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<DATE>2015-02-09</DATE>
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<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<PB REF="1">
<P> A REPLY To a Pretended ANSWER, <HI>By a Namele&s;s Author,</HI> TO VV. P's. KEY, In which the PRINCIPLES Of the People of God called QUAKERS Are further Explain'd and Confirm'd.</P>
<P>By <HI>William Penn.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Thomas Northcott,</HI> in <HI>George-Yard</HI> in <HI>Lombard&s;treet,</HI> MDCXCV.</P>
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="3" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>A REPLY TO A Pretended An&s;wer TO <HI>W. P</HI>'s. KEY, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THO' I &s;ubmit to Controver&s;ie as my <HI>Drudgery,</HI> not my Plea&s;ure, otherwi&s;e than as it is my Duty, yet, I cannot but &s;ay, I am. <HI>Glad</HI> that the publick Con|tradiction of a Namele&s;s Author to a &s;mall Treati&s;e of m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">e, called a <HI>Key,</HI> clearing our Principles from vulgar Ap|prehen&s;ions,
<PB N="4" REF="3"> gives me further occa&s;ion to declare and ju&s;tifie them to the World. In the doing of which, I &s;hall endeavour, with God's A&s;&s;i&s;tance, &s;o to govern my &s;elf, that my Antagoni&s;t &s;hall &s;ee it has not been in his Power, with all his &s;cornfull and abu&s;ive Treat|ment of me, my Friends, and our Holy Religion, to provoke me to any other towards him in my <HI>Reply</HI> than what is &s;uitable to Chri&s;tianity; whil&s;t with great Levity and Prejudice, he will by no means allow us to be <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI></P>
<P>My <HI>Reply</HI> will be &s;hort, but I hope clear and &s;atisfactory; in order to which I &s;hall ob&s;erve this Method.</P>
<P N="1">I. <HI>His Mi&s;takes in Point of Fact, and the &V;&s;e he would make of them.</HI></P>
<P N="2">II. <HI>His In&s;inuations and In&s;incerity.</HI></P>
<P N="3">III. <HI>His Abu&s;ive Terms and Taunts up|on us.</HI></P>
<P N="4">IV. <HI>His pretended An&s;wers and Interpre|tations of Scripture. And,</HI></P>
<P N="5"><PB N="5" REF="3"> V. <HI>Our Principles, &s;o far as declared, and by Scripture defended in the</HI> Key, <HI>maintained again&s;t the Attempts of this Author, and further Explained and Confirmed for a Publick Good.</HI></P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>I. <HI>His Mi&s;takes in Point of Fact, and the &V;&s;e he would make of them.</HI></HEAD>
<P>He begins his An&s;wer with a Pa&s;&s;age meerly per&s;onal, and not at all relative to the Nature of the Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> about a Pamphlet, writ in Defence of the <HI>Bill for excluding the Duke of</HI> York, <HI>intituled,</HI> A few Words about the touchy Point of Succe&s;&s;ion: <HI>Teaching the Parliament, That when they had made fir&s;t an Addre&s;s to the Duke to relin|qui&s;h his Right to the Crown; if he re|fu&s;ed, then (but not before) they might not only Ju&s;tly, but Civilly exclude him by an Act&mdash;When</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>I had per|u&s;ed this Piece, without judging the Me|rits of the Cau&s;e, or the Wittine&s;s of the Argument, I concluded that</HI> W. P. <HI>was</HI>
<PB N="6" REF="4"> then <HI>a Man</HI> principled <HI>for the</HI> Civil Li|berties <HI>of his Country.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> But if I may be &s;o bold with this Author, Pray, why then Principl'd for Civil Liberties and not afterwards? and why this upon me at all? But why at this Time and upon this Occa&s;ion, of &s;o differing a nature, to be brought in by Head and Shoulders, as the Proverb is? But what if I never writ &s;uch a Pamphlet? <HI>(as to be &s;ure I did not)</HI> what's to be &s;aid to and of &s;uch an Au|thor in &s;uch a Ca&s;e, and in &s;uch a Time, and to a Man under <HI>my</HI> Circum&s;tances? Let him know then. That I did not only never write &s;uch a Pamphlet, but I am &s;ure <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">t I do not remember I ever read one of &s;uch a Title, or heard of it; Nor was I of that Principle, and there|fore I return the Civility of his Conclu|&s;ion to him again; for I thank God I was always &s;o much for Civil Liberties, that I thought no Man ought to lo&s;e them for his religious Principles. And fur|ther, That they were never to be &s;ecu|red
<PB N="7" REF="4"> by <HI>this</HI> or <HI>that</HI> Man, but by a <HI>Good and Equal Con&s;titution of Government,</HI> as &s;ome Papers by me, which I writ at that time, as well as divers Per&s;ons yet living, of good Reputation, can evi|dence for me.</P>
<P>But his next Paragraph explains the Matter, wherein he &s;peaks thus: <HI>I could no otherwi&s;e reconcile the Folly of his Prevarications in the late Reign, than by imputing them to his intemperate Zeal for a boundle&s;s Liberty of Con&s;cience (ac|cording to the Doctrine of K.</HI> James<HI>'s Declaration).</HI></P>
<P>In this he would be Charitable, but let him fir&s;t be ju&s;t. If there were no Prevarications, then there is no need of an intemperate Zeal for Liberty to &s;ha|dow or reconcile them to my former Principles. And I am &s;o much a Friend to him and his Brethren, that I wi&s;h them free from all <HI>Intemperance</HI> and <HI>Pre|varications</HI> too, and that in <HI>all</HI> Reigns. And if it be po&s;&s;ible, or worth while to reconcile him better to my Conduct, let him peru&s;e my <HI>Great Ca&s;e of Liberty</HI>
<PB N="8" REF="5"> <HI>of Con&s;cience,</HI> printed 1671. and my Letter to the <HI>E&s;tates of</HI> Embden, 1672. and my <HI>Pre&s;ent State of</HI> England, 1675. and he will find I was the &s;ame Man then, and acted by the &s;ame Principles. Not more intemperate in the Reign that favoured it, than in the Reign I contend|ed with, that did not favour it: And no Man but a <HI>Per&s;ecutor,</HI> which I count a <HI>Bea&s;t of Prey,</HI> and a declared Enemy to Mankind, can without great Inju|&s;tice or Ingratitude Reproach that part I had in K. <HI>James</HI>'s Court: For I think I may &s;ay, without Vanity, upon this Provocation, I endeavoured at lea&s;t to do &s;ome Good at my own Co&s;t, and would have been glad to have done more: I am very &s;ure I intended, and I think I did harm to none, neither Par|ties nor private Per&s;ons, <HI>my own Family excepted;</HI> for which I doubt not this Author's Pardon, &s;ince he &s;hews him|&s;elf &s;o little concerned for the Ma&s;ter of it.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 8. Our Adver&s;ary mi&s;&s;es again notoriou&s;ly in Point of Fact, when he
<PB N="9" REF="5"> Charges me; of <HI>Revenging my &s;elf upon</HI> J. Faldo <HI>and</HI> T. Hicks, <HI>for baffling of me</HI> 20 <HI>Years ago.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> I had no Revenge in my Eye when I writ that <HI>Key;</HI> for 'twas writ in Pity, not in Anger; to inform and not to be revenged. I mu&s;t beg my Reader to peru&s;e it, who then can be&s;t judge if it ta&s;tes of that rank Spirit, and what Spirit this Man is of, that &s;hews &s;uch Indignation at it; as well as &s;ee how meanly he has performed his Pretence of an An&s;wer, that meddles not with the twentieth Part of it, tho of different Subjects.</P>
<P>It is not in my Nature to remember Injuries 20 Years ago, tho' this Man commits them unprovoked: Nor had I any Temptation to it, &s;ince I had all the Satisfaction I could de&s;ire but their <HI>Con|ver&s;ion.</HI> Concerning the fir&s;t, I mu&s;t refer my &s;elf to impartial Readers; and of the la&s;t the famous <HI>Barbican</HI> and <HI>Wheeler-&s;treet</HI> Publick Di&s;putes, do give this Man the Lye. For at the la&s;t <HI>T. H.</HI> did not appear, and at the fir&s;t he
<PB N="10" REF="6"> &s;hrunk away. And if ever any &s;uch publick Di&s;pute determined with a vi|&s;ible Advantage on either Side, the im|partial, not of our Communion, gave it us. And for the <HI>Encomium</HI> he be&s;tows upon them, with the poor <HI>Indian,</HI> that de&s;ired not to go to Heaven, if the cru|el <HI>Spaniard</HI> went thither, I mu&s;t &s;ay, Let not my Soul go where their Souls are gone, if they did not heartily repent of their great Wickedne&s;s again&s;t the People of God called <HI>Quakers,</HI> and their Holy Profe&s;&s;ion, before they dyed.</P>
<P><HI>Page.</HI> 9. He &s;aith, <HI>The Light within is no Scripture Expre&s;&s;ion, and the Nation had called nothing the Light within, but the Effects of the perceptive Powers of our Minds, that is, our</HI> THOUGHTS.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> By Nation he mu&s;t either under&s;tand a Parliament or Synod, for I pre&s;ume he has not &s;poke with all the Nation. But if the Common Prayer, e&s;tabli&s;hed by Act of Parliament, have any &s;hare in the Sen&s;e of the Nation, or the <HI>Synod,</HI> or A&s;&s;embly of <HI>Divines,</HI>
<PB N="11" REF="6"> that &s;at between the Years of 40 and 50 at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> he will find <HI>ano|ther</HI> Light owned by them, than Man's <HI>own</HI> Thoughts: Which be|ing all the Light within that is owned by this Oppo&s;er, I may well return up|on him that Scripture, mi&s;quoted by him, <HI>pag.</HI> 43. <HI>If the Light that is in thee be Darkne&s;s, how great is that Dark|ne&s;s&mdash;Take heed that the Light in thee be not Darkne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall con&s;ider his abu&s;e of Scripture in another Place, and &s;hall &s;ay no more upon it at this Time, than that this Darkne&s;s being our Author's Light, he cannot comprehend the true Light; but with it oppo&s;es the true Light, and the Children of it. But that the <HI>Light within</HI> &s;hould not be a Scripture Expre&s;|&s;ion, is very &s;trange: Pray what is <HI>En|lightning</HI> but <HI>Light within?</HI> Can a Man's Mind be lighted and have no Light there? The Light is &s;aid to &s;hine in our Hearts: Can that be, and not within? But more of this when I come to con&s;ider his Op|po&s;itions to the Light.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="7">
<P> Page 15, 18, 19. <HI>Notwith&s;tanding their empty Pretence, the Quakers learn their Religion not from the Light within, but from one another. They cannot name one that was a Quaker, that was not made &s;o by hearing them, or reading their Books. That Quakeri&s;m is erected by Art, Me|thod and Management; by Con&s;ults and Clubs; all &s;ubordinate to a General A&s;|&s;embly, and not from the &s;ufficiency of any Principle in them&s;elves either of Natural or Supernatural Donation.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> This is al&s;o fal&s;e in Fact, there being many that came in a good mea&s;ure ripe to the Communion of that People, having for the mo&s;t part the &s;ame Sentiment, as all did from their own Convictions by the &s;ame Principle, tho' mediately or mini&s;terially. But if this Man had con&s;idered well, he would have &s;pared this Ab&s;urdity, for who did the fir&s;t <HI>Quaker</HI> hear? He will &s;ure|ly allow us a <HI>Beginning.</HI> However, I would have him know, No Man can &s;ee Divine Truth by another Man's Speak|ing or Writing, but through Divine
<PB N="13" REF="7"> Light, that &s;hines in him&s;elf, giving him the Under&s;tanding thereof: For tho' the Spirit of Man knows the things of a Man, yet the things of God knows no Man, but the Spirit of God: And therefore it is upon Conviction, and not human Authority that our Religion is built. And 'tis great Uncharitable|ne&s;s in this Opponent, as well as Inju|&s;tice, to charge a whole People with a Confederacy <HI>again&s;t them&s;elves</HI> to their Temporal Wo and Eternal De&s;truction. That &s;o much Sobriety, Patience, Self|denyal, Suffering, Con&s;tancy through all Times and Conditions, &s;hould be in|terpreted <HI>Trick, Jugling, Legerdemain, on purpo&s;e to couzen the World and their own Souls;</HI> as this Author is plea&s;ed to render them. But to inform him a little better, if yet he needs it; tho&s;e Clubs, as he is plea&s;ed to term them, that are &s;ubordinate to a General A&s;&s;embly, are not Meetings to define and <HI>injoyn Faith</HI> or <HI>&V;niformity of Wor&s;hip,</HI> wherein Con|&s;cience is more immediately exerci&s;ed; But Meetings of Order and Di&s;cipline,
<PB N="14" REF="8"> to take Care of the <HI>Poor,</HI> of <HI>Fatherle&s;s</HI> and <HI>Widows,</HI> and that all walk up to the Holy Profe&s;&s;ion they make: Which, I hope, is no Argument again&s;t us, as if we embraced our Religion by Rote, and not by the <HI>Illuminations</HI> and <HI>Convi|ctions</HI> of the Light and Spirit of Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 52. And <HI>W. P. thinks it con&s;i|&s;tent with the Honour that is due to the Scripture to compare it with</HI> Roman <HI>Legends.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> He would have done well to have cited the Place where I had done &s;o ill. I mu&s;t leave it to my Reader to do me ju&s;tice again&s;t this gro&s;s Writer, who &s;ays one of the wor&s;t things with|out the lea&s;t Proof. I am &s;ure I could no more have been guilty of &s;uch an Ex|pre&s;&s;ion than of renouncing my own Belief; I pray God forgive him: But I would have him remember <HI>that he is</HI> one Day to be judged for this Abu&s;e.</P>
<P>I come to the Second Head of my Reply, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<PB N="15" REF="8">
<HEAD>II. <HI>His In&s;inuations and In&s;incerity.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 4. <HI>W. P.</HI> a&s;&s;erting in &s;undry Pieces, Liberty of Con&s;cience, to be <HI>ex Jure Naturali, has de&s;troyed all Mo|rality, confounded Ble&s;&s;ings and Cur&s;es, Good and Evil, &s;omewhat wor&s;e than</HI> Hobbs <HI>him&s;elf; for he only a&s;&s;erts a Na|tural Liberty, but this a Divine Privi|lege to do Wickedne&s;s in the Name of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> He has not quoted any one Book, le&s;s the Place, where he makes me capable of being guilty of &s;o dan|gerous a Principle; which, I hope, without being partial, I may &s;ay, is ve|ry di&s;ingenuous. If he can point me to any part of my Writings, in Defence of that Noble Principle of Liberty, that has not in it a &s;ufficient <HI>Saving</HI> to Mo|rality, I will ask him and the World Forgivene&s;s; and if it has, I hope he knows who&s;e part it is to cry <HI>Peccavi.</HI> But to in&s;inuate I writ for Liberty of Con&s;cience, as a natural Right for tho&s;e
<PB N="16" REF="9"> that &s;hould plead Con&s;cience to over|throw it, becau&s;e I did maintain it in Favour of tho&s;e that kept within the Bounds of Morality, is to &s;hew none towards me.</P>
<P><HI>Page.</HI> 6. He very weakly as well as unworthily in&s;inuates, a near Relation betwixt me and the <HI>Je&s;uits.</HI> Fir&s;t, &s;ome one of the Society may have at one time or other had a Title-Page with the Words, <HI>Mi&s;repre&s;ented</HI> and <HI>Repre&s;ented</HI> in it, which makes up a part of mine, with which he is &s;o angry; as if Title-Pages were Confe&s;&s;ions of Faith, or that the &s;ame Words might not be u&s;ed by Men of different Per&s;wa&s;ions. It is to &s;ay, becau&s;e Mi&s;repre&s;ented may be mi&s;applyed, therefore 'tis not to be u&s;ed. Any man may be mi&s;repre&s;ented, mu&s;t be not therefore repre&s;ent him&s;elf aright for fear of being a <HI>Je&s;uit?</HI> This, to be &s;ure, gives a very ill Repre&s;enta|tion of him.</P>
<P>In the next Place he &s;ays, <HI>W. P. Imp|ing the Je&s;uit again, he repre&s;ents his own Religion as like ours as may be,</HI>
<PB N="17" REF="9"> <HI>by the new &s;oftning Method of</HI> Meaux.</P>
<P>Truly, I don't know what Religion he is of; for he has no more told us that, than his Name; but a Prote&s;tant, I &s;uppo&s;e, at large: And yet I am rea|dy to think I can &s;ub&s;cribe as many of the Doctrines of the Reformation as him&s;elf. But if our Religion be &s;o like it, why does he labour in his whole Treati&s;e to render ours &s;o gro&s;sly contra|ry to theirs? Contrary things don't look alike, for then they cannot properly be &s;aid to be contrary. And if we are of &s;o &s;oftning a Di&s;po&s;ition, does he well to be &s;o very hard? But truly I think it no Fault to have a Religion unlike his, unle&s;s it had more of <HI>Sobriety</HI> and <HI>Charity</HI> in it. However, the <HI>Je&s;uits</HI> are much beholding to him, whatever I am, it being the fir&s;t Time I have heard their Methods e&s;teem'd &s;o &s;oft: Nor had they now had, I believe, that Complement from him, but to render us <HI>Je&s;uitical,</HI> or <HI>Popi&s;h</HI> at lea&s;t.</P>
<PB N="18" REF="10">
<P> <HI>Page</HI> 7. He adds, <HI>For</HI> W. P<HI>'s Scheme is, fir&s;t to give the Perver&s;ion of</HI> Qua|keri&s;m, <HI>and then to repre&s;ent it in Equi|vocal Terms, after his own Way.</HI></P>
<P>By which he would have the Reader think we are <HI>in&s;incere</HI> as well as Mi&s;ta|ken, and that we have a De&s;ign <HI>upon our &s;elves,</HI> to co&s;en our &s;elves as well as the World, in the great Bu&s;ine&s;s of Salva|tion. But what mu&s;t that Man be that can have &s;uch a De&s;ign? Certainly a Fool to him&s;elf and a Devil to others: But then what mu&s;t They be who ren|der Men &s;o ab&s;urd and impious, only to have their evil Ends upon their Chara|cter and Religion? Doubtle&s;s they mu&s;t be as bad every Jot. I mu&s;t needs tell him, That little Treati&s;e was not intend|ed for Criticks, but plain and ordinary Under&s;tandings; to remove Common and vulgar Prejudices; and in a Fami|liar Style, and not after the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Meaux</HI>'s Copy, which was performed with much Addre&s;s and Exactne&s;s.</P>
<PB N="19" REF="10">
<P> He &s;ays, My Terms are <HI>Equivocal.</HI> I am &s;ure I have mo&s;tly expre&s;t my &s;elf in tho&s;e of the Holy Scripture: 'Tis a &s;in|gular and unju&s;t Reflection, to &s;ay I did it in my own Way, for it is in that Way which is common to the Writers of our Per&s;wa&s;ion, and accord|ing to the Language of the Holy Gho&s;t. And it's plain from more Places than this of his Book, as <HI>p.</HI> 23, 41, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> That he would have that little Piece of mine the Fruit of great Contrivance and De|&s;ign: I know not why, unle&s;s that he might rai&s;e the greater Reputation to his own Undertaking; as he tells us, <HI>p.</HI> 5. But that will depend upon the Conclu&s;ion, which will be&s;t &s;hew how well he has acquitted him&s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 11, 12. He further in&s;inuates, <HI>That we make the Light within the Rule, not only to direct our Belief and Practice of the Chri&s;tian Religion, but to di&s;cover to Men the Hi&s;tory of the Coming and Per|formances of Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, <HI>and that he is Chri&s;t the Lord; and this with|out the Help of the Scriptures.</HI></P>
<PB N="20" REF="11">
<P> <HI>An&s;wer,</HI> Now this is very in&s;incere on his part: For tho' the Light of the Eternal Word be without Doubt &s;uffi|cient to reveal or di&s;cover tho&s;e Facts where they are not known, if God plea&s;eth, yet we never &s;aid the Light was our Rule to that purpo&s;e, but to judge of that which is revealed; or that the Di&s;coveries it made were of things Pa&s;t and <HI>Hi&s;torical,</HI> but of things immediate and practical, as of Sin, in <HI>Thought, Word</HI> and <HI>Deed,</HI> and to be daily a&s;&s;i&s;ted to live <HI>Soberly, Righte|ou&s;ly</HI> and <HI>Godly</HI> in this World: To <HI>Pray</HI> and <HI>Preach,</HI> and <HI>Wor&s;hip</HI> God; which relating to the <HI>Service</HI> of Je&s;us, and the Service of Je&s;us being by him allow|ed to be the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion, the a&s;|&s;erting of that Divine Light to be the Holy Rule of our Chri&s;tian Conduct to perform tho&s;e things, de&s;erves not &s;uch abu&s;ive <HI>In&s;inuations</HI> and <HI>Innuendo's</HI> as this Author makes upon us.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 14. He would have his Reader believe, as if there were not one Pa&s;&s;age in all my part of that Book called the
<PB N="21" REF="11"> <HI>Chri&s;tian Quaker,</HI> he can cite before it be corrected, both Style and Matter, becau&s;e he only cites one which he thinks fit to correct; calling me for it <HI>a Lewd Author,</HI> and what el&s;e he plea&s;es: But according to his u&s;ual Practice, he has incerted no Page to direct us where to find this A&s;&s;ertion. If to me he thought it not needful, I mu&s;t tell him, His Amendment is as needle&s;s; for when I &s;peak of Chri&s;t, I &s;ay <HI>He,</HI> and when of his Body, I &s;ay <HI>It:</HI> Not|with&s;tanding he charges me with other things: But, I think, through the many Books I have written, it will never be found my Practice or Mi&s;take, whatever may be the Printer's.</P>
<P>Page 23. <HI>Since the Quakers will have their Light to be common to all Men, and not natural, there is no &s;uch thing in the &V;niver&s;e.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> By which he in&s;inuates, That a Divine Light cannot be communicated to every Man, and be Divine. Would he have &s;hewn him&s;elf a candid Author, one that de&s;ired to have informed and
<PB N="22" REF="12"> not abu&s;ed us, he would have fir&s;t in|&s;tructed him&s;elf what we have &s;aid on this occa&s;ion. By Natural we mean meer Man; His <HI>Compo&s;itum</HI> or Make; that is of the <HI>Nature</HI> of Man, as he is Man: By <HI>Divine,</HI> what is <HI>above</HI> Man, and from God, to direct Man in all well-plea&s;ingne&s;s to him. Yet if by natural may be meant, that every Man that's born into the World has a Portion of this Light or Illuminating Principle to direct him in the Way to Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, I &s;hould not very much quarrel at the Word, it being in a &s;ort natural to all Men to have it, becau&s;e all Men that are born (from whence the Word Nature &s;prings) as certainly have it, as that they are born into the World. See <HI>John</HI> 1. 4, 19. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.</P>
