Body or visible Man only then must our Faith and Hope have stood there but the same Apostle saith 1 Pet. 1.21 Our Faith and Hope must stand in God By which Scripture with many more that might be named it appears that the Salvation of Mankind was wrought by the vvhole entire Christ of God vvho vvas truly God and Man And the Apostle saith That God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 So that it was the Word the invisible Power that dwelt and wrought in the Body that gave the value of the wor● done in and by the Man by which the work of Mans Salvation was effectually wrought So after the work was performed in by the Body in order to Mans Redemption yet there remains a large work to be performed in such as believe For there is a power of Darkness in Man to be overcome the Antichristian Spirit ●s to be cast out the Body of Sin and Death is to be destroyed the captivating Spirit that captivates the Members and keeps the Members in subjection to the Law of Sin and Dea●h to be redeemed from yea the Regeneration is to be witnessed that begets again unto God and the new-born ●abe must be known which is born of God that cannot Sin which only is Heir to the Kingdom which is brought forth in the Image and Likeness of the Invisible God which Image stands in Holiness and Righteousness And all this is formed in the Saints through the powerful working of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World and destroys the work of the Devil in us and for us and so becomes a perfect Saviour saving to the uttermost those that come unto God by him and all this is purchased through the one offering even perfect Salvation for his People even for all those that do truly and effectually believe in him who through faith lay hold on the invisible Power so that they thereby feel the inward operation or the working of the Spirit within to wash and cleanse the Heart not only from the Guilt or Condemnation as ye say but also from the defilement of Sin So is Christ Jesus become the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that through Faith are brought into obedience unto him But these things I judge are a mystery to S. B. who is ignorant of the work of Salvation of the Grace Hope and Faith within by Christ for if he had been acquainted with the inward forming of Christ he could never have formed such an Argument as this That because Jesus Christ of Nazareth a Man approved of God among the People in whom dwelt the fulness of the God-head which was the Creator of all things was the true Christ and only Saviour that therefore the Saviour cannot be within although the Saints did witness that Christ in them was their Hope of glory But to leave this and to take a view of his 2d Argument as laid down in the second Page of his Book which is grounded upon this Because the Saints of God by the direction of his Spirit have alwayes acknowledged the Man Jesus Christ to be the true and only Saviour Upon which ground he brings forth the same conclusion viz That Christ within Man which he calls the Quakers pretended Saviour within is not the true but the false Christ Reply This Argument is also false being one with the other grounded upon a foundation as to me it appears hid in his own Breast not truly laid down in express Words yet truly intended by him which is this that Christ Jesus only as Man without the Godhead was by the direction of the Spirit always acknowledged to be their true and only Saviour if this be not the ground of his A●gument then could he not have formed such an Argument as this because Christ as God is a Spirit and so within as well as without Now for the proof of his Argument he brings the words of Simeon Luke 2. from Verse 25 to Verse 31. by which words it doth not at all appear that the Man or visible Body only of it self is the only Saviour for he declares of him as a Light to go before the face of all People a Light to lighten the Gentiles and John bore witness to him and saith John 1.9
way of such as desire to know the Truth In Page 6. I take notice how Deceitfully S. B. casts a slander upon us pretending how he hath fil'd off the Rust and Ruggedness of our Expressions yet charging us with disorder dismembring the Scripture which happily we might not speak every Word yet certain I am although many things were then cast in yet I did not violate or pervert the sense of any one Scripture Again he chargeth us with Dishonesty in not Noting Chapter and Verse in which he did greatly boast To which I then answered the Words we speak were Scripture Words and he had no great cause to boast For the Scripture was not given forth in Chapter and Verse neither did the Apostles ever so declare but when they speak Scripture Words they said as it is written naming only the Prophet or writer of the same and here People may take notice of a manifest Slander viz That it is Friends usual manner to speak Scripture darkly and confusedly thereby the more easily to deceive those with whom the Scripture hath any Credit Page 6. Page 7. He goes on with his Lies and Slanders saying My design was to make the Hearers believe that the Eternal Word as distinct from the Manhood of Christ is the true Christ and only Saviour As if I had gone about directly to deny the Body which is like many more of his Charges in his Book which are absolute Lies and Slanders which I shall note hereafter as they fall in my way Neither did I ever use any such Expression for if I had said He were the true and only Saviour that is to say according to S. B's sense every way sufficient to perform the whole Office of a Saviour as disti●guished from the Manhood then was that work in vain viz Christ taking upon him a Body of Flesh and all his Sufferings Death and Resurrection in vain If Christ as God only did perform and perfect the work of Mans Salvation without it Presently he contradicts himself