was Incarnate and dyed And that Christ was his own Father to whom he prayed upon the Cross. We own Christ both as Eternal God and as the Son of Mary yet are under no such difficulties as the Snake doth falsly suggest For we cannot express the Godhead by the word Person having no such Example in Scripture and our Belief being according to that and expressed in the words of it It must necessarily follow that the Snake does account the Declaration of Holy Writ in this Article to have many Absurdities Of which let him clear himself if he can as also of inclining to Polytheism which his words do seem to favour Ibid. p. 122. G. F. opposes Christopher Wade for saying That the Holy Ghost was a Person and that there was a Trinity of three Persons before Christ was Born It seems by this they do not acknowledge that there were Three in Heaven before Christ was Born It does not only seem but plainly appear that this Snake is a Notorious Lyar Holy Writ says 1 John 5.7 There are three that bear Record in Heaven It does not express them either by the word Trinity or Persons does it therefore seem that Holy Writ does not acknowledge that there were three in Heaven before Christ was Born Or that the Three in Heaven as the Snake Blasphemously does suggest must be Three Creatures What G. F. opposed in Christopher Wade in this Case was the Unscripturalness of his Language which will best appear from G. F's one Words not curtaild as in the Snake they are these Great Mystery p. 246. Thou knowest not him that is in the Father and the Father in him Glorified with the Father before the World began And the Scriptures doth not tell people of a Trinity nor Three Persons but the Common-Prayer Mass-Book speak of Three Persons brought in by thy Father the Pope And the Father Son and Holy Spirit was always one Ibid. p. 122 123. The Snake shews as himself says what Muggleton did hold in that Blasphemous Whimsy of the Deputy-ship of Elijah c. and says of it It terrifies my very Soul while I repeat such dreadful and sensless Blasphemy But I am well assured that this Snake was under greater Terror of Soul when seized by the King's Messenger at Lidd in Kent For To repeat such dreadful and senslless Blasphemy He had no Necessity was under no Constraint but that it pleased him to think that he might slantingly throw it at us tho' both him and it we do utterly deny But it was not in his Power to avoid being seized by the Messenger though he afterwards found it in his Power to run away from him Of which in its proper place Ibid. p. 123. How far the Quakers differ from Muggleton in what is here told excepting the Deputy-ship of Elijah will appear by their allowing no distinction between the Father and the Son It is an Abominable falshood G. F. did not say there was no Distinction between the Father and the Son but deny'd such Distinction as that Priest contended for and if the Snake think good Let him openly declare whether he will stand by and own that Distinction for which the Priest did contend and which G. Fox did oppose What the Priest did affirm was this as given in Great Mystery p. 293. The Father is a Distinct Incommunicable Being from the Son and the Son a Distinct Incommunicable Being from the Father and the Holy Ghost a Distinct Incommunicable Being from the Son See Reader had not G. Fox reason to oppose this Polytheistical Doctrine of Separation and Incommunication which plainly makes a Triumvirate of the Deity and thereby destroys not only the Simplicity but the Foundation of Faith And this will happen so long as Men will Hazzard their Faith to improve their Knowledge And curiously inquire into what will still remain a Mystery and not be content with such Declaration of it as we are Infallibly assured in Holy Writ is according to the Mind of God and sufficient for the necessities of Men. But to proceed there needs not an Ingenious Stickler to shew what G. F. did oppose but there wants an Ingenious Stickler unless the Snake think himself so to reconcile the Priests words which I have above quoted to the Holy Scripture which he pretends to be his rule for at present they are as contrary to it as Light to Darkness I am not so much surprised to find this Snake p. 124. saying of George Fox He was a very Sorrowful beginner of a Religion and could neither be separated nor distinguished from a Tool which Knaves do work with call'd a F l. As to find him so cautiously clipping the word Fool Because it is greater Modesty and Caution than he uses towards him in other places where he calls him Valpoon George Magus and says he was one of poor understanding and had an Immoderate degree of Dulness But after all this his Serpentine Modesty or rather as himself expresses it p. 198 wicked and hateful Eubullition of Soul George Fox did herein justly and warrantably oppose that Distinction and Incommunication in the Deity which the Priest did as above contend for But again he is angry with G. F. in Great Mystery p. 246. Where the Snake says he disputes against Christopher Wade for saying God the Father never took upon him Humane Nature But he is so far from replying to G. F's answer to Christopher Wade that he gives but three words of it tho' the answer does consist of more than so many lines and is as follows Great Mystery p. 246. Answ. Contrary to the Scripture which saith God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself And art Ignorant of the Great Mystery God manifest in the Flesh and his name is called the Everlasting Father As for the Word Humane which is from the Ground it comes from thy own Knowledge which is earthly and Christ took upon him the Seed of Abraham and David according to the Flesh and this is Scripture Language And if the Snake can shew that it is not so it will be better to confute the whole than to nibble Rat like at three words of it And this brings me to the end of this short Section SECT IX Concerning our Belief of the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ. ACcording to what has been already spoken in the foregoing Sections occasionally concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ. I do here of set purpose declare it as a Truth which now is and always hath been since we were a People believed and declared by us That The Word which was in the Beginning with God by which all things were made did in the fulness of time according to the appointment of the Father take Flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary and that in that Body of Flesh The Fulness of the Godhead dwelt Bodily Thus in the largness of the Expression and sense of Scripture we do truly and sincerely own according to John 1.14 That
p. 23. Fox having produced so particular a Charge of Gross and Abominable Blasphemies against himself and Partners did it on purpose that he might the more exactly and in terms most express and plain Renounce and Disown them The end for which G. Fox did in that Book entituled Saul's Errand c. set down the Petition of some Priests and others of the County of Lancanster to the Council of State together with the Crimes mentioned in their Schedule was indeed that he might fully answer them in shewing the Quakers Belief in opposition to those false Charges And this is done in that Book in terms so express and plain as leaves no room for doubt unless to such whom nothing will satisfie For to each particular Objection he gives a distinct Answer and that in Scriptures quoted for that purpose But this same Adversary seems to be dissatisfied with such Answer as no doubt he would have been with that of our Saviour to the Captious Jews Mark 11.33 and 12.17 and with many others of the like kind which he may be pleased to say are not in terms sufficiently express and plain Ibid. p. 24. Nay he down-right owns and justifies the greatest part of them as their preternatural Convulsions and Quakings Foamings and Swellings of their Bellies which seiz'd them at their Meetings even Little Children who could not counterfeit It is an unaccountable degree of Impudence for a man with so much assurance as this Snake does to say G. Fox owns and justifies Preternatural Convulsions Foamings and Swellings of Bellies and that of Little Children When G. Fox has not in that Book one such word That I may not herein impose upon the Reader as the Snake has done I will here give intire G. Fox's Answer to that Objection and then the Reader may find whether I or the Snake be the Lyar the page the Snake quotes is p. 5. of Saul's Errand which is thus Answ. The Meetings of the People of God were ever strange to the World for it was as though some strange thing had happened to the Saints as we read in the Scripture Psal. 71.7 1 Pet. 4.12 Which shews they are in the same Generation wondring and stranging at the Work of the Lord despising and casting Scandals Slanders and false Reports upon them And where the Works of God are now Acts 13.41 they think them strange things now as was then who are alive in the Flesh. It would be a strange thing now to see one fall down as Paul fell down and trembled and as Daniel fell down and trembled Dan. 10.9 And to see one as Habakkuk his Belly to tremble and his Lips to quiver Hab. 3.16 And as David to lye roaring all the Day long who cryed till his sight was grown dim and his Flesh fail'd of fatness and till he could number his Bones And to see one as Isaiah to rent his Garment and his Mantle and to pluck his Hair off his Head and off his Beard and sit down astonished And would it not be strange to see such an Assembly as came to Isaiah Isa. 66.5 Which had all trembling Hearts Hear the Word of the Lord all ye that tremble at his Word work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Before their faces the people shall be much pained all faces shall gather blackness Joel 2.6 The