<P>The&s;e few In&s;tances I thought fit to give of the unju&s;t In&s;inuations and In&s;in|cerity of this Author; which brings me to my Third Head, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>III. <HI>His Abu&s;ive Terms and Taunts upon us.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Indeed almo&s;t every Page is fraughted with them. My <HI>Key</HI> is a <HI>Picklock,</HI> and
<PB N="23" REF="12"> we are Imps of the <HI>Je&s;uits:</HI> Our Writ|ings are <HI>Apocryphal,</HI> our Phra&s;es like <HI>Gyp&s;ie Gibbri&s;h</HI> and <HI>Beggars Cant,</HI> our Arguments <HI>putid Sophi&s;ms,</HI> our Lead|ing Men a Pack of <HI>Juglers, Sophy&s;tical,</HI> of <HI>Suborned</HI> Sen&s;e: Men of <HI>Trick</HI> and <HI>Leger-de-main,</HI> abu&s;ing hone&s;t-meaning Men as <HI>Juglers</HI> do plain Country Peo|ple: <HI>Ranting Cant,</HI> and that I debauch the Scriptures; with much more of this Strain and Style; be&s;ides that <HI>Scorn</HI> and <HI>Levity,</HI> which very much unbe|comes one that pretends to corect others in Matters of Religion. I would fain have this Author to con&s;ider whether he has acted like one that has any Reve|rence towards God, or Compa&s;&s;ion to a mi&s;taken People, &s;uppo&s;ing us to be &s;uch. Certainly whether we are in the Right or no, he mu&s;t needs be in the Wrong, and his Religion vain, that has no better Bridle to his Tongue or Pen: Which &s;aid, I &s;hall betake my &s;elf to my Fourth Head.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="part">
<PB N="24" REF="13">
<HEAD>IV. <HI>His pretended An&s;wers and Interpre|tations of Scripture con&s;idered.</HI></HEAD>
<P>The fir&s;t Perver&s;ion, mentioned in my <HI>Key</HI> is <HI>p.</HI> 1. <HI>viz.</HI> <Q REND="margDblQuotes">The Quakers hold, That the Natural Light in the Con|&s;cience of every Man in the World is &s;ufficient to &s;ave all that follow it:</Q> Which, by the way, after the Flouri&s;h of an <HI>An&s;wer</HI> to the <HI>Key</HI> (at lea&s;t as to our Doctrine of the <HI>Light)</HI> is all that's cited by him, &s;o that my Explanations of our Principle in an&s;wer to this, and three other Perver&s;ions upon this Do|ctrine at the &s;ame time, are not &s;o much as taken notice of by this Man, that pretends to have con&s;idered them all. But let us hear what he &s;ays upon this Perver&s;ion.</P>
<P>Page 7. <HI>This is no Perver&s;ion unle&s;s an Objection made again&s;t a Tenet be a Per|ver&s;ion of a Tenet, which no Body thinks be&s;ides</HI> W. P. <HI>for we only &s;ay, That the</HI> Quakers <HI>believe that a Natural Light is &s;upernatural and Saving: We mi&s;take</HI>
<PB N="25" REF="13"> <HI>not their Meaning, but oppo&s;e it as an Error.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> He that changes the Terms of a Que&s;tion abu&s;es his Antagoni&s;t, and perverts the Argument, which is the Ca&s;e: For the People call'd <HI>Quakers</HI> ne|ver &s;aid, That a <HI>Natural</HI> Light was <HI>Su|pernatural</HI> or &s;ufficient to Salvation; and if Natural be not their Term, then it's a Perver&s;ion of their Principle. For whether they are mi&s;taken in their Prin|ciple or no is not the Que&s;tion; but whether their Principle is not mi&s;given by their Enemies. This Author &s;eems to make it <HI>Natural</HI> in another Place, be|cau&s;e we affirm 'tis <HI>Common</HI> to all, or that All are Enlightned: But this begs the Que&s;tion in Point of Argument, and will not rectifie or defend a Matter that is in Fact fal&s;e: For be&s;ides that it is not fair in any to charge their Con&s;e|quences upon others for Principles, it is plain what any People &s;ay is their Prin|ciple, is the Rule for us to know whe|ther what their Adver&s;aries &s;ay is &s;o, be their Principle or not. Sup|po&s;e
<PB N="26" REF="14"> it were true, that what is Com|mon is Natural, yet if we do not &s;ay &s;o, it is a <HI>Perver&s;ion</HI> of what we &s;ay; and as &s;uch I give it in my <HI>Key.</HI> For as I &s;aid before, What any People de|clare is their Principle, is the Rule for others to know whether what their Ad|ver&s;aries give for their Principle be theirs or not: Now whether the Light we call <HI>Divine</HI> be natural or no, &s;hall be con&s;i|dered in its Place; but that a Natural Light &s;hould be Supernatural and Sav|ing, is not <HI>our</HI> Principle, but <HI>their</HI> Per|ver&s;ion and Contradiction. Waving then any more of my <HI>Key,</HI> which he pretends to an&s;wer, he undertakes to &s;tate our Religion and Controver&s;ie be|tween us, in his own Terms and not ours; which I will not &s;ay is a <HI>Lewd,</HI> but Foul Way of treating any People or Opponent, in my Judgment; and I think I am not mi&s;taken&mdash;his Words are the&s;e.</P>
<P>Page 8. <HI>If any thing they &s;ay de&s;erves Con&s;ideration this is the Point; and of this they &s;ay,</HI> 1. <HI>That the Light within</HI>
<PB N="27" REF="14"> <HI>is the Rule of the Chri&s;tian Religion.</HI> 2. <HI>That it is God and Chri&s;t.</HI> 3. <HI>That Quakeri&s;m is taught them by it.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> I could be glad this Author &s;aid any thing that de&s;erved the Con&s;i|deration of Good and Wi&s;e Men; I am &s;ure he de&s;erves their Reproof, that will not let us confe&s;s our Faith in our own Words, nor expre&s;s our Religion in our own way. However, I will ob&s;erve what he &s;ays, as di&s;ingenuous as it is, and not write 40 Pages upon 4 Lines, as he has partially cited out of my <HI>Key,</HI> and then call it an <HI>An&s;wer.</HI> It is not our way of Speaking to &s;ay the Light within is the <HI>Rule of the Chri&s;tian Reli|gion;</HI> but that the Light of Chri&s;t with|in us is the Rule of true Chri&s;tians, &s;o that it is not our Light but Chri&s;ts Light that is our Rule. <HI>For in him was life, and that life the light of</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1. 4, 9. ch. 8. 12.</NOTE> <HI>men. Life in the word, light in men, and life too where it is obey|ed,</HI> For Chri&s;t promi&s;es <HI>the light of life to all that follow Him,</HI> the <HI>True Light that enlightens every man that cometh into the</HI>
<PB N="28" REF="15"> <HI>world.</HI> Chri&s;t him&s;elf hath made it the Rule of his Followers: <HI>But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manife&s;t that they</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">3 John 3. 21.</NOTE> <HI>are wrought in God.</HI> So that Chri&s;tians are to &s;quare their Lives by the Light of Je&s;us, therefore it is their Rule. It is the Chri&s;tian Path to Ble&s;|&s;edne&s;s. Chri&s;t exhorts his Followers to walk in the Light. The be|loved Di&s;ciple begins his Epi|&s;tles, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12. 35. 1 John 1.</NOTE> as he does his Hi&s;tory of the Go&s;pel, with the Divinity and Doctrine of the Light; telling us, That <HI>God is light; that if we would have fellow&s;hip with God, we mu&s;t walk in this light; and that the blood of Je&s;us Christ clean&s;eth tho&s;e only that walk in this light; and that religion without it is a lye,</HI> 1 Jo. 1. To which let me add, That in his Book of Revelations, con&s;onant thereunto, he &s;aith, That the Nations of them that are &s;aved &s;hall walk in the Light (of the Lamb, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21. 23, 24.) The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> makes it Univer&s;al and Ef|fectual, in his Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians,</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="15"> chap 5. 13. <HI>But all things that are re|proved</HI> (or di&s;covered) <HI>are made mani|fe&s;t by the light; for what&s;oever doth make manife&s;t is light.</HI> Now All being reprov|ed, All have Light; and &s;ince that Light manife&s;ts every thing that is known, Chri&s;t him&s;elf was known by it, and the Religion he taught, di&s;cover|ed by it, to be of God; and &s;uch only received him and it, as obeyed this Light in their Con&s;ciences. The &s;ame Light is by the &s;ame Apo&s;tle ren|dred the <HI>Chri&s;tian's Armour; And let us put on the armour of light,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>let us walk hone&s;tly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenne&s;s, not in chambering and wantonne&s;s, not in &s;trife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and make no provi&s;ion for the fle&s;h, to fulfil the Lu&s;ts thereof:</HI> Making it the &s;ame thing to put on the <HI>Armour</HI> of <HI>Light</HI> and to put on the <HI>Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t;</HI> certainly then Chri&s;t mu&s;t be that Light, and that Light mu&s;t be Chri&s;t. But he objects to this Doctrine.</P>
<PB N="30" REF="16">
<P> Page 11. <HI>The Chri&s;tian Religion is no|thing but the Service of Je&s;us of</HI> Naza|reth<HI>&mdash;Nothing then can be the Rule of this Religion but what di&s;covers to us that there is one Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, <HI>and that he is Chri&s;t the Lord. But never was any one man in&s;tructed by that Light that is in the Con&s;cience of every Man, that there ever was &s;uch an one as Je&s;us of</HI> Na|zareth, <HI>much le&s;s that he was the Lord,</HI> and lea&s;t of all what he required of his Servants, <HI>therefore no Light within, common to all Mankind, can be the Rule of the Chri&s;tian Religion, &s;ince it was never po&s;&s;ible for any Man to learn the lea&s;t part of the Chri&s;tian Religion by the Light that is in every Man's Con|&s;cience.</HI></P>
<P>To the fir&s;t Part of what he &s;ays, <HI>That the Chri&s;tian Religion is nothing but the Service of Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, I &s;hall ea&s;ily agree: For the Service of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> is the Service of the God and Father of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth;</HI> and that is to <HI>fear God and keep his com|mandments; to love God above all, and</HI>
<PB N="31" REF="16"> <HI>our neighbours as our &s;elves; this is the whole duty of Man,</HI> Eccl. 12. 13. Matt. 22. 37, 39. That which Man has to do in the World for Salvation.</P>
<P>To the &s;econd Part of his Propo&s;i|tion, <HI>viz. That nothing can be the Rule of this Religion but what di&s;covers to us that there is one Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, <HI>and that he is Chri&s;t the Lord;</HI> I &s;hall likewi&s;e agree upon Di&s;tinction. I di&s;tingui&s;h then between an <HI>Hi&s;torical</HI> and <HI>Spiritual</HI> Di&s;covery of <HI>Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth; and &s;o of the Rule by which he and his Service are to be known. The Scriptures tell us of the Birth, Life, Mini&s;try, Death, Re&s;ur|rection and A&s;cen&s;ion of <HI>Je&s;us</HI> of <HI>Naza|reth,</HI> and in brief of the Mini&s;try and Sufferings of his ble&s;&s;ed Followers and Apo&s;tles, and it mu&s;t be acknowledged to be a great Mercy and Privilege to us, that we have them; but it cannot &s;av|ingly reveal Chri&s;t to a Soul; neither can they give us the Soul and Sub&s;tance of tho&s;e things that are thereby declar'd. They are an exact Map, or Picture of
<PB N="32" REF="17"> things, but not the things them&s;elves. It is the Office of the Divine Light and Spirit of Chri&s;t to &s;hew Men the&s;e Secrets; and to none are they, or can they be known, but tho&s;e that walk according to the Convictions of it: Fir&s;t, <HI>in cea&s;ing to do evil, and in deny|ing all &V;ngodline&s;s and the World's Lu&s;ts;</HI> and then <HI>in learning to do well, and living &s;oberly, righteou&s;ly and godlily in this pre|&s;ent World.</HI> So that tho&s;e that read the Scriptures of Truth, by which they have an hi&s;torical Knowledge of the Coming of Chri&s;t, and &s;o is a Rule to that Knowledge, as al&s;o to the Doctrines therein expre&s;ly declared, they mu&s;t come to the Light of the Eternal Word to under&s;tand them, and, to &s;ee the Glory of the only begotten of the Father, as tho&s;e of old beheld it, el&s;e the Scripture is as a &s;ealed Book. Who knows God by reading of him, or Chri&s;t by reading of him, or Regeneration by reading of it, unle&s;s God is plea&s;ed by the Light of his Son, the true <HI>Key</HI> of <HI>David,</HI> to come in upon the Soul, and
<PB N="33" REF="17"> open to it the deep things of God; <HI>viz.</HI> the New Creation, or the Regeneration of Man. Wherefore the Light or Spi|rit of Chri&s;t, which are the &s;ame, is the fir&s;t great Rule; even the Rule of under&s;tanding the Scriptures, which we own to be the &s;ecundary Rule: And we &s;ay, That a Mea&s;ure thereof is given to all to profit with; to lighten all and &s;earch and lead all in the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1. 4, 9. 1 Cor. 12. Tit. 2. 11, 12.</NOTE> Way of Holine&s;s, which is the Way of Eternal Happine&s;s. His minor Propo&s;ition I mu&s;t deny, <HI>viz. But never was any one Man In&s;tructed by that Light that is in the Con&s;cience of every Man, That there ever was &s;uch an one as Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, <HI>much le&s;s that he was the Lord, and lea&s;t of all what he required of his Servants.</HI></P>
<P>In this I mu&s;t di&s;&s;ent from him, e&s;pe|cially as to the latter part; for tho', as I have already &s;aid, the Scriptures are an Hi&s;torical Rule, and Doctrinal too, &s;o far as they are Plain and Expre&s;s, yet the true&s;t and mo&s;t powerful Evidence
<PB N="34" REF="18"> to authorize our Belief of them, is the Te&s;timony of the Light and Spirit of the Eternal <HI>Word,</HI> from whence they came, and that an&s;wers to its own. This the Martyrs a&s;&s;erted, as <HI>Hooper, Bradford, Smith, Saun|ders,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts and Monum.</NOTE> <HI>Rogers,</HI> &amp;c. al&s;o <HI>Calvin, Beza, Peter Martyr</HI> and <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> him|&s;elf, refer to it in proof of the Divine Authority of them; as may be &s;een in <HI>the Book of Martyrs,</HI> as al&s;o in the Wri|tings of the&s;e Authors upon the Au|thority of the Scriptures. But if the Light we contend for does not <HI>ordi|narily</HI> reveal the Hi&s;tory of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who dare &s;ay it cannot do &s;o? Is it not more rea&s;onable to &s;up|po&s;e that there may be no ab&s;olute Ne|ce&s;&s;ity of it, &s;ince then God would have left much the greate&s;t Part of the World without the Means of Salvation? Yet if it reveal that which he command|ed his Servants, both to practi&s;e and preach, it overthrows his Propo&s;ition, and plainly proves that the Soul and Sub&s;tance of what Chri&s;t commanded
<PB N="35" REF="18"> his Followers, is revealed, more or le&s;s, to all People, in all Nations, by this de&s;pi&s;ed Light within. And be&s;ides Experience, which I &s;hall anon come to, the Holy Scriptures &s;peak as much; for &s;ays the Prophet <HI>Micha</HI> (Mich. 6. 8.) <HI>God hath &s;hewn to thee, O man! what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do ju&s;tly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?</HI> Here is both Duty and the way to under&s;tand it. Now this Duty and Service is the Service of God, and &s;o of Je&s;us of <HI>Na|zareth,</HI> who came to teach Men &s;o to do, <HI>viz. To do Ju&s;tly, love Mercy, and walk humbly with God.</HI> The way to know and do this is God's illumination of Man. GOD HAS &s;hewn unto thee, O Man! How does God &s;hew Man? <HI>What&s;oever makes manife&s;t is light,</HI> &s;ays the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> to the <HI>Ephe|&s;ians, Eph.</HI> 5. 13, 14. So that 'tis by the Light of the Word, by which he made all things, that he &s;hews unto man all things nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, <HI>viz. What is good, and what he requires</HI>
<PB N="36" REF="19"> <HI>of him:</HI> What Service, Homage and Obedience he expects. So that here we have both the Univer&s;ality and Suf|ficiency of the Light. Corre&s;ponding herewith is that great &s;aying of the &s;ame Apo&s;tle to the <HI>Romans,</HI> Rom. 1. 19. <HI>For that which may be known of God is manife&s;t in them, for God hath &s;hewn it unto them.</HI> Which way, I pray, does God manife&s;t the Knowledg of him&s;elf in Men, but by the Light of the ble&s;&s;ed Word, by whom he made Man, and without whom nothing was made that is made: <HI>In him was life, and that life the light of men, and this is the true light that enlightens every man that cometh in|to the world,</HI> John 1. 4, 9.</P>
<P>Now that the Chri&s;tian Religion is this Duty, Service and Knowledg of God, we may &s;atisfie our &s;elves, from that ble&s;&s;ed Sermon of Ble&s;&s;ings, preach|ed by Chri&s;t upon the Mount, <HI>Matth.</HI> 5. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the poor in &s;pirit; ble&s;&s;ed are they that mourn</HI> (for their Sins, and for want of feeling Peace with God;) <HI>ble&s;|&s;ed are the meek; ble&s;&s;ed are they that</HI>
<PB N="37" REF="19"> <HI>hunger and thirst after Righteou&s;ne&s;s; ble&s;&s;ed are the Merciful; ble&s;&s;ed are the Poor in Heart; ble&s;&s;ed are the Peace-Makers;</HI> and <HI>ble&s;&s;ed are they which are per&s;ecuted for Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;ake.</HI> If the&s;e States were ble&s;&s;ed, and tho&s;e un|der the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Qualifications, then to be &s;ure &s;uch were in the Service of Je|&s;us of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> tho' he was not then offered up, and that they knew not his Hi&s;tory. Now that all have a Light to &s;hew them the Happine&s;s of the&s;e States, the Univer&s;al Te&s;timony of all Ages and Nations a&s;&s;ures us; and to deny it, is to &s;ay the Sun did never &s;hine, &s;ince there was a Man in the World.</P>
<P>The &s;ame may be &s;aid of the re&s;t of his excellent Sermon: <HI>As that we &s;hould &s;eek God, in the fir&s;t place, and tru&s;t Pro|vidence for the re&s;t, and live by Faith in his Goodne&s;s: Be charitable and devout without o&s;tentation: Not &s;o much as Lu&s;t in the Mind, but &s;peak Truth without an Oath; bear Abu&s;es, forgive Enemies, be &s;paring of cen&s;uring others, and finally do, as well as hear the Word of God, and to</HI>
<PB N="38" REF="20"> <HI>all Men as we would be done to.</HI> The&s;e excellent things, more naturally, and ex|cellently expre&s;t in that Sermon, than in the Writings of the mo&s;t enlightned <HI>Gentiles,</HI> are yet to be found up and down in the account given us of their Lives and Doctrines by <HI>Strabo, Laertius, Herbert, Stanly, Cudworth,</HI> and my part of the <HI>Chri&s;tian Quaker.</HI> By all which it may be &s;een, that the ble&s;&s;ed Word, who did him&s;elf preach &s;o plainly and fully, yet conci&s;ely, this admirable Doctrine, had enlightned tho&s;e Gentiles with great Knowledge, and in&s;tructed them therein, and that, &s;everal hun|dred Years before he came in the Fle&s;h. I hope the keeping of the&s;e Commands, and obeying the Precepts of <HI>Je&s;us of Nazareth,</HI> will be allowed to be the <HI>Ser|vice</HI> of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> or el&s;e no|thing is; and if &s;o, then I mu&s;t con|clude, he may be &s;erved and obeyed of tho&s;e that are not acquainted with his coming in the Fle&s;h, and beco|ming per&s;onally an holy <HI>Mini&s;ter</HI> among the Jews, and, in conclu&s;ion,
<PB N="39" REF="20"> an holy <HI>Offering</HI> for the World. For it is very po&s;&s;ible that a Man may receive Benefit by a Medicine, of who&s;e Compo&s;ition he may be igno|rant. And in General Pardons it is not commonly known by tho&s;e that &s;en|&s;ibly have the Advantage thereof; by who&s;e Favour and Advice the Prince was influenced to grant it.</P>
<P>Since then Humility, Mercy, Pati|ence, Purity, brotherly Kindne&s;s, Faith in God, Hope of Life Eternal, Charity to Men, doing as a Man would be done to, and that with a di&s;tinct and religious reference and regard to him, that mu&s;t finally judg all Men, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be|long to the <HI>Service</HI> of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> &s;ince 'tis the <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> of what Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> preached, and the End of the Labour, Travels and Writings of his ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles (and that the&s;e things were in a Mea&s;ure in the World before the coming of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> in the Fle&s;h, and that even tho&s;e that knew him and received him when he did come were tho&s;e that walked up to the Light
<PB N="40" REF="21"> of the Word, by which alone his in|ward Beauty and Glory were &s;een) we may rea&s;onably conclude, again&s;t this Author, that the <HI>Light</HI> with which the <HI>Word-God</HI> enlightned Men, was a Divine, Spiritual and Saving Light, becau&s;e it revealed the&s;e Truths to Gentiles as well as Jews, that had an immediate Ten|dency to Salvation; and that in all Ages: And that who&s;oever have walk|ed according to its righteous Dictates, as well before as &s;ince the Coming of Chri&s;t (the eternal Word) in the Fle&s;h, did &s;o far perform the Service of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> as they thereby &s;erved the God and Father of Je&s;us of <HI>Naza|reth;</HI> for &s;ays Chri&s;t him&s;elf, <HI>He that doth the Will of my Father, the &s;ame is my Mother, my Brethren and my Si&s;ters.</HI></P>
<P>To &s;um up this, once more, I &s;ay, We never &s;aid the Light within is given to all Mankind, to reveal Facts done, or hi&s;torical Accounts of Per&s;ons and Actions, tho' we cannot &s;ay it is not able to do it, but ordinarily the <HI>Nature</HI> of Things, as to <HI>Truth</HI> and <HI>Fal&s;hood,</HI>
