ر Mat. 16. 17. John 6. 45. 16. Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father. It is written in the Prophets, They shall be all taught of God, &c. See Ifaiah 54. 13. Fer. 31. 34. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, I Cor. 2. 10. to for the Spirit fearcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; for what Man knoweth the things of a Man, Save the Spirit of Man which is in him; even fo the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God; which things alfo me fpeak not in the Words which Man's Wifdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghoft teacheth, comparing fpiritual things with fpiritual; but the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually difcern'd, Mat. II. 27. Gal. 1. 15. & 16. Ephef. 1. 17. Phil. 3. 15. Rom. 1. 19. Heb. 8. 10,11,12. No Man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any Man the Father. fave the Son, and be to whomfoever the Son will reveal Him. But when it pleafed God who feparated me from my Mother's Womb, and call'd me by his Grace to reveal bis Son in me. That the God of our Lord Fefus Chrift, the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him. If in any thing ye be otherwife minded, God fhall reveal even this unto you. Because what is to be known of God is manifeft in them, for God hath fhewed it to them. This is the Covenant that I will make with the Houfe of Ifrael after thofe days, faith the Lord, I will put my Laws into their Mind, and write them in their Hearts, and I will be to them a God. and they shall be to me a People, and they fhall not teach every Man his Neighbour, and every Man his Brother; faying, know the Lord, for all fhall know me, from the leaft to the greatest; for I will be merciful to their Unrighteoufnefs, and their sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more. Autho I Authorities from our own Writers. (a) W. Penn's seri 1671. Know the monftrous Conceits that fome have of our Meaning by Revelation, fancying we understand whimfical Raptures, ous Apology, p. 87, ftrange and prodigious Trances; but fuch imagine Evil of things they know not; we difclaim any Share or Intereft in those vain Whimfies, and idle Intoxications, profeffing our Revelation to be a folid and neceffary Difcovery from the Lord of those things that do import and concern our daily Conditions, in reference to the Honour which is due to Him, and Care owing to our own Souls. We diftinguish betwixt a Revelation of a new Gospel, and new Doctrines, and a new Revelation of the good old Gofpel. and Doctrines; the laft we plead for, but the first we utterly deny. Question 28. Is immediate Revelation or Infpiration ceafed or not? R. Barclay's Apology, p. 91. Apology for the People called Quakers, 1674 p. 82, 83. Eph. 1. 17. I Cor. 2. 10, 13. 4. 301 Answer, No. Tis that which Paul pray'd for, that the God of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the Father of Glory, might give unto the Saints the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. Tis the Infpiration of the Almighty which gives us Underftanding, who revealeth to us deep and fecret things; and that Spirit in all Ages entring into holy Souls, makes them Friends of God and Prophets, and without this Infpiration the Scriptures and Things of God cannot be known or understood, for no Man knows the Things of God, but the Spirit of God, and he to whom the Spirit reveals them, till when the Scriptures are but a fealed Book, which neither the Unlearned, nor Learned can read till the Opening of the Seals, c. The Scriptures are a fealed Book to all but those who know them, by the fame Hand which originally gave them; fo that however common they may be in the World, they are Strangers to them that understand them not; and tho' old, refpecting the time, when they were revealed to the Saints, yet new to every Age; fo that we affert not a Revelation of new things, but a renew'd Revelation of those things God made former Ages Witneffes of, otherwife Men are no more benefited by them; and to be benefited, they must be made ours by the Spirit, which made them the holy Antients. W. Penn's Works, I (b). P. 331. In short, either there are never to be more Infpirations after the Apoftles Decease, and confequently no more Teftimonies nor Prophecies to be, than what the remaining Scriptures give us, or the pouring out of the Holy Ghoft belongs as well to after Ages, as to that; as hath been abundantly proved, and therefore fresh Teftimonies and Prophecies, by way of farther opening, or preffing the antient Truth, recorded in the Old and New Teftament, may in after Ages be given forth, unlefs God and his Spirit fhould be limited, and many Parts