Prophets and Ministers of God have all one Spirit according to measure and did encourage those that did tremble Wherein it shews that you have not the same Spirit but seek to persecute and fix Scandals and accuse them falsly Here Reader thou mayst see the injustice and falshood of this Adversary in so boldly asserting what there is not a word of tho' he says p. 24. The Matter of Fact Fox owns p. 5. Thou hast here G. Fox's answer from p. 5. Pray see if it be as the Snake says it is The Snake has one Hiss more In this Section with which he concludes it and that is at James Milner of whom I have reserved to speak in answer to the Snake's 21st Section As I have already hinted p. 66. Wherefore I now come to the Snake's 4th Section of the Quakers Pretence to a sinless Perfection SECT III. We do own and believe that it is our Duty to press on to Perfection which by the assistance of the Spirit of God we believe it possible to attain unto REader I have already shewn thee in Sect. 1. p. 43. what we mean and understand by the Light within viz. Jesus Christ as testified of in Holy Writ where the Apostle testifies 2 Cor. 5.19 That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and we say that as Man through obedience to the Holy Spirit comes to witness a being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ he will more and more witness a growing into that Holy Oneness that Spiritual Union and Communion which our Saviour hath prayed his Disciples might witness as is already shewn Sect. 2. p. 64. tho' misinterpreted by our Adversaries to be an aspiring to Equality c. with God And all who in their several degrees of growth in Grace do witness the going on of this Work of Reconciliation must witness a going on to Perfection And I cannot see any absurdity in this Scriptural Doctrine For if I through the Power of Christ have witnessed a Being by him set free from one vile Affection or one inordinate Lust. Have I not good reason to hope that he that hath began this good work is able to finish it and so of the rest of Humane Infirmities which cannot be overcome but by the assistance of a Divine Power which being altogether Perfect in it self will lead on to Perfection all who are obedient to it Yet this Plain and Scriptural Doctrine professed by us from the first hath met with great opposition and perversion as now by this Snake Snake p. 25. After having shewed the Quakers claim to an Equality with God to be part of him of one Soul Being Person and Essence with him It may seem a saying less and going backward to say that they pretend to a sinless Perfection How idle and false is it in the Snake to say we pretend to be one Person with God when we reject the word Person as too gross to be applied to God or Christ or the Holy Spirit But after having shewn the falsity of that Charge as is plentifully done in the foregoing Section I shall go forward to shew also as is above hinted that the Sinless Perfection we contend for is only in the Holy Spirit and no further ours than we come into obedience to it and through obedience to it 't is possible 2 Pet. 1.4 To be partakers of the Divine Nature But because our Modern Quakers are abated somewhat from the Loud Blasphemies to which they at first pretended c. Here Reader Is an Instance of the Hypocrisie and Confusion of this Man He had charged us Sect. 1 2 3. that at our first setting up
send them forth in the Work of the Ministry their Degrees of Immediate Revelation are much higher than that Degree of Immediate Revelation which I have above spoken of And in these higher Degrees of Revelation God may give One to Prophesy or foretell things to come and send Another with a Message as shall seem good in his Sight and all this by the Immediate Revelation of the same Holy Spirit which reproves the World of Sin tho' in a Higher Degree and by the Higher Degrees of this Immediate Revelation it may please God by his Servants for God hath not in his revealed Will declared that he would not to work Miracles But as his Ministers at this Day have no New Gospel to Preach so it is not necessary that the Work of the Ministry should be commonly attended with such external Credentials if so I may call Miracles Ibid. p. 28. And to this G. F. pretended even to Outward Visions and Revelations as in his Blasphemous Journal particularly upon a High Mountain in Yorkshire where he tells of his receiving Commission to Preach That G. F. had Visions and Revelations some of which might be Outward and did receive a Commission from God to Preach he hath given more â—nd better Proofs than the Snake hath that G. F's Journal is Blasphemous For of this I find no Proof but the Snak's own confident averring of it But among the Proofs of G. F's having received Commission to Preach none of the smallest are the many who instrumentally by him were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God To which Power of God as they did attend and grow up in they were the Living Seals of his Ministry And for the Visions and Revelations which G. F. hath declared he had there are none of them that are repugnant to the Holy Scriptures but are consistent with and agreeable to the special Manifestations of God to his Children mentioned therein which nothing that is Blasphemous can be Nay further God hath promised Joel 2.28 That in the pouring forth of his Spirit He would give Prophecy Dreams and Visions and that it is fulfilled in the Gospel Dispensation the Holy Apostle Peter hath testified Acts 2.16 Ibid. p. 21. Fox does plainly distinguish betwixt the Ordinary Experiences of the Inward Operations of the Spirit of God upon our Hearts and the being sent Immediately from God with such a Message as the Prophets and Apostles had And this plain Distinction of G. F's is warranted from Scripture it being wholly in the degrees of Operation but the Holy Spirit which does so diversly Operate is the same The Faith of the Woman cured of a Bloody Issue Mat. 9.20 was begotten in her by a degree of the Operation of the Holy Spirit and by a much greater Degree of the Operation of the same Holy Ghost Philip was bid Acts 8.29 Go near and joyn thy self to this Chariot And abundance of Instances of these kinds might be produced in Holy Writ which do as plainly distinguish as any of us can betwixt the Ordinary and Extraordinary Inward Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts yet both truly and properly Immediate Ibid. p. 29. These are his Words And shew plainly what he meant by Immediate Revelation and how it distinguish'd him from the Professors Yes Snake it is very plain what G. F. meant by Immediate Revelation when he asked Four or Five Priests Journal p. 83. Whether any one of them could say he ever had the Word of the Lord to go and speak to such or such a People viz. that this is a Higher Degree of the Inward Operation of the Holy Spirit than that by which it Reproves the World of Sin This Higher Degree of Immediate Revelation none of those Priests could say they had had and therefore might well be deem'd such of whom the Prophet says They run and the Lord never sent them And to G. F's Question foregoing the Priest made no proper answer when he said He could speak his experiences Because every operation of the Holy Spirit does give some experience to the Heart in which it works And if a Man thereby reproved of Sin be obedient to that reproof he shall witness a forsaking that for which he was so reproved And this is a good Degree of Experience But this Experience barely is no call to the Ministry To which those whom Christ doth Choose Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualifie as it is by a higher Degree of the Inward and Immediate Operations of His Holy Spirit so it does distinguish them from those who can only speak of Experiences as is above declared Ibid. p. 29. And he Vouches this by a company of Vile and Sensless Miracles to which he pretends in his Journal How shews the Snake that the Miracles mentioned in G. F's Journal are Vile and Sensless They are not therefore so because an Enemy says it And yet he has given no other reason And now having gain'd what he meant by Revelation and Immediate Revelation I will shew you that he attributes it not only to his own Worthiness but to the Quakers in General They are says he in his Great Mystery p. 242. in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in There is no dificulty to gain either what G. F. did mean or any of us do mean by Revelation it being in short this 1 Cor. 2.11 The things of God knoweth no Man but by the Spirit of God And whosoever doth know and understand the Gospel of Christ which is Rom. 1.16 The Power of God unto Salvation must receive that knowledge and that understanding by Immediate Revelation from the same Spirit from which the Apostles had theirs The Apostles have declar'd that themselves did receive their Knowledge of the things of God by it and that without this Spirit no Man can know them Yet we do not from hence say nor hath G. F. said that the Gospel of Christ is not to be understood but by the same Degree of Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation which the Apostles were in or that himself or any other Quaker as the Snake does falsly suggest are in that same Degree in which the Apostles were The Apostle Peter was in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation when he gave Testimony to the Divinity of our Saviour Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God in which he was when he said Acts 2.22 23. Ye Men of Israel hear these Words Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know him being delivered by the Fore-knowledge and Counsel of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain c. But I suppose the Snake will hardly affirm he was in the same Degree of Power c. And after all it is false in