<PB N="41" REF="21"> <HI>Obligation</HI> and <HI>Duty, Commi&s;&s;ion</HI> and <HI>O|mi&s;&s;ion;</HI> and therefore we &s;ay, that tho' all did not fore&s;ee the Coming of Chri&s;t, with the Circum&s;tances that attended him, as &s;ome of the Prophets did, That, being an extraordinary Manife&s;tation of this Light, yet all had the ordinary Manife&s;tation of it, to do ju&s;tly, love Mercy and walk humbly with the Lord: And &s;o they have now, tho' they have not the extraordinary Revelation of the Hi&s;tory of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth;</HI> in which re&s;pect we confe&s;s the Scriptures to be a Secondary Rule, an Hi&s;torical Rule, and a Rule of the Form of Sound Words in Doctrinal Truths: But the Fir&s;t and great Rule is the Light and Spirit of God, as that was the Rule to them, by whom the Scriptures were given forth, in their giving them forth: And we al&s;o affirm, The Light and Spi|rit of God a Rule to Read and Under|&s;tand the Scriptures by; and this was plainly &s;een in Chri&s;t's time: For the Jews that rebelled again&s;t the Light, had the Veil over their Under&s;tandings,
<PB N="42" REF="22"> &s;o that they could not &s;ee his Glory, but judged of him according to outward Appearance, which was not righteous Judgment, but tho&s;e that loved the Light in that Day, the truly con&s;cien|cious to God, they brought their Deeds to the Light: They knew him to be the Eternal Word, manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h, and thereby &s;aw his inward Glo|ry, <HI>to be that of the only begotten of the the Father, full of Grace and full of Truth.</HI></P>
<P>If he object, If all had this Light, why did not all know him, as indeed that is the Weight of his Objection, and other Adver&s;aries Oppo&s;itions.</P>
<P>I an&s;wer, All have Rea&s;on, but all are not Rea&s;onable; all don't u&s;e it: So all have Light, but all don't obey it. It is not the Light's In&s;ufficiency, but Man's Di&s;obedience, that renders him uncapable of the Knowledge of Di|vine Truth. Chri&s;t told the Jews, <HI>If you do my Will, you &s;hall know of my Doctrine, whether it be of God or no.</HI> Obeying the Convictions and fir&s;t Mo|tions
<PB N="43" REF="22"> of this Divine Light, will increa&s;e our Light and Knowledge. Di&s;obedi|ence makes an unfruitful Ground, tho' the Seed be good that is &s;own in it: So that the Ignorance of tho&s;e that have the Light is not chargeable upon the Light, but their own Darkne&s;s, which comprehends it not, through Unbelief and Di&s;obedience The Scriptures then are the Rule to us of the Hi&s;tory of Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> and nece&s;&s;ary to be be|lieved where they are known; but the Divine Light and Spirit, the Fir&s;t and Great Rule by which they are to be tru|ly and profitably read and believed, and without which Chri&s;t could not have been &s;avingly known when he was in the World; nor can he be known now, nor the Scriptures that declare of him: He is the common Rule to Mankind, who by his Light reveals Common and E&s;&s;ential Truths, relating to the Fear of God, and working of Righteou&s;ne&s;s: And it will be hard for this man to name one Nation or Per&s;on in the World that knows not the Reproofs of
<PB N="44" REF="23"> this Principle, in Evil-doing, and in do|ing that which is Right has not a Refe|rence to the plea&s;ing of him, who is the great Rewarder and Pre&s;erver of men, notwith&s;tanding his Cavil to the contrary, <HI>page</HI> 12, 13. But I &s;hall at|tend his further Exceptions.</P>
<P>Page 13. <HI>They affirm the Light within is Chri&s;t; and I &s;ay then it is nothing el&s;e but Je&s;us of</HI> Nazareth. <HI>If they make the Light within to be Chri&s;t, and not Je|&s;us of</HI> Nazareth, <HI>they make it</HI> Antichri&s;t; <HI>and becau&s;e they wor&s;hip God in this Appea|rance</HI> (as they &s;peak) <HI>they are</HI> Antichri|&s;tian Idolaters.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> This way of Arguing is very dark as well as injurious. If by Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> he only means what he took of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> and will not con&s;ider him as the Eternal Word; But as Man, like to us in all things, Sin excepted, He is not the Light within, that we declare of and wor&s;hip God in.</P>
<P>But this Author at the &s;ame time de|clares not to believe that Chri&s;t is the Eternal Word, for he &s;eems to deny
<PB N="45" REF="23"> his Pre-exi&s;tence, much more that the World, and all that is therein was made by him: And how Orthodox that is, let the Impartial Judge. If he owns. Chri&s;t to be the Word, God manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h, then I &s;ay, the Light is Chri&s;t, as much as Chri&s;t can be called the Light; and &s;o not only <HI>John</HI> calls him, <HI>Joh.</HI> 1. 4, 9. but he calls him&s;elf &s;o, <HI>John</HI> 8. 12.</P>
<P>This Antagoni&s;t &s;eems too eager and ra&s;h, or he would have reflected better upon the Way of the Holy Gho&s;t's &s;peaking in Scripture; for &s;ome|times Chri&s;t is &s;o called, with relation to his Divine Nature, and &s;ometimes with re&s;pect to his Manhood. As he was of the Seed of <HI>Abraham</HI> he is not God over all, ble&s;&s;ed for ever, he is not the eternal Word, <HI>in whom is Life, and that Life the Light of Men.</HI> And as he hungred, thir&s;ted, &s;orrowed, wept, dyed, he was not the Divine <HI>Light, that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World:</HI> Yet is alternatively called Chri&s;t, &s;ometimes Chri&s;t <HI>without</HI> man,
<PB N="46" REF="24"> &s;ometimes Chri&s;t <HI>in</HI> Man, the Hope of his Glory; according to the double Re|&s;pect he &s;tood and &s;tands in. Let not Men &s;eparate what God has joyned, which has been too much the Practice of our Oppo&s;ers, to draw a Line of Reflection over our Religion, as if it denied <HI>Je&s;us</HI> of <HI>Nazareth</HI> to be Chri&s;t the Lord, becau&s;e <HI>he</HI> a&s;&s;erted him the Light of the World, and as &s;uch to be in Man: Whereas they who con&s;ider him but in one Capacity, are too &s;trict with the Text, to wring us, and &s;o in the end draw the Reflection upon them&s;elves. But to run this Abu&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, as well as us, &s;o high, as there|fore to &s;tyle us Antichri&s;tian Idolaters, &s;hews a Bitterne&s;s as well as Mi&s;take, that by no means becomes a Critick up|on other Men's Religion.</P>
<P>But that he may apply this Inju&s;tice home, he is plea&s;ed that it &s;hould light upon me, and therefore he quotes a Pa&s;&s;age out of my part of the <HI>Chri&s;tian Quaker,</HI> tho' not the Page. I wave the Scurrility of his Introduction to it,
<PB N="47" REF="24"> <HI>page</HI> 14, 15. This is the Pa&s;&s;age, as he gives it. <Q REND="margDblQuotes">The Power, Life and Light which inhabited that Holy Per&s;on, which (or who) was born at <HI>Bethle|hem,</HI> was and is chiefly and eminent|ly the Saviour, yet he was in&s;tru|mentally a Saviour, as prepared for the Work which Chri&s;t had to do in him.</Q> <HI>By which</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>he makes the Light within to be their Chri&s;t, and Je|&s;us of</HI> Nazareth <HI>the prepared In&s;trument of this Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Now by this the <HI>Reader</HI> will have a clear Ta&s;te of the Ju&s;tice of this Wri|ter.</P>
<P>My Words are thus laid down by me <HI>(Chr. Qu. p.</HI> 104. <HI>chap.</HI> 21.) <Q REND="margDblQuotes">We confe&s;s that though the Eternal Pow|er, Life, Light, which inhabited that Holy Per&s;on, which was born at <HI>Na|zareth,</HI> was and is chiefly and emi|nently the Saviour, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 13. 4. <HI>for there is no Saviour be&s;ides me,</HI> &s;aith God (this he left out) yet that it vvas in&s;trumentally a Saviour, as prepared and cho&s;en for the Work which
<PB N="48" REF="25"> Chri&s;t had then to do in it, which was actually to the Salvation of &s;ome, and intentionally of the whole World, then, and in Ages to come; &s;uitable to that Scripture, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. 5, 6. <HI>Lo I come, in the volume of the Book it is written of me, to do thy will O God! a body thou ha&s;t prepared me.</HI></Q> By which it is plain with what unfairne&s;s he gave my Words before: Fir&s;t he left out my Quotation out of <HI>Ho&s;ea, For there is no Saviour be&s;ides me,</HI> &s;aith God; whereby it appears that the Eternal Power, Life and Light was eminently concerned in Man's Salvation. Secondly, he concealed that Scripture in the Conclu&s;ion of the Paragraph, out of the <HI>Hebrews, A body ha&s;t thou prepared me,</HI> &amp;c. which plainly inter|prets what I mean by <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> and by <HI>which,</HI> and <HI>it;</HI> that he is plea&s;ed to change for <HI>who,</HI> and <HI>He</HI> and <HI>Him,</HI> to render me at once Ab&s;urd and Errone|ous, and about which he calls me a <HI>Lewd Author,</HI> and all to naught. This was done of Malice, doubtle&s;s, the bet|ter
<PB N="49" REF="25"> to have his evil End of me, by wringing my Words to the Sen&s;e he de|&s;igned they &s;hould bear. Making me to divide, as well as di&s;tingui&s;h, between Chri&s;t and <HI>Je&s;us</HI> of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> and Chri&s;t and him that was born of the <HI>Virgin Mary;</HI> reading <HI>It, He</HI> and <HI>Him,</HI> which referred to the Body; &s;o making me to intend <HI>Je&s;us</HI> of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> compleatly con&s;idered, when I plainly intended, from the Nature of the Words of the text, and tho&s;e Words, and the Scripture cit|ed by me, in Proof and Illu&s;tration of what I meant by them, the <HI>Body</HI> of Chri&s;t Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth.</HI></P>
<P>Thus much of his Con&s;truction of the Words he quotes out of the <HI>Chri&s;tian Quaker,</HI> before recited: But if he will al|low us to &s;peak our own mind in our own Words, and had rather we were in the Right than in the Wrong, which does but become an ingenuous Author (Tho' it thereby appear that we are not what he had &s;aid us to be) then let him know we do not <HI>Divide</HI> or <HI>Di&s;tingui&s;h</HI> between Chri&s;t and Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth.</HI> Nor
<PB N="50" REF="26"> did we ever &s;ay that Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> is Chri&s;t's In&s;trument to appear in and by, for man's Salvation; but that the <HI>Word took Fle&s;h,</HI> and this is the <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> or <HI>Anointed</HI> of God; And tho &s;ometimes the Term Chri&s;t is given to the <HI>Word,</HI> &s;ometimes to the prepared <HI>Body</HI> he took, as when he is &s;aid <HI>to dye, and be buried, and rai&s;ed again,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>yet God manife&s;t in the Fle&s;h, and Immanuel,</HI> God with us, in our Nature, is <HI>that Chri&s;t of God, or Chri&s;t the Lord,</HI> that God hath and will exalt; the <HI>Enlightener, Redeemer, Savi|our</HI> of the World: Both an <HI>Offering</HI> for all, and the <HI>Mediator,</HI> and <HI>Sanctifier</HI> of all that de&s;ire to come to God by him.</P>
<P>But he further urges again&s;t us and our Doctrine of the Light within, as what is Fallacious on our part, to draw in Pro&s;elytes, and which he terms a <HI>putid Sophi&s;m,</HI> p. 21, 22. <HI>viz. Is there not a Light in every Man's Con&s;cience? You experience one in your own. And is God Light? and Chri&s;t Light? and is not God within, and Chri&s;t within? Now this is all very true: But when from hence</HI>
<PB N="51" REF="26"> <HI>they infer, God is the Light within, it is a</HI> putid <HI>Sophi&s;m. God being Light, and being within Men, proves not that God is a Light within Men. God is Light, and God is within other things as well as Men: Is then God a Light within to eve|ry Tree, every Bea&s;t, every Star? If this be ab&s;urd, then God's being Light, and being within, proves but &s;ophi&s;tically that he is the Light within: And yet this is the con&s;tant Method the Quakers u&s;e to teach their People the Divinity of the Light within.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;wer,</HI> I hope he will find no cau&s;e to blame me for Imperfect, and le&s;s for Perverted Quotations: I cite him fairly and fully. Now, for An&s;wer, I &s;ay, I never &s;aw or heard of that way of Rea&s;oning or Tampering, as he &s;tyles it, that he charges upon us to make Pro&s;elytes by. And I think I ought to be at lea&s;t as well ver&s;ed in our Way and Writings as him&s;elf. All rea&s;onable Peo|ple will readily allow, they have &s;uch a Light, and in reading the Holy Scri|ptures they find the enligtned Pen-men
<PB N="52" REF="27"> call God Light, and Chri&s;t Light, and are naturally led to believe that their Light is from God the Fountain of Light, e&s;pecially when they read the fir&s;t Chap|ter of <HI>John,</HI> and that of his fir&s;t Epi&s;tle al&s;o. And it is granted by this Man, <HI>that God is in Men, and that God is Light,</HI> but will not have it that <HI>God is a Light within Men.</HI> Indeed his Argument does not prove it, for it is not regularly form|ed to make &s;uch a Conclu&s;ion, which is his fault, becau&s;e it is of his own mak|ing: But neither is it a <HI>Sophi&s;m,</HI> or <HI>So|phi&s;tical</HI> in us, nor is the Rea&s;on good that he gives again&s;t it, <HI>viz.</HI> Becau&s;e it is ab&s;urd to &s;ay, <HI>that God is a Light with|in Trees Beasts and Stars,</HI> in that God is within them, and God is Light; there|fore it is &s;o to &s;ay that God is a Light within Men. For <HI>Trees Bea&s;ts and Stars</HI> &amp;c. are not of Mans Nature and Capaci|ty, they are not capable of &s;uch a mani|fe&s;tation of the Light of God, as Man is: God is in them after another and lower manner, and to other ends and purpo&s;es. But why God, who is confe&s;t
<PB N="53" REF="27"> to be Light, and in Man, &s;hould not be <HI>a Light then to Man,</HI> I cannot compre|hend. I do not &s;ay that it &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ctly follows in the Argument, but the Rea&s;on given again&s;t it is no Rea&s;on; and Rea&s;on and Scripture judge for us. For Man being a rea&s;onable Creature, tis his duty and the end of his being, to know and &s;erve God the Author of it; but this he can|not do, unle&s;s God manife&s;t him&s;elf to him: And &s;ince this Man grants that God is Light, and in &s;ome &s;ort in Man, to what better purpo&s;e, or which way more properly and benificially, can he be &s;aid to be in Man, than as a Light &s;hining there to give him the knowledge of God? So that he is not only there as the Creator and &s;upporter of his being, but as his <HI>Illuminator</HI> and <HI>In&s;tructor</HI> to his well being. The Scriptures already cited &s;ufficiently prove that <HI>God is Light,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;t is Light,</HI> and that <HI>all Men are Enlightned by him:</HI> And to be &s;ure it mu&s;t be with his own Light. Now tho', with a fair Adver&s;ary, one might &s;ay without offence, that God or Chri&s;t is
<PB N="54" REF="28"> the <HI>Light within Man,</HI> yet it is not the common way of our Expre&s;&s;ing our Selves.</P>
<P>To be &s;ure we have no &s;uch meaning in that way of Speaking, as &s;ome Ad|ver&s;aries &s;train our words to, as if God and Chri&s;t were comprehen&s;ible in and by Man, to render us Ab&s;urd and Bla&s;phemous. But we rather chu&s;e to &s;ay that God, or Chri&s;t, who is Light, hath <HI>lighted Man,</HI> and by the Light of Chri&s;t in Man, Man comes to know God and Chri&s;t: And that the Light in Man is the <HI>Light of God or of Chri&s;t,</HI> and not that God or Chri&s;t is the Light in Man. The Light in a Room at Noon Day is the Light of the Sun, but the Sun cannot &s;o properly be &s;aid to be in the Room, becau&s;e its Light is there; for the glorious unapprochable Body of it is el&s;e where. I hope this will not pa&s;s with the Sober Reader for a <HI>Putid Sophi&s;m.</HI></P>
<P>He farther &s;ays, p. 24. <HI>I may not now adays, therefore, tell</HI> Quakers <HI>their own Religion is fal&s;e, without telling</HI>
<PB N="55" REF="28"> <HI>them what is the Truth; le&s;t I &s;hould Tempt them to leave</HI> Quakeri&s;m <HI>for</HI> Im|piety and Irreligion, <HI>and not for the Ser|vice of</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> We are beholding to him that he thinks our Religion a Bar to Impiety and Irreligion; and, I wi&s;h neither had appeared in his oppo&s;ing of it. The Truth he has a mind to tell us, lyeth in a few Words, upon which he be&s;tows no le&s;s then fifteen Pages, <HI>(viz.)</HI> That the Light which God hath given to Man for Salvation, generally &s;peaking, is be|&s;ides Creation and Providence, the wri|tings of the In&s;pired Men, of the Old and New Te&s;tament, which we call the Scriptures of Truth; no Light, Spirit or Grace commonly or ordinarly open|ing and a&s;&s;i&s;ting our Under&s;tandings in the reading of them, but that the Light which is in Men, is the effects of the per|ceptive faculties of our minds, that is our thoughts, as he al&s;o tells us, p. 9. So that what we Read and Hear with our outward Eyes and Ears, is thereby reported to our Mind or Judgment,
<PB N="56" REF="29"> who&s;e conclu&s;ion thereupon is this Mans Light within. But, me thinks, before he had been &s;o po&s;itive and voluminous in his own notion, (where he'l find very few abetters I beleive) he &s;hould have been &s;o fare as to have con&s;ider'd what I have &s;aid in my Key, p. 1, 2. That &s;eems to me to have more material|ly referred to an other Light within than he has yet brought him&s;elf to. I will give the Pa&s;&s;age at large as it lyeth, that it may Speak for it &s;elf. <Q REND="margDblQuotes">The Quakers Belief and A&s;&s;ertion is, <HI>That Chri&s;t, who is the Word, that was with God and was God</HI> (John 1. 4, 9. and is &s;o for ever) <HI>hath enlight|ned every Man that cometh into the World, with his</HI> own <HI>Light;</HI> as he is that <HI>true</HI> Light, or &s;uch a Light, as there is no other to be compared to him: Which is the meaning of the Empha&s;is <HI>True</HI> in the Text. And that &s;uch as follow the Reproofs, Con|victions and Leading of that Light, with which he enlightens the Un|der&s;tandings and Con&s;ciences of Men
<PB N="57" REF="29"> <HI>&s;hall not walk in Darkne&s;s:</HI> That is in Evil and Ignorance of God; <HI>but, &s;hall have the Light of Life:</HI> That is be in a Holy and Living State or Con|dition towards God: <HI>A &s;tate of Ac|ceptance and Salvation, which is from</HI> Sin <HI>as well as from</HI> Wrath: (&s;ee <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 49. 6. <HI>John</HI> 1. 4, 9. c. 3. 21. c. 5. 40. c. 8. 12. c. 10. 10) And for which End Chri&s;t was given of God. So that they a&s;&s;ert the <HI>Light of Chri&s;t,</HI> to be &s;ufficient to &s;ave; that is, to convince of Sin, lead out of it, and quicken the Soul in the Ways of Ho|line&s;s: And not a <HI>Natural</HI> Light, otherwi&s;e than as <HI>all Men, born</HI> in|to the World, have a Mea&s;ure of Chri&s;t's Light, and &s;o it may, in a &s;en&s;e be &s;aid to be <HI>Natural</HI> to all Men, becau&s;e all Men have it. For this Light is <HI>&s;omething el&s;e</HI> than the bare Under&s;tanding Man hath as a rational Creature: For as &s;uch, Man cannot be a Light to him&s;elf; but has only a <HI>Capacity</HI> of &s;eeing, by means of the
<PB N="58" REF="30"> <HI>Light</HI> with which Chri&s;t the Word enlightneth him. For we can no more be a <HI>Mental</HI> or <HI>Intellectual</HI> Light to our &s;elves, than we are an <HI>Exter|nal</HI> and <HI>Corporeal</HI> Light to our &s;elves: But as the <HI>Sun</HI> in the Firmament is the Light of our Bodies, &s;o the <HI>Light</HI> of the Divine Word is the <HI>Sun</HI> of our Souls; the glorious <HI>Luminary</HI> of the <HI>Intellectual</HI> World; and they that walk in it will, by It, be lead to Ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;s, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21. 24.</Q> Of all which he takes this imperfect notice, <HI>The Concurrance of many cau&s;es being requi&s;ite to produce Faith; the</HI> Quakers <HI>confound the&s;e In&s;pi|rations with the Light, and attribute the efficiency of one cau&s;e to another, which mu&s;t needs Pervert all &s;ound Judgment of things, and make them &s;peak incon|&s;i&s;tences: As when</HI> W. P. <HI>&s;ays,</HI> Man can|not be a Light to him&s;elf, <HI>as if the de|nial of the Devinity of the Light within implyed any &s;uch thing;</HI> and Man has on|ly a Capacity to &s;ee, <HI>as if the Defect was in Gods Works in nature and in the Scrip|ture, and not in Mans &s;eeing faculty.</HI>
<PB N="59" REF="30"> <HI>Now &s;uch Expre&s;&s;ions &s;hew his apprehen|&s;ions are much Perverted about the&s;e things.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> But this &s;hews my Opponent to be either &s;hallow, or wor&s;e. I would be &s;o Charitable as to think he mi&s;takes me, and in the conclu&s;ion abu&s;ed him&s;elf. For why do the <HI>Quakers</HI> confound tho&s;e In&s;pirations with the Light? We ne|ver limited all Divine in&s;pirations and operations to the Light meerly as it is Light, as Phy&s;ically, and by his natural Philo&s;ophy he &s;eems to explain it. We ever meant a Principle in Man that is not of Man, that is variou&s;ly denominated by its various operations: <HI>Light</HI> from de&s;cerning and di&s;tinction: <HI>Spirit</HI> from Life and Power: <HI>Word,</HI> as it &s;peaks forth Gods Mind to Man: <HI>Truth,</HI> in the inward Parts, as it deals truly with Man, and would redeem him from ly|ing Vanities: And <HI>Grace</HI> as it is God's Gift, and not Mans Under&s;tanding, or Mans Merit. I &s;hall not therefore quar|rel with his natural Philo&s;ophy p. 37. When he &s;ays, <HI>the Sun Generates all Life,</HI>
<PB N="60" REF="31"> <HI>and its Faculties in Bodies,</HI> but not by its Light; for we never &s;aid it did, with reference to the Light within: El&s;e all Men would have Divine Life as well as Light, which was never our a&s;&s;er|tion, nor a ju&s;t conclu&s;ion from that which is, it being Scripture, <HI>viz.</HI> John 1. 4. In him, the word, is Life, and that Life the Light of Men, <HI>not the Life of Men;</HI> but as they obey it: According to that clear and full Expre&s;&s;ion of our Ble&s;&s;ed Lord, <HI>John.</HI> 8. 12. <HI>I am the Light of the World, he that followeth me &s;hall not walk in Darkne&s;s, but &s;hall have the Light of Life;</HI> that is, Life as well as Light. They that read him will &s;ee who keeps neare&s;t to the Text, and who walks clo&s;e&s;t to the Rule and form of &s;ound Words; which we hope neither he nor any of his a betters &s;hall ever be able to draw or drive us from.</P>
