ing the works of another, with design to find fault, may find something, especially in a large performance, that he may think amiss, or wrest to such an appearance as he would have it. But every work should be examined with an impartial view, by a mind not prejudiced or prepossessed, comparing one part with another, till the true mind, intent, and meaning of the writer be discovered; and then, if any real error appear, to confute it by obvious truth; which needeth no gloss, or colour of sophistry but when an opponent subtilly and wilfully wrests the words of his antagonist, and imposeth a meaning thereon which the author did not intend, this opponent is a forger, combating his own invention, militates against himself, and is felo de se in argument." Upon this the bishop generously acknowledg. ed, "That no man ought to oppose the works of another, till he was fully master of the author's real sense, and did at least believe it to be wrong or heterodox." Then I said, "That we had met with very hard usage in the House of Lords, and particularly by the Bishop of Rochester (the same that afterwards was banished for treasonable practices); that at the same time when we, as a Christian people, were addressing the legislature of our native country for liberty of conscience, to serve God and our Lord Jesus Christ in the way we judge the most accept able to him, to be branded and accused in such a place and time, and on such an occasion, as not being Christians, but compared, by him, with Jews, pagans, and Mahometans! is very uncharitable, to say the least." The bishop replied, "I do not approve that usage of you; but he explained himself to mean no more, than that you are not perfect Christians; that is, in the way we initiate people into religion. under the gospel; but that crept in gradually, with other errors, as the church more and more degenerated into Jewish and antichristian practices in many instances." Then this good tempered and affable bishop requested, "That if we had any books we valued more than others, I would oblige him with a sight of them, which I gave him some expectation of;" and at parting, he took me by the hand, as we passed out of the room in which we were, into another towards the door, and said, "I desire your prayers for me, as I also pray for you; we ought all to pray one for another." And so we parted in peace and good-will, not the least word of warmth or a scornful look having appeared in all this conference. I made inquiry after such of our books as I thought proper for him; but he going soon after into his diocese of York, and I into Suffolk, and across the country into the west in the service of Truth, which took about seven months time, I had no opportunity to see him till I returned to London, and then went to his house in the Strand for that purpose; but he not happening to be within, and my concerns not allowing me another opportunity for some weeks, in the mean time he was taken ill of the distemper whereof he died, so that I did not see him any more: though his death, through the respect I had conceived for his good qualities, affected me with a friendly concern; for he had as much of the gentleman as bishop in him, and the former seemed rather predominant. 5. With Dr. Bradford, Bishop of Carlisle. Peter Fearon, an ancient minister, and John Irwin aforesaid, being Cumberland men, went to solicit Dr. Bradford, then Bishop of Carlisle, in our favour, concerning the affir mation aforesaid, and altering the terms; on occasion whereof he entered into an argument I answered, "Then it remains for you to with them on the point of oaths under the prove, that none can be perfect Christians, gospel, asserting as usual, That Christ did unless initiated, at least, by you, or after your only forbid swearing in communication; but manner." It being then near twelve o'clock, how they managed the point I know not, bethe bishop did not think proper to enter upon cause not present, and do not remember they that subject. And, as he had said in the se- related to me the particulars: but as they inquel of this discourse, he had read our books, tended to make him another visit on the same I asked him if he had seen one styled, A account, they desired my company on that Treatise of Oaths, written by William Penn?" occasion, and provided the Treatise of Oaths he said "he had not." Then I said, "We had aforesaid as a present to him. And we went abundance of votes collected there, out of the to him together, finding none with him but writings of those you call fathers, on our side, Sykes, a moderate clergyman, the against swearing in any case or way." To same that printed a sermon on these words of which he replied, "That we ought not to depend Christ, My kingdom is not of this world,' upon numbers only, but consider the weight before Benjamin Hoadley, then Bishop of also." 66 'Granted," said I; "but you have Bangor, preached his on the same text, which neither weight nor number, that ever I have made so much noise among themselves and heard of, on your side; for all who wrote on the nation. The bishop received us mildly that subject in the primitive church, wrote and courteously, ordering seats to be set for against swearing, and not one in support of itus near himself; and having heard our appli " cation for his favour concerning further ease by this world only in a natural state, our children a new affirmation, and returned us a moderate are as others in that respect; and where not and favourable answer, he began again upon subject to the example and instructions given the subject of oaths, endeavouring to persuade them, may, and some of them do, degenerate us to think, that Christ only prohibited oaths into immoral