contrary now to what they were then But if the Doctrine be true now how comes G. Fox to be blame-worthy for asserting it then and telling them then that such who denyed it were ravened from the Spirit of God And after all the Daubing Hypocrisie of this Snake let him shew if he can that such who deny this Doctrine which is essential to Salvation do not thereby shew themselves ravened c. Ibid. p. 30. Quoted from p. 30. of G. Fox's Answer to the Westmoreland Petition If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power The Liberty which this Adversary takes to himself is very great sometimes supplying to our words what he is pleased to think they want as at other times to bite and curtail them And to shew thee Reader what Supplements he gives to our words take the place as it is in G. Fox's Answer c. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own them which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And it is very true for whosoever shall write from the movings of the Spirit and grace of God upon his heart tho' in the least manifestation thereof them Writings so written cannot fail of being acknowledged in their Degree By all who through the Spirit of God are led to own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles And the Reason is plain because every Member partakes of the same Spirit by which the whole Body and Church of Christ is kept living And it is impossible for the Holy Spirit in one Member to contradict the same Spirit in the rest of the Body Thus Reader thou may plainly see that that Sinless Perfection maintained in our Books which the Snake carps at misrepresents and wilfully lyes against is no other than the Perfection of the Holy Spirit and which is no further Ours than we walk in obedience to that Spirit by Obedience to which the Apostle hath testified 2 Pet. 1.4 That by escaping the Corruption that is in the World through Lust we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature It were a foul and false imputation upon this Doctrine of the Apostles to suggest that he hereby advised the true Believers to pretend to any such equality of Perfection as that of God who in his Wisdom and Power c. is Infinite God hath promised to his People I will dwell in them and walk in them 2 Cor. 6.16 And all who do witness this Holy In-dwelling of God must of necessity say and confess that he is able to give a perfect Deliverance and Freedom from Sin But have not nor cannot say That they are God or they are Christ because of the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit never did any of us so say as falsly suggested by the Snake which in reply to the foregoing quotations doth I think evidently appear Wherefore I now proceed to his 6th Section of the Quakers Infallibility SECT V. Shewing that Infallibility is by us placed in the Holy Spirit and only is ours as guided by that THis Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box and you may expect to see Rarities The Snake is the Jugler and this Section or rather his whole Book the Box. The Rarities which the Reader may expect to see will no doubt be agreeable to such a Jugling Undertaker Before I come to open his Box this Section I will shew thee Reader his Jugling Artifice on the Lid of it Ibid. p. 31. This Section may seem needless as being included in the former That it is included in the former is true for who claims to be equal of the same Being and Substance with God Such doubtless claim to be infallible as he And then why this needless Section Why the Jugler doubting to put the matter of Charge upon that Issue multiply'd this Section tho' needless and drew it to a length near twice that of all his foregoing Sections that he might indeed Jugler like blind the Readers observation in the length of it And with respect to us the Jugler might hope it should by its length be admitted as Billa Vera rather than any should examine its Contents and detect its Lyes But to begin with the Snake's first head of Distinction Ibid. p. 31. 1. This their Infallibility was palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome That the Snake may not palm this Story upon the World without proof I do on the behalf of the People called Quakers deny the Assertion and put our Adversary upon the Proof of it which if he cannot do he is hereby registred for a Lyar. Ibid. p. 31. Of which They were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by wholesale and would have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome used to defend themselves As we did not receive from the Church of Rome or any other Society of Men our True Principle of the Infallibility of the Spirit or Grace of God so neither did or do we want any of those Cautions which the Romanists may have and use in their claim of Infallibility That this may appear more plain to the Sober Reader I will shew the vast difference between us and them herein The Papists how much soever they differ among themselves in placing of Infallibility in their Church as whether in the Pope and in him Simply or in him in Cathedra or with his Conclave or him in General Counsel or in such Counsel without him or in the Church diffusive yet they do all agree herein that this Infallibility is possessed by Original Grant made by Jesus Christ to one or other or all of them in the Person of the Holy Apostle Peter and doth descend by Ordination in a continual Succession not alienable This I doubt not will be allow'd to be the declar'd sentiments of some of that People in this point and which do abundantly differ from what hath been always professed by us herein which in Brief is to the following purpose viz. First We have constantly said that the Holy Spirit of God is Infallible and that through the Mediation and Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ a Manifestation of this Infallible Holy Spirit is given to every Man to profit with Secondly We have constantly said that whoever is obedient to the Convictions and Leadings of this Infallible Holy Spirit as they are tendred to their Souls during the day of their Visitation shall thereby be Infallibly lead into all Truth necessary to Salvation both in Principle and in Practice for it doth not only Teach sound Doctrines but also teacheth to deny all ungodliness and hath no fellowship with the Vnfruitful Works of Darkness Thirdly We have constantly said that of such as through their working together with the Grace of God are thereby become Strong in the Lord Of these I say As Christ doth now Prepare Fit Furnish and Qualify with and by his Holy Spirit those whom
of the Fathers first Book p. 194. Whilst they beat down one Error they seem to run into the contrary Error In like manner as those who would streighten a crooked Plant are wont to bow it as much the contrary way that so having been worked out of its former bent it may at length rest in a middle posture Now if our Friends have formerly met with those in the Priesthood whose crooked expressions did need streightning they are not to be wondred at or condemned in their Christian endeavours for that end And whether there were such or not I will now joyn Issue with the Snake and shew from a much narrower compass than the extents of the Snake's Challenge which is That there never were in any place such Priests I shall at present only give some few instances out of the Book Great Mystery which the Snake does so often quote which take as follows P. 16. John Timson did affirm that the Holy Scriptures alone is to be the object of Faith P. 38. Tho. Collier did affirm that the Scriptures shall be our Judge one day which we call the Letter P. 111. Jeremy Ives did affirm it to be an Error to say the Letter of the Scriptures was Carnal P. 247. Christopher Wade affirmed The Written Word is the Sword of the Spirit P. 261. Roger Atkinson affirmed That the Letter of the Scripture was God Ibid. Richard Stoakes affirmed That the Scripture is God P. 280. Edw. Price affirmed The Scriptures is the Power of God and that all Men shall be Iudged by them Now Reader upon the Issue joyned in this little space whether appears the Arrant Lyar G. Whitehead in saying There were in the North where most of these did live Priests who had so affirmed of the Letter of the Scriptures or the Snake in saying That neither there nor any where else were such Priests For it cannot be allowed I suppose That the Written Word and Letter of the Scripture as above affirmed is either God or the Power of God or the Iudge of the World or Spiritual or the Sword of the Spirit These and the like crooked Expressions of some in the Priesthood it was the necessary work of our Friends to oppose and straiten according to the Authority of Holy Writ not that we then did or now do charge all the Men with whom these so affirming have held fellowship to have the same Sentiments tho' this be the Practice of the Snake against us notwithstanding his distinction in the Title page of his Libel Ibid. p. 88. How comes it that since they are such bitter Enemies to the Letter they yet make a Conscience of saying Thee and Thou instead of You in the Singular because these were old English words in the first Translations I need not ask How comes it That envy and prejudice is Blind and Ignorant We are not bitter Enemies to the Letters of which the Books of Scripture are composed No Sober Reader that which we have opposed and for our so doing have the Authority of the Scriptures is that Men should only from them gather some account of the dealings of God with the Holy Men in past Ages and from their Declarations therein nay sometimes contrary to them make to themselves Creeds and herein Copy after those to whom our Saviour says Ye search the Scriptures in them ye think to have Eternal Life but ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life This we have opposed and directed Men to the Spirit of God in them to which as they are obedient they will find it to open the Scriptures to them and give comfort in the reading of them Thee and Thou instead of You in the Singular are as well Modern English Words as Old from the Essential difference that there is between the Signification of One and Many and upon this account it is according to the best Information I can get that there is hardly any Nation whose Language does not differently express that different Signification And that which engages us Conscientiously to this Practice is not that they are Old English Words but that the same Holy Spirit in us at this day leads to that same Simplicity of Language which it did lead the Servants of God into in former Ages And in all Ages of the World it hath been the Language of the Holy Spirit to Man And accordingly before our day at the beginning of the Reformation Erasmus and others whose Language was not Old or Modern English did reprove that Vanity of Mind which did practice and acccept the contrary Ibid. p. 88. Is there any Immorality or Iniquity in these Letters Y. o. u. more than in T. h. o. u Foolish Question Which may serve to please and tickle the Wanton But Sober Reader I doubt not thou wilt perceive the Vanity of the Querist The Alphabet which with us according to its various joynings does serve to express the thoughts of our Minds cannot have Immorality or Iniquity in the Letters Yet whosoever in evil Mind by joyning them does express words either Blasphemous Profane Hypocritical Unjust as this Snake or any other way bad in their Signification of these Men do pronounce accordingly And thus it is if any to shun the Cross of our Lord Jesus tho' in this small matter of the plain Language and to please the vain Mind contrary to the Convictions of the Spirit of Truth in themselves shall say You instead of Thee and Thou such will find that disobedience their Burden In p. 89 90. Snake has gathered many instances from G. F's Writings wherein he saith This is the Word of the Lord which the Snake puts in opposition to G. F's Answer to Christopher Wade Great Mystery p. 246. They the Scriptures are not the Word of God But this soon vanishes for upon Examination of Christopher Wade's words they seem to imply as if he affirmed of the Scriptures that they were the Eternal and In-dwelling Word of God and therefore and thereupon G. Fox opposed him and asserted Christ to be the Word of God p. 247. Great Mystery which is true and from him the Eternal Word the Servants of God have often said to the People Hear the Word of the Lord. And the meaning of it both in the Prophets and since is only this Hear from the Eternal Word a Declaration of his Will Ibid. p. 91. They knew that the Holy Scriptures could not be discarded openly and above-board nor all at once That the World has been long in the possession of them and of a just Veneration of them and therefore would not part with them nor accept of any Fox 's Inspirations instead of them That the World hath been long in the possession of the Books of Scriptures we well know but for want of being in possession of the Holy Spi-the Power of God they have erred not knowing the Scriptures and therefore could not have a just Value or Esteem for them And God who knoweth the Sincerity of
our Hearts he knoweth that our earnest Endeavour since a People hath been to direct to the Holy Spirit to which as the World comes to be obedient it will certainly raise in them a just value and esteem for the Scriptures and a love and desire to be conversant in the reading of them by which through Faith they may receive comfort as we can abundantly testifie we have found And therefore the Insinuation is false and envious that we have ever sought either openly or secretly to discard them or to set up the Inspirations of any instead of them Ibid. p. 91. They have taken upon them not only to abrogate the most express Ordinances of the Gospel But to set up and institute new ones as Womens Preachings directly contrary to 1 Cor. 16.35 and the Prelacy of the Womens Meetings an Invention never heard of in the World till G. F. Cobled it out 'T is false that we have abrogated any Ordinances of Divine Institution And it is also false that we have set up and instituted new ones For under the Law and in the Apostles days there were Women Prophetesses and Fellow-helpers in the Gospel As for the Prelacy of Womens Meetings we know of no such thing but for the good ends of looking after the Poor and seeing after such things as are Comely Decent and of Good Report do they meet as the Holy Women in ancient times did And as it is no discouragement to us so it will not be of weight with the Sober Reader that this practice is profanely said by the Snake to be Cobled out by G. Fox Ibid. p. 92. The Scripture remains of no Authority with them because if what the Scripture command be a-new required by their Spirit they are bound to obey it because required by their Spirit But if the Scripture command the thing they are by their Principles not bound to obey it unless it is required by their Spirit a-new None may at this day upon the Authority of Scripture walk naked as Isaiah 20.2 3. nor go to the King's Chappel as Amos 7.13 nor do any of these special and particular things which many of the Prophets by the Special Command of God did do unless they are thereunto commanded and required by the same Holy Spirit which did require them This is what Edward Burroughs had formerly said and which W. Penn repeats and maintains though very falsly quoted by the Snake who injuriously quotes W. P. in his Reason against Railing p. 150. in the following manner That what was a Commandment to any Servants of God in Old Time That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new But W. P's words as they lye in the Book and Page quoted are thus From our asserting that what was a Commandment to any Servant of God in Old Times is not so to us because so to them that is such as Going to Pharaoh as Going Naked Going to the King's Chappel as Moses Isaiah and Amos did as also those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed for a season and to pass off That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit a-new It is not a little his endeavour unrighteously to infer that those Moral Perpetual and Eternal Holy Precepts here W. P. mentions the Laws of the First Table are not binding upon us c. Here Reader behold the subornation of the Snake who by a most unjust practice bites out so much of a Quotation as is not for his purpose and brings the remainder to speak against the sense of the Writer Ibid. p. 94. Thus it being Objected to G. F. that one of his Quakers had pretended to an Immediate Call from Heaven to commit Theft Robbery and Sacriledge in taking out of the Church an Hour-glass c. It is false it was not objected that any Quaker did commit Theft or Robbery or Sacriledge Nor does it appear by the Priest's words that the Hour-Glass was taken away That which appears from the Priest's words is That some Quaker had signified to the Priest that the Glass which he made the limit of his Carnal Preaching ought to be removed and that the Holy Spirit was only that by which they that spake from the Lord ought to begin and end their Preachings and G. F's answer is to the same purpose So that herein the Snake is egregiously abusive by perverting both the words of the Priest and G. F. and also in his false and scandalous insinuations concerning what he calls the Communion Plate Ibid. p. 95. Have they not by the same Light rebelled from Episcopacy Not unless it be prov'd by the Holy Scriptures that Episcopacy at this day be in the same Spirit and Government which the Apostles were in Ibid. p. 95. It is true indeed the Church cannot subsist without Government But it is as true that the Quakers pretence to the private Light in particular Persons as a principle over-ruling Scripture and all outward Ordinances is Inconsistent to the Government either in Church or State It is false that we have ever pretended that the Particular Manifestation of the Light of Christ in any of us did over-rule the Scriptures or Ordinances There cannot be Contradiction in the Spirit of God By the movings whereof it was that the Scriptures were given forth 2 Pet. 1.21 Nor do the Movings of the same Spirit privately working in particular Persons at this day over-rule or contradict what it did give forth as above And as the Light and Spirit of Christ is thus agreeable to it self So it is well consistent with the Government of the State in that it leads all that obey it to be loving and peaceable not Seditious or Tumultuous It leads to give Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's This it hath taught us to be our Duty and our Practice hath been agreeable of which the whole Kingdom are our witnesses And it is not less consistent with the Government in the Church when the Government in the Church hath its beginning and foundation from it as described p. 135 136. foregoing But it cannot be consistent with Government in the Church when the Church is not govern'd by the Spirit of him whom she says is her Spiritual Head Ibid. Or any Security from all the Dismal and Enthusiastical Murthers Rapines and Outrage of the Zealots among the Jews who went upon the same principle The Holy Spirit of God which by the coming of Jesus Christ is given to Men is the Principle that we profess and is the most effectual Security that can be against wickedness and violence of all sorts because where that is obeyed it will finish Transgression and make an end of Sin Now did the Zealots among the Jews go upon the same Principle No no more than the late Horrid Assassines in Communion with the Snake and with him in Separation from the Church could be said to do Murthers Rapines and Outrage are the