<P>For the u&s;e he makes of tho&s;e words of mine; <HI>And Man has only a Capacity to &s;ee,</HI> (viz.) <HI>As if the defect was in God's Works in Nature and in the Scrip|tures,</HI>
<PB N="61" REF="31"> <HI>and not in Man's &s;eeing Faculties;</HI> he utterly mi&s;takes me: I will not &s;ay wilfully; but upon that he makes a great Pudder, and depends the &s;trength of his Conclu&s;ion: For I &s;peak of Man in his Creation, and he of Man in his Fall. The Conclu&s;ion cannot be right that is drawn from wrong Premi&s;es, and I hope he when he thinks again will think &s;o too; and that his Pains, p. 36. 37. might have been &s;pared. For I hope he will not think there was any defect in Paradice, as there mu&s;t have been if Man had been defective in his &s;eeing faculty; for even there he was but Man, and, as &s;uch, he could not be his own Light; which is plain, in that when he Erred, he Erred from &s;omething el&s;e than him&s;elf, him|&s;elf Erring; Therefore that &s;omething el&s;e mu&s;t be the Devine Light he Erred from; in which if he had kept, the Sub|til In&s;inuations of the Serpent had never prevailed.</P>
<P>Man then, had only the Capacity of Seeing all Divine Objects; as Truth, Wi&s;dom, Goodne&s;s, Mercy, Ju&s;tice,
<PB N="62" REF="32"> Power, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which were only di&s;cernible by the in&s;hinings of this Divine Light of the Word of God. And &s;ince he alludes &s;o &s;trictly in his In&s;tances from the Crea|tion and Natural Philo&s;ophy, I hope he will allow me to &s;ay, that as the Eye of Man, though never &s;o capable of &s;eeing, cannot &s;ee any Object before it, in the Dark, unle&s;s an outward Light give it the &s;ight thereof; &s;o no Mans Soul can &s;ee Divine Objects, though its Eye or &s;eeing faculty were ever &s;o capable, unle&s;s the Divine Light &s;hined in it to give unto it the knowledge of the Glory of God therein. And I have not only my own Experience, but that of good Men in all Ages of the World, according to the degree of the Manife|&s;tation of the Divine Light, wherein they agree and cannot err. Humility, Obedience, Love, Patience, Meekne&s;s, Purity, Charity, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> are &s;en&s;ibly wrought in Men by this Divine Princi|ple. Sen&s;ibly I &s;ay, for all his in&s;en&s;ible <HI>Dogma's p.</HI> 37, 38, 39. as that Man is not &s;en&s;ible of the Divine Agency or
<PB N="63" REF="32"> In&s;piration of the Almighty. For we know (&s;ays he) by Rea&s;oning, but not by Sen&s;e or Con&s;cience: Abu&s;ing that Scripture to countenance his in&s;en&s;ible a&s;&s;ertion, the Wind bloweth where it li&s;t|eth and we hear the &s;ound thereof, but know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes; which is not &s;poken of the Regenerate Man's not knowing how he is Regenerated; but that other Men know it not with all their Wi&s;dom and Knowledge, that are not &s;piritually illuminated and experienced in the &s;ame Work: An&s;werable to that place in the Revelations of <HI>John,</HI> that he that over|comes &s;hould have a white Stone and a new Name, that none &s;hall know but he that has it, that is, but &s;uch Conquerors: For they that are overcome of the World, can never ta&s;te or judge of the rewards of tho&s;e that do over|come it.</P>
<P>And very &s;orry I am for this oppo&s;er, that he allows Man no &s;piritual Sen&s;es, or that which an&s;wers to our outward Sen&s;es; and if he does, &s;urely they are
<PB N="64" REF="33"> to &s;ee, hear, &s;mell, ta&s;te and feel &s;ome|thing el&s;e than him&s;elf. How gro&s;s then is his Po&s;ition, <HI>p.</HI> 37. <HI>But this I may &s;ay, that neither is the illuminating, or renew|ing, or regenerating, or any other Divine In&s;piration, immediately perceptible to any Sen&s;e, inward or outward, in Humane Nature; and if &s;o, 'tis certain, none of the&s;e can be a Light within us.</HI> But why it is not &s;o, he has not told us, he can|not tell us, nor any Man el&s;e. To all which I &s;hall oppo&s;e a few Scriptures, and then attend his abu&s;e of (tho&s;e I cited in my Key, and) me, for the Appli|cation of them.</P>
<P>That there is another Light and Spi|rit that attend Men, than the <HI>effects of the Perceptive Faculties of their own Minds, as this Man calls it,</HI> I urge that pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> 6. 3. <HI>My Spirit &s;hall not always &s;trive with Men.</HI> Aplain Proof that God &s;trove with the Old World by his holy Spirit, which could not be if they had it not, or were un&s;en&s;i|ble of any &s;uch thing. <HI>Nehemiah</HI> 9. 20. It is &s;aid, That God <HI>gave them his good</HI>
<PB N="65" REF="33"> <HI>Spirit, but they rebelled again&s;t it,</HI> there|fore they had it. <HI>David</HI> prays that God <HI>would not take his Holy Spirit from him,</HI> which &s;hews it was with him, and that not as a Prophet, but or|dinarily &s;peaking; for his Tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ion was too heinous for that Dignity without a cour&s;e of Repentance, and a Re&s;tauration to his former State, which in the &s;ame P&s;alm he prays for: But 'tis evident as bad as he was, he had yet the Holy Spirit in that Sen&s;e, in which we a&s;&s;ert a <HI>mea&s;ure of it to be given to all to profit with,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12. 7. El&s;e he could not have &s;aid, <HI>And take not thy Holy Spirit from me;</HI> as much as to &s;ay, for if thou do&s;t utterly deprive me of it, I &s;hall grow Dark, Hard and Impenitent, and be undone for ever.</P>
<P>The Lord by the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> proves, That his Spirit &s;hould &s;ucce&s;|&s;ively attend his People; the&s;e are his words. <HI>And for me, this is my Covenant with them, &s;aith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee,</HI> (Chri&s;t) <HI>and my words which</HI>
<PB N="66" REF="34"> <HI>I have put in thy mouth, &s;hall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy Seed, nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed, &s;aith the Lord, from hence|forth and for ever,</HI> Ch. 59. 21. And, I pray, who are Chri&s;t's Seed, and Of|&s;pring, but true Chri&s;tians? and, as &s;uch, they are intituled to this Promi&s;e, and therefore have the Spirit of God, and the fre&s;h and living Revelation of it, who&s;e words are Spirit and Life.</P>
<P>Thus the Prophet, <HI>Chap.</HI> 44. 3. <HI>I will pour water upon him that is Thir&s;ty, and floods upon the dry Ground;</HI> I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed, <HI>and my Ble&s;|&s;ing upon their Offspring.</HI> A mo&s;t ample and clo&s;e Proof to my Point, That God gives his Spirit to Men, and that there is &s;omething more than the Light of reading and hearing of Men and Books, or the <HI>Perceptive faculty of the Mind to in&s;truct Men.</HI> And that, not only in extraordinary ca&s;es, and on &s;ingular and eminent occa&s;ions, which our Opponent allows, as to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the <HI>Prophets</HI> and <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> but ordinarily, commonly, &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ively:
<PB N="67" REF="34"> For to that the Text plainly reaches.</P>
<P>The Prophet <HI>Joel</HI> is yet more com|prehen&s;ive, ch. 2. 28. <HI>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;s afterward, that I will pour out my &s;pirit upon all Fle&s;h;</HI> Young and Old, Hand-Maids and Servants: No Age, no Sex, no Degree &s;hall be exempted. The Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> applyed this very Text to the Dawning of the Primitive Chri&s;tian Days, as then begun to be ac|compli&s;ht, <HI>Acts</HI> 2. 17. Not that that which befel the Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples of Je&s;us in that Time, was the compleat an&s;wer|ing of that Prophecy, for that was not <HI>all Fle&s;h.</HI> Be&s;ides, the very &s;ame Apo|&s;tle, in the &s;ame Sermon, v. 39. tells his Auditors, that were made up of no le&s;s than <HI>Fourteen</HI> &s;everal Nations, <HI>That the Promi&s;e was to them and to their Chil|dren, and to all that were afar off, whom the Lord &s;hould call;</HI> &s;o that the Gifts of the Spirit were the Fulfilling of the Go&s;pel&punc;Promi&s;e, and con&s;equently the great Go&s;pel-Privilege and Qualifica|tion.</P>
<PB N="68" REF="35">
<P> The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> tells us, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8. That there is an ab&s;olute Nece&s;&s;ity that People &s;hould have the Spirit of God <HI>dwelling in them,</HI> and that they &s;hould be <HI>led</HI> and <HI>conducted</HI> by it, or they can|not be the Children of God. Ver. 1. <HI>There is no condemnation to them that are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who walk not after the Fle&s;h, but after the Spirit.</HI> Here it is the Chri&s;tian Rule.</P>
<P>Again, ver. 12. <HI>But if the Spirit of him that rai&s;ed Je&s;us from the dead</HI> DWELL IN YOU, <HI>he that rai&s;|ed up Chri&s;t from the dead, &s;hall al&s;o quicken your mortal bodies, by his &s;pi|rit, that</HI> dwelleth in you: So that the Indwellings of the Spirit did quicken and comfort the ancient Chri&s;tians, and was Apo&s;tolical Doctrine.</P>
<P>Again, ver&s;e 14, 15, 16. <HI>For as ma|ny as are led by the &s;pirit of God, they are the &s;ons of God;</HI> which they cannot be if they have it not: <HI>For ye have not received the &s;pirit of bondage again to fear, but the &s;pirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father.</HI> The Spirit it &s;elf
<PB N="69" REF="35"> beareth Witne&s;s with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God, &s;ee that it is plain they had the Spirit. And I wonder what Witne&s;s Chri&s;tians mu&s;t have now, that they are the Children of God, if not the &s;ame Spirit, &s;ince if this Ad|ver&s;ary &s;ay true, there is no &s;uch Gift common to Chri&s;tians now, but only the <HI>Notices God has given to all, of his Thoughts and Mind by Creation and Scri|pture.</HI> But alas! too apparent it is that this Man knows little of the Workings of God's Spirit, that &s;o un&s;piritually &s;peaks of it. Did not our ble&s;&s;ed Lord &s;ay, <HI>John</HI> 3. 5. That unle&s;s Man be born of the Spirit, he could not enter into the Kingdom of God? Was this only for the Primitive Times? Then Men ever &s;ince Men have not been &s;avable, for they have wanted the Means of Salva|tion, to wit, <HI>REGENERATION.</HI> And if Regeneration be nece&s;&s;ary to all, how can a Man be rationally &s;aid to be born of the Spirit, and not to have the Spirit he is born of; or be (as <HI>Peter</HI> phra&s;eth it) a <HI>Partaker of the</HI> DIVINE
<PB N="70" REF="36"> <HI>Nature,</HI> 2 Pet. 1. 4. But more than this, Chri&s;t told his Di&s;ciples, That the <HI>Spirit of Truth</HI> he would &s;end them, though it &s;hould be a Comforter to them that believed in him, and follow|ed him, yet it &s;hould <HI>Reprove</HI> the World of Sin; which could not be, if the World had not &s;uch a Mea&s;ure of the Spirit, as to reprove them in their Evil-doing. And indeed all that will be &s;erious and reflect, mu&s;t confe&s;s, from Experience, they have enough of it to re|prove them of that which is evil, and to bear a true and faithful Witne&s;s again&s;t every evil Way.</P>
<P>Memorable is that &s;econd Chapter of the Apo&s;tle, in his fir&s;t Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Co|rinthians,</HI> a worldly-wi&s;e People, who&s;e Faculties were as perceptive as our Opponents, I doubt not, concerning the Office, Efficacy and Nece&s;&s;ity of the Holy Spirit, to know God and our Du|ty to him, in order to Salvation.</P>
<P>And what has been &s;aid of the Holy Spirit, may be &s;aid of the Divine Light: As one of the earlie&s;t Books in Scripture
<PB N="71" REF="36"> tells us: <HI>Job</HI> 24. 13. <HI>They are of tho&s;e,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Job,</HI> &s;peaking of the Wicked, <HI>that rebel again&s;t the Light.</HI> Then they had it: And if They had it, all had it; For to be &s;ure the Righteous were not without it.</P>
<P>Again, <HI>The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord;</HI> Prov. 20. 27. but it mu&s;t be lighted by that Light we &s;peak of, or it is a dark Candle. Now God lights the Candle of the Wicked, much more is he the Light of the Candle of the Righ|teous.</P>
<P>Again, he &s;ays, <HI>How often is the Candle of the Wicked put out:</HI> Job 21. 17. Prov. 13. 9. Which &s;hews it is often lighted; and if <HI>They</HI> have the Light, the Righteous, to be &s;ure, are not without it: For, <HI>The Way of the Ju&s;t is a &s;hining Light, which &s;hines more and more to the perfect Day.</HI> Obedience to Light received encrea&s;es Light. Now if the Way of the Ju&s;t be a &s;hining Light, to be &s;ure the Light is &s;aving, or is the Way to Salvation: And &s;o the beloved Di&s;ciple has it, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21. The Nations of them that are &s;aved &s;hall walk in the Light.</P>
<PB N="72" REF="37">
<P> <HI>David</HI> &s;ays al&s;o, in Proof of our Point, <HI>The Lord is my Light and my Salvation,</HI> P&s;. 27. 1. Then he had an higher and clearer Light than his own perceptive Faculties.</P>
<P>Again, <HI>Thy Word is a Light to my Feet, and a Lanthorn to my Paths,</HI> P&s;. 119. 105. Which was an Inward and Spiritual Word, for it was &s;uch an one as he could <HI>find</HI> in his Heart, according to <HI>Mo&s;es, Deut.</HI> 3. and the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> al&s;o, P&s;. 42. prayed that the Lord would <HI>&s;end forth his Light and his Truth,</HI> which were the &s;ame thing, <HI>that it might lead and bring People to his Holy Hill and Tabernacle.</HI> This was more than Man, or what was of Man's Con|&s;titution or Compo&s;ition: More than the Perceptive Faculties of the Mind.</P>
<P>Moreover, God declared by the Pro|phet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> That he had given Chri&s;t <HI>for a Light to lighten the Gentiles;</HI> which was more than Man's Wit or Under|&s;tanding, to be &s;ure. And tho' Chri&s;t was a Light in his <HI>Doctrine, Miracles</HI> and <HI>Example,</HI> yet he was and is a Light
<PB N="73" REF="37"> within al&s;o, to enlighten the Mind, as <HI>John</HI> 1. 4, 9. with many more, before ob&s;erved. And this Light and Spirit are of the &s;ame Principle, or the &s;ame Prin|ciple that is both Spirit and Light, tho' it may be, &s;trictly &s;peaking, not both in one and the &s;ame Act or Operation, as has been already noted. Neverthe|le&s;s the Scripture makes them to have one Operation, comparing <HI>John</HI> 16. 7. with <HI>Eph.</HI> 5. 13. For the fir&s;t makes it the Office of the Spirit to <HI>convince the World of Sin,</HI> and the latter place tells us, That whatever is reproved is made manife&s;t by the Light: And the Apo|&s;tle gives this for the Rea&s;on, <HI>becau&s;e,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>whatever makes manife&s;t is Light:</HI> An A&s;&s;ertion that can never be denied. And as true it is that it mu&s;t be a Divine Light, that reveals Divine Truths. And becau&s;e it is nece&s;&s;ary that all &s;hould know them for their Salvation, &s;ince God would have all come to the Knowledge of the Truth, and be &s;aved, the Con&s;equence mu&s;t be good, That all have this Divine Light, more or
<PB N="74" REF="38"> le&s;s, for Salvation, tho' all don't o|bey it.</P>
<P>I might proceed to enumerate Scri|ptures through the <HI>Prophets, Evange|li&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Epi&s;tles;</HI> but I think what I have &s;aid is a double Portion: And therefore I recommend it to the candid Reader's &s;erious Peru&s;al and Ob&s;erva|tion; and I doubt not but he will di&s;|cern the Verity and Charity of our Principles, and the unju&s;t Exceptions of our Opponent to them.</P>
<P>I come next to con&s;ider his Cavils again&s;t our Citations of Scripture, and indeed again&s;t the Scripture it &s;elf, which will not be hard to e|vince.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 41. He is angry, I &s;ay, that Chri&s;t has enlightned Men with his <HI>own</HI> Light; calls this very hard Names, and &s;ays 'tis the Quakers <HI>Apocrypha:</HI> But we abide by it; and are taught &s;o to do by the Scriptures, that he would have the World believe we deny and make Apocryphal. <HI>John</HI> 1. 4. <HI>In him</HI> (Chri&s;t) <HI>was Life, and the Life the Light of Men.</HI>
<PB N="75" REF="38"> Now if this be not Man's Light, and if this Light, which is the Life of the Word, be not the Word's <HI>own</HI> Light, let me be blamed: If it be, how pre|po&s;terous mu&s;t this Man be to u&s;e me &s;o har&s;hly for a Truth &s;o plain as well as important?</P>
<P>The next Scripture is that in <HI>Prov.</HI> 20. 27. <HI>The &s;pirit of man is the candle of the Lord, &s;earching all the inward parts of the Belly: That is,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>the Spirit of Man, which God hath made, hath in its Nature a Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s of all his Thoughts, Purpo&s;es and Coun&s;els within him.</HI> But this Word <HI>Con&s;ciou&s;|ne&s;s</HI> &s;uppo&s;es a Knowledge, together with &s;ome thing el&s;e, that gives us that Knowledge: It is the very import of the Words: And what is that, but that Divine Light which gives Light to the Candle: For a Candle cannot Light it &s;elf, and by the Repetition of Sin, is &s;aid to be often blowed out. For tho' it cannot blow that Light out, it blows out its Enlightnings. Thus Sin quenches the Spirit; that is, the enlivenings and
<PB N="76" REF="39"> quicknings of it, for the Spirit it&s;elf can|not be quenched. Now this Note of his, is &s;o far from overthrowing our U&s;e of this Scripture, that it e&s;tabli&s;hes it, and defeats him of the End he propo&s;ed in oppo&s;ing us.</P>
<P>Thus he abu&s;es us and that Pa&s;&s;age of our Saviour Chri&s;t, <HI>If the Light that is in you be Darkne&s;s, how great is that Darkne&s;s?</HI> As if Chri&s;t meant any Light but that of Man's Mi&s;take and Pre&s;umption, or that we could a&s;&s;ert God to be that Light in us, which Chri&s;t &s;aid might be Darkne&s;s: For this Man &s;ays, If the Light in us here men|tioned was the Light that is good, the &s;uppo&s;al that it might po&s;&s;ibly be Dark|ne&s;s, would be a bla&s;phemous Suppo&s;i|tion. He is to be pitied as well as re|proved, that can Rave after this man|ner.</P>
<P>The u&s;e I make of that Scripture, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4. 6. <HI>God that commanded the Light to &s;hine out of Darkne&s;s, had &s;hi|ned in their Hearts, to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God, in</HI>
<PB N="77" REF="39"> <HI>the Face of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> was thus; That God had lighted the Hearts of men, by breaking through the Darkne&s;s there, with his Divine Light. This Author, p. 43. limits this Light to the Apo&s;tles and Fellow-Labourers; and all the re&s;t are to &s;ee with their Eyes, and without that Divine Light in them&s;elves: In fine, to be concluded by their Authority and not their own Conviction; for what he &s;ays centers there. Whereas the A|po&s;tles Mi&s;&s;ion and Bu&s;ine&s;s, was <HI>to turn people from the darkne&s;s (that was in them&s;elves) to the light</HI> that had &s;hin'd there uncomprehended. Al&s;o to be made <HI>manife&s;t</HI> in their Preaching to the <HI>Con&s;ciences</HI> of People; which could not be in Divine Truths without a <HI>Divine</HI> Light. I mu&s;t leave this way of our <HI>Opponent</HI>'s treating of Scripture to my <HI>Reader</HI>'s Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P><HI>Pag.</HI> 45 <HI>to</HI> 57. His next Abu&s;e is, that of <HI>John</HI> 1. 9. about which he be|&s;tows <HI>Room</HI> for Rea&s;on, being no le&s;s than twelve Pages. He that can make more of them than the&s;e Three follow|ing
<PB N="78" REF="40"> Heads, has a better Under&s;tanding than mine.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the Life that is come by Chri&s;t is that we &s;hall <HI>out-live the Grave;</HI> not that the Soul is made Spiritually alive to God, while in this World, by Divine Quicknings, to the U&s;e of her Spiritual Sen&s;ations, that Sin had taken away, by bringing her under a Spi|ritual Lethargy or Death: Which, how agreeable it is to that Saying of Chri&s;t, <HI>John</HI> 8. 12. <HI>That they that fol|low him &s;hould have the light of life;</HI> and, <HI>John</HI> 6. <HI>unle&s;s you eat my fle&s;h and drink my blood you have no life in you:</HI> (Which implies an Inward and Living State of the Mind towards God on this Side the Grave) I mu&s;t al&s;o leave with my Con|&s;iderate <HI>Reader,</HI> that has any Reli&s;h or Ta&s;te of Divine Things.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Second thing he objects upon our U&s;e of this Scripture <HI>(John</HI> 1. 9.) is our making <HI>Coming into the World</HI> to refer to <HI>Man,</HI> and not to <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> which, &s;ays he, is fir&s;t <HI>a Redundancy of Speech,</HI> and next <HI>dangerous; for it is as if a Man</HI>
<PB N="79" REF="40"> <HI>came from an other World into this.</HI> Now I would have this Critick know, if he can be ignorant of it, That divers Learn'd <HI>Prote&s;tant Commentators</HI> have ta|ken that Way, as have &s;ome of the <HI>Fa|thers,</HI> and all the <HI>Tran&s;lators</HI> that I can compa&s;s, be it into the <HI>Latin</HI> Ver&s;ions, or our Vulgar <HI>European</HI> Tongues; as my Reader may plea&s;e to &s;ee at large, in a Book of mine, called, <HI>The Spirit of Truth Vindicated,</HI> from p. 52. to p. 62. &s;o that he mu&s;t allow we are in good Company, if mi&s;taken; &s;ince &s;o many Criticks and Commentators are with us; as Singular and Erroneous as he is pleas'd to repre&s;ent us. But where is the <HI>Re|dundancy?</HI> Why, it is, that <HI>every Man</HI> would have &s;erv'd without the Words <HI>coming into the World,</HI> which follow them. No Wonder he is &s;o chur|li&s;h to our Writings, that affords the Holy Scripture no more Re&s;pect. If he will read &s;everal Chapters of that belov'd Di&s;ciple's Writings, and, in|deed of many other of the Holy Pen|men's, he may, if he plea&s;e, make