saying Hereunto agrees his Words meaning mine so often repeated by him God was manifest in the Flesh which he saith we mean all Mankind Flesh which he calls an Error Which although it is my belief that God is manifest in his glorious Light in every Man according to his measure according to John 1.9 He Enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World yet my Words chiefly had Reference to that prepared Body in which the Invisible Power did so gloriously appear to those whose Eyes was open to behold it but this his Lie and Slander I shall leave upon his own Head Another Lie or Slander is in Page 8. where he saith A Teaching Quaker whom he calls a Seducing Quaker such a Quaker saith he attributes no more Soul-saving merit to the Body of Christ then to the Body of a Turk or a Jew All that have heard or read the Declarations of Friends concerning the Manhood of Christ can do no less then Judge him to be a Slanderer and a Liar Farther S. B. saith That I insisting upon John 1.9 concluded the Light in every Man to be Christ and that Christ to be the only Saviour I confess I have said That that Light in every Man i● given by Christ to believe in that he may be saved from Sin But rhe word only was never used by me so as to deny the Body of Christ in which he performed the will of God upon the account of Mans Salvation yet he confesseth its true that Light in that Scripture signifieth Christ and that Christ in a sense but it must be his own sense doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the World that is said he with reason So here he adds to the Scripture whereby he doth confound or pervert the true sense of the same by his Addition concluding that Christ the true Light that Enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World doth Enlighten Man with no other Light then the Light of Reason according to the sense of that Scripture but we believe that the Light with which Christ doth Enlighten Mankind is that Light that shineth in Darkness and the Darkness cannot comprehend and also doth detect discover and make manifest the works of Darkness and doth lead those that believe in it out of the same and this Light is manifested in some measure in every Mans Conscience as they are exercised in the affairs of this World as they heed it But a little to go back to the 2d Confession in Page 82. S. B. calls the work of the Spirit within no other but the effects of the thing done by the Man Christ without us as if to be Sanctified Washed and Purged from Sin could not possibly be wrought except first the Man Christ must have suffered without us as the Anticedent cause of those effects Whereas it is certain that many of the Prophets and Righteous Men that lived before the Appearance of Christ in the Body did Witness these things wrought within them through the effectual working of the Spirit of God in their Hearts So that it is plain that Christ was manifest to them before he took the Body as well as when he took the Body according to the Scripture Christ the same Yesterday to Day and forever So having finished this digression I go forward again In the last line of the 8th Page he saith I belie the Holy Man John that the Enlightning in every Man is Christ which I again testifie that it is a measure of the Light of the true Christ who is God blessed for ever and to prove this a● Error he saith That this Evangelist doth evidently affirm that the Light he ●pake of in the 9th Vers was the Man Jesus which he saith never was nor ●an be in any Man for this he brings the 29 and 30 verses of the same Chapter I Answer The Evangelist in them words cannot be so understood as a Man only for he testifies of him as a whole or perfect Saviour and if so then God for if he were Man only he could not sanctifie and cleanse the Soul from Sin and how then is he the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World or how is the Sin taken away if it still remains ●n the Heart But peradventure he will say He takes away the guilt of Sin through his Sufferings and to be Cleansed from the Defilement doth follow as the effects I Answer If it be so then it appears that the whole work of Mans Salvation and so not the whole office of a Saviour was not performed at once without us as Sampson Bond affirmeth in his 3d Argument for there is something to be effected within still and if so who as it that works those effects within if it be not the Spirit In Page Nine He goes on to prove the Light within not to be the true Christ by my Words for he saith My Words Imply That thy Light in every Man is Christ therefore
to be their Guide and their Instructor and their Leader and in the Spirit they were to Worship the Father and this is the word of Faith even Christ the begetter of Faith in the Heart and must be believed in and obeyed and walked up to according to his Inward Moons and requirings which always moveth and leadeth into the things that is good and maketh manifest the Evil and reproveth for it and this is not received by Natural Generation but by the Inspiration of the Almighty which is Light which shines in our Hearts and gives the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ and this Spirit Life and Power dwelt in the Son of God without measure but in the Saints in measure and this is he by which the Saints are Sanctified and do receive full assurance of the everlasting unchangeable Inheritance and this is wrought by degrees by the same Spirit by which the Saints are continually given up to Death to dye to Sin to dye to the Flesh to dye to the World that the Life of Jesus may be made Manifest in their Mortal Bodies And the Manifestation of this Spirit being given to every Man to profit withal and we believing that every Man hath Received a Measure of this pure Light according to Joh. 1.9 therefore do we direct People to turn in their Minds to this Heavenly