attributed unto the Blood of that very Body of Christ to wit that it did propitiate For however it might draw stupendious Judgments upon the Heads of those who were Authors of that Dismal Tragedy and died impenitent yet doubtless it thus far turn'd to very great account in that it was a most precious Offering in the sight of the Lord and drew God's Love the more eminently to mankind at least such as should believe in his Name as his solemn Prayer to his Father at his leaving the World given us by his beloved Disciple doth plainly witness Thus W. P. Wherein I take it to be as plain as can be that he does declare and confess that the true Christ was Man And when he speaks of the Spirit of Christ in its appearance in Man under the Name or Epithet Principle he sufficiently shews that he intends more thereby than any Moral Virtue For in p. 100. speaking of the Spirit of God under this Epithet of Inward Principle he saith And as in Wicked Men God's Holy Light and Spirit or that Principle which is so called hath been deeply wounded yea as one slain so in Good Men that have had a sense of the Worlds Abominations hath it also born many Burdens and Weights for the Light and Life is one in all Now Reader what clearer Testimony can there be that W. P. does under the name Principle understand the Holy Spirit of God and not any Moral Virtue as the Snake would basely and falsly insinuate And for this his manner of expressing the Holy Spirit there are plenty of Examples in the Scriptures of Truth where under the Principle of Wisdom Isaiah speaking of Christ and his Dispensation in the Gospel-times Chap. 33.6 saith Wisdom shall be the stability of thy times And our Saviour saith Mat. 11.19 Wisdom is justified of her Children And the Evangelist speaking of the growth of the Child Jesus saith Luke 2.40 And the Child grew and waxed strong in Spirit filled with Wisdom c. These with abundance more of like import the observing Reader may easily find in Holy Writ Ibid. p. 131. The Snake makes a Quotation from W. P's part of Serious Apology c. p. 146. But that the outward Person which suffered was properly the Son of God we utterly deny And perversely would draw W. P's words to say or mean that the Body which Christ assum'd was but as a Cloak or a Vail like the Body in which Angels appear for a time and throw them off again Against this false and unjust Imputation I shall first give W. P's words in the page quoted from whence the impartial Reader may be able to take W. P's meaning from himself and then observe somewhat upon the Snake's perversion To the first Jenner W. P's Opponent had said We deny that Person the Son of God that died at Jerusalem to be our Redeemer To which W. P. replys Which most horrid Imputation has been answer'd more I believe than a Thousand times that is that he that laid down his Life and suffer'd his Body to be crucify'd by the Jews without the Gates of Jerusalem is Christ the only Son of the Most High God But that the outward Person which suffer'd was properly the Son of God we utterly deny and it is a perfect contradiction to their own Principles A Body hast thou prepared me said the Son then the Son was not the Body though the Body was the Son's This brings him more under the charge of making him but a meer Man than us who acknowledge him to be one with the Father and of a Nature Eternal and Immortal for he was glorified with the Father before the World began Thus W. Penn whose plain meaning is no other than that the Outward Person that Body which our Lord did take of the Virgin was not properly the Son of God by Eternal Generation and was not Glorified with the Father before the World began He is here distinguishing between the Divinity and Manhood of our Saviour and that according to Scripture The Divinity was from Everlasting the Manhood not so that was taken up in the fulness of time appointed by God born of Mary nourished and encreased in Stature Strength c. according to Nature's Law and Course This Body Christ laid it down for the Sins of the World he did thereby consecrate for us a new and living way Through the Vail that is to say his Flesh Heb. 10.20 and here the Flesh or Body of Christ is called a Vail by allusion to the Vail mentioned Exod. 26.33 which did divide between the Holy Place and the Most Holy and this the Apostle shews Heb. 9.24 For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us And in this sense and no other have we ever used the words Vail or Garment in this case and not as is falsly alledged by the Snake to signifie a Body Ibid. p. 130. in which Angels appear for a time and throw them off again In like manner the Snake p. 131. curtails and perverts a Quotation from a Book of ours Entituled some Principles c. from which he quotes p. 126. thus The Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore And we can never call the Bodily Garment Christ. If the Scriptures do so expresly distinguish Of which Instances are given why did the Snake injuriously make a Break in the Quotation instead of giving those instances For upon the Authority of Holy Writ it is that we do thus distinguish and if our Distinction be bad or weak he should have given us a better Exposition of the Scriptures therein brought for that purpose That he may not omit it in his next I here give some of the Instances from that Book wherein the Scriptures do expresly so distinguish Ibid. p. 131. I come now to a Quotation made from Isaac Pennington in his Question to the Professors p. 25. which the Snake does not only break to pieces but also to the several pieces joins some words of his own that they may like his Brethen of the Inquisition by them be forced to sound as he would have them It is in the manner following Isaac Pennington p. 25. Denies that it was the Flesh and Blood of the Veil of the outward Earthly Nature as he calls the Body of Christ by which we are cleansed for says he Can outward Blood cleanse the Conscience Thus the Snake gives it and makes nonsense of it for by the Pieces of the Quotation as he has placed them he says that I. P. calls the Body of Christ the Flesh and Blood the Vail of the Flesh and Blood or the Outward and Earthly Nature Thus making the Body a Vail to it self But Reader I will shew thee from the Book it self that I. P. is neither Nonsensical in his Expression nor Heretical in his Meaning but Scriptural
Sacrament of Baptism as Carnal and Hurtful And it may be asked how he would have censur'd the appointing for Institutions and Sacraments what was not so appointed by our Saviour himself or any of his Brethren the Apostles Ibid. And let me here seriously mind these Quakers and admonish others how their Neglect of the Outward Ordinances and Signs has lost to them the Reality and the Thing signified This Snake hath as before shewn pretended great Charity for us yet here sticks not to damn us all See Reader his Hypocrisie he pretends to object against us and hath made a particular Section on that Head That we damn all but our selves of which in its place Yet here in great Charity and as himself says seriously we have lost the Reality and the Thing signified which he will say is Christ then necessarily Salvation which is only by him But it is well for us that this Snake whether serious or scoffing whether profane or arrogant and at times he is all these is still wrong and false For we can in deep Humility of Soul thank God that thro' the Manifestations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts we are kept in fresh and living Remembrances of the Love of God in Jesus Christ to us ward and as we open at his Voice we do witness him to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 I will come into him and sup with him and he with me Ibid. For it had been impossible for any who had been kept in the constant use and practice of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to have forgot Christ's outward Dying and Shedding of his Blood And is it not as much impossible for those who witness Christ to fulfil his Promise Rev. 3.20 in them to forget his outward Crucifixion and shedding of his Blood I think it is not less impossible and I am very sure it is not less Beneficial for a Man to witness the Spiritual Supper of Christ in and with him than it is for a Man without such Spiritual Knowledge to have only the Outward Remembrances of Christ by outward Bread and Wine Now if the Snake will say and prove that it is impossible for all such who have the Outward Ordinances to miss of the Spiritual Knowledge of Christ that might be somewhat to the purpose but the Contrary is too plain Yet it is absolutely and always impossible for all those who do Spiritually Sup with Christ as mentioned Rev. 3.20 while they do so Sup with him to forget him No it cannot be but that Daily Bread which he breaks to those who seek him will preserve the Soul which does receive it alive to bless and praise his Name Ibid. p. 70. The Devil having stoln from us the Body or Outward Part of Religion the Soul soon disappeared If the Devil has done so by this Snake it is otherwise than we may observe he commonly does by Mankind For it was the Complaint of God by his Prophets against the Jews of old that they had lost the Soul of Religion while they kept the Body or Outward Part. The like Complaint our Saviour made of the Pharisees who had clean outsides The like Complaint was made against the Romanists by our first Reformers viz. that they had the Body or Outward Part of Religion but the Soul of it was disappear'd And for all the Snake's suggestion the Devil holds the same Course And he may have as Gay an outside as he will while he continues so