of the Scripture remain unfulfilled. R. Barclay's Qua- eaufe the objective We know the Scriptures Teftimony by the Spirit, tanquam a priori, as we know the Effect by the Caule, and we know the Spirits Teftimony by the Scriptures, tanquam à pofteriori, as we know the Caufe by the Effect, and so both are objective, and yet in a divers Kind, beEvidence of the Scripture is but derived and We diftinguish of immediate Revelation, and fay 'tis two-fold, either in Kind or Degree. Now tho' we believe the immediate Revelation which we have is from the fame holy Spirit that open'd in the Prophets and Apoftles, and them that gave forth the holy Scriptures; yet we do not fay, it is the fame Revelation for Degree, which they had, but that it is the fame for Kind. 2dly, We do not plead for any new GofpelFaith, or Doctrine, different from that which Chrift and His holy Prophets and Apoftles taught, and is recorded in the Scriptures of Truth but for the Revelation of that which they tanght, and is therein recorded. William Penn's Apology, Quarto, 1671, p. 86. 87. That the only Sign and Evidence of Infpiration is Miracles, we utterly renounce and deny; as what is moft falfe and unworthy of the Reafon. Perfpicuity and Self-evidencing Verity of the Chriftian Religion. I need not go far to detect the Falfity of the Affertion, fince many, nay most of the Prophets are not recorded to have work'd any; and if the Scriptures are acknowledged to have been given forth by the Holy Ghoft. how many mention'd in them, whofe Words and Works compile them. never work'd fo much as one Miracle, and that both under the Old and New Testament. REMARKS REMARKS. IS fuperfluous to produce more Authorities of our own, to vouch this our Characteristical Doctrine, which the Querift does not in the leaft queftion, but cenfures our Pretenfions to Divine Infpiration and Revelation, as confident, unwarrantable, &c. All which is humbly fubmitted to the Judgment of the Unbyafs'd; as alfo, whether our Afferting the Neceffity of the Holy Spirit, which dictated the Scriptures of TRUTH, to expound the fame, and exhibit to the Soul the glorious Things themselves that are spoken of the City of GOD. Whe ther, I fay, this be to derogate from, or rather to extend further, and open to View the, Excellency and Sufficiency of thofe inspired Writings, without which Divine Tutor they remain as a fealed Book; of which Opinions the godly Martyrs, and fome of his eminent elder Brethren were. "TINDAL believed his Salvation by Chrift, "because he felt the Truth and Certainty thereof, "written in his Heart, by the Spirit of GOD be" ing inwardly taught by the fame Spirit he believed, not, because it was written in Books, or preached by Man, but becaufe he found it written in his 66 own Heart, and felt the Spirit of GOD fo preach ❝ing and testifying to his Soul. ર "Bishop JEWEL denies the Scriptures to be "intelligible without the fpecial Help, Prompting, "and Revelation of GOD's Holy Spirits "BRADFORD, in the Name of all the reft, " fays, We do believe and know the Scriptures, as " CHRIST D 2 "CHRIST's Sheep, being thereof affured by the "fame Spirit that spoke them. "CALVIN exprefly tells us, Inftit. L. 1. C. 8. ""Tis neceffary the fame Spirit that fpake by the "Mouth of the Prophets, fhould pierce into our "Hearts, to perfuade us, that they faithfully deli"vered that which was committed to them of "GOD." And in his Third Book, in Answer to this Objection, 'Tis not without great Temerity that we dare fo boast of the Spirit of CHRIST. He anfwers, "Who would believe that the Sottishness of "thefe Men was fo great, who would be efteem'd "the Mafters of the World, that they fhould fo "fail in the first Principles of Religion? Verily, I "could not believe it, if their own Writings did "not testify fo much: Paul accounts thofe the Sons "of GOD, who are acted by the Spirit of GOD; "but thefe will have the Children of GOD acted "by their own Spirits, without the Spirit of GOD." He further adds," Seeing thefe Things are the firft "Grounds of Piety, it is miferable Blindness to ac"cufe Chriftians of Pride, because they dare glory " of the Prefence of the SPIRIT; without which "Glorying, Christianity, it felf could not be. "OWEN, Exercit. 2. 7. 9. The only publick, “authentick, and infallible Interpreter of the Holy "Scripture, is he who is the Author of them; from "the Breathing of whofe Spirit, it derives all its "Verity, Perfpicuity, and Authority. "BEZA, on 2 Pet. 1. 19. writes, the Under"ftanding of the Scriptures must be fetch'd from the fame Spirit that dictated them. "PETER MARTYR, Loc. Comm. P. 2. "C. 18. 'Tis the Spirit of GO-D that reveals the "TRUTH in the Holy Scriptures. "BUL |