<PB N="80" REF="41"> the like Exceptions. Thus that Saying in <HI>Job,</HI> us'd in the Liturgy, in the Of|fice for the Dead, <HI>Man that is born of a Woman,</HI> &amp;c. for according to this Cri|tick's Learning, <HI>Man</HI> had been enough, and the Addition, <HI>That is born of a Wo|man,</HI> dangerous; for that it implies there are Men that are not born of Wo|men: Which I think would not migh|tily recommend his Skill or Judgment, as his Exception cannot ju&s;tly impeach the Propriety of the Holy Scriptures. And if this Adver&s;ary did believe that Chri&s;t made Man, he would believe he <HI>Enlightens</HI> him, as well as made him; and that the fir&s;t Ten Ver&s;es of that Chapter refer to his <HI>Divinity:</HI> What he was in him&s;elf, and what he was and is to Man, as the <HI>Word-God,</HI> by whom the whole World was made, and Man, in an excellent manner, Enlightned, and this before any Mention is made of his Taking Fle&s;h, or coming of the Seed of <HI>Abraham.</HI></P>
<P N="3"><PB N="81" REF="41"> 3. But he would have <HI>Lighteth,</HI> limited to Chri&s;t's Coming in the Fle&s;h, and that all were enlightned then by him: Now, I will not &s;ay, he was not a glori|ous Light in his <HI>Mini&s;try</HI> and <HI>Miracles,</HI> in his <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Sufferings;</HI> for if his Di&s;|ciples were by him called the <HI>Lights of the World,</HI> doubtle&s;s it may be better &s;aid of him, their Lord and Original, <HI>That he was the Light of the World.</HI> But this hin|ders not that he &s;hould be the Light of the World, in a more proper and imme|diate manner, by his &s;hining in the Un|der&s;tandings of Men, and giving them thereby the Knowledge of their Duty to God, and one to another. I mu&s;t refer him to what I have &s;aid in my former Book, upon this Head al&s;o; in an&s;wer to one that deny'd the Pre-exi&s;tence of Chri&s;t, or that he had a Being before he was born of the <HI>Virgin Mary;</HI> in who&s;e Steps this Man &s;eems to tread. If he will read from Page 62 to P. 86. and the Rea|&s;ons and numerous Authorities, the&s;e may perhaps per&s;uade him that the 9th Ver&s;e of the 1&s;t of <HI>John,</HI> wholly relates to the
<PB N="82" REF="42"> <HI>Word</HI> before he took Fle&s;h, and as he is the immediate Enlightner of the Souls of Men. <HI>In him was Life, and the Life the Light of Men,</HI> Ver&s;e 4. This was neither Sun, Moon, nor Stars; nor yet the Effect of the Perceptive Faculties of our Souls, nor yet any Outward and Mi|ni&s;terial Light whatever; of all which I leave the &s;ober Reader to judge.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 52, 53. As for the gro&s;s Ab&s;ur|dity that he would run us into, of be|ing <HI>Be-Godded and Be-Chri&s;ted,</HI> according to our Principle, he has &s;hewn &s;uffici|ently he does not under&s;tand it, and therefore no matter for his wild Con&s;e|quences, by which he would di&s;grace it: But if by being Be-Chri&s;ted, we are to under&s;tand <HI>Divine Kindred</HI> and <HI>Member|&s;hip,</HI> through <HI>true Chri&s;tening,</HI> which is the <HI>Anoynting,</HI> 1 Joh. 2. 20, 27. we &s;hall not &s;hrink from the Word, becau&s;e of his Out-crys at us for it. I have al|ready declar'd what we intend by be|ing Enlightened, and that our Principle is not capable of any of the wild Infe|rences, this Man, through great Igno|rance
<PB N="83" REF="42"> or Malice, charges upon it. But before I leave this Head, I mu&s;t ob&s;erve one Di&s;tinction of his, <HI>Page</HI> 54, 55, 56. That to him&s;elf, doubtle&s;s, looks very adroit and determining, <HI>viz. That we are not enlightned by what God is, but what God does.</HI> This is upon my &s;aying, <HI>That God enlightens Men with his own Light;</HI> calling me all to naught for that Phra&s;e, as Un&s;criptural, and of a <HI>meditated Tem|perament,</HI> to amu&s;e my Readers with: Rendring the Light, which we &s;ay true Chri&s;tians ought to walk by, to be <HI>no otherwi&s;e God's own Light, than the Sun and the Rain are his own Sun and Rain:</HI> Not of his Nature, but of his Creation only; that I take to be his meaning, a little plainer than he has expre&s;t it. To which I reply, in that famous and &s;uit|able Text of the beloved Di&s;ciple, 1 <HI>Jo.</HI> 1. 5, 6, 7. <HI>This then is the me&s;&s;age which we have heard of him, and declare unto you,</HI> That God is Light, <HI>and in him is no Darkne&s;s at all; if we &s;ay that we have fellow&s;hip with him, and walk in dark|ne&s;s, we lye and do not the truth: But if</HI>
<PB N="84" REF="43"> we walk in the Light as he is in the Light, <HI>we have fellow&s;hip one with another, and the blood of Je&s;us Christ his &s;on clean&s;|eth us from all &s;in.</HI> Here I leave him to con&s;ider of this Light; whether it be a Created One: Such an one, as is not what God is, but what God does; and &s;hall attend his Perver&s;ion of my pre&s;ent U&s;e, and our common Sen&s;e of &s;everal Scriptures, cited in Favour of our <HI>Inward</HI> Principle: And then &s;hall conclude my <HI>Reply</HI> to his pretended <HI>An&s;wer,</HI> to that part of my <HI>Key,</HI> which relates to the Light-within.</P>
<P>That I may make the Point plainer to the <HI>Reader,</HI> I &s;hall fir&s;t lay down the <HI>Perver&s;ion</HI> mention'd in my <HI>Key,</HI> then our <HI>Principle</HI> upon it, with tho&s;e Scriptures, he takes Occa&s;ion to twi&s;t and turn from our true Sen&s;e and End in citing them, and of which he is &s;o con&s;cious to him&s;elf, that to anticipate my Reply, he gives it for me, as I &s;hall anon ob&s;erve, and not a great way from our true Sen&s;e.</P>
<PB N="85" REF="43">
<P> Perver&s;. <HI>The</HI> Quakers <HI>hold, That the Light within them is</HI> God, Chri&s;t and the Holy Spirit; <HI>&s;o that every</HI> Quaker <HI>has</HI> whole God, Chri&s;t and Holy Spirit <HI>in him; which is gro&s;s Bla&s;phemy.</HI> Key, <HI>P.</HI> 2. 3.</P>
<P>By this my <HI>Reader</HI> will &s;ee what we except again&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> the <HI>Bla&s;phemy</HI> of making every <HI>Quaker</HI> comprehend whole God and Chri&s;t, and Holy Spirit in him. Now I mu&s;t de&s;ire him to ob&s;erve what our <HI>Principle</HI> &s;ays to this Sugge&s;tion.</P>
<P><HI>Principle,</HI> <Q REND="margDblQuotes">This is al&s;o a Mi&s;take of their Belief: They never &s;aid, That every <HI>Divine Illumination</HI> or <HI>Manife&s;tation</HI> of Chri&s;t, in the Hearts of Men, was whole God, Chri&s;t or the Spirit; whereby to be guilty of that Gro&s;s and Bla&s;pheemous Ab&s;urdity, &s;ome would fa&s;ten upon them: But that God, who is Light, or the Word-Chri&s;t, who is Light, the Quickening Spirit, and God over-all, ble&s;&s;ed for ever, hath enligtened Mankind with a Mea|&s;ure of Saving Light: So that the Il|lumination is from Chri&s;t, the Divine Word; but not therefore whole God
<PB N="86" REF="44"> or Chri&s;t, in every Man, any more than the <HI>whole Sun or Air is in every Hou&s;e or Chamber.</HI> There are no &s;uch har&s;h and un&s;criptural Words in their Writings: It is only a frightful <HI>Per|ver&s;ion</HI> of &s;ome of their Enemies, to bring a Scandal upon their Holy Faith. Yet, <HI>in a Sen&s;e,</HI> the Scriptures &s;ay it, and that is their (the <HI>Quakers)</HI> Sen&s;e, in which they only &s;ay the &s;ame thing. <HI>He that is with you &s;hall be in you: I will not leave you Comfortle&s;s, I will come to you: I in them and they in us: Chri&s;t in us, the Hope of Glory: &V;nle&s;s Christ be in you ye are Reprobates. Little Children, of whom I travel in Birth again, until Christ be formed in you.</HI></Q></P>
<P>This is my Explanation of our <HI>Prin|ciple,</HI> about the Light, from the <HI>Perver|&s;ions</HI> of our Adver&s;aries: By which the uncandid Dealing of this Man mu&s;t be very obvious; &s;ince, be&s;ides his Silence, and that he &s;eems to &s;hut his Eyes to our Explanation and Vindication of what we hold, from what he charges, he
<PB N="87" REF="44"> <HI>doubts</HI> the Perver&s;ions, by Changing and Mi&s;giving the End for which the Scri|ptures were cited by me: For he makes us to quote them, to prove what we expre&s;sly deny, as a fal&s;e Charge upon us; and carries them, at lea&s;t beyond, if not again&s;t the In&s;tinct and Rea&s;on of their Quotations, which he knows de|&s;erves a black Name, &s;ince they were never quoted to prove <HI>whole God and Christ to be in every Man,</HI> or to be &s;o in any Man: But that God, Chri&s;t and Spirit were in &s;ome near manner in the People of God. For the very Perver&s;ion runs it no farther than the People call'd <HI>Quakers;</HI> that every one of us are &s;ug|ge&s;ted to have whole God, and whole Chri&s;t, and the Spirit in us: Which is to improve, as I &s;aid before, upon the ve|ry Perver&s;ion.</P>
<P>Hear him, <HI>Page</HI> 58. <HI>Christ &s;ays not here, that any Man, except his Di&s;ciples, &s;hall have him in them; that Christ is in none but tho&s;e that are in him; that he is not in Reprobates, &s;o not in every Man; that he was not in the</HI> Galatians; <HI>that they</HI>
<PB N="88" REF="45"> <HI>must be new Creatures that have him; &s;o all against</HI> W. P.<HI>'s Purpo&s;e.</HI> But what was my Purpo&s;e, I pray? Hear the <HI>Key</HI> again.</P>
<P><Q REND="margDblQuotes">Yet, <HI>in a Sen&s;e,</HI> the Scriptures &s;ay it, and that is their (the Quakers) Sen&s;e, in which they only &s;ay the &s;ame thing.</Q> What Fair or Wi&s;e Adver&s;ary would have been guilty of &s;o ill a thing, and &s;o ea&s;ily to be detected? Is any thing plainer than, fir&s;t, That <HI>every Quaker,</HI> and not every Man is in the Perver&s;ion? Secondly, That I deny, in the Name of that People, any &s;uch Bla&s;phemous Prin|ciple, as that every <HI>Quaker</HI> has <HI>whole God in him,</HI> but much the contrary; ex|plaining our Principle, of which he takes no notice. Thirdly, That yet we own God, Chri&s;t and Holy Spirit to be in the People call'd Quakers; but that it is according to <HI>a Sen&s;e:</HI> What Sen&s;e do I &s;ay it? Why, the Sen&s;e in which the Scriptures &s;ay it.</P>
<P>Now, <HI>Reader,</HI> judge thou, and not I, what to call this Man, that with &s;o much Fal&s;hood obtrudes upon us the un|true&s;t
<PB N="89" REF="45"> Things and unworthie&s;t Abu&s;es, for the Principles of the People call'd <HI>Quakers.</HI> And to &s;hew him to him&s;elf yet more plainly, he has provided me with the means of doing of it, which I toucht upon before, <HI>viz. That the Qua|kers u&s;e to &s;ay, None but Believers have Christ in &V;nion, but all others have Christ in them.</HI> Which at lea&s;t gives away the Point: For if Chri&s;t be in &s;ome Sen&s;e or other in every Man, yet he is not &s;aid by me to be in the foregoing Scriptures, in any but Believers. And he makes too bold with us al&s;o, in &s;aying, in our Name, That Chri&s;t is in all Men; for we chu&s;e rather to expre&s;s our &s;elves other ways, as, <HI>That a Manife&s;tation of Christ is in every Man, or that Chri&s;t light|eth every Man, or that the Light of Christ is within every Man;</HI> and in &s;o &s;aying, I have, by many plain Scriptures prov'd, That we &s;peak but the Truth, and that which is every Man's Ble&s;&s;ing: And it were well all would prize it, and live up to it. For that is the <HI>Gift of God</HI> to Men for their Salvation, and the Con|victions
<PB N="90" REF="46"> of it, the Day of their <HI>Vi&s;itation.</HI> And tho' <HI>Tradition, Form</HI> and <HI>Formality,</HI> in many Countries, as well as Wicked|ne&s;s, having awaken'd the Under&s;tand|ings of People, &s;o that they &s;eem more Solicitous about their Forms, than zeal|ou&s;ly obedient to this Divine Principle; yet there is none without a Sen&s;e of the Reproofs and Convictions of it, more or le&s;s, at one Time or other: Which cannot be without <HI>Light,</HI> &s;ince all that is reprov'd is made manife&s;t by the Light, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5. 13. But before I clo&s;e this Sub|ject, I mu&s;t touch upon his Interpre|tation of &s;ome of tho&s;e Texts before cited, <HI>Page</HI> 58, 59.</P>
<P>He &s;ays this Pa&s;&s;age of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Christ in us, the Hope of Glory,</HI> is again&s;t me, <HI>becau&s;e it was only to Believers that he wrote.</HI> Grant it, yet why may not Chri&s;t be a Condemner in the Con&s;ciences of the Wicked, as well as the Hope of Glo|ry in Believers? However, it is not again&s;t me, &s;ince I cited it only to &s;hew the Enjoyment of Believers: And &s;ince he allows Chri&s;t to be in Believers, I
<PB N="91" REF="46"> hope his Light and Spirit are there with him, which is more than the Effects of the perceptive Powers of their Souls, or outward Mini&s;terial Help in the Bu&s;ine&s;s of Religion; a thing he has &s;o often de|nyed to any but the Holy <HI>Penmen,</HI> and here and there an extraordinary Per&s;on, that has had the <HI>Power</HI> of Miracles, to Confirm the Truth of his In&s;piration: <HI>For if he has given us his Son, how much more with him &s;hall he give us all things?</HI> So that our Adver&s;ary has herein granted what he has &s;o often denyed and op|po&s;ed.</P>
<P>The like in that Pa&s;&s;age of the Apo&s;tle to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> 2 Cor 13. 15. <HI>&V;nle&s;s Christ be in you, you are Reprobates. This,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>proves, no Reprobates have Christ in them; How then is Christ in every Man, if he be in none of the&s;e?</HI> But then &s;ay I, he is in all but Reprobates by this Man's Conce&s;&s;ion: And we can &s;ay no more. For if by Reprobates we are to under&s;tand a <HI>Judas</HI> State; a <HI>&s;eared</HI> Con|&s;cience; one that has ab&s;olutely <HI>crucified</HI> to him&s;elf afre&s;h the Lord of Life and
<PB N="92" REF="47"> Glory, and has &s;inned the Sin again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t: In &s;hort, an <HI>Apo&s;tate</HI> or an <HI>ob&s;tinate Oppo&s;er,</HI> and <HI>Perverter</HI> of the right Way of the Lord; then, I &s;ay, our Principle of Chri&s;t being in &s;ome Sen&s;e in every Man <HI>(viz.</HI> as a Light lighting every Man) receives no Di&s;|advantage from his Objection: For, therefore, <HI>Reprobates</HI> have not Chri&s;t; becau&s;e they have finally blown out the Candle, extingui&s;h'd Con&s;cience, and are become dead to all Sen&s;e of Religion; which is becau&s;e they have out-liv'd the Day of God's Love and Mercy to them: They would not be gathered; they would have none of him; they would not have this Man to reign over them. But then <HI>all others,</HI> by this Text, and this Man's arguing from it, have Chri&s;t in them; and &s;o it makes greatly for us, &s;ince it plainly concludes, That if all that have not Chri&s;t in them are Reprobates, then tho&s;e that are not Reprobates have Chri&s;t in them; but &s;uch is every Man that cometh into the World, <HI>therefore every Man that cometh into the World hath Chri&s;t</HI>
<PB N="93" REF="47"> <HI>in him:</HI> For, to be &s;ure, Men come not <HI>Reprobates</HI> into the World. They have a Day of Grace; God calls; his Spirit &s;trives; his Long-&s;uffering wait|eth, as in the Days of <HI>Noah,</HI> for their Repentance. And this is that which will give the greate&s;t Weight in the Scale again&s;t the Rebellious, at the great Judgment, that they had a <HI>Talent;</HI> a <HI>Seed</HI> was &s;own, <HI>Grace</HI> did appear, and <HI>all had Light,</HI> but &s;uch lov'd Darkne&s;s rather than Light, becau&s;e their Deeds were evil. The la&s;t Scripture he would turn upon us is that in the <HI>Galatians; My little Children, of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you:</HI> Upon which he &s;ays, <HI>The Per&s;ons &s;poken to then, had not Christ in them.</HI> Thus, he &s;ays, every Proof I bring <HI>contradicts my own Conclu&s;ion;</HI> but then, &s;ays I, the <HI>Galatians</HI> mu&s;t be at that Time Re|probates, by his. Thus does this Man walk in a Circle, and contradict him&s;elf. One Time all but Reprobates have Chri&s;t; another while the <HI>Galatians,</HI> tho' not Reprobates, had him not. But
<PB N="94" REF="48"> when he con&s;iders that there is a great Difference between a <HI>Seed,</HI> and an <HI>Ear,</HI> a <HI>Plant</HI> and a <HI>Tree,</HI> he may better un|der&s;tand the Apo&s;tle, and what he now &s;ays. For the poor Man, after &s;o often allowing Chri&s;t to be in the People of God, &s;ays, Page 59. <HI>But neither in Be|lievers is Christ a Light within.</HI> I won|der then what he is there, &s;ince he is the <HI>Light of the World,</HI> Joh 1. 4, 9. and that <HI>true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World;</HI> and yet not to be a Light within Man, <HI>tho' he be within Man,</HI> is &s;urprizing. I &s;hall leave it with my <HI>Reader,</HI> to do our Principle Ju&s;tice; and I hope he will find rea&s;on to think I have a&s;&s;erted no <HI>Errors,</HI> nor <HI>prevaricated</HI> with my Friends, nor <HI>lost</HI> my Point, nor acted with <HI>Leger-de-main,</HI> or a <HI>Meditated Temperament</HI> to deceive; and that all the <HI>Wards</HI> of my <HI>Key,</HI> after his many <HI>Strain|ings, Wre&s;tings</HI> and <HI>Forcings,</HI> keep their Places, and an&s;wer the End for which the <HI>Key</HI> was fir&s;t made <HI>(viz.) To open to every Common &V;nder&s;tanding, the Diffe|rence between the Principles of the People</HI>
<PB N="95" REF="48"> <HI>called</HI> Quakers, <HI>and the Perver&s;ions and Mi&s;repre&s;entations of their Enemies:</HI> Wi&s;h|ing this Adver&s;ary, for all his Scoffs, Scurrility and Abu&s;e, upon us and our Religion, Repentance to Salvation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD><HI>His Exceptions to our Refu&s;al of</HI> Oaths, <HI>And his Arguments for them con&s;idered.</HI></HEAD>
<P>PAge 62. <HI>To their</HI> (the Quakers) <HI>Scruple about Oaths, I &s;hall only hint the&s;e few Thoughts, becau&s;e True Speaking is not only a part of Hone&s;ty, but Religion; therefore not only Hone&s;ty, but Religion is engaged, with its full Force to &s;upport it &s;elf; unle&s;s Religion may not &s;upport it &s;elf: But if a Man engage all his Religion for the Support of a true Speech, he takes an Oath.</HI></P>
<P>If this be true Arguing, then we &s;wear as often as we &s;ay <HI>Yea</HI> and <HI>Nay</HI> in Evidence, &s;ince we acknowledge we &s;take the Credit of our Religion and
<PB N="96" REF="49"> Con&s;cience for the Verity of it; and then methinks there needs no more Di&s;|pute in the Matter: For it is certain we do, and that Swearers can do no more: And &s;ince that is our Principle, it is as binding on us, as Swearing is upon tho&s;e that give them&s;elves the Liberty of Swearing. But pray let us hear what follows. <HI>I &s;hall not</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>in&s;i&s;t upon the Nature of an Oath, but con&s;ider its Place in the Political State of Chri&s;t's King|dom.</HI></P>
<P>If he will not in&s;i&s;t upon the Nature of an Oath, I have no rea&s;on to in&s;i&s;t up|on the U&s;e or Di&s;u&s;e of it at this Time; &s;ince here it is an arguing upon an <HI>Indi|vidium Vagum;</HI> a Nothing. He &s;hould fir&s;t have a&s;certained us what an Oath is; and when that had been adju&s;ted and &s;ettled, then he &s;hould have proved &s;uch an Oath Lawful, and us unrea&s;on|able for refu&s;ing it upon all accounts. However, I will both Ob&s;erve and An|&s;wer his Notions of it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, he &s;ays, <HI>He cannot under&s;tand how Swearing can be wholly put down, where</HI>
<PB N="97" REF="49"> <HI>People may Swear by Law,</HI> as in <HI>England.</HI> True, unle&s;s that Law be Repealed, that requires it. But it is a great <HI>Bull</HI> to &s;ay, That they that make a Law cann't Re|peal it. If the Legi&s;lative Power is plea&s;ed to make <HI>Yea</HI> and <HI>Nay</HI> have the Force and Acceptance of an Oath, they may have it in any Government, and that is what the People call'd <HI>Quakers</HI> De|&s;ire in this, for all of their Communion; and to &s;hew him how much he is Mi&s;ta|ken, the highe&s;t Judicature in <HI>England</HI> &s;its upon Honour, and not Oaths, <HI>viz.</HI> the <HI>Hou&s;e of Lords:</HI> So Commi&s;&s;ioners of <HI>Oyer and Terminer,</HI> that judge Life, are rarely, if ever, upon Oath. So that I have herein an&s;wer'd his Que&s;tion, <HI>p.</HI> 63. <HI>If an Order again&s;t all Swearing were not,</HI> Ip&s;o Jure, <HI>Void.</HI> He carries it higher than any Body ever did, that I have met with. It is with him the great Hinge or Axletree upon which Re|ligion turns; and explodes my Rea&s;on as Fal&s;e, that I gave for the Ri&s;e of Oaths, <HI>viz.</HI> want of Faith either in him that
<PB N="98" REF="50"> Swears, or in him to whom the Oath is Sworn.</P>
<P>For, &s;ays he, <HI>God the Father Swears to the Son,</HI> Heb. 7. <HI>where there is infinite Faithfulne&s;s on both Sides.</HI></P>
<P>But to this I &s;ay, That, &s;trictly &s;peak|ing, God cannot be &s;aid to Swear, for he that Swears Swears by the Greater, <HI>Heb.</HI> 6. 16. &s;o that it is call'd <HI>Swearing.</HI> that it might &s;trike unbelieving Man with the greater A&s;&s;urance of God's Love to him. And tho' there was Infi|nite Faithfulne&s;s between God and Chri&s;t, yet it referring to Man, it is termed an Oath, to heighten and augment Man's Credit and Confidence in God, as to the means of his Salvation, and not that God did properly Swear, or can do &s;o.</P>
<P>But he tells us, <HI>That Chri&s;t an&s;wered upon Adjuration before a Judge,</HI> which is the way of Swearing in our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Courts.</P>
<P>I cannot allow it, &s;ince he does not prove that Chri&s;t Swore in his An&s;wer; for all he &s;aid was, <HI>Thou hast &s;aid,</HI> Mat.