deceitful within as he is Ibid. Religion can no more live and be preserved to us here while we are in the Body without outward and corporal means than the Soul can live to us here while we are upon the Earth without our Body and hence the Corporal Service Rom. 12.1 The Snake has here as in many other places advanced a false and dangerous Tenet little if any thing differing from the opus operatum of the Papists which he would shrowd under the Patronage of Rom. 12.1 which Scripture is directly opposite to his Assertion as we shall presently see He hath asserted Religion cannot be preserved without Corporal Means Now it is an undoubted Truth that true Religion cannot be begotten in the Heart of Man by other means than the secret and inward influences of the Holy Spirit and as this only and alone can beget it so it is this only and alone that can preserve it When it is thus begoten inwardly in the Heart it is indeed the means of those outward services being acceptable to God But outward services cannot be the means of it for we cannot present our Bodies a Living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service Rom. 12.1 By any other means than by having our Souls and Spirits subjected to the Guidance and Influences of the Holy Spirit and therefore it was that the Apostle advised Timothy 1 Tim. 4.8 For Bodily exercise profiteth little but Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And to be sure this Godliness must be first inward before it appear outward And it is the means of all our outward reasonable Service but outward Service cannot be the means of inward Obedience But further When the Apostle advises Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service He is not bidding the Romans take the Corporal Means of Bread and Wine no such matter But is directing them to an Inward Work for he says vers 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your Mind And if this Corporal Means Bread and Wine did thus transform and renew the Mind this Snake with many others who partake of it could not be so wicked as they are Ibid. This is so necessary and plain a Truth that those who take upon them to abrogate the Outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up others of their own as has been before observ'd of the Quakers Institution of Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings Concerning Womens Preachings and Meetings hath been sufficiently spoken therefore need not repeat it here But to his Argument that they who abrogate the outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time invent and set up new ones c. I have this to say That if from the Commission Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore teach all Nations Baptizing them c. must of necessity be understood Baptism with Water and that Infants must be understood to be within the Limits of it It may be convenient for the Snake to shew without taking to himself the liberty of a Despotick and Arbitrary Interpretation why Infants are not within the limits of 1 Cor. 11.25 26. and that they must not communicate of the Bread and Wine If the Snake will take a liberty so differently to interpret places of Scripture and
the Papists print her answers and particularly Her Apology which was published 1617. From which it will be necessary to give briefly as I can her Answers to some of the Papists Charges afore-mentioned For it would take me up too much room and time to transcribe the Answers to them all tho' they are all well worth reading The Apology is writ in Latin and divided into 61 several Articles or Answers I shall give it as it is in the Book it self and then render it in English In doing of which if I hurt not the sense I desire of my Reader that less faults may be overlook'd The first Answer that I shall transcribe is to that Charge and Objection of the Romanists that they had Contention and Division among themselves And is in these words Eant ergo sane pacem potiùs inter suos domi sanciant Vnitas quidem consensio maximè convenit Religioni Non tamen est ea propria nota Ecclesiae Dei. Summa Enim erat consentio inter eos qui adorabant Aureum vitulum inter eos qui conjunctis vocibus in Servatorem Nostrum Jesum Christum clamabant crucifige Neque quia Corinthii Dissensionibus inter se laborabant aut quia Paulus à Petro aut Barnabas â Paulo aut Christiani Statim sub ipsis initiis Evangelii aliqua de re à se mutuò dissidebant idcirco nulla erat inter eos Ecclesia Dei Illi quidem quos isti contumeliae causà appellant Zuinglianos Lutheranos re autem verâ sunt utrique Christiani inter se amici ac fratres Non de principiis aut fundamentis Religionis nostrae non de Deo non de Christo non de Spiritu Sancto non de ratione Justificationis non de aeterna vita tantum de una nec ea ita gravi aut magna quaestione inter se dissentiunt Nec desperamus vel potiùs non dubitamus brevi fore concordiam et si qui sunt qui aliter sentiant quam par est positis aliquando affectionibus nominibus Deum id illis esse Patefacturum ut re melius animadversâ atque exploratâ quod olim in Calcedonensi Concilio factum est omnes dissentionum causae fibrae ab ipsis radicibus extirpentur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepeliantur Sempiterna Amen Let them rather therefore go and establish Peace among themselves For in the forgoing Article is objected the variety of Dissentions amongst the Papists in their several orders Unity and Agreement is indeed most seemly in Religion yet it is not a certain and proper Mark of the Church of God For among those who worshipped the Golden Calf and among those who with conjoined Voices cried out against our Saviour Jesus Christ Crucifie him there was greatest agreement and accord Neither because the Corinthians laboured under Dissentions among themselves or because Paul from Peter or Barnabas from Paul or that under the very beginnings of the Gospel the Christians did in some things differ among themselves Was there therefore among them no Church of God Truly those who they in reproach and taunt call Zuinglians and Lutherans are really both Christians and among themselves Friends and Brethren For not concerning Principles or the Fundamentals of our Religion not concerning God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit not concerning the reason of Justification and Eternal Life Only concerning one and that not weighty or great Question Do they differ among themselves Neither do we despair but rather doubt not that that shortly will be agreed And if there are who think otherwise than is equal which sometimes hath its foundation in Names and Affections God will make it manifest to them that the thing may be better considered and more certainly known which was sometime done in the Council of Calcedon where were extirpated all Dissentions from their roots and causes and buried in a perpetual Oblivion Amen Upon which it may not be amiss to ask the Snake what certain proofs he can give that the Divisions since such there were or to use his own words the various Sects which were sown and set up about the middle of the last Century were not sown and set up by Rome And that these about the middle of this Century were It also will be proper for him to shew why the Church's Answer concerning Dissension does not suit us in answer to him as it did Her in answer to Rome For it is no proof barely to affirm as he does p. 187. Of this many Instances may be given and Proofs undeniable I say this is no Proof and any further he does not offer for he hath not given one of the many Instances of which he with great assurance says they are Proofs undeniable He expected surely that his Reader should take his Ipse dixit and ask no further Proof But that knowing it as I do in this as in many other particulars to be false and Scandalous I do therefore so far as his Assertion relates to us viz. That the Quakers were sown and set up by Rome deny his Charge and require him to prove it by the best Instances which he can which when he shall offer if we cannot disprove them I shall be content to say with him That Romish Emissaries did set up Quakerism in England But till then it must be accounted for one of his Falshoods Ibid. p. 187. Enthusiasm when it is a Delusion or falsly pretended is the surest means to overthrow all Church-Government and Order and all Sobriety of Religion for it is no less than Blasphemy falsly to pretend to extraordinary Inspirations from God Enthusiasm or Inspiration falsly pretended is all this But what is that to the purpose The Question is not now what Enthusiasm falsly pretended is But whether that Enthusiasm or Divine Inspiration of which we speak be false If the Snake prove not that which he can never he does but Plough the Air or strive to make Ropes of Sand. His attempts are foolish as well as false because that whatsoever Enthusiasm falsly pretended may be yet the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit of God which is the Enthusiasm that we own and profess does at this day as in all the Ages of the World first beget a People to be the Church of God and having so begotten them does lead them into such Order and Sobriety as does become that Holy Religion which it teaches Ibid. p. 188. And this Doctrine of Enthusiasm came chiefly from the Church of Rome Labade a Jesuit set it up in Holland and Robert Barclay the Quaker was tinctured with it in his younger Years in the Stotch Convent at Paris and John Vaughton was a Roman Catholick who is now a great Preacher among the Quakers in London and William Southby a Preacher now among them in Pensilvania As particular and positive as the Snake here is concerning the place from whence Enthusiasm came and who set it up in Holland
