1. Benjamin Loveling, in his Book call'd the Spirit of Quakerism rebuked, has these Expressions, • Poisonous Tenets, p. 7. Heretical Leaven, p. 10. The Magick of a Conjurer, p. 11. Sym• bolizing with the Luperci among the Romans, p. 12. Of a base Breed, p. 13. Abominably unjust, p. 14. Their Doctrines a perfect Compli• cation of all the Herefies in the several Centu'ries of Chriftianity, p. 17. They are the worst • Subjects in the World, being bound by their very Principle to be bad Subjects-The Je'fuits are suppos'd to have hatched them-Fatal • it may be to give them too much Liberty to 6 propagate their Kind. For every Proselyte • they make, a Subject is loft. And as they do ⚫ not deferve the Name of Subjects, so neither ⚫ought they to be numbred among Proteftants. 'p. 20. Blafphemers and Hereticks, p. 25. They allow of no Christ without, p. 28. Blafphemers and scandalous Hereticks. p. 36.' With abundance more of the fame Kind. 2. Edward Cockson, in a Book call'd the Quakers Pedigree, says, That a Quaker, as fuch, ' is neither true Proteftant, nor the true Friend ' of a Proteftant, p. 7. That they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but are contrary to him, * his Divinity, Mediatorship, and plenary Satis• faction to Divine Justice, p. 33. That the Poi• son of Afps is under their Lips, p. 34. That they are a Sect of Seducers, who are the last born › of Hereticks: postremus Diaboli conatus, & Seculi excrementum; the last Vomit of the • great Red Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns, The very Excrement of the present Age, p. 27. • The very Fly-blows of the Papists, p. 51. • Their Doctrines a Pill of deadly Poifon, p. 17. ، Their Religion anHodge-podge of all Heresies, p. 7. And that if all the old Heresies of former Ages had been loft, in this one Sect they may be found again. Epift. Dedicat.' With this Sort of Language that Book is stor'd, and if either the Vicar, or our Reader, incline to taste more of these bitter Waters, we refer them to Lefly, Keith, Beckham, Meriton, Topcliff, and others of the Clergy, whose Books against the Quakers have publish'd to the World what Spirit they were of, viz. that which lusteth to Envy, and calleth for Fire, not from above, to purify and refine their Adverfaries, but from below, to confume and devour them. We delight not in fuch Retortions, but they are, as it were, forc'd from us by our Opponent's Harangue against the Quakers, upon a Topick fo very applicable to those of his own Fraternity; nor is himself wholly clear, witness his Title-page. He would probably have forborn his Objections on this Head, had he confider'd the Advice of our Saviour, Mat. vii. 5. First cast out the Beam out of thine own Eye, and then shall thou see clearly to cast the Mote out of thy Brother's Eye. Our Adverfary's Discourse from p. 91. to 96. concerning the Call and Qualifications of a Gospel-Minifter, and his denying the Neceffity of Grace, or Inward Holiness, to the being of a Gofpel-Minister, we think, is fully answered, in the following Transcript. • (1) THE not speaking from the Mouth of 'the Lord was of Old a certain Mark of a false Prophet (1) R. Claridge's Life and Posthumous Works, p. 509. • Prophet, Thus faith the Lord of Hosts, hearken • not unto the Words of the Prophets that prophesy • unto you; they make you vain, that speak a Vifi' on of their own Heart, and not out of the Mouth ، of the Lord. Jer. xxiii. 16. The Lord faid unto me, the Prophets prophesy Lies in my Name, I ' sent them not, neither have I commanded them, • neither spake to them: They prophesy unto you a • false Vision and Divination, and a Thing of nought, ' and the Deceit of their Heart. Jer. xiv. 14. As • the speaking from the Mouth of the Lord was • of a true one, See 2 Chron. xxxvi. 