<PB N="99" REF="50"> 26. 63. Now that is putting it back to the High Prie&s;t; as if he had &s;aid, What need I an&s;wer that upon Oath, which thou thy &s;elf &s;ay'&s;t? Do&s;t thou fir&s;t ac|cu&s;e me, and then query to confirm it? Thou ha&s;t &s;aid. But next, if it be &s;aid, That it was an An&s;wer u&s;ual, and the Propriety or Peculiarity of that Language, &s;o to &s;peak, he &s;hould have proved it: For as the Words are in the Scripture, there appears no Oath in them: But if it were as he &s;ays, which I cannot grant, yet it concludes nothing again&s;t us; for as he was in the State of a Servant, a Jew of the Jews, made and born under the Law, <HI>Gal.</HI> 4. 4. He was to fulfil the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of it, and &s;o might act as a Jew; as he did in the In&s;tance of Cir|cumci&s;ion, the Pa&s;&s;over, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Yet after his Re&s;urrection we hear nothing of an Oath, any more in Example than in Do|ctrin, that with other Cu&s;toms of the Jews, that in old Time was practis'd, were, as it were, left with the Grave-Cloaths behind, and he a&s;cended, in his Evangelical Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Glory,
<PB N="100" REF="51"> Triumphing over Principalities and Pow|ers, and Vanqui&s;hing Hell, Death and the Grave, and brought in a better Hope, Sanctuary and Tabernacle, where <HI>Yea</HI> and <HI>Nay</HI> &s;ucceeded and &s;uperceeded all Oaths. So that the very Ba&s;is this Man builds upon is Un&s;ound, and his Premi|&s;es precarious. How then <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">n he build well, or conclude rightly again&s;t us? But he &s;ays, The Angels Swear, which I conceive is more than he knows; for no Body can think by his Writings he is very Conver&s;ant with Good Angels. However, I grant that the Angels have &s;worn, but that is no Rea&s;on to conti|nue Oaths among Men, if Chri&s;t, the ble&s;&s;ed Author of the Chri&s;tian Religion hath forbid them: For the Angels, as well as Men mu&s;t wor&s;hip, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1. 6. and therefore Chri&s;t and not the Angels are to be follow'd by us; but whenever an Angel hath Sworn, it hath been in Conde&s;cention of the Incredulity and Diffidence of Man, and to highten his Credit of the Mind and Will of God; and is therefore an In&s;tance for us, be|cau&s;e
<PB N="101" REF="51"> it refers to a low and imperfect State, propo&s;ed as an Expedient and Re|medy again&s;t Untruth; which is out of the Que&s;tion, Truth leaving no Room for Swearing, which in its Nature is but a Terrifying of the Mind into true Speak|ing; as in &s;ome Countries, in Default of Evidence, they u&s;e Racks to extort Confe&s;&s;ions from the &s;u&s;pected Parties: An In&s;tance of which we have near us, in the <HI>Scotch Boots</HI> and <HI>Tummikins.</HI></P>
<P>He alledges al&s;o, That the <HI>Apo&s;tles Swore;</HI> but he has not mention'd any one of them, nor any Place; However, that I may not leave my <HI>Reader</HI> as much in the Dark as he has done his, I refer him to my Book, entitul'd, <HI>The Spirit of Truth Vindicated,</HI> from p. 86 to 91 p. where he may &s;ee how much &s;ofter Tran|&s;lations may be given of the Apo&s;tles Expre&s;&s;ions than that of our <HI>Vulgar</HI> Ver|&s;ion. Neverthele&s;s, tho&s;e extraordina|ry ways of Speaking were in extraordi|nary Ca&s;es, and cannot be a Rule to others, but under the &s;ame Circum|&s;tances and Authority: And till this
<PB N="102" REF="52"> Author has given us an Authentick De|finition of an Oath, he cannot ju&s;tly call the Apo&s;tles Expre&s;&s;ions Oaths or Proofs of Oaths: Unle&s;s he will allow that binding any Affirmation or Negation by the Name of Lord, is an Oath; but if that were the Ca&s;e, it differs mightily, to u&s;e the Name of the Lord to inforce the Verity of Divine Things, and to make it a Witne&s;s and Voucher for us in our Law and Temporal Affairs: A Di|&s;tinction as old as &s;ome of the mo&s;t emi|nent Fathers of the Primitive Ages of the Church.</P>
<P>But he adds, <HI>That all Chri&s;tians take Sacramental Oaths:</HI> Which is not true in Fact; for among the Prote&s;tants of the <HI>Low Countries</HI> there is a great People, who in any Ca&s;e will not Swear, as well as we, and yet we know no other Name, Blood, Power and Spirit by wich we can be &s;aved, than <HI>that</HI> of the Lord Je|&s;us Chri&s;t. Again, many of the Fol|lowers of <HI>John Wickliff,</HI> who would not Swear in any Ca&s;e; and divers al&s;o of our <HI>Engli&s;h Martyrs</HI> refu&s;ed to &s;wear, up|on
<PB N="103" REF="52"> the &s;ame Principle. And if this Man will call to mind, he may remember, that &s;ome of the be&s;t of the <HI>Ancient Fa|thers</HI> were of the &s;ame Judgment; be|lieving it Unlawful for a Chri&s;tian Man to take an Oath; which in my Treati&s;e of Oaths may be &s;een at large.</P>
<P>Now, for what he alledges, Why Chri&s;t's Prohibition, <HI>Matth.</HI> 5. doth not extend to all Oaths, I think it will not be hard to &s;hew it is &s;light and concludes nothing again&s;t us.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, he &s;ays, the Expre&s;&s;ion where|by the particular Law is &s;uppos'd to for|bid all Oaths, does frequently, in the Law-Books, &s;ignifie no more than fal&s;e Oaths, or Swearing otherwi&s;e ami&s;s; as may be &s;een by comparing <HI>Matth.</HI> 5. 34. with <HI>Levit.</HI> 5. 1. <HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 9. 2. <HI>Jer.</HI> 23. 10. <HI>Zach.</HI> 5. 3. <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 4. 2. But this is rather again&s;t him than for him; &s;ince if Chri&s;t only forbids what was not law|ful before, his Righteou&s;ne&s;s ri&s;es no higher than that of the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> But it is plain from the Text, <HI>Matth</HI> 5. that Chri&s;t forbids &s;uch Swearing as was
<PB N="104" REF="53"> lawful before, and therefore more than the Texts before-mention'd expre&s;s.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>Page</HI> 64. He limits Chri&s;t's Prohibition to tho&s;e Oaths which had no Sacredne&s;s in them, but which the Pha|ri&s;ees thought they might make and Vio|late without Impiety. This al&s;o is a meer Conjecture, for which he offers us no Proof; the contrary being evident, as before; for Chri&s;t treated of Oaths that were to be perform'd to the Lord, were they not then Sacred?</P>
<P>But, Thirdly, for his Third Particu|lar, it is as unintelligible as his <HI>Gip&s;y Gib|beri&s;h</HI> in Page 10. and he mu&s;t explain it before it can be an&s;w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">.</P>
<P>His Fourth Parti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">r is this, <HI>When it divides this Prohibition into its part,</HI> Matth. 5. 35, 36. <HI>he does not divide it as against Swearing in all Ca&s;es, but &s;ets the Bounds of his Di&s;tribution directly to oppo&s;e this corrupt Glo&s;s of the Phari&s;ees; for he doth not &s;ay,</HI> Ye have heard that it hath been &s;aid, Ye &s;hall Swear in Truth, in Righteou&s;ne&s;s and in Judgment; But I &s;ay unto ye, Swear not at all; <HI>for &s;o far</HI>
<PB N="105" REF="53"> <HI>as concern'd &s;wearing by God the</HI> Phari&s;ees <HI>Doctrin was &s;ound:</HI> But what does Chri&s;t &s;ay? Why I &s;ay unto you Swear not at all; neither by <HI>Heaven,</HI> nor by <HI>Earth,</HI> or <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> or the <HI>Head. Directly con|trary to &s;wearing by the Temple, the Altar, the Heavens, which the</HI> Phari&s;ees <HI>taught to be Lawful to do, and not be bound by &s;uch kind of Oaths.</HI> Which in my opinion is very Weak and Gro&s;s; for if it be plain, as it is, that Chri&s;t forbad &s;uch Oaths as men ought not to break, but to perform to the Lord, then it was not &s;uch Oaths as the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> taught to be Lawful to take, and not be bound by them when they had done. So that he forbids &s;uch Oaths as he &s;ays the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> Doctrin was &s;ound in; becau&s;e it was what they ought not to break, but perform to the Lord: So that Chri&s;t was &s;o far from limiting his Prohibition to the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> Oaths, by <HI>Heaven, Earth, Jeru&s;alem</HI> or the <HI>Head;</HI> which this Man &s;ays they made not obligatory, that he forbids them, by forbidding tho&s;e Oaths, that according to the Ancient Doctrin of
<PB N="106" REF="54"> the Jewi&s;h-Law, Men ought not to breack but perform to the Lord, that as every Major includes its Minor, &s;o Chri&s;t by his prohibition of the u&s;e of Lawful Oaths, includes the prohibition of the practice of Unlawful Oaths.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 67. His fifth Allegation is every whit as much be&s;ide the matter as what he &s;aid before, <HI>viz. That Chri&s;t did not condemn &s;wearing by Jeru&s;alem, the Throne, the Foot-Stool,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Holily, but as Vainly and &V;nholily u&s;ed:</HI> Which is to exceed the Bounds of all other Writers; &s;o very heartily does this Man love Swearing. But now I mu&s;t tell him, that he has much wre&s;ted the Text, and perverted the plain and obvious &s;en&s;e of it, and mi&s;|repre&s;ented the Mind and Doctrin of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; for it is evident, to every con&s;iderate Reader, that Chri&s;t in that Chapter was not reproving what was Reproveable under the Law; nor was he exhorting his Auditors and Di&s;|ciples to live up to the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of it, which was the way of the Prophets, that were under that Di&s;pen&s;ation; but
<PB N="107" REF="54"> Chri&s;t plainly introduces a <HI>new one;</HI> e|ven the Di&s;pen&s;ation of the Go&s;pel, the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of his Kingdom, and that is the difference between them, as in the Ca&s;e of <HI>Killing, Adultery</HI> &amp;c. As well as of &s;wearing, <HI>Mat.</HI> 5. 21, 22, 27, 28, 33, 34. <HI>Ye have heard that it was &s;aid to them of Old, time thou &s;halt not Kill; but I &s;ay unto you, that who&s;oever is Angry with his Brother without a Cau&s;e, &s;hall be in dan|ger of the Judgment; Yea, who&s;oever &s;hall &s;ay thou Fool, &s;hall be in danger of Hell-Fire. Ye have heard that it was &s;aid, by them of old time; thou &s;halt not commit Adultery; but I &s;ay unto you, that who&s;oever looketh upon a Woman to Lu&s;t after her, hath committed Adultry with her already in his heart. Again, Ye have heard that it hath been &s;aid of Old time, Thou &s;halt not for|&s;wear thy &s;elf, but &s;halt perform thy Oaths to the Lord; but I &s;ay unto you &s;wear not at all.</HI> Now I would fain know if Chri&s;t's Prohibition goes no farther than <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>'s; and, if he does not intend by the&s;e words, that the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Go&s;pel &s;hould <HI>exceed that of the Law:</HI> The
<PB N="108" REF="55"> Parallel runs thus; <HI>Thou &s;halt not Kill, thou &s;halt not commit Adultery,</HI> &s;ays Mo&s;es: <HI>Thou &s;halt not be Angry, thou &s;halt not Lu&s;t,</HI> &s;ays Chri&s;t. Now this was no fal&s;e Glo&s;s of the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in that time, which Chri&s;t reprehended or reformed, as this Adver&s;ary would &s;uppo&s;e; but a plain improvement upon the Rightou&s;ne&s;s of the Law, <HI>viz. Thou &s;halt not For&s;wear thy &s;elf, but &s;halt perform to the Lord thine Oaths,</HI> &s;ays Mo&s;es. <HI>But I &s;ay unto you, &s;wear not at all,</HI> &s;ays Chri&s;t; <HI>neither by Heaven, for it is Gods Throne; nor by the Earth, for it is his Foot-&s;tool; neither by Jeru&s;alem, nor thy Head, but let your Com|munication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for what&s;oever is more than the&s;e, cometh of evil.</HI> Upon which even <HI>Beza</HI> &s;ays, that by for|&s;wearing, <HI>We are not to under&s;tand a fal&s;e Oath, but that it is be&s;t not to &s;wear at all.</HI> And that what Speech is of an higher na|ture than this, is too much and cometh of evil; and <HI>Tremelius,</HI> out of <HI>Maimonides</HI> &s;ays, <HI>He is the best Man that will upon no account &s;wear.</HI> And the Annotati|on upon this place, of a Tran&s;lation,
<PB N="109" REF="55"> <HI>Anno.</HI> 1599 &s;ays, <HI>Whatever yea vouch, vouch it barely, and what&s;oever yea deny, deny it barely, without any more Words;</HI> that is, let your affirming and denying be &s;imple and upon the Authority of your own Word and Truth, without going about to find it by the Authority of a <HI>Greater</HI> and <HI>Holier</HI> thing, which is not a bare and &s;imple, but a compounded Speech, and &s;o more than Yea, yea; and Nay, Nay; and therefore <HI>cometh of Evil.</HI> To which that Pa&s;&s;age of the Apo&s;tle <HI>James</HI> aptly refers. <HI>Jam.</HI> 5. 12. <HI>But above all things my Brethren &s;wear not, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, nor by any other Oath;</HI> which is to &s;ay, <HI>as by nothing el&s;e; &s;o not by God: But let your Yea, be Yea; and Nay, nay; Lest ye fall into con|demnation.</HI></P>
<P>One would think this Man had hard|ly ever read the Bible, to make Oaths &s;o e&s;&s;ential a part of the Religion and Kingdom of Chri&s;t; when Chri&s;t him|&s;elf makes it a part of the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of his Kingdom, <HI>not to &s;wear at all.</HI> Or is it candid in him to limit Chri&s;t's prohi|bition
<PB N="110" REF="56" MS="y"> to the then fal&s;e Glo&s;&s;es of the <HI>Pha|ri&s;ees,</HI> when Chri&s;t looks over their Heads, back to the very <HI>Decalogue</HI> or <HI>Ten Commandments,</HI> for an in&s;tance, to &s;hew, <HI>by compari&s;on,</HI> how much the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of his Kingdom excels that of the Law, that came by <HI>Mo&s;es&punc;</HI> I could wi&s;h there was no thing but weakne&s;s to be charged upon this Man in this particular; but his Abilities look too con&s;iderable el&s;e where for that, as well as his Di&s;engenuity too frequent; not to conclude it of <HI>a meditated Tempe|rament</HI> to force the Text, rather than not have his ends upon us: But with what &s;ucce&s;s he has managed it, We mu&s;t leave to the Judicious Reader.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="appendix">
<PB N="111" REF="56">
<HEAD><HI>His</HI> Appendix <HI>about</HI> Bapti&s;m <HI>and the</HI> Lords Supper <HI>(&s;o called) Con&s;idered; and the</HI> Key, <HI>which the People called</HI> Quakers, <HI>defended again&s;t his Exceptions in tho&s;e two Particulars.</HI></HEAD>
<P>OF <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> he writes thus. <HI>Bap|ti&s;m is a Rite of Admi&s;&s;ion into the Family of God, making Per&s;ons Citizens of Heaven, and free of the Kingdom of the Me&s;&s;ias. It con&s;ists of an outward and vi&s;i|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters"> &s;ign, and an inward &s;piritual Grace. The&s;e are the two parts of the &s;ame Bapti&s;m, but not two Bapti&s;ms.</HI></P>
<P>One would think that this Man had never read the third of <HI>Matt.</HI> or the fir&s;t
<PB N="112" REF="57"> of the <HI>Acts.</HI> For in the fir&s;t <HI>John</HI> di&s;tin|gui&s;hes his Bapti&s;m from Chri&s;t's as plainly as he does his Per&s;on <HI>(viz.) I indeed Baptize you with Water to Repentance: But he that cometh after me is mightier then I, who&s;e Shooes I am not worthy to bear: He &s;hall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire:</HI> Which &s;hews their dif|ference in <HI>Nature, Excellency</HI> and <HI>Efficacy.</HI> In the la&s;t Scripture Chri&s;t him&s;elf, ju&s;t before his parting with his Di&s;ciples, does very expre&s;sly and Emphatically di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt his own Bapti&s;m and the Bapti&s;m of <HI>John. For</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>John truly Baptized with Water, but ye &s;hall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost not many Days hence.</HI> I &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t upon the force of this place and Context now &s;o fully, as by and by, yet nothing can well be plainer, than that Chri&s;ts words imply two Bapti&s;ms, that<HI>'s</HI> the <HI>Water was John</HI>'s, and the <HI>Holy Ghost His:</HI> And that his intention was to leave that di&s;tinction upon the minds of his Di&s;ciples; not only that <HI>John</HI>'s and his were two Bapti&s;ms but that <HI>Water was</HI>
<PB N="113" REF="57"> <HI>John</HI>'s <HI>and not his.</HI> And this too after all is granted by our Oppo&s;er him&s;elf <HI>Page</HI> 89. where he &s;ays, <HI>Can any Man believe that Je&s;us u&s;ed John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m, and not his own, in making of Di&s;ciples?</HI> But he adds <HI>Page</HI> 78. <HI>For neither is the vi&s;i|ble part alone, or the invi&s;ible by it &s;elf, Bapti&s;m; but both in union by the Divine Appointment:</HI> But where this Divine Appointment is, he does not tell us. Again, <HI>Page</HI> 87. <HI>John did the outward Part, and Je&s;us the inward Part the &s;ame Moment.</HI> But &s;urely he is mi&s;taken, when <HI>John</HI> tells us the Bapti&s;m of the holy Gho&s;t was to come <HI>after,</HI> not to go along with his: And Chri&s;t told his Di&s;ciples that it was <HI>to come,</HI> (&s;o that His and <HI>John</HI>'s went not together) And bid them <HI>&s;tay at Jeru&s;alem till they received it,</HI> viz. <HI>The Promi&s;e of the Father, which was the pouring forth of the holy Gho&s;t;</HI> As the fir&s;t chapter of the <HI>Acts</HI> informs us: And that was nigh three Years after they had been Baptized, and Baptized others with Water: So that both did not go together, as this Man Dreams. But
<PB N="114" REF="58"> he proceeds, <HI>Page</HI> 80. <HI>For John admitted Men into the Faith of the</HI> Me&s;&s;ias; <HI>That is, into the State of Subjects, owing and acknowledging Allegiance to Chri&s;t. And Christ owns this Grant and Admi&s;&s;ion valid in his Kingdom, and that they were legally in&s;tated in the rights of his Kingdom, whom John Baptized: This being done by a publick Authorized Herald of his King|dom.</HI></P>
<P>But it's &s;trang that <HI>John</HI> had the pow|er to admit Men into the Faith of Him, when at fir&s;t he &s;ent his Di&s;ciples to him to know if he were the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> or they were to look for another. This is to give <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Keys</HI> of <HI>David,</HI> and to make Regeneration an ab&s;olute and ne|ce&s;&s;ary Adjunct or Concomitant of his Water Bapti&s;m. But tho&s;e Baptized by <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m were &s;o far from being admitted into the State of Subjects, and enjoying the Rights of Chri&s;t's King|dom, that in <HI>Acts</HI> 18. <HI>Apollos</HI> is &s;aid to know <HI>only John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m:</HI> And chap. 19. Certain Di&s;ciples to <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m, de|clared to <HI>Paul they had not &s;o much as heard</HI>
<PB N="115" REF="58"> <HI>if there were any &s;uch thing as the holy Gho&s;t:</HI> So that when <HI>Paul</HI> askt them, <HI>To whom then were you Baptized,</HI> they an|&s;wered, <HI>To John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m,</HI> by way of di&s;tinction from Chri&s;t's. And the Apo|&s;tles Que&s;tion led them to that An&s;wer, being founded upon a di&s;tinction be|tween the Bapti&s;m of <HI>John,</HI> and that of <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> And la&s;tly, I mu&s;t take leave to wonder how he can think to word, up|on us &s;o great an untruth. As that of Chri&s;t's <HI>owning an admi&s;&s;ion into his King|dom by John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m, and that &s;uch are Legally in&s;tated in the Rights thereof,</HI> be|cau&s;e they were Baptized of <HI>John,</HI> when Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;ays, <HI>That the least in the Kingdom of God, is greater then John;</HI> which implys that <HI>John</HI> him&s;elf was not of that Kingdom: And becau&s;e that can|not be under&s;tood of the Per&s;on or Soul of <HI>John,</HI> for &s;o he was certainly a glorious Subject of it, it mu&s;t refer to his Ad|mini&s;tration, which, He him&s;elf tells us al&s;o mu&s;t decrea&s;e, and Chri&s;t's in|crea&s;e. Be&s;ides, Chri&s;t told <HI>Nicodemus, that unle&s;s a Man be born again he cannot</HI>
<PB N="116" REF="59"> <HI>&s;ee the Kingdom of God;</HI> How then is he a Subject, and inve&s;ted in the Rights of that Kingdom? Again, did <HI>John</HI>'s Bap|ti&s;m <HI>Regenerate?</HI> If it did, What need of <HI>Fire</HI> and <HI>Holy Ghost</HI> that <HI>John</HI> &s;aid was to come after? What need of any thing after <HI>John</HI>'s, if it was &s;o effectual, or was he always attended with &s;uch a Power as is affirmed? Where now is our Adver&s;aries haughty a&s;&s;ertion, <HI>That John</HI>'s <HI>Di&s;ciples, as &s;uch, were the Subjects of Chri&s;t's Kingdom, and Legally invested in the Rights thereof,</HI> when it is plain that the lea&s;t of that Kingdom is greater than their very <HI>Baptizer,</HI> the <HI>Great He|rald</HI> of the Kingdom? But that Ex|pre&s;&s;ion it &s;elf gives away the Cau&s;e, be|ing well con&s;idered; <HI>For the Forerunner ends in Him, He Foreruns, and the Herald in the Pre&s;ence of his King.</HI> He has for|got &s;ure, who it was that &s;aid, or that it was ever &s;aid, <HI>The Prophets lasted till John,</HI> and he ended them, but he did not <HI>begin</HI> the Chri&s;tian Di&s;pen&s;ation; that was Chri&s;t's work. <HI>John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> left men in that Old World of <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI>
<PB N="117" REF="59"> <HI>Rites,</HI> where it found them; but tis Chri&s;t's that makes all things new; <HI>new Heavens, new Earth</HI> and <HI>new Creatures</HI> to Inherit them.</P>
<P>But &s;ays this Author, <HI>Christ declares, that being Baptized with Water, was a part of Righteou&s;ne&s;s;</HI> Which it could not be, unle&s;s there was a Law of the Kingdom for it. As if it might not be Righteou&s;ne&s;s without &s;uch a Law: For with his favour there is as much to be &s;aid for Chri&s;t's <HI>Circumci&s;ion</HI> and eating the <HI>Pa&s;cal Lamb,</HI> &amp;c. Since that was to <HI>fulfil</HI> all Righteou&s;ne&s;s too; and yet there was no Law of the Kingdom of Chri&s;t for them, unle&s;s this be one, that Chri&s;t was to fulfil the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law, which he did in General, to introduce the Kingdom of God. For Chri&s;t's fulfilling of the Law and the Prophets, of which <HI>John</HI> was the <HI>Last,</HI> made way for the Kingdom to come, which was not of this World, nor are its Rights, by con&s;equence; but of its own nature. That Chri&s;t did fulfil all Righteou&s;ne&s;s in conde&s;cending and con|forming
<PB N="118" REF="60"> to divers Rites, is &s;o far from ratifying or confirming the Practice of them, as this Man &s;ugge&s;ts, that it Di&s;|charges and Aboli&s;hes them. This ap|pears very plain in that Chri&s;t's perform|ing of the Rites of the Law was in order to end them, <HI>being made under the Law for that very purpo&s;e.</HI> So that his being Baptized by <HI>John</HI> does not E&s;tabli&s;h, or any more confirm that Bapti&s;m, than his being Circumci&s;ed after <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> does perpetuate Circumci&s;ion. On the con|trary it rather ends <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the <HI>Prophets</HI> were till <HI>John,</HI> and <HI>John</HI> was till Chri&s;t; both had their times, and both their Periods in him.</P>