above-mentioned p. 45. made a Quotation from T. E's Further Discovery p. 99. thus In comparing the Books of Friends to the Books of them called the Greek and Latin Fathers He has not done as a Friend and Brother but as an Enemy in supposing Friends Books to have been written by no better Guidance or clearer Sight than theirs who lived and wrote in those dark Times Upon this G. K. remark'd to his Auditory You see how modest they are here At this Remark G. K. says his Auditors gave a Shout signifying as he says Their dislike that the Quakers Books should be preferred so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the Days of the Apostles To all this T. Ellwood in his Answer to G. K's Narrative as above in p. 177 178. replies One might wonder here at the cause of his Auditors Shouting For such of them as could understand what was meant by Greek and Latin Fathers one might expect should be Men of greater Wisdom and Gravity than to Shout in such Assemblies and for the Vndiscerning Mobb it was a subject so much above their Capacity and Pretences that it cannot be supposed they should Shout at that if they had not been excited thereunto by some little Antick Gesticulation from him But to the matter They shouted he says signifying their dislike that the Quakers Books should be prefer'd so far to the Greek and Latin Fathers next to the days of the Apostles These are not my words I did not refer to the Times next to the days of the Apostles But my words were Who lived and writ in those Dark Times Must those Dark Times needs be next to the Days of the Apostles See what an unfair stretch is this Thus T. Ellwood And yet as unfair as G. K's stretch was the Snake has stretch'd beyond him and pronounces They the Quakers run them down by wholesale But whether it be so or not I leave with the sober Reader to judge and shall observe by the way that how jealously tender soever he is of the names of them he calls Ancient and Holy Fathers Yet Bishop Jewel being prest with some Authorities brought from them by his Opponent Harding the Jesuit makes no scruple to do what this Snake calls run them down by wholesake for applying to his Reader he says That Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World were brought against him And the Bishop then queries Who would not be afraid to see such an Army come against him Howbeit gentle Reader be of good Cheer all this is but a Camisado These be but Vizards they be no Faces they are brought in like Mummers for a Shew and say nothing Jewel against Harding p. 6. Printed 1566. What will the Snake think of the light Character given of Doctors in all Ages and in all parts of the World And were it proper in this place I could add plenty of Instances that many of the Reform'd have made so bold with those this Snake calls Ancient and Holy Fathers as to run them down If to discover their Errors and slight their Authority as incompetent when offered in Contradiction to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit which gave them forth be so Ibid. p. 194. But now what Quarters shall we have If the Snake ask for himself the answer is ready if it be such as he deserves it will be none of the best For one who tells Lyes for Bread and can pawn all the pretences of Religion upon the Score of Malice and base Design may easily guess what value is to be put upon such an Undertaking Ibid. p. 194. How shall we be able to stand before them It is a Question the Snake may well ask concerning himself after so many Injuries of divers sorts and so great Injustice as he is guilty of towards us the weight of which may well be some pressure upon a Spirit that is at all on this side Obduration Ibid. They damn us all together to Hell i. e. all Christians It is false we Damn none no not the Snake much less all Christians Ibid. But they are more favourable to the Heathen whom they think Worshippers of the same Light with them and not led to Outward Things by the Belief of an Outward Christ and Faith in his outward Sufferings Death c. This Snake has an unusual degree of Impudence for he is not contented only to suborn our Books and pervert our Words and forge Lyes but he does bely our very Thoughts and say we Think what we never declared we did Think For we have never declared That the Heathens indefinitely speaking were obedient to the Light of Jesus Christ But we have often said according to the Apostle Acts 10.35 In every Nation he who feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him And concerning the Heathen in particular with the Apostle Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves Which sheweth the work of the Law written in the Heart And of such Heathens who do thus shew forth the Work of the Law written in their Hearts we may say when considered and compared with meer Nominal Christians who have not known the Inward Vertue of what they believe Christ did Outwardly Suffer as our Saviour did say concerning the Pharisee and the Publican Luke 18.14 I tell you this Man departed to his house justified rather than the other For a Man may have a Historical Faith of all the Outward Things which are recorded in Holy Writ that Christ did and suffered Yet through disobedience to the Holy Spirit which Reproveth for Sin John 16.18 he may never know that Faith begotten in him which gives victory over the World Yet hence it 's not to be concluded that such who are obedient to the Holy Spirit in its Reproofs for Sin do therefore slight much less disbelieve any part of what Christ outwardly did and suffered No they cannot but must and do highly value and esteem It knowing the Benefits that we receive by it and do bless God that it is our Lots to have the means of the Knowledge of what Christ did outwardly do So that the Snake is most injuriously Abusive in his false Insinuations to the contrary The Snake now turns again to G. F's Great Mystery from whence not unlike the Quacks of the Town who of their pretended Panacea's boast they will cure all Diseases he pretends to fetch proofs for every Charge tho' contradictory to themselves but how falsly I have at least in some measure shewn As that the Quakers at first setting up pretended to be equal and of the same substance with God And it must also prove that the Quakers now abated from that and do now only claim to be Infallible as Prophets and Apostles Again Great Mystery must prove that there was a time when there was no God p. 122. And also that not the
Answer to that Common Objection against the Quakers that they Damn all but themselves The words are these This then is the sum of our Answer in this respect We are not against the Life and Power of Godliness where-ever it hath appeared or yet appears under the Vail of any form whatsoever Nay all persons who singly wait upon the Lord in the simplicity and sincerity of their Hearts whether under any form or out of forms that matters little to us are very dear unto us in the Lord. But we are against all Forms Images Imitations and Appearances which betray the simplicity and sincerity of the Heart keep the Life in bondage and endanger the loss of the Soul And too many such now there are which hold the Immortal Seed of Life in Captivity under Death over which we cannot but mourn and wait for the breaking of the Chains and its rising out of all its Graves into its own pure Life Power and Fulness of Liberty in the Lord. This Testimony which has been published now near 40 years and others of like tendency which I could produce but that I would be as brief as may be shews that from the first we have not Damn'd all the Christian World as is falsly said by this Adversary SECT XV. The Holy Spirit Professed by the Quakers proved to be neither Venemous or Nasty as charged by the Snake but prov'd to be his own True Character HAving thus shewn the falsity of the Snake's Charge of our Damning all the Christian World and on the contrary prov'd that Love and Charity which we have from the first had and shewn to all the sincere hearted under any Form So herein I hope to make appear that the respect wherewith we have treated Men hath been according to it and that if Words and Language may be allowed to discover the Furious Spiteful and Envious Ebullitions of a distorted Soul that then the Snake hath discovered so much Ibid. p. 198. Kind and Sweet Expressions are natural to Love and Good Nature as Furious Spiteful Envious and other Grating and Violent Passions do naturally vent themselves in the like wicked and hateful Ebullitions of a Distorted Soul Love and Good Nature have no doubt expressions suitable to their Quality and Occasion which in their utterance are always Kind but may sometimes not be otherwise Sweet than as Reproof and Rebuke may be said to be when properly and seasonably given And on the contrary Fury Spight and Envy have ever Expressions suitable to their Wicked and Hateful Nature and are level'd against Men in order to their Hurt and Destruction and have falshood for their original but are not always tho' often in violent manner for they are sometimes cover'd with Hypocrisie Instances of both Violent and Hypocritical I shall anon shew in the Snake after that I have told my Reader that as Words and Language are the Servants of the Mind so they are to be varied as the occasions thereof require Hence Kind and Sweet Expressions are properly to be given to Men and Actions that are Good and Honest And it is as proper by a Sharp and Kind Severity to express the Just Indignation of the Mind against the Evil Actions of Wicked Men. A multitude of Examples in both kinds we have in Holy Writ where the Dejected the Disconsolate the Mourner and the Penitent are comforted by the Kind and Sweet Expressions of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Holy Prophets and Apostles as does also our Lord himself It being the way of the Holy Spirit by Love unfeigned to seek and to