practices of some sorts: though in common conversation or communication: in our Society takes all practicable care to prewhich Sykes likewise concurred. But vent it, according to the stated rules among they grounding their opinion only upon the us, and by all Christian ways and means. word communication in our English transla- We pray for them, we example them, admontion, and the other two Friends leaving the ish, advise, exhort, reprove, and rebuke them matter to me, I answered, "That if Christ as need may require; and after all, if any one did not prohibit all oaths in that doctrine, he among us persist in evil, we proceed against did not advance the morality and righteous- such according to the rules of our Society, ness of the gospel above that of the law in finally to deny them as not of our commuthat point, as in every other particular there nion; and that is all we do, or think we ought mentioned, he certainly did; and added,That to do, in such cases. And though some par there is not a word in that text, which by any ticular persons among us may not, in their tolerable construction, or by any propriety, younger times, come fully up in all things can be rendered communication from the into the perfection of our profession; yet we Greek original. For the word is Aoyor, the hope in the main, as a Christian Society, we same used in the first of John, signifying do. And though some among us do fall into word or speech; which word is truth, signify things disagreeable to our profession; yet ing that the righteousness of the gospel, abol-bearing false witness being so great an evil, ishing oaths of all kinds, requires mankind to and so easily discovered, we hope none among speak the truth one to another in honesty and us would be guilty of it; but if any should, sincerity, in all cases, as surely and certainly let the penalty of perjury be fully inflicted as they could upon oath." And then desired the bishop to inspect his Greek Testament on that occasion, which he readily did; and returning from his library, confessed that the word there translated communication, was Ayor in the Greek, and did not offer any further argument upon the subject. Then I gave him the book, which the Friends had put into my hands, telling him it was written on that subject, and desired him to peruse it at his leisure; and so we left him in friendship and peace. upon him: and therefore we are encouraged to make this application. And since thou art pleased to acknowledge thy sentiments, that Christ and his apostles by their doctrine have prohibited all oaths and swearing of every kind, there must be a time wherein it must be begun to be put in practice by some certain person, persons, or community. A nation is not born in a day; nor did the Lord Jesus himself call and convert all his disciples at once; it was a gradual work, though in the hand of him by whom the worlds were made. Some time after this, being at London, And as the Christian world, so called, hath Walter Newbury and I went to the bishop suffered an exceeding great lapse and degeneagain, to request his favour in the House of racy from the doctrines, morality, sanctity, Lords concerning the affirmation; and he was and practice of Christ and his apostles, and come down to his hall, ready to take the air in the other early primitives; so in the main his coach in the park, but stopped when he they are more anti-christians than Christians. saw us come in, and received us kindly, and The Almighty, who makes choice of the foolpresently said, "I have read your book, and ish things of this world, whereby to confound will fetch it you." I answered, "It was given the wisdom of the wise, the weak whereby to him as a present, and desired it might be ac- overcome the mighty, and even things that ceptable." He thanked me, and immediately are not, to bring to naught the things that said, "That he believed that Christ and his are, that no flesh may glory before him,' apostles had forbid all oaths and swearing, hath raised up and chosen us as a people, in and and that the time would come when there by whom to begin this reformation in religion, would not be any such thing in the Christian in doctrine and practice; not by human power, world; but added, That the present state and for that is against us, nor by the wisdom of circumstances of mankind could not bear this world, of which we have little, or the learnsuch an exemption; and said, you will own ing or acquirements thereof, which we do not that some even among yourselves, in whom pursue; but by the same grace through which some immoralities appear, are not fit for the our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life upon liberty and exemption you request for your the cross for the redemption of mankind; people." wherewith being mercifully favoured of God, and having believed through the operation I answered, “That as mankind come into you will not, in your stations, contribute what you may towards that relief, at whose door will the oppression lie?” thereof in our hearts, we have hitherto suffered all things for his name's sake, which hath been permitted to be inflicted upon us by this and other nations, where we have been raised The bishop heard me with Christian paup, or have come. And we hope we have tience, and said, "We (meaning the bishops given Christian proof of our sincerity, to the and former Parliament) did not grant the af minds of all sober and thinking people, that firmation that now is, under any other view, our religion is not some select notions of cer- on our part, than as a solemn oath; for so we tain gospel truths, but a real and practical always understood it, and we thought your thing; wherein we are supported by