<P><HI>I am not he,</HI> &s;ays <HI>John;</HI> but <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m <HI>is It,</HI> &s;ays this Opponent, which is to put <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m in the <HI>room of Christ's;</HI> and <HI>John</HI>'s Mini&s;try, tho' not his Per&s;on, in lieu of Chri&s;t's. Now <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the <HI>Prophets</HI> were as the <HI>Stars</HI> of the Night; <HI>John</HI> as the <HI>Morning Star,</HI> the Forerunner of Day. He ro&s;e la&s;t, but &s;hined mo&s;t: But tho' the Morning Star be the mo&s;t burning and &s;hining of all
<PB N="119" REF="60"> the cele&s;tial Lights, and next to the Ri|&s;ing of the Sun him&s;elf; yet his time is &s;horte&s;t, his Light is &s;oon &s;wallowed up of the Sun.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 81. But this Man tells us, <HI>That Chri&s;t gave commi&s;&s;ion to his Di&s;ciples to Baptize with Water,</HI> Matt. 28. 19. <HI>And that they did under&s;tand it &s;o by their Pra|ctice.</HI> But is it practicable or po&s;&s;ible that any Scripture can rea&s;onably be &s;aid to declare an In&s;titution, or be the Com|mi&s;&s;ion of any thing which it does not expre&s;s? Now in that Text there is not a word of Water, how then is Water Bap|ti&s;m in&s;tituted by it? I cannot help wond|ring, and this Man mu&s;t allow it me, that the only Text to prove the Commi&s;&s;i|on of &s;o Celebrated a practice in our times, &s;hould not declare a Word of it. But I &s;hall next &s;hew, notwith&s;tanding heproduces following Practice, to prove Chri&s;t meant and his Di&s;ciples under|&s;tood it &s;o, that the Text means it no more then it Expre&s;&s;es it, and that Chri&s;t, that gave that Commi&s;&s;ion never intended it to refer to Water. This is
<PB N="120" REF="61"> the Text, <HI>Go ye, Teach all Nations, Bap|tizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Mat. 28. 19. Now Chri&s;t by this Commi&s;&s;ion mu&s;t mean his own Bapti&s;m of the Spirit, and that from the nature and force of the Words, as well as compari&s;on of them, with other places to which they relate, and that are al&s;o lately Explanatory of them. The words are not <HI>in</HI> the Name, but <HI>into</HI> the Name of the Father, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Which mu&s;t refer to the Power and Spirit of Chri&s;t; Water being too feeble to <HI>change and wa&s;h a Heart,</HI> which is the import of Baptizing into the Name or Nature of the Father, Son and holy Gho&s;t: That is, by the Mini&s;try which is from the Spirit. So <HI>Mark</HI> 16. Where Chri&s;t &s;aith <HI>They &s;hall cast out Devils in my Name;</HI> that is, by my power, or by the virtue or force of Spirit, which &s;hall attend you for that work and &s;ervice, that many may be turned from the evil of their way and made Heirs of an endle&s;s King|dom.</P>
<PB N="121" REF="61">
<P> In fine, after you have received the Spirit, you &s;hall Teach and Baptize, or Dip, Plunge, and Intere&s;t them that be|lieve, into the Name and Power of God, unto Holine&s;s, Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Mercy, Truth <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Qualifying them to bear the holy and excellent name of Father, Son and holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>And that this is not &s;trained, but na|tural, and no <HI>Allegory</HI> upon the Text, I &s;hall de&s;ire my <HI>Reader</HI> to look forward, to the Fir&s;t of the <HI>Acts,</HI> and the Fir&s;t nine ver&s;es; which plainly expounds this Commi&s;&s;ion, and con&s;equently re&s;olves us what Bapti&s;m it refers to; particular|ly the 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, Ver&s;es, <HI>viz. And being a&s;&s;embled together with them, commanded them that they &s;hould not depart from Jeru&s;alem, but wait for the promi&s;e of the Father, which, &s;aith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly Baptized with Wa|ter; but ye &s;hall be Baptized with the holy Ghost, not many Days hence. But ye &s;hall receive power after that the holy Ghost is come upon you: And ye &s;hall be witne&s;&s;es, unto me, both in Jeru&s;alem, and in all Ju|dea,</HI>
<PB N="122" REF="62"> <HI>and in Samaria, and unto the utter|most part of the Earth. And when he had &s;poken the&s;e things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their &s;ight.</HI></P>
<P>In which three things are ob&s;ervable. Fir&s;t that Chri&s;t <HI>Di&s;tingui&s;hes</HI> his Bap|ti&s;m from <HI>John</HI>'s. Secondly, That he a&s;&s;igns <HI>Water</HI> to <HI>John</HI>'s, and the <HI>holy Ghost</HI> to his own Bapti&s;m. Not that <HI>John</HI> and he had <HI>two Water</HI> Bapti&s;ms, yet two Bapti&s;ms, but that <HI>John</HI>'s was the Water Bapti&s;m, and his the Bapti&s;m of the holy Gho&s;t. Therefore his is not a Water Bapti&s;m, but a Bapti&s;m contra|di&s;tingui&s;hed from that of Water, as much as the Per&s;on of <HI>John&punc;</HI> was from the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Thirdly, by comparing the 28th of <HI>Mat.</HI> with this place in the <HI>Acts,</HI> we may &s;ee that the Commi&s;&s;ion in one, is to be con&s;trued by the qualification in the other, which is not expre&s;t at all in <HI>Mat.</HI> 28. There they are bid <HI>to Go;</HI> here they are bid <HI>to Stay;</HI> that is, <HI>Stay before you go, and have your Qualifications before</HI>
<PB N="123" REF="62"> <HI>you Qualify;</HI> viz. <HI>The Promi&s;e of the Fa|ther,</HI> to wit, <HI>the Bapti&s;m of the holy Ghost;</HI> that is to &s;ay, <HI>Power from on High.</HI> Why, had they been Preaching 2 or 3 Years, and been Baptized and Baptizing with Water, that this Man &s;ays is followed, <HI>that Moment,</HI> with the Bapti&s;m of the holy Gho&s;t, and yet had not been them&s;elves Baptized with it, nor as yet received Power from on High to <HI>Di&s;ciple</HI> and <HI>Baptize</HI> any into Chri&s;t's Kingdom, with Chri&s;t's Bapti&s;m? This mu&s;t be &s;trange to our Opponent, and who can help it? But &s;o it is, Reader. For that as one <HI>Evangelist,</HI> and part of Scripture, &s;upplies and explains another, this in the <HI>Acts</HI> &s;hews, that the Com|mi&s;&s;ion in <HI>Matt.</HI> &s;uppo&s;es the Qualificati|on, mentioned in the Fir&s;t of the Acts, to preceed it; el&s;e they were to go, be|fore they were Qualified to Perform. If then it is rational to &s;uppo&s;e, that what pa&s;t at Chri&s;t's Farewel, as reher&s;t by the Evangeli&s;t, &s;hould be all laid toge|ther, for our more plain and compleat under&s;tanding of the import of it, we
<PB N="124" REF="63"> mu&s;t in ours, conclude, that the Di&s;ci|ples were to &s;tay at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> till they had received the <HI>Promi&s;e of the Father;</HI> that is, till they were <HI>Baptized with the holy Ghost,</HI> and then the Commi&s;&s;ion <HI>took place,</HI> for them to <HI>Go and Teach all Nations, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost.</HI> Now then, if in order of time, and from the nature of the Di&s;cour&s;e, it mu&s;t be &s;o, how is the Bap|ti&s;m in <HI>Mat.</HI> a <HI>Water Bapti&s;m? John tru|ly Baptized with Water, but ye &s;hall be Bap|tized with the Holy Ghost not many Days hence: Then Go ye, Teach all Nations Bap|tizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,</HI> &amp;c. It is plain, this is the true Order of the Di&s;cour&s;e; not on|ly from what I have already &s;aid, as to Qualification, <HI>preceeding</HI> Commi&s;sion, (for they need no &s;uch to Baptize with Water, having done that 2 or 3 Years before, without it) But for that Bap|tizing &s;tands <HI>alone</HI> in <HI>Mat.</HI> 28. 19. Which would have been Ambiguous, had not that pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Acts</HI> 1. 5. preceeded, which made it needle&s;s to tell us what
<PB N="125" REF="63"> &s;ort of Bapti&s;m they were to Baptize with, and what they were not, <HI>For John truly Baptized with Water, but ye &s;hall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost not many Days hence:</HI> Therefore not with <HI>John</HI>'s <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> any more, but with the Bap|ti&s;m of the <HI>Spirit,</HI> do you <HI>go Teach all Nations, Baptizing them through the Holy Spirit; into the Name of the Father, of the Son and Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> Make them <HI>true Jews, true I&s;raelites,</HI> in whom there is no guile. And tis certain it was a <HI>new Scene</HI> and <HI>Part</HI> they had to Act; as much Superior to what was before, as Form is to Power, <HI>Letter</HI> to <HI>Spirit, Sha|dow,</HI> to <HI>Sub&s;tance. Greater things than the&s;e &s;hall ye do,</HI> &s;aid our Ble&s;&s;ed Lord, <HI>becau&s;e I go to my Father.</HI> I think I have not &s;trained the Text, or extorted a wrong meaning. I write what I believe, and take to be the genuine &s;en&s;e of the place, without partiality, or pa&s;sion. But our Adver&s;ary will have it, that the Apo&s;tles u&s;ed Water Bapti&s;m, in per&s;u|ance of this Commi&s;sion, and in&s;tances the Words of <HI>Peter</HI> in the ca&s;e of <HI>Corne|lius,</HI>
<PB N="126" REF="64"> for proof thereof. The words are the&s;e, <HI>Can any Man forbid Water, that the&s;e &s;hould not be Baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we?</HI> Upon which, &s;ays our Opponent <HI>p.</HI> 82. <HI>If it had not been an Ordinance, any one might have forbid it, therefore the Apo&s;tles accounted them&s;elves obliged by God to do &s;o; and that it was not in their Power to refu&s;e it, unle&s;s they would re&s;ist God.</HI> To which I &s;ay, as before. Fir&s;t that Water Bap|ti&s;m was <HI>John</HI>'s, and not Chri&s;t's. Se|condly, That <HI>Practice is no In&s;titution.</HI> Thirdly, That the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> did but continue a Practice, introduced by <HI>John,</HI> not ea&s;ily left among a Ceremo|nious People, it having obtained Repu|tation among them, and was the Di&s;cri|minating Sign or Mark of a change of Di&s;pen&s;ation at hand; and this <HI>Peter</HI> could not but know, after tho&s;e Di&s;tin|gui&s;hing and Emphatical Words of his Lord and Ma&s;ter, <HI>Acts</HI> 1&s;t. But the Di&s;ciples having before been actually en|gaged in the practice of <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m, in order to call People to the expectation
<PB N="127" REF="64"> of a further thing, continued it after|wards; not of Authority, but in their Chri&s;tian Liberty and Conde&s;cention, as what had a Reference to the Chri&s;tian Di&s;pen&s;ation; in as much as <HI>John,</HI> to who&s;e Mini&s;try it was the peculiar ob|&s;ervation, (which Chri&s;t tells the King|dom (that <HI>John</HI> &s;aid was at hand, and which Chri&s;t came to &s;et up) was with|out) <HI>Concluded</HI> the Prophets, and became therein the <HI>Fore-runner</HI> of Chri&s;t, and his more excellent Di&s;pen&s;ation. La&s;tly, The Rea&s;on of <HI>Peter</HI>'s Words, <HI>Can any Man forbid Water</HI> &amp;c. referred not to the <HI>In&s;titution, Authority</HI> or <HI>Force</HI> of Water Bapti&s;m, but to <HI>Peter</HI>'s <HI>Caution</HI> about <HI>Cornelius,</HI> that was a <HI>Gentile</HI> for fear he &s;hould give any publick di&s;ta&s;t to the <HI>Jews,</HI> who&s;e prejudices again&s;t the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> like &s;ome <HI>Prede&s;tinarians</HI> of our Times, excluded them any pretence to Religion; in&s;omuch that we &s;ee <HI>Pe|ter</HI> him&s;elf, without a Vi&s;ion, was not yet large enough in his Spirit, to credit <HI>Comline&s;s,</HI> Convictions and Devotion; as much as if he had &s;aid, <HI>Why may</HI>
<PB N="128" REF="65"> <HI>not this Man, though a Gentile, be Bap|tized with Water, &s;ince he has received the</HI> Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>which is the</HI> requi&s;ite Qua|lification of a <HI>True</HI> Chri&s;tian; and that the promi&s;e of the Father is to them that are a far off, even to all that the Lord our God &s;hall call, as well as to the Seed of <HI>Abraham,</HI> after the Fle&s;h. So that the Rea&s;on of <HI>Peter</HI>'s u&s;ing tho&s;e words, was not to give Authority to <HI>Water Bapti&s;m;</HI> as an Ordinance of Chri&s;ts Kingdom, but to <HI>excu&s;e</HI> him&s;elf again&s;t Jewi&s;h exceptions, that he fear|ed would be &s;candalized at his owning of a Gentile, that, to them, was <HI>&V;n|clean, Prophane</HI> and <HI>Reprobate.</HI></P>
<P>His other Scripture in defence of what he a&s;&s;erts, is <HI>Acts</HI> 9. 18. which &s;ays, That <HI>Paul received his &s;ight, and was Baptized by Ananias.</HI> But not a word of <HI>Water,</HI> is in the Text, or the foregoing or following Ver&s;es. On the contrary there is rea&s;on to believe it was not meant. <HI>And Ananias putting his hands on him, &s;aid, Brother Saul, the Lord (even Je&s;us that appeared unto thee</HI>
<PB N="129" REF="65"> <HI>in the way as thou camest) hath &s;ent me, that thou mayest receive thy &s;ight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost; and immediate|ly there fell from his eyes, as it had been &s;cales, and he received his &s;ight forthwith, and aro&s;e and was baptized.</HI> Now here is, fir&s;t, <HI>Sight</HI> and <HI>Holy Ghost</HI> to be given to <HI>Saul,</HI> by the Mini&s;try of <HI>Ananias:</HI> Next, he received <HI>Sight,</HI> and was <HI>Bap|tized.</HI> Now mu&s;t not this be the Bap|ti&s;m of the <HI>Holy Ghost,</HI> &s;ince being fill'd with the Holy Gho&s;t, and being Bap|tized, are, by the Text made <HI>one and the &s;ame thing?</HI> E&s;pecially &s;ince it is pa&s;t all Controver&s;ie, that there was &s;uch a thing as the Bapti&s;m of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>His other Scripture, to prove the Au|thority of Water-Bapti&s;m, among Chri|&s;tians, is, <HI>Acts</HI> 11. 15, 16, 17. <HI>And as I began to &s;peak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then re|membred I the word of the Lord, how that he &s;aid,</HI> John <HI>indeed baptized with</HI> Wa|ter, <HI>but you &s;hall be baptized with the</HI> Ho|ly Gho&s;t. <HI>Fora&s;much then as God gave them the like Gift as he did unto us, who</HI>
<PB N="130" REF="66"> <HI>believed on the Lord Je&s;us Christ, what was I that I could re&s;ist God?</HI></P>
<P>Which is &s;o far from weakening, that it <HI>confirms</HI> our Sen&s;e and A&s;&s;ertion: For the bent of <HI>Peter</HI>'s Words is to ju&s;tifie him&s;elf, in going to, and communing with the <HI>&V;ncircumci&s;ion,</HI> and not to vin|dicate Water-Bapti&s;m. And that which he offer'd in his own Vindication to his Brethren, was, 1. His Vi&s;ion. 2. <HI>Cor|nelius</HI>'s Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Devotion. And, 3. God's owning of him, <HI>in that the Holy Ghost fell upon him as it had upon them at the Beginning. For a&s;much then,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Peter, as God gave them the like Gift, what was I that I could with|&s;tand God?</HI> As if he had &s;aid, How could I refu&s;e to own them, and have Fellow&s;hip with them that God own'd and had Fellow&s;hip with, and Gifted and Sanctified, as well as the believing Jews? &s;peaking not one Word in his Account to the Brethren, of <HI>Water-Bap|ti&s;m:</HI> But, on the contrary, he makes it <HI>John</HI>'s, by way of Di&s;tinction from Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;m, by remembring and repeating
<PB N="131" REF="66"> the Words of his Lord and Ma&s;ter, <HI>viz.</HI> John <HI>indeed baptized with</HI> Water, <HI>but ye &s;hall be baptized with the</HI> Holy Gho&s;t. I appeal to every indifferent Reader, if I have not done Ju&s;tice to the Text.</P>
<P>I &s;hall next con&s;ider his <HI>Exceptions</HI> to what I &s;ay in my <HI>Key,</HI> in defence of our <HI>Di&s;u&s;e</HI> or <HI>Ce&s;&s;ation</HI> of <HI>Water-Bap|ti&s;m,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 83, 84. The fir&s;t Rea&s;on he makes me give for it, is, <HI>That all Pro|te&s;tants are against Figures and Shadows:</HI> To which he an&s;wers, <HI>But Bapti&s;m and the Lord's Supper being no Figures nor Sha|dows, all Prote&s;tants are for them; unle&s;s the Quakers are to be accounted Prote&s;tants, that di&s;own all Prote&s;tant Churches, and are own'd by none.</HI> This is all he quotes of mine, and this is what he &s;ays, on what he has quoted: So that they may be of the Nature of <HI>Shadows</HI> and <HI>Figures</HI> for all him; and con&s;equently that <HI>Pro|te&s;tants</HI> practi&s;e again&s;t Judgment. For he only denies them to be <HI>Figures</HI> and <HI>Shadows,</HI> and leaves us there. But he had done well if he had given us his
<PB N="132" REF="67"> Rea&s;ons, and had al&s;o taken Notice of what I &s;ay, page 22. in my <HI>Key,</HI> which immediately foregoes what he has cited out of it; <HI>viz. That Practice only, is no In&s;titution;</HI> and that is all he can allege in favour of <HI>John</HI>'s Bapti&s;m. That which &s;eems my part to perform, tho' he pre&s;&s;es not upon me, is to &s;hew, that <HI>Water-Bapti&s;m</HI> and the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> (&s;o called) are of the <HI>Nature</HI> of Figures and Shadows, of which Chri&s;t was the Sub&s;tance.</P>
<P>Now, that they are &s;o, we mu&s;t con|&s;ider, That if Chri&s;t was the end of <HI>John,</HI> as <HI>John</HI> renders him, <HI>Matth.</HI> 3. 11. <HI>John</HI> 3. 30. and Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;ugge&s;ts to us, <HI>Matth.</HI> 11. 7 to 12. Then Water-Bapti&s;m was but a <HI>Forerunner,</HI> and &s;hew|ed forth what was to come, that which the <HI>least in the Kingdom of Heaven ex|ceeded,</HI> and therefore not of the King|dom, and con&s;equently of no longer Force in Point of In&s;titution. Tho' by being the <HI>Ob&s;ervation,</HI> peculiar to <HI>John</HI>'s Mini&s;try, it had obtained Credit, and therefore was continued, <HI>ex gratia.</HI> But
<PB N="133" REF="67"> it is plain from Chri&s;t's own Words, <HI>The Kingdom of God came not with Ob|&s;ervation,</HI> Luke 17. 20. At lea&s;t there|fore <HI>Prote&s;tants</HI> ought to be mode&s;t upon us, with re&s;pect to the Rea&s;on we ren|der for our <HI>Ce&s;&s;ation</HI> of Water - Bapti&s;m. And tho' he &s;ays, <HI>We ought not to be ac|counted</HI> Prote&s;tants, <HI>that di&s;own all</HI> Prote|&s;tant <HI>Churches, and are owned by none of them:</HI> I would have this Author to know, We are <HI>True Prote&s;tants: Prote|&s;tants</HI> upon tho&s;e Rea&s;ons, that were the <HI>first Motives</HI> to that Character; and can compare, in our <HI>Negatives,</HI> with any Species of Prote&s;tants. And do challenge this Author, without Vanity, upon that Head, begin when he will.</P>
<P>At the &s;ame time, we cannot but have Charity for the Per&s;ons of <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> and would by that teach them the Truth and greater Excellency of our Religion.</P>
<P>And next, for our <HI>di&s;owning</HI> of all other Prote&s;tant Churches, and <HI>not be|ing owned</HI> by them; fir&s;t it is not upon the &s;ame Grounds that the <HI>Roman Catho|licks</HI>
<PB N="134" REF="68"> di&s;own them. And, &s;econdly, Ex|perience tells us, It is what <HI>all &s;orts of Prote&s;tants do to one another;</HI> and there|fore not &s;o &s;ingular in us, as is &s;ugge&s;t|ed by this ill-willing Author.</P>
<P>But, he is mightily di&s;plea&s;ed with me, <HI>For being against all Figures in the Time of the Go&s;pel; adding, That we Mortals cannot think, or &s;peak, or work without Figures;</HI> di&s;tingui&s;hing between <HI>prenunciative and commemorative Signs:</HI> Ridiculing me for &s;uch an A&s;&s;ertion. But if my Reader will turn to Page 24. of my <HI>Key,</HI> cited by this Author, he will find I <HI>only</HI> deny, under the Go&s;pel, the <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity</HI> and <HI>Service</HI> of <HI>prenunciative</HI> or <HI>forerunning</HI> Signs: Joyning to Signs, Figures and Shadows; and promi&s;cu|ou&s;ly u&s;ing them to one and the &s;ame Purpo&s;e; and therefore not all Signs, but Signs of &s;omething to come, and to be accompli&s;h'd by the coming there|of: As the following Words, he makes another Quibble upon, plainly &s;hew, <HI>viz. That the Nature of the Go&s;pel is In|ward, Spiritual and Eternal.</HI> But he
<PB N="135" REF="68"> leaves out, <HI>That therefore the continuing to practi&s;e Figures, Signs and Shadows, as &s;till in force, which forerun Christ and his Di&s;pen&s;ation, make his Coming of none effect.</HI> For then he had given too &s;trong a Rea&s;on for our Di&s;u&s;e, and di&s;appoint|ed him&s;elf of the unfair Advantage he endeavours to gain upon me, by letting his Reader &s;ee that I did not deny the Continuance of all Signs, but <HI>prenuncia|tive</HI> or <HI>forerunning</HI> ones: Such as are of the Nature of <HI>Figures</HI> and <HI>Shadows,</HI> and therefore can have no Commi&s;&s;ion to perpetuate them; of which I take <HI>Wa|ter Bapti&s;m</HI> and the <HI>Supper</HI> to be two. For Chri&s;t, as well as <HI>John,</HI> declares Water-Bapti&s;m a <HI>Forerunner</HI> of a more excellent Bapti&s;m. And one thing wherein that Excellency of Chri&s;t's Bapti&s;m con&s;i&s;ts, is the durablene&s;s of it: But if <HI>John</HI>'s is to la&s;t as long as Chri&s;t's, Chri&s;t's does not excel <HI>John</HI>'s in Duration; quite contrary to <HI>John</HI>'s own Di&s;crimination and Te&s;timony, <HI>viz. He</HI> (Chri&s;t) <HI>&s;hall increa&s;e and I decrea&s;e.</HI> But if it be <HI>con&s;idered,</HI> That this Adver|&s;ary
<PB N="136" REF="69"> would make me deny all Signs, as <HI>Exodus</HI> 7. 8. 9. <HI>Numb.</HI> 11. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 77. <HI>Jer.</HI> 32. Ju&s;t as his Friend <HI>J. Faldo,</HI> and &s;ome of that Ingenuity, have made us to de|ny all Scripture Commands, becau&s;e &s;ome of us have &s;aid, in <HI>Temporary</HI> and <HI>Extraordinary</HI> Ca&s;es (as that of <HI>Jere|miah, Jonas, Amos,</HI> &amp;c.) <Q REND="margDblQuotes">That which is a Command to another is no Com|mand to us, unle&s;s the &s;ame Spirit re|quire the &s;ame, or the like thing of us; therefore the Moral Law or Decalogue is no Law or Command to us, nor are we obliged to yield Obedience to it, tho it be general and perpetual.</Q> I &s;ay, they that con&s;ider the Ju&s;tice of my Pa|rallel, and Inju&s;tice of his In&s;inuation, will perceive he is not a fair Enemy, nor ought to have Credit with his Reader, to our Prejudice.</P>
<P>I am then no more again&s;t <HI>Figures</HI> than again&s;t <HI>Forms.</HI> We cannot, I know, live, &s;peak or act without them: <HI>But the&s;e are not forerunning Signs or Forms, Temporary and Shadowy Ob&s;ervations:</HI> But &s;uch nece&s;&s;ary and e&s;&s;ential ones, as are
<PB N="137" REF="69"> coupl'd to our very Being, and requi&s;ite Conver&s;e among Men.</P>
<P>But, from this he falls hard upon me, becau&s;e I &s;ay the Go&s;pel is <HI>Inward, Spiritual,</HI> and <HI>Eternal: For,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>without many Figures, this is not Sen&s;e, and with them, is either not true or not to the Purpo&s;e. The Go&s;pel being the new Co|venant, is neither Inward nor Outward. Will</HI> W. P. <HI>never leave talking of In&s;ide and Out&s;ide, of things that have no Sides?</HI> This Language, I doubt not, will &s;ound har&s;h, as well as light, to other Peo|ple's Ears, as well as ours: And truly he is a daring and an adventurous Per&s;on, for till now I thought Truth had an In&s;ide: If he had read the 31&s;t of <HI>Je|remiah,</HI> he would have found there, That the Go&s;pel is an inward State, and has an In&s;ide; where God, &s;peak|ing by that Prophet of the Go&s;pel, or New Covenant Time, &s;ays, <HI>Behold the days come that I will make a new covenant with the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, and with the hou&s;e of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day</HI>