save Mankind But on the contrary to the Hypocritical the Wicked and Impenitent it hath been the way of the Holy Spirit by sharp and severe expressions even such sometimes as in ordinary discourse might not be seemly or convenient to reprove them How severely doth God both in the Law and in the Prophets threaten the punishment of Idolaters even in terms which the Rabinnical Scholiasts have thought fit to alter in obedience to that foolish rule in their Talmud that all words which in the Law are writ obscenely must be chang'd to more civil words Milton's Apology Printed 1642 p. 25. Much so foolishly wise wou'd this Snake appear in refusing to allow what God at times as occasion did require hath thought fit to speak thro' his Servants Thus the Holy Prophet Elijah hath pronounced from the Lord concerning Jezabel the Daughter of Eth-baal King of Zidon as mentioned 2 Kings 9.37 And the Carcass of Jezabel shall be as Dung upon the Ground Thus also the Lord by his Prophet Jeremiah threatneth the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Jer. 8.2 That they should be as Dung upon the Earth And the Prophet Malachi 2.3 Behold I will cast Dung upon your Faces even the Dung of your Solemn Feasts and you shall be like unto it And the Prophet Isaiah rebuking the Wickedness of the Priests and Prophets telleth them all Tables are full of Vomit and Filthiness so that there is no place clean Isai. 28.8 The Prophet Habakkuk when he objected to the People their Secret Nakedness he tells them The Cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful Spuing shall be upon thy Glory These with abundance more Instances there are in the Holy Scriptures which are sufficient to shew that Love and Good Nature for such is the Holy Spirit doth not always use such as in the account of this Snake are to be called Kind and Sweet Expressions No for tho' the Spirit of God is Purity and Meekness it self yet in the reproving the Iniquities of Men it hath often used severe expressions Thus John the Baptist calls the Hypocritical Jews a Generation of Vipers Our Saviour calls Herod a Fox and told the Wicked Jews they were of their Father the Devil The Proto Martyr Stephen detects their Hypocrisie as Paul does the injustice of the High-Priest The Snake will surely not be so Blasphemous as to say these were in them the marks of Fury Spight or Envy c. Nor will it be answer sufficient for him to say of all these and others of like sort recorded in Holy Writ that he believes them to be the immediate Dictates of the Spirit of God But that all such Speeches since that time are the effects of Fury Spight and Envy and that they are the wicked and hateful Eubullitions of a Distorted Soul unless he can shew that God hath promised that he will no more through his Servants in like manner rebuke the iniquities of Men. This as denied by the Snake puts him upon a worse Dilemma for all those in him which are not Kind and Sweet Expressions And some such I think he has They must of necessity be Furious Spightful and Envious and the wicked and hateful Ebullitions of his Distorted Soul of which I will give some Instances when I have first shewn that if it be denied that the Instances above are Authorities for us to build on Yet that
the Socinians I do still confess That as the Reasonable Soul and Body is One Man so He that is God and Man is One Christ. And whether this will give Satisfaction to an Implacable Adversary or no I value not knowing my Conscience Clear in the Sight of Him who Judgeth Righteously which I am sure this my Unjust Judge and False Accuser is not who presently after he has stiled me Honest George unjustly Brands me with Infamy as Sophistry Delusion Depths of Satan Mystery of Iniquity Equivocation Jesuitical Confession c. Oh! Rank Malice Bitter Envy c. As for my Confession in the 7th Art alledged against me it stands good and true viz. We own no such saying as that the Holy Doctrine or Divine Precepts of Scripture is either Dust Death or the Serpent's Meat but truly profitable to us by the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit given to us c. And this was in direct Opposition to F. Bugg's saying These Quakers who pretend to own the Precepts and Doctrine of the Bible to be Holy and Blessed yet say 't is Dust and Death the Serpent's Meat c. Apol. Introd p. 18. to his New Rome We do not believe any of these Quakers ever so said of the Precepts and Doctrine nor do they own any such Saying I wholly disown it But then to beg the Question What was it you called Dust and Serpents Meat Was it nothing else but the Ink and Paper Did any Body ever say That these were not Dust Or Is that any part of the Controversie betwixt us Snake p. 177. Here he yields the Point he grants the Ink and Paper to be Dust. I said Will decay and turn to Dust but so will not the Word the Gospel nor the Holy Doctrine contain'd in Scripture And it has been confess'd by F. B. and others That Holiness is not ascrib'd to the Paper and Ink or Inky Characters that will decay but to the Holy Doctrine and Precepts which will not decay but be permanent and endure and therefore are called the Holy Scriptures with respect to the Holy Matters therein contained That the Books and Writings in Ink and Paper will wear out so will not the Word is evident Jehoiakim King of Judah could burn Jeremiah the Prophet's Roll or Book writ with â—nk by Baruch but not the Word of the Lord nor properly the Words thereof for the same Word caused all the former Words to be written again after the Roll was burnt Jer. 36. If then the Books the Paper and Ink be combustible or will decay and turn to Dust but not the Word nor the Doctrine where 's then the Controversie indeed when the same thing is granted on both sides He quotes Gr. Myst. p. 302. as saying Paper and Ink is not Infallible that will come to Dust unto which the Word Christ and the Spirit is preferred in the same place quoted And in the said Gr. Myst. p. 78. by Letter he there means Paper and Ink but the Scripture the thing it speaks of is Spiritual the Word is Spirit And further p. 127. the Scripture or Writing it self without the Spirit that gave it forth is a dead Letter in it self The Spirit is that that gave forth the Scriptures For my part as I am not in the least conscious to my self of the least Contempt of Holy Scripture nor yet of the Bible for I have always preferr'd it to all other Books extant in the World and more affected Reading therein than any other Book even from my Childhood and often bless Divine Providence for preserving to us the Scriptures So I know of none among us guilty of contemning them Neither is what 's said from any Contempt of Scripture no more than it is of the Earth and the Heavens to say They shall wax old and perish but the Word that made them endureth Psal. 102.25 26. Heb. 1.11 12. But say what we can in this Case to clear our selves of any Contempt to the Holy Scripture this our uncharitable Judge and Accuser will not believe us He 's bent to asperse he has swallow'd down so much of the sour Leven of the Malice of a few false Brethren Persecutors and Apostates from whom he derives much of his Authority and thus scurrilously and most falsly imposes upon me viz. And therefore George notwithstanding all thy meally Modesty it is it is indeed George it is the very Doctrine of the Scriptures which you blaspheme as Dust and Death and Serpents Meat on purpose to bring Men off from trying your pernicious Heresies by those Sacred Oracles Ibid. This is a pernicious Abuse and Calumny against my self and others of us to out-face us against our very Sense and Consciences and in good Conscience I Testifie against it it never entred into my Intention or Thoughts so to blaspheme the Doctrine of the Scriptures as to term or deem it Dust Death or Serpents Meat the Lord rebuke this lying envious Spirit Neither do I vilifie the written Doctrine and Precepts of God in comparison of our New Light as he falsly calls it p. 177. but reverently esteem them The Man makes no Conscience of Defaming us Neither do we quarrel with the Law and the Testimony nor yet with Writing or Scripture as 't is in Ink and Paper but distinguish between the Writing and the Things written which is no contempt to either We are thankful to Divine Providence for both the Scripture or Writing and the Holy Doctrine and Divine Precepts therein written for they testifie unto Christ our Light and our Light to the Truth of them And to what he saith If any do not teach the same i. e. according to the Law and the Testimony or written Word it is because there is no Light in them Isa. 8.20 And then puts this Emphasis upon it No Light George Mark that Your false Pretences to the Light within are here over-rul'd Ibid. I deny that our Pretences to the Light within is either false or are here over-rul'd if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Morning to them If he 'll see the Note from the Hebrew in some Bibles he may see no Morning in the Margin over against no Light Then let him Mark that But is there no Light in the Creation before Morning either inward or outward pray Did not the Light shine in Darkness before it shined out of Darkness And had not the Believers a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they did well to take heed as unto a Light shining in a dark place until the Day dawned and the Day-star arose in their Hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 And are not many reproved by the Light in them for telling Lies and speaking contrary to the Word c. And therefore there was some true Light in them before the Morning appeared to them And though my Accuser says Ibid. These and such-like Texts detect and explode the miserable Ignorance and Blasphemy of these Pretenders to Light For which we have