12. A true • Prophet was Interpres & Internuncius divinæ • Voluntatis, an Interpreter or Revealer of the • Will of God. For Prophesy in the primary • Notion, doth not import the Foretelling of • Things to come, that is rather a fecondary Sig• nification, but in declaring the Mind of God, • received by immediate Revelation. So that, (m) as one well observes, The receiving what he • makes known by immediate Revelation formally constitutes a Prophet, i. e. a true one. from hence it is in Scripture, that the Patriarchs, as Abraham and others are called • Prophets, not because of any Predictions utter' red by them, but because of the Frequency of • Divine Revelations among them. And hence • likewise those in the New Testament who expounded the Scriptures by immediate Inspiraration, are called Prophets. And the usual • Forms of Speech which the Prophets used, 6 ८ 6 were, The Word of the Lord came to me, or to • fuch an one, or Thus faith the Lord, and the like. • So the Apostles and Ministers of Christ receiv' ed of the Lord, and spake as they were moved (m) Bishop Stillingfleet in Orig. Sacr.l. ii. c. v. §. iv. ' by ، by the Holy Ghost. So Christ said unto his Disciples, It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Mat. x. 20. Or, as another Evangelist hath it, It is not ye < that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Mark xiii. 11. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you : • And when he had said this he breathed on them, < and faith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. John xx. 21, 22. An Imitation whereof is kept up at this Day, both by the Church of • Rome and England, in the Ordination of Priests, • and Confecration of Bishops. (n) ८ • AND so by retaining the Form, they give a • Sort of Testimony to the Power; for the Words, Receive the Holy Ghost, do imply, ' that the Holy Ghost is the only Qualifier for * the Gospel Ministry and Dispensation, and ' that none can be Ministers of Christ without it. ‹ Either the Words imply this, or they are used ؟ as an empty Ceremony; and fuch an Use, • what is it less than a Prophanation of that fa cred Act of our Saviour? But because they ' that use the Form, are sensible of the Absence ' of the Power, therefore they appropriate the • Gift to the Office, even while the Person that < ministers is without it; for by the 26th Arti cle, the Holy Ghost is not absolutely necessary ' to a Minister, but that he may be a true Mi⚫ nister notwithstanding; and all his Minifterial • Acts sacred, while he himself is evil: That is to say, the vilest of Men in Epifcopal Orders, may be Embassadors of Christ. For thus says ' the Article, ८ 6 (n) See the Roman Pontifical, and the Book of Confecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and ordering of Priefts and Deacons. as • Although in the visible Church, the Evil be ' ever mingled with the Good, and sometime the • Evil have chief Authority in the Ministration of • the Word and Sacraments; Yet forasmuch, • they do not the fame in their own Name, but • in Christ's, and do minister by his Commission • and Authority, we may use their Ministry both ' in hearing the Word, and in the receiving the Sa' craments: Neither is the Effect of Christ's Ordi* dinance taken away by their Wickedness. 6 • So all depends upon the Office or Function • abstracted from the Person; thus they say, • The Pope may be a Wolf, an Heretick, a Si• monist, a Necromancer, and yet infallible: All • his Papal Acts and Decretals in Christ's Name, • and by his Commission and Authority, and yet himself be no Christian. For Infallibility, it seems, is annexed to Peter's Chair, not to • the Person of his pretended Successor. If this ، Article be true, what then can be false? Nay, • doth it not justify all the false Prophets, A• postles and Ministers, that have ever been in • the World? Might not the false Prophets say, • They prophefied by God's Commission, when • he exprefly says, I have not fent these Prophets, • yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied? Jer. xxiii. 21. And will not theirs • be a good Plea, that shall say of Christ, Lord, 'Lord, have we not prophefied in thy Name? And * in thy Name have cast out Devils? And in thy • Name done many wonderful Works? Mat. vii. 22. For here they plead his Name and Authority. Who yet declares, he will profess • unto them, I never knew you; Depart from me, ye that work Iniquity. Ver. 23. I never knew |