Principle this Heart searching Light that makes Manifest Sin and Transgression and leads the Soul out of Captivity from under the Power thereof and these things we declare and Exhort People to submit unto the same for herein only is the true Spiritual Worship witnessed And now S. B. what wilt thou say Wilt thou judge this is to deny Christ or to make him a Lyer who was truly God or to make the Holy Spirit a Lyer to whom we thus Testifie or to make the Angels Lyers who Testified to him as a King whose Kingdom was not of this World or to make the Apostles Lyers who bare so large a Testimony to his Spiritual appearance I know and am sure had thou received thy Message from the Lord or ever walked in the Path of the Righteouss thou wouldst have had another Message to declare then any yet I can see come from thee Now all the Scriptures that S. B. brings to prove his charge they are such as proves the same Jesus to be the Saviour who was one with the Father And however these Testimonies of Christ the Spirit the Angels and Apostles seems to speak of the outward Man yet thereby we cannot understand it any otherwise then as he was the Christ and Saviour of the World who dwelt in the Father and the Father in him and the words he Spoke they were not his but the Fathers that sent him But he goes on to Revile the Light with his common term of Idol which Idols and Idolatrous practises was ever hateful unto God But the more he Reproaches it the more he doth heap up Vengeance upon his own Head to be Executed upon him in the day of the Lord. The next thing to he considered was a Sentence of Scripture Spoken by Will Harriot in denyal of the Priests false charge concerning our M●etings saying The Apostle Travelled in Bira●h for the Gallations till Christ was formed in them which words he Spoke without naming Chap. and ver for which he derides him and calls him Impertinent Simpleton and with all he Glories that he could readily point at the Chap. and ver to which I answer is this any point of Religion Is it any matter of Salvation Is it nor rather a chief part of thy Trade which thou hast been Exercised in more then twenty years and peradventure Received for thy Hire several hundred pounds worth and this is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and agreeable with the Practise of Balaam who Loved the wages of Unrighteousness now it were a sha●e for thee Trading with the Scripture so long and not to have thy Trade perfect The Scripture was Gal. 4.19 The which Scripture this Reviling Priest makes use off to Reproach the Light thus If when Paul writ to the Gallations Christ was to be formed in them then the Light in every Man the Quakers Rotten Principle which is in every Man by Natural Generation he saith is not the True Christ Rep. In defiance of this Heavenly Principle I say thou art an Ignorant Man for this Light is of a more Noble Birth and Generation for it is of Gods own begetting and so not of a Fl●shly Generation for that which is Born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is Born of the Spirit is Spirit And it is one thing to have this principle in them and another thing to be in Union with it it is one thing to have it in a Man and another thing to be formed into its likeness now none can Witness the formings of Christ in them but such as do receive Christ the Light they and only they receive Power to become Children of the most High God even they that believe in his Name which is the Power by which Christ Jesus was raised up from the Dead and such who by Faith lay hold on the Power the Word of Life the quickning Spirit by which the Saints are begotten again into Christs Nature and Christs own Nature raised up in them and so is Christs Word fulfilled you in me and I in you And thus to know Christ is not to deny the Body which suffered and Rose again for the Saints which Testified of the Man did also bear Witness to the Spirit which was their Guide and Leader and Instructer and Saviour and Saved them from the Body of Death and Power of Darkness and Law of Sin and Mortified Sin in them and their Vile affections which were upon the Earth was Subdued by the Spirit of Christ and they came to know him to be the quickning Spirit quickning and Enlivening them and raising them up to sit in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so Old things were Witnessed to pass away and all things to become new new Nature Will new Assertions new Desires new all New The next thing to be considered is his Ridged sencering of Will. Harriot with his Fellow Seducers as he calls them Pag. 59 60 61. In which he shews his Persecuting Spirit in passing such a Sentance as Whipping for no other Transgression then to deny such a Doctrine as is not truly grounded upon the Scripture and not only so but in divers particulars contrary to the Scripture And for this he takes the Scripture for his Rule Joh. 2.13 And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the Temple those that Sold Oxen and when he had made a Whip of small Cords he drove them out of the Temple and said unto them make not my Fathers House a House of Marchandice Now Mark what ground hath he or can he rightly gather from hence to punish a Man with Corporal punishment for matter of