<PB N="138" REF="70"> <HI>that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt (which my cove|nant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, &s;aith the Lord) But this &s;hall be the covenant that I will make with the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, After tho&s;e days, &s;aith the Lord, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they &s;hall be my people. And they &s;hall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, &s;ay|ing, Know the Lord: For they &s;hall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, &s;aith the Lord: For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will re|member their &s;in no more.</HI> Now here is Truth with its <HI>both Sides:</HI> Truth in its outward Apperance, according to the low and carnal State of Man: And this may be called, comparatively, the <HI>Out|&s;ide</HI> of <HI>Truth.</HI> Here al&s;o we may learn, That Truth has an <HI>In&s;ide;</HI> a more Spiri|tual and Eternal Part; and that is what I call the <HI>Go&s;pel Di&s;pen&s;ation:</HI> Or that this more Inward and Spiritual Appea|rance of the Truth, is the New Cove|nant
<PB N="139" REF="70"> or Go&s;pel. What el&s;e did our Lord Je&s;us intend by the <HI>Go&s;pel of the King|dom,</HI> than the Ble&s;&s;ing of the <HI>Power of God,</HI> to deliver Man from the Power of Sin, and Satan the Original of it? So the Apo&s;tle phra&s;es it; <HI>The Go&s;pel is the Power of God to Salvation.</HI> That is, the Power of the Kingdom of God, and that is the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> of the Kingdom. Now if this be not of an <HI>Inward, Spiritual</HI> and <HI>Eternal</HI> Nature, nothing can be: Which, I pre&s;ume, the <HI>Reader</HI> will, with me, think an ab&s;urd as well as un|chri&s;tian Expre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>But he &s;ays, It is <HI>partly Inward and partly Outward.</HI> I &s;ay it is Inward, but it may be Outwardly expre&s;t by a godly Conver&s;ation; and &s;o far, and no other|wi&s;e, it may be &s;aid to be Outward. Nor does this weaken my A&s;&s;ertion, or the Con&s;equence I have ob&s;erved from it; <HI>viz.</HI> That the Go&s;pel and New Covenant, came not with <HI>Outward Ob|&s;ervations;</HI> and that <HI>Water-Bapti&s;m</HI> was &s;uch; <HI>Therefore no Ordinance of the King|dom of the Me&s;&s;iah.</HI></P>
<PB N="140" REF="71">
<P> But if it be an Ordinance, as this Au|thor &s;ays, <HI>p.</HI> 87. and that the Inward Part <HI>keeps Time</HI> with the Outward (for there he allows of <HI>In&s;ide</HI> and <HI>Out&s;ide)</HI> then it would do &s;o to as many as have the Outward Part admini&s;tred to them: But we have no Evidence of &s;uch Con|currence of the Holy Gho&s;t. We have never found it in our &s;elves, nor do we &s;ee it in others, that are in the Practice of it, but much the contrary; in that <HI>Envy, Pride, Luxury</HI> and <HI>Covetou&s;ne&s;s prevail,</HI> and Little of the true Cro&s;s of Chri&s;t, Self-Denial, Dying dayly, or the New Creature appears: How then does the Inward Grace make up but one Bapti&s;m, if it accompany not Water? But of that I have already treated before; and, it is plain, 'tis but <HI>Gratis Dictum</HI> on our Adver&s;aries Side. He begs the Que&s;tion.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, <HI>p.</HI> 90. finding him&s;elf a-ground about that Pa&s;&s;age of the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1. 7. <HI>For Chri&s;t</HI> &s;ent me not <HI>to Baptize but to Preach the Go&s;pel.</HI> He en|deavours to glo&s;s away its Force, what
<PB N="141" REF="71"> he can from the End for which I cited it, and the Apo&s;tle writ it. The fir&s;t thing he oppo&s;es is, <HI>That &s;ince Water-Bapti&s;m was</HI> Peter<HI>'s and his Brethren's Commi&s;&s;ion, which Chri&s;t gave them before the A&s;cen|tion, to the End of the World&mdash;It is not to be imagined that</HI> Matthias <HI>and</HI> Paul <HI>were without it.</HI> But in this al&s;o he begs the Que&s;tion.</P>
<P>I have already &s;hew'd that Commi&s;&s;i|on is mi&s;taken by him, and that Water is no ways concern'd in that Text; and that Water-Bapti&s;m was <HI>John</HI>'s and not Chri&s;ts; and that they were not one Bapti&s;m, or in&s;eparable in their Admi|ni&s;tration. Al&s;o, that Practice is <HI>no in|&s;titution,</HI> and that Water-Bapti&s;m is a <HI>prenunciative</HI> Sign, and has its Accom|pli&s;hment in that Bapti&s;m of the Holy Gho&s;t, as <HI>John</HI> had in <HI>Christ;</HI> the <HI>two Admini&s;trators of the two Bapti&s;ms.</HI></P>
<P>But next, he &s;ays, Paul <HI>&s;poke an Ellip|&s;is, elegantly; meaning, That he was not &s;ent only to Baptize, but chiefly to Preach;</HI> citing Two or Three Scriptures, that he imagins Parallel, and Illu&s;trate
<PB N="142" REF="72"> that Place, as <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 6. 6. <HI>I will have mer|cy and not &s;acrifice.</HI> And, <HI>let women a|dorn them&s;elves, not with putting on of apparel,</HI> &amp;c. 1 Pet. 3. 34. <HI>Now,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>The&s;e Places prove, that the</HI> I&s;rael|ites <HI>were not to &s;acrifice to God, and Wo|men mu&s;t go naked,</HI> &amp;c. (as &s;ome Qua|kers did) <HI>with the &s;ame Evidence that</HI> Paul<HI>'s Words teach, That Christ &s;ent not him to Baptize.</HI> He might, if he had plea&s;ed, have cut it all &s;hort, and like what <HI>L. Muggleton</HI> once &s;aid of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> have told us, <HI>Paul</HI> did not mean what he writ. But the&s;e Places are ill apply'd by this Man, for when God &s;aid, <HI>He would have Mercy and not Sacrifice;</HI> he meant not to have Sacrifice at that Time, and in tho&s;e Ca&s;es, wherein he called for Mercy: He would not be &s;o put off, nor have Duties exchanged. That Speech is limited to, and to be interpreted by the pre&s;ent State of the People he &s;poke to, who were unqualified for Sacrifice, becau&s;e they were unmerciful and cruel, and the merciful God in that State would have none of their Sacrifices. What is
<PB N="143" REF="72"> this to the Apo&s;tles Words about Bap|ti&s;m, that denies it any part in his Com|mi&s;&s;ion? There is no parallel in the Ca&s;e, but if any, it is for us rather than again&s;t us. For that of not putting on of Apparel, 'tis evident, that the Apo|&s;tle intended by <GAP DESC="foreign">, as the Words them&s;elves plainly import, <HI>viz.</HI> Garments of <HI>Finery</HI> and <HI>Ornament,</HI> and not u&s;eful Cloathing.</P>
<P>So that the Apo&s;tle meant what he &s;aid in the u&s;e of the Word, for &s;uch Ap|parrel is not to be ever u&s;ed by true Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>For his &s;aying, That &s;ome of our Women have gone naked; 'tis affirmed with Lightne&s;s and Untruth; tho' &s;ome few of our Friends have gone naked, for a <HI>Sign</HI> to this Generation, as the poor Man in it that prophe&s;ied of the <HI>Fire of London,</HI> and another, of God's <HI>&s;tripping</HI> &s;ome Per&s;ecutors of their Power, and in perticular, that Generation of the Clergy that precceded the Re&s;toration, which having Ri&s;e through Per&s;ecution, forgat their Pleas, when they had Power, to|wards
<PB N="144" REF="73"> tho&s;e that di&s;&s;ented from them, and te&s;tified again&s;t the &s;ame evils in them, that they had ju&s;tly inveighed again&s;t in the former Bi&s;hop's Days. And now he may &s;ee we are not again&s;t all SIGNS.</P>
<P>To conclude, It is plain, the Apo&s;tle had no Obligation upon him to this Ex|pre&s;&s;ion, from a Compari&s;on any had made between Water-Bapti&s;m and the Preaching of the Go&s;pel. Nor does he u&s;e any, tho' this Man makes him to do &s;o, to ju&s;tifie his imagined Elegancy. The occa&s;ion of this Expre&s;&s;ion, the Text &s;hews, was the Vanity of &s;ome Di|&s;ciples, that were comparing and boa&s;t|ing of their <HI>Baptizers;</HI> not a Word of Bapti&s;m it &s;elf, to over or undervalue that Tradition. Why then does <HI>Paul</HI> take occa&s;ion, not only to knock them, but <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> too? What had Bapti&s;m done to be &s;o cour&s;ely treated? So Sa|cred an In&s;titution; the very Rite or Door of Admi&s;&s;ion (&s;ays this Man) in|to the Kingdom of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> p. 80? Why, without doubt, it was to let them
<PB N="145" REF="73"> &s;ee, that they had &s;o little cau&s;e to boa&s;t of their re&s;pective Baptizers <HI>(for who is</HI> Paul, <HI>and who is</HI> Apollos) that they ought not to value them&s;elves upon that very Bapti&s;m, &s;ince it was not what he had in Commi&s;&s;ion, but what he had u&s;ed as a Tradition, that had obtained &s;ome Credit among them: El&s;e the Apo&s;tle mu&s;t not have had the &s;ame Commi&s;&s;ion that the other Apo&s;tles had, who yet &s;aid, he was behind none of the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>Again, Baptizing, in <HI>Matth.</HI> 28. 19. was as much the Apo&s;tle's Commi&s;&s;ion as Teaching or Preaching: Nay, the preferable Part. For tho' Preaching open'd their Under&s;tandings, it was Bapti&s;m that gave them <HI>Admi&s;&s;ion into the Kingdom of the</HI> Me&s;&s;iah; made them Subjects thereof; and in&s;tated them in the Rights of it: Yea, the Seal of the Covenant that God made by Chri&s;t with Mankind, without which no Remi&s;&s;ion of Sins, or entring of God's Kingdom. Can &s;uch a Bapti&s;m, (and &s;uch an one this Adver&s;ary renders Wa|ter-Bapti&s;m)
<PB N="146" REF="74"> be no e&s;&s;ential part of <HI>Paul</HI>'s Commi&s;&s;ion, or not upon e|qual Terms with Teaching, when by it People are to be intere&s;ted in the Sacred Name of <HI>Father, Son</HI> and <HI>Ho|ly Ghost?</HI> that is, to be made, qua|lified, admitted and &s;ealed <HI>True Chri|&s;tians, Subjects of Chri&s;t's Kingdom, Citizens of Heaven,</HI> and endowed with <HI>all the Priviledges thereof. How little</HI> is this Man willing to allow Bapti&s;m to be, that he may keep it any thing in Force, and excu&s;e it from the genuine Sen&s;e of the Apo|&s;tle's Words? Were there as much Difference between Preaching and Ba|pti&s;m, as between Mercy and Sacri|fice, it might have helpt him better. But in as much as the Apo&s;tle denyes Water-Bapti&s;m to be in his Commi&s;&s;ion, and that it is certain he had the &s;ame Commi&s;&s;ion the re&s;t had, whatever was his Practice, in conde&s;cention, (as in <HI>circumci&s;ing</HI> of <HI>Timothy)</HI> that Bapti&s;m that is intended in Chri&s;t's Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28. mu&s;t be the Bapti&s;m of the
<PB N="147" REF="74"> <HI>Holy Ghost.</HI> And this is the le&s;s to be doubted, &s;ince the &s;ame Apo&s;tle that de|nies Water-Bapti&s;m any Place in his Commi&s;&s;ion (which he could never do, <HI>If an Ordinance of Christ, and the Right of Admi&s;&s;ion into the Kingdom of the Me&s;|&s;iah)</HI> makes Bapti&s;m an Article in his <HI>Epitomy</HI> of Chri&s;tianity; <HI>viz.</HI> that there is <HI>(Eph.</HI> 4. 5, 6.) <HI>One Lord, One Faith, One Bapti&s;m: One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.</HI> This Bapti&s;m being therefore e&s;|&s;ential, mu&s;t be that of his Commi&s;&s;ion, and con&s;equently the Bapti&s;m of the Ho|ly Gho&s;t, <HI>Acts</HI> 1. 15.</P>
<P>But, after all, I know not what Right this Man has to argue upon the Head of Water-Bapti&s;m again&s;t us; &s;ince, if I mi&s;take him not, he is of tho&s;e that make Children the Subjects of that Practice, who cannot believe, nor be taught in order to it; and therefore not within the Scope and Direction of the Text. If it &s;hould be &s;aid, That Children may be as well Baptized as Circumcized; I &s;ay no: For Faith was not &s;o per&s;on|ally
<PB N="148" REF="75"> requir'd to Circumci&s;ion as it is to Bapti&s;m: Nor are the Covenants or Kingdoms the &s;ame, to which they re|fer, therefore an improper and unju&s;t Allu&s;ion. Upon the whole Matter, we let fall the Bapti&s;m of Water, as <HI>John</HI>'s, and not Chri&s;t's; therefore, not in con|tempt of a Chri&s;tian Ordinance, the Lord knows, but in Honour of the Chri&s;tian Di&s;pen&s;ation: And the ra|ther, becau&s;e of the great abu&s;e of it, both Sprinklers and Dippers laying, as we apprehend, a dangerous Stre&s;s upon it: As indeed they do upon the U&s;e of the <HI>Lord's Supper;</HI> far beyond Signs, and as if they were the inward Graces them&s;elves: Too often referring thither, rather than to the Obedience of Faith in Chri&s;t; and fal&s;ly quieting their un|ea&s;ie Minds under Di&s;obedience and Neglect of the Cro&s;s of Je&s;us, with the Performance of the&s;e Outward Signs of Inward Gaces, the generality of them being but too barren of any true Sign of the Power of Grace upon them. But to that little he has &s;aid about the Lord's
<PB N="149" REF="75"> Supper, &s;o called, I mu&s;t &s;ay &s;omething before I clo&s;e this Treati&s;e. He tells us,</P>
<P>Page 92. <HI>The &s;ame in Sub&s;tance may be &s;aid of the Lord's Supper as of Bap|ti&s;m.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Repl.</HI> Then the &s;ame, in Sub&s;tance, may &s;erve in Defence of the other.</P>
<P>He adds,</P>
<P><HI>Christ celebrates it with his Di&s;ciples, &s;ignifying, That his Meaning was, they &s;hould per&s;orm this Servtce at other Times, after his Death, by con&s;training them to do it in Remembrance of hsm, which is a full In&s;titution of this Service.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Repl.</HI> That which Chri&s;t celebrated was the <HI>Pa&s;cal Lamb,</HI> or <HI>Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> which he told his Di&s;ciples he &s;o much longed to eat with them. And this was the Jews great <HI>Anniver&s;ary Supper,</HI> in Com|memoration of their Fore-Fathers migh|ty Deliverance from <HI>Pharoah,</HI> and pa&s;s|ing
<PB N="150" REF="76"> at Night out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> towards the Land that God had promi&s;ed their Fa|ther <HI>Abraham,</HI> he would give to his Off|&s;pring. And it was al&s;o the Conclu&s;ion or winding up of the Cour&s;e of our Saviours Life, the fulfilling of the &s;hadowy Ordi|nances and Mini&s;tration he was born un|der (he being the Antitipe); at the clo&s;e of which he was graciou&s;ly pleas'd to in|&s;inuate to them, that unwelcom and un|ea&s;ie News of his Departure and Death, by bidding them, eat that Bread, and drink that Cup, and &s;o do the like, as a <HI>Memorial, or in Remembrance of him, viz.</HI> his <HI>Death, till he came to them again.</HI></P>
<P>He did hereby,</P>
<P N="1">I. Inform them of his Departure and Death, by giving them a Memorial of him, which was &s;o hard for them to think of.</P>
<P N="2">II. He tells them, That he will not leave them Comfortle&s;s, he will come to them again, and he will drink new Wine with them in the Kingdom of his Father, which, in its due Sea&s;on &s;hould
<PB N="115" REF="76"> be made manife&s;t to them.</P>
<P N="3">III. That they were to look to that Coming, as an Accompli&s;hment of that Memorial.</P>
<P N="4">IV. That this mu&s;t refer to his Spiri|tual Coming, as the Bread of Life; and that it was only to hold them up in their Minority, who&s;e Weakne&s;s, Incredu|lity and Doubting, were well known to him, and which, <HI>Luke</HI> 24. 11, 25. are enough ob&s;erv'd; even after all they had heard and &s;een of the Power of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>That this Practice la&s;ted longer I grant, but that it la&s;ted of Authority, I find not, but rather of Weakne&s;s: Signs generally have a Re&s;emblance of the things they &s;ignifie or repre&s;ent: There &s;eems none in any other re&s;pect to me, &s;o proper and &s;uitable, as of Chri&s;t being the <HI>Bread that came down from Hea|ven,</HI> Joh. 6. and as &s;uch he came to his Di&s;ciples &s;ome time after his A&s;cention, (for as yet they were, as before ob&s;erv'd, in &s;everal re&s;pects, Weak, yea, Carnal,
<PB N="152" REF="77"> and to be &s;tirr'd up and in&s;tructed in Sacred My&s;teries by Outward and Sen&s;i|ble things.</P>
<P><HI>Page</HI> 93. As to what this Author &s;ays, <HI>That the Apo&s;tle</HI> Paul <HI>had a Commi&s;&s;ion to admini&s;ter this Srcrament,</HI> 1 Cor. 11 to 26. It is his Mi&s;take; for it was not a Commi&s;&s;ion but a Tradition. He tells us what he received of the Lord's do|ings; but neither Commands nor re|commends it, only reproves Indecency, and requires more Re&s;pect in perform|ing, <HI>as often as they do it.</HI> But if that Chapter be well read, the poor and mean Condition of the People, he writ to, will be &s;een, to whom Signs, well un|der&s;tood, might be of Benefit. But that neither proves their Continuance under the New Covenant, nor ther Ser|vice to tho&s;e that were come to di&s;cern well the Lord's Body; what it is, and what it is made of, as Chapter 10. 15, 16, 17.</P>
<PB N="153" REF="77">
<P> <HI>Page</HI> 94, 95. But our Adver&s;ary will have it, <HI>That Chri&s;t's</HI> Coming <HI>is to Judg|ment,</HI> at the End of all things, and till then, this Sacrament, as he calls it, is to <HI>continue:</HI> Telling me, That when Chri&s;t &s;aid, he would not drink any more of the Fruit of the Vine, till he &s;hould drink it new, with them, in the Kingdom of his Father, Chri&s;t indeed means it of a Spiritual Wine, <HI>but that the kingdom of his father was heaven,</HI> and therefore the Sign was not to cea&s;e till that Kingdom began, which was not to be, <HI>till Christ had delivered up the Kingdom unto God, even his Father, at the End of the World.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Repl.</HI> But he has forgot, &s;urely, that in the &s;ame page he allows the Kingdom of God was then, among the Jews, tho' not in them, and &s;o come before the end of the World. And if he would have call'd to mind the fir&s;t Sentence of <HI>John the Bapti&s;t</HI>'s Sermon, and the Drift of the Di&s;ciples Mini&s;try, that Chri&s;t &s;ent
<PB N="154" REF="78"> forth, he mu&s;t have found that it was, <HI>Repent, for the kingdom of God,</HI> or <HI>of heaven, is at hand,</HI> as <HI>Matt.</HI> 3. 2. ch. 10. 7. Then not &s;o far off as the End of the World. Again, the Apo&s;tle declared, <HI>Heb.</HI> 12. 22, 23, 24. the true Believers of his Day were <HI>come to mount Zion, God the judge of all, and to the &s;pirits of the just made perfect;</HI> and al&s;o that they <HI>&s;at in heavenly places in Christ Je|&s;us,</HI> which mu&s;t be an Attainment above Signs of invi&s;ible Grace; being the Life and Sub&s;tance of Religion, and &s;o the Period and Con&s;ummation of Types, Shadows, and &s;uch &s;ort of Signs or Significations as are in que&s;tion. They that per&s;onally enjoy their deare&s;t Friends will not repair to their <HI>Pictures,</HI> tho' drawn never &s;o much to the Life, to quicken their Remembrance of them. Chri&s;t did promi&s;e his, That he would <HI>come again, he would not leave them com|fortle&s;s,</HI> and that he would drink of the Cup or Fruit of the Vine <HI>after a new, or other manner</HI> with them, even <HI>in the Kingdom of his Father.</HI> And in the <HI>Re|velations,</HI>
<PB N="155" REF="78"> chap. 3. he makes an Holy Proclamation, as it were with an <HI>O Yes! Behold,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>I &s;tand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and openeth the door, I will come in to him, and S&V;P with him, and he with me.</HI> This, we are not a&s;hamed to &s;ay, is our Supper, or the Supper of the Ri&s;en and Glorified <HI>Je&s;us,</HI> which the People called <HI>Quakers</HI> do acknowledge, profe&s;s and practice as the <HI>Lord's Supper;</HI> the <HI>True Go&s;pel, New Covenant-</HI>Supper: The Supper <HI>of</HI> and <HI>in the Kingdom of God;</HI> which is come up in thou&s;ands, ble&s;&s;ed be his Name, and is coming more and more among, and up in the Hearts of the Children of Men. And tho' the Seed of this Kingdom be &s;own in all, yet the good Ground alone knows it to grow to Advantage. Tho&s;e that <HI>obey</HI> the Manife&s;tation of the Light of the Lord Je&s;us in their Souls, the <HI>Seed of this Kingdom,</HI> are the true and &s;en&s;i|ble Witne&s;&s;es of it: The Government of their Hearts and Affections being up|on his Shoulders, according to that ble&s;s'd
<PB N="156" REF="79"> Promi&s;e, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 9. 5, 6, 7. And &s;uch as can &s;ay, <HI>Thy Kingdom is come, and thy Will is done, in Earth as it is in Heaven.</HI> Even &s;o come Lord Je&s;us, more and more &s;et up thy Kingdom in the Souls of the Children of Men; that the Holy Will of thy Father may be done in Earth, that Mercy, and Truth, and Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s, and Peace may embrace and ki&s;s each other, &s;o &s;hall the Kingdoms of this World become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Chri&s;t, who is God over all, ble&s;&s;ed for ever.</P>
<P><HI>Errata,</HI> pages 4 and 5, lines la&s;t and fir&s;t, dele V.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="79">
<HEAD><HI>A Catalogue of &s;ome Books, Printed for</HI> T. Northcott.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>RObert Barclay</HI>'s Works, <HI>folio.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>G. Fox</HI>'s Journal, <HI>folio.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Burnyat</HI>'s Works, <HI>quarto.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>William Penn</HI>'s Key, <HI>octavo.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>&mdash;Fruits of Solitude, <HI>twelves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Feild</HI>'s Friendly Advice, <HI>twelves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Tompkins</HI>'s Harmony of the Old and New Te&s;tament, <HI>twelves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>&mdash;his Great Duty of Prayer, <HI>twelves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Alexander Pyott</HI>'s Apology for the Qua|kers.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>G. Whitehead</HI>'s Chri&s;tian Doctrine.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>J. Feild</HI>'s An&s;wer to a Catechi&s;m again&s;t Quakeri&s;m.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Elliott</HI>'s Saving Grace of God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>&mdash;his Grace of God a&s;&s;erted.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ed. Elys</HI>'s Vindication of <HI>Willian Penn</HI>'s Key.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Feild</HI>'s An&s;wer to <HI>B. Bird.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="80" MS="y">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>PAge 29. line 6. read <HI>is to be.</HI> p. 32. l. 14.<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>are.</HI> p. 46. l. 9. r. <HI>becau&s;e we.</HI> p. 52. l. 17<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> <HI>beca u&s;e God.</HI> p. 59. l. 7. r. <HI>abu&s;eth.</HI> p. 63. l. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> <HI>&s;hall have.</HI> p. 69. l. 2. r. <HI>&s;o that.</HI> l. 19. dele <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> p. 86. l. ult. r. <HI>he doubles.</HI> p. 87. l. 7. r. <HI>the Int<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> p. 90. l. 4. r. <HI>having darkened.</HI> p. 100. l. 23<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> <HI>to the.</HI> p. 102. l. 11. r. <HI>cur low.</HI> l. 24. dele, w<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> p. 104. l. 18. r. <HI>parts.</HI> p. 109. l. 7. r. <HI>to bind<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> 111. l. 4. r. with the. p. 112. l. 21. r. <HI>th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> p. 120. l. 9. r. <HI>al&s;o plainly.</HI> l. 21. r. <HI>my Spirit.</HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> l. 24. r. <HI>Evangeli&s;ts.</HI> p. 124. l. 21. r. <HI>neede<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> 127. l. 25. r. Cornelius<HI>'s Convictions.</HI> p.<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> 14. r. <HI>unchri&s;tian Conclu&s;ion.</HI> p. 143. l. 20.<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>did.</HI> p. 154. l. 8. r. <HI>to God.</HI> p. 156. l. 5.<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>&s;et.</HI></P>
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