the wis- people had acquiesced under it: but seeing it dom and power of God alone, as witnesses does not suit you, I am for liberty for tender for him on earth, and to the redemption and consciences, where that is the case. I am salvation brought to pass for us and in us your friend herein." Then we returned him through Jesus Christ our Lord. And since our hearty acknowledgments; upon which he ye profess yourselves to be Christian bishops, took us by the hands, and gave us his good (for we applied to them all) and we apply to wishes, and we departed in peace and satisyou for relief where our consciences are yet faction. He was, after the banishment of oppressed by laws, and where you, by your Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, before menoffices in the national church, have a share tioned in my conference with the Bishop of for the time being, in the legislature, who, York, translated, as their term is, into the See under the Almighty alone, can relieve us; if of Rochester. THE ORIGINAL AND PRESENT STATE OF MAN, BRIEFLY CONSIDERED; WHEREIN ARE SHOWN, THE NATURE OF HIS FALL, AND THE NECESSITY, MEANS, AND MANNER OF HIS RESTORA- BY THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, SOME REMARKS ON THE ARGUMENTS OF SAMUEL BY JOSEPH PHIPPS. We both labour, and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the PREFACE. kind, in order to their instruction, help and salvation. Its operation and extent appeared My chief inducement to publish a few ob- to me to be misunderstood, and mistakenly servations upon S. Newton's letter in the represented in that discourse, and finding it year 1767, was the defence of that Divine equally so, in a late* reply of the same author, Spirit vouchsafed by a gracious Creator, I think myself in some degree obliged to apthrough a beneficent Redeemer to all man-pear a second time, still further to show, ac Letter to the author of a letter to Dr. Formey, &c., signed, No matter who. *The leading sentiments of the people called Quakers examined, &c., by S. Newton of Norwich. cording to my understanding, the necessity, universality and real sensibility of the work of God's Holy Spirit upon the immortal soul of man, as the vital source, and support of true religion in him; and therefore the primary guide of his life and conduct. My intention is not mere controversy, but explanation and doctrine. I have therefore taken the liberty to use divers expressions from the Apocrypha, and other writings, where their pertinence and clearness entitled them to a place. I take little notice of the numerous declamatory parts of my opposer's performance. It concerns not the ingenuous reader, who can be most keen or most petulant, but on which side of the question the truth lies, and by which doctrine his mind is most likely to be best and most profitably informed. This he may better judge for himself, than others for him; for be they ever so ingenious, or otherwise learned, they cannot be competent judges in things they have not experienced, and which are not to be known but by experience. I have no animosity towards my antagonist; but his work appears to me founded in mistakes, both concerning the sense of Scripture, and the intention of our writings. To proceed minutely to unravel and clear, what he has been at so much pains to perplex and confuse, would be more tedious than difficult, and could by no means compensate either for the reader's time, or my own. My first endeavour therefore shall be, to show the verity of our true leading principles, from the ori ginal, and present state of mankind, with the assistance requisite thereunto, and afterwards to add some remarks upon divers parts of the treatise before me. THE ORIGINAL AND PRESENT STATE OF MAN, &c. CHAPTER I. 1. Man was originally created in purity, and in a state of due order and rectitude. 2. He was inspired with a sense of his duty; and 3 and 4, empowered to perform it. 5. Being tempted, he lapsed from his proper guard, the preserving power of God, into sin. 6. He fell from the image of the heavenly, into the image of the earthly. How unlawful self rose in him. 7. That he really suffered death in spirit, in the day of his transgression. What the life, and death of the soul are. 1. In the beginning God created all things good. Inherently and immutably good himself, every production of his must necessarily be so, according to the several kinds wherein he created them. As man was wholly made by him, he must have been made wholly good; his nature clear of all impurity, and free from all defect and disorder. His faculties were not imperfect, but limited to their proper sphere, and every part of his composition constituted in its due rectitude; the body placed in subservience to his rational spirit or soul, as to the more noble and excellent, and therefore the superior part, made for immortality, and in subjection only to the guidance of its Creator. 