in the middest of us as the true assembling and gathering in the name of Jesus which is the power is truly witnessed and his workings in the particular Vessels is sundry sometimes so that the creature being sensible of the working of the Power sometimes breaths unto the Lord while sitting silent together sometimes uttering it self in a sigh or groan sometimes feeling the raptures of the heavenly joy breaks forth into singing which this mocking Priest which dwells in Ishmaels Nature deridingly calls Humming and Canting and wher●as some who with Eve have hearkned to the Tempter whereby their minds have been led out into disorderly and unlawful actions this he hath cast upon the true Baptisme of the Spirit but the reward of the Mocker is the Judgement of the Eternal God which shall be this Priests food for ever except he repents And so much in Answer to his second Charge by which it is manifest that the main end of our meeting in this Island is not to make the Lords Christ the Holy Spirit Angels and Apostles all Lyers and false-witnesses of God as this Priest hath falsly charged us But the main end of our meetings is to wait to feel his living motions requirings and leadings that by it we may be led to glorify the Father Word and Spirit in the true guidance of the Spirit into the true and Spiritual worship which is well-pleasing unto God I should now proceed to his third and last Charge but because W. Wilkinson hath given some answer thereto already I suppose I may sum up the Answer in the fewer words The Charge is this That the prime Principles of a Quaker are the same that were held and professed by the Beasts that Paul fought with at Ephesus To thee oh thou false Man I make this Reply in Answer to this false Charge Art not thou ashamed thus to utter Lyes oh thou false Tongue Dost not thou know thou must give an account for these things to the Lord For now had their Principles been our Principles Paul would have had no need to have made War against them neither would the Apostle have had any such caus● to leave them under such an odium upon the record of Truth to all succeeding Generations calling them Beasts for no other cause that we can here on from thee but for denying the Resurrection and yet I can s●e little but thy bare word for it neither though thou saist it is manifest in 1 Cor. 15. Beside there were many that were found in this error as the Sect of the Saduces yet were not left under that odium which makes me judge that the Apostle had seen some other bruitish principle or practice which caused him thus to contend with them But if thou could prove that yet it would be too much for thee to undertake to make good thy Charge because we do not at all deny the Resurrection And to lay open the wickedness and falsity of this thy Charge I shall here declare to the World what our prime chief and leading Principle is Our prime chief o● leading Principle is Christ the Light whom God hath given for a Leader who hath enlightened every man that c●meth into the world which Light hath shined in our dark Hearts and manifested it self in our Conscien●●s by which we first came to see our m serable state and condition being by nature Children o● Wrath and under the power of Darkness in which state we were separated from God from hit Spirit and this Light which discovered our woful state under sin and in transgression we felt it also to Judge us and as we gave heed unto it and regarded its reproofs and hearkned to its voice which voice we often hea●d in the cool of the day But I say as we began to have regard unto it and believed in it and obeyed its voice we found it was the way of Life and its leadings we discerned was alvvays out of every thing that vvas evil and if at any time vve turned aside to hearken to the Enemy vve found it to rebuke us and Judge us and then our peace vvould be broken and pain and anguish vve should feel in our Souls and some of us sometimes vvould be afraid that it vvas the dictates of a natural Conscience and then vve vvere afraid of being deceived but coming into seriousness and vveightiness vve found that all men by nature vvere dead but this vve discerned vvas living and as vve obeyed vve felt its life to spring up in us and vve vvere quickned by it and it lead us more and more out of death and darkness and living openings in the mysteries of Salvation vve come to receive then vve began to grovv bold and confident that this Light vvas truly the Light and Spirit of Jesus So he became our Leader and as many as vvere faithful to it received povver and vvaxed strong and are brought in some measure to the Word of Life and through Christ alone hath the Lord raised us up to be a people whom the World deridingly call Quakers and for the sake of this Righteous Principle have many of this people deeply suffered yet of it we are not ashamed but are resolved to follow it although through the Tribulation through the Cross and Self-denyal believing that he will Crovvn us vvith an Everlasting Crovvn of Glory So this is our Faith That the Lord vvill raise us up at the last day for if the Dead rise not vve vvere of all creatures most miserable being given up to suffer vvhat Man shall be suffered to do unto us But this is our Faith That the Lord vvill raise us up according to his promise and vvill change our vile Bodies and vvill fashion them like unto his glorious Body So being satisfied as concerning the Love of God That there shall not be any thing vvanting to make our Inheritance perfect to our eternal content and satisfaction vve can leave that to the Lord to prepare us a Body as it pleaseth him So this Light of Jesus Christ is our Principle vvhich vvas not the prime principle of the Beasts vvhich Paul fought vvith at Ephesus for this vvas the very thing that this Apostle vvas to turn people to Acts 26.18 So I have done with this Charge only noting one thing in Page 72. vvhere he said I called to him for his Bible I call'd not to him for his Bible therefore let that be added also to fill up his measure vvho I perceive is so hardned he neither cares much vvhat he either saith or vvrites for it vvas not in my heart to call to him for his Bible but I said if I had a Bible I could prove it viz. That the dead shall not rise the same Body Immediately he profer d his and I found the place vvhere the Apostle comparing the Resurrection to a Grain of Wheat saith plainly It cometh not up the same Body but God giveth it a Body as it pleaseth him Thus have I gone through S.