2. The human faculties or powers of capacity, must then be clear, unprejudiced, and fit to receive impressions, yet void of any but those of immediate sense. Man, merely as man, could not originally bring any real knowledge into the world with him. That must either be immediately communicated to him by his Maker, or afterwards acquired by himself, through observation and experience. The latter required time to effect; and as it was requisite to his situation, that he should be immediately endued with such an understanding of himself and his Creator, as related he certainly was, by divine wisdom and goodto his present duty, and affected his felicity, ness, timely furnished with it. 3. Man must not only then be supplied with a due degree of light and understanding, but he must also be empowered to act up to it, else his knowledge would have been afforded to him in vain. Yet though, he certainly was thus empowered, the sequel manifested he was placed in a state of probation, otherwise he could never have been guilty of the least failure; for his Maker being essentially and unchangeably good, must have fixed him in a state of immutable virtue and goodness, had he determined to fix him at all. 4. As the omniscient Creator most certainly foresaw what a subtle adversary man would have to encounter, he as surely furnished him with means sufficient to discover his snares, and resist his assaults. If satan was suffered to use his subtlety and influence to deceive him, doubtless he was not only warned, but also endued with a sufficiency of divine light and influence to withstand his attempts, as he kept duly upon his watch. the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."a Under this celestial enduement, the sacred impression of the divine image conspicuously appeared in the first of mankind. "In the image of God created he them." Nothing but the divine nature can enable any intelligent creature to resist temptation, and act up to the divine will. If therefore any created being is required to keep up thereunto, it must be assisted by divine power 5. Had man kept in faithful obedience to so to do. God created man for a purpose of his heavenly guide, and rejected the efforts of his own glory. To glorify God, and to par- the tempter, he might undoubtedly, in due take of his glory, man must walk in obedience time, have been advanced to a degree of estato his will. Man could neither infallibly know blishment beyond all possibility of falling; his will, nor constantly perform it, merely by but not continuing strictly upon his watch, the strength of his own faculties; he must and contrary to the warning before given therefore, necessarily, have been assisted by him, turning his attention towards the tempta the Spirit of God, to enable him to perform tion, when alluringly presented, he slipped his will, and so to obey him as to glorify him, from his proper guard; leaving hold of that and enjoy a blessed inheritance in him; other-spirit wherein his life and strength lay, he fell wise, the end of man's creation could not be answered. Hence it is concluded, the first man Adam was made a living soul by the inspiration of the second Adam, Christ, who is a quickening spirit; for "That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” That is, Adam was first created a natural man, and then rendered a spiritual one by the quickening power of the Spirit of Christ, which is the true life, and proper element for immortal spirits to live and move in. Thus the parents of mankind, in their original uncorrupted state, being fit temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in, were, as well as the sanctified in Christ afterwards, partakers of the divine nature," by the internal quickening of divine life. The author of the book of Wisdom observes, that wisdom in all ages, and certainly in the first and purest, entereth holy souls; which wisdom he describes to be the breath of the power of God, a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty, the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. This clearly denotes the Spirit of the eternal Son of God himself, and evidently concurs with those parts of the New Testament which declare him to be the power of God, and the wisdom of God, the true light, and life of men, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the image of the invisible God.d from it, and all its advantages, out of the liberty of the sons of God, into the bondage of corruption: a sure introduction to misery. For as holiness and happiness are inseparably united, so sin and misery are indivisibly connected. To suppose that the Almighty author of all good originally subjected man under a moral necessity to transgress upon the appearance of temptation, is an imagination too injurious to the divine character to be admitted. Our first parents were unquestionably enabled by their Maker to abide in due watchfulness, which would have entitled them to preservation; their defection from which, was certainly not of him, but of themselves. Had their lapse been through his will, or intentional disposition of circumstances, so that it must inevitably follow, he could not consistently have sentenced them to punishment for it; because, in so doing, they performed his will, which could not be a sin against him. : A dangerous fondness to become knowing in things hurtful and no way necessary, seems to have had an early entrance into the human mind. "In the day ye eat, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." By the suggestion of this flattering falsehood, Eve was deceived. Knowing nothing but good, she might have remained happy but experiencing evil, she became otherwise. This knowledge is as opposite to that of the divine wisdom, as darkIt was undoubtedly in the light of this pure ness is to light. It is certain the Omniscient influence that Adam had such an intuitive dis- knows both good and evil, but he knows the cerning of the creation, as enabled him to first by immutable possession and perfect engive names to them according to their several joyment, and the last he beholds with abhornatures. For we read, "The Lord God form-rence, in eternal opposition to, and infinite ed every beast of the field, and every fowl of distance from, the purity of his nature. With sinful man the case is the reverse; evil having a 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46. 1 Pet. i. 4. e Wisd. vii. d1 Cor. i. 24. Col. i. 15. John i. 4, 9. 2 Cor iv. 4. a Gen. ii. 19. b Gen. i. 